They've come to a big fancy gala to support a disease with a big long name and BANACHEK is the entertainment. They're thinking, "at $100 a pop this had better be good." He's thinking, "at $100 a pop this had better be good."

Will everyone write a wish on a small piece of paper? Don't sign it, do fold it and stick it inside a big envelope that is circulating around the room. It can be anything so be specific....a red Jaguar, a month in Paris, that sort of thing. When all the wishes are in, the big envelope is sealed by a lady on the front row, BANACHEK holds the unopened envelope to his forehead and says "Whose initials are D.B.?" A slightly embarrassed Debbie Brown holds her hand up. "It's me." In a matter of minutes BANACHEK tells the audience and a stunned Debbie Brown her name, her wish, her social security number, her maiden name and her shoe size. An amazed Debbie Brown and fellow audience members go "How'd he do that?" "Very well," BANACHEK will say and proceeds to tell about a dozen more strangers things about themselves that he shouldn't, couldn't know. If he weren't a mentalist, that is.

But BANACHEK is a mentalist. Mentalist means mind reader or magician of the mind and BANACHEK is one of the best practitioners of the craft in the country. Walking in the footsteps of renowned mentalist Joseph Dunninger and Israeli psychic Uri Geller, BANACHEK can perform feats of telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, derma optics, and hypnotism. On a good day he can even recreate performances of 19th century spirit theatre. In plain English that's a séance. His stage show is a captivating medley of all of the above. He bends spoons just by looking at them. He lets audience members stab him with paper knives moving only when the guy with the real knife takes a whack at him. He asks someone to write a word on a napkin then rip it up. The word they have chosen is written on their napkin inside an envelope he has taped to the side of the stage and never touched. He notes the time then asks someone to cover the face of their watch with their hand. "What time would you like for it to be?" He asks. When they select their new time and uncover their watch the hands have changed.

For TV he has flashier illusions. Illusions not tricks. There's a difference...I looked it up. Tricks are devices used to deceive, illusions are ideas creating misleading appearances. For TV BANACHEK will ask a reporter to hide a set of keys somewhere in his city. Then BANACHEK is blindfolded. Then BANACHEK drives from the TV station to the location of the keys with a very nervous reporter and camera-person as passengers. When he successfully reaches his destination BANACHEK walks blindfolded to the key location and when the keys are unearthed they are all bent. The folks at home may have remained skeptical but the reporter and the camera-person got religion that day.

How'd he do all that? "Very well," is his pat, annoying answer.

How'd he get to be a mentalist as opposed to an accountant or a marketing exec? That he'll answer.

BANACHEK was born in England , moved to South Africa at age 9, then on to Australia and the U.S.. by age 16. By 1977 he was holding down three jobs, and trying to finish high school. He started performing Kreskin-like mentalist illusions at parties for extra money. He was good at it and he got better.

By 1979 BANACHEK was starting to draw national attention as a gifted performer in extra sensory perception crafts. That was also the year that McDonnell-Douglas Aircraft awarded a $500,000 grant to Washington University in St. Louis for the establishment of the McDonnell Laboratory for Psychical Research. The lab was supposed to come up with evidence that things like bending a fork with your thoughts was a real thing. If the idea of spending half a million clams on fork bending seems just a little soft in the head, you're not alone. James Randi was an internationally known magician and an active investigator of paranormal claims when McDonnell-Douglas made the grant. He decided to send two young illusionists into the MacLab to debunk it. BANACHEK was one of the illusionists.

For three years was subjected to every test the pros could come up with to prove he had authentic psychic powers. He bent things, burned things, moved things and knew things. He passed every test with flying colors and at the end of the three year period the McDonnell Laboratory for Psychical Research proudly announced to the scientific community that they had the real thing in the form of BANACHEK. OMNI Magazine did a spread on BANACHEK. Discover Magazine said "...his demonstrations were just phenomenal." Even the National Enquirer called him a "Prodigy. Nobody like him in his field."

Mid bow for the McDonnell folks James Randi drops his bomb that BANACHEK had been working for him for the past three years and what's more everything he did was an illusion. Remember? Illusions are ideas creating misleading appearances. And mislead BANACHEK did. You know you have a major coup in your pocket when you sting the National Enquirer. The guys at the Laboratory for Psychical were crushed. BANACHEK went on the Today Show and Bryant Gumble said "Amazing. I don't see how you do it." (Gumble was wise not to have asked BANACHEK directly how the illusion was accomplished. He would have ended up getting that irritating "Very well." answer.)

Now BANACHEK enjoys a comfortable career as a mentalist. He plays comedy clubs, magic clubs, conventions, parties, colleges and concerts. He's the kind of act you can serve up to your friends or clients every year and never over-expose him. Corporate clients book him a year in advance for their Christmas parties. If an artist, any artist, can work 52 weeks of the year he is more than likely fantastic at his craft and the pick of the litter in his field. BANACHEK is all of the above.

BANACHEK's career was not always on such a forward track. Like any successful artist there were the lean times and marvelous stories of time spent on the road. BANACHEK talks about doing a show in London and meeting a young woman there. They talked for a while and both went their separate ways. Weeks later, back in the states, the young lady appears on BANACHEK's doorstep. It seems she went to a séance and Elvis Presley told her to go see BANACHEK in Pennsylvania. Next there was the lady who begged BANACHEK to come to her clock store and perform his clock stopping illusion. He did. When he moved the hands of a large clock to anther time the lady took after him with a broom. She thought after seeing the illusion, he was a devil. BANACHEK was grateful that the broom was straw and not plastic. "The plastic ones hurt." Then there were the hundreds who have asked him. "How'd you do that?" To which he answered....well you know what he answered.

If you happen to see BANACHEK's name on a club promotion buy a ticket without hesitation. Whatever they charge will be worth the investment. If you want him for your very own event you have to call his company, 'Banachek Inc.', in Houston. If he's open when you're entertaining, pay the fee and get him there pronto. BANACHEK can turn a good event planner into exceptional with just one show. Bill Harris of Showtime sums BANACHEK up best. "Not only does BANACHEK perform the impossible, but he does so with the right amount of wit and charm." BANACHEK is an astonishing go see.