My name is Kess and I am a grand illusionist. I'm sure my name, Kess, came before Kes the Band's name, because, since I been growing up, a lot of people call me, Kess. But seeing he's a local celeb, the public will know him first. My real name is Kesston Ricky Rodriguez. I grew up in Morvant and currently live in the heart of Port-of-Spain. I just turned 21. Since I was small, I knew I was a bit different. Things children wanted to be-fireman, doctor, policeman-I never wanted to be nothing like that. All I wanted to be was a magician. I'm glad that it came true. I have all my passes though. I don't have a day job. I'm a full-time illusionist. And it's a good thing. Because I'm the only illusionist in Trinidad so the magic market is all mine: If anybody have any work for an illusionist, they have work for me.
My assistant, the lovely Vanessa, is also my fiancée. I met her at my first magic show, ever. She was in the audience. I asked her to come up and do a trick and, now, she's doing many. That might be one of my best tricks ever. Michael Jackson was my inspiration to be me and do what I want to do. A lot of people tell me they can see Michael in me and I think I did imitate him unconsciously. Because I really looked up to him when I was younger. I can sing a bit. All my past jobs, I always entered the office calypso competition and I always won. But I prefer magic more, though. Why did I started magic? I started magic at the age of ten-years-old. What inspired me? Watching these little cartoons like Peter Pan, Aladdin, Tinker Bell, all these things really amused me. I was, like, "Magic would be really cool if it was real". And I start looking at magicians and I said, "Yeah, that's the job for me". I did my first magic trick at ten. And, after I see how easy I could do it, I realised I was born for it. And I just never stopped.
I did magic for 11 years and no one knew. I kept it a secret and just kept practising. I waited until I was good enough to come out in public. Rather than learning with my audience, getting the trick wrong, dropping the card or whatever. I love David Copperfield. I got my big break a year ago, when I got my own magic show on a Caribbean TV channel. The first season is actually over and season two is airing in December. I have performed overseas. I did a show in Grenada. And I'm looking to tour the Caribbean. When I land at an airport, I put Illusionist in the occupation space on the immigration forms. And they don't ask no questions! I'm not just a magician: I'm a grand illusionist. I do a lot of big illusions, like metamorphosis, escape acts and a lot of animal magic. I have a lot of snakes, birds and these things.
My parents always knew that I was weird so, anything I did, they were always, like, "Oh-kay." They were very supportive. Anything I needed, magic-wise, they would help me. If I do an illusion like making a glass float, and you really think that I made the glass float, that mean the trick was real good. I have three tattoos: the Black Widow, which is known as an illusionist: they trick their mate into having sex with them and then the female eat the male. And I have Magic Man on my neck because no one wants to say, Kess the Illusionist; they call me Kess the Magic Man. The best part about being a grand illusionist is seeing the expressions on people's face after I perform. And another best thing that keeps me going is my lovely fiancée, Vanessa.
I would not lie, there are times I wanted to stop because I think, "Magicians have no place in Trinidad and Tobago and is best I quit!" But she is my inspiration and she drives me. The bad part of being an illusionist is a lot of people assume what I do is devil thing. But I learn to pass all of that. Actually, I like it when people think I'm doing a devil thing, because it lets me know I'm doing a damn' good job! A Trini is someone who like to complain about everything. Trinidad and Tobago is all about love. Even though we all like to complain, at the end of the day, if there is a problem, we all come together. Most of the time, we share the same views. It's a very loving place.
Read a longer version of this feature at www.BCRaw.com.