Illusions Magic Bar & Lounge
1025 S. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21264
Baltimore never ceases to surprise me. From the burgeoning arts district in North Avenue to free book shop near Charles Village, the city continues to express itself in interesting ways.
Lo and behold, a high-end bar and lounge devoted sleight of hand, illusions, and strait-jacket escapes. As an aside, the owner, Ken Horsman, himself can't believe this place is here, let alone in Federal Hill. That's magical.
Ken and Spencer Horsman form the father-and-son team behind Illusions Magic Bar & Lounge. Pere (Ken) Horsman was a former Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus clown and Willard Scott's (former Today Show weatherman) successor as Ronald McDonald, the (former) multinational fast-food corporation's hype man. He passed along the gift of entertainment to Horsman fils (Spencer) at the tender age of four. Apparently, Spencer was a child prodigy and picked up ventriloquism and magic rather easily. He's performed for celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris and even "bi-winner" Charlie Sheen.
The magic itself is rather goofy, more of the Penn-and-Teller comedic strain rather than David Copperfield spectacle-and-illusion. Ken serves as the consummate and goofy opener to get the crowd rolling; Spencer dazzles with his stock of card tricks, pseudo-illusions, and strait-jacket escapes.
The strait-jacket escape was more an act of contortionism than illusion, although I certainly was taking mental notes if I ever encountered myself in a similar Jack Bauer "24" situation.
The most impressive magic trick involved causing a $100 bill previously borrowed from a member of the audience to appear inside (!) a random orange in a martini glass. I'm not sure was was more magical: the execution of the trick, getting the dour 40-year old attorney to actually lend him a $100 bill, or somehow getting his Botoxed, breast-enhanced date romantically interested in him after he stepped off stage.
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