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:. Magic Roadshow :. October 17th, 2005 :. Issue# 33 :. Rick Carruth / editor (c)2005 worldwide ~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~ Well, considering that this issue is two days late, all I can do is apologize and promise to do better. Actually, my list server has been down since Saturday, which was my scheduled publication date. It's now 5:48 AM Monday the 17th and I'm still waiting for my list server to come back up so I can notify all you guys that this issue is ready and waiting. What's a hard working editor to do? I've put this time to good use, working on a new double lift.
I think I'll go night-night for a little while, and try this publication thing again later.. A heartfelt 'Welcome' to all the new subscribers since our last issue. I hope you enjoy your visit and don't, for one moment, hesitate to tell me what you think - good or bad. Email me HERE.. I understand some of you have had trouble accessing the free ebook I offer to new subscribers, Expert at the Card Table. The website that was hosting the file, (not mine) has evidently gone down for whatever reason. You can now go to one of my web pages at: http://tinyurl.com/9fqgs and download the ebook to your desktop as a zip file. Our recent move continues to have an on-going effect on my day to day schedule. I can't find a thing anymore. I think my wife and I are getting the heck out of Dodge this coming weekend and heading for the mountains. (Gatlinburg). Got to look at some leaves and buy some more stuff we don't need. I hope it gives me a few moments to recharge and get back on schedule.. Honestly, I have about ten magic-related DVD's that are unopened. It seems the only time I find time to watch them is when I'm away from home. Maybe I'll get some 'work' done while on hiatus.. --------------------------- In This Issue: 1) Your Own Magic Web Site - No more excuses 2) Halloween Magic - Two feats from " The Art of Modern Conjuring" 3) Small Parts, Inc. - material resourse (AD) Kard Klub - Our #1 video 4) Bartricks International - fifteen free tricks 5) Eagles Talent Connection - videos of magics favorite performers 6) Magic Hat - About 100 free magic effects 7) Magic Fakers - Excellent source of information 8) Losing Their Head - more videos No running now! ~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~ :. Your Own Magic Web Site I've wanted to write this article for a long time. It may be one subject that you hope I don't visit again, but for some of you it may be a lifesaver. Regardless of what form of magic you're into, whether it's performing, manufacturing, developing, writing, or whatever, there will come a time when you realize the need for your own website. This article is an abbreviated version of a longer article I'm writing on the same subject. I will provide a link, through the newsletter, to the longer version once it's complete. I'm going to show you how to develop a web presense for less than thirty dollars, and I'm NOT going to cut corners. In fact, cutting corners is the first bad habit we need to rid you of.. There's no such thing as a free lunch on the web. Oh, you can get free services, free hosting, free this and that, but believe me brother - you're going to pay of it in the long run. Rule#1.. Go ahead a spend a couple of extra dollars and sign up for services that have a proven track record. ---------------------- :. Domain Name Your first official act will be selecting your domain name. Select several, as there is a good possibliity your first choice may be taken. Go to Go Daddy.com and check on the availability of your domain. If it's available, you have two choices.. one is to purchase it through Go Daddy, and the other I'll discuss in a few minutes. Go Daddy is the #1 domain name registrar in the country, and they're probably number one for a reason. I use Go Daddy personally, and can speak as a customer. Unlike some companies, they allow you to retain ownership of your domain name. I'm not going to get into specific's, just trust me here.. You can purchase your domains through Go Daddy and then 'forward' them to a hosting account without the hassle and expense of transferring. Forwarding is achieved through your control panel at Go Daddy and is a very simple process. NEVER let a hosting company tell you that you 'have to' transfer your DNS (domain name server) from Go Daddy to their company. Tell them you're going to forward only.. If they disapprove, tell them to take a long walk off a short bridge.. Forget setting up a bunch of email accounts. Go Daddy allows you to create about 100 email forwarding accounts. Get yourself a Google Gmail account if you need one, or, simply use your current email address, create email alias'es like Rick@magicroadshow, editor@magicroadshow, support@magicroadshow, dummy@magicroadshow, and Go Daddy will send any and all emails to your 'catch-all' account. Simple.. Go Daddy normally charges around $8.95 for a .com domain. I think they are on sale at the moment for $6.95. They put their domains on sale every couple of months or so.. I am not an affiliate - I'm a customer with experience.. http://www.godaddy.com ----------------------------- :. Hosting Again, go with the #1 hosting company in the world. There are several good companies out there, but for every good company, there are fifty bad ones with fancy web sites. You really don't want your site to go down after you've busted your butt getting it up and running and listed in the search engines, only to find that your hosting company just went belly up ( it's happen to me ) , or to find that your "24 hour support network" is actually a mud hut outside Calcutta..