Tuesday, May 27th, 2003 at 6:57 pm
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| Nate’s Secret is Invaluable — Don’t Share! |
When I saw Mr. Kranzo?s lecture, I was blown away. I know, magicians always say that. ?Oh, I saw the Ball and Vase and was blown away! How could the red ball vanish from his pocket and appear in the previously empty vase?!? Okay, well, maybe not like that. But you know what I mean. The only type of critique more frequent in our business is the exact opposite where our brothers or sisters attack the magician viciously.
But I really was blown away. He would perform the effect and then explain his method. I couldn?t have guessed the method and yet, once explained, I felt like I could probably handle the effect. That?s a rare quality in a lecturer. Usually, they don?t need to explain the method because, to be honest, it was pretty obvious during the performance; or, they could teach me the method all night but I still wouldn?t be able to duplicate it because I cannot do a left-handed middle deal with a face-up deck while finger-palming a donut. (Okay, I exaggerate, I can do that but I only use it in my mentalism act, ?Star, Wavy Lines, Square or Donut.?)
Am I striking a chord here?
So, anyway, I went to see Mr. Kranzo?s lecture, and was, as I said earlier, blown away. He does a routine with a shear scarf (not a silk) and a silver dollar. Take a second and go to the movie section on Penguin Magic and watch the scarf and silver dollar routine. It typifies the magic you will find on this outstanding DVD. His magic is practical, amazing and not impossible to do. The steps are clearly set out and you?ll find that his instruction is not just patient and helpful but almost more entertaining than the demonstration of the…
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Tuesday, May 27th, 2003 at 5:44 pm
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| Magician Gician Tan Works to Rebuild Business |
Here on the North American Continent, SARS has had a mercifully short run. We’ve had the essential quarantine for the metropolian Toronto area and some increased searching and evaluation at the borders but this is nothing compared to our Asian brothers and sisters.
The Straits Times of the Pacific area, including Singapore, reports that “m
assive cancellations of performances at birthday parties, corporate events and shopping malls have brought business to almost a standstill in the past 1 1/2 months.”
The paper estimates that current magic business is about ten percent of its former level. In fact, Edwin Goh, a Kid-Show entertainer, reported that party bookings dropped to “literally zero.” That’s low.
If unknown infective agents weren’t enough, competition is picking up in the arena. According to the Times, some magicians are making close to $30,000.00 a month. (I know some readers are saying tothemselves, “heck, that’s more than I make in one show”). The SARSoutbreak also required that magicians not only care for their props but also disinfect them. Some magicians wore face masks to at least give their audience some confidence in what.
One magician noted the obvious, ‘We’ve not pulling streamers out of children’s mouths anymore.”
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Monday, May 26th, 2003 at 7:44 am
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| Trixie Bond |
We receive a bunch of emails everyday. Two stood out in stark contrast1 to each other and both asked questions. The first site asked:
What if there was a place and a group of people that existed to meet the special needs of folks who perform for kids and families? What if there was a place to motivate you, educate you and point you in the right direction? What if there was a place that helped person after person build successful performance careers? What if all of this really existed? A place so good that your competitors won’t tell you they attend because they want to keep all the resources for themselves.
This first email really intrigued us. It sounded like something our good friend and, in our humble opinion, the finest kid-show performer on the face of the earth, Trixie Bond2 might be interested in hearing about. The click through revealed that not only did Ms. Bond know about this show, she was a featured performer and instructor.
So that was a very nice email and well worth the click-through.
The second email asked:
What if there was a place and a group of @%@($ that existed to meet the &%*@ needs of &^%$# who perform *&^%$^##@# all night long?3 . . . .
I think you get the point. The second email was spam. It wasn’t even accurate. I went to the site (late at night when everyone was asleep) and there was no magic taught. In fact, it appeared to be a site about helping the poor. There were pictures of poor men and women who couldn’t afford food or clothing. They all looked hungry and skinny and must have been cold without any clothes.
I was moved to pity but because I didn’t think I could learn any magic tricks, I left the website and thought how lucky I was not to be in that situation. I guess I should have donated money to them, but I couldn’t stand the pitiful images.
Getting back to the first email.
Visit http://www.kidabra.com/ and see what I am talking about. The Convention will begin on August 20, 2003 in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and has a staff scheduled that truly is the who’s who among the kid-show performers. If you do kid-shows, if you have kids, you were once were a kid, if you can spell kid, if you are a young goat4, you need to check out this site.
As we get closer to the convention, we’ll keep you up to date on the conclave and the entertainers scheduled to appear. If you want more direct information, there even have a link to register for their newsletter at: …
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