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Magic Roadshow November 25th, 2007 Issue# 82 Rick Carruth - Editor (C) copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved Street Magic's #1 free newsletter for magicians, street performers, restaurant workers, close-up artists, and mentalists, with subscribers in over seventy seven countries worldwide. Learn free magic tricks online and via video. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Hi Everyone
Here's hopeing that everyone who shared Thanksgiving week had a great one. I know I did. And here's sending out a big WELCOME to everyone who has signed up to receive the Magic Roadshow since the last issue. I hope you find something useful in every single issue.. As always, if you have any comments, rants, raves or request.. EMAIL ME Before we get into the heart of this issue, I need to make a couple of statements concerning the Roadshow and it's readers... I had one reader last issue who decided the Roadshow, and it's editor, lacked 'ethics', as one of the resources I published had lifted material from the work (lecture notes) of another magician. Now, first off, I am NOT the magic police. It is not my job to immediately recognize the works of others. What I do is.. if I think something is questionable, I don't publish it.. period. There were several resources I reviewed for this issue which didn't measure up. One was obviously stealing material and another was publishing bunches of video's which exposed the secrets of marketed effects. They do not, and will not, make it into the Roadshow. One site I've featured in the past has recently started showing YouTube videos that expose marketed effects, and because of that I've gone back a number of issues and removed their link.. As readers of the Magic Roadshow, if you think a site I've listed is violating the basic ethics of magic.. let me know. I don't read every word in every blog or website I feature. But if someone points something out to me that I didn't see, I will certainly take a serious look at it. And that's the great thing about publishing my newsletters online... I can always go back and edit something out.. On another note.. if you see this - (AD) beside a link, then that link is an ad. It is an ebook or product that someone not associated with the Roadshow is selling. As it is a paid ad, I neither endorse nor disapprove it.... Caveat Emptor Also, you may notice that the Ellusionist ads have disappeared from my pages. I was notified at 1:30 in the morning a couple of weeks ago that, effective that day, Ellusionist was discontinuning their affiliate program. With hundreds of ads on many, many webpages on several different sites, they truly put some web site owners in a bind. I had hundreds of links that were going 'dead' in a matter of hours, and no quick fix. If you knew the value of all the products I've sold, and we're talking high five digits, you'd wonder what the heck they must be thinking.. Thanks Ellusionist... Now.. I feel SO much better. Thanks for letting me vent.. ------------- In This Issue ------------- - Double Vision - An impromptu effect - The EVER Project - What Makes a "Good" Set of Cups and Balls? - Coin Tricks - Video tutorial - How Magicians Protect Intellectual Property Without Law - PDF - Cardopolis - The Blog - At Home: Tellers Magical Vegas Retreat Speaks Volumns - Bill Nagler - and His Crusade Against Bad Magic. - Amazing Memory - Free ebook download - Four Ace Production - effect - Free Downloads: Expert at the Card Table & Easy Mentalism _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Double Vision - An impromptu effect I walked through the crowd, smiling, stopping from group to group to introduce myself as their 'entertainment'. After a little cordial talk I reminded them that the president of the company was paying me big bux's to put a smile on their faces, so without further conversation I would begin my routine... a short one.. but a routine nontheless.. After a few more laughs and friendly handshakes, I would move on to another group. Nearing the end of the night, my night, I eased to a table in the corner of the room to 'get myself together'. I had an odd assortment of props in various pockets, not a one in the pocket where it began the night. A deck of cards in my right jacket pocket had two cards reversed and a couple crimped. As I begin to sort things out and put them back in their 'proper' place, a middle aged gentleman nursing a 'something on the rocks', tapped me on the shoulder and I jumped.. not scared.. but jumped like someone was looking over my shoulder while I was typing my PIN number in a terminal. "Yes sir, how are you tonight?" " You the magician guy aren't you?" He mumbled through thick lips. His 'something on the rocks' was obviously not his first.. " Well, I was the