Today we’d like to introduce you to Buster Caldwell.
Hi Buster, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve been in love with magic since age five when I saw my first magicians on TV. After that show, I snuck off and shoved my Winnie the Pooh in my Addams Family lunch box and grabbed one of my grandfather’s hand saws. Luckily, my family found me, and Pooh and The Addams were spared.
I have also always been a weirdo (in case that wasn’t already obvious). Never really fit in anywhere, awkward, and was nothing like the other kids. As I got older, I discovered being funny and doing magic could overcome that awkwardness and give me a way to be accepted. At least a little bit. But I still always struggled to connect with most people.
I discovered that I was dyslexic when I was around 20, which suddenly made a lot of my struggles with school make sense. Around age 30, I learned what ADHD was, and that explained even more.
Then, at 52, I got my Autism diagnosis, which pretty much shook everything I knew about myself. But also made everything make a lot more sense.
So now I do mentalism, which is magic that appears to replicate psychic phenomena (mind reading, predictions, etc.). But I do it through the lense of someone who has never really understood how to “people”. And because I had to learn those social signals and skills from scratch, it gives me some very unique insights into the world.
I’m just a neurodivergent weirdo and 1,000% NOT PSYCHIC. But if my job right, people lave my show believing that I just might be.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
OH, GAWD NO! Did you read that previous part!?!
In a lot of ways, I’m still that weird kid desperate to fit in and be accepted. And I always will be. I struggle every day with ADHD, dyslexia, clinical anxiety, clinical depression, being on the Autism spectrum, and PTSD. I’m like a nightmarish version of Baskin-Robbins. Thirty-One flavors of neurodivergent qualities.
All while trying to be navigate being solo-entrepreneur in the entertainment industry.
But the moments when I get to be on stage, and I can make a real, authentic connection with an audience. That makes all the struggles worth it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
So now I am Psychic Buster: The Eccentric Mentalist. And the entire show is just about trying to make human connections. I’m not trying to pry information out of my audience. We are a team. If I read someone’s mind, it is because they WANT to share that information with me. A lot of mentalism sometimes feels intrusive and at its worst, even adversarial between the performer and the audience. I prefer to be a consensual mentalist.
And also, I try to be as vulnerable and authentic as I can be on stage. It is a joyous celebration of the human mind and how we connect to one another. The best part for me is after the show when people come up and thank me for being authentic and sharing so much of myself. Or they come up to thank me for being a positive representation of what it is to be neurodivergent. Usually, because either they or someone they love is as well.
If I do my job right, the magic tricks become secondary, and people walk away thinking about the human connections; I love that.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I don’t believe any really great art happens without risk. Art without risk of rejection or without risk of being misunderstood or misinterpreted is typically, ultimately, kinda dull.
Most performers/entertainers try to create a character. Something may be inspired by themselves, but ultimately crafted to try to be interesting to the audience.
I try to be as authentically myself as possible on stage. And not my normal, everyday, public self. But my truly most authentic self. The self that I am when I’m alone with the people who love me and who I trust the most. When you can actually be that version of yourself in front of a group of strangers and not only be accepted by them but embraced and even applauded. That is the absolute best. It is FREAKING terrifying, but the risk is absolutely worth it.
And now I realize that the performers who I admire the most are the ones who were and are willing to take those risks. From Richard Pryor to Tig Notaro, comics who are willing to put their most authentic selves and their lives on display for an audience. They are my heroes.
Contact Info:
- Website: PsychicBuster.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/psychicbuster/
Image Credits
Molly Pan
Rawl of The Dead
