:: Interview - Oz Pearlman

I took the following from Magic Roadshow and decided to post it here, as well. For those of you who are not familiar with the type of articles and interviews we do, this is a good example... You can read more about Oz at his website.. Watchmagic.com

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Hi Oz. First, I want to 'thank you' for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this interview. I heard the past couple of months were hectic ...


Hi Rick, Thanks for having me. I've been out to Vegas, Hollywood, LA, Iowa, Michigan, as well as the Caribbean in the last 2 months. A whole lot of magic shows, and video shoots.

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(Q) You were introduced to magic at thirteen and performed your first show at fifteen. When did you feel a "calling" to perform card magic? Did you have a mentor or mentors during your early years?


(A) I think I actually started up at my first restaurant when I was 14; a little Italian restaurant named Zia's that was right down the road from me. I'd actually walk to work most of the time. I did a variety of magic, including cards, ropes, coins, silks, and gimmicked magic.

There were two people that had an early influence on my magic. One guy by the name of Ryan Hertz was a magician at my school, and the other a slightly older man by the name of Bruce Kessler. Bruce served as my mentor over the course of 2 or 3 years.

He introduced me to the works of Paul Harris, David Williamson, John Mendoza, Harry Lorayne, and a number of other magicians. Their works influence my magic to this day.

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(Q) You're 'holed up' in a Las Vegas suite with any three magicians in the world for one week of non-stop brain picking. Who's there?


(A) I?m assuming they have to be living, as I wouldn't want to be holed up with any dead magicians :-P In that case: David Copperfield, Paul Harris, and Joel Bauer.

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(Q) What three magic-related tapes or DVD's should any aspiring cardman have in his library..?


(A) Hmmm. Books would be much easier to list than DVDs/tapes. The ones that I have personally learned the most from are Michael Ammar Easy to Master Card Miracles series, Bill Malone?s On the Loose DVDs, John Bannon?s videos, and Guy Hollingworth?s videos.

That's more than three, but it was very tough to choose.

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(Q) Do you use different brand cards for different effects? What's your favorite brand and why?


(A) Just Bicycles in general. I like Bikes the best, though I always enjoy a nice Tally Ho circle back, though I very rarely get them. It's a rare treat. (You know you're doing too much magic when you describe a brand of cards as "a rare treat")

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(Q) When Houdini was asked how many card tricks he knew, he replied " maybe twelve ". Do you think the average performer could master the twelve or so effects on your newest DVD - Watch Magic - and entertain a room full of hungry strangers?


(A) I personally would not perform that many card tricks in one sitting unless I was specifically approached to do only card tricks. I think that you can only do so many effects before it becomes "just another card trick".

I think that a healthy diversity in your act, with all different types of magic, really livens up the show and can help to increase the entertainment value.

However, the effects on WatchMagic have served me very well, each and every one, and I think that by practicing them and adding whatever presentation fits your personality, you will have dynamite routines guaranteed to entertain and fool any audience.

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(Q) Your Stealing Pips DVD also contained about a dozen very strong card effects, some impromptu, some requiring a set-up.

Would you normally perform these tricks during a walk-around? Do you use set-ups or gaffed decks or cards during a close-up performance?


(A) Stealing Pips contains a few effects that I use quite regularly. It also contains a few effects that I don't use very often. That's not because I don't like them, but simply because they may not fit my performing conditions.

For example, IC3 is an excellent effect that many people consider their favorite on the DVD. It requires two decks of cards, and about 10 - 20 seconds of preparation. Most of the time I am simply unable to accommodate that type of overhead if I am strolling at a private party or corporate event and therefore I don?t use it all the time. However, when I am able to perform it and the opportunity is right, it plays very big.

Other tricks such as Thought Force and Twist & Shake reset instantly and require absolutely no setup, so I?m able to do them much more often. The DVD has something for everybody, with some color changes, visual magic, mental magic with cards, and interesting sleights.

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(Q) Although we, as magicians, see many tricks utilizing both the pass and the palm, statistics say ninety percent of us are afraid to use either 'under fire'. Can someone, in your opinion, perform succesfully without mastering these two sleights, or, are they severly limiting themselves and their repertoire without them?


(A) I think that you can easily make due without palming or using the pass, but you will definitely be hindered. There are so many great routines that rely on palming that it would limit your repertoire undoubtedly.

