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Hi, I'm Scott Brocato with KRWG Public Media, and I'd like to welcome you to this episode of Music Spotlight.

Jamie O'Hara is a singer, musician and magician.

He began doing magic when he was seven and picked up a guitar at age 13.

He was raised in the New York metro area, the New York City metro area, and came to Las Cruces when he was 18.

He continues to perform as the “Magic Guy” and as a musician, both solo and with his band, The Pizza Bones.

We are pleased to welcome Jamie O'Hara to KRWGs Music Spotlight.

So what brought you to Las Cruces when you were 18?

Was it a brother?

My older brother mostly was an airplane landing in El Paso.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But my older brother was here, and I needed a change of pace after high school, and that was an option.

And so it kind of worked out.

And I came here, and before you knew it, people would meet him and go, oh, are you the magician's brother?

And he became kind of proud of the fact that even though he lived here for a decade before me, people knew me.

So he's a magician, too?

No, no, no.

That's when they meet him.

They would say, are you the magician's brother?

It's funny because he lived here for many more years than I, but people knew me.

And did he teach you to get the guitar?

He did.

My brother taught me six chords, and he is, he's still living.

My mom lives here in town.

She's 93.

She lives with my brother and his wife, and, he's proud of telling people that he taught me how to play the guitar because my skills continued, a bit.

Okay, well, how many instruments do you play?

Legitimately probably three.

I play guitar.

I play guitar, I like to play mandolin.

When I sit in with people at jam sessions and or at their shows, because there's too many guitars.

And I start playing mandolin when I was 15, and I play some ukulele, but if it's got strings on it, I can get around it.

And you do a fine job by the way Well thank you.

Well, what inspired you to start doing magic?

I loved magic from the time I was a child, and saw magic on television.

Had a magician come to my seventh birthday party, and her name was Queenie.

And then I wanted magic books and magic sets, and my parents were supportive of that.

And then the family had a magic shop associated with a costume store back in Yonkers when I was a kid, so I got to work around professional magicians who do the kind of work I do now when I was an adolescent.

And, yeah, here we are.

Well, you're a professional.

I mean, you've taken it to the next level.

You're you've been a multiple finalist in the International Brotherhood of Magicians magic competition.

What is the secret to being a great performing magician?

To set yourself apart from other magicians?

I, I, you know, I think as an entertainer in general, whether you're a magician or a dancer or a comedian or a juggler or musician, I think putting attention in your craft and doing the stuff that fits your stage persona or whatever it is you want to do, and really caring about the audience, not just doing it because it's solely a thing to do to get paid.

It's nice, you know, when you have a specialized skill that hopefully A.I.

can't replace.

But.

You have something that you could Mostly it's about, you know what?

Yeah.

You know.

Yeah.

it ‘s a safety concern.

This is one of those regular BIC lighters, and this little label is, sometimes just be in English and French, and it warns children not to commit arson, but they're very cheap, and they only put advertising in this.

About half the kids commit arson.

my thumb has Silly Putty properties, and I can kind of get an impression.

It's kind of hard to see, but it's right there, and I can put it on the other side of lighter.

So now the lighter has a label on on both sides.

Now, the thing is, BIC doesn't make them this way.

So I'm like changing the nature so I can take this off and kind of put it like right here and then I can do the same thing with the advertising, which I'm sure BIC would be happy about.

But now the kids will all commit arson because this.

So I'll just go ahead and kind of put the label back on.

So now here.

Hold on.

Oh, there we go.

Yeah.

Well yeah.

And its disappeared, “Magic Guy” I got another one just like it right here.

All right, Well, let's, get this out of the way and we'll switch over to music mode.

Your, magician, musician side.

Talk about the first song you're about to play.

Natural born talent.

A friend of mine, who haven't talked to you in a bit, he.

A couple of years ago, he said you should write a protest song.

And it didn't.

I wrote a lot of, like, happy songs and some love songs and just some story songs, but I didn't disagree with him.

So this song really is inspirational, but there's a little bit of protest in it and, it's sort of like, it's a fun tune.

All right, well, let's hear it's a natural born talent.

Today's guest on KRWGs Music Spotlight, Jamie O'Hara.

Hey, I call this song Natural Born Talent.

Minding my own business walking down the street.

Just looking for some new little joint to grab me some eats.

Man walks up to me, says son, way of going there.

I'm too old to be your son.

Just get out of my head.

I got out of there driving out of town say hi to the man in green.

He asked me, anyone else aboard your driving machine?

