2013-02 Famulus Newsletter

Next general meeting Wednesday, 02/20/2013 at 7:30 PM SHARP
I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819

Please join us for dinner beforehand

Lunch meetings in the McDonald’s at 7344 Sand Lake Road, Orlando. It’s two blocks WEST of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Sand Lake Road. We meet every Tuesday at noon upstairs.

Website: http://www.ring170.com/

F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
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Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Sheldon Brook- Secretary – mrbrook33@yahoo.com
Treasurer - Bev Bergeron & Joe Zimmer - Bev@bevbergeron.com zimsalabim@aol.com
Mark Fitzgerald- Director at Large - markaf1949@hotmail.com
Dan Knapp- Sgt at Arms - danknapp@centurylink.net
Stefan Bartelski – Editor of “Famulus”- Famulus@illusioneer.com
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Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it to Famulus@illusioneer.com, and we will get you in print.

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2013-02 From the Editor

February has arrived and we are getting closer to another great Flea Market and Auction, as well as perhaps an Annual Dinner. In addition to these internal events Craig has some great lectures lined up so keep your ear to the ground (or this newsletter).

Just a reminder that one of the club's extracurricular activities, the Gators meeting  on the first Sunday of the month, has been moved this month to the second Sunday due to Super Bowl Sunday. If you can, do join the card and coins gurus for a fun evening.

Remember, anyone who would like to send a review of one of our lectures or has other news of a magical nature, please email me at famulus -at- illusioneer.com.

Happy Spring y'all

Your Editor

2013-02 Ring Report

President Craig Fennessey introduced the officers and guests to the membership present and reminded them that Ring dues were once again due. After this evening, the next lecture is planned for April. The Board is also planning to do, sometime in late February or March, a Flea Market and Auction at a different and larger facility than in previous years. The Ring is also considering resuming an Annual Banquet sometime in April.

Bev Bergeron announced that he would be emceeing an event in South Carolina later this month. Mark Fitzgerald continues his weekly table magic gig, on Friday nights, at the Hard Rock's Kitchen Restaurant here in Orlando. Mark has also scheduled a lecture on Rubber Band Magic at the home of our V.P., Chris Dunn, on January 19th and members were invited to attend.

Following a brief intermission, Eric Jones was introduced and proceeded with his lecture which was very well received by the membership. He demonstrated many coin effects and handling as well as other routines that he performs in his act.

Following the lecture the meeting was adjourned.

