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Every little thing he does is magic
Aggie magician showcases talent with performances at Bryan-College Station locations
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By Eric Aikin
The Battalion
Alex Hinojosa, a junior manufacturing engineering technology major,
dims the lights in his room at the University Towers. In his left hand, he pro
duces a small, glowing, red light bulb. Suddenly, the bulb disappears, only
to reappear in his right hand. Hinojosa pushes the bulb into his right ear and
pulls it from his left. The glowing light disappears into a nostril and comes
out of an eye socket. A second later, the bulb is gone again.
This sleight of hand illusion is one of more than 50 tricks Hinojosa, an
amateur magician, knows.
“But in my repertoire, 1 probably only put in 12, because it’s bet
ter to do a few tricks and do them good than do a lot of tricks and
do them bad,” he said.
(jjrf Hinojosa has been performing magic tricks since he was about
)r y ears A' 1 old 61- friend showed him a couple of tricks, which
^Mgot him interested.
Mon* “I wanted to be like him,” he said. “I wanted to pursue that be-
sitks [cause I thought it was cool how you can do a little trick and get a
r SOOtl |g° od react ion from someone.”
hniw\ Th e fr rst fri c ' ,c Hi no j osa i earne d was a simple one, he said.
* Thi l ln t ^ ie tiac ^’ cadcd a lefty, the magician shows two emp
1120 jty hands, then closes his left hand and pulls a scarf
Xt §from it. The magician pushes the scarf back into his
hand, only to make it seem to disappear.
Hinojosa said he most enjoys doing sleight of
hand tricks and working close to his audience.
“I’m more into what’s called close-up mag
ic, which is magic right up front, right in your
face,” he said. “(Magic) is more believable
when you’re one or two feet away from the
magician, and he does something incredi
ble. You’re like, ‘Wow, how did he do
that?’ ”
Hinojosa said one of his biggest influ
ences has been David Copperfield.
He started out small, with just a few
tricks, but he’s worked his way up. Now
Everybody knows him,” Hinojosa said, point
ing to an autographed picture of Copperfield.
Hinojosa started performing in his home-
jtown of McAllen, Texas, where he entertained
patrons at the local Applebee’s Neighborhood
Grill & Bar.
“I would go table-hopping for tips,” he said.
He also did several shows for children in
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McAllen, including one he remembers as a not-so-great performance.
“I had this cane that was wrapped in silk,” he said. “It was supposed to
disappear, but when I went to make it disappear, it didn’t go. (The kids) just
started laughing. I tried to play it off and tapped the cane on the ground a
couple of times. That was all it needed. Then they were like, ‘Wow!’”
Since coming to Texas A&M, Hinojosa has performed mostly for small
groups of friends, although he did make his public debut at a talent show
last year.
“There’s a talent show we do here at University Towers, and if you win,
you win $ 100,” he said. “I got first place for doing my magic act.”
Hinojosa’s act has caught the attention of College Station-area
merchants.
“Last semester we were at Dillard’s. There was a girl at the
counter where [Hinojosa] was buying some boots,” said Max
Campbell, a junior computer science major. “He started show
ing her stuff, and then a few other people came and started
watching. We were going to be there five minutes, and we end
ed up being there for an hour and a half. All he had were cards
and some coins. And he kept people there for an hour and a half.”
John Owens, a freshman biology major, said he was sim
ilarly awed.
“The first time I saw him, it was totally un
expected. 1 had no idea he was a magician, and I
was like, ‘Dang!’ He was awesome.”
Owens saw Hinojosa make an encore perfor
mance at Dillard’s. “He was buying a card table
and started talking to the clerk, then ended up
showing him a bunch of card tricks,” he said.
Campbell remembers when he first met Hino
josa at a cafeteria in College Station. “He was just
working the room, doing tricks,” he said. “Mostly
for the girls, though.”
Hinojosa said magic can be a way to catch some
one’s eye.
“When I first started community college back home,
I took a speech communications class. The first day, they
tell you to go up and say something abut yourself. I went
up there and said, ‘My name is Alex and I do magic,’ ” he
said. “The teacher said, ‘Oh you have to do a show for us
sometime. You have to bring your stuff and one class period
will just be us watching you.’ So that kind of got me a lot of
girls and friends and whatnot.
“I think when I do magic or tell people I’m a magician,
they find it interesting because it’s unique. It’s like nothing
else because it’s hard for someone to do magic.”
PHOTOS BY ANDY HANCOCK/The Battalion
Alex Hinojosa , a junior manufacturing engineering technology major,
demonstrates the flaming wallet (above) and card tricks (left).
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Liberal Arts Career Week
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6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Reed Arena
Social
8:00 - ? p.m. Reed Arena
Friday, February 9th: Career Fair
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Rudder Exhibit Hall
www.lasctamu.com