I say no, sir, just me.

I am USA born.

Here's some bones for your doggie.

Just leave me alone.

Send your doggie home.

Give him a bone.

I got one for you two.

Looks like you could use it.

Tax man try to take it all away.

No matter what you do, you're bound to pay.

They're telling you this and there selling me out.

I bought it before.

But I'm a done with that.

I'm so done with that.

If you find yourself walking alone in the dark, use your natural born talent to start you a spark fuel that flame with your burning desire.

Don't let them put out your fire.

Oh, yeah.

Keep it burning brighter.

Brighter and brighter.

Don't let them put out your fire All right.

I call this tune.

Taking it home.

I've been on the road.

Feels just like a zoo.

I've been missing a thing or 2 or 3 about you.

So am I taking it home all the way home to you?

Yeah, I'm taking it home.

All the way home to you.

I been wandering round, distracted by a thing or two.

Finally figured out all I really need is you.

So I'm taking it home.

All the way home to you.

Yeah, I'm taking it home.

All the way home to you.

I sleep in the fog.

Don't you know?

Your kids woke me up.

Your heart feel like home I'm taking it home.

All the way home.

Yeah.

Am I taking it home?

All the way home?

I'm taking it home on the way home to you.

All right.

Groovy.

PBS.

There was a show on PBS they made children's books out of it called Richards Scary Busy World.

When my kids were little, they used to watch it.

And there was, like, a worm that drove a cab.

And of course, he had no arms and legs.

But there's all these little animals that there was the baker and the postman and all these people, and everybody moved around without bumping into each other.

So I wrote this little instrumental thing that I call TC traffic, which means tiny city traffic.

And the idea is for me not to bump into myself.

When you're running away.

With no room to fail.

Got the tax collector on your tail.

Left your banker and your barber on the skids.

Oh, you're so ready to go.

Oh, yeah.

Let's go, let's go.

Let's get out of here right now.

Let's go, let's roll.

Let's hit that road right now, Oh, you're so ready.

Roll!

Oh, yeah.

I got a tank of gas and some gummy bears.

Got some hot coffee yet?

You're good upstairs.

You're ready and you're willing to roll.

Oh, you're so ready to go.

Oh, yeah.

Let's go, let's go, let's get out of here right now.

Let's go, let's roll, let's hit that road right now.

Oh you're so ready to go.

Oh yeah.

Oh when you're moving faster than you ever thought.

Dodging yourself so you don't get caught.

Keep your eye on the mirror.

And the other on the road.

Oh you're so ready to roll.

Oh, yeah.

Let's go, let's go, let's get out of here right now.

Let's go, let's roll.

Let's hit that road right now.

Oh, you're so ready.

Go!

Oh, yeah!

Oh, man you're spinning round and round and round.

Can't tell which way is up but down.

Your heart tells you yes.

But you're thinking, tells you nooooo.

Oh, you're so ready to roll.

Oh yeah.

Let's go, let's go, Let's get out of here right now.

Let's go, let's roll.

Let's hit that road right now.

Oh, you're so ready to go!

Oh, yeah.

This next tune I call yesterday's blues.

It's one of those tunes.

I think they can mean whatever you want it to mean to you.

It can be kind of positive.

It can be kind of ticked off.

It can be celebratory.

It can be, you're exiting a situation.

You're starting a new one.

So I kind of like that about this lyric.

Just thought I'd come by to give you the news that'll, dropping off yesterday's blue.

Just thought I'd swing by and update you.

You can toss out yesterday's news.

Once upon a time, there was too much to do.

I couldn't keep track of all I needed to.

Found myself drifting in the wind.

Run around in circles doing the same old thing.

A foolish little thinking that would ever bring some kind of news I could use.

Just thought I'd come by.

Give you the news that I'm, dropping of yesterday's blue.

Just thought I'd swing by and update you you can toss out yesterday's news.

When you're living in a bubble of another's design.

I'll be in your cell offing meets with my line.

Time to get a new, point of view.

Good news, bad news.

Sad days too.

Sometimes there's just nothing left to do but look ahead and have a little hope.

Just thought I'd come by give you the news that I'm dropping of yesterday's blue.

There you go.

And that was Jamie O'Hara who, thank you for performing those songs for us.

I was reading an interview from a few years ago, and I think it was with Mike Cook, from the Las Cruces Sun-news.

Yeah.

And you said you identified as Italian American, despite your Irish surname, O'Hara.

And you said, funny story.

I'll tell you sometime.

