Mentalist invades student's minds
Ian Davis
Issue date: 2/11/09 Section: The Edge
Brent Loewenstein is not someone you'd guess to be a master magician at first glance, but, just like his trade, looks can be deceiving.
Loewenstein performed for a large group of students, faculty and Macomb residents Friday, Feb. 6, in the Western Illinois University Union Grand Ballroom and amazed everyone there. Every trick and illusion he performed elicited awed gasps and whisperings of wonder from the
audience.
Almost the entire show drew on audience participation, and the added unexpectedness of some of the audience's antics on stage added to the everyone's enjoyment.
"I love it when people don't just go along with what I say 100 percent. It challenges me and my skills and also makes the show much funnier," Loewenstein said about one or two of his troublemaking assistants.
"I've always loved being able to entertain and was especially taken with magic," he said. "I was about six or seven years old when I got my first magic kit, and then at 12 I actually decided to get serious with it."
With 23 years experience under his belt, Loewenstein is still as enthusiastic about his art as ever. His youthful appearance, short stature and halting speech all give the impression that he's an amateur, but not is all as it seems. Loewenstein is unconventional for a stage magician. His shows have no over-the-top theatrics, no schtick and no extravagance to save the actual performance.
"I don't like being like all the other magicians you see," he said. "In fact, when my publicist was creating brochures for me, I told him, 'Take the first 30 things that come to mind when you think of the word magician, and throw them out. I don't want any of it.'" He is true to his word, as well. Clad in a purple suit and gold tie, he performed on a
Spartan stage with only his props, two chairs and a small table.
He explains, "If you're truly talented, people will pick up on that. There's a big difference between simply occupying an audience and blowing them away."
Loewenstein performed for a large group of students, faculty and Macomb residents Friday, Feb. 6, in the Western Illinois University Union Grand Ballroom and amazed everyone there. Every trick and illusion he performed elicited awed gasps and whisperings of wonder from the
audience.
Almost the entire show drew on audience participation, and the added unexpectedness of some of the audience's antics on stage added to the everyone's enjoyment.
"I love it when people don't just go along with what I say 100 percent. It challenges me and my skills and also makes the show much funnier," Loewenstein said about one or two of his troublemaking assistants.
"I've always loved being able to entertain and was especially taken with magic," he said. "I was about six or seven years old when I got my first magic kit, and then at 12 I actually decided to get serious with it."
With 23 years experience under his belt, Loewenstein is still as enthusiastic about his art as ever. His youthful appearance, short stature and halting speech all give the impression that he's an amateur, but not is all as it seems. Loewenstein is unconventional for a stage magician. His shows have no over-the-top theatrics, no schtick and no extravagance to save the actual performance.
"I don't like being like all the other magicians you see," he said. "In fact, when my publicist was creating brochures for me, I told him, 'Take the first 30 things that come to mind when you think of the word magician, and throw them out. I don't want any of it.'" He is true to his word, as well. Clad in a purple suit and gold tie, he performed on a
Spartan stage with only his props, two chairs and a small table.
He explains, "If you're truly talented, people will pick up on that. There's a big difference between simply occupying an audience and blowing them away."
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