ROCKINGHAM — A rock show and a magic show came together as one Monday night as Rockstar Magic performed at Leath Memorial Library.
The magician duo of Chris Bays and Neal Chamberlain have performed roughly 30 shows together in Richmond County and tour North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia 300 times a year.
Otherwise known as “Carolina’s Most Popular Magicians,” Bays and Chamberlain are jokingly trying to expand that moniker to most popular on the eastern seaboard.
The pair previously performed two separate shows before hooking up for Rockstar Magic 10 years ago, and they continue to entertain audiences with holiday tricks, such as making it snow inside, which they did in the Calvin Little Room.
Bays said that he’s been practicing magic since he was 35 years old, and although he didn’t reveal his current age, he added that before Rockstar, his show included an assistant. As for Chamberlain, he’s been performing since he was a kid, and fast forward to today, and the pair do magic full time.
Rockstar Magic has put shows on for schools, churches, corporate parties and libraries, and they’ll even make house calls for events such as birthday parties.
“If the price is right,” Chamberlain added.
With the genre of their show being whatever they could choose it to be, the big overlying question is, why rockstar magic?
“We don’t necessarily look like your typical rock stars, like with rock music,” said Bays. “But our show is very high-energy and very energetic and very fun.”
“We really wanted to communicate the message of our brand to prospects and advanced potential clients that it was a big production,” Chamberlain added. “The scale (of the show) was important for us because you look at the landscape of entertainment available out there, at least on this level when you go into a library or into a school, you often don’t see that production. That played a factor into it, as well.”
The duo began Monday’s show by asking the kids in attendance two questions; Who likes to have fun? And who likes magic?
“If you put those two together, you have fun magic,” Bays said to the crowd.
Their performances always rely heavily on audience participation, and Monday was no different. Bays then went on to “hypnotize” everyone using a mesmerizing, spinning disk.
Leath Memorial Library Supervisor Shannon Hearne also talked about how important events like Rockstar Magic are to the library itself, helping to show residents that they’re about more than just books.
“People are still under the impression that we’re just books,” Hearne said. “We offer a lot of programs to the community, and it’s very important to host events like this because we want people to know that we’re more than just books. We’re not just a building full of books anymore. We offer a lot of different services, and it’s not just all about education and serious stuff all the time. We like to have fun, too.”
Just like in years past, the magic pair previewed the potential indoor snow storm before the show, saying, “It’s gonna get pretty chilly in here,” and then proceeded to cover the room in white powder.
Rockstar Magic left the show with some words of wisdom now that the Christmas season is here.
“Love is free. It doesn’t cost a thing,” said Bays. “This holiday season, share some love.”
