Skip to content

Hobo Skillzz

Years ago, when I was still Vlad Kraven, magician, I worked in a little magic nook inside a Union Square costume shop. It attracted a lot of strange and fascinating characters, but one stands out above the rest. He went by the name of Nevada Dan, and he was a Tornado of a man.

Understand — people typically come to a magic shop to see some tricks and hang out. Not Nevada Dan. He flew into the shop, and immediately started performing. It was a whirlwind of card tricks, coin tricks, contact juggling, like a recovering magic addict in full relapse. He did an hour of tricks without stopping, hypnotizing everyone around him, myself included. He was the real deal, a performer to the core.

He was a vagabond, a street performer traveling the country with just the clothes on his back and his Doctor’s Bag of magic tricks. In the weeks that followed I would see him performing in Union Square, drawing huge crowds into his crazy alternate reality. If he wanted food or shelter, he took to the streets and passed the hat.

A few weeks later he walked into the shop looking to buy some ropes and other props. “What happened to your stuff?” I asked, not seeing his bag. “Someone stole it from me,” he said, not really bothered by it.

He didn’t skip a beat. The day it was stolen, he bummed a cigarette from someone on the street, did cigarette tricks until he earned a few bucks, used that money to buy a pack of cards, and he was back in business.

And just as unexpectedly as he arrived, he vanished. That was the last time I ever saw him.

Nevada Dan was more than a Tornado of a man.
He left me with a lesson and a plan:
A vagabond that called the road his home,
he taught me that I’ll never need to starve alone.
For if I have a hobo skill like him,
magic, music, busking on whim
Then no job will ever be my master,
And no street will ever yield disaster.

 

Published inLearn

Be First to Comment

If you enjoyed this post, I'd love to hear your thoughts - please leave a comment below!