Garrett Thomas: Magician

"Your first kiss, having a baby, getting married," Garrett Thomas said. "It is these first moments in our lives that define magic."

Thomas, a magician, artist and writer for David Blain, calls it "the gift of astonishment." It is this gift of feeling that his magic gives to audiences.

"We magicians shake your etch a sketches without any trauma," Thomas said, who has the habit of referring to the human brain as an etch a sketch.

"Natural responses to magic are silence and jaw dropping, and people are so internal at that moment," he said. "This is the gift I love giving to people."

A resident of downtown Buffalo, Thomas grew up in Depew and is a full time magician writing for David Blain from home. He travels to New York City monthly and performs nightly at various venues around Buffalo. And it isn't uncommon for him to fly across the U.S. to perform at a private party, where he is hired as a guest.

On top of all that, Thomas calls himself a teacher of magic, molding the future of magic. In fact, the root word of magic is magi, meaning "wise man."

While dining at Off the Wall on Elmwood, Thomas casually approached the patrons, first completing a Rubix cube one handed in the blink of an eye. He immediately catches the attention of the remainder of the room. It is as if he is superhuman.

He then reads the mind of the girl at the end of the table and flips a set of reading glasses over without even touching them.

"Mind reading is simply primal," Thomas said. "There was a time when Mr. Cave Man looked at Mrs. Cave Woman and ran to her aid without any spoken or written language."

Thomas has been practicing magic as long as he can remember, starting with a love of juggling, puzzles and little tricks of skill with magic sets. After performing at a show for the policeman's association at the age of twelve, nobody cheered and he thought they didn't like him. He later found out that they were silent in astonishment and actually loved him.

The unbelievable and unexplainable aspects of what Thomas can do if repeated makes one sound dim-witted. In order to get the feel of his power one must see him in action.

At the closing of large shows, he uses hypnotism to wow his audience and can actually make two people switch bodies.

"The best thing in magic is hypnosis," Thomas said. "I've combined psychological principles with hypnosis principles."

He avoids staged shows because he feels the magic is lost if you are not personal with your audience.

"For example, David's magic is so much better live than on TV, his audience is only experiencing about 40 percent of what is happening," Thomas said.

Writing for David Blain requires Thomas to use his problem solving abilities.

"The coolest thing we did for David never got aired," he said. "You actually cut your finger and squeeze a little bit of blood out then blow on your finger and a lady bug flies away and the wound is healed."

In 2000 Thomas entered an IBM (International Brotherhood of Magicians) competition at the Adams Mark hotel in Buffalo and won for the fastest hands in magic.

After winning the competition Thomas began to gain credibility and popularity, and started touring across the country.

"Everything changes so quickly," Thomas said.

While on tour, Thomas was noticed by a production agency and now has videos of his magic in stores across the nation. He says they are there to inspire, not to be copied.

With the world of magic at his fingertips, Thomas decided to make his permanent home where he grew up.

"The reason I am in Buffalo and not in New York City is because of my closeness with my family," he said. "I have three younger sisters who I am extremely close with and I am the oldest so I have to protect them."

All three of Thomas' sisters are artists, as well as his mother, who has paintings in the Smithsonian.

The way Thomas' brain works is unique. He has struggled with dyslexia since childhood, which made learning magic difficult at first. Magic was the one thing that impressed his father, who worked as a contractor with little time for play.

"Anyone can achieve anything if you want it bad enough and if you push yourself," Thomas said. "Magic was the one thing that impressed him. He would wake me up at three in the morning to show his friends what I could do."

As a child, his father's approval drove him to improve his magic skills, but as a grown adult his father encouraged him to "put the cards away" and "get serious." But Thomas' heart was in magic, and he knew it was his calling.

Thomas now refers to magic as "a new impossible moment," exactly what one feels when seeing him in action. His goal is not to take people out of their reality, like some magicians do, but to shake people in their reality.

Above all, Thomas has a way of showing his audiences that the most special magic of all is the magic that exists within oneself.

"I challenge people to question and think more," Thomas said. "It is the exchange of spirit."