( that's happened to me also..) 1 and 1.com is the number one business hosting company in the world. Forget the rest. Don't get confused by the numbers, databases, band width, email accounts, and all the other unimportant features other companies tout.. They have all the features you'll probably ever need. 1and1 is also your other option for domain names. They sell domain names for around six dollars, and generally include one free domain name as part of their personal account package ($4.99 mo.). Their Business package is about $9.95 and includes three free domain names, and all three names can be hosted and managed through the same account and control panel. That's like getting a first rate account for $3.33 a month.. Accounts are payable quarterly, and there are no sign-up fees of any type. Folks, these guys regularly put eight page color inserts in the center of magazines like PCWorld. That ain't cheap. You've got to be doing something right to afford that kind of exposure. They also feature an 'instant website' creator, if you need one. They have a couple of hundred nice looking templates to choose from, and simplified site building for someone not familiar with the process. This is a good alternative for someone wanting to get a personal " Rick Carruth - Magician for Hire " type page on the web with a minimum of fanfare.. Actually, you can create about twelve pages with your instant website program, and the cost is about $ 2.99 a month. I don't recommend this type site if you want to sell on the web, as I'm not sure how it would deal with your credit card processing and shopping cart. You can also use the instant website creator with the larger accounts if you want to host multiple accounts or need more power. ( Personally, I use this simple approach from time to time if I need to create a "mini site" - selling one product. I can add a 2Checkout credit card payment button, as I don't need a shopping cart. ) Three months hosting - (personal account) and your domain name should run about $ 15.00 to get you started, and you're dealing with people you will probably deal with for years to come. I am an affiliate, as I do advertise their services on a couple of other sites, and I personally use 1 and 1 for my hosting needs.. Believe me though.. this is NOT an ad, this is a sincere recommendation based on having jumped from host to host for one bad reason after another.. Click Here --------------------------------- Credit Cards.. If you decide to offer products of any sort, you have to get paid. You have basically three options, and two of them are NOT good ideas. One- Paypal, Two - send me some money via snail mail and I'll send you something in return, or Three- accept credit cards. I don't have anything against Paypal. Accepting paypal payments is a viable alternative, as long as it is not your only alternative. If you're serious about selling online you need the means to accept credit cards quickly and securely. You don't need to require your potential customers to sign up with Paypal to do business with you. Also you should be set up to easily accept online checks, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, Diners, JCB and debit cards with the Visa, Mastercard logo. Setting up a full fledged merchants account can be very expensive, time consuming, and sometimes impossible if you have poor credit or are young with no established credit. After several years of dealing with credit card companies, I have come to one firm conclusion.. 2Checkout. ( http://www.2checkout.com ) has all the credit card processing features I need. 2Checkout will allow virtually anyone with a website to set up an account and start accepting credit card payments almost immediately. They do not conduct credit checks. Instead, they charge a one-time fee of $49.00 to sign-up, plus a slightly higher per-sale fee than some of the full service merchant accounts. 2Checkout is what the industry refers to as a "third-party processor". An average credit card company will keep approximately .60 to .70 cents of each ten dollar transaction. 2Checkout keeps .45 cents per sale plus 5.5% of the total sale. On a ten dollar sale that would come to one dollar. To me, that's offset by the fact that there are no minimums each month, no application fees, monthly fees, statement fees, or equipment or software lease fees. If you cut through the fine print, I honestly think you'll find that the overall fees are very comparable.. I wouldn't recommend it if I thought you were being taken advantage of... In addition, 2Checkout includes a free shopping cart, free plug-n-play code similar to a paypal "buy now" button, on-line tech support, works with existing shopping carts, international customers accepted, and most important for many magicians, they allow you to sell ebooks (PDF"S). You would be surprised at the number of credit card companies that will NOT allow you to sell electronically transferred information. They want you to sell tangible goods only.. I know.. if you're on a tight budget it seems that forty nine bucks is hard to come by. But the increase in sales you'll see over the typical paypal button will more than pay for 2Checkout many times over. I'm not an affiliate of 2Checkout... I'm a fan. -------------------------------- :. Design Software Many users use programs like Front Page to design complicated and/or complex web sites. I found SiteSpinner a couple of