Magic RoadshowOct 7th, 2007 Issue# 79 Rick Carruth / editor (C) 2007 All rights reserved worldwide Street Magic's #1 free newsletter for magicians, street performers, restaurant workers, close-up artists, and mentalists, with subscribers in over seventy countries worldwide._/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Hi All Yes.. it's been almost a month since the last issue. I haven't forgotten about you, just been out of town and away from the tools I needed to assemble and publish this issue. Hopefully the next issue will be on time.. WELCOME to all the new subscribers who generously took the time to sign up since the last issue. If I can help you with your magic.. let me know. Thanks also to all of you who have submitted info to the Roadshow via our submit form. Resources you send are being assigned to future issues. Unfortunately, I can't publish everything everyone sends in one issue, but I will get to it shortly.. I'm particularly looking for your favorite effects and any type of article dealing with magic and performing magic. Write an article about how you got your first job in a restaurant performing walk-around. Or, what you did to overcome stage fright. There are many subscribers, over 3000 of us, who would like to read about your personal experiences. Many of you, whether you realize it or not, have much to share with less experienced readers. Questions, comments, rants and raves... EMAIL ME This issue is full of good material, to help make up for our 'lateness'.. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it..
----------------- - Vanished - An effect - Four in One - A Principle - Four Ace Trick - video tutorial - Psycrets - The British Society of Mystery Entertainers - The Hypnotic Handshake - Free ebook - Invisible Thread - Where to get it free - Survey Monkey - Survey results - Games for the Brain - Great diversion - Complete Introduction to Mar'ked Cards - New Squidoo Sites - New reader sites - Expert at the Card Table - Download - Easy Mentalism - Download
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Vanished..Want to perform a simple magic trick in a restaurant that'll draw a smile, then a look of amazement, from your companion? Good.. Listen up.. Ask for a straw. Remove the wrapper from the straw and wad it into a small ball. Now, tell your friend that the great thing about the frugal and simple straw is that, in a pinch, it can serve as a magic wand. Take the small wad of paper in your left hand, holding it at the tip of the thumb, fore, and middle fingers, so it can be seen by your friend. Rest your forearm on the table, with your hand positioned directly between you and your friend. Take the straw in your right hand and announce that on the count of three you will cause the paper to vanish. Hold the straw so the end touches the paper. In a large exgagerated movement, bring the straw up to your right ear and then back to touch the paper, counting "one..". Bring the straw up a second time and back down to the count of "two.." And when you bring the straw up to your ear for the third count, leave the straw on your ear, but take your empty hand down as if you were still holding the straw for the count of "three..". Don't look at your hand. Watch your friends eyes instead. As soon as your friend realizes the straw is gone they will look up at you and see the straw behind your ear. The two of you will laugh.. In that moment, when their eyes come up to meet yours, open your right hand and gently flip the paper from your left hand into the palm of your right hand and quickly close the hand. Although the paper is gone, continue to hold your left hand as if you're holding the paper. Apologize for your trickery with the straw, reach up and get it with the right hand, then, move the hand and straw down to touch the end of your left fingers and count "three..". By nature, your friends eyes will follow the straw and not notice the paper is gone.. until it's too late. As soon as you touch the tip of your left hand with the straw.. count 'three', and rub your fingers together as if trying to rub the paper in nothingness, and then slowly open your hand to show it empty.. Danny Archer performs an effect similar to this with a coin. You can use a pencil or pen as well, to make it totally impromptu.. This is a really fun little effect that employs a couple of magic principles that are brought to life through the simplicity of the movements. For magic to be meaningful.. it must also be FUN... R Carruth ===================
