This is kind of a strange tale, celebrating a legendary Illusionist, an unthinkable tragedy, and rebirth.

Back in 1998, Reginald Nachtschirm (aka Ricky Nightshade) appeared as the opening act for Greenland's heavy metal band Metal Circus. The tour was called THIS CIRCUS IS IN TENTS, and both Nightshade and the band would thrill sold out crowds, night after night, with their signature one-two punch of hard rock and dangerous illusions.

In this 1998 interview that appeared in Mall Goth Magazine, Nightshade had this to say...

"You know, it's great, and the crowd is cheering, it's all great, but it can be weird sometimes."

Nightshade recalled a conversation with Leonard Stormbrewer (the drummer for Metal Circus) and the band's manager, Dreggor McCloudstone...

"Lenny, every night, we're on the bus, you know, he's yelling at me, accusing me of playing it safe, just like, dive into a tank of sharks in a straightjacket or something! Then Dreggor, look, not a lot of the fans know this, but Dreggor is a part-time oceanographer and experienced scuba diver, he's just rolling his eyes and shouting back, won't work bro, sharks don't do well in captivity, plus don't forget you have to transport the sharks, think about it!!"

In July of that same year, the unimaginable happened. The Metal Circus tour bus carrying all 5 band members and the entire road crew, crashed into a viaduct. Nightshade was presumed dead, but his body was never discovered.

Fast forward to 2024.

Karsey Wennington, an admissions officer at a prominent community college in Greendale, Colorado, remembers looking up from her desk at about 2:30 in the afternoon and seeing this enigmatic figure standing in the middle of the room performing card tricks...

"Yeah I looked up and there was a crowd standing around, I was holding a manilla envelope, and he kind of dramatically takes off his sunglasses and says 'open your mind... and open THAT envelope...' I did and the 9 of Hearts was inside the envelope. One of the teachers had signed their name on the card, and the teacher is just screaming and freaking out."

We caught up with Ricky Nightshade, who is about to embark on an all new tour with Metal Circus Reborn, and asked what it was like getting back on stage...

"Oh it's great. It's great seeing everyone on stage again, even though, you know I understand it's not the original guys, you know... with the holograms and everything, but the imagery. of it.. it's just like being there or something."

What new tricks can audiences expect when they see you perform?

"Oh yeah, well you know, we wanted to do a tribute to Lenny, so we have this new thing were I cut myself in half with a chainsaw, light both halves of my body on fire and then levitate, you know, and then, you know, my floating, burning torso, someone from the audience just like... yells out their favorite playing card, and then somebody else yells out a random number."

Wow that sounds amazing. What do you call that?

"It's called the ACAAN of Destruction. The audience just loses their minds every time. I mean... imagine the upper half of my body kind of you know.. suspended in mid air, engulfed in fire, and then I do this card trick... you know it's just, Lenny would have loved it."

You're presenting a lecture for a group of Magicians at Mr. Beef & Pizza. What does that look like?

"You know, yeah, Mr. Beef & Pizza, I'm just guessing that there's two forms of consciousness at work here, so shouldn't it be Mr. Beef AND Mr. Pizza? Kind of weighing on my mind, I don't know."

The Insidious Return of Ricky Nightshade, appearing on tour with Metal Circus Reborn and presenting a special one night only lecture for the Conjuror's Corner on Monday, April 28th.