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i love this guy, he is always out on the streets doing these magic shows and he is very funny. but you have to know some japanese to enjoy his humor.
Brian Dow Makes Youth Center Kids Believe in Magic.
Magic is real, or is it? If you saw Brian Dow perform, you would believe it is, but he would tell you that most of what he does is an illusion that occurs in your mind. He elegantly floats an hour glass on stage and makes candles appear and disappear from his hands, but Brian says that the real magic is what they do at the Youth Center. “They give kids a place to go to stay out of trouble and off of drugs. In an age when kids isolate themselves in a room and spend a good amount of their free time playing video games or watching TV, the Youth Center allows them to be social.”
When Brian was 16 years old, he became a member of the Magic Castle Junior Program in Hollywood California. He had to audition to become a member and Brian stated that it is very difficult to make it into that program. That is because it is a performance based group and the goal of the club is not to teach magic, but to help children improve their own acts through critiques by both adult magicians and their peers. Being part of that program allowed him to perform at the Magic Castle when he was just 17 years old. Very few magicians have been allowed to perform there before they turn 21. Shortly after he turned 21, Brian became a regular member of the Magic Castle and became the first ex-member of the Magic Castle Junior Program to become a chairperson of the junior group, which is a volunteer position to help the young magicians become better performers. Other than becoming better magicians, some of the goals of the Magic Castle Junior Program parallel that of the Youth Center and include: keeping kids from getting into trouble and helping them increase their self-esteem. Brian commented that “it is wonderful that there is a place like the Youth Center where all children in the community can go to in order to accomplish some of the same goals as the Magic Castle Junior Program and they do not have to audition to be part of the group.”
So, why would Brian donate his time to perform magic at the Youth Center for Magic for a Cause? He said, “for the same reason that I volunteer to help young magicians become better performers. It gives them a role model and lets them know that anything is possible. After all, that is what magic is…it’s a way of making the impossible possible.” He also mentioned that the Youth Center is a special place because the kids have outstanding role models who are on staff, including Lina Lehecka and Hans Lumme. He stated “I was lucky growing up and had good role models such as my parents and my sister Toni.” Over the past five years, along with performing magic, Brian was in graduate school and earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. He guarantees that if his sister did not get her Ph.D. in Pharmacology, he would not have gone on to grad school to earn his Ph.D. He said “she showed me that with hard work it is possible to follow your dreams. In a psychology class that I took in grad school, the instructor said “whether you think you can or you can’t, you are probably right.” I hope to be an inspiration for some of the kids in this community and let them know that if they want to be a magician, musician, therapist, a fashion designer or anything else they dream of being they can follow their dreams and make it happen, but they first must believe that they can do it.”
One of Brian’s favorite parts of magic, other than performing is coming up with his own ideas and being able to create new illusions. He said that “one of the most fulfilling parts of performing is being able to create a new magic routine and perform it in front of a live audience. Nothing makes me feel more alive. I hope that the children at the Youth Center can see that and find something positive that they are passionate about that makes them feel the same way.” The other reason Brian enjoys performing magic is because it helps people who are watching forget about their problems. Even if they only forget about their problems for a few seconds, he feels he has done his job. “I hope that I was able to accomplish that today when I performed for the kids at the Youth Center” said Brian.
Brian has been performing magic since he was six years old and performed magic on the ABC television show “Kids View.” In 2001 he was the winner of a Southern California magic stage competition and has performed at the International Brotherhood of Magicians National Magic Convention. Brian performs both close-up and stage magic at private parties, corporate events, Weddings, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and colleges for both adults and children. For more information about Brian you can view his website and promotional video at www.geocities.com/dowmagic. For more information on the Los Alamitos Youth Center, visit www.theyouthcenter.org or call (562) 493-4043.