Get ready to experience the impossible from Fort Bragg’s favorite Renaissance Man! Robert Goleman’s magic and mentalism shows will happen Aug 8,9,10 at Lions Hall

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Robert Goleman says his Magic and Mentalism show is “simultaneous belief and
disbelief – a contradiction between the rational and the emotional”.

Fort Bragg magician and mentalist Robert Goleman will perform magic and feats of mentalism in upcoming performances at the Fort Bragg – Mendocino Lions Hall on Friday and Saturday August 8th and 9th at 7:00 pm, and Sunday August 10 at 2 pm.  Tickets to “An Evening of Magic and Mentalism” are $25, and $30 at the door.  Advance tickets can be purchased at Harvest Market in Fort Bragg, and online at Fortbragglionsclub.org. Purchasing your tickets early is highly encouraged.

Goleman’s ability to get inside the heads of audience members sometimes spooks them.

“After the show, a few people were quickly walking across the hall just to get away from me. They were freaked out that I was going to be looking into their minds,” Goleman said. “It’s so believable the way it’s done, it blows people away. It’s gotten to the point where, at the end of the show, I have to say; “everything you’ve witnessed this evening has been for your entertainment, and that I don’t truly have the ability to read people’s minds or tell the future – it’s all an illusion” Goleman said.

The whole point of a traditional mentalist exhibition is to show the power of the human mind to create illusion through the psychological, not scary, supernatural stuff. 

For those who attend one of Goleman’s Magic Shows, which have happened, and have been scheduled from Castro Valley to Willits, Goleman starts with 20 minutes of traditional magic tricks then introduces the audience to the craft of mentalism.

What is mentalism?   You really have to go and see to NOT believe it.

Mentalists emerged from The Age of Enlightenment, an intellectual and cultural movement of the 18th century that emphasized reason, individualism and skepticism, and the study of psychology.  

Practitioners of the craft, including the great stuntman/magician Harry Houdini, took pride in showing how the human mind could create more magic than any ghouls and spirits. Houdini would show up for a performance by a “spiritual psychic” and surprise the audience and enrage the phony medium by revealing it was all a hoax.

In this grand tradition of mentalism, Goleman astonishes the crowd with predictions that somehow come true.

He knows way, way too much about a random audience member’s thoughts.  

He finishes up reminding the audience that mentalism’s power is all in our own heads – psychological illusionism.

Goleman asks that 10 be the minimum age for the show, but younger kids have made their way in and still enjoyed it very much..

“They love the magic tricks but, depending on their age, the mentalism sometimes goes a bit over their heads.” He said kids also know many things intuitively that adults have forgotten. Goleman remembers watching some youngsters who were simply watching and enjoying the reactions of the adults to the mentalism – perhaps getting more of what it is about than their parents.

“They were having a blast the whole time.”

Goleman doesn’t want to spoil the many surprises that people will get during the night, but he was willing to describe his first magic trick. “I start with the oldest trick known, the Cups and Balls, which took years to perfect before I ever showed it to anybody.”

For the mentalism section, one of his props is books.

“First we’re doing just one word on a page, then phrases, and then I start reciting the decimals of PI from a book, where I can just keep going and going and going and announcing the numbers of PI” – mathematical PI, not baked goods.

“Then it goes into making predictions – statements about the future. The predictions gradually get deeper and deeper, and more and more impossible, with the odds starting at one in seven, and ending with odds that border on the limitless.”

“ One of the predictions I make is of a person’s name, and when the person’s name is revealed correctly, it’s a fun moment for everybody.  There are approximately 441,000 people’s names worldwide, if you count every iteration of the same name? And, when I do that, I’ve had people, literally, scream in disbelief.”

Goleman, himself,  was a curious kid and has never lost the thrill of the audience reaction.  It all started when he got an old-style magic kit as a gift at age 7 and was instantly enthralled. Also, seeing professional magicians perform at his schools made him want to be one. His nature then, as now, is to do something to perfection. 

“Once I got the same magic kit twice for Christmas and I was just so happy. Somebody said, “Don’t you want to return one?” And I said, no! Even though they were both exactly the same.”

While people on the Mendocino Coast are famous for having multiple jobs and careers, Goleman breaks the mold.  