magician guy earlier.. but you caught me coming out the phone booth. " I replied with a grin. He didn't catch the Superman analogy, and all I got was a blank stare and bad breath. " Do me a trick.." I didn't want to, but I didn't know who this gentleman was.. he could have been the president for all I knew. So, with my Scotch and Soda a bang ring away from useable and other props in awkward pockets, I decided he would have to be content with a card trick.. " Do you like card magic? " " I know how to do card tricks.. I had a book one time " He replied with a know-it-all attitude. " I'm willing to bet you don't know this one.. If you do, I'll buy you a drink.. " Which wasn't a bad bet, since there was an open bar.. I picked up the deck with the various upside-down cards and quickly ran through the deck, straightening things up as I went. I also culled two cards and took them to the top. I was determined to keep this short and sweet, with a minimum of fanfare.. but just enough 'jazz' to make my buddy happy. After a couple of faro shuffles, I took my stance and went to work.. I showed him the top card, a Jack of Hearts, and put it back on top of the deck face down. "There's several ways to do this, but this is my favorite.." I said, as I took the top card off the deck and buried it into the middle of the deck, assuring him that the Jack of Hearts was now 'lost in the deck'.. I then took off the top card and showed it to be the Jack of Diamonds, then replaced it face down on top of the deck. " Do you believe in hypnotism? Have you ever been hypnotized?" He shrugged his shoulders and nodded 'No'.. which I took to mean no.. but I continued, not missing a beat.. " Believe it or not, the Jack of Diamonds is not actually on top of the deck. I hope you didn't mind, but I hypnotized you into believing you saw the Jack of Diamonds. We covered that in 'Hypnosis 101'. Take an object, like the Jack of Hearts, and make someone believe it to be something very similar.. like the Jack of Diamonds.. " I took my right fore finger and 'drew' an imaginary 'J' and an imaginary heart on the back of the top card. After rubbing the back of the card with my finger to thoroughly imprint my doodles, I slowly lifted the top card to show that it was the original Jack of Hearts. "The Jack of Hearts was actually on top all along.." I said with conviction.. The Jack was dropped, face up, onto the table, and I slowly lifted the top card to show a 'Six of something'. I replaced it face down on the deck. " Sometimes folks get upset with me when I mess with their minds, but honestly, I don't mean any harm. I do this strictly for entertainment. Do you mind if I hypnotize you once more? " Riffleing the corner of the deck, I looked at my buddy to see if I was going to get a reply. He looked at me and nodded toward the deck, as if telling me to flip the top card. " We know you saw the Six just now, but since I previously implanted the Jack of Diamonds into your line of vision it's much easier to let you see the Jack of Diamonds again.. OK?" I slowly drew a 'J' and a diamond on the back. I rubbed the back and hesitated a couple of moments to, hopefully, build a little tension. When I sensed he would become impatient if I waited any longer.. I lifted the top card to show that it was indeed again the Jack of Diamonds. I held it between my thumb and middle finger, slowly turning the card to show both the front and back. I layed it back on top of the deck and rubbed my finger across it's back. In a non-threatening way, I passed the same finger slowly back and forth in front of his eyes once " Watch.." Picking up the top card again, I showed it to be the 'Six of something', the Jack once again ..gone. I waited to see if he had any comment to my impromptu card effect, but he turned and walked away. I had hoped for a response of some sort, but I smiled slightly, knowing I had done my best in a awkward moment.. After putting the deck in it's case, and doing a quick physical check of my pockets before going to look for my check, I felt another tap on the shoulder. This one didn't surprise me.. I turned to see my buddy back.. this time with a female companion.. " Hey magic guy.. hypnotize my friend, will 'ya.. " ------------------ I know .. it's embarrassingly simple. But that's not the point. What IS the point?.. It's that we don't have to get so wrapped up in technique that we forget how a purely simple effect can entertain our audience. It's all about the timing, pregnant pauses, and patter. If you didn't catch what I did.. I made sure I had the two red jacks second and third down from the top, with an indifferent card on top. I moved them to the top while fanning through the deck to make sure all the cards were upside down. Now, it's nothing more than a little series of double lifts. Double lift and show the Jack of Hearts and replace it on top. Take the top card, seemingly the Jack, and bury it in the deck. Of course, it's an indiferent card you had on top to begin the effect. Now the Jack of Hearts is on top and the Jack of Diamonds is second down. Double lift and show the Jack of Diamonds, assuring the spectator that the Jack of Hearts was buried in the deck. This is an important visual move to allieviate any suspicion that the Jack of Hearts is still on top. 