Richard Hatch, magician and author of the recently published illustrated bilingual children's book, Taro-san the Fisherman and the Weeping Willow Tree, will be at Brazos Bookstore in Houston (2421 Bissonnet) from 7 p.m. till 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 1, 2013 to sign copies of his book and perform the feat that inspired it. The book tells the story of Taro-san, a young fisherman in old Japan, who aspires to greatness in his profession, but fails until an old fisherman shares with him a critical secret of the craft. The story was inspired by a tale created by Hatch to accompany his performances of a classic Japanese feat known as "Nankin Tamasudare" in which 56 bamboo sticks, knotted into a mat joined by 108 pieces of string, are manipulated transformer-style to form various figures. In the Japanese tradition, the feat is performed at festivals by costumed performers who do a song and dance as they make figures with the tamasudare mat. "I don't have the costume, can't sing the song and don't know the dance," confessed Hatch. "So I wrote a story to make sense of the figures I wanted to make with the mat." Hatch's wife, violinist Rosemary Kimura Hatch found a violin transcription of "Haru no Umi" (The Sea of Spring) by Michio Miyagi to accompany the performance, which influenced further changes in the story. "Over time, the story matured and took on a life of its own," says Hatch. He began looking for an artist who could create illustrations inspired by the great Japanese artist Hokusai to tell the story. He eventually found Andras Balogh, an illustrator in Hungary, who was equal to the task. Hatch then had his friend, Yukishige Kadoya, a writer and magician in Nagoya, Japan, translate the story into Japanese for this bilingual publication which has the English text on the left hand page, and the Japanese text on the right. This is a free event, open to the public. For more information, contact Brazos Bookstore, (713) 523-0701.

In addition to the book signing and performance, Hatch will be teaching two magic classes at the Houston Museum of Natural Science earlier that day. "Theatrical Magic is based on scientific principles," says Hatch, who holds two masters degrees in Physics from Yale University. "Magicians learn to apply those principles in secret ways that exploit loopholes in our logic to create the impression that something impossible has happened." Students in Magic 101, An Introduction to Sleight-of-Hand Magic, will learn to use such ordinary objects as cards, coins, rubber bands and even paper clips to perform apparently impossible feats. Students in Magic 201, More Sleight of Hand Magic, will learn feats with straws and string, as well as more magic with playing cards.

All students will be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement regarding the material in the class. "This is the traditional Magician's Oath of Secrecy," explains Hatch. "It is really not to protect the secrets, but to protect the audience from unwanted exposure to those secrets. Harsh experience over many centuries has shown that most non-magicians are disappointed to learn that "magic" is based on science, rather than something more mysterious. So magicians have learned that the best way to preserve an audience's experience of wonder is not to spoil that emotion by revealing the science behind it."

To register for the classes, visit the Museum website here:
http://www.hmns.org/index.php?option=com_content&view....
or call (713) 639-4629

About the author and instructor: Richard Hatch holds two graduate degrees in Physics from Yale University, but finds it easier apparently to violate the laws of nature than to discover them. A childhood interest in magic became a lifelong obsession after he met and was encouraged by the German magician Fredo Raxon in 1970. A full time professional “deceptionist” since 1983, Richard moved with his wife, violinist Rosemary Kimura, to Houston, Texas in 1985, shortly after winning first place in the annual New England Close Up Magic Competition in Worcester, Massachusetts. For several years he honed his craft entertaining the guests as one of the house magicians at Houston's Magic Island Nightclub before devoting himself exclusively to private and corporate work, traveling internationally on behalf of his clients. Richard is a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and is a lifetime member of the Society of American Magicians. Among magicians he is perhaps best known for his research on the identity of “S. W. Erdnase”, the mysterious author of the 1902 classic, Artifice, Ruse and Subterfuge at the Card Table, and as the translator from German into English of works about Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser (1806 – 1875), Paul Potassy, and the first four volumes of Roberto Giobbi’s acclaimed Card College course of card manipulation. The Hatches moved from Houston to Logan, Utah in October 2010 where they have opened the Hatch Academy of Magic and Music in the historic 1878 Thatcher-Young Mansion. For more information on Richard Hatch and the Hatch Academy, see http://www.hatchacademy.com/ or call 435-932-0017.