March 8, 2024 • 17 mins
Step into the captivating domain of mentalism and magic with Seattle's own Nate Jester, whose sleight of mind dazzles and astounds. Our latest episode peels away the layers of this mystical world, as Nate reveals the intricate dance between psychology, probability, and showmanship. It's a laughter-filled journey that leaves us marveling at the 'magic' woven into the fabric of everyday life, from the miracle of creation to the spellbinding forces of nature. With Nate's guidance, witness how the extraordinary emerges from the ordinary, proving that sometimes, reality can be as enchanting as any illusion.
As we waltz through Nate's personal narrative, we traverse the landscape from intimate magic gigs to the corporate sphere, and back again to the limelight of entertainment. This episode illuminates the misunderstood art of hypnosis, clearing the fog of myths to reveal its true, mesmerizing nature. We give a standing ovation to the magicians who've shaped American culture, like David Blaine and David Copperfield, and reflect on TV's transformative effect on modern-day magic and mentalism. So, join us for a spellbinding session that promises to leave you both amazed and a firm believer in the power of credible amazement. Nate's expertise in magnifying the allure of corporate events with magic is just a play button away—prepare to be enthralled.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello and welcome to Foundation Nation.
I'm your host, matthew Cote.
Today on the podcast, we'regoing to talk about some
interesting recent goings-ons inour beautiful state and maybe
even a few things going on inthis amazing round thing we call
home.
Hey, I'm Matthew Cote.
This is Foundation Nation.
Welcome to another episodeunderneath the SeaTac Airport.
(00:24):
I am here with a special gueston a three-part mini-series Nate
.
What's up?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, my name is Nate Jester.
I'm a mentalist.
Here in Seattle I entertainprivate parties and corporate
events.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, man.
So this is our first episodetogether and we're going to talk
about wait, where'd you go?
No, it's not that kind of magic, no disappearance shit.
We're going to talk about Idon't know like magic in the
wait.
Hold on, I got to turn my brainon.
I'm going to open up my can ofMountain Dew.
(00:58):
Hold on, I got to drink someGet that sugar going.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I'm on coffee today.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yeah, it gets late in the day.
I can't drink coffee anymore.
I got to switch over to thecold beverage.
All right, I am getting hungrythough.
So okay, let's see.
So magic is amazing.
I wanted to thank you.
Matt V's Christmas party youattended and I dude everybody.
Everybody was like who was thisguy?
It was fun.
(01:23):
Yeah, the stuff, some of thestuff you did, was just crazy,
exciting, too Cool, Really veryenjoyable.
If anybody needs like somebodyto come and, you know, make
their wife disappear, this isyour man.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Oh, man Doesn't sound right yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Poof Dog, neighbor fence, whatever.
So what I wanted to talk abouta little bit was like kind of
the history of magic, Like whatdo you know about the history of
magic and mentalism?
Because I know there's two.
Actually, maybe you shouldstart out that what's the
difference between mentalism andmagic?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Help me understand that.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Okay, yeah, I get that a lot.
So I am a mentalist, I've beenstudying magic and I've been a
magician for many years.
The best way I feel to describeit is a magician will find your
card.
A mentalist knows your card, soit's more cerebral, it's more.
I think it's more thoughtprovoking and impressive.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Okay, yeah, so are you reading a lot of, oh, I
guess.
Tell me if I can answer.
I don't want to answer that.
I don't want to know thesecrets, because I know there's
rules about this shit and stuff.
I don't want to like blow thegig, but yeah, no, you're not
getting that.
Yeah, so the only reallyquestion I have is there a lot
of body language that you'rereading?
I mean, as a person, are you?
(02:40):
What is your special ability asa human being?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So definitely not supernatural.
I always say this in my shows.
Is that I'm an illusionist,giving you the impression I can
read minds?
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Okay, all right.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I say that once.
But the illusion is reallystrong by the end of the evening
.
You're going to think I canread minds.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
So we use in my son a lot of guys and entertainers.
Mentalists use differenttechniques.
I use a technique that I woulddescribe as layering.
So, yes, body language.