As for the pass, I think that too many people are trying to work on a pass that is invisible when being burned. Most of those passes look fishy even if invisible because the hands are held in such an awkward manner and cover so much of the deck to facilitate the pass being invisible.

The body tension and body language can telegraph that something is going on from a mile away. I think that a smooth pass executed on the offbeat, during a laugh or a pause that leads to eye contact, is far more effective than one purposely done while the spectators are burning your hands.

I think that just studying human nature, and the nature of the offbeat and eye contact can lead to much better misdirection. Study the works of the masters, such as Vernon, Ascanio, Slydini, and Tamariz and how their style of presentation, eye contact, and body language served to disarm the spectators and guide their eyes away from every move.

I think that the more sleights you feel comfortable performing, the more you can improvise, the more routines you have at your disposal, and the more creative you can ultimately be.

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(Q) I believe that what separates the Gifted from the Mediocre is not just how MUCH they practice - but HOW they practice.. In other words, practice doesn't make perfect - perfect practice makes perfect.. How do YOU practice OZ?


(A) I practice for hours a day, everyday. I don't force myself to; it just comes naturally to me. I play with cards, coins, everyday items, gimmicks, and other things constantly.

I tend to work on things continuously for months at a time. I've been doing one of 2 or 3 false shuffles at least a hundred or a few hundred times a day for the last year or so, to the point where my hands know it without my mind being involved at all.

I go through the basics of double lifts, various controls, flourishes, culling, passes, top changes, color changes, and other sleights throughout the day. I always keep a notebook with me as well to write down any ideas, either for methods or new effects.

I read constantly, and like to re-read books that I have. Every now and then I break out the classics (Expert Card Technique, Tarbell's, Amateur Magician's Handbook, Bobo's Coin Magic) and find hidden gems that I forgot about.

I also videotape performances. This consists of videotaping live shows on stage, as well as close-up when I can. I also use the web cam at home and the mirror to learn my angles, and try to catch my "ticks". These are the little tells that you never notice until either someone points them out or you study very carefully on video.

Make sure to check out Ken Weber's excellent book, 'Maximum Entertainment', for more on that.

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(Q) If you needed to learn a new sleight to perform an effect sucessfully, would you work it out over a period of time or 'barnstorm' a couple of days? How long after you learn a new move before you're comfortable performing it in public?


(A) That depends what you mean by "in public". If I'm working, then I?ll rarely do something that I don't feel extremely comfortable with. If that's a new routine, then I will have been practicing it for a few weeks or months, and most likely have performed it for friends, family, and total strangers until I feel that I have it down and the presentation is natural.

Whenever I leave the house, I'm always prepared to do at least 1 to 2 hours worth of magic with just the items in my wallet, and random items that the spectator has on them or things available at a restaurant, bar, bookstore, or wherever I'm going to be.

You never know who you'll meet…

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(Q) Do you find this whole issue of 'crediting' to the 'nth degree frustrating? If we don't know factually who wrote a song, should we have to credit everyone who ever recorded it, or added a riff to it?


(A) That is a tough nut to crack. It is quite difficult and laborious to credit to the "nth" degree as you never know if you might have missed somebody by accident from the 16th century that published some random book.

The fact is that magic builds on magic, and it is very rare that somebody creates something entirely new that doesn't have it's roots somewhere in the past. I think that by contacting as many knowledgeable magicians as you can, and giving the due diligence required, you will most likely do a very good job of crediting. There are people that devote their lives to the history of magic and its? roots, and even they are sometimes unable to fully trace back magical effects and moves.

There is a very big difference between doing incomplete research and not crediting properly. I?m referring to claiming an idea to be original that isn?t really yours as opposed to not being able to trace the full lineage of an idea that you may have created independently.

I was burned on this in the past with Stealing Pips and the SAC move. This concept of concealing a card in a ribbon spread has a long history, and my research led me to 4 or 5 people in the past 60 years that had used variations of this move. However, in my research I did not discover the name of Charles Nyquist, who published his own move of a similar nature in a journal in the 1930?s.

Did I rip him off? I honestly don't think so as I had no malicious intent, but simply did not know. I give full credit to his ideas predating my own. However some magicians would see that quite differently.

I think that the politics behind magic can be quite difficult to deal with, and leads to negativity that can be very disheartening to newcomers.

