Tony Matheron’s focus may seem to be on hocus pocus, but he is also interested in music, psychology, rock climbing, river rafting and skydiving.
The former stand-up comedian and current Bakersfield College psychology major is often seen in the Grace Van Dyke Bird Library at 7:45 a.m. performing his sleight of hand for fellow students milling around waiting for the library to open.
But although he is usually armed with a deck of Bicycle-brand playing cards and/or with his acoustic guitar on campus, Matheron works off campus with autistic children as a psychology therapist at Behavioral Innovations in Bakersfield. Matheron said that Innovations uses a visual way to teach children, and this method is called the Iconic Exchange Program.
“Autistic children seem visually oriented,” Matheron said.
When Matheron is performing his “in your face, up close” magic, his gigs usually take place in restaurants, company picnics, weddings and corporate events, he said. He also said he is booked for the next three months.
Matheron said he derived his inspiration from a professional magician who worked with David Copperfield.
Matheron said his grandmother helped him meet this fellow wunderkind while he was visiting her in Klamath Falls, Ore.
According to Matheron, Bicycle-brand playing cards is the best and most popular brand.
Shuffling his cards and then making an elegant mid-air spiral with them, Matheron admitted his favorite card trick is what he called the “flight of the Phoenix,” which first entails having a participant mark his or her initials on the card with Magic Marker. The initials are then erased, and the card is absorbed back into the deck. The magician lights a piece of paper near the deck, and the magician then conjures up the card that had the initials that had been erased. However, the erased initials materialize on the card.
Speaking of initials, Matheron said his own is worth $9.82 on e-bay.
Matheron related that he enthralled Britney Spears under the watchful eye of a security guard with tricks in 2001 in Los Angeles one night backstage at the Staples Convention Center. Matheron was working backstage during Spears’ Onyx Hotel Tour.
When Matheron is not defying the boundaries of logic through kinetic wizardry, he can be found defying the laws of gravity as a skydiver with Skydive Taft.” River rafting with his family through Kern River Tours and rock climbing also are provide him with enjoyment, he said.
Matheron says his motto is that “Life isn’t all about the amount of breaths we take; it is about the moment that takes our breath away.”