I've looked at a lot ofstatistics, studies, psychology
and probability, experience andalso BS.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
BS.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
And a lot of it has to do with taking the audience
in a direction where, whereverwe go, your experience and your
knowledge can keep driving theship.
So you're going to get to yourdestination.
But how and where we, how weget there and how amazing it is
is sometimes unknown to myself.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
But it all works out, do you think?
Okay, okay, all right.
Mentalism and magic are twodifferent things.
So do you think?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
there's, yeah, yeah is so.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Do you think there's actual, real magic in the world?
I mean, man, I mean, is that aquestion that I can ask you?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
yeah, so I don't believe in and magic.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, you don't believe in magic.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I believe in miraculous things.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Give me an example.
Have you witnessed a miraculousthing?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, I think this earth and us being here.
Yeah is the most Miraculousthing any of us.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
That's a good way to put it.
I mean, I really I I felt likeI believed in magic until you
say that, but maybe it ismiraculous things because you
know, when you have a kid itcame from absolutely nothing.
That is crazy that crazy yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I got nothing.
You have kids, yeah, I got twoboys.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, just, it came from absolutely nothing, right,
my boy.
And then, and then it grew Intolike me and you.
Yeah, he's sitting right.
Yeah, you know, and we canbuild a spaceship and we can
build a computer.
We can make coffee Podcast,podcast.
Yeah, it's just, it's, it'sthat's some crazy shit.
Yeah, you know it.
Whenever I think about Likedifferent elements on the planet
(04:55):
, you know so they, when I wasin college, they always said the
amount of water that we have onthe planet, it's the same
amount.
That's always been here.
Right, it just it goes, it goesup, it circulates, it turns
into snow and rain, it comesdown, it just keeps
recirculating.
We have the same amount ofwater, but one thing we don't
have the same amount of ispeople, because we make them
from nothing, you know.
(05:16):
So we have the same amount ofsteel, the same amount of
granite, the same amount of sand.
You know, all that shit is justrecycling over and over.
Okay, but we, we, the one thingthat we can bring to this
planet is humans from nothing.
That, so that has an impact onit always made me think about
that, you know, and so I waslike so that's, that's pretty,
pretty Pretty, it's miraculous,yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah, I'm right there with you.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
So what's your favorite book?
What's your favorite Do youhave?
Is there a mentalism book outthere that like for kids or
something?
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Oh, for kids.
That's definitely not gonna bemy favorite, but Mentalism is
not for kids.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
It's not for kids.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
So I say I'm a mentalist.
Mentalists do mentalism.
Okay, so a lot of people ask methat just throw that out there.
So if if, like somebody's kid,five, ten years old, 15 was
looking to get into magic?
Nowadays there's YouTube,there's a lot of resources out
there, there's a lot of books,there's.
We're in Seattle here, so PikePlace Market Magic Shop.
(06:15):
Oh okay, local business town inthe market They've got a ton of
books and resources.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Okay, okay so.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I like the old school books, the stuff that just
these guys, these Entertainersthat aren't around anymore but
they had some ideas.
I'm just cutting edge stuff andI go back in the day and read
that stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
That's fun?
I bet that's fun.
Oh, it's is there.
Is there anything you knowabout like the oldest magic book
that's around?
Or is there a name you knowlike that?
Yeah, some kind of ancient oldbook that started it all?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
so I couldn't tell you about a book.
But I know magic is, you knowback in, you know the beginning
of time, nearly it's very.
It's one of the oldest artforms of entertainment.
Yeah, back with shamans, it was.
It was used for conveyingmedicinal purposes.
Yeah, yeah, and then I think itcame over here to the United
(07:07):
States with Indians.
Oh, okay, yeah, nativeAmericans.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah, I think that's the better term.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Yeah, native, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, seattle's
named after a chief.
I do, chief Seattle.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, and you know, you know it's pronounced or it's
actually spelled Seattle.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Oh, oh, that's really hard to say, Don't call me on
this.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
It's really and nobody could say it which is why
they Spell it s e a t t l e.