Four in OneThis is a principle of magic, more so than an effect. You can use this principle to demonstrate a poker deal, for instance, or a sympathetic ace routine that reunites the aces after a series of cuts. Try this and see what you can create. Take the deck and begin to look through it, removing all the Tens, Jacks, Queens, Kings, and Aces. Once removed, set the remainder of the deck aside. You now want to lay out four poker hands of five cards each. Look through the stack and put a Ten, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace, of no particular suit, in each hand. Lay the hands out very casually, FACE UP, from left to right. The cards can be tossed down into each hand totally at random -except- as follows.. Make sure the hand on the far left has an Ace in the second from top position. Since all the cards are face up, it's simple to put down three cards, then the ace, and then the last card needed to complete the fivesome.. Now, the hand next to the far left hand needs to have an Ace in the third from top position. The third hand has an Ace in the fourth from top position.. and the far right hand has an Ace on the bottom.. Once you have the four hands assembled, pick up the far left hand and put it into the palm of your left hand, still face up. Pick up the next hand in the same manner and put it on top of the first hand. Pick up the third hand and then the far right hand, again, putting each on top of the ones in the left hand. Flip the stack over and lay it face down on the table. Ask your spectator to cut the cards once, and then complete the cut. Ask them to cut the cards a second time and complete the cut, and then a third or four time if they wish, making sure that they only cut the deck once each time and not a multiple cut. When completed, ask the spectator to deal out four pok'er hands, dealing around the table as if dealing to four players. You can now tell your tale about how the Aces always reunite, or how a true card sharp can manipulate a deck of cards that he doesn't even cut and deal. Be imaginative. Be creative. The story makes the trick.. Turn the hands face up one at a time and one hand will be found to contain four Aces. You can ask the spectator just before dealing to turn the cards over, thumb through them, and make sure they are thoroughly mixed. If you catch a peek at the last four cards and identify the Ace, you'll know which stack contains the Aces when they're dealt face down. If the Ace is third from bottom, for instance, the third hand dealt will contain four Aces. Using a magicians force, you can let the spectator select three hands, and you one... and you win every time with four Aces.. This further messes with the human mind.. Everything is self-working if you follow my directions. Card sharps can be thankful that the general public still doesn't know that a deck, cut squarely, always retains it's original order. We know it.. they don't.. take advantage of it... R Carruth =================== Four Ace TrickHere is a straight forward video that demonstrates the principle I used in the above effect. Again, it's not a big secret, but something to be reminded of.. ==================== Psycrets - The British Society of Mystery EntertainersMany of you know that my 'first love' is mentalism and mental magic. The strongest responses I've earned through the years have come from peeking into the mind of a spectator. My friend, Dr. Todd Landman - The Metaphysical Magician, has been pivotal in the formation of a new society dedicated to the art of mentalism and mystery.. Psycrets -The British Society of Mystery Entertainers. This following the success of their first London Mentalism Meeting on July 7th of this year. Another friend and fellow Roadshow reader, Steve Drury, is also a founding member and highly skilled webmaster.. who's work I much admire.. Psycrets is open to ALL mystery entertainers worldwide. You do not have to reside in the London area to be an honored member. The membership criteria is straight-forward and simple, even for a chap like me.. Personally.. I'm going to join as soon as I can get this darn newsletter published.. ;o) .. I don't recommend organizations as a rule, but I have total confidence in Todd and Steve and their ability to make PSYCRETS a rousing success. Todd Landman Steve Drury =====================
The Hypnotic Handshake - Free downloadThis is a resource exclusive to the Magic Roadshow, as I haven't seen this available in any other magic publication... Some called it the Russian Scam.. others said it was NLP at it's apex.. but everyone marveled as Derren Brown shook hands with gentlemen on the street, asked directions, took their wallets and watches, and left their marks standing on the sidewalk - perplexed and wondering what happened... Want a free ebook describing how it was done? I'm not going to claim that I understand how it works, or even if it works. But if Derren's show didn't use stooges, and I don't have any reason to believe it did, then there's something to NLP type effects.. Supposedly, by engaging the spectator in a quick series of off-beat stimuli, you can 'halt' the thinking process long enough to achieve your tom-foolery. Try it and let me know if it works for you.. Maybe someone can write an article based on your experiences.. (hint, hint..) http://www.divshare.com/download/2073457-5cb ====================
