I wonder if Jerry Camaro had this problem?

[Ian Kendall]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4775532.stm

Take care, Ian

[Steve Brooks]

Mr.Kendall,
I am curious. What exactly are you implying here?
Jerry and I were like brothers and spent much time together. I just don't see the connection between the link and Jerry Camaro. Perhaps I just misunderstood your post? :confused:

[Ian Kendall]

Hi Steve,

Perhaps you did, perhaps I did. I admit that most of what I know about Jerry is from Penn's essay about him after he died. In it, Penn mentioned that Jerry spent a lot of time in prison, and it was there that he practiced his card magic. I saw a parallel with a British prison denying an inmate access to magic books.

However, if Jerry did not spend any time in prison, or did not practice his magic in prison, then I apologise.

Take care, Ian

[Richard Hatch]

That's an interesting story. We have a number of clients behind bars, and it seems the restrictions are at the whim of the warden. In extreme cases, they can receive no books at all. In some cases, the books must be sent by the publisher (and not just a bookseller). One inmate wants us to tear the covers (not the dustjackets, the covers!) off the books before sending (he recently sent us a stack of such coverless books in trade for resale! Anyone interested?). In one case a book was returned to us because it included a playing card wrapped with invisible thread. Guess they were afraid the inmate might cut through the bars with the thread! One inmate took us to small claims court in Michigan because the warden returned the refund check we'd sent him (that facility apparently only accepts money orders). These clients keep things interesting, to say the least...

[Guest]

I knew Jerry Camaro as well as anyone, (other than his wife), could. We go back to the late sixties together. Jerry was a biker, one of the "Huns" out of Rhode Island, and I hung around with the "Hell's Angels", the Lowell Chapter, where I grew up. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a "member", but some of the "Angel's" loved card tricks, so - lots of parties! My roommate played lead guitar for a band that did all the "Angels" private bashes. I got to hang around, and once I started the magic, I was invited to most everything.

I met Jerry at one of the "Laconia Weekends", in Laconia, NH. It was/is one of the "neutral territories" where rival gangs co-existed back then. Jerry saw me doing card tricks and that was the start of a "beautiful friendship".

It was years later that we met again, out in California. Jerry was completely different, as was I. Fifteen years had passed, and both of us had travelled often, and far, from the east coast. Jerry went to Georgia, then to California, I went straight to the west coast. We met in Santa Rosa, an hour north of San Francisco, and found that we lived only five miles from one another. Jerry was married, had a beautiful little girl (Gerri Anne), who calls me "Uncle Paul", and a lovely wife, who I affectionately call "Peanut".

Jerry was a GREAT Bartender-Magician, and that's how he earned a living. He was funny, an entertaining, facile, jolly fellow, someone you'd be happy to see every day. And many of his customers did exactly that - stopped by every day, just to see Jerry, or to introduce him to thier friends, or family. His personality won the day, and the magic was that much better because of it. Jerry was a guy who valued friendship, who knew the worth of a man's word, and who really LIVED the ideals that he espoused, to the best of his ability. Jerry had a lot of friends, and I am glad to have been one of them - I got far more than I gave, but then, so did anyone who counted Jerry as a friend. That's what I remember about Jerry Camaro...

Best, PSC

P.S. I forgot, this was about jail. That's because I never think of Jerry from that perspective. But, if Jerry counted that as part of his life experience, then I can guarantee you that he found a way to use it positively. Jerry ALWAYS saw the glass half-full...

[Ian Kendall]

It's always nice to get some new background. I'm regretting mentioning Jerry in the title of the post now, since it seems that I've kicked a wasp's nest for Jerry's friends...the simple fact is that I saw a news item about a magician being denied magic books in jail, and mentioned the first inmate magician that popped into my mind. In retrospect I could have used Al Glennan or Bob Markwood, but I didn't.

Let me say (if it needs saying) that I was not trying to denigrate Jerry - I didn't know him - before the flames get fanned any more.

Take care, Ian

[Guest]

No offense taken Ian, even on Jerry's behalf, but for the folks that didn't know Jerry it was important, to me at least, to let them know that there was substance to the man. Picking out Penn's reference to jail was not the best way to introduce Jerry Camaro to people in the community that don't know him, especially since he isn't with us any longer...

Best, PSC

[Bill Duncan]

Never having met JC I got a sense that there might have been more to him than hinted at in Penn's article when I noticed that he was the caterer for some of the early L&L video shoots.

Clearly a multidimentional fellow...

[Richard Hatch]

Originally posted by Ian Kendall:
In retrospect I could have used Al Glennan or Bob Markwood, but I didn't.

I know about Markwood, what's the Glennan story?

[Richard Kaufman]

Al Glennan was a talented manipulator. Every time I've seen him at conventions, he was in female dress--he showed up at the International Convention in late November that way. Haven't heard he was in the pokey, though.

[Guest]

I don't think Ian was disrespectful of Jerry at all. He was a good man, is greatly missed, and had a very interesting past and no one needs to pretend it wasn't a bit dark.
Steve V

[Steve Brooks]

Ian,
No offense is taken. Jerry was a good friend and I tend to be a little defensive of my friends, especially those who are no longer with us. I admit that when I first saw the topic starter I was a bit concerned. Given the light tone that has followed I see that concern was not warranted. I apologize if I came off a bit harsh. :)

[Guest]

Originally posted by Richard Hatch:
. One inmate wants us to tear the covers (not the dustjackets, the covers!) off the books before sending (he recently sent us a stack of such coverless books in trade for resale! Anyone interested?).

Hardcover books are banned in some lockups because they can be used as weapons, and the spines of hardcover books have been used to hide contraband.

[Ian Kendall]

Al Glennan did time for similar reasons to Markwood. My understanding is that after release he began the gender reassignment process.

Take care, Ian