But I think the correctoriginal spelling of chief
Seattle Just laughing at myselfis like s I e t l e, s I e t l e
, something like that.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I can look it up, maybe that's cool, that's cool
yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Foundation nation is proudly sponsored by jays
technology solutions.
Call jays technology solutionsat two, five, three, three,
seven, six, seven, five, seven,nine for all your computer
repair, I, t and networksolutions.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So if, if, if a kid wants to get into mentalism,
what age Would you recommend?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Mentalism is so advanced.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
It's advanced like adults.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I don't even do mentalism for kids.
They don't get it.
It's more, it's for asophisticated audience.
Yeah so it will works reallywell with my corporate groups.
Yeah, private parties, you know, just like older people, 40 and
up 30s.
Yeah, they'll get it.
Yeah, it just depends on thetemperament and age group.
But okay, you have tounderstand how impossible
(08:36):
something is right before youcan be blown away.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, the younger kids, they, they need something.
Wow, like if I pull out somelike Make something light on
fire or something's flashy, veryeye-peeling, that's what they
like and that's what's amazing,okay.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
So what about the, what about the, the, the younger
, what?
What's?
What's the trend in in in yourindustry these days?
Like what's trending right now.
More is because I'm justthinking.
What you do has to be done onin person and A lot of people
are playing on their phones.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah, so I use.
I mean, you probably remember Ithink I can remember your
holiday party in December.
We did some illusions withpeople's phones Doing taking
some photos.
Yeah, um, you can use socialmedia a little bit, but, um,
yeah, I like to use whatever istopical.
Okay so phones are very popular.
I had a local company herewatch the cell phone, and so
(09:38):
they hired me and I just createda bunch of illusions with their
phone.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yeah, that's cool.
Yeah, yeah that's fun.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
The phone's not around anymore, I can say it.
They was on fire phone.
Oh, oh yeah, I was doing yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
I never even heard of it.
Yeah, that's how bad it waseight years ago or so Amazon
fire phone.
Actually I do remember somebodyhaving that and they were
telling me nothing but problems.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
I didn't want to go into it too much.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yeah, I create all these illusions that I'm doing
it at their event.
Yeah, there was problems withthe phones.
Yeah with the illusions that Iwas doing.
I was like that's not me.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yeah well, amazon, you know they, they, they
definitely command a seriousamount of, you know, consumerism
information, so they'rethinking a lot going on, they're
, they're.
They're probably okay nothaving one succeed, hey, so you
can't be successful, you don'ttry it.
(10:31):
No, you get it's a hundred failsin one attempt.
You know, and if you, and ifyou sit back and you look at the
one, the one that succeeded,you'll you'll realize that the
only reason you secede isbecause you failed a hundred
times.
Yeah, you know, it doesn't.
You don't just like open thedoor and win no, so that's,
that's.
That's kind of the fun thing.
So, uh, tell me a little bitabout where you, where you're
(10:53):
raised, where were you raised?
In what world did you come from?
Speaker 2 (10:56):
I grew up in a small town, school district number one
, still come Washington schooldistrict number one Like still a
come.
You know that exit i5 by fortlewis mccord, jordy case yeah.
Yeah, um it's uh.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Is it past the tanks?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
It's the dupe on, still will come exit.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Oh, okay, it's right around there.
Yeah, yeah the direction, butyeah, down at the water.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
It's a pretty place, it's yeah, very pretty.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Yeah, I think I I went through there a few times,
yeah, so you grew up there.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So I grew up there, moved to Seattle when I was 18
and, uh, just, I've been giggingit.
I started out doing uh magic inrestaurants, so I'd walk around
, uh, while people are waitingfor their food, do some close-up
card tricks and stuff uh,definitely on the magic side.
And so I had about three orfour different restaurants per
week and and did that Yep.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
So that was your primary gig or your side gig.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
I did that full time that was, and I did really well
at it.
And then I kind of took ahiatus for a number of years and
went in corporate America.
I still did magic occasionally,in my opinion.
I didn't know how to marketmyself, okay, and I wasn't able
to tap into my showmanshipability, okay.
I was really into the technicalaspect of it, right, making it
(12:09):
amazing and pretty.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
And then now I realize it's it's a joke around
a little, it's 60%, 70%entertainment.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
And 30%, 40% illusion .