Sheldon Brook

2013-02 Dennis' Deliberations

I'm sure this has happened to you…… or many a magician….
A relative or close friend (neither one actually cares about the art of magic) begs you to show them how to do a few basic card tricks. So you go really basic. No skill required. They don't even need to know how to shuffle a deck. The tricks are self-contained (as we say), likely in any children's book of magic, such as : "101 Clever Card Tricks" by Clara Frost-Sharrott.
BUT THEN… they come back some days, weeks, or months later and when you ask him how things went, they say "I couldn't remember a crazy thing!" or "I couldn't fool anyone with them. What the person fails to understand is that there are rudimentary PRESENTATION SKILLS required, for even the most simple trick: some acting ability, a bit of misdirection, some smoothness with the cards, even if sleight of hand is not employed. (in other words, PRACTICE the tricks first! Many times!)What they (and sometimes magic fanatics) fail to grasp, is that without an innate, inbred DESIRE to do magic, the performance will be rock-bottom HOPELESS!
I learned some of these lessons the hard way (my financial planner wanted to know some tricks. He can handle complex insurance and investment procedures, but needs a "key card" to locate his joker which is still in the box…)
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The question came up in a magician’s discussion on what to do when you are performing and someone pulls out an I Phone and Googles and finds the Trick and the secret on line and starts telling everyone! This is increasingly happening to magicians and it happens to me because most of my audiences are technologically hip high schoolers or college students. If it is a group of college kids ( and sometimes young working adults), I will ask them for the phone and I will look at the screen, turn it sideways, make a funny face with exaggerated interest in the screen, act like I am zooming in, look very close and say "Wow! You can find EVERYTHING on this thing!" Then I look at them and say, "This must be what you use to find love?" . I then hand them back the phone and say, "Take your pick. Do you want entertainment tonight or do you want education? Don't you spend enough time in class, as it is?" Many times I will then refer them to Brian Brushwood's "Scam School" on You Tube, if they “want to go home later and find out how I did everything”. (Actually his site is more about bar bets and stunts but most people enjoy looking at it.) With adults I use other put-downs when I get their phone like, "Is this how you get your investment advice? No wonder you lost your retirement". At a business leaders dinner , a few weeks ago, I actually said , " This must be where Karl Rove got his election night forecast?" I try to deliver all these lines like Jackie Mason. If a woman says ( and many do!) "Can you make my husband disappear?" I answer, "What do I look like? A divorce lawyer?" or "I am Dennis Phillips, you have me confused with Dr. Phil!"
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Recently I did a long term school substitute job at a local High School. I was teaching “Marketing and Promotion” and a couple of business classes (Law and Accounting). When we were doing “Branding” and “Publicity”, I showed clips from a collection of 80s and 90s and more recent magic TV specials while they were finishing up their projects. The kids (born in 1995 or after) never heard of Copperfield. The only part of the special (the 1995 15 Year Retrospective) they enjoyed was the Spikes of Death. “Too much dancing and posing and bright lights. When is he going to do to the tricks?” Lance Burton was seen as too slow moving and “so what?” They kind of liked Rudy Coby and thought that he was stupidly interesting. They like the bizarre stuff from his first special. (Nail in nose, knife in arm, hypno-wheel)
They were blown away by David Blaine. He was their overall favorite. “Is he for real?” Blaine’s understatement and minimalism could be the key. Their favorite dove worker was Jason Byrne. “Bring back the guy with the purple coat and pig tail!” The girls were in love with him. Dan Sperry got a big “yuk”. The dove work of Lance Burton and Joseph Gabriel were deemed effeminate which did not appeal to some female students. Rick Thomas ,Greg Frewin, Jonathan David Bass and Jason Byrne were not seen that way. They already knew Criss Angel but thought he was a phony and fake and referred me to exposure sites on You-Tube. “He sells all his stuff and its all fake. I got one of his magic kits for Christmas”
Marco Tempest’s act was called “boring”, saying, “Anyone can do that with an i Pad”. They did not react well to a “variety” format such as “World’s Greatest Magic”.In general the magic that appealed to them was not doves or big prop magic. They most liked, the close-up street magic with small objects which were presented in a way to ask, “Is that guy for real?” That is why they preferred Kevin James “Cutting the guy in half” over any danced illusion routine. “Wow! Is that for real?” That’s the latest on what high school kids think. I am not sure if it means anything but marketing people spend a fortune for this information.
Don’t take this information as appropriate for live stage shows. There is a different expectation in watching television as opposed to seeing something live and in person. This may be the reason that Cirque du Soleil does not translate well to television. In person it is breathtaking. On TV, not so much. I found this to be true when I was editing my own video segment for Steve Brown’s TV special a few years back. I had to delete my mirror ball production. In person, the visual impact of the spotlights on the spinning, flaming ball was very powerful as the points of light swirled around the auditorium. On the TV screen it was all lost.
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There is an event-planning service called “Shows in a Box”. They have a slick Facebook page and a nice website: http://www.showsinabox.com/ It appears that Illusionist Dave Thomas is one of the featured entertainers in their pantheon of performers. He is an experienced professional. I have no doubts that this company has a great product. My only concern is the name of the company, “Shows in a Box”. I just do not know what kind of impression that name makes on a client. In my professional world, the term “Teacher in a Box” is a negative term for a canned and rigid program of generic pre-packaged lessons. My family physician for many years used to speak disparagingly of the corner Medical Walk-In Clinics as a “Doc in a Box”. Do you consider a “Dinner in a Box” for your family as a classy event? Think KFC chicken. It works but is not considered memorable personalized fine dining. No convention has “Dinner in a Box” for the evening banquet. Perhaps this is just my problem, but from my long association with advertising and marketing, I know that words carry power and motivation. It seems to me that selling a show business service as “Shows in a Box” could end you up in a can.

But, I wish them luck in today’s business environment.
Dennis Phillips