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Cindy Spencer

Kevin and Cindy Spencer Talk About Their Magic. The Columbus Georgia Ledger-Enquirer has a great profile of one of our favorite magic teams. Tonight (Friday), the duo will perform their acclaimed touring show, The Spencers: Theater of Illusion at the River Center in Columbus, Georgia.

The life of a traveling magician was always a dream job for Mr. Spencer. Now, after 21 years on the road, he fulfills it every day with Ms. Spencer, two employees and a 65-foot truck carrying some incredible illusions. According to the Ledger-Enquirer article, “next to David Copperfield, the Spencers have the biggest touring magic show in the country.”

After meeting Harry Blackstone, Jr. in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Mr. Spencer knew he wanted to follow his childhood ambition of being a touring magician.

He changed his major from Clinical Psychology to Theater Arts. “I studied to help people’s minds and now I just mess with them,” Mr. Spencer told the paper.

Kevin Spencer

After college, Mr. Spencer had a chance to meet with the incredible Doug Henning after the Canadian illusionist’s show. Mr. Henning took about an hour to talk with the young man and then allowed him to speak with the show’s Road Manager and Accountant.

He had a great relationship with Mr. Henning and Mr. Blackstone, Jr. He told the Ledger-Enquirer that both great magicians told him to “be yourself.” He has followed that instruction. “On the stage, we are the same people that we are off stage. When you do what you love, that passion will come out.”

On a personal note: Magicians are an insecure lot. Magicians who spend their waking hours washing their hands and writing about magicians are even more insecure than the rest. A good friend we pay to listen to our ramblings in 51 minute increments once said, “everyone is insecure but most have no reason to be.” We waited for the next sentence but none…

Cindy Spencer

After meeting Harry Blackstone, Jr. in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Mr. Spencer knew he wanted to follow his childhood ambition of being a touring magician.

He changed his major from Clinical Psychology to Theater Arts. “I studied to help people’s minds and now I just mess with them,” Mr. Spencer told the paper.

Kevin Spencer

Our insecurity (and annoying habit of speaking in the Royal or Papal “We”) can be traced back to our childhood and years stationed in Uganda for the Peace Corp. It could be traced to those to experiences but for the fact that our childhood was great and we were never in the Peace Corps. Reality makes us even more insecure.

One manifestation of our insecurity is the unnatural desire to want people to like us. (The other manifestation is that we admit our psychological problems in print). You can encourage others to like you by being a friend and being courteous. But we don’t have time for a path that could end up in disappointment and, thereby serve to confirm our self-doubt.

We choose the alternative method of making people like us. We lie. We say things like, “you should see their website, it is to die for!” or “if Madame Curie neglected her research and built a website, this would be it!” or “websites come and go but this one goes and goes!” and finally, “Saint is to Mother Theresa as Perfection is to Insert Name Here‘s Website!”

But the truth is, most of the websites built by or for magicians are horrible. They are filled with dead links, have poorly proportioned graphics, use Flash or QuickTime in a way that takes too long or is unnecessary. We’re not saying that we can do any better ? remember, our pathology is a neurotic insecurity built on a realistic perspective of our own talent; not egoism.

But just because the websites are horrible, doesn’t mean we have to say it. We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. We also do not want to get sued. We were sued two years ago for our last honest assessment of a magician’s website:

“Tony Spain’s web presence: has the charm of a child murderer; has the sophistication of one of the lesser-known replacement members of The Three Stooges; demonstrates a grasp for the fine points of technology unseen since the electric chair execution of Ted Bundy at the Florida State Prison; and, photos that couldn’t stir one’s emotions on a milk carton. The only things redeeming about Mr. Spain‘s site is the incessant pop-up ads for adult fetish sites that mercilessly hide the real webpage.”

We settled out of court. We can’t talk about the settlement terms; but basically, we had to do bad things for foreign business men in person and on videotape. We don’t want to do those things again, ever. Or at least not for free.

All of this is prologue to our proposition for you the reader. Please believe us when we say, The Spencers’ Website is one of the top three magic sites on the internet. In no particular order, we place The Spencers’ site up with those of Andr? Kole and David Copperfield. And we’re not just saying that.

Happy Couple

The Spencer’s web presence is absolutely perfect. The color scheme, the use of Macromedia Flash and Apple Quick Time, with great photography, well-edited text, and a fantastic structure makes this site one of the top three in magic. We see a ton of magic websites every day and so we know both the good and the bad. The Spencers‘ site is exactly how a magic website should look.

We really enjoyed their use of a blog (short for “Web Log”) where they can write quick notes about the tour, their thoughts and plans. You get the feeling of being on the road with the duo. It is a great feeling.

Even more impressive than the concept of having a blog on the site is the fact that they actually use it. There are entries from the performers about shows that happened or will happen this month. This is a great tool and is so poorly used by most web masters and almost never used by magicians.

Okay, enough gushing. In case you cannot tell, we like The Spencers and are happy they are getting the press and adulation they deserve. We don’t even care if they like us back.