2013-05 Dennis Deliberations.... Editorial and Comment

 "The psychic business is a multi-billion-dollar industry today, in what can only be called, The Golden Age of the Con". -- Mentalist and Psychic Investigator Mark Edward. 

So the billion dollar psychic industry is fraudulent? Sounds pretty close to every industry gone big: could be military, tech, diamonds, government, academia, religion, education, insurance, finance… Greed, fraud, and deceit are rampant and infectious. Maybe I am just on an ethics kick when it come to magicians, but I am in the company of Houdini, Randi, Himber and others. 

Since I do a fair amount of psychic and mental magic-no need to lug the big stuff for that- I still get people who refuse to accept it as entertainment. They insist in believing in special mystical powers. That just bothers me.    I have mentioned several times here about knowing “Dr.” David Hoy. He had been a Baptist Fundamentalist Evangelist and gave it all up to become a stage psychic. I knew David during his ministry years because he used to do Gospel magic in his sermons. Following his rejection of the  pulpit, he was a smash hit on the Night Club Circuit and the Playboy Clubs. His book, The Bold and Subtle Miracles of Dr. Faust,  gave us mentalism classics and techniques such as “The Tossed out deck” and “Hurling the headlines”.  There seems something eerie and accurate about his stage name! 

Recall in classic literature the Faust legend: Faust ,in the classic German legend, is a highly successful scholar but one who was dissatisfied with his life who therefore makes a pact with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. The Faust legend has been the basis for many artistic works. Faust and the term “Faustian” imply a situation in which an ambitious person surrenders moral integrity in order to achieve power and success. That was Hoy!  He gave up his Christian faith and Baptist morals for fame.  

Hoy, in his later years did an enormously successful call in radio segment. When I was on WBT Radio in Charlotte, we carried his show as a feature during our mid-day program.  When I was filling in on the radio, I did the two-way bits with him. He would take callers and do cold readings and then give his address if anyone wanted advice on special personal issues.  I once asked him off the air what led to him giving up his Christian ministry and becoming a Psychic. He said, “Someday. I will tell you the whole story”  That day  never came. Hoy, who was massively obese, died of a heart attack , in 1981, long before his time. His story would make a great movie. Still within me is an anger over the evil that gripped him and took him to an early death.    

I know that any mentalist can enhance his revenue with stock market and love advice. It just galls me to know anyone would do that. I am all for baffling and mind-numbing magic. I just never want anyone to think that it is “real”. My students in high classes often ask me, “Is that David Blaine guy, for real?”  As P.T, Barnum is reported to have said, “There is a sucker born every minute”. 

DETECTING  FRAUDULENT PSYCHICS  

1. SHOW ME a psychic who isn't using his or her alleged paranormal talents to improve the financial health of others, and I'll show you a fraud. 
2. SHOW ME a psychic who isn't on the payroll of some police force or detective agency and being paid BIG BUCKS for their services, and I'll show you a fraud. 
3. SHOW ME a psychic who isn't making incredible breakthroughs in cures for all the world's major diseases (by divining all such future cures) and I'll show you a fraud. 
4. SHOW ME a psychic who isn't foreseeing all the major natural and man-made disasters of the world, and thereby saving countless millions of lives, and I'll show you a fraud. 
5. SHOW ME a psychic who doesn't have a stock portfolio that would put Warren Buffett's to shame, and I'll show you a fraud. 
6. SHOW ME a psychic who makes his or her living almost exclusively from doing readings, preying on the bereaved, selling books, hawking their nonsense on websites, and appearing regularly on Coast to Coast AM and other such squalid media outlets, and I'll show you a fraud. 
7. SHOW ME a psychic who has not been snapped up by the CIA or some other country's information agency, and I'll show you a fraud. 
8. SHOW ME a psychic who bluffs his or her way through life in order to avoid plain honest work, and I'll show you a fraud. 
9. SHOW ME a psychic who studiously avoids the many large cash-awards that are available to anyone who can scientifically validate their paranormal abilities, and I'll show you a fraud. 
10. SHOW ME a psychic who resorts to cold reading, lame parlor tricks, psychological game-playing, sleazy showmanship, and a heartless praying on the gullible religious and superstitious, and I'll show you a fraud. 

