We recently connected with Timothy Pitch and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Timothy, thanks for joining us today. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?
It’s as vivid as yesterday’s dinner: It was a hot July day in 1974. I walked into the main room of my local YMCA and there were about 100 kids of varying elementary school ages seated in just about every square foot of the room. I was “hired” to do a 30-40 minute magic show for them. I had only been studying and practicing magic for about a year at the time but felt confident enough to now do a full show.
Back Story
I was only 15 but I had largely been “performing” since I was 3 years old. Starting at this tender age, I would not hesitate to do a “pratfall” to garner a laugh, sing or even dance. My mother always told me how other kids my age would cry when their parents even just chuckled at them. Not me. Their laughter was fuel for my fire. It was a motivating force for me. I loved the reactions I got from making people laugh or hearing a popular song sung well by me. I took an early interest in all kinds of different performing arts. My first love, still to this day is singing and music. I had played guitar and sang in a garage band in high school and into my first year of college. (I “played guitar” but not well, by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I was downright terrible.) I had a fairly good voice* but still realized early on that 1.) I didn’t have the desire to pursue a music career, as I knew how competitive it was. And 2.) I knew it wasn’t financially viable where I lived at the time. Ridgway is a small town of 5000 people nestled in the hills of the Allegheny Mountains. But when I hit 9th grade— and would turn 14 in just one month— I discovered magic.
* YouTube Clips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqyrtijnla4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcFVeVizvSc
My First “Professional” Gig
I had performed a couple of “freebies” for fraternal organizations in my little hometown of Ridgway, Pennsylvania to get my feet wet doing a solo variety act. It was a bit scary but I loved it and got comfortable being in the spotlight early on. But this hot July afternoon in 1974 was electric to me! I had 100 kids to entertain! And I was being paid to do it! I was getting…..$10. I jokingly say— to this day— that I was grossly overpaid. But it automatically put me in the professional category and I knew I had to continually up my game to get good and be able to actually work professionally as an entertainer.
But the real turning point where I realized that THIS is what I wanted to do—perform magic for a living—was at that show at the YMCA. I was about 15 minutes into the show and the kids were having fun but getting a little too jazzed up and excited. It started getting a bit noisy and I simply stopped talking briefly and raised my hand. Amazingly, the din of the crowd went down to almost complete silence. I thought “Wow! That’s power!” Little did I realize that years later I would learn what I did was a simple technique to steer the audience back to focusing on me. “Crowd Control 101”, so to speak. But when I walked out of that YMCA an hour later, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I was going to be a professional magician….
Timothy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I have many interests and have pursued the ones I’m passionate about with vigor. I’m currently or previously been a professional comedy magician, motivational speaker, marketing consultant and copywriter, partner in a corporate training startup and vocalist in a couple of rock bands.
Currently, I’m focusing on building my magic business in Tampa Bay and FL in general-after the pandemic put a hold on the industry. I relocated to St. Pete about 4 years ago and set up shop as a magician. I’m working steadily with private parties as well as residency at 2 resorts on St. Pete Beach with weekly shows. I’ll also be releasing a marketing course just for magicians early next year. I still do marketing consulting and copywriting for select clients. My digital marketing expertise gives me an edge over my magic competition because I understand how to use the internet to attract show bookers to me. In my career, I’ve performed at private parties, schools, fairs and festivals, corporate events, cruise ships, and as the opening act at concerts and shows. I’ve opened for oldies acts including “The Diamonds”, “The Coasters”, “The Drifters”, “The Marvellette’s” as well as comedians Gallagher and Louis CK and country Superstar Trace Adkins. I’m considered a “generalist’ in magic. This means I perform for children and adults and can do stage shows, smaller parlor-type entertainment or “close-up” magic.
A unique hook to all this is that I was diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome in 1975 and had a very bad case in childhood. Magic is what allowed me to cope with this disorder. They knew very little about it, let alone how to treat it when I was diagnosed. When I focused on practicing magic, my tics went away. A different part of my brain takes over when I’m concentrating on performing or doing magic so the tics stop. I never had the vocalizations but had full-body movements and facial tics.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Because I was born in a rural area of Pennsylvania, no one believed it was possible to make a career in show business viable. The population was limited but there was a need for variety entertainment and I knew it. I also knew I would just had to travel a bit further out to get to the people who needed the shows. I purposely built an entertainment talent agency from the ground up starting in 1987 to supplement my income as a magician once I moved into show business full-time. I built this agency to the point where it was on the radar of the biggest agency in Erie, PA, a major entertainment market in the state.
Because I have Tourette’s my motivation in the beginning was, “Don’t think I can do it? I’ll show you!” It wasn’t easy just coping day-to-day with the challenges Tourette’s brings. The nature of the disorder is that it waxes and wanes, meaning it comes and goes. Tic “flares” can last day or weeks, only to leave for a while before they return. Navigating this with the rejection that comes with show business was a challenge for sure. But I’ve always said that “the passion has to override the fear or any other obstacle to your success!” I loved magic and comedy and I loved performing, so this kept me moving forward.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
Here’s a couple of things that non-creatives struggle with: They think they’re not creative. :) EVERYONE has creativity and is constantly creating. You just don’t realize you’re doing it. When you realize you have creativity within you–your unique angle or perspective or way of doing things–magic happens. Things and people start showing up in your life to support you. You just need to ALLOW yourself to be creative.
The second trap people fall into is caring what others think, You need to get past other people’s opinions of what you’re doing, who you are or what you want. Their opinions and criticisms are usually based on their life experience and perceptual filters and usually have nothing to do with you. Once you can free yourself from “the good opinion of other people” as I heard one speaker put it, you’re free to go after what you want unfettered by negative emotions.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.TimothyPitch.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timothypitch
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-piccirillo/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TimPiccirillo