At the end of the day we are here to entertain and bring joy, as opposed to bickering and holding grudges over minor points. Crediting is quite important, no question about that, but I think that we should help each other within the community to credit properly as opposed to using it as a tool for hate.

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(Q) Part of your popularity arises from your willingness to help the 'technically challenged' magicians, like myself. Neophytes appreciate someone of your abilities taking the time to point others in the right direction. Yet we, as performers, also seek the approval of our peers. Do you sometimes feel that a small, but vocal, group of your peers unfairly criticize you and what you try to accomplish?


(A) At end of the day, my #1 concern when it comes to magic is that my audiences enjoy my shows, are thoroughly entertained, and keep on booking me.

I would be lying if I said that I don?t care about what my peers think of me. Everyday, I get emails from people that love the DVDs I've put out, as well as the tricks. They tell me how much it has improved their lives, and how much fun they're having.

These are people from all walks of life: doctors, teachers, teenagers, students, retirees, and from all over the world. It is absolutely amazing.

From time to time, I also see the posts or reviews of people that don't like my material. You have to take the good in stride with the bad. However, so many of these posts are biased and misinformed. To give a rebuttal to everyone would only serve to demean myself, and so I read them and try to learn what I can and move on.

I?m always open to constructive criticism, and consider myself to be one of my harshest critics. I'm not in magic for the ego, but to continue to improve and learn from those that are more experienced. I think that the more professional you act the more it detracts from the negative comments about you, and therefore I never stoop down to a level of insulting others.

Anybody that has met me or knows me knows that I'm a friendly guy, and would always prefer to solve a problem and move on rather than hold a grudge.

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(Q) I understand that 'our little sub-culture' is a very diverse group of individuals with an equally diverse set of opinions and standards. But can you see a unified committe or association, much like musicians (ASCAP) who try to set industry standards and eliminate much of this in-fighting about standards, secrets, crediting, etcs.??


(A) I don?t think so. It?s simply the nature of the art. There will always be jealousy and spite. There will always be people exposing magic, or stepping on the toes of others, be it on purpose or by accident.

Magic has changed leaps and bounds with the advent of the internet, and it is very difficult for some people to accept that. A mere 20 or 30 years ago, people would study for years under other magicians to receive only a slight bit of the information available now in books, DVDs, instant downloads, and other media at the touch of a button shipped direct to your house no questions asked.

There is no way to change that or go back to the ways of the past. It is now up to us within the magic community to uphold our art.

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(Q) Oz, can you give us a hint of what we might see from you in the coming year? Any special projects in the works? Any chance you may make a move from Broadway to Vegas?


(A) I will be doing an extensive amount of lecturing in the coming year. This will include lectures throughout the US, Canada, Israel and the UK.

As lecture tour dates and locations are established, info will be posted on www.watchmagic.com As for a public show, I have entertained the notion of another Off-Broadway show, but I can?t say for sure if that is in the works for 2005. Only time will tell.

I?m sure to be out in Vegas at times throughout the year shooting additional demo and instructional videos for Penguin Magic

Other than that, I perform at private parties, corporate events, and celebrity functions primarily in the NYC area, but also throughout the US.

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It's been our sincere pleasure to have you interview with Magic Bullets, Oz. Thanks for taking the time to answer all my questions with thoughtful, insightful answers.

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To Subscribe free... http://streetmagic.info

:: Take the Test

Well.. it's almost Memorial Day... and what do we do on Memorial Day? We give thanks to the memory of those who have fought and , in many instances, given their very lives to allow us to live in freedom.

Thousands upon thousands of foreigners flock to the United States each year, intent upon becoming citizens. They study, and then take the Citizenship test, in order to enjoy the freedoms we were born into...

If you were asked tomorrow to take, and pass, the Citizenship test - could you?

Thanks to the good folks at the Herald Sun in Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina, you can take a citizenship test right now, right here, online...

Hey, where you going? It's only ten questions, numbnut...

The VoteBook Citizenship Test is based on an actual test administered by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which is now known as the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a bureau of the Homeland Security Department. Federal regulations say that persons applying for citizenship must "be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of U.S. history and principles of government."

The questions appear here just as they do on the official list of 100 questions approved by the INS. The correct answers here also come directly from the official answer key.