years ago and haven't used anything since. Like 2Checkout, the initial cost is forty-nine dollars, but thats approx. one-fourth of the other popular programs. You can design and maintain a number of different sites with SiteSpinner at the same time. I used SiteSpinner exclusively on http://StreetMagic.info and http://magicroadshow.com . Believe me, I'm NOT a techie. If I can purchase and use SiteSpinner, you can too. You don't need to know any HTML - SiteSpinner V2 is 100% WYSIWYG - move anything anywhere with your mouse. No need for image editing software - Change the size or properties of any picture right in the work-window. No need for a paint program. Additionally, there is no need for FTP software - you publish directly from SiteSpinner V2 to your web host. All your images can be automatically uploaded at the same time.. Although I don't personally use their templates, SiteSpinner V2 includes a number of quality templates for you to use to build your site. I'm sure there are other programs out there that will do a creditable job, but I have not found another one, for the money. (and I have tried about fifteen different softwares at one time or another..) You can visit SiteSpinners website and download a fully functional trial version to see if it's something you may be interested in.. I eventually bought SiteSpinner for my personal use after trying the trial version... Click Here for Free Trial -------------------------------- :. Blog If you've considered your own blog, there are a number of free services out there at this time. I use Blogger for Magic Bullets. You can sign up for a free account at.. http://www.blogger.com/start Try it, play around with it, you may be a better writer than you think! -------------------------------- :. Free Logos and Banners for the terminally cheap - http://www.thefreelogomakers.com/ :. More Free Banners and buttons and stuff - http://www.1stsitefree.com/logo.htm :. Free eBook cover creator - http://www.ezinefire.com/ecover/ :. Free email form creator. Create "fill in the form with your information" forms. Also, sign up for their free service to have your form info emailed to you. No limits.. http://www.webformdesigner.com/index.html ---------------- OK.. all this should keep you busy for awhile. Remember, these are NOT advertisements. These are real products that I use, products that populate the innards of my computer... and I'm really particular about what I let inside my 'business'. Let me know what you think.. ~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~ :. Halloween Magic ~ Two feats from " The Art of Modern Conjuring " - by Professor Henri Garenne ~ Spirit Mirror This illusion is really a marvelous one. Provide yourself with an ordinary looking glass (mirror), about sixteen inches long by eight inches wide, and obtain a piece of hard chalk, sharpen it with a knife, and draw upon the surface of the glass any design or words you think fit. After having written on the surface of the glass, take a silk pocket hankerchief and lightly wipe the face of the mirror. The surface of the glass will appear to be without a mark of any kind, and perfectly clear. Having this ready, bring the mirror forward and introduce it to your audience, showing it to them with a clean surface. Request some lady to gently breathe on the face of this looking glass, upon which the characters and designs you wrote upon the glass will be instantly visible. You can again wipe it off carefully with your handkerchief, and upon another person breathing upon its surface again, the writing will be again visible. This can be repeated as often as the performer chooses. ---------------------- editors note.. this is a very good way to reveal the name of a chosen card. Write the name of the card on a mirror beforehand, have your audience member pick a card, through either a magicians choice or a force, and then allow the spectator who chose the card to breathe upon the mirror, revealing the chosen card. I like this effect around halloween time, as you can create a story line about the 'ghost in the mirror' and how he serves as your assistant - but only near Halloween. You can also use a typical hand mirror to perform this trick. This makes it very do-able for the restaurant worker. ======================= ~ The Animated Skull "The working of this skull, although apparently marvelous, is in itself very simple. The skull is made of paper mache, and has a metal plate fixed from the base of the skull to the bottom of the lower jaw; with this exception, the skull is an exact model of a human skull, and is colored to resemble one." ( editors note.. skulls of all sort, including plastic, and readily available at any department store can be used. Professor Garenne bases this trick upon the help of an assistant, which was common in earlier years. Against a black back drop, extend a piece of very fine black thread and attach it to the back of a chair, one of two located on stage, with a small piece of wax. Introduce the skull to the audience, allowing an audience member to hold the skull temporarily while you turn the two chairs back to back, about two to three feet apart, and place a piece of glass ( or plexiglass ) across the backs of the chairs, forming a small platform. In the process, carefully remove the wax and string and place it on the back edge of the glass. Take the skull and place it in the center of the glass, at the same time attaching the wax and thread to the back of the skull unnoticed. If the skull hinges at the jaw, which it should, and the bottom