First.. Let me take a moment to Welcome all the new subscribers since our last issue.

You guys (and girls) are the reason for this journal's success ....

You are encouraged to submit any suggestions, questions, rants, raves, or opinions to:
editor@streetmagic.info

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~ Thanksgiving ~

Well, we just finished celebrating Thanksgiving here in the USA. For those of you not familiar with Thanksgiving... it's a day when we give thanks for all the blessings in our life, watch Macy's parade on TV, eat turkey until we can't walk, watch football on TV while laying on the sofa recovering, eat more turkey, watch more football... you get the picture..

I'm thankful for many things in my life, including the many friendships I have formed through my association with magic and the magic community. Have YOU formed any friendships? Are YOU a member of any of the magic rings or clubs located ,literally, around the world?

If not, then enter 'magic clubs' in your search bar and find one... The experience will be immeasurable.

Also, I'm thankful for my friend, Tim Quinlan, of Inside Magic.com . I'm happy that someone is willing to report all the critical news in the magic world and NOT expect anything in return.

I encourage you to visit Inside Magic and read Tim's right-on observations, interviews, reviews, fact and fiction. In fact.. I'm going to profile both Tim and his site in the near future. After all, I promised to share USEFUL resources with all my readers.

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~ Interview: Dan Turcotte ~
 
Dan Turcotte is the 'magical genius' behind You Do Magic.com, consistently ranked among the top three 'most popular' magic websites in the world.

If you are not familiar with youdomagic.com, it's an all-inclusive type magic site that specializes in original magic and information. Dan sells a vast array of original material, PDF e-books, video clips, and DVD's for beginner and intermediate level magicians...

Personally, I don't know anyone, at any level, who can't benefit from Dan's magic.

Born and raised in Michigan, Dan has spent extensive time in such diverse places as Florida, Great Britain, Las Vegas, and Tennessee, and has made many friends in the magic community all along the way.

A perpetual performer.. Dan has performed regularly in a variety of venues. Now, he publishes a 'staggering' array of pdf format ebooks and instant downloads detailing exactly 'how' he performs his routines.

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(Q) Hi Dan - and welcome to Magic Roadshow -
 
I know that you specialize in close-up magic. How did you get you start in magic, and why close-up?

(A) I have always liked close up magic as I was growing up, but I never really got serious until the age of 30. I moved to Florida because I wanted to get out of the cold and got a sales job at a magic shop.

I had a lot of sales related jobs from the age of 15 to 30. After getting magic job at the old town magic shop in Orlando Florida I found that I really loved doing magic and I put a lot of smiles on peoples faces.

I remember the moment that I saw Mark Fitzgerald and few other corporate magicians perform at a magicians function. I watched these guys perform and I said to myself I could do this for a living and really enjoy myself and have fun with people. I have always had the ability and the desire to talk to a lot of people.

A month after I started at the magic shop, I built a magic table and started doing a street show. The magic shop was in the Main Street Station in Orlando and the Main Street tourist trap was just outside the door. I would sell magic for 6 or 7 hours and then go out, set my stand up and have fun with the passing tourists.

I was not doing any really special card magic at that time. I was just able to have fun and interact with people as I showed them tricks. I used to make about 80 dollars in tips in a three hour period.

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(Q) Despite travels to Tennessee, Florida, Michigan, Las Vegas, Great Britain, and back to Michigan - you have maintained a steady performing schedule at restaurants, hotels, corporate events, and private parties - How do you manage to find a steady stream of work, and can you offer the not-so-fortunate a couple of tips ?

(A) I was not afraid to cold call any restaurant or agent and show them how much fun their patrons will have when they decide to have me do walk around. When a restaurant owner said no or they just didn´t have the authority to make the decision, I would shake it off as a “You may say no now, but you and your patrons are missing out.

My advice for people who are just starting out with restaurant work is to:

Develop you people skills. If you are not that type of person or cannot develop a outgoing persona, you will find it difficult to be really successful, no matter how much you market yourself to potential clients. It is best if being outgoing is part of your natural personality.

When you make your first approach to a prospective restaurant or bar. (I used to have regular gigs in the metro Detroit area at more bars than restaurants.

Then I went to England for a close up competition and my whole life changed. I lived in England for the next 5 years: Got married, worked all over England at events I could only have dreamed about ever doing. I still cannot believe the way the English throw events. And the Magic Circle magician´s were fantastic.

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(Q) You've had the pleasure to 'rub shoulders' with the likes of Alex Elmsley and Paul Daniels while in the UK, and Bev Burgeron, Dan Harlan, Terry Ward, Juan Tamariz, Chad Long, Mark Fitzgerald, and Lance Burton. Who, if anyone, do you consider your major influence - and who would you most enjoy watching during an afternoon of magic?

(A) My favorite magician to watch is Juan Tamariz. I watched him perform at of International´s galas. He is so natural and he can make people laugh with his reactions.

Dave Williamson is also a very natural magician. Dan Harlan has also been a big influence on my magic. I met him at some of the Pontiac Circle meetings which were started by Clare Cummings. Dan gave me a lot of great advice.

At this time I had never been to any really big magicians conventions. I traveled with Dan to the Florida State convention and had a great time and really learned a lot. Plus I got to see a lot of the Florida magicians that I had known from living in Orlando in the past.