Click Here

:: Pure Dumb Luck

How often have we had a trick work so good that we earned a reputation, of sorts, without lifting a finger? It's happened to me a few times, strictly by accident of course.

I have a Mexican restaurant I perform in regularly. Actually a chain of restaurants - but whose counting.. I love working Mexican restaurants. There is enough time between meal prep for me to get familiar with the customers, plus, many of the customers are in a good mood - drinking margarita's and what not. This particular chain is owned and operated by Hispanics, and they have a genuine fascination with magic..

I have a couple of effects I perform with Scotch & Soda. The centavos and the Mexican atmosphere work together to give me a good story line. Anyway.. as I move about the restaurant, I sometimes 'accidentally' bump into a male patron, usually on his way to or from the restroom, and I drop a real centavos into his rear pants pocket. You MUST be careful when performing this move, or you'll be accused of pickpocketing - or worse.

Once the coin is in place, I give the mark a few minutes, and then find my way to his table. I go into my monologue about the Mexican centavos having special powers, about my grandmother being a gypsy, and about the special skills I inherited from her. I vanish the centavos, usually in the marks hand, and look perplexed as they ask me 'what happened to it?'

After a certain amount of show, I ask the mark to check his shirt pocket for the coin, then his front pants pockets, and finally, his rear pockets. That's when he finds the coin, usually to everyone's amazement..

I performed this little move last week and the gentleman checked all his pockets for the coin without success. Finally, I asked him to check his rear pockets. He pulled out his wallet and checked his pocket - still no coin.

Of course, I knew it was there - somewhere. So I ask him to please check his wallet. He gingerly opened his wallet, peeking inside, and when he still didn't see the centavos, he opened the currency portion of his wallet and removed his currency. There, among the tens and twenties, was one Mexican centavos.

They were genuinely amazed, and I was very casual, as if I performed that particular bit of magic at will. I thanked them for their enthuastic applause and backed away with my reputation upped a notch.

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

:: Where am I ?

If you have a magic related website, one of your on-going problems is constantly worrying over where your site ranks. ( If you're NOT worrying, you are either very smart, or very uninformed..)

Spannerworks Search Engine Marketing has a very nice selection of free tools to help you keep on top of your rank. My favorite is the Spider Simulator, which, in the words of Spannerworks...

The tool displays the content of the page, stripped of any HTML formatting tags. It will ignore images and any JavaScript-generated text.

All search engine friendly links on the page are listed - a spider will follow each of these to crawl the rest of your site. Click on these links to use the tool to crawl further into the site. The tool will also follow server-side redirects.

If the spider’s eye view does not display anything for a page, then the HTTP viewer may shed light onto where the problem lies.

If you use a site builder as I do, you have to be concerned about the readability of some of your content. In Dreamweaver, Sitespinner, and Frontpage site builders in particular, you have content being generated as code instead of text. Not always.. but often enough that you have to wonder what the spiders actually 'see' when they visit your site..

Spider Simulator strips your webpage of all code, JavaScript, and images - and displays ONLY what the spider would see. This not only offers you peace of mind that your content is being properly indexed when your site is spidered, but it reveals any text that, for whatever reason, is not being indexed because it's invisible to these itsy bitsy spiders....

You can also access a simple-to-use search engine position checker to help you quickly determine how your site stacks up against your competition. I can enter a term such as 'street magic' and discover quickly how my sites, in this case StreetMagic.info, fares against other sites like ellusionist or Penguin.

In the SE I chose for comparison (one of the five principle search engines) my site was #4, ellusionist #5, and Penguin #8. In yet another SE, my site was not in the top twenty.

Now I know where I need to focus some attention this week..

Hey.. I never said this stuff was interesting. But it IS critical - if you have any hope of succeeding on the web.

Got Questions?

:: How to 'Rope' a Companion

Can you really attract women with magic? A current thread at the Magic Cafe ask that time-honored question.

Being a man of mystery myself, I felt compelled to offer my two cents worth. Right or wrong, these are my personal findings, based on my highly scientific research, as posted at the Cafe..

Let's just say this - women love a man of mystery. If you can perform a couple of mentalism effects that makes it appear that you are reading her mind, she cannot stand it!

Women are quicker to believe, or perhaps want to believe, that mind reading and things paranormal are real. That goes back to the mysterious stranger - man of mystery thing that women fantasize about..