He was long time proprietor of Hortus Botanicus, a nursery featuring carnivorous plants , orchids, and other rarities, that was also the local favorite to take mom for Mother’s Day, for many years.  This reporter interviewed Robert Goleman for a feature about Hortus Botanicus back in 2005. I liked it so much, I brought my mom back and Robert gave the two of us another tour. At one point I asked Robert, “can I call you Bob?” Goleman whirled around and glared at me, and said, “you most certainly may NOT.”  I had only known him for that day, but I knew I was seeing both the truth and Goleman’s showmanship.

We later saw Goleman blow the audience away with his dramatic persona, in a perfectly suitable play, La Cage aux Folles.

His next career was gourmet foods. When I had my online sales warehouse at 900 N. Franklin Street, Goleman made his farmers market confections in Chubby’s Kitchen for his own business named Bolliver’s Fine Foods and Confections. We would try to be the first in line when his BBQ Pork Buns and Pot Pies came out of the oven. He was famous for his cakes, fruit and cream pies and WOW his chocolates. 

While magic was his first love, it was evident it wouldn’t pay off financially, so he started his nursery business. His love of cooking also dates back to grade school and far beyond. Everything Goleman does is an expression of his love for his family story and history. His grandfather was, first, a banker, a dairyman, and a self-taught veterinarian. 

“I have a $20 bill with my grandfather’s signature on it.” At the time, my Grandfather, Harold Bolden, was treasurer of the Coast National Bank, located where Town Hall is now. Robert’s mother, the late Dorothy Funk, inherited the family dairy. Bolden Dairy covered a 69-acre area, where the hospital is now – from the haul road, rolling all the way east to the Noyo River. She sold it in 1977, when Robert was a junior in high school, so she could enjoy being a mom and be there for young Robert’s final year in school and spend quality time at home. Robert’s Dad, Curtis Goleman, is now 93 and doing well, and is still an important part of Robert’s life.

After dazzling people with orchids, chocolates, pork pies, and theater for decades, the world seemed to turn darker a decade ago and the performer pulled back. Wrong move.

Goleman got off Facebook and social media entirely after the 2016 election, and lost his connection with his beloved audiences.

Things hit rock bottom when the pandemic restrictions canceled his food business and catered Magical Dinners. Which were sold out so far in advance that we never managed to be quick enough to go to one, despite his invitations to us.

“The dinners were for up to eight people. They were over-the-top, 6-course meals with music, magic and comedy – the food was non-stop, and the dessert course was a veritable extravaganza. They were completely color coordinated; our costumes changed, we changed the lyrics to songs, food magically appeared, and the experience was amazing.” (I did also get a similar review from someone who went to one.)

Then in the blink of a Coronavirus, it was all gone.

Goleman was feeling like his entire life doing multiple things he loved was a failure.

“I was just sitting in my house selling plants on eBay, not seeing anyone or talking to anyone, I was not at the farmers markets anymore, and I had become this recluse who just wasn’t me. I simply had to return to my first love, performing.

A Winston Churchill quote he saw, and that he keeps posted on his refrigerator, helped him turn the corner.

“Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It’s the courage to continue that counts.”

“That quote was a bolt of lightning in the moment. I saw that and it helped me realize I just needed to pick myself up and get going again.”

Check out more about the show and about Robert Goleman on his website Magic and Mentalism.

Appearing for three performances, please join Robert at the Lions Hall to experience the impossible at his mind-blowing show!

And you don’t have to believe me, read what people who’ve seen Robert’s shows have to say –

I saw Robert’s show at the Fort Bragg Senior Center and then produced the show twice at the Caspar Community Center, and it doesn’t get old! I’m using superlatives here, but they are not exaggerations.

Robert Goleman’s Magic and Mentalism is mouth-droppingly amazing. A consummate performer and magician, Robert has developed powers of mentalism that will delight and astound, adding layers of complexity that will keep you asking, “How does he DO that!” You might want to go to the first show so you can come back again!                     Annie Lee

Robert’s show is astounding, full of mind-bending vignettes. Hours and even days later I kept asking myself… How did he do that?!!!              Jill Lemos

I drove from Fort Bragg to Willits, not once, but twice to see Robert’s amazing performance. The first time I was simply thunderstruck by his showmanship and ability to explain the differences between Magic and Mentalism. Several months later I attended a slightly different and equally entertaining show.

Robert is totally present during his performances, he interacts with his audiences, and his material is well chosen and entertaining. While I know he is using traditional misdirection, he does it so well I don’t catch it until he has succeeded in misdirecting my attention and blown my mind.

I can’t recommend Robert’s show too highly.          Shelley Volz