{"id":376567,"date":"2026-10-19T01:50:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T01:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/376567\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T01:50:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T01:50:56","slug":"kelly-clarkson-may-disagree-but-i-love-the-art-of-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/376567\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelly Clarkson may disagree \u2014 but I love the Art of Play"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tough spell for magic shop<\/p>\n

Recent newspaper stories reported singer Kelly Clarkson having an in-store meltdown<\/a>. We\u2019re talking in a very small Brooklyn Heights shop.<\/p>\n

Seems she wanted a not-for-sale item in this little magic shop<\/a> in the middle of the block that gets jammed with people. It\u2019s on Atlantic Avenue. Tinier than my closet. A magic store named Art of Play. It\u2019s wall-to-wall filled with purchaseable trinkets.<\/p>\n

Lately, junky stories have been printed about this small shop. I seek no war with talented, respected, well-known singer Kelly Clarkson. It\u2019s just that I personally know this shop. Been in it more than once. My attorney friend Stuart Slotnick, son of the now-retired great lawyer Barry Slotnick,<\/a> loves card tricks. The shop, depending on availability, books these specialists for in-house gigs. Stuart always takes me <\/a>whenever a cardshark\u2019s booked there.<\/p>\n

For that so-called theater, you first enter the shop filled with magic tricks. Some purchaseable. Some not. The people in charge always polite and friendly. Enter Kelly, who wanted the singing bird that was permanently attached to a wall and that owners say was not for sale. Seems Molly, the one-of-a-kind singing bird<\/a>, was definitely not to be singing at Kelly\u2019s place. It is never to be moved. I have seen that bird. Kelce\u2019s wife doesn\u2019t have such a sound.<\/p>\n

Peace in the cards<\/p>\n

My white peace flag flutters only because I happen to know that superb little independent shop. I have recently just schlepped there a second time. I praise it. I marvel at the industry of its management. With today\u2019s fiscal restraints and wormy little tax-happy mayor, problems with many desperate to earn a living and people moving out of this city, for any tiny brick-and-mortar store to do well is a marvel.<\/p>\n

Such should be celebrated, patronized \u2014 not vilified.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet opinions and commentary from our columnists\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

It periodically books one-of-a-kind cardplaying magicians. International specialists. In the front row where we sat, the audience is so close that a reach could touch the star\u2019s golden fingers. The audience of maybe 30 cram together in a small back room on assorted chairs. Not exactly the seats you\u2019d see in Radio City.<\/p>\n

So, the joys of being a columnist \u2014 or, rather, a column-miss. Will I be back at this wonderful little shop? Absolutely.<\/p>\n

Going \u2018Overboard\u2019<\/p>\n

Another story just came up. An old friend remembered it. Happened light years ago, back in the days when Twiggy dressed the Earth. As did the famous restaurant Le Cirque. Feeding my face there, I suddenly looked up and saw my old friend Twiggy. I ran over to her. We hugged. I say, \u201cTwiggy, you look great. How are you? What are you doing?\u201d She\u2019s talkative. Pleasant. But staring at me. Then: \u201cTwiggy, honey, I\u2019m leaving you flat. I have an appointment.\u201d I leave. An hour later, my phone rings. It\u2019s the restaurant\u2019s ma\u00eetre d\u2019. The patrons. I remember all are magnificent, so he asks, \u201cYou OK?\u201d I say, \u201cYeah. Just had a lovely chat with Twiggy. Why?\u201d And he says, \u201cBecause you were talking with Goldie Hawn.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the reported \u2014 but unconfirmed \u2014 remarks of our once partial President Joe Biden, our former leader, from his wife: \u201cWhen we\u2019re born, we\u2019re naked, hungry, wet and we get slapped on the ass. It goes downhill from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only in the USA, kids, only in the USA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A tough spell for magic shop Recent newspaper stories reported singer Kelly Clarkson having an in-store meltdown. We\u2019re…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,32346,9,24,63,299],"class_list":["post-376567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-kelly-clarkson","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}