1) When performing for a female, it's best to perform for her personally, as opposed to performing something for a crowd. This makes her feel special and increases the feeling that you have done something of a "very mystic, very personal" nature and connected with her on some deeply psychic level..

2) Women long to be understood. If you can show her that you "understand" what she's thinking, you've got a fan for life. This is why women, twenty-to-one over men, visit psychics and mediums... They want to be understood... They want to make a mental and emotional connection with someone..

3) Women are somewhat more fantasy-prone than men, except they do not fantasize about the same things men fantasize about. Women think about meeting a man who instinctively knows what she wants and needs. So, if you smoke her with your magic, you've got to be prepared to follow through with a little understanding and romancing. Otherwise.. you're back in the corner showing your buds card tricks..

A few posters relate stories of approaching females with their magic, only to be shunned or embarrased. Hey, 'stuff happens'. You have to use common sense and you have to make sure your audience actually wants to see your trick. You can hardly walk up to a female and say "Hi, I'm a magician, and I would like to show you a card trick." .

Striking up some type of conversation beforehand will go a long ways toward having your magic accepted, and in turn, you as well.

Having a deck of cards in your hand and casually performing faro shuffles or color changes may be enough to spark someone's interest and lead to a meaningful 'conversation'...

What's your thoughts? To view the entire thread, Click Here

:: Magic and Yahoo

Just a quick note to let you know that Magic Bullets is now available through both Bloglines and My Yahoo. Be notified on your homepage each time a new article or comment is posted..



I hope you've also noted the new site design and header. I've worked hard on Magic Bullets this weekend, trying to get the site design a little more pleasing and getting it listed in a few more search engines and blogrolls..

Now.. all that's left is actually doing a little posting.

:: Magic & Google

Google would love to be the #1 search destination on the planet. They continually offer new services.. some valuable, some not so..

In our quest to master magic, it's to our advantage to be able to take full advantage of all the new services Google has to offer.

One of the new services -"Video Search" ( http://video.google.com/ ), offers the user the chance to access both online video and web pages with still frame pictures and matching text. At the moment, most of the returned results apply primarily to television related video. But, I'm guessing it's only a matter of time before you can enter 'ambitious ace's' and get several pages of online related video.

You can also accomplish the same thing by going to http://video.yahoo.com . You will only get results relating directly to online video's, which may not be a bad thing - depending on your intentions..

"Web Alerts" - go to ( http://www.google.com/alerts ), enter a search phrase or term, and be alerted via email any time a new article or web page is indexed in the Google database. Enter something like 'free online card tricks' or 'magic of Jeff McBride' and be notified of any new additions to the web related to your keywords. this is an excellent way of staying one step ahead of your competition.

If I weren't in such a generous mood at the moment, I wouldn't tell you of these little secrets...

:: New Google Info

If you have a magic-related website, pay attention....

From SEO News (www.seo-news.com)-

Google's sweeping changes confirm the search giant has launched a full out assault against artificial link inflation and declared war against search engine spam in a continuing effort to provide the best search service in the world... and if you thought you cracked the Google Code and had Google all figured out - guess again.

If you have a website, you probably need to read this article. New info has come to light, surrounding a recent patent filed by Google, that shows just how far they are willing to go to determine the relevancy of a website.

Did you know they are taking into consideration the reputation of your host? The length of time your domain name has been secured? Whether or not you have TOO MANY incoming links vs. the length of time your site has been up?

Read the entire article HERE .

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I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt!

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:: Letter from David

From my friend, David Breth, one of the top children and restaurant performers in the country...

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“All the kids get a serious case of the sillies”

Are you trying to ‘impress’ the adults with your skillful sleight-of-hand techniques or are you giving the children a taste of Mary Poppins’s ‘magic’?

Talk about Mary Poppins ‘magic’. Recently I enjoyed the movie ‘Finding Neverland’ (Johnny Depp), this is a creative and ‘magical’ journey through the eyes of a child in an adult body. Too many times I see self-proclaimed childrens “entertainers”; they endorse themselves as being good with kids (many times they are). The problem is in the “I still want to be an adult (while entertaining kids)” syndrome, this in no way is to put the kids in charge of the show. You can and should have full control, yet let the children witness your “inner child” at the same moment.