By Dennis Phillips  May 2013

2013-04 Famulus Newsletter

Next general meeting Wednesday, 04/17/2013 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
*************************************************************
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
*************************************************************

GET PUBLISHED!
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.

Please, please, please, use the Famulus@illusioneer.com e-mail address, your messages are in danger of getting lost if you do not do so.

2013-04 From The Editor

Already April and summer is fast approaching. It is for many of the ring members a traditionally quiet time, unless you work the Renaissance Faire circuit. So it is a good time to tweak your act, learn some new effects, or different approaches to existing props. Dennis Phillips give us a good idea, using a card duck in a Duck Dynasty theme. Be creative and think up new ways to use those existing effects.

Your editor

2013-04 Magic Has Changed

In 1977 BC (before computers), it was virtually impossible to see a live demo of a magic effect. New effects came to us in books and some videos, but the demonstration was relegated to the select few talented brick and mortar magic shops.Today, we can see both amateur and professional demos on Internet shop sites and you tube. Some use sophisticated editing to smooth over rough spots in performances so you only see a final product.

There is (was) nothing like the live performance in the shop.

 

Magic lectures have also changed. You watch performers now who cryptically cover the explanation of a lecture item with the disclaimer that it is fully explained in his notes or DVD for sale later. This format was not always the case. Lectures featured detailed explanations and left nothing uncovered and then if you wanted an effect, you made it, practiced it or bought it.I have not been satisfied with the new lecture formats and prefer the simpler times.

 

As a dealer and inventor of magic, it was possible to create and manufacture an effect and there were six or more distributors who carried magic and were willing to send it out for you. They put up their money and bought great quantities (200-300 pieces per purchase). Today, the volume of a "distributor" is that he will speculate on a few dozen of an item when trying something new out. Except for about two major firms who still buy in "bulk". On the other hand, a small magic firm is able to find their customers through International magic sites and can bypass the distributors.You as a consumer, can see the latest and greatest effects direct from their creators.

The one amazing thing about magic selling is that you can conceive of an item, send samples to distributors and have it in a shop within a week. There is no other business like this in the world.

 

Here's a quick ad: This item went from discussion on themagiccafe.com to distribution in a few weeks.

The Steel Ball and Tube Wand

   

Just go to youtube.com to see a demonstration.

or http://youtube.com/stagetricks

-Magic Ian

Magicians@aol.com

2013-04 Duck Dynasty with your Card Duck!

I want to share with you a routine that I have been doing for the past few months.  My Card Duck has mostly sat of the shelf for years, only to be used at an occasional birthday party or event where I want to make a person’s name magically appear.  Harry Blackstone Sr. was said to have loved the trick . I first saw it on an old Magic Land of Allakazam show performed by Mark Wilson.

The currently popular TV show Duck Dynasty has breathed new life into this old and enchanted prop!  I want to share my routine with you and if you have a duck, I hope you can use my routine and improve on it.   

Just stick a little black fake fur on the side of the bill of the duck with some double sided tape. Make it look like a wide beard.  Use the toe-end of an old black sock for the toboggan hat.    I guess that you could also wear a beard and a toboggan hat!

Use a Kazoo instead of a Duck call and build the skit around training the  duck by using your “duck call”.

Force a 3 of Hearts and have  them whisper it into your ear and show the audience.  Hold your hand over the ducks ears.

“No Peeking Duck!”  (To the audience) “I am telling him that so he does not think that he is headed for a Chinese restaurant.”

Hum the Kazoo to the beat of the sound of “3 of hearts”.

Duck pulls out a blank card… (To audience) “What do you expect, he’s a duck!”

“Listen better, Willie! Don’t be in such a ,huh, fowl mood.”   Duck pulls out a Tree of Hearts Card.

“Come on, this should be duck soup! Oh sorry!  Try again.”

Hum the Kazoo to the beat of “3 of hearts”.

“Come on ,duck…. ‘duck’!   Ha, he just quacks me up!”

“Let’s see. Do I have my ducks in a row?”

“This one is a sitting duck”

The duck comes up  with a three of hearts!