You didn't tell him.

Can you tell me?

Here it is in a nutshell, Scott.

Okay.

My Irish grandfather, Mickey O'Hara, worked on boats and apparently had a gift for some language.

Portuguese, Italian, Mandarin Chinese ports.

He met a girl in northern Italy named Carlotta Del Giorno.

She was one of 12 kids.

And her parents.

He proposed.

She said, sí, he said, let's move to America.

She said, sí?

And so 14 Italians the Del Giorno family came.

He died before I was born.

My dad died when I was ten.

My mother married another first generation Italian.

I got new recipes from my grandma Lucy.

So I grew up in a very, New York area Italian-American family, and I can cook, but my father forbid us to speak Italian.

Oh, Digiorno.

Is that the pizza?

Yeah, it's very similar.

Del Giorno, but it's very similar.

The de.

You know, you think I would know that?

But what's confusing is my Irish name has two capital letters, an apostrophe, a flying comma, and my Italian family name has the Del, and then a capital G. It's, it's it's a mess.

Yeah.

Well, in addition to performing solo, you have a band.

You have two, but the one I've seen many times now is Pizza bones.

My local band The Pizza Bones.

Local band, the Pizza Bones tell us about them.

And how they formed.

I was working in a great trio with a couple of other great artists who I still get to play with very frequently in town.

And, I was basically forming a new a new group, and I needed a name for the group.

There's a restaurant in El Paso and a bar that I've done magic at for 38 years, and they give the kids these little pizzas.

And one kid called the pizza crust the pizza bones.

And I went, that's brilliant.

I should turn in my Italian-American card.

I never heard the crust called the pizza bones, but I liked it.

It's tasty.

It's on the edge, well rounded, a lot of variety and so that's how I came up with the name.

the band formed through friendships, our incredible bass player, Lacey Linebarger.

I got to know him on the open mic scene, which is really.

I got more acquainted with you as well, and, invited him to participate, and he was down.

And he's been a really committed part of what's going on.

And, original drummer is someone I've known since he was a boy.

But the drummer I got now used to work as a waiter at the restaurant where I still do magic years ago.

Well, let's talk about your, speaking of musicians, your son, Nico O'Hara.

we were talking about him.

He's an outstanding bassist, which is dear to my heart.

He's getting ready to graduate tell us.

He's about to finish a six year journey here at NMSU with a double-major in music and music performance.

And, he's going to stick around to teach and be performing around for a while.

In fact, he might have been playing with Pizza Bones in March, I think in Valley Pizza.

Well, growing up, what musicians influenced you?

So many.

But I first heard the Grateful Dead song ripple when I was pretty young, and I when I want to be able to do that, there was something about the guitars and the mandolin.

It just was very magical.

And then my older brother played guitar and my dad had played harmonica and drums, and my other brother played drums, and so there were some instruments in the house and, I asked my brother to show me some stuff.

He showed me six chords and I just went from there.

Well, that song made me a dead fan, too.

I kind of resisted the Grateful Dead for many years, and I heard ripple, though.

Wow, that's a indeed nice song.

It's beautiful.

Beautiful song.

It is.

Well, what advice would you give to a young, musician or magician?

That's just coming up.

They want to get into profession.

There's a lot of similarities between these, because there's a lot of, technical abilities necessary, a lot of understanding what's happening with the audience and the pieces of music or magic you're doing.

And so I would encourage them to read and watch other people and let themselves be mentored and, you know, copy what's great until you figure out what's you, and, stay disciplined.

I think that's the most thing.

disciplined in what way?

Disciplined in rehearsing and learning your craft.

Doing sleight of hand or being a musician isn't something you can just wish for.

You have to continually work at it.

The you keep improving and or at least staying on top of where you are.

All right.

Yeah.

Well, Jamie O'Hara, it has been a pleasure to finally.

It's been a while to get to get you on the show, but it's great that you've been here, so thank you so much.

Thanks for having me.

And be sure to catch our past performances on YouTube and like us on Facebook to keep up with future episodes for KRWG I'm Scott Brocato, and thank you for joining us for KRWG Music Spotlight.

All right.

I call this tune taking it Home.

Sometimes you hear a song and you kind of, like, want to make a song as, like a reflection of it, you know?

and, I can remember which tune it was that made me think about this, but I can't take it at home.

For.

I want to read.

I think I' going to start this over again.

I forgot my lyrics again, and I do that.

Yeah.

All right.

Because I just get rolling and you can cut it.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.