If you like to mix it up on your nights out, look no further than the one (and only) Reed McClintock’s Jedi Mindfuck magic show. Amidst the go-go boots, patent leather and half-naked ladies at Dante’s, Portland’s greatest magician is just waiting to trip you out.
I know what you’re thinking: “Aren’t magic shows meant for eight-year-olds’ birthday parties?” Or possibly, “If this guy owns a white rabbit, so help me…”
Rest assured. No rabbits get pulled out of top hats during McClintock’s shows, which bears no resemblance to Siegfried and Roy’s gaudy Vegas act with sequins and tigers. Nor does an evening with McClintock consist of unpronounceable chants akin to Harry Potter’s Wingardium Leviosa—there are no capes or wands.
His late-night performances are in-your-face, highly interactive and truly mesmerizing. And while a disappearing a wallet, keys or the chick with whom you spent $30 and two hours schmoozing isn’t desirable when you’re out on the town, this is one time you’ll enjoy losing your senses.
Sitting at his red velvet station in the Limbo Lounge of Dante’s and trying to make sense of his impossible sleight of hand over the thumping bass and candlelight leaves you dumbfounded, but the observer acclimates to McClintock’s performance style. He slows things down, explains what he’s doing as he does it, acts surprised at his own tricks and narrates the entire experience so the audience, no matter how hard they try not to be, are charmed by his hands.
Every trick left me speechless, particularly his incorporation of tattoos into one incredibly convoluted card trick. Spoiler: The card you pick is tattooed on his chest.
He’s that good. So good, in fact, that he’s performed for Moby, the late Michael Jackson, the Crown Prince of Ethiopia and is Benicio del Toro’s favorite magician (because, apparently, Benicio knows his magicians).
I’ve talked with him about just what it takes to be a world renowned magician in today’s world of special effects, where magic—in the public’s eye—falls somewhere in between Siegfried and Roy’s giant spectacles and Harry Potter’s Fizzing Whizbees.
“I don’t do fuck-you magic,” McClintock said. He wants magic to change from egotistical magic, where it’s all about “look what I can do,” to a spectacle that will leave you reeling, which his hypnosis show will do.
And if it’s just too much for you, at least you get to see some half-naked ladies dance.