Brian Foley was born on a Greyhound bus passing through Wagon Mound, New Mexico on an unknown date, (circa 416 a.d.). He was raised by a band of errant Druids, who never cleaned their ears. He was set free at the age of ten. Very little is known of his whereabouts from that period on, until remnants of his diary (found in a hotel room in Denver in 1978) explain that he resurfaced in New York State in the summer of 1966. It was during that fateful summer when Brian (still age ten) was tormented by a “friend” who used to tie him up with clothesline, and throw him out in the sand dunes to the mercy of the seagulls.
Maybe it was the early need to be free that was instilled in him by his Druid benefactors, or maybe it was his pathological fear of being pecked to death by seagulls that drove him to cultivate the uncanny ability to free himself from his bonds; but whatever the reason, one thing was clear: Brian was no ordinary child.
This unusual ability to extricate himself from ropes gained him quite a reputation among his schoolmates, who showed an early penchant for bondage. Eventually, someone mentioned a book about a man named Houdini. Brian became engrossed with the story of the life of this man who had a similar ability to free himself from incarceration. Brian read on to find that Houdini was also a magician. Well, if magic was good enough for Houdini, then it would be good enough for Brian!
Brian was on the road to magical knowledge. He practiced with cards, coins, english muffins, and anything else that he could wrap his metacarpal phalanges around.
He became a full-time, professional magician in 1976, taking his show on the road, (hitchhiking) to Aspen, Colorado. The Aspen tour lasted about three months, with Brian appearing continuously at one of the finer restaurants in Colorado (as a waiter).
The next years, though, found Brian performing at night clubs in Miami, and on cruise-ships.
Attempting to pursue an academic career at the State University of Pizza and Beer, Brian was continuously distracted by pressing obligations to procrastinate and just generally hang out.
Then tragedy struck – Brian elected to travel to Europe on what turned out to be the Student-Exchange Program from Hell.
Extensive travel on four continents, for about 8 years as a busker (street performer) and 10 years performing for corporate affairs, trade show, society balls, and European casinos (think 007, without the charm), ensued. After seventeen years of expatriate wanderings in an odyssey through Purgatory, (documented in a novel nobody has actually ever read) he returned to the Real World, with a new appreciation for all the wonder it has to offer.
The present mission is to share that wonder with the multitudes, though magic performance, lectures about learning and memory, and writing. Brian is presently working on a book, tentatively entitled “The Dream Cafe”.