Last evening I attended a lecture of a seasoned childrens entertainer. He opened with the actual show he performs for children, during his show I decided to survey the room. I noticed the none child like expressions on the audience faces. There were a few of us (4 adults) that were giving continued feed back during the show, things that kids say and do during our performances. ...“that is not the red one, it is the blue one”..., ...”you switched it“..., ...“I know how you are doing that”..., ...“you are not magical”..., ...“it’s in the other hand”..., Etc.

Please note:

I am not putting the other audience members down, nor am I suggesting that we should be un-ruly during a kids show lecture routine. For us to learn how to properly respond to the children we are hired to entertain and to witness first hand how a seasoned professional interacts with ‘real’ life situations during his/her routines it is not a bad thing, it is actually a good thing to interact just like the children do during our shows.
Think like a child during the performance part and then switch gears and become a professional listener when the instruction part is presented. This will help you create one of the most child-friendly shows your audiences have ever been involved with. In return you will begin to receive a steady-stream of repeat clientele.

Fellow children's magicians, I want to introduce you to a set of resources you'll be benefiting from over and over again. In fact, you get can a free online course about how you can increase your sales and profits by 100% to 500%. This is NOT a hype. This is info I personally use to make a full-time living in magic.

To find out more and sign up for your Free course: Click Here
Sincerely,

David Breth

:: Michael Finney

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Just a quick post to let you know that I have published a new issue of Magic Roadshow Journal of Magic. One of the features is an interview with one of my favorite performers... Michael Finney.

I love the way Michael has been able to take a handful of tricks, build them into a routine, and make a substantial living performing those tricks. The key word here is "performing". Michael doesn't perform for magicians, he performs for the crowd. Something a lot of talented magicians I know would profit from greatly - if they would take a hint!

I also have a couple of very good pdf ebooks available for free download, as well as several other nice resources.

If you are not subscribed yet... You can read the issue HERE .

:: Scientific Magic

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This is not magic.. not in the sense that we use the word. But it is magic to me. I love a good scientific mystery. You know.. one where scientist who tell us why we are, who we are, and where we came from - are left with their dignity in the dirt.

It really highlights how little we actually know..

Michael Brooks with NewScientist.com has written my favorite article of 2005, to date - titled " 13 Things that do not make Sense ". For example....

(6) Viking's methane-
JULY 20, 1976. Gilbert Levin is on the edge of his seat. Millions of kilometres away on Mars, the Viking landers have scooped up some soil and mixed it with carbon-14-labelled nutrients. The mission's scientists have all agreed that if Levin's instruments on board the landers detect emissions of carbon-14-containing methane from the soil, then there must be life on Mars.

Viking reports a positive result. Something is ingesting the nutrients, metabolising them, and then belching out gas laced with carbon-14.

So why no party?

Go to NewScientist and read the rest of the story.. Cool Stuff..

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/space/mg18524911.600

:: SE Tools

Sort of a continuation of the last post.. I use these tools regularly. Bookmark it, and use it as needed.. Click Here

Link Popularity Tool - Research the number of links pointing to a website as indexed by six popular search engines. Also useful for comparing multiple sites for link popularity.

Search Engines Index Verification - Verify whether or not a site is indexed by the search engines. Type in a domain name and it will return the number of pages indexed by a particular search engine.

Search Engine Simulator - Allows the webmaster to have a "search engine" view of a website's titles and headers. Also shows all text and HTML code visible to the search engines. An especially cool tool if you're adding special characters to titles for more visibility.

Search Term Suggestion Resources - The Overture.com keyword/keyphrase suggestion tool gives associated search terms clicked on during the previous month throughout their advertising network. The free results can help you develop a fairly accurate list of keywords to target.

Free Search Engine Positioning Tool - Here's a free online search engine positioning tool that will determine website positions for keyphrases as well as archive your project(s) history.

Search Engine Relationship Chart - Clicking the interactive Search Engine Relationship Chart below will illustrate how most search engines rely on each other for their listings.

TouchGraph Site Relationship Charting - Perhaps now more than ever before, major search engines such as Gòògle may decide positions and relevancy for a website based on its association with other industry-specific sites. The TouchGraph maps out a visual representation of similar sites in a user-friendly interactive display. (requires simple Java plugin)

You will find all of these tools available on one page, to use freely... Now, you have no excuse for having a poorly ranked, magic-related, site. If you have a new site, it will take a few months before you begin to see real results.

