Magician Aaron Black impresses Richmond crowd

Students alternated between laughs and gasps as Aaron Black read minds, performed illusions and cracked jokes Friday night.

He opened the show by informing the audience that a performance of his had recently been named Show of the Year at the Boulder Festival.

He followed up by saying, "My mom was so proud when she wrote that review."

He delved into the magical portion of the show by appearing to push a glass bottle entirely through the midsection of a stunned volunteer. The audience gasped, and more than one male attendee let out a shocked squeal.

Black, a self-proclaimed magician and comedian, has been performing across the United States for several years, mostly on college campuses. He assured the audience that what he performed wasn't magic, but "illusion," saying this in the voice of wacky fellow magician, Gob, from the television show "Arrested Development."

He then moved into mind-reading, asking for male and female volunteers from the crowd and telling them to both choose one word from a book of more than 200 pages.

He attempted to guess the words by gauging the volunteers' reactions to each letter as he went through the alphabet. He had the female volunteer place her hand on his chest, and said, "She just got to second base with me!" drawing laughs from the crowd. He then successfully wrote out the word she had chosen.

When Black asked the audience for a $100 bill to perform another routine, a member of the audience said, "We're in college!" and instead offered a $20 bill, which drew a laugh from Black. He then shocked the audience by using a pencil to poke a hole through the bill, and slice it in half, only to hand it back to its owner perfectly unharmed.

Black ended the show with an illusion where he placed his hands on a table, asked audience members to concentrate and then lifted the table off the ground with his palms remaining flat on the surface.

More than one audience member left the show still contemplating this last trick with his or her friends, and debating just how he could have accomplished the professed illusion.

Black performed the show unassisted, but has held shows involving up to 13 people in the past.

"I couldn't believe what I saw," said senior Monica Rocha. "I kept thinking I had him figured out, and then he would just take the trick even further."

Contact staff writer Margaret Finucane at margie.finucane@richmond.edu