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| Paw Lawton Reveals His Real Name |
This isn't a status on the current state of tricks or how high prices are getting. It's just a fair and honest question. What the heck is going on with magic? Where are the youngsters looking to learn? It used to be in dusty old shops with cards on the ceiling and faded posters on the walls.
Read on . . .
When I was a young man, I learned at the hands of the Champlaine Magic Shop. There were no special counters with adult items, no fast moving crap tricks, no nothing except magic and magicians.To be honest, I have no idea how they stayed in business. I'd be sitting on a bar stool — no different than I am now, I guess — all day watching the magicians that visited town and came in to check out the local color.
I learned how to second deal from a magician based on Florida but on a short tour that brought him through the Midwest. Ace (I'm leaving out his last name) was one hell of a manipulator. I couldn't do anything he could do but he did one hell of a great second deal. He could do it 'one-handed' or with a mechanic's grip or even how Dai Vernon did it with the slop push. He took time to show me the mechanics and I practiced the rest of the day as I listened to him and Mr. Champlaine talk about their favorite magicians and favorite tricks. At the end of the day, I was no closer to mastering the seconds.
Ace told me something I'll never forget. "Pete," he said — that's my Christian name — "don't give up but practice for a half hour before you fall asleep. Then when you wake up in the morning, don't get out of bed, just start dealing seconds. Use a brand new deck every other day."I nodded. "Then one morning you'll get the concept. It will kick in and you'll never forget it."I did exactly as Ace told me. I never saw him again.
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| Champlaine's Magic Shop |
He headed to Florida and I went out west to do something that would get my name in the papers. One morning in a piece of garbage hotel in Rumatilta, California, I pulled out a new deck — it was an even numbered day and new decks were used on even numbered days — and I had it.
I figured it out. I could do it. The sad part, though, was I was alone. Sitting in a piece of garbage motel, with cards all over my stained and cig burned covers. I wanted to show someone so I rushed down to the Sambos — they don't have those anymore but they were like "Dennys." I ordered a cup a coffee and asked the waitress if she wanted to see a trick. I did my seconds for her and she nodded. She wasn't impressed. I realized I hadn't done a trick, I'd just shown her how I could deal seconds.
It wasn't the technique that should have amazed her, it was what I could have done with the technique. I knew then, I'd have to find a magic shop; some where I could talk to other magicians and get their feedback and ideas. I found one outside of Sacramento and it was as I had…
Continue reading What’s Going On With Magic?
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