I have drawn a Z-Z-Top type beard on each of the hearts with a Sharpie. I manipulate this card with the “Tree” and the black card to the bottom of the deck  before it is put in the holder.  Give it to the volunteer as a souvenir.

I am sure you can come up with funnier and better lines… The premise is absurd and audiences love it.

Dennis

Here I am with the “Clementine” country duck

version of Joanne the Card Duck. I was told that this

was made by Warren Hamilton in the early 1960s.

2013-04 Dennis' Deliberations

SPLAT!

No further comment

*********************************************************

Lord Melchett: “Farewell, Blackadder [hands him a parchment]. The foremost cartographers of the land have prepared this for you; it's a map of the area that you'll be traversing. [Blackadder opens it up and sees it is blank] They'll be very grateful if you could just fill it in as you go along. Bye-bye.”

– From the English comedy series Blackadder (Part 2, Episode 3)

Yep…As Magicians we often are forced to “Wing It”.  I was hired to do a banquet show. Clearly, I explained on the contract that the show was not to be an illusion show. When I get there, it became obvious that the person who booked me did not inform the committee. They were expecting a “Floating person” and a “Cutting a person in Two”.

So what do you do when you need to do these effects and do not have the props?

There are ways to satisfy the requirement and make the audience happy. Here is what I did.

The Floating Person and  Cutting a Person in Half.

1)You can truthfully saw that you are doing the “Floating Person” Illusion this way.

My “Floating” is an idea that I got from Rachael Columbini’s former partner, magician Tom Jones.  It is marketed as “The Wild Levitation” Tom Jones used to freely show the method at his lectures and convention booth.  

You can make it yourself but if you want good documentation and not have the hassle of finding the gimmicks buy it from Penguin Magic. Take a look at the video. 

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/337 

Go to a place that salvages computers and get them to give you two rare earth magnets out of a junk hard drive.

Duck tape them into the inside insteps of a pair of slip-on dress loafers that are about a size too big. This way you can easily get them on and off.

You can wear these as dress shoes throughout the show.

To do the trick, take off your jacket or have a yard square opaque cloth.

Hold it out in front of you and lowered so that it is touching the floor.

Slip off one shoe as you hold it against the other. The magnets WILL hold them together.

Step back with your socked foot and do all the moves you see in the video.

Lower the cloth again and slip back on the shoe!

2)You can truthfully say that you are “Cutting a person in Half”

I use Bob Sheets, “Hang ‘em High” (Rope through the Body)

This “plays big, packs small”.  Watch the performance. It is strong stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZQA2Rx-7iY  

Here is an impromptu version showing the short rope tick but without the long gimmicked rope.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGFP0f6vFWo   

Magic Magazine published the secret of the original Sheets version a few years back. The effect is accomplish by a “Delbin-Tarbell Screw Gimmick” in the center of the long rope.  You have a short  3 foot piece already tucked in your pants, with knots on the end for ease of handling.   It is a matter of reaching around the back, untwisting the center of the long rope and grasping the knots with each hand and pulling it through you!

There you have it…TWO illusions.     For $150 crummy bucks, that is what they get.

I would NEVER work for the conditions where you were forced to do illusions for $150… The main reason is that agents like this often bill the client a high price and then give you $150 or less.  My pay is not the issue.   What is the issue is the client level of expectation for a $500 to $700 “illusion” show they paid for , and you are limited to $150?

A commission schedule should be reasonably in line with client and talent pay portion.

Personal Management can justify 50% ( Colonel Tom Parker got that out of Elvis) but  just an “agent” who is looking for the lowest bid and giving you no personal exclusiveness, deserves far less.

Dennis

2013-03 Famulus Newsletter

Next general meeting Wednesday, 03/20/2013 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
*************************************************************
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
*************************************************************

GET PUBLISHED!
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.

Please, please, please, use the Famulus@illusioneer.com e-mail address, your messages are in danger of getting lost if you do not do so.

2013-03 From The Editor

Here we go, March already and it feels as if it was just Christmas and New Year. Of course, this time of year means the annual Flea Market + event, this year at a new location. So be sure to join us on the 23rd at Sleuths Mystery Theater on International Drive in Orlando. Craig has lined up some more good lectures for in April so put those in your agenda too.

