A Life And Work In Progress! Part One!

I was born February 18th, 1966 at Mount Sinai Hospital located at Chicago Avenue and 22nd Street in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The hospital was predominantly built to serve the jewish community and opened in 1951 and in 1970 would become Metropolitan Medical Center. In 1990 MMC would merge with Mount Sinai before both closing for good in 1991. I was told my first words were rado rado, as I had radios blaring in my crip, my family was worried I would hit my head on them as they were very big and bulky at that time and they could not get them out of my hands. I guess I did hit my head on them. There was my older sister Lisa and then my cousin Richard who was born in 1970. We were very close growing up. Dan Israel would in 2005 write a song about him called One Last Time. He sure was a funny guy! I will miss him the rest of my life. In 1970, I went to nursery school at Beth El Synagogue. In 1971, another sister was added who would move into my bedroom and dip her pacifier in honey, what a mess! Her name is Romy. Kindergarten was at Peter Hobart Elementary School where I stayed through the 3rd grade in 1974. I remember losing my zadie who was my mom’s father this year. I didn’t know that people died until this happened. His name was Moe Gittelson. He was a traveling salesman. He sold wallets right out of the trunk of his car and made a living doing this. There was not a nicer man on earth! He didn’t have a mean bone in his body. I spent alot of time with him and my bubbie who was my mom’s mother. She would pass away in 1984. Her name was Bessie. They were both great people! I was lucky to have them. I remember spending lots of time with my Aunt Sally and Uncle Gene Gittelson and now two cousins, Michael who was born in 1973 along with Richard. We would go to Excelsior Amusement Park every Tuesday. We had lots of fun! These were great times! In 1975 I am in 4th grade at Cedar Manor Elementary School through the 6th grade in 1977. I was kind of a class clown during these years. Somewhere along this line I went to Camp Christmas Tree for only one day, I fell down and hurt my arm and never returned. I didn’t want to go swimming in the swamp. I played Little League for Win Stephens Buick for two years. I was number 2. I played the outfield, sometimes on the other side of the fence and most of the time just kept the bench warm. I remember hitting a foul ball once as being a major achievement. I went to The Talmud Torah Of Minneapolis School in the evenings. I can’t remember if I got kicked out or quit. The teachers would take away my magic tricks from me that I was showing my friends, I failed in self control but did manage to learn to read Hebrew which would be very useful to me later on. In 1978 I entered 7th grade at Westwood Junior High School and stayed for two years before heading over to St. Louis Park Senior High School in 1980 where I would graduate from in 1984. I remember being driven on highway 394 heading east to downtown when Tack Hammer broke the bad news on 92 KQRS-FM that John Lennon had been murdered. I could not believe that this could happen in the same world I was living in. Boy was I way wrong. My high school, one of the very few in the country, had a built in radio station called KDXL 91.7 on the FM dial. In the 11th grade I hosted a show with my buddy Mike Johnson and we called ourselves Magic Marc and Mr. Mike. We played lots of vinyl bootlegs on it. We were lucky we didn’t get arrested!

The big date was April 21st, 1979. My Bar Mitzvah! I had a private tutor for this and would learn it in two months time. Now I was a Man! I wondered if that was the same kind of man that Bo Diddley was talking about? 13 years old and now a man, I remembered that at least I didn’t have to wait until I was legal drinking age as I was growing up in my family owned and run nightclub called The Flame Cafe. It was located right on the corner of 16th and Nicollet. It was open from 1939 and would close in 1979. Greatapes Media Services is there now and the structure of the building remains the same. I remember it had a built in radio broadcasting booth and a large wooden stage that would elevate out of the ground. It was known as the home of the T-Bone steak and country and western music. It was a landmark in town and is still being talked about today. My Grandfather Abe Percansky ran it along with his brother Ray. All the greats would play there or pass through at one time or another. Abe was a tough man, nobody would mess with him! He taught me many things I would need to know during these formative years and he passed away in 1985. Now that I was a man I needed to find a profession. I found it in Magic. I was billed at one point as Minnesota’s youngest professional Magician. I called myself Marcus Le Magnificent. I did this from 1979-1993. I panhandled on Nicollet Mall where there was a stage below a skyway right in front of Dayton’s Department Store. People used to look down to try and figure out how I did the tricks. I performed everywhere from nursing homes to local television shows to private parties. I hit everywhere! My favorite audiences were kids from 1 to 7 and then 70 and above adults and senior citizens. I remember feeling that they seemed to return to their innocence in some kind of way and my best shows were always when they were around. I Remember being hired by Prince at The Prom Ballroom in 1985. That was some party! I remember him watching my sister watch me and I was watching Apollonia Kotero! In 1984 I enrolled at the University of Minnesota. I stopped and started so many times I thought I was going to have a building named after me. I told people I was on the 10 year plan at the time. I did finally finish though in 1989 with a Liberal arts degree. I did magic on both coasts before immersing myself full time into sprituality while living in Los Angeles. I always have had a love of music, movies and art. My favorite actor of all time is Jack Nicholson. I remember when One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest came out in 1975, I asked my Grandmother Molly to take me to it. She didn’t like it, thought it wasn’t a very nice movie. I loved it! It still is my favorite film even today. Al Pacino is another favorite as well! I try to never miss their movies when they come out. My mother Marilyn Percansky was good friends with Hartley Frank who catered all the rock stars concerts back in the day and I would go see everyone that you could think of with her. We would eat dinner with them and then see the shows. It was a very interesting upbringing to say the least! The first concert I ever saw was The Rolling Stones with Stevie Wonder at the Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington, Minnesota on June 18th, 1972. Playing pinball with Pete Townshend backstage was another experience that I would never forget! There also would be many tours through the years and I do remember 26 shows in 1986 on the True Confessions Tour with Bob Dylan/Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and The Grateful Dead which would be the first major concert ever at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. I think it was nicknamed shortly after that as the rubber dome because of the way the sound would bounce off the ceiling. More to come, stay tuned!