Speaker 1 (12:21):
How do you feel about that?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
I feel great.
Yeah, that's good.
Yeah, I love it.
I love that's what I love to do.
I just love entertaining people.
Just it feels so good and youwork so hard to get there and
when they feel good, you feelgood.
Yeah, it's an awesome, awesomeexperience.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Well, the, I think the magic, the mentalism, that
well, you know, the first time Iever saw it was at the Piaut
Fair.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
And it was I don't know what you call it, but it
was like they talk and thenpeople like hallucinate or
something, and then they go onstage and do crazy stuff.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
So you're talking about a hypnotist?
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah .
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Often confused but different.
Yeah, Very similar.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
It felt like some things were happening.
You know, yeah, and I remembersitting there and some this lady
so was sitting next to me shegot up and was like in a trance
and she's got up and walked overand walked on stage and started
dancing like Michael Jackson.
I think I was like nine or 10.
Yeah, and I was like what thisis like?
(13:26):
I don't know what's happening.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Oh, I've read up on that.
I know a number of mental or ahypnotist.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, yeah, is that actually?
Or does she work for him, orwhat's happening?
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Apparently from what I've read and know, is hypnosis
is real.
Okay, but it's not what youwould think.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
So you can't make somebody who's hypnotized do
something they wouldn't normallydo if they weren't.
So it's a comfort level.
I've heard hypnotists bestdescribe it.
As you know, when it's late atnight you're coming home from
work and you're driving, andyou're just driving the same old
road and you're stopping andgoing and you know, at stop
lights and you get five milesdown the road and you just like
(14:02):
kind of blank out and you'relike whoa, I don't remember
stopping at those stop lightsbehind me, Right, and you're
like I don't remember what youdid, but you were in a hypnotic
state.
Okay, yeah, that's how it's beenexplained to me.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Okay, so they just use that as entertainment
purposes, and it gets kind ofgoofy and crazy.
It's pretty funny.
Yeah, it was.
I was more shocked because Ithought I was going to like
levitate or have to walk upthere or something, cause the
lady was sitting next to me thewhole time and she was like I am
never going to do this, this isso embarrassing.
And she did it and all of asudden she just quieted up, got
up and left.
I still Like I, and I've nevergone back since I was just cause
(14:40):
I was scared, you know, itwould take me up there and I was
like no, no sir, I go up thereand be dancing like Michael J no
.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I don't think you'd be take.
Only a certain type of peoplecan be hypnotized, induced.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Oh induced, oh induced Okay.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Well, so what do you think?
How would you?
How would you, if you're goingto put a title on magic in the
United States, what would?
How would you say it?
Like anybody coming to theUnited States from the rest of
the world magic and mentalism.
If you're going to put likekind of a title on it or a
discri one sentence description,what would you?
(15:15):
What would you say?
Like hey, I'm going to UnitedStates, what's it like?
What's the magic mentalism gamelooking like?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, I think it's pretty strong.
Strong, yeah, I mean we gotDavid, we got the greats, we got
David Blaine, David Copperfield, you know.
I mean remember back in the daywhen he made the Statue of
Liberty disappear.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
The Learjet speaking of here we are yeah.
You know, david Blaine, there'sguys overseas, yeah, there's.
You know, you've got America'sgot talent.
Magic was really big.
You had Colin McLeod O's, whohe didn't win but he got pretty
far.
You got the guy from ChicagoCan't recall his name, but he
(16:03):
did really well.
I mean, it's just very popularnow and people want more and
it's very strong, it's verypopular, it's good, it's good
clean entertainment.
It's unbelievable.
People want to be amazed butthey have to believe the
amazement Before they even go.
Well, I mean, there's AI now.
(16:24):
There's people are editingvideos.
There's a lot of things you canwatch and hear and really
question it.
So if you can take reality, ifyou can take them to an
unbelievable place and make itso unbelievable, it just it
makes it incredible.
So it has to be very believable.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Right, it's got to blow their mind.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, it has to be tangible, like something that is
it feels so real, but you knowit's not.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Okay, so the magic game in the United States is
strong, yeah, entertaining andfun.