'Paint' the back of the top card with a 'J' and and heart, then turn it over to show that the Jack of Hearts has been restored. Lay it to one side.. Now, the top card is the Jack of Diamonds. Double lift again and show the second card down, an indifferent card, and assure them that the J of D was nothing more than an illusion.. 'Paint' the top card again, with the 'J' and a diamond, and slowly turn it to show that the Jack of Diamonds has returned.. Lay it back on top of the deck. Perform another double lift to show that the Jack has again vanished and the indifferent card is back on top. Simple - Timing.. Pauses.. Patter.. Several devilishly performed double lifts are far more impressive than one awkward, complex move. Create a story about dual reality. Create a story about two Jacks and a Gypsie. Just create a story... and perform it slowly and with mystery.. That's all you really need to mystify your audience. R Carruth (Editors note.. My key for making this effect work is a very convincing double lift. I see so many magicians performing the double lift from a mechanics grip.. and it really looks painfully obvious that 'something' is going on.. I perform my double from the biddle grip position, almost as if I'm saying 'look.. everythings upfront here'. I'm going to make a video of my double, hopefully by next issue, and show you a very unusual technique that, as far as I know, no one uses except me.) =============== The EVER Project.. The Best, Greatest, Worst, Smartest, Finest, Largest, Coolest, .(Website).Ever .. This is the EVER project, courtesy of Squidoo. How does it work? Well, you go to the below link and create your own website, much as you would create the typical Squidoo site, except the domain name is very different. Aside from changes in the basic site design, you select from a vast combination of web site names available to you. Each domain begins with one of the adverbs above, plus a long list of other names. For example, I have set up a web site with the domain name.. 'Best.Magic.Ever.com'. The first word, in my case 'Best', can be selected from any one of several dozen adverbs. A period follows.. then you select your 'keyword', in my case 'magic', then another period, then EVER... I also selected 'Best.Streetmagic.Ever.com', and will probably select a few more. I can't stress the importance of having the keywords that best express your interest as a part of your domain name. So, whatever your interest, right now is the time to go to EVER and get a good domain name and website before your favorite is gone.. Like me, maybe you don't have any immediate plans to develop it, but at least secure your favorite domain name before someone else does. Create an article on your subject and post that on your website. At least you will have some content in place and Google adwords can display the proper ads and the search engines can index your site.. hopefully. http://www.ever.com/ =============== What Makes a "Good" Set of Cups and Balls? I consider James Riser's website 'What makes a good set of Cups and Balls' to be the definitive word on cups. Loaded with pictures to highlight of what he speaks, James can make you an expert (almost) on what cups to buy.. and what cups to avoid. "The way a set of cups stacks is extremely important. You want a set of cups to stack so that they will not wobble. There should be a nice clean fit to the way the cups nest. The rim of one cup should solidly seat on the ring of the next cup.." James goes on to explain the finer points that most of us would never think to consider when buying a set of cups and balls. He also offers his opinion of the cups you should buy right now.. or risk never being able to buy again.. at virtually any price. Check it out.. You'll be glad you did.. http://www.jamesriser.com/Cups/SelectingCups.html =============== Coin Tricks - Video tutorial Here is a nice little tutorial on three of the basics of coin magic... The French Drop, the Coin Thru Palm, and the Coin from Thin Air. Coin magic will be one of the next 'hot' facets of magic. There's a lot of inventive material out there, and a lot of young minds to make it work. I'm going to slowly begin to feature more and more coin work, not to take the place of cards or close-up, but to add it's diversity to a rapidly growing field of magic.. http://rickcarruth.blogspot.com/2007/11/coin-tricks.html =============== Rick Recommends - 1&1 Web Host Need a web host? With hundreds upon hundreds of companies out there, who do you choose? First.. never let yourself be influenced by glitter and lights. Second.. pick a company that has a rock-solid reputation. Third.. pick a company that 'smart' businesses are picking. I host five websites on 1&1, and I recommend them without question. They are the largest commercial hosting company in the world and regularly run eight to ten page color ads in the center of publications like PC Magazine. That ain't cheap... Not only are there hosting packages super competitive, like $6.95 a month, but you can host multiple sites under the same package. Down time is almost non-existant, and my favorite feature is the 24 hour toll-fee help line. I HATE sending in an email for help and then having to wait till the next day to receive an answer. I want an answer NOW. Guys, if I didn't use 'em and wasn't totally satisfied with them, then I wouldn't recommend them. http://www.1and1.com (AD..) =============== Secrets Revealed: How Magicians Protect Intellectual Property Without Law By Jacob Loshin Jacob Loshin holds a juris doctorate from Yale Law School, and has published a very nice pdf detailing the problems magicians encounter, and how they deal with them, concerning their intellectual property. To quote from the download site: "This paper presents a study of one such negative space which has so far garnered some curiosity but little sustained attention - the world of performing magicians. This paper argues that idiosyncratic dynamics among magicians make traditional copyright, patent, and trade secret law ill-suited to protecting magicians' most valuable intellectual property. Yet, the paper further argues that the magic community has developed its own set of unique IP norms which effectively operate in law's absence." Among the topics covered in this free download are: - Magic and Innovation, creating and sharing, stealing, and exposing.. - The Limits of Intellectual Porperty Law, including copyright, patent, and trade secret. - Intellectual Property Without Law.. controlling access, attribution, use and exposure norms, enforcement, and conclusions.. You can download your copy from the Social Science Research Network here.. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1005564 =============== Cardopolis - The Blog David Britland's CARDOPOLIS on blogspot has long been one of my favorite blogs. Although David doesn't post as often as he once did, he does still publish, and a nice effect 'Lunch Box' was just published. If you are new to Cardopolis, then the archives will hold a ton of commercial type material for you to read and perform. David was the innovator of one of mentalism's greatest effects "Zennerism', as well as the co-author of 'Phantoms of the Card Table - Confessions of a Card Sharp' with Gazzo, about the hunt for Walter Scott, one of the greatest card sharps of all time. Cardopolis is not for rank beginners, as you may feel a little lost, but it's definitely for anyone with an interest in serious card magic. http://www.cardopolis.blogspot.com/ =============== Conversational Hypnosis - Discover the truth about hypnosis, what's possible and what isn't. - What actually happened in the CIA's "MK Ultra" project. Did they really create a "Kill On Demand" assassin? - Common myths about hypnosis. Don't fall for these or you'll end up making embarrassing mistakes. - Warning! There's a "Dark Side" to hypnosis that you may not know about. Order Conversational Hypnosis now (AD..) =============== At Home: Tellers Magical Vegas Retreat Speaks Volumns USA Today offers a great insight into the home life of half of Penn and Teller. Personally, I like Teller. He shows up at magic conventions and walks the floors with the same curiosity as the rest of us. He's approachable and doesn't take the high and mighty road - like certain other magicians known to perform on the same stage as Teller. "Like much of my life, this house is a reflection of everything I wanted back when I was 12," says Teller, 59. "I love this house because it's honest. If you see a floor that looks like concrete, that's because it is concrete. But, ah, on the other hand, nothing is what it seems." What Teller fails to mention is the many multiple mirrors, doors not visible, tables that scream, and a talking bear that hoodwinks visitors with card tricks.. http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/home/2007-11-15-teller-at-home_N.htm =============== Bill Nagler - and His Crusade Against Bad Magic.. Bill Nagler, M.D, doesn't mind telling the Truth, as he see's it.. Bill hates to get 'ripped off'.. and Bill intends to 'expose' the good and bad of magic's many commercial effects. Bill's site, 25offmagic, promises to save you at least 