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(Q) Same question - different situation... You're stranded between Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor in a Michigan snowstorm. You, and three traveling magicians, are forced to share the last remaining room in a tiny motel. Who are your room-mates ?

Jaun Tamariz
Dan Harlan
Chad Long

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(Q) Dan.. I know you've performed at the International Close-up Competition in London - What strikes you most about the experience?

(A) The competition and the whole event was a blast. The thing that stands out most was that it was a whole new world that most people never really get to see, unless they travel. Nothing in words can describe it.

The magic atmosphere at the convention was great. The late nights and a wide variety of magic. That was when I decided I would try and get work and go back in 6 months. I got a couple of gigs fairly quickly.

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(Q) In addition to performing at Cafe Royal and the Grosvenor Hotel in the UK, you have performed for the likes of Nick Faldo, Prince Edward, and Sophie. Any nerves? And what is the level of confidence you needed to perform at that level ?

(A) You have to do tricks that most other magicians do not do. Or if you do similar tricks you must do them very well. I do the card to pocket 4 times whenever I want to really smoke people.
 
Confidence comes from tons of performances and a consistent reactions from your audiences. This takes time depending on the magician.

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(Q) Despite being from Michigan, I have the feeling that you have a soft spot for England. I notice that I have a large number of subscribers from the UK, so I assume that they enjoy the magical performing arts as much as we do... Did you see any major differences in the magic scene here (USA) compared to there.?

(A) The magic scene over there is very exciting. I am not saying it is not exciting over here, but it is so spread out by vast distances. You can never really be in touch with the latest happenings.

The culture of magic is very respected over there. I like to think that if you can smoke a Britt in a pub you can smoke anyone. If you are not good they will tell you and if you are good they will tell you...

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(Q) It seems that every week I'm introduced to new products from YouDoMagic. How do you find time to constantly develop and/or produce new magic, video's, and tutorials as well as maintain a restaurant performing schedule ?

(A) I live in the country now with my wife and we enjoy the slower pace of non travel. The restaurant I work at 3 nights per week is 3 minutes from our house.

Once I got started on producing lessons I was on a mission to do something very few magicians have done, and that was the filming of real world restaurant performances. Then, I teach people exactly how to do them.

I have always thought that the best way to learn magic is to see someone perform live in a unrehearsed no pre-hyped situations. And then to learn the routine and moves required to perform it through visual and text methods. There are things that can only be learned visually and things that can be best expressed in words.
 
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(Q) What have performers like David Blaine brought to the table of magic - good or bad - and have you felt pushed in any way to alter your performances because of the popularity of 'street magic'.?

(A) I am not a big fan of David Blaine, but he has done a lot for magic while he was in the limelight. I have not altered the way I do magic because of him.

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(Q) The ONE question I ask every magician is - Success is not possible without endless hours of practice. And not all practice is good practice. How do you practice ? How do you 'learn' a new move ? And, how long do you practice a new move before it becomes 'routine worthy'.?

(A) Make sure you mentally understand what is supposed to happen in your hands for the move to be successful. Start the move slowly and move forward at a reasonable pace. You have to focus your entire body and mind on the move you are learning. (This is like hitting thousands of balls off the wall when you are trying to improve your backhand etc.)

The secret to learning is the ability to develop the ability to continually try to improve a move, no matter how good it may appear that you are doing it. Approach the move as a continual challenge. This will help you keep the move refined throughout your career.

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(Q) Last but not least - tell my readers why YouDoMagic, and your in-depth tutorials, will reduce the learning curve and speed up their success.

(A) This is tough question to put into words. I think learning from live performances is the best way to go. I have worked a lot of events with other magicians and I got to see how they perform in real world situations.

When you see things happen in the real world and then the directions cover what is really happening, it makes it easier to learn and adapt to advanced routines and moves very quickly.

I go over performance scripts and fine points in the e-books. I teach exactly what is happening in the live performances and the variables that can happen at certain points of a routine.

The sleight of hand lessons teach you everything that I wish had been available to me, when I was in my first few of years of learning. I have finally finished most everything that I am going to teach and put everything on a two DVD set. There is a ton of learning material there that can keep a person busy for years.

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Dan, you have my sincere 'thanks' for taking the time to talk to my readers. Here's wishing you a long and prosperous future !

Note: Remember to visit Dan at.. www.YouDoMagic.com

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~ Magic Tricks YOU Can Do... ~

What is "Magic Tricks You Can Do"? A wealth of Magic Tricks with some super bonus offers so you will be performing astounding card tricks, coin tricks, levitation, mind reading, street magic, even hypnosis.

'Magic Tricks You Can Do' provides you with a massive saving over most discount magic downloads.

Whether you are in the business or a budding magician, I am sure you will find magic that FAR EXCEEDS the already ' less than twenty dollar ' price tag.

www.YouDoMagic.com

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Don't forget to visit my blog. I am discussing what it takes to build a website, from the ground up, and how to optimize your site for the search engines to gain better rankings.

If you have a site, or hope to have a site, visit : http://StreetMagic.info/blogger.html

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Remember - contact me with any request or comments at:
Rick@MagicRoadshow.com

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May my next issue find you well...

Rick Carruth
editor/Magic Roadshow Journal of Magic

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