Does that sound right yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Okay, yeah, we got the magic castle in Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah right.
All right, Okay.
Well, I wanted to thank you forcoming on.
I'm Matthew Cote.
This is Foundation Nation.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
I'm Nate Jester.
If you want to take yourcompany's event to the next
level, you can find me on mywebsite, seattlemagiciancom.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Foundation Nation is proudly sponsored by Jays
Technology Solutions.
Call Jays Technology Solutionsat 253-376-7579 for all your
computer repair, it and networksolutions.
Hello and welcome to Foundation Nation.
I'm your host, matthew Cote.
Today on the podcast, we'regoing to talk about some
interesting recent goings-ons inour beautiful state and maybe
even a few things going on inthis amazing round thing we call
home.
Hey, I'm Matthew Cote.
This is Foundation Nation.
Welcome to another episodeunderneath the SeaTac Airport.
(00:24):
I am here with a special gueston a three-part mini-series Nate
.
What's up?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, my name is Nate Jester.
I'm a mentalist.
Here in Seattle I entertainprivate parties and corporate
events.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, man.
So this is our first episodetogether and we're going to talk
about wait, where'd you go?
No, it's not that kind of magic, no disappearance shit.
We're going to talk about Idon't know like magic in the
wait.
Hold on, I got to turn my brainon.
I'm going to open up my can ofMountain Dew.
(00:58):
Hold on, I got to drink someGet that sugar going.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I'm on coffee today.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yeah, it gets late in the day.
I can't drink coffee anymore.
I got to switch over to thecold beverage.
All right, I am getting hungrythough.
So okay, let's see.
So magic is amazing.
I wanted to thank you.
Matt V's Christmas party youattended and I dude everybody.
Everybody was like who was thisguy?
It was fun.
(01:23):
Yeah, the stuff, some of thestuff you did, was just crazy,
exciting, too Cool, Really veryenjoyable.
If anybody needs like somebodyto come and, you know, make
their wife disappear, this isyour man.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Oh, man Doesn't sound right yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Poof Dog, neighbor fence, whatever.
So what I wanted to talk abouta little bit was like kind of
the history of magic, Like whatdo you know about the history of
magic and mentalism?
Because I know there's two.
Actually, maybe you shouldstart out that what's the
difference between mentalism andmagic?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Help me understand that.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Okay, yeah, I get that a lot.
So I am a mentalist, I've beenstudying magic and I've been a
magician for many years.
The best way I feel to describeit is a magician will find your
card.
A mentalist knows your card, soit's more cerebral, it's more.
I think it's more thoughtprovoking and impressive.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Okay, yeah, so are you reading a lot of, oh, I
guess.
Tell me if I can answer.
I don't want to answer that.
I don't want to know thesecrets, because I know there's
rules about this shit and stuff.
I don't want to like blow thegig, but yeah, no, you're not
getting that.
Yeah, so the only reallyquestion I have is there a lot
of body language that you'rereading?
I mean, as a person, are you?
(02:40):
What is your special ability asa human being?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So definitely not supernatural.
I always say this in my shows.
Is that I'm an illusionist,giving you the impression I can
read minds?
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Okay, all right.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I say that once.
But the illusion is reallystrong by the end of the evening
.
You're going to think I canread minds.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
So we use in my son a lot of guys and entertainers.
Mentalists use differenttechniques.
I use a technique that I woulddescribe as layering.
So, yes, body language.
I've looked at a lot ofstatistics, studies, psychology
and probability, experience andalso BS.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
BS.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
And a lot of it has to do with taking the audience
in a direction where, whereverwe go, your experience and your
knowledge can keep driving theship.
So you're going to get to yourdestination.
But how and where we, how weget there and how amazing it is
is sometimes unknown to myself.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
But it all works out, do you think?
Okay, okay, all right.
Mentalism and magic are twodifferent things.
So do you think?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
there's, yeah, yeah is so.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Do you think there's actual, real magic in the world?
