Conjuring to Ozzy Osbourne

I have been deeply involved in the world of magic and magicians for years, but decided to take a "secrets of magic" approach to that and say nothing about it here. This will be the exception.

I love vintage magic props - preposterous, brightly-painted things that sit on a magic table and do something clever. I find them lovably hilarious. One of my very earliest magic routines was to put on a sparkly gown, wave a wand, and put several of these things through their paces.

Enacting this scene to the Ozzy Osbourne heavy-metal classic "Perry Mason" probably wouldn't be the obvious thing to do, but that is what I did. The entire picture I was presenting struck me as so lost in a cloud-bedimmed fairyland that I felt it required major, major ballast.