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What a Magician Carries in His Travel Bag..

What a Magician Carries in His Travel Bag..

By Hilary Potkewitz for The Wall Street Journalimage

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,”….

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A Magician Reappears in Queens, 50 Years After World’s Fair..

A Magician Reappears in Queens, 50 Years After World’s Fair..

By Keith Williams for The Wall Street Journal/ Metropolis..

Emmanuel Kamarados could talk for hours on the finer points of illusion: the planning, the technique, the showmanship. But in describing his reasons for going to the 1964 World’s Fair in Queens, he used one word.

“Destiny,” said the 73-year-old, who may be better known as Kamarr, the quick-tongued magician who has appeared dozens of times on David Letterman‘s late night shows, often upstaging his host. “When I heard there was going to be a Greek pavilion, I thought, ‘Boom. That’s my cue.’”

Already popular in his native country – he grew up on the island of Kalymnos – Mr. Kamarados, like several other illusionists, got his first real international exposure at Flushing Meadows.

Kamarr will return to the area around the Unisphere Saturday evening, when he’ll be honored at a magic event at the Queens Theatre in the Park…

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Ricky Jay, Buying Books and Telling Secrets..

Ricky Jay, Buying Books and Telling Secrets..

By John Jurgensen for the Wall Street Journal.. 

As one of the world’s most respected sleight-of-hand artists, Ricky Jay has amassed a peer group of top magicians and cardsharps, and a stable of famous pals, from Bob Dylan to David Mamet. These days, however, he probably spends more time hanging out with book dealers, he says. “I like them. They live by their wits and their knowledge.”

They also live off their earnings from insatiable collectors like him. At the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, held recently in the cavernous Park Avenue Armory, he wandered the booths with some new acquisitions in hand, two books about hand shadows, and greeted many dealers by first name.

One seller asked his advice about a book whose blank pages reveal images when you blow on them, a specialty of Mr. Jay’s…

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