portion is weighted, the entire top portion of the skull will rise up and down with the pulling of the string.) " Now, taking up his wand, the performer commands the spirit to return for a brief period within the skull, and begins then to put questions to it, the skull answering 'yes' by nodding forward, and 'no' by shaking slightly to and fro. This is caused by the assistant gently working the thread, giving it a slight pull, which causes the skull to nod for 'yes' and gently pulling the thread to and fro for 'no', causing the skull to move slightly from right to left. Any number of questions can be asked; the assistant, being placed so as to hear them, can give what answer he thinks fit. If properly worked, a deal of fun and merriment can be caused amongst the audience by the questions and answers put to it. * The skull can be picked up at any moment and brought forward to show that it is not connected to anything, the performer of course taking care secretly to remove the pellet of wax." ------------------- * Remember, magic is about Entertainment. If you can successfully entertain your audience with a simple effect like 'The Animated Skull', then you probably have what it takes to succeed in this business. If you think that your audience constantly needs to be wow'ed with high tech magic, or million dollar illusions, then you don't have a good understanding of the psychology of magic. Go watch Michael Finney or Steven Bargatze - and take LOTS of notes... ~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~ :. Small Parts Inc. I publish this resource with trepidation. It's sort of a " right-to-know vs. the typical dumb_ss thinking some magicians are known to display..." "Nitinol alloys have the intriguing ability to recover a preset shape, even after drastic distortion. Composition is typically 55%-56% Nickel and 44%-45% Titanium, but slight adjustments of this ratio can significantly impact the properties of the material. There are two primary but overlapping categories of Nitinol. The first, known as "SuperElastic", is characterized by extraordinary kink resistance and flexibility. The second category, "Shape Memory" alloys, is valued for the Nitinol's capacity to recover a pre-set shape when heated above its transformation temperature." If you're a serious magician, you have seen this wire at work. No one in magic holds any special rights to this material, any more so than they hold the rights to springs, ball bearings, or any other commercially manufactured products. BUT.... Certain magicians DO hold the rights to the packaging of this material, and it's use as it applies to their particular effects. If you want to purchase nitinol for your own personal use, you have the right. If you want to purchase nitinol and create hitherto unseen effects, you have the right. If you want to purchase nitinol to re-package and sell in direct competition with exisiting effects, you will probably put some lawyer's kids through college, per the final court ordered settlement.. Be careful, little grasshopper.. http://www.smallparts.com/products/descriptions/nw.cfm?Origin=GG ~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~ :: Kard Klub - ( Our Top Selling Video) "One of the ultimate highlights of the tape is watching quiet but fearless Jonathan Bayme, 16, step into a gritty, rowdy, all black high school in South Carolina and begin to perform. Within minutes the principal of the school was forced to rush in to shut down the magic, demanding that Jonathan leave the school for bringing the cafeteria to a horrifying level of screaming and excitement. Follow the action as the entire cafeteria pours into the school yard to keep watching Jonathan do the magic he can do. We have never seen anything like this." Watch the preview.. http://www.ellusionist.com/cart/?aid=739 ---------------- My sale of Ellusionist videos and related products make this newsletter possible. Without Brad and the staff at Ellusionist, I would be living in the back of a '74 Chevy, shaving and showering at truck stops, and eating those 9 for $9.00 TV dinners prepared with a microwave rigged to my brake lights. I could survive.. I suppose. But it would be really hard on my two assistants in the back seat. They've grown accustomed to indoor plumbing, free coffee and donuts every morning, high-speed internet connections, and sleeping in oversize office chairs... ~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~ :. Bartricks International "When Michael Hayes was seventeen years old he was thrown out of school for everything that pays the bills now. One year later he was fired from a Toronto radio station For an April Fool's day stunt that was a little too realistic -- he convinced listeners the station building was collapsing, complete with sound effects. He created a mini panic and loads of publicity. Fortunately, Club Med recognized and appreciated his talents for attracting attention and he spent the next six years traveling and developing his "Bartricks" at their chain of resorts. Hayes has made a career out of creating magic and has a knack of giving life to ordinary, everyday objects. He reveals the secrets to his tricks with the debut of his video, "Be the Life of any Party". It seems everything Michael was thrown out of school for now pays the bills and gets him international acclaim." Visit Michaels site and let him teach you about fifteen of his favorites.. http://www.bartricks.com/tricks.shtml ~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~ :. Eagles Talent Connection Speaking of Michael