Tricky business

>> Razor-swallowing magician has his share of close shaves

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Peter Snow

Job title: Magician

Age: 44

Current salary: $18,000 on a good year

Salary if he moved back to magician-friendly Europe: Much higher than $18,000

Years on the job: 30

Bio: This virile and enigmatic Plateau resident first started pulling rabbits out of hats as a child in his native England and has had a passion for magic ever since. A part-time Tai Chi instructor, Peter's early performances incorporated that special brand of gut-busting humour that magician types are so famous for. But his current work is less humour-based and embraces movements more commonly associated with the martial arts. A high school dropout, Peter is nevertheless educated out the wazoo and will continue to talk literature long after a listener has begged him to stop. He says that mystery and wonder are the primary emotions that drive him, and word has it there is no straitjacket in the world that can restrain this passionate Houdini fan.

Do kids in England like to beat up on geeky kids who are into magic? Not especially. "Magic is pretty fashionable these days."

His trademark trick: Eating razor blades.

Has eating razor blades ever posed a threat to his health? Yes. "One time in Paris I had eaten 30 blades and they got stuck in my throat and I was very close to death. One of my associates started screaming for a doctor and finally a nurse came on stage and squeezed my abdomen hard enough so that all the blades popped out of my throat in one lump. It was amazing."

Is it a bad idea to start panicking when you have 30 razor blades lodged in your throat? Yes. They end up in your digestive system and you die a very painful death.

Does he ever swallow other objects like swords or penises in his act? No. "I avoid doing a Fakir show and try to appeal to as wide an audience as possible." [Fakir Musafar: considered to be the "father of the modern primitives movement" à la Jim Rose.]

How often fans, mesmerized by his otherworldliness, approach him after a performance begging him for a little sexual magic: Occasionally. "I think many women are attracted to men who display a lot of energy and vitality. I have a lot of energy."

Has anyone ever seen his act and accused him of being the devil? Not Satan specifically, but while performing in the Third World, he has had crowds of people chase him down the street convinced that he was a sorcerer--asking him to contact their lost loved ones and to pick winning lotto numbers for them.

Something that pisses him off: Bogus mystics who use magic to trick people out of their hard-earned cash.

Last book read: Claiming not to be the avid reader he once was, Peter currently has seven books on the go, the last one being a collection of short stories by Jorges Luis Borges.

Words to live by: "Time goes by very fast and we must grasp life. We must make the effort to try to be in a good mood and be spiritually available to others."