Click Here

Two other tips... Don't waste your time submitting your site through the multiple submission services. Sites that are submitted automatically are rarely indexed by the search engines. Take the time to submit your site manually to each of the top eight or so search engines. It may take an hour or so, but it's possibly the most important hour you'll spend getting traffic to your site..

Do sign up for Google Adsense. Adding adsense to your website may result in getting your site crawled by googlebots in just a few days, as Google has to send 'bots to your site to determine it's viability..

https://www.google.com/adsense/?hl=en_US

:: Quick SE Tips

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So, you've got a magic-related website. You have numerous pages, you've submitted your site to search engines, and you are patiently waiting for the world to beat a path to your site..

I'm not going to get into all the particulars of getting a web site listed and indexed in the search engines (SE's). That would take volumns. What I am going to do is offer a couple of tips to correct basic mistakes webmasters make. If you are making these mistakes.. correct them now, or be content to pay more in hosting fee's than you'll make off sales. I guarantee you that...

(A)Forget loading your homepage with dozens of keywords.

SE's will look only at your most relevant keywords, and rank you accordingly. Your web page must be optimized for those keywords, and you CANNOT optimize one webpage for a dozen or more keywords. It's just not mathematically possible..

Use keywords that exist in your domain name and/or paragraph headings, since these are the words SE's deem as being most relevant. If your prime keywords are not in your headings, or if you don't use paragraph headings, go create some...

Words listed as 'bold text' or 'italics' are given greater weight by SE's. So make sure some of your keywords and keywords phrases are italicized.

(B)Make double-sure your interior pages are optimized, just as your home page..

This is the number one mistake most webmasters make. They feel that getting the 'bots to their site is enough. ALWAYS create interior pages that have their OWN keywords and meta tags. You have no idea how much traffic you lose each and every day because your inner pages are not properly listed and indexed in the SE's. Use the same general guideline as above and utilize italics and headlines to draw attention to your keywords.

To find out right now if your interior pages are being crawled.. do the following. Go to Google and do a google search as follows:

site:yourwebsite.com
To use my site as an example-- site:streetmagic.info . This will bring up ALL the pages Google has listed for your site. If you don't see all your pages, then you have a pretty good idea where you need to start..

(C)Make sure EVERY page on your site can be navigated to from your homepage.

If the SE spider's can't get there, then it WON'T get indexed. You don't have to have a direct link from your homepage, but you do need to be linked within three pages of your homepage. In other words, your homepage can be linked to a page, that is linked to a page, that is linked to a page. Any farther than that and the spiders may call off the search.

Again, to use my site as an example, you will notice on my homepage that I have a link to 'Magic Roadshow Archives'. Follow that link and it leads you to a page that has a link to every issue. Every issue has a link that leads back to the homepage.

Remember.. Google and Yahoo DO NOT rank sites... they rank pages. Think of every page on your site as a golden opportunity to get in the search engines.

More later..

:: Magic Roadshow # 22

Just a quick note to remind you that issue 22 of Magic Roadshow has been published to my website. You'll find the usual vast selection of magic resources as well as an extended review of Jeff Wessmillers 'Weapons of the Card Shark'.

http://streetmagic.info/eMagic22.html

Some of this stuff is so interesting, it amazes me how I come up with it. Actually, when I find some of these resources, I'm hesitant to tell you about them. There are some things that I would rather keep to myself. But, when all is said and done, I break down and put it in my journal. I am sitting on a few resources that I'm not quite ready to release. I will.. but I'll release them one at a time.

I have a few tricks that the originators are releasing publicly, but others have commercial versions based on the same effects. Now I'm torn about what to do.

The originator says 'put it out there, I've made my money and the trick has been exploited by others to the point that I am not really concerned about it's future'..

And my business sense says ' take it easy, Rick..'

I suppose I will release a couple of the effects in the next month, but only exactly as performed by the originator. I'll let him and the 'significant others' argue it out in the forums...

:: Music & Muse

Eclectic. That best describes David Byrne. Many of you know David as the force behind the Talking Heads, one of rocks all-time great groups. Sure...they did some stuff that bordered on strange. But, as genuine avant garde's of progressive music, they produced some of the most inspiring music of the past thirty years as well. Remain in Light still remains as one of my five top LP's of all time..