I mean, man, I mean, is that aquestion that I can ask you?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
yeah, so I don't believe in and magic.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, you don't believe in magic.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I believe in miraculous things.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Give me an example.
Have you witnessed a miraculousthing?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, I think this earth and us being here.
Yeah is the most Miraculousthing any of us.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
That's a good way to put it.
I mean, I really I I felt likeI believed in magic until you
say that, but maybe it ismiraculous things because you
know, when you have a kid itcame from absolutely nothing.
That is crazy that crazy yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I got nothing.
You have kids, yeah, I got twoboys.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, just, it came from absolutely nothing, right,
my boy.
And then, and then it grew Intolike me and you.
Yeah, he's sitting right.
Yeah, you know, and we canbuild a spaceship and we can
build a computer.
We can make coffee Podcast,podcast.
Yeah, it's just, it's, it'sthat's some crazy shit.
Yeah, you know it.
Whenever I think about Likedifferent elements on the planet
(04:55):
, you know so they, when I wasin college, they always said the
amount of water that we have onthe planet, it's the same
amount.
That's always been here.
Right, it just it goes, it goesup, it circulates, it turns
into snow and rain, it comesdown, it just keeps
recirculating.
We have the same amount ofwater, but one thing we don't
have the same amount of ispeople, because we make them
from nothing, you know.
(05:16):
So we have the same amount ofsteel, the same amount of
granite, the same amount of sand.
You know, all that shit is justrecycling over and over.
Okay, but we, we, the one thingthat we can bring to this
planet is humans from nothing.
That, so that has an impact onit always made me think about
that, you know, and so I waslike so that's, that's pretty,
pretty Pretty, it's miraculous,yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah, I'm right there with you.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
So what's your favorite book?
What's your favorite Do youhave?
Is there a mentalism book outthere that like for kids or
something?
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Oh, for kids.
That's definitely not gonna bemy favorite, but Mentalism is
not for kids.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
It's not for kids.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
So I say I'm a mentalist.
Mentalists do mentalism.
Okay, so a lot of people ask methat just throw that out there.
So if if, like somebody's kid,five, ten years old, 15 was
looking to get into magic?
Nowadays there's YouTube,there's a lot of resources out
there, there's a lot of books,there's.
We're in Seattle here, so PikePlace Market Magic Shop.
(06:15):
Oh okay, local business town inthe market They've got a ton of
books and resources.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Okay, okay so.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I like the old school books, the stuff that just
these guys, these Entertainersthat aren't around anymore but
they had some ideas.
I'm just cutting edge stuff andI go back in the day and read
that stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
That's fun?
I bet that's fun.
Oh, it's is there.
Is there anything you knowabout like the oldest magic book
that's around?
Or is there a name you knowlike that?
Yeah, some kind of ancient oldbook that started it all?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
so I couldn't tell you about a book.
But I know magic is, you knowback in, you know the beginning
of time, nearly it's very.
It's one of the oldest artforms of entertainment.
Yeah, back with shamans, it was.
It was used for conveyingmedicinal purposes.
Yeah, yeah, and then I think itcame over here to the United
(07:07):
States with Indians.
Oh, okay, yeah, nativeAmericans.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah, I think that's the better term.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Yeah, native, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, seattle's
named after a chief.
I do, chief Seattle.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, and you know, you know it's pronounced or it's
actually spelled Seattle.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Oh, oh, that's really hard to say, Don't call me on
this.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
It's really and nobody could say it which is why
they Spell it s e a t t l e.
But I think the correctoriginal spelling of chief
Seattle Just laughing at myselfis like s I e t l e, s I e t l e
, something like that.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I can look it up, maybe that's cool, that's cool
yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Foundation nation is proudly sponsored by jays
technology solutions.
Call jays technology solutionsat two, five, three, three,
seven, six, seven, five, seven,nine for all your computer
repair, I, t and networksolutions.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So if, if, if a kid wants to get into mentalism,
what age Would you recommend?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Mentalism is so advanced.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
It's advanced like adults.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I don't even do mentalism for kids.
They don't get it.
It's more, it's for asophisticated audience.
Yeah so it will works reallywell with my corporate groups.