25% of the money you spend on magic by telling you what to buy.. and what to avoid like a plague. I like reviews.. I like it when a magician buys an effect and then offers his honest opinion on what he thinks of that effect. I like it when someone knowledgeable tell's me to buy 33 different effects he considers essential to a good magicians repertoir.. For example: "Friend 1, Friend 2 - DVDs by Bruno Copin. Best magician I have ever seen. Butterfly Effect and Ripple are the 2 best card effects in magic." And to avoid 65 effects he considers basically.. uh, a waste of time and money, not particularly in those exact words. I suppose this is Bill's way of saving me money, and I love to save money... "_____ _____" - The ad says you hand out the bent nail for 'immediate instant examination'. Yes, but after a lousy switch and horrible dump of the terrible gimmick when the heat is on. Total crap. You may agree with his opinions, or you may totally disagree with some of his assesments.. But either way, it's interesting to read his thoughts.. http://www.25offmagic.com/ =============== Amazing Memory - Free eBook download If you're a student, you can improve your grades with several easy to master techniques. But don't think for a second that this ebook is limited to helping students.. One of the best ways for any stage magician or mentalists to establish instant credibility is to demonstrate REAL feats of memory far above those of the audience.. Join the power mnemonists! 'If you are a student then you are really going to find the techniques that are included in this book are weapons in your arsenal of keeping all that information in your head. You would probably have to buy MANY books to be able to find all the information that you would find here in just one volume. Research has shown that by remembering creatively not only will you be able to remember AND recall more with less effort, with more fun and interest, but you will ALSO start to THINK more creatively and be able to connect information in such ways that you can answer questions more fluidly. But memories shouldn't just be used for remembering facts, you can also achieve amazing stunts with very little effort! How? Read on .... ( I've sold this ebook on another site for many months now. Since I didn't have another free offer for this issue, I decided to include Amazing Memory.. Honestly, this link may come down after a couple of weeks. I don't want this link to get indexed in the search engines and folks from everywhere coming to this link for a freebie. This is for my readers, and no one else.. Enjoy.. ) Look for the link near the bottom of my Home page. It will say " Amazing Memory ".. If you don't see the link, you waited too long. ;o( http://www.StreetMagic.info =============== Four Ace Production How about a straight-forward way to produce four Aces.. and make the spectator think HE did it all by his little self..? Begin with the four Aces on top of the deck. Get them there however you want. Personally, I put them on top of the deck beforehand, and then perform several riffle shuffles, leaving the top several cards alone. Hand the deck to the spectator and ask him to assist you with an improbable feat. Assure them that they will understand the enormous coincidence of this effect once they've completed a simple set of instructions. Ask the spectator to cut the deck about one third of the way down, reverse this packet, and drop it back on top of the deck face up. Once done.. ask them to now cut the deck again.. this time about a half to three quarters of the way down.. flip this packet just like the first, and drop it on top of the deck.. Now, ask them to pick up the deck and begin to thumb through the deck until they get to the first upside down card. Remove it from the deck and lay it face down on the table. Take the face up cards that were just thumbed through, turn them upside down, and place them UNDER the remainder of the cards in the other hand. Repeat this same series of moves three more times, until you have four cards face down on the table. Need I say they will be the four Aces ?? Just remember to place the thumbed through packet under the face down cards each time and this is purely self working. Really SELL the improbability of finding any particular card after performing a 'double cut', as this is twice as deadly as a single cut. R.Carruth =============== Free Download.. Expert at the Card Table Download Here ----------- Free Download.. Easy Mentalism Click for 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. http://www.streetmagic.info/submit.html --------------- Email me.. --------------- May my next issue find you well.. Rick Carruth / editor ::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~::~ |
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Mindreading Exposed
