What a Magician Carries in His Travel Bag..
By Hilary Potkewitz for The Wall Street Journal
Back in his hotel room after every performance, Ryan Oakes methodically goes through all his pockets and lays everything out on the bed, taking inventory.
The ritual takes a while. Mr. Oakes is a professional magician who has his suits custom-made with extra pockets—10 in all. He performs at corporate events and parties. He might mingle in the crowd doing card tricks, mind games and lighting the occasional $100 bill on fire. He has an hour-long stage show that incorporates magic and mentalism.
Mr. Oakes, 36, has performed for Fortune 500 companies like TD Bank, the Ritz Carlton and Google, and at executives’ private homes, including Paul Tudor Jones of Tudor Investments and Stephen Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group. He is based in New York City but is on the road seven to 10 days a month.
He needs to pack strategically. “Many of the items I carry will get flagged by TSA, not because they’re dangerous, but because they look funny,”….