Criss Angel, who filmed much of his A&E series "Mindfreak" in Las Vegas, became interested in magic at 6 or 7 and says he levitated his mother at age 13.

If you're ever on the Strip and think you see a passerby lift a taxi off the ground before he levitates and sets himself on fire, odds are it's just Criss Angel blowing off steam. But you might want to make that your last yard-long margarita for the night just in case.

Those are just a few of the stunts Angel has performed on the streets of Las Vegas for his A&E series "Mindfreak" (10 p.m. Wednesdays, following the shot-at-the-Palms "Inked"). The cable network's press notes call it the "first weekly magic series in 40 years," but Angel doesn't exactly see it that way.

"I think, magic or magician, it pigeonholes you into a very one-dimensional kind of art form," he says, adding that he coined the term Mindfreak to encompass his entire act, "whether it was mentalism or performance art or escapes."

The sidewalks of Las Vegas can be a tough place to impress tourists, what with the competition from the volcano, fountains, pirate battles and the like. But that's just the sort of challenge sought by Angel, who comes across somewhat like a jacked-up Eric Roberts fronting an industrial rock band.

"I just wanted to go to a place where I'd be able to really get a spectrum of people from all different places," he says by phone from California, "and be able to get their natural reactions" without any type of stage or lighting effects.

Tourist-heavy locales present a special set of obstacles for street magic, as audience members typically have an array of cameras and camcorders at their disposal. "If you're not on top of your game (and make a mistake) that picture will be on the Internet, and it will hinder your career tremendously," Angel says. "For me, that's what really pushes my envelope, that challenge."

It's an environment in which he clearly thrives. From Fremont Street to Valley of Fire, and from Sunset Park to a local car dealership, his illusions have done more to make pedestrians feel uneasy than the people who flap those "girls direct to your door" cards.

Full disclosure time: I put traditional magicians only slightly ahead of ventriloquists and impressionists in the pantheon of junk entertainers. Performers such as Penn & Teller, The Amazing Johnathan, and those adorable "Showgirls of Magic" shake things up enough to make for good shows. But as stupid as it sounds, I've caught myself actually believing that Angel can float through the air at will.

He's quick to admit that magic's reputation isn't what it once was. "There's a lot of people that lack any artistic merit or originality," Angel says. "That's just something that I don't waste my time watching. And there's a lot of that in Las Vegas."

While he's been doing his best to rehabilitate his craft's image a handful of people at a time, he hopes to broaden his reach with a headlining gig he considers "inevitable." He's shopping a show he calls "an experience that no one has ever had in Las Vegas, or for that matter the world," and says he's in talks with the "cr?me de la cr?me" of resorts to host it.

He already has some experience in that environment, having spent what he says was "on and off a little more than a year" working on visuals for "Le Reve."

In the meantime, Angel is working on a Halloween special (10 p.m. Oct. 31 on A&E) and is negotiating for a second season of "Mindfreak."

But if the "inevitable" comes to pass and he realizes his dream of becoming a Las Vegan, he'll have plenty of downtime between shows. Which begs the question: With all that sleight of hand, is he allowed to gamble?

"Some casinos have asked me not to participate," he admits. "The fact of the matter is I don't cheat, and if I did I wouldn't tell you."

Calling all wannabes: You may still have time to audition for "American Idol." Producers planned to hold back some wristbands, which guarantee admission, until this morning at the South Hall West Entrance of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The registration process, which was set to begin Saturday, was to resume at 6 a.m. today with auditions beginning around 8. To be eligible, you must have been born on or between Aug. 16, 1976, and Aug. 15, 1989. More information is available at www.idolonfox.com.

Christopher Lawrence's Life on the Couch column appears on Mondays. E-mail him at clawrence@reviewjournal.com.