The Who's Who archive of Bizarrists at Dragonskull includes Jimmy Valentine
Derek Renfro
a.k.a. Jimmy Valentine.
Living in Georgia, USA, Derek Renfro is 38 years old
(in 2002) and he became interested in magic at the age of 10, becoming
interested in areas of bizarre magic when he was in High School around
1983.
"My involvement in martial arts led me to an interest in psychic powers. I really didn't "perform" mentalism because I felt it was not believable. Then my dad did a few mental card effects for me from "Scarne On Card Tricks". The next day I went to school and performed a couple of them. for my science class. I ended up doing the same two for the entire hour and thus a mentalist was born! I have been creating effects for the last 15 years and am in the process of putting some to paper. I have been on local radio and television and been written about in the local paper. I am currently working to produce my own television show about psychic powers (mostly mine!!) as well as writing a book for general readership." |