Thanks to Paula for her contribution this month, as well as thanks to our regulars Sheldon and Dennis.

Your editor

2013-03 Ring Report

President Craig Fennessey introduced the Ring officers and guests, Linking Ring Executive Editor, Sammy Smith and International IBM Past President Michael Stratman. George Bernard and Past-Ring President Carl Fowler were also recognized. The Ring's upcoming Flea Market and Auction will be held on March 23d at a new location, Sleuth's Theater, located on International Drive in Orlando. Tom Craven will be the featured Lecturer and workshop facilitator. One-half of the 30 flea market tables, available, have already been reserved for the event.

Mathew Wright will be the featured lecturer here at the IHOP on April 17th. Our own Steve Hart has put together a brief video on past flea markets and hopes to share it with us in the near future. Next years' IBM Convention will be held in Phoenix, Arizona and in 2015 the host city will be in neighboring Jacksonville, Florida.

Our Ring unanimously voted to put together a scholarship or subsidy program to encourage aspiring young magicians to participate in our Ring's activities and encourage their magical aspirations. Bev Bergeron will report later.

Sammy Smith presented Linking Ring's Howard Bamman Trophy to Bev Bergeron for his tireless and continuing contribution of monthly articles in Linking Ring for the 10-year period of 2001 to 2011. Bev graciously accepted and proceeded to present to the membership an impromptu Magic Moment. He demonstrated a torn napkin routine that can be performed in almost any location with readily available paper napkins but practice, practice......

Phil Schwartz followed with Magic History Moment Number 47, The Ultimate Okito by the late Robert Alba, MD. This was the follow-up treatise to the author's first publication on Okito's contribution to magic. Phil also displayed his collection of various die boxes produced by Thayer and others. Included in his collection was a box fabricated of Honduran mahogany, a prayer vase, an Owen prediction box, a card box and several sizes of die boxes. The membership was delighted with his presentation.

After a brief intermission 6 members volunteered to perform. Bob Swadling flawlessly produced a playing card from silk followed by a card and ace production and finishing with coins penetrating a packaged deck of cards. George Bernard followed with a coin through a plastic envelope illusion. Dan Stapleton was up next with a card prediction routine and closed with an imaginary stroked cue ball leaving a chalk mark on the
cupped hands of an audience participant. Mike Stratman next demonstrated his handling and manipulation of corks in an entertaining routine. Up next was Doug Kalcik who performed a parody of a Houdini escape, employing a wine glass, a small chain, and a closed box to house the goblet. Carl Fowler closed out the evening with a very entertaining variation on the Professor's Nightmare.

Sheldon Brook

2013-03 Some Musings From Paula Large

The other day I was watching television. I happened upon "Wild Wild West". For their guest star they had Don Rinkles. He played the villain magician. Lots of camera tricks no real magic. No card tricks, mostly Don popping in and out dressed in his tux and cape plus, evil laugh and mustache. Why is it the Magician always evil ? (except Mandrake and Bill Bixby )  

Also there is a commercial set in a magic shop. Cute, as the magician keeps making things disappear, the partners desk, laptop again. Must buy new laptop, desk, etc. Next time partner turns magician into llama before he has a chance to prestidigitate. 

There is another commercial where the magician slides his hand over the card and it changes, then a bite out of a pear is healed ...HP Computers. 

Krystals the franchise has a commercial: "don't hire a magician buy their product". This sort of suggests that you do not need entertainment for your event. Let us hope that does not catch on. We contacted the home office and let them know our opinions. Result: one free meal gift card and the commercial seemed to go away. Like a scene out of the movie "Summer School". 

Write to the right people and let your opinion be known. Try to change things with a suggestion how they can be fixed.

By Paula Large

2013-03 Dennis' Deliberations

O tempora, o mores!

                                               -Cicero, Catilina I, 2-

We live in the Post-Modern Age.  Post-modern audiences seem to lack of any form of social manners.

I attribute it to the stress of quickly emerging cultural, economic and social changes. One psycho-social motivation for the lack of social graces may be: Individuals screaming for notice in a world where the things that used to bind us together are disintegrating. “Us” seems to be a verboten word. It is all about “Me”.

