Adam Trent will appear, magically, at Luther Burbank Center Adam Trent will appear, magically, at Luther Burbank Center

No cell phone is safe from Adam Trent.

The 31-year-old magician from Los Angeles has made a name for himself in recent years with a trick during which he takes a cell phone from a gullible audience member and “destroys” it in a blender on stage.

Of course the blender doesn’t actually crunch up plastic and metal. And Trent doesn’t actually destroy the phone. But the gag sure feels real, and it sets the tone for a rule-breaking show that incorporates an eclectic bunch of styles and aims to keep audiences off-balance enough to believe just about everything they see.

Trent brings this unique brand of magic to Santa Rosa’s Luther Burbank Center for the Arts on Thursday.

The current tour, dubbed “The Magic of Adam Trent,” is a mashup of traditional magic, technology, comedy, song and dance. Trent said he crafted the shows after performers he idolized as a child: David Copperfield, Michael Jackson, Danny Ganz, ‘N Sync, and more.

“I was so into music and comedy as a kid,” he said in a telephone interview.

“When I went to concerts with these giant LED walls, I always imagined what it would be like to add magic.

“Watching comedians growing up, I asked myself the same questions: ‘How can I incorporate magic?’

“Today my show represents the way I realized I had to do things in order to embrace what I loved most.”

Personal touch

With this in mind, Trent said he strives to make shows personal in two distinct ways.

First he involves the audience, giving them an opportunity at the ?beginning of the show to place in a box small items he then pulls out and uses over the course of his act.

During a recent iteration of his show in Reno, for instance, Trent incorporated one man’s business card and another man’s set of portable headphones.

Both items became props; their owners unsuspecting accomplices in riveting tricks.

Second, during shows Trent shares personal (and sometimes private) details about himself, projecting pictures from his youth onto a big screen or retelling meaningful stories from his youth.

His final number, for example, involves a montage of personal pix on the big-screen and Trent playing the piano.

“I remember as an audience member sitting in a David Copperfield show and thinking, ‘What ?must his journey have been like?’” Trent ?said.

“I don’t want people wondering the same thing about me, so I ?try to humanize myself and give people a little sense of what I might be going through in that moment.”

Trent certainly is no stranger to the spotlight; he started giving magic shows to family members at age 9, and for two years in more recent times was the face of The Illusionists, a show with four or five other magicians that debuted on Broadway in 2014.

That show set sales records for magic shows in the Big Apple. Then it hit the road on a national tour.

The Futurist

During this time Trent earned the nickname, “The Futurist,” for ?his reliance on technology.

Which is precisely where the cell phone trick comes back in.

For Trent, the cell trick is the ultimate irony - the magician who embraces technology, taking someone’s prized phone and crunching it in a blender.

The situation is paradoxical, counterintuitive, and downright silly. And yet none of us - including Trent himself - ever can get enough.

Matt Villano is a writer and editor based in Healdsburg. His regular “Humanity First” column in The Healdsburg Tribune focuses on good people doing great things in the community.

No cell phone is safe from Adam Trent.

The 31-year-old magician from Los Angeles has made a name for himself in recent years with a trick during which he takes a cell phone from a gullible audience member and “destroys” it in a blender on stage.

Of course the blender doesn’t actually crunch up plastic and metal. And Trent doesn’t actually destroy the phone. But the gag sure feels real, and it sets the tone for a rule-breaking show that incorporates an eclectic bunch of styles and aims to keep audiences off-balance enough to believe just about everything they see.

Trent brings this unique brand of magic to Santa Rosa’s Luther Burbank Center for the Arts on Thursday.

The current tour, dubbed “The Magic of Adam Trent,” is a mashup of traditional magic, technology, comedy, song and dance. Trent said he crafted the shows after performers he idolized as a child: David Copperfield, Michael Jackson, Danny Ganz, ‘N Sync, and more.

“I was so into music and comedy as a kid,” he said in a telephone interview. “When I went to concerts with these giant LED walls, I always imagined what it would be like to add magic. Watching comedians growing up, I asked myself the same questions: ‘How can I incorporate magic?’ Today my show represents the way I realized I had to do things in order to embrace what I loved most.”

With this in mind, Trent said he strives to make shows personal in two distinct ways.

First he involves the audience, giving them an opportunity at the beginning of the show to place in a box small items he then pulls out and uses over the course of his act. During a recent iteration of his show in Reno, for instance, Trent incorporated one man’s business card and another man’s set of portable headphones. Both items became props; their owners unsuspecting accomplices in riveting tricks.

Second, during shows Trent shares personal (and sometimes private) details about himself, projecting pictures from his youth onto a big screen or retelling meaningful stories from his youth.

His final number, for example, involves a montage of personal pix on the big-screen and Trent playing the piano.

“I remember as an audience member sitting in a David Copperfield show and thinking, ‘What must his journey have been like?’?” Trent said. “I don’t want people wondering the same thing about me, so I try to humanize myself and give people a little sense of what I might be going through in that moment.”

Trent certainly is no stranger to the spotlight; he started giving magic shows to family members at age 9, and for two years in more recent times was the face of The Illusionists, a show with four or five other magicians that debuted on Broadway in 2014. That show set sales records for magic shows in the Big Apple. Then it hit the road on a national tour.

During this time Trent earned the nickname, “The Futurist,” for his reliance on technology. Which is precisely where the cell phone trick comes back in.

For Trent, the cell trick is the ultimate irony - the magician who embraces technology, taking someone’s prized phone and crunching it in a blender. The situation is paradoxical, counterintuitive, and downright silly. And yet none of us - including Trent himself - ever can get enough.

Matt Villano is a writer and editor based in Healdsburg. His regular “Humanity First” column in The Healdsburg Tribune focuses on good people doing great things in the community.