Iowa City –

Curtains drawn at the Englert Theatre for this sold out show. A purple-blue backdrop, with folk music blaring over the loudspeakers. Nate Staniforth takes the stage and makes one singular promise – to amaze the hell out of us over and over again. The Iowa City based magician kept that promise and then some. Throughout the show there were moments of overwhelming laughter and there were moments of shock and awe. From the very first trick, Mr. Staniforth captured us all.

He walks out onto stage, a humble set up before him. One stool, a pint glass and two water bottles on top. To his side a camera so the folks in the rafters could keep up with all the action. Immediately above him, most curiously, a lit light bulb. He makes his introduction and then goes quiet. He takes a moment to collect himself, and then unscrews the lightbulb.

Our magician places the bulb on the ground and then stomps it out into shards. What comes next was the moment that silenced the whole room. Nate took a large shard of the broken glass into his mouth, and began to chew. The audience, in that very moment, in our very own Englert Theatre, became complicit in what could have been a career-ending situation. Somehow, slowly, and thankfully, Nate was able to swallow the glass, and continued to do the rest of his routine.

Let’s take a step back for a moment. If you’ve never seen one of Nate’s magic shows, you’d be forgiven for assuming that this performance was going to be ridden with tight leather pants, smoke machines and disappearing tigers. That’s certainly what the current ethos for big-stage magicians is. But not for Nate.

The performance from this magician stripped away all the unnecessary, all the fluff, and left us with pure wonder and amazement. No music cues. No fancy lighting. His outfit didn’t have any sequins, and he had no dancing assistant, lovely or otherwise.

Nate Staniforth gave us a night of incredible magic. He self proclaims his style as “street magic for a large theater.” That’s what we got.

Back to the light bulb. None of us in that 700-some audience were expecting this. What followed was even better. From card tricks to feats of mind-reading, Nate created an evening of genuine wonder for us all. Wonder – as concept, is what Nate has committed his life to. He even wrote a book about it!

Here Is Real Magic is Nate’s first book, a memoir of his journey so far in magic, performance, disillusionment and the way back from burnout. The goal of this book was to bring his readers onto stage with him. From the college campuses to the slums of Shadipur Depot in India, Nate candidly shows us that wonder and amazement is possible for everybody. The book boldly claims that magic is invariably necessary to the human experience.

Through his travels he is told, “Magic — your magic, the magic of magicians –delights us because it gives us a moment of not knowing, an island moment of wonderment, and joy, and innocence. It reminds us that it’s okay not to have all the answers or all the information — that we can move on with our lives anyway. And that we should, because we will never have enough information.”

As a town of well-educated, artistically inclined and engaged individuals, Nate’s truth rings clear.

Iowa City is but one stop on Nate’s tour, he’s making his way all across the Midwest. All across the country, Nate is bringing wonder to as many people as he can. You can keep track of his tour on his website, and learn more about him and his journey on his youtube channel.

He’s currently releasing videos for his series conveying the culture of American Magic. See it here:

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Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t use the term “band geek” maliciously. It’s a term of pseudo-endearment that has been used for decades to categorize folks, not unlike myself, that participated in band in middle and high school. We few, we happy few. We band of brass and woodwind and percussion. For those who took the stage with me those days, under the hot lights of the under-budgeted theater were to me like family. We spent hours practicing together,  performing together, in some cases – being within close proximity to each other for hours on end. We had a bond with each other, and more importantly with the music and the instruments that we played on. We had inside jokes and sang / whistled whatever tune we were focusing on that semester.

One of the biggest gripes that we all had was the amount of non-work that we thought electronic musicians put into their music. We would joke, “Well if I knew I could make music that way I would have purchased a computer instead of an f’n tuba.” Not to say that there’s anything wrong with electronic music, it’s just there was a lack of personal-touch in it. There was a lack of humanity. For this reason, most of my friends didn’t like the modern pop stuff. We struggled to find a modern band / style that really caught our attention and kept it.

Cue Postmodern Jukebox. What was once simply a YouTube Channel with one jazzy individual doing piano covers of top 40 hits, now has exploded into a worldwide phenomena, a revitalization and reintroduction of modern music with a big band flair. After touring all around Europe, Asia and Australia, the breakaway success finally made their way to the Midwest, and boy did they bring the house down.

Hosted by Mario Jose, PMJ brought vocalists Robyn Adele Anderson, Dani Armstrong, Casey Abrams, and Brielle Von Hugel. In the band they had Nick Finzer on the trombone, Chloe Feoranzo on clarinet, alto, and vocals, Bob Hamilton on guitar, Martin Diller on drums, Chris Anderson on bass, and Logan Thomas on piano. Each of these musicians left it all on the stage and each was given ample room to shine.

Some of the covers they performed were “Call Me Maybe,” made famous by Carly Rae Jepson, “Toxic” by Britney Spears, “Grenade” by Bruno Mars, and Justin Beiber’s “Sorry.” The hours went by fast with their high energy, incredibly engaging performances. I found myself smiling the whole time, I couldn’t help it! People took to the aisles to dance, and some folks, obviously more committed fans than myself, dressed up in their 50’s best for the concert.

Not to take themselves too seriously, the group often joke around with their instruments and each other. It was all very enjoyable, and this reviewer suggests that wherever and whenever they show up next near us, that you check them out.

Kris’ rating of the show: 10/10, would’ve been an 11/10 if they had stayed all night!

If you’re looking for an entertaining, electrifying show, this is the one to invest in! Kudos to the Englert for locking down this awesome set!

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Join KRUI as we interview Katie Lamberty, Executive Director of the University of Iowa’s ARH!

Associated Residence Halls (ARH) is the student governing body for the residence halls. It is an active organization whose mission is to serve as an advocate for student residents. Associated Residence Halls takes honor in focusing on a high quality living experience for residents through hall improvements, developmental programs, and events.ARH create policy and plan many social, fundraising, and school spirit events including Homecoming activities, Casino Nights, final exam care package programs, movie nights, Iowa Idol, and various leadership development activities. ARH also has the ability to create committees and policies crafted from what they find that residents would like to see in the halls and on campus.

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Join host Kris Yambao as he and KRUI learns more about secularism at Iowa, coming up on Sunday (4/24), there is going to be a forum that asks a pretty big question: “Does religion do more good or harm?” Learn more about that here and listen in on this awesome interview with Secular Students at Iowa’s very own, Ian Wold.

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In partnership with Just Living and the University of Iowa Public Policy Center, hosted by the Englert Theater, Dr. Robert Bullard presents: “The Wrong Complexion for Protection: Flint Water Crisis.” He is the author of seventeen books that address sustainable development, environmental racism, urban land use, industrial facility siting, community reinvestment, housing, transportation, climate justice, emergency response, smart growth, and regional equity. Please join 89.7 KRUI fm as we bring you this exclusive interview with the Father of Environmental Justice.

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