Eric Hogue - Dallas

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Eric is the former mayor of Wylie, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. Eric is also a professional magician with amazing stories to tell! Read on!

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What got you interested in magic?

Like so many others in the magic community, when I was a kid, around 12-years-old, I saw someone perform a magic trick and I was hooked. That next Christmas holiday, my parents got me the Marshall Brodien TV Magic set, and I practiced those tricks until I could do them in my sleep. At the same time, our local NBC television affiliate would air the Magic of Mark Wilson, with Mark, Nani and a young Greg Wilson, at 6:00am on Saturday mornings and I never missed an episode!

Do you have a certain trick or venue format you enjoy the most?

My show is really my story of how I got into magic, and how magic completely changed my life. I was the elected mayor of my city for over 12 years, and so the show starts out by me telling the audience how a mayor becomes a magician, but at the end of the show the audience realizes the actual story is how a magician becomes a mayor. I end the show with Snowstorm, and tell a story about my parents, and some of the life lessons they taught me. Every trick leads up to the end of the show when the audience learns that if your work hard enough, study hard enough, believe in yourself…and add a little magic…you can make your dreams and goals a reality!

 What do you like about being a SAM member?

I love the history of our organization, as well as learning about the members who have made such a positive impact to our craft. As the mayor of my community, I always talked about how there are people who read about history, and then there are others who go out and make history. I want to be one of those people to go out and make history. I have been fortunate to have played a little part in getting the US Government to recognize Magic as an Art. In 2014 PNP Dal Sanders asked if I had any contacts in the federal government. He told me how SAM had been trying to get our government to recognize magic as an artform since the 1960’s. I was able to contact a friend, Congressman Pete Sessions, and I wrote the text for the United States Congressional Record in 2014, where Congressman Sessions proclaims Magic as an Art. In 2016, another SAM member, David Copperfield, and I wanted to expand that goal of being more than just a proclamation and to try and get a resolution brought before Congress for adoption. While we had the opportunity to present a draft resolution and address the U.S. House of Representatives, the resolution never made it out of committee. But, things can always change…you never know what the future might hold for the art of magic!

If there is one thing you could change about magic and magicians, what would it be?

As with any industry there can be a lot of backstabbing, and politics involved…one rotten apple can ruin it for everybody. Unfortunately, in the 40+ years I have been involved in the magic community, I have seen that…but I have also seen it in about every industry out there…remember, I am a politician!

 What are your goals in the next few years in magic?

Learn, learn, learn! I want to continue to grow my skills, grow my show, and grow myself! I really live and believe; tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life!

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