Magician comes home to share success

Eli Kerr has spent his life deceiving people -- or at least their eyes.

"Basically, my whole life is a lie," he explained. "I don't want to ruin this for anyone, but it's all a trick."

Kerr, 26, performed his first magic show at Eagle Valley Middle School about 14 years ago and returned Tuesday to share his life as an illusionist with the students as part of the school's career fair.

"It's incredible to be back," Kerr said. "The school looks smaller, but I think that's because I'm a half a foot bigger."

He graduated from Carson High School a semester early in 1994 to take a job on the Big Red Boat, a cruise ship out of Florida.

Since then, he has traveled the world bringing magic to life.

At 6, he received his first magic kit from his grandmother, and he performed for the first time as a seventh-grader.

Kerr's long, almost-white hair and pale skin set him apart from other children. But performing in front of the entire school, he found his niche.

"I feel most comfortable on stage because I fit," he said. "I make sense up there."

Kerr began his presentation with a video of a portion of his shows which featured women spinning on giant swords and transforming a motorcycle into a race horse.

"I couldn't squeeze all the big equipment and the girls in here, so I settled on a video," he said.

The producer and main performer in the show, he also designs and builds most of his own equipment.

"I like to have my hands in just about everything that goes on," he said.

It also lends authenticity to his show.

"I want to bring magic into this century and make things different," he said. "The limits of it have basically been explored. It's been around hundreds of years, and chopping women in half has just become a standard."

Although his tricks are now performed on a large scale with smoke and lights, he demonstrated a couple of basic magic tricks for the students.

In one, he stuck a pencil through a $20 bill but then showed the bill had no holes in it.

"It was a pretty good magic trick," said Edgar Gomez, 14. "For a living he does fun things -- he makes people disappear."

Other professionals also presented at the career fair, including a representative from the National Guard.

"He had really interesting things to tell about, like his experiences in different countries he's been to," said Lucas Jaques, 13.