By BRYNNE MCMURRAY
Moapa Valley Progress
Reading is…Magic!
Kids of all ages were wowed last Wednesday as Moapa Valley library guest performer, magician Tony Daniels, put on a great show. The turnout was great and there was a hum of excitement as Daniels started his show with a bang….well, rather a “pop”. He started by blowing up a balloon while dancing.
When the crowd was in giggles he chose a “beautiful young assistant,” Lexi Phillips, from the audience. Giving Lexi a magic invisible dart, he set her to the task of throwing the dart at the balloon, and popping it. When she threw it, the crowd gasped as the balloon popped and a dove emerged from the previously empty balloon.
Next, Weston Ruiz was chosen out of the audience to become the magician, while Daniels became the “beautiful young assistant.” Weston tried to get a wooden disk to disappear using the magic words, “Kazoom,” without much luck. It was only when he used the phrase, “Reading is Magic!” that he was able to make it disappear.
For the next trick Daniels said he would let the kids in on the magician’s process of learning a new trick: The Mysterious Vanishing Yellow Bandana trick. Unfortunately, when Daniels went to learn the trick, he found that a yellow banana had been supplied instead of a yellow bandana. Hilarity followed as Daniels attempted to fold, toss, palm, and hide what quickly became a very squishy banana. However, in the end, the joke was on the audience as the poor banana really did disappear without a trace.
The next trick was a card trick. Daniels started with normal face cards, but then turned one into a library card! A library card, Daniels explained to the children, is the only card that is really magic.
Volunteer Joseph Muhlstein became the assistant for the next trick and Daniels instructed him to follow his every move. After making him dance, Daniels handed Joseph two hangers. The magician went on to connect and disconnect the hangers multiple times. As Joseph tried to do likewise, he found that the hangers were already stuck together and wouldn’t come apart! Seeing a problem, Daniels went to help him, but his hangers got attached too! The only obvious solution was to saw them apart. Everyone laughed, however, when the saw ended up stuck with the rest of the hangers. Finally, Daniels came up with the solution. Gathering the metal hangers and the saw together he gave a little blow, gave a little wiggle, and said the magic words, “Reading is Magic!” Instantly, the hangers came apart and the crowd cheered.
Daniels performed several more crowd pleasing tricks before coming to the grand finale. For this he chose two young people from the audience: Braden Boss and Rebekah Jensen. Daniels had Rebekah lie down on a table propped up by two chairs. Then he had Braden say the words, “Go to sleep, my darling.” Just like that, Rebekah fell asleep, albeit a very giggly sleep. Daniels then pulled one chair away to reveal Rebekah floating in midair. To prove that it was real, Braden waved his hands under and over her to show there was no wires or strings.
Then Daniels admitted to Braden that he knows of only one way to wake a “sleeping beauty.” At Braden’s horrified expression, Daniels revealed the alternative, “Reading is Magic!” and Rebekah opened her eyes and sat up as the crowd applauded.
“My favorite part about magic has got to be the kids. I love them,” said Daniels.
Tony has been interested in magic since he was five. He says that he learned everything he knows from the library. For sixteen years he has been visiting libraries throughout all of Clark County, taking about seven days and visiting between fifteen and twenty libraries.
“Pick up a book,” he said tot he kids. “You can do anything you want, go anywhere you want, and be anything you want.”
The next library guest is DJ Tony will be sparking up a cool beat at the Moapa Valley Community Center this Friday at 11:15 am.