Characteristics of Post-Modernism in all the arts are : frustration, rage, arrogance, audacity, rudeness, individualism, the bizarre, loads of scorn, ridicule and sadistic playfulness. These not only hold in magic but in music ( Maroon 5), film (Tarantino) ,TV (AGT), politics (Limbaugh, Beck), cartoons (Simpsons, Southpark), personal body decoration (tattoos, scarification, piercings), architecture ,modern literature and graphics (Wired Magazine).

We now experience much of our lives in imposed cyber-isolation. Clapping and an audience response comes from a physically assembled group. Electronic connections are not interpersonal connections. Even a two-way talk radio show is heard while the listener is alone in an air-conditioned automobile and they hear a carefully crafted presentation that forbids any contradiction with the viewpoints of the host.  The old-time “front-porch” was where people gathered and looked into and  watched other’s faces and learned that listening and reacting was a skill.  Our minds are being conditioned to programmed cyber-stimulation and we lose the personal connection. Look at the magical arts. A David Blaine and Street Magic is designed for one-on-one and a personal response. It is highly edited and demands no reaction. You don’t “clap”. You say, “Do that again, for ME!” or “How did YOU fool ME?” or “How did you do that?” 

I heard from Bev Bergeron and Dan Stapleton about Penn and Teller’s recent show at the Hard Rock Café in Orlando. They both loved it. As you probably know, I have always been hypercritical of Penn and Teller. I just never warmed up to their style. After hearing from Orlando, I think that I have a handle on my problem.

I think I knew the answer all along but just don’t want to admit it. I just have problems with Post Modernism.

I believe that it is their appeal is reflective of Post-Modern Magic.

Like 'em or hate 'em, the thoroughly Post-Modern , Penn Gillette does has turned both him and his partner into multi-millionaires.   In his books ( okay, I copped a look at Barnes and Noble without buying)-- he constantly berates himself with self-deprecating comments and humor, such that you realize he is very much aware that he is, indeed, a freak, both mentally and physically; he thinks he has a goofy name, and that he detests the fact that he is a 280-pound, 6 ft. 7 inch bizzaro who walks around like a dumb boxer, and dresses like a total slob (when not working), and has all kinds of degenerate friends (not his regret), and is a walking, talking, loud-mouthed "grab-bag" of opinions and feelings, most of which he admits freely to not being formally "schooled" for.  He constantly says how incredibly fortunate he is to be earning an insanely lucrative living, in a world where most everybody else is stuck in insufferably dead-end jobs and with bosses they detest but have to answer to.

So… is he ACTUALLY the obnoxious blowhard that he appears to be? Well, YES, and NO: As much as Penn's distasteful persona seems to be an intrinsic part of the man (and it is), he also admits to an apparently self-calculated schizophrenic nature: He is actually rather "normal" (should I remove the quotes?) in his private life, at home with the wife and kids, around Teller when they are planning new effects and strategies, and with his many friends and associates.  

And I'm sure he and Teller are acutely aware that there are hundreds of magicians not understanding how they've become so successful, not understanding what Penn's "obnoxious" behavior is doing for them [$$$], and not understanding some of the most basic psychology of the post-modern entertainment business. They are people like me who either reject or detest Post-Modernism.

Penn & Teller have always been deeply appreciative of their fans. After every show, says Penn, they go out into the lobby and spend at least an hour meeting the audience, chatting to them, signing autographs, posing for photos, and… well, just being darn nice guys. Penn adds, "What the hell else do we have to do with our time?"   (As he tells it: One of those female fans came up to him after a show and waxed ecstatically about how she was an atheist and skeptic, and 'name-dropped' atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens and others; and then, hung around until everyone else had left, and offered to take him out for coffee.  Penn joked, "You know,stalkers don't bother me in the least. Hell, I married one!". 

Meanwhile, the so-called "bad boys of magic" are down in Vegas loving every minute of their existence, and rolling in cash.

They know the formula. I just don’t like it.

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
*************************************************************
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
*************************************************************

GET PUBLISHED!
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.

Please, please, please, use the Famulus@illusioneer.com e-mail address, your messages are in danger of getting lost if you do not do so.

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…)
************************
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