Profile - MLive.com
Transcription
Profile - MLive.com
Entertainment SEction Editor: Brian Wheeler 768-4928 bwheeler@citpat.com SUNday January 3, 2010 D7 JACKSON CITIZEN PATRIOT Profile — Magician Kevin James His success is no President Barack Obama reacts to performers during a Halloween reception in the East Room of the White House. Kevin James performed at the event. illusion Official White House Photo by Pete Souza “Most cutting-in-half illusions are done inside some kind of box. This is done right out in the open.” Kevin James, a Jonesville High School graduate, making his mark with magic By Bill Chapin I bchapin@citpat.com — 768-4971 f you want to meet the president of the United States, you could try winning a major award, becoming a war hero or simply crashing a state dinner. Or you could always cut a man in half on national television. That was the trick for magician Kevin James, a 1980 Jonesville High School graduate. James (not to be confused with the actor and comedian of the same name) performed a routine on “America’s Got Talent” in 2007. Dressed as a surgeon, he sliced an assistant in two with a chain saw. The man’s legs continued to move and he raised his torso off the table with his hands before James reassembled him. “Most cutting-inhalf illusions are done inside some kind of box,” James said. “This is done right out in the open.” James was eliminated on the TV show after three appearances, but videos of “The Operation” went viral on the Internet. Ever since then it’s been nothing but command performances for the Prince of Bahrain, the royal family of Monaco and even President Barack Obama. James said performing at a White House Halloween celebration for the first family and 250 of their guests is unquestionably the highlight of his 25-year career as a professional magician. His mother was excited for him, too. “To have a command performance out of all the magicians in the United States, that was pretty cool,” said Mary Lou Bradford, who runs the Lilac Ridge Bed & Breakfast in Scipio Township north of Jonesville. James spoke with Obama before the performance, but he didn’t get an opportunity to hear the president’s reaction afterward. “There was a guy sitting next to him who said at one moment he turned to the people around him and said, ‘Are you believing what I’m seeing?’” James said. Kevin James is his stage name. He was born Kevin Lowery in France, where his father was stationed as an Air Force helicopter pilot. He spent most of his childhood in Jonesville and said the family’s Halloween displays were an early — Magician Kevin James Online Kevin James’ official Web site: www.kjmagic.com Video of “America’s Got Talent” performance: tinyurl. com/kjmagic See Magician, on D8 Plugged In 2009 offered some musical treats; here are my 10 favorite Now that I’m all done examining the music of the past decade, it’s time to focus on 2009. While it won’t be terribly missed by anyone I know, it did offer some pretty tasty musical treats, five of which already have been featured in the Albums of the Aughts series. I thought a short rundown of my favorite 10 albums of 2009 would be in order. Notice I said “my favorite,” not “the best.” I swear, just because your favorite album doesn’t appear below doesn’t mean I think these 10 are somehow superior. Unless your favorite was that Daughtry album, in which case I guarantee these are better. I kid! 10. “Wolfgang Amadeus Bill Chapin bchapin@citpat.com — 768-4971 Entertainment writer Phoenix,” Phoenix The French pop-rock band has been around since 1999, and until this year it was one of those groups that you kept hearing music geeks talk about but never actually heard. The irresistible singles “Lisztomania” and “1901” changed all that. If you didn’t see Phoenix perform on “Saturday Night Live” or all the major latenight talk shows, you undoubtedly heard “1901” in that Cadillac commercial. 9. “Wilco (The Album),” Wilco They named it what? And they put a camel on the cover? What sort of goofballs had Chicago’s most innovative and respected band gotten itself all hopped up on this time? But once Jeff Tweedy is done singing about how “Wilco will love you, baby,” the album starts to seem like a logical step. It doesn’t abandon the peaceful, easy Americana that defined “Sky Blue Sky,” but it also returns to some of the twitchy experimentalism of “A Ghost is Born.” It’s the first Wilco album that doesn’t seem like a dramatic shift in direction and instead just feels like a Wilco album. Huh, the title makes sense after all. 8. “The Hazards of Love,” The Decemberists Ever since the 2004 EP “The Tain,” Portland, Ore.’s The Decemberists have been gravitating away from amusing acoustic-pop ditties and toward dark, prog-rock epics rooted in folklore. The tide reached its high point with this concept album, which tells the tale of a young girl impregnated by the shapeshifting adopted son of a forest queen, who is then abducted by a rascal and escapes when the ghosts of his murdered children return to torment him — all set to music that treads the common ground between ’60s British folk-rock and heavy metal. Only The Decemberists could pull off something this audacious. 7. “Upper Air,” Bowerbirds For all you alt-folk enthusiasts holding out for rustic, acoustic arrangements and gorgeous harmonies, it didn’t get any better in 2009 than this sophomore album. Rooted in Phil Moore’s guitar and Beth Tacular’s accordion, the songs sound charmingly homemade — which isn’t all that surprising given that the couple spends most of their time living in an eco-friendly cabin they built in the woods outside Raleigh, N.C. 6. “Fortress Round My Heart,” Ida Maria From my Albums of the Aughts entry: “Starting with the can’t-betopped opening single, ‘Oh My God,’ Ida Maria’s voice demands attention. It is raw, raspy and powerful, earning those comparisons to Janis Joplin and Chrissie Hynde. Her singing would conjure up images of booze- and cigarette-fueled partying and morning-after regret even if her lyrics didn’t address those things directly.” 5. “Veckatimest,” Grizzly Bear From my Albums of the Aughts entry: See MY, on D8