Michael Howard Friedland is a very skilled guy. He’s good at a lot of things. He’s athletic, musical, intellectual, and let’s face it, he’s extremely socialable. But the thing that always blew me away about him, ever since we met in 9th grade at White Plains High School, was his ability to do magic, especially card tricks. Sure, he’s pulled a quarter or two out of my ear, but it’s these card tricks that are really amazing.
After graduating from Tufts University, Friedland got into the business world, and excelled in it. But now, he’s decided to pursue other interests with his stage show A.D.D. LIGHTFUL. The show sold out it’s first run in Manhattan last fall, and now he’s back with a second set of shows, which show off his magic, musicianship, and charming personality. I wonder if the show is any better than the night he transformed a Greenwich Village sushi restaurant into an all out sing-a-long, which included restaurant patrons and staff joining him in an impromptu piano playing set (there happened to be an upright piano against the wall next to our table that was calling his name) highlighted by his fun-filled rendition of Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long”. Is it possible?!?!?!?! Check out this exclusive Westcheddar interview with Mike to find out more about the show, his roots in magic and music, and if he actually has A.D.D….
ip: Ok Michael, my dude, we go way back. I vividly remember you stumping me with amazing card tricks when I first met you in Mr. Hazelton’s 9th grade biology class. Tell me where your interest in magic started and how old you were when you got into making us mere mortals feel like total mush heads.
mf: Mr.Hazelton. Wow. I think I learned most of my first card tricks during his class. It was only a year earlier that I started studying magic seriously. Eighth grade was when, as we say in the business, the bug bit. I saw a magician perform close up magic while I was away on vacation in Florida. He made some coins appear out of thin air, changed a one dollar bill into a hundred right in front of my face…some cool stuff. Once I got home, I went to White Plains public library, and I took out and read every book it had on magic. That is to say, well, both of them. And from there, I never stopped. As you know I played basketball freshman year, since you and I road to practice and the bench together…but after that, I started practicing magic for a few hours a day every day after school. That’s how it started.
ip: You appeared quite regularly on our cult classic public access television show Prime Time with Dan and Andrew back in high school, pulling cards out of your mouth and other areas of your body. Did you put on any other magic performances back in those days?
mf: Sure….many. Some casual, some formal. I remember doing a First Holy Communion for an Italian Family. It was great. I was like 15 years old and at the end of the party the father pulled me over and shoved three hundred-dollar bills into my hand. I performed at a few bar mitzvah’s, office parties, and even a few sleight of hand competitions…not to mention for friends and family all the time. But Prime Time was a great experience and a ton of fun. I especially enjoyed watching Dave Epstein beat himself senseless just to get on the show. As an artist, I think you have to respect that kind of dedication.
ip: I also recall a fine performance our senior year as the lead in The Music Man. What made you want to get into that musical world so late in your high school days?
mf: Well, it was more accidental than deliberate. I’d pretty much given up on sports after dislocating my shoulder for the one hundred and twelth time, and I started to get into performing with all of the magic. I played guitar and piano as a kid and always loved music, but never dreamed of performing in front of an audience. But the spring musical our senior year turned out to be the Music Man, and I started hearing rumors that Mike Backes, who the show was basically picked for, was not planning to audition in order to pursue other interests. So, there was this BIG void. If not Mike Backes, then who? So, I bought the movie of The Music Man, and studied it for weeks and weeks before the auditions so that by the time it was time to audition, I already knew the part cold. It was, and is to this day, one of the hardest periods of work I’ve ever put in. It also reinforced my love of performance and mimicry.
ip: At Tufts, you joined a pretty popular acapella singing group. Tell us about that. Do acapella singers bag a lot of chicks?
mf: Do a cappella singers bag a lot of chicks? My guess is it’s bell-curve distributed, but I really don’t know. I sang in a coed group called the Tufts Amalgamates. We were very ambitious with our music. Tufts has great a cappella, and the all mens group, the Beelzebubs, is one of the better known groups in the country. I didn’t want to be in an all mens group for some reason…it seemed like a lot of fun, and those guys probably did get laid a lot, but it just wasn’t the experience i was looking for. There was something fun about being in the Amalgamates–a great challenge. It’s very hard to sing a cappella in general, but mixed groups, I think, are even tougher, so to make it sound good requires a lot of work and dedication. And the people I sang with were really, really fantastic. Some of the most talented people I’ve ever met. Did you know that Jessica Beil auditioned for my group while I was abroad my junior year? Well, she did, and she didn’t get in. When I learned of this, I went into a deep, prolonged period of depression that didn’t end until…gosh, did it end? No, actually. That knowledge still haunts me to this day. Then last year there was that book, Perfect Pitch: The Quest for Collegiate a Cappella Glory that shed a lot of light on the subculture, and also highlighted some bigtime celebrities that sang in college, inclduing Masi Oka from the show Heroes, and Anne Hathaway, among others. College a cappella is becoming something of a springboard. In fact, I now sing in a group called Duwende. You’d never know it’s a cappella. It’s just good, solid music.