Finney, in an effect above, helped jar my memory and sent me shuffling through my Favorites file for this link. I ran across it a couple of months ago while doing a little research for another article. If you needed top talent for a magic show, like Finney, Alain Nu, Glenn Strange, Jay Alexander, Jeff McBride, or Mac King, to name a few, where would you go and how would you decide who to hire? That question led me to Eagles Talent Connection and an array of information and videos from some of the top performers around. Not magicians only, they represent astronaunts, authors, motivational speakers, anyone who charges a pretty penny to entertain the public from a stage or stand.. Of interest to us, of course, is the four pages of listings for top magicians.. Their clients, like Michael Finney for example, supply video clips to go along with their profiles. Many clips run five to seven minutes in length and offer a good idea of the type of magic each performer offers. There's a wealth of information here, if you're willing to look through four pages of profiles. Each listing that has a " view more details & video " button beside the performers name will upload a video for your viewing pleasure. Got a convention coming up? Looking for some unique talent? Need to know what some of the top performers charge per performance? Check it out.. http://www.eaglestalent.com/speakers-bureau,72,topic,Magic,experts.asp?page=1 ~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~ :. Magic Hat The UK's " Magic Hat " web site offers card workers and street magicians a selection of approximately a hundred free online tricks and effects. Effects like Coin through Latex, Deck Disappearance, Design For Laughter, Elevator Card, Eyescream, and Egg in a Bottle are explained for all.. To quote from their site.. " Magic Hat is designed for magicians hoping to improve their magic repertoire and pick up some tips and learn free magic tricks online." Visit the URL below, bookmark the page, and see what you can find hidden among the many tricks.. http://www.magichat.co.uk/t0-free_magic_tricks.html ~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~ :. Magic Fakers Tim Ellis and Sue-Anne Webster are two of the most successful magicians in the history of Australia. Known world-wide for their exciting magic and illusions that regularly " blows their audience away ", the duo have somehow found the time to put together a web site that is much more than the typical " hey.. look at me ". I would be amiss if I didn't take a moment to point you toward their excellent blog, located at - http://www.magicunlimited.typepad.com/ , that discusses the adventures of a married couple, both magicians, and their trials and tribulations. Both offer intelligent opinions, like the latest post " Criss Angel Sells Out? " But what I want to offer 'kudos' for is their New vs. Original page that highlights many original works of magic, and the fakers that attempt to 'knock off'. Without getting deeply involved in a subject that is regularly discussed in most magic forums, I will say that it's important that we, as magicians and decent human beings, take the time and make the effort to support the minds that bring new magic to light. If you have any question about some of the more popular effects in magic; who actually invented it and manufactured it first - and who's knocking it off now - visit Tim and Sue-Anne's New vs Original page and get a little education.. A special 'Thanks' to Tim and Sue-Anne for making this page available, and thanks to Tim at Inside Magic for pointing us to this page.... http://www.magicunlimited.com/NewvsOriginal.htm ~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~ :. Losing their Heads A special 'Thanks' to my friend, Grant Oyston, for uploading another 'Japanese Head-Drop' video to Putfile.com . After a discussion about the young Japanese girl in the video in the last issue, Grant wrote the following.. "I've also found a bit of a video by another Japanese magician called Cyril doing the same trick. . .he does it several times, and it's quite something. He's actually quite young, but he wears a very realistic mask to look like an old man. I love the ice cream girls' reactions. I've edited it a bit and uploaded it to http://media.putfile.com/CyrilLosesHisHead " Personally, I wish I were about twenty years younger, and fifty pounds lighter. I'd scare the crap out of someone this halloween, using this very trick.. Thanks again Grant..! ~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~ Well folks.. that's all for now. It's been my pleasure... Email Me with your request, rants, and raves. I love to hear from you, just to know that my newsletter is making it to it's intended destinations. If you have a suggestion for a resource, let me know what you've found. And, if you have a magic related article, send it to me (no attachments please) and let's see if we can't send your ideas to readers around the world. If it needs a little editing for spelling or because english isn't your given language, don't worry... I'll take care of that... Forward this newsletter on to others, if you have friends you think may be interested. I enjoy watching my subscriber count rise each issue. -------------------- Don't forget to visit my blog at... http://streetmagic.info/blogger.html Street Magic Bullets.... http://streetmagic.info Magic Roadshow........ http://magicroadshow.com -------------------- May my next issue find you well... Rick Carruth / editor ~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~ |
