Archive for May, 2003

Max Maven Makes His Moves

Max Maven Rocks!

Coming up next week, beginning May 27th, Max, Eugene Burger and Tina Lenert will perform their well-received Nocturnal Trio at the Magic Castle for six nights.

As is appropriate for a 45 minute ensemble show, they’ll be in the fantastic Palace of Mystery. This means, for us non-members of the Castle, you’ll have to eat your dinner quickly and get down for the show as soon as you can.

I have a feeling this will be one of those shows that will close out early leaving the stragglers at the bar watching the satisfied customers leave. Of course, you could be in worse places. (Remind me to tell you about the ill-fated Magic Mansion that came and went in six months just south of the Michigan line. The bar there had people doing tricks, but no magicians.)

Again, if you’re a non-member like me, you need to contact the Magic Castle early and let them know you ‘d like to attend and that you can prove you are a member of the IBM or SAM. Here’s their website: www.magiccastle.com

As part of the Jeff McBride’s Las Vegas Magic School, Max and Mr. Burger will be instructing the workshop, “Handling Humans: Effective Interaction with Participants for Close-Up and Stage.”

I have not had the privilege of seeing Mr. Burger’s handling of folks from the audience but I have witnessed Max’s approach. In my humble opinion Max is one of the best at this important part of performing.

(Those familiar with the Magic Times and some of the group bulletin boards already know I was recently humbled after my Inside Magic School of Magic failed and is being sued because of that unfortunate duck pan incident. On behalf of the entire Inside Magic School of Magic Staff, I want to thank you for the cards and flowers. They were lovely and really made the stay so much nicer. We are all fine and I am told the animal abuse charges will be pled down to Misdemeanor Assault on a Water Fowl.)

I have it on very good authority that the workshop is about filled to the brim so if you are interested, check in at: www.magicalwisdom.com/calendar.php#062003.

But that’s not all. Not even in the slightest.

Max goes on to the IBM Convention in Kansas City, Missouri July 1-5 and will MC the International Gala Show on the third and lecturing on the fifth. (I used to lecture on or with a fifth but that is entirely different and likely something I should keep to myself until the charges are dropped in the duck incident.)

An Outstanding Read

I’ve given Max the Inside Magic Outstanding Rating (Four out of Four) for his fantastic DVDs and tricks. (By the way, there is a great deal on …
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John Kennedy’s Mind Power Deck – A Review

John Kennedy’s Mind Power Deck

John Kennedy is on the spectrum ofgood and bad magic inventorsand he is on the good end. I have never had a bad experience with Mr. Kennedy’s magic – never. Not even once.

You can see a video of the trick by clicking here.

I wrote a length article about my meeting Mr. Kennedy at the Las Vegas Magic Invitational last year and received interesting comments suggesting I was a shill for him and his tricks. My enthusiasm for someone like Mr. Kennedy is over-flowing because his desire to invent and share new magic is apparently over-flowing.

Mr. Kennedy’sMind Power Deck ($29.00 at Penguin Magic – Higher Elsewhere), is one of the neatest effects I’ve seen in a while. Here’s the effect: You spread a deck of cards face up for the audience. You explain that there are several methods a magician could use to determine what card a volunteer selected but all involve the spectator physically selecting a card from the deck.

If, however, you were a true mindreader, you would not need the spectator to do anything other than to think of the selected the card.

You ask the volunteer to look at the deck of cards spread before her and mentally select a single card. She is not to say anything or move her lips as she makes her selection and she can even change her selection if she desires.

Once she has finalized her selection, she is to nod only. You concentrate and slowly name the card.

That’s pretty good, eh? Well, it gets better. You can spread the deck and have two or three people each mentally select a card. You then name each card selected.

That’s it.

The beauty of the trick is that you don’t need to do much more. If you’re able to read someone’s mind, you’ve pretty much done the impossible.

The deck is special – and this is the source of my only complaint – but it doesn’t cause undue attention and to your audience, it will appear normal and innocent.

You won’t need to memorize anything, thanks to the deck. You can repeat it immediately.

Now, my complaint. The deck is printed on a non-standard back. It could have been printed on Bicycle cards or even Aviators but it is not. This doesn’t take away from the effect and the backs have nothing to do with the secret.

I like to use a blue Bicycle deck and to introduce this deck into my routine requires more than a secret deck switch: it requires an excuse. It is not a big enough problem to keep me from performing the effect. It just requires an explanation of why I am using the different deck of cards.

But because the volunteer does not have to physically select a card, it does not arouse suspicion in the audience – it’s the kind of thing a magician would worry about.

Like all of Mr. Kennedy’s effects, the Mind Power Deck is well-made, easy to use and perfectly amazing in performance. For less than $30.00, you will get the perfect closer to any routine. I recommend this highly.

Inside Magic Rating: Four out of…
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Chalk One Up for the Good Guys! Magis Sue Network for Exposure

“Mister M” the American Masked Magician

Twenty-One magicians in the south of Brazil successfully sued television network, TV Globo over their exposure of magic secrets. Other magic groups have tried, but the magicians of Brazil were able to convince a judge that the exposure affirmatively took money from their pockets and food from their mouths.

The mysterious American magician previously known only as ?Mister M,? exposed older effects such as rabbits from a hat up through sawing a woman in two. Mister M, now known to be Leonard Montano, was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Paulo Roberto Brito Martins was one of the successful magicians and told reporters, ?Mister M took all the magic out of magic. It was like depriving a child of happiness and the right to fantasize when you tell him Santa Clause does not exist.? (Inside Magic does not support the suggestion that Santa Clause does not exist.)

Martins estimated he lost about half a million U.S. dollars because people lost interest in magic after the secrets were exposed. The court?s remedy requires Globo TV to pay ?an amount equal to the income each magician lost since early 1999, when it first aired Mister M segments on its weekly ?Fantastico? show.?

It is unlikely the magicians will see any of the money soon. The court still has to figure out how much to award each magician and the television network will appeal.

“But we have won the first battle,” Martins said.

WAM, the World Alliance of Magicians, was formed after the Fox Masked Magician shows and had highest praise for our brethren in Brazil. “The Magicians of Brazil and South America have done GREAT WORK on behalf of our Art. We can only hope that our friends in the United…
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