Giovanni and Villa Nova

I met Giovanni at the bar in Villa Nova Italian restaurant in Newport Beach on Pacific Coast Highway. I had just arrived in California and needed to find a restaurant to perform in so I could start giving out my card. I sat down at the bar and that's when I met Giovanni, a warm and friendly guy with a dark mustache, about 75 years old. He said he was Italian and Argentinian with an Argentinian accent. We made some small talk then he asked me what I did for a living. Funny he should ask. I told him that I'm a magician and naturally he was curious to see some magic. He nudged the woman next to him, his lady friend, as he liked to call her, and told her that I was a magician. I gave them a brief demonstration of the magic and they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

We talked more and let him know that I thought this would be a good place for me to perform. He told me that Richie Fauno, the pianist playing there in the lounge is the man in charge, and that it's "his room" when he's here. The people in the lounge were regulars and would hear a key or two on the piano and already know what song he was playing, way before anyone else would know.

The Likeness of Giovanni

The second time I went to Villa Nova, Giovanni introduced me to Richie on his break. Richie was friendly with me and offered to let me come up and perform for the crowd in the lounge in between songs, I was grateful for any opportunity to get in front of an audience, but what I really wanted was to perform table side in the restaurant while people were waiting for their food and after dinner. Richie had no say in that. Richie did have say in the lounge, though, and he would introduce me to the crowd and I'd do my magic and it went over really well.

When I sat back down next to Giovanni at the bar, he told me that he loved what I was doing and that he thought I had the right personality and look. There's a lot of right personalities and looks, I thought, but what he was saying was that that isn't a problem for me. He leaned in and smiled just before he was going to say something he thought was important for me to keep in mind and he said, "the shortest distance between two people is a smile". And I smiled, and I thought it was funny that I smiled. I also appreciated the saying because it had a cleverness to it and it also seemed to have some truth to it. It was no surprise to find out that Giovanni was a salesman.

While we were talking he told me stories about the furniture business that he made his living in. He said if someone walked into his store and looked around and talked with him, but didn't buy anything, he would catch them as they were leaving and give them a bottle of wine as a thank you for coming in. I liked that. Somehow I don't think he had the sign in his store that says WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE. I always think there must be a better arrangement of words you could post on the wall for your customers, for the people who keep your business afloat. But that's another story. So I would listen to his stories and I never thought he talked too much. I liked hearing what he had to say.

After a while, I got impatient waiting for Richie to call me up to perform. I was sitting there listening to him sing, but I wanted to be performing for people, giving them my card. When I did get a chance to speak to the manager, it was in passing, and he seemed to be in a hurry. He wasn't too friendly. He had a seriousness about him and his blue blazer made him look important, and I thought that he probably thought so too.

I didn't like the inaction of sitting around so I made my move... into the restaurant and right up to the first table of people in the dining room. There were nice white table cloths and glasses of wine and pretty people. I concealed my nervousness and artfully intruded, which is always a gamble, and they were immediaetely open to the experience. Everything was going how it should: they were stunned. I was at the table for maybe two minutes when out of the corner of my eye I saw gray hair and a blue blazer coming towards me. I already know what he's going to say, so just as he gets close to me and says excuse me, I put my hand up and looked at him and said, "just a minute". He stood there with his arms folded, and watched the rest of my performance.

The people watching didn't know that I was about to be told to leave, and blue blazer wasn't going to tell me to leave because the customers obviously wanted me there. I knew that and and took my time with them and gave them all my card before leaving. He told me that I cannot go into the dining room and just go up to people's tables, the lounge is okay, but not the dining room. He didn't throw me out because I was also a customer of the bar, and would order appetizers. I knew this wasn't going to last long because I needed a place where I was welcome throughout.

I told Giovanni about what happened and he laughed and seemed surprised that the management wouldn't be delighted to have me entertain their guests. I explained to him that the management has a legitimate concern. They are afraid their guests will not want to be bothered. Once the owner or manager sees their guests faces, their attitude changes. Blue blazer knew his guests loved it, but managers are usually afraid to say yes to any idea that isn't conventional, because if there is a problem, they are concerned that the owner will say, "what were you thinking having a magician go to the tables!?" In my experience, the owner of a restaurant isn't worried about losing their job and therefore will try new things.

Giovanni and I talked and told stories, and he warned me about the women around here, telling me that they'd be after my money. I told him I hoped to have that problem some day. ​He told me of his days of working day and night and how it caused him to have three heart attacks. When I asked him about whether it was really the work or if it was the women, he laughed and took a sip of whiskey. When I told him about how I left many jobs and eventually decided to be on my own as a magician, he said "it is better to be the head of the mouse than the tail of the lion." I liked that one, too. I had him repeat it so I could remember it.

Thank you for reading.

,-Jack