Invisible ThreadZach Cornett I was ten years old walking through an amusement park in Floridia. I saw a man standing next to a table with boxes on it, he was spinning a card around his body in mid-air. I was amazed and I had to have one of these kits he was selling. So I begged my parents and they allowed me to buy the kit, for 50 bucks. I took the kit home, which contained black invisible thread and a movie. that was it. For 50 dollars I got a piece of string. What a rip-off! So the other day I was walking through a shoe store. I had used one of the panty-hose socks (that are supplied in all stores that sell shoes) And accidentally ripped it. I was about to sit it down when i noticed a thread poking out of it. It looked just like the thread i had spent all that money on! so I pulled another, smaller thread out of that and...Ta-Da! I had found invisible thread- For free! Zack will be setting up a website shortly, telling how to obtain quantities of these socks, as well as effects that can be performed with invisible thread. Stay tuned.. and I'll publish the url as soon as it's available.. =============== Mind Reading Exposed..Thanks to all you guys and ladies who purchased Mind Reading Exposed last issue. I don't like to repeat ads in consecutive issues, but with the interest last issue I thought it would be wise to offer readers one more chance to purchase MRE.. "Imagine if someone walked up to you and was able to reveal your PIN number for your bank account - that´s exactly what you can do in this effect. Just by looking at a person's eyes you write a prediction of their PIN number. What´s written on the paper matches their PIN. This method can be used to reveal surnames, names of pets & more." This effect employs one of the strongest utilities in all of mentalism. It's not new, but it's sorely underused. Master this technique and the world is your oyster.. http://www.mindreadingexposed.com ================== Survey Monkey.. Results of our first surveyI want to thank each and every one of you who took the time to take our first survey. Although it was limited to 100 readers, 100 was enough to give me a good idea of what type of magic you perform and your thoughts toward the Magic Roadshow as a publication.. I know what I like, but what I like and what my readers like may differ. That's always the case. Many a good publications have bit the dust because the editor(s) didn't understand their readership. We are too close to see the big picture, and get so caught up in what we 'think' everyone wants that we can't see the reality.. Interestingly, about 40% of you prefer close-up magic to other forms. The rest of you were fairly evenly divided between cards, stage, mentalism, and all types. That was a little surprising to me.. I don't know exactly what I was expecting though.. 92% of you read the entire issue, and 95% of your computers are equipped to view the video links. I was surprised that many of you can view Youtube and related services. I've woried that I may be including too many links to video's and excluding too many readers from enjoying the resources in the process. 83% felt that the Roadshow is close to being the optimum length. 13% felt that it was too short.. That takes a little pressure off me. I was afraid the majority might think it was too short.. although I honestly think that the Roadshow is the longest newsletter out there. Someone will mentioned Online Visions from time to time, but Visions is more of an online publication/magazine, with regular contributors and columns.. 84% thought that we run about the right amount of ads, and 15% thought we run too few. Only one reader thought we run too many. That was another surprise. Although I never run more than two ads, readers can quickly get turned off by too many ads. Editors have to strike a balance with readers, with everyone understanding that ads are necessary to pay the bills, but that too many ads are annoying. One out of every three three readers thought the Roadshow should be kept as it is.. and roughly half of all respondee's thought we should add more effects and links and resources. That's a tall order, but I'll see what I can do.. The beginning of each issue should: Have more conversation between the readers and the editor - 46%, Have less conversation - 9%, Go directly to the table of contents - 40%, Skip it all and go directly to the articles- 3%.. This one has always bothered me, and I still don't have the clarification I wanted. Forty-six want more conversation and forty percent want less.. Hummm... More Free magic ebooks - 63.6% Magic ebooks are a clear favorite, although finding one for each issue is difficult. A question and answer category would be very do-able.. I'm thinking about soliciting your questions and getting well-known magicians to answer them.. We'll see.. Compared to other newsletters, I think the Magic