I am proud to present the first guest blog post, authored by fellow Californian, Kings Wild Project fan, and bassist Danny Carey. He can be found on Instagram as dan.yule.sun. (https://www.instagram.com/dan.yule.sun/). Thank you Danny for providing this article!
When the average person thinks of playing cards, the first thing they usually think about is games. Poker, kid games, cribbage and so on. Imagine their surprise and confusion when they hear about playing cards and the community that collects them, usually for three reasons.
Cardistry
Magic
Collecting
Nevermind the fact that the average person has no idea what Cardistry is, they don’t understand the scope of playing cards. The thousands and thousands of decks, the big and small card companies, and even the many conventions dedicated to the playing card. When I try and explain this world to someone who is not aware it exists, they have a hard time understanding why people would be so into playing cards. Aren’t they just for poker?
About two years ago I lost my job and was having a hard time dealing with it. I went unemployed for two months or so. Interview after interview and nothing was going my way. One night Fool Us came on the TV. Of course I had seen the show before and knew who Penn and Teller were, but I never paid much attention to them. Something that night clicked with me and I thought learning card magic would be cool and give my mind something to focus on while I look for work. I went to Target and got some Blue Bikes and jumped on YouTube. Boy was I in for a shock. There were endless YouTube videos about how to do magic, it was a bit overwhelming at first, but then I settled in on Disturb Reality and I was on my way.
From there I found 52Kards, then Alex Pandrea and finally Chris Ramsey. Not only was I learning sleight of hand and the history of magic, but I was introduced to the world of playing cards and all the different stocks, finishes tuck cases and so much more. I was blown away that this community existed and was considered a form of art. When I finally got a job and some steady income, I decided to join the fray. I bought a deck called Peelers from the new Organic Playing Cards (who are now well established in the card community and sell out each deck the produce). I was hooked from then on.
Then I really looked into Instagram, I found a group of people like me. We all liked playing cards, but we all liked them for different reasons. Be it cardistry or magic, it did not matter. We all had something in common and since collecting playing cards is not a mainstream thing, it felt good to have this amazing group of people from all walks of life and all over the world to be able to chat with. Share our thoughts on the latest deck of cards, the newest magic effect and cardistry moves, and even the occasional controversy.
And in this community we have all built, we made friends. Some we may never meet in real life, but through the power of social media, it doesn’t really matter. We all have a strong passion and willingness to help each other grow, not only as cardists and magicians, but as people. And that is what I get the most out of this…the community.