ip: Wow, Jessica Beil huh? They really blew it on that one. Anyway, you’ve recently transitioned from the business world back into the arts and performance arena. What compelled you to do that? I’m sure it wasn’t about the money.
mf: No, it was not at all about the money. Here’s how I look at it. There’s something called the Ten Thousand Hour Rule. If you’ve read Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, Outliers, then you’ve heard of it. It’s basically this; in order to become an expert at something, one of two things is required. Either ten years, or ten thousand hours of practice. So, when I graduated from business school last december, I started thinking, man, what am I willing to devote ten thousand hours of practice to? And I realized, maybe things would be easier if I just focused on something that I’d ALREADY put ten thousand hours into, and then some! That was magic and music.
ip: So you sold out your first round of your new show, “A.D.D. Lightful”. First of all, fun name for the show, but why the reference to A.D.D.? Do you suffer from the symptoms of the disorder?
mf: I’m sorry, what was the question? Oh right, ADD. Yeah, I think I do have ADD, though I like to think I thrive on it rather than suffer from it. I’ve pursued lots of different things in my life…not just magic and music, but real estate, investments of all kinds, worked at a newspaper, studied philosophy in college, went to business school, considered becoming a psychologist, a rabbi, and more. I’ve never really found something to focus on day after day, year after year. So ADD just seemed like a natural description of my life, so I wrote a show about my life and experiences, all woven together with magic.
ip: What should we expect from the show? It sounds like it’s a mixture of all the things you’re interested in, like magic and music. Anything else?
mf: Yeah–music is really a small component…I don’t even do something musical in every show. But there’s definitely more to it. A major portion is devoted to card cheating technique, where I do a small expose session, teaching the audience about real cheating techniques and then demostrating what they look like. I also talk about memory, because as you know I was on a memory infomercial. Then I talk about cognotive philosophy/psychology, which was my college major…and more. I don’t want to give away too much:)
ip: What was it like putting the show together? You’re basically a one man band, right?
mf: I enjoyed putting the show together. Business is fun, but having primarily worked in investments, I was always doing analytical work. The show was a chance to be creative, and i really loved every minute of the process. It showed me that being creative is necessary for me to be happy.
ip: Our chemistry teacher in 10th grade, the legendary Mr. Doherty, used to call you “Copperfield”, which never got old by the way. Out of all these new crazy magic dudes out there like David Blaine and Criss Angel, who’s the nicest? And what’s the craziest magic trick you’ve ever seen someone do?
mf: Wow. Great question. I knew David Blaine and Criss Angel back in high school. Had I known then that they were going to be famous, maybe I would have kept in better touch…though I doubt it. I’m happy for those guys. Who’s the nicest magician…tough to say. Some of my closest friends are magicians….lots of fascinating, great guys. My friend Ryan Oakes is a great magician and a great guy. And a former a cappella singer himself! Best trick…actually, the trick that fried me the most in recent years was done by Ryan one night while we were hanging out at a bar in the city. He asked me if I had a quarter. I did. He took out a Sharpie and asked me to initial both sides of the quarter. Then he ordered a diet coke, which came in an unopened can. The place served all sodas from cans, if you’re wondering. Then, he took the quarter in one hand and the can in he other, and he slapped the coin onto the side of the can…and instantly, it was gone. His hands were empy, and when he shook the can, i could hear something rattling inside. He popped open the can, slowly poured out the soda, and as the last drops poured out, I could see something lodged in the mouth of the can. We had to cut open the can in order to get out the coin…my quarter, with my initials on it.
ip: Sick. So what’s next for Michael Friedland. We know the show is coming up in a couple weeks, but beyond that, what’s next?
mf: I wish I knew. Hopefully more performances. I’m planning to start a business on the side, but in this economy…it’s anyone’s guess. My goal is to keep performing, keep improving, and hopefully start doing some lecturing here and there. That’s the dream anyway.
For more info on A.D.D. LIGHTFUL, click the link to Mike’s website…
and to order tickets for his Feb. 5-7th shows at Under St. Marks in Manhattan, click here…
Westcheddar 