The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Trick and Treat: The owner of the Magic Shop, G Sparks, demonstrates one of his many eye-teasers.

Magic shop proves that tricks aren't just for kids

By Cecily Barnes

Inside his majestic storefront on Lincoln Avenue and San Carlos, magician G Sparks demonstrates his favorite magic trick, but not without an appropriate introduction.

"The bullet catch, it's the most dangerous trick in the world," he taunts. "Eleven magicians have died performing it. Chung Ling Soo invented the trick and performed it for many years, until one day he was shot in the head."

With that Sparks places a brass bullet on the counter and pulls a match from a weathered cardboard box. He strikes the match and places its fiery top at the base of the bullet, which rests between his thumb and forefinger.

"People might ask, 'What good is a bullet without a gun?' " he says.

A second passes. Spwat! The bullet flies from Sparks' fingers, and his head springs back for a moment. He smiles--revealing a thick brass bullet between his teeth.

He's right, it was less impressive without a gun. But there are many more tricks.

Two months ago, Sparks opened the only magic shop in San Jose, on Lincoln Avenue and San Carlos. His building triples as a studio for magic lessons, a retail shop and a place for Sparks to lay his head. Thus far, the 46-year-old magician can't believe his dream has come true.

"How can you make money and live from selling magic stuff?" Sparks asks. "This year I'm going to Argentina for a magic convention. I'd never get to go there otherwise."

His career in magic began at age 21, when young Sparks found himself trying to sneak into a Country Joe and the Fish concert alongside a magician.

"He showed the guy at the door magic tricks, and they let us in," Sparks says. "The next day I went over to his house and he showed me some tricks."

Sparks worked as a street performer in Santa Cruz and Venice for many years, landing birthday party gigs on the side and eventually finding an agent. He did a few professional shows, but realized the real fun was designing his own tricks, rather than mastering ones made by other people. Now Sparks does it all. He makes tricks, sells them, teaches students and continues to perform himself.

"Mostly it's kids that are interested in doing magic, but I have some people that do motivational speaking and want to add something that people will remember," Sparks says.

Fifteen-year-old Bryce Castello has taken two lessons with Sparks and already knows how to make an egg vanish and reappear. She can also raise a card from a deck and put other people's cards into her hand.

"He makes it really easy," Castello said.

Sparks says that magic is for everyone--everyone with the child left inside them.

"When you don't believe in magic anymore," he says, echoing Peter Pan, "then you're a grown-up."

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