Roadshow is: That's a surprise as well.. as I would think most readers would rank it average.. For all you guys who voted it the best, Thanks! That's it for now. Again, I appreciate your input, as it makes it possible for me to plan the Roadshow's future. ================== Games For The BrainThese ain't your typical games.. They utilize your brain in very spatial ways that are largely unique from most online games. Everything is straightforward, only different.. They test primarly your visual memory and power of observation, not your math and deduction skills. If you generally use your head for a hat rack, this site is NOT for you. Now, don't get intimidated by my description - It's not intended for geniuses and geeks. But it does make you think.. thus the name.. When I visited the site for the first time, it was with the intention of scouting it out and seeing if there was anything there I though would appeal to Roadshow readers.. An hour later I decided there was plenty there to keep you guys busy.. "GamesForTheBrain.Com is an online gym for brains of all ages, with simple exercises and games to help you build mental power. Choose from a number of "brain games" that will tone your memory, sculpt your spelling and grammar skills, and pump up your I.Q." Check it out. ================== NEVER Settle for Second BestEvery great performer knows that the SECRET to success is to possess the right tools. Get the right tools... http://301url.com/streetmagic2 ==================
Complete Introduction to Marked CardsBy Dan Adlam Marked cards have earned their place as a useful tool for magicians. They often are underused due to fear of detection – in reality, some marked cards are easy to detect, but the marked cards you will learn about in this article are extremely difficult to detect and have passed through security tests in casin'os. The most common type of marked cards is drawing extra marks on the Bicycle back. You might add another line in the angel, or you might take red ink and blot out some of the white so you know what card it is. The birds in the center of the Bicycle back are often rearranged – this is very deceptive, although these decks could easily be discovered by using the “Gamblers Riffle Test,” which when used will make the marked deck look like a picture book. Magicians can get away with using this type of deck, although when spectators examine the cards, they are looking for imperfections on the back design, which may lead to detection. Juice Deck The Juice Deck has earned its place as one of the most difficult to detect marked cards currently on the market. They easily pass the Gambler's Riffle Test, because the marks are invisible unless you are trained to see the markings. From as far as 20 feet, the juice deck serves as a marked deck with the furthest visibility. You can mark the number “7” directly on the back of the card, and nobody will notice. Juice recipes often sell for thousands of dollars, and these juice decks will pass even the toughest securities at casin'os. Gamblers more often use Juice Decks in smaller, private games, so be sure to watch out for them. Luminous Deck The Luminous Deck is much less commonly used due to the existence of the Juice Deck. In order to see the marks of the luminous deck, you need special tinted sunglasses. The sunglasses have a red filter on them. The marks on the luminous deck are green. The red filter filters the back design, which is red, leaving only the green marks visible. These marks can only be seen using a specific red filter. Making this deck on your own isn't that simple. The red filter and green ink must be a specific type, and not too many people want to reveal which wavelengths the red filter and green ink are. To learn more about marked cards, go to: =================== New Sites on SquidooRemember, anyone creating a magic related site at Squidoo is welcome to notify me, and I will publish links to your site(s) to help you get started.. Bruce Carlley has two new sites worthy of your attention.. Next month I'll post an updated list of all the Roadshow readers sites. I hope to have yours... http://www.squidoo.com/harrypottermagictrick/ http://www.squidoo.com/pokerbruce/ ================== Free Download.. Expert at the Card Table----------- Free download.. Easy Mentalism=================== I encourage you to send any magic resources my way. If you know of a site that has a free ebook or a wide assortment of magic related material, let me know. I'm sure all the other readers will appreciate it.. Remember too, the new form that allows you to send your articles and effects to the Roadshow for publication. www.streetmagic.info/submit.html --------------- Please don't forget to visit some of my other sites.. see what's new - http://www.StreetMagic.info May my next issue find you well.. Rick Carruth / editor::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~ Expert Magic BannerExchange |