Yeah, private parties, you know, just like older people, 40 and
up 30s.
Yeah, they'll get it.
Yeah, it just depends on thetemperament and age group.
But okay, you have tounderstand how impossible
(08:36):
something is right before youcan be blown away.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, the younger kids, they, they need something.
Wow, like if I pull out somelike Make something light on
fire or something's flashy, veryeye-peeling, that's what they
like and that's what's amazing,okay.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
So what about the, what about the, the, the younger
, what?
What's?
What's the trend in in in yourindustry these days?
Like what's trending right now.
More is because I'm justthinking.
What you do has to be done onin person and A lot of people
are playing on their phones.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah, so I use.
I mean, you probably remember Ithink I can remember your
holiday party in December.
We did some illusions withpeople's phones Doing taking
some photos.
Yeah, um, you can use socialmedia a little bit, but, um,
yeah, I like to use whatever istopical.
Okay so phones are very popular.
I had a local company herewatch the cell phone, and so
(09:38):
they hired me and I just createda bunch of illusions with their
phone.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yeah, that's cool.
Yeah, yeah that's fun.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
The phone's not around anymore, I can say it.
They was on fire phone.
Oh, oh yeah, I was doing yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
I never even heard of it.
Yeah, that's how bad it waseight years ago or so Amazon
fire phone.
Actually I do remember somebodyhaving that and they were
telling me nothing but problems.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
I didn't want to go into it too much.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yeah, I create all these illusions that I'm doing
it at their event.
Yeah, there was problems withthe phones.
Yeah with the illusions that Iwas doing.
I was like that's not me.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yeah well, amazon, you know they, they, they
definitely command a seriousamount of, you know, consumerism
information, so they'rethinking a lot going on, they're
, they're.
They're probably okay nothaving one succeed, hey, so you
can't be successful, you don'ttry it.
(10:31):
No, you get it's a hundred failsin one attempt.
You know, and if you, and ifyou sit back and you look at the
one, the one that succeeded,you'll you'll realize that the
only reason you secede isbecause you failed a hundred
times.
Yeah, you know, it doesn't.
You don't just like open thedoor and win no, so that's,
that's.
That's kind of the fun thing.
So, uh, tell me a little bitabout where you, where you're
(10:53):
raised, where were you raised?
In what world did you come from?
Speaker 2 (10:56):
I grew up in a small town, school district number one
, still come Washington schooldistrict number one Like still a
come.
You know that exit i5 by fortlewis mccord, jordy case yeah.
Yeah, um it's uh.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Is it past the tanks?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
It's the dupe on, still will come exit.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Oh, okay, it's right around there.
Yeah, yeah the direction, butyeah, down at the water.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
It's a pretty place, it's yeah, very pretty.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Yeah, I think I I went through there a few times,
yeah, so you grew up there.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So I grew up there, moved to Seattle when I was 18
and, uh, just, I've been giggingit.
I started out doing uh magic inrestaurants, so I'd walk around
, uh, while people are waitingfor their food, do some close-up
card tricks and stuff uh,definitely on the magic side.
And so I had about three orfour different restaurants per
week and and did that Yep.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
So that was your primary gig or your side gig.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
I did that full time that was, and I did really well
at it.
And then I kind of took ahiatus for a number of years and
went in corporate America.
I still did magic occasionally,in my opinion.
I didn't know how to marketmyself, okay, and I wasn't able
to tap into my showmanshipability, okay.
I was really into the technicalaspect of it, right, making it
(12:09):
amazing and pretty.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
And then now I realize it's it's a joke around
a little, it's 60%, 70%entertainment.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
And 30%, 40% illusion .
Speaker 1 (12:21):
How do you feel about that?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
I feel great.
Yeah, that's good.
Yeah, I love it.
I love that's what I love to do.
I just love entertaining people.
Just it feels so good and youwork so hard to get there and
when they feel good, you feelgood.
Yeah, it's an awesome, awesomeexperience.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Well, the, I think the magic, the mentalism, that
well, you know, the first time Iever saw it was at the Piaut
Fair.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
And it was I don't know what you call it, but it
was like they talk and thenpeople like hallucinate or
something, and then they go onstage and do crazy stuff.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
So you're talking about a hypnotist?