A friend of David's, recently moved to California, wrote him in New York and commented on the lack of musical diversity on the radio. So what did David do? He set up over three hours of streaming audio on his site to benefit the culturally challenged..

Music by Pink Floyd, REM, M.I.A., Outkast, Randy Newman, Thlonious Monk, just to name a few, can be heard 24/7 on 'Radio David Byrne'..

It get's my recommendation.. www.davidbyrne.com/radio
________________

Now.. for the 'unusual'. When you have a couple of minutes and want to hear something that'll freak you, visit ---
http://www3.telus.net/jefmil/stairwaybackwards.htm

This guy has taken his mp3 player, loaded a few songs, and recorded them backwards. That's nothing earth shattering. But the 'rumors' of what a few songs - played backwards - actually say can be put to rest..

Listen to Led Zeppelins 'Stairway to Heaven' backwards a see if you don't get cold chills.

Later....

:: I Wish

I wish I had two million bucks. I wish I lived in Northern California, or maybe a hi-rise in Vegas. Not New York. I wish I had longer legs. I wish people would quit being so.....

My local paper recapped two local deaths, and several serious injuries, at the hands of 'pets' during the past four years. The reporter seemed amazed that in almost all cases the families found it almost impossible to believe that their beloved 'pets' would cause harm to others.

Maybe the dogs were only trying to 'protect' their victims, a la Roy... Yeah, that's it..

And the poor young lady from Duluth, who only wanted to get away for awhile and think things through. Can't her family understand that she had to do what's best for her. I can't believe how selfish that 'bunch' must be, thinking only of themselves while their future wife/daughter/friend/sister/whatever had to suffer through a bus trip to Vegas and then Albuquerque, in mental anguish all the way..

(Poor little girl with rich parents, and a devoted fiancee. I'd have made her drag her butt back on that bus and I'd have met her at the bus station... in two days. Let her wear that towel over her head for eighteen hundred miles.)

Being obese went from being the number two killer to the number seven... in one weeks time. I went out a bought me a couple of giant burgers, fries, and apple pies, to celebrate...

Next week some scientist with the governments council on physical fitness will have it elevated to number one, while another white coat from the fast food industry will downgrade it even further. Maybe we'll know the truth when we're autopsied...

A magician in South Carolina turned down a chance, again, to work a chain of restaurants because it might require him to actually develop a 'routine'.

But.. before you're critical of him, let me relate that I know him personally, and he has several 'pets' to take care of daily, plus it's hard for him to make long-term commitments when he's being 'pressured' by others. Often, when he's cornered, he hides his fears in food. Fast food. The faster, the better.

Someone suggested maybe a cigarette or two would help relax him before each session. Since he's a former three-pack-a-day'er, quit for twelve years, maybe a couple won't hurt.

Maybe..

After all, it seems a magicians life is NOT about the decisions he makes. It's about the decisions he DOESN'T make......

:: Thoughts

.
Well, it's not really thoughts, more like a few things I didn't know what else to do with..

Issue 22 of Magic Roadshow has been mailed and published to my site. If you don't subscribe, you can still read it at: http://streetmagic.info/eMagic22.html . Bookmarking this site will not access each issue, only issue twenty-two.

If you would like to subscribe painlessly, visit http://streetmagic.info/subscribe.html and sign up. I have about nine or ten different resources in this issue. A little something for every type of magician.

I don't know what's up with Steve Pellegrino over at MagicRant. He's redesigned the site.. and removed the 'post comments' links from his post. Does it still qualify as a blog, or is it simply an opinion page, as in 'his' opinion. I wonder how long the Magic Cafe would stay up if Steve Brooks stopped readers from posting and only posted his own opinions on the state of magic..? As the democrats are fond of saying - "that's a very slippery slope."

I just watched the second Alain Nu magic special on TLC. Liked it a lot better than the first one last week. Alain performed a number of mentalism effects that were better suited for his style. I thought the dodge ball and blindfold driving stunts in the first special were a little weak. Alain gets a much better response when he seems to be reading his audiences mind..

In case you missed them, you can go to the Learning Channel online and see when they will re-broadcast. I think they are on again this week. Also, he has two more specials coming on in the next couple of months. Keep an eye out...