Well, here we are in beautiful Las Vegas for the Magic Live event. It began this morning at 9:30 am with a fantastic session featuring something related to magic that was live. If it sounds like I am a bit hazy on the details of this morning?s event it is because I wasn?t there. I was having a dream that I will tell you about after I get it vetted by my psychoanalysis team in Sidney. They?re still asleep now too.
Read On . . .
Because the Magic Live tradition is to not tell you who will appear prior to your arrival, I have no idea who was on and what they did. I will come back later and edit this to make it look like I was there and saw everything and pass along the praise and kudos that will make the performers or instructors like me. But that will have to wait until after the afternoon session.
I saw Le Femme last night at the MGM Grand. I know what you?re thinking, ?Tim, why on earth would you pay good money just to see 12 beautiful women dance in virtually no clothes?? Actually, I was there to see Murray, the guy with the CDs. His website said he?d be performing last night and I figured I had no chance of seeing him at any other part of his world tour.
There were two surprises last night.The Le Femme portion of the show was pretty boring. I have seen the actual Crazy Horse in Paris back around 1982. This show is based on that and that show was great and this show isn?t. The premise is the same, pretty women with no clothes dance on interesting sets that change about every five minutes. The one in Paris had some spunk and play to it, this had 12 incredibly bored women walking around and staring off into space.
I missed the Abbott?s Get-Together and the FAB MagiCelebration in Colon this year. The Get-Together is one of my favorite times and the addition of Rick and Cheryl Fisher?s FAB MagiCelebration to the week only made the trip more inviting.
I heard there were great shows and great contests.Ron Jaxon picked up a couple of prizes in the Close-Up and Stage competitions at the MagiCelebration. Mr. Jaxon is one impressive magician.I watched him win the close-up contest at Curly?s Bar a couple of years back and read the very positive review of one of his newly released effects in Genii this month.He is good and it is good that people outside of the Magic Corridor (US-12 running from Chicago to Detroit, through Colon) have a chance to see his stuff.
Read On . . .
Mr. Fisher reports that he had nearly sold out houses for his big shows and the dealers at the flea market did very well.Congratulations to the Fishers.I look forward to seeing what they have planned for next year. FAB Magic definitely has the jump on Abbott?s in the electronic marketplace.For some reason, the venerable Abbott?s cannot find a way to produce a website worthy of their name.Abbott?s has had the same awkward and rudimentary website since Al Gore first funded the Internet. C?mon guys!
FAB Magic has the talents of Cheryl Fisher to guide them into and successfully along the information superhighway.Their pages are easy to navigate and the offerings are plentiful.
Okay, I?ll close with this.
I read Abbott?s own review of the Get-Together and was dismayed that there was no mention of the FAB Magic or Marilyn Abbott ? although you would have to walk by the FAB Magic store on your way to or from the performing and dealers? venues from the Abbott?s shop. I was also dismayed ? as opposed to being ?mayed?? ? at the rather negative tone towards the dealers that line Dallas Street.
I was in a minor fender-bender this morning on the way to my real job as a caddie at one of the premier putt-putt golf courses in the Greater Mystic Hollow, Michigan area. I’m just joking, it’s not one of the premier courses but we’re getting a new windmill that should boost us in the ratings.
The accident got me thinking about things.In fact, as I write this, I am still in the process that follows any accident and I have plenty of time to think and write about my journey of self-discovery.It is my hope that this may make the Oprah Book Club so I have embellished it slightly to show my spiritual side and included spiritual characters.
The rest of the story is essentially true.I have removed the part about my first shower in prison because it seemed unnecessarily embarrassing and yet so true that it is currently the basis of a movie seen only on foreign-registered freighters.
The Jet Li of Magic, Ray Lum.Ray Lum of Morgan Hill, California is featured in today?s Mercury News as one of the people in the know and to know. He has been described as the Jet Li of Magic and not coincidentally, Jet Li has been described as the Ray Lum of Acting and Martial Arts.
Read On . . .
The paper did a wonderful job of profiling this prolific and impressive representative of our Art. When asked for his favorite sleight of hand practice, Mr. Lum responded:
My dad was in Shaolin. He taught me most everything in the Shaolin arts, like tai chi. Martial arts and magical arts are in parallel lines. In martial arts, to get ahead of the opponent, you have to be five steps ahead and you have to use your eyes real good to see each body movement. In magic, you have to know each and every eye, where they’re going to look. If you don’t move right, you’re going to be in trouble.
Check out Mr. Lum?s website for great footage of some new effects performed by this master here.
Not the Same Appleton
The Chicago Tribune gives its readers fifteen ways to enjoy Wisconsin. Unfortunately, two of the ?ways? are on opposite… Continue reading Sunday’s Magic News
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.
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…
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