Hello Everyone

Yes, it's been a month since the last issue, and it looks as if thats the 'norm', for the time being at least. Things are hectic. I'm in the midst of packing; heading to Allentown Pa. for several weeks. I thought I was headed to Pittsburg, but things change.. Anyone know any good magic shops in Allentown? I know Mingus is in Reading and Hershey Magic is in Hershey... Suggestions..??

Comments, requests, rants and raves... EMAIL ME

One REALLY interesting thing has happened since the last issue. The faculity at Camelard College promoted two of their members to the position of Senior Professor, joining Bev Bergeron, Ed Hurtubis, Jeff McBride, Maria Ibáñez, Bob Larue, and Richard Nakata.

One of the appointees was John Calvert. For those of you not familiar with Mr. Calvert, where have you been for the past 97 years? Mr. Calvert is currently touring the country, driving his Ford Expedition, and breaking records everywhere he lectures. He is scheduled to appear in my area in late March, (Asheville NC) and everyone can't wait. I've posted a nice ten minute interview on one of my blogs, and you will spend time wisely by clicking on over there..

http://rickcarruth.blogspot.com/2009/02/john-calvert-interview.html

For the record, a Senior Full Professor of Conjuring is achieved via appointment by vote of the CCCC Faculty. To quote from the Camelard College site:

" The Senior Full Professor is one who has made significant contributions to the Art of Magic, especially in the areas of wide promotion of the Magical Art or magical education (as, for example, serving as regional and/or national officers in S.A.M., I.B.M., or similar national magical organizations; or, books and articles published in M.U.M., The Linking Ring, Genii, or Magic or continued teaching of magic in public and private schools). The Senior Full Professor of Conjuring, a most distinguished title, is selected from those in the rank of Full Professor. Only two appointments are made annually."

The second appointee was yours truly, and I am so Honored I don't know what to say. There were too many big names in the voting for me to have finished anywhere near the top. I know that some of you guys are members, and I know that some of you HAD to have supported me.. So all I can say is " Thanks A million "

If you haven't joined me at MAGIC PLUS, then I hope you find time to join this week. This is a true website for self-promotion and Social Networking for you and your magic. All I ask to join is that you be a performing magician and have something to share with others.. I have had the chance to see and get to know better a number of Roadshow readers.. I hope to see YOU there too...

http://MagicPlus.ning.com

I've kept you waiting for a month.. so on with the Roadshow ..

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In This Issue
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(01) Cruising on the High Seas - By Paul Romhany

(15) Two Bonus eBooks

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"Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve."
Napoleon Hill

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Cruising on the High Seas

Just got booked some work on the Queen Victoria and new QE3. Looking forward to working these two new Cunard ships. I had the opportunity to work on the famous QE2 before she left the fleet. I hear both of these new ships are gorgeous. I'll give a full report next month after I work them both.

Since the release of my cruise ship book many people have emailed me thanking me for releasing it and releasing the information. I have been in contact with a few magicians who are now encouraged to send off their promotional material to various agents I suggest in the book.

The following are the most asked questions that I get from magicians each week:

Is there a good time to send promo packs?
No, anytime is as good as any. The main thing after you send it, make sure you follow up with