In Ancient Greece, Homer spoke of “that man skilled in all ways of contending.” Leonardo da Vinci embodied the concept of the Renaissance man in Florence in the fifteenth century. People searching for Chicago’s jack-of-all-trades should seek out Mr. Ash, a 61-year-old Armenian magician with an uncanny list of achievements that rivals those of his historic forbears.

Step into Ash’s Magic Shop on 4955 N. Western Ave. on a weekday afternoon and you’ll find a world-renowned magician, an Illinois state bridge inspector, a member of a country-western rock band, a former Republican committee organizer and one of Dennis Rodman’s former bodyguards. Mr. Ash is all of the above.

His real name is Ashod Baboorian, and he spent the first 20 years of his life in Iraq. His Armenian family fled civil unrest in the country and came to Chicago in 1960. Since then, he has been “Ash” or “Mr. Ash.”

“I’ve never been back,” says Mr. Ash about Iraq. “I’m an American now.”

The abundance of stories Mr. Ash has gleaned from his life in America is made more impressive by the verve with which he tells them in his nasal, gravelly voice.

One such story concerns Mr. Ash’s love for country music, which he discovered while serving in the army at Fort Knox, Ky., in the early ’60s. He returned to Chicago in 1963, learned to play the guitar and started a country band called Country Ash Ryan, which supported itself financially by doubling as a wedding band.

They gigged at dive bars all over the north side and cut a few 45-inch singles, but Country Ash Ryan fizzled after a few years.

“If they made 100 thousand copies of our record, 99,970 of them are still in my garage somewhere,” says Mr. Ash.

Mr. Ash became a magician in 1970 after attending meetings of magic clubs with amateur-magician friends of his. Curiosity drew Mr. Ash to magic. “All magicians, including me, become magicians because they want to know the secrets behind the tricks,” says Mr. Ash.

Mr. Ash began performing magic five nights a week in bars. The enormous list of venues where he has played includes Nevin’s Live in Evanston, where Mr. Ash opened for the country/punk band the Waco Brothers.

His routine, which he claims hasn’t changed in 30 years, is based on card tricks, mind reading and, most importantly, jokes.

“The secret of bar magic is that the people in the crowd don’t care so much about the magic,” Mr. Ash says. “You have to keep them laughing, otherwise it doesn’t matter what kind of tricks you have.”

After winning a number of local magic competitions, Mr. Ash’s reputation as a magician grew and he was invited to join the cast of the syndicated TV show “Bozo’s Circus.” During the ’80s Mr. Ash was a regular guest on the show as well as on ABC 7’s annual cerebral palsy telethon.

These days, Mr. Ash mostly performs at private parties and corporate events, though he once performed for the Chicago Bulls after their second NBA title in 1992.

“[Scottie] Pippen loves card tricks. But he was so tall it was hard for me to do them for him. I asked him, ‘Does your elbow speak English, because I’ve been talking to it for the past five minutes!’ He says we could go sit down and do the tricks, but that wasn’t any better. We sat down and I couldn’t see over his knees!” says Mr. Ash, who has also done his show at birthday celebrations for Illinois Governor George Ryan.

Mr. Ash might make it sound like he’s been working at his magic act constantly for the past 32 years. But Mr. Ash has been working full-time for the State of Illinois since 1965. He started as a committee organizer for the Republican Party in the 33rd Ward and later became a state bridge inspector, a job he still holds.

Mr. Ash is also active in Chicago’s Armenian community. He belongs to a group called the Knights of Vartan, named after a famous Armenian religious martyr. The group organizes dinners and donates the proceeds to schools in Armenia.

Mr. Ash is most comfortable talking about magic, though. Back in his store on Western Avenue, he gives advice to other magicians and shares funny stories with everyone who walks into his shop.

A young father comes in asking Mr. Ash for some easy tricks that he can buy for his 8-year-old son who’s got a thing for magic. Mr. Ash suggests a few items, but the father has become interested in a Magic Light bulb that lights up on contact with people’s hands.

“I sell a lot of those to strippers,” Mr. Ash says. “They like to put them down there during shows to give the guys a thrill.”

The father bought the Magic Light bulb and another item and left the store chuckling.

An aspiring magician asked Mr. Ash how a floating ball trick is accomplished. “That’s real simple,” Mr. Ash says, grabbing a red ball from a shelf. “The ball isn’t going to move unless you’ve got a string attached to it. Don’t believe anyone out there who says they’ve got some other way of doing it.”

What happened to the rule saying a good magician never shares his tricks?

“That’s a myth,” Mr. Ash says. “Magicians are mostly nice people.” nyou