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah .
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Often confused but different.
Yeah, Very similar.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
It felt like some things were happening.
You know, yeah, and I remembersitting there and some this lady
so was sitting next to me shegot up and was like in a trance
and she's got up and walked overand walked on stage and started
dancing like Michael Jackson.
I think I was like nine or 10.
Yeah, and I was like what thisis like?
(13:26):
I don't know what's happening.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Oh, I've read up on that.
I know a number of mental or ahypnotist.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, yeah, is that actually?
Or does she work for him, orwhat's happening?
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Apparently from what I've read and know, is hypnosis
is real.
Okay, but it's not what youwould think.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
So you can't make somebody who's hypnotized do
something they wouldn't normallydo if they weren't.
So it's a comfort level.
I've heard hypnotists bestdescribe it.
As you know, when it's late atnight you're coming home from
work and you're driving, andyou're just driving the same old
road and you're stopping andgoing and you know, at stop
lights and you get five milesdown the road and you just like
(14:02):
kind of blank out and you'relike whoa, I don't remember
stopping at those stop lightsbehind me, Right, and you're
like I don't remember what youdid, but you were in a hypnotic
state.
Okay, yeah, that's how it's beenexplained to me.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Okay, so they just use that as entertainment
purposes, and it gets kind ofgoofy and crazy.
It's pretty funny.
Yeah, it was.
I was more shocked because Ithought I was going to like
levitate or have to walk upthere or something, cause the
lady was sitting next to me thewhole time and she was like I am
never going to do this, this isso embarrassing.
And she did it and all of asudden she just quieted up, got
up and left.
I still Like I, and I've nevergone back since I was just cause
(14:40):
I was scared, you know, itwould take me up there and I was
like no, no sir, I go up thereand be dancing like Michael J no
.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I don't think you'd be take.
Only a certain type of peoplecan be hypnotized, induced.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Oh induced, oh induced Okay.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Well, so what do you think?
How would you?
How would you, if you're goingto put a title on magic in the
United States, what would?
How would you say it?
Like anybody coming to theUnited States from the rest of
the world magic and mentalism.
If you're going to put likekind of a title on it or a
discri one sentence description,what would you?
(15:15):
What would you say?
Like hey, I'm going to UnitedStates, what's it like?
What's the magic mentalism gamelooking like?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, I think it's pretty strong.
Strong, yeah, I mean we gotDavid, we got the greats, we got
David Blaine, David Copperfield, you know.
I mean remember back in the daywhen he made the Statue of
Liberty disappear.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
The Learjet speaking of here we are yeah.
You know, david Blaine, there'sguys overseas, yeah, there's.
You know, you've got America'sgot talent.
Magic was really big.
You had Colin McLeod O's, whohe didn't win but he got pretty
far.
You got the guy from ChicagoCan't recall his name, but he
(16:03):
did really well.
I mean, it's just very popularnow and people want more and
it's very strong, it's verypopular, it's good, it's good
clean entertainment.
It's unbelievable.
People want to be amazed butthey have to believe the
amazement Before they even go.
Well, I mean, there's AI now.
(16:24):
There's people are editingvideos.
There's a lot of things you canwatch and hear and really
question it.
So if you can take reality, ifyou can take them to an
unbelievable place and make itso unbelievable, it just it
makes it incredible.
So it has to be very believable.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Right, it's got to blow their mind.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, it has to be tangible, like something that is
it feels so real, but you knowit's not.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Okay, so the magic game in the United States is
strong, yeah, entertaining andfun.
Does that sound right yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Okay, yeah, we got the magic castle in Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah right.
All right, Okay.
Well, I wanted to thank you forcoming on.
I'm Matthew Cote.
This is Foundation Nation.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
I'm Nate Jester.
If you want to take yourcompany's event to the next
level, you can find me on mywebsite, seattlemagiciancom.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Foundation Nation is proudly sponsored by Jays
Technology Solutions.
Call Jays Technology Solutionsat 253-376-7579 for all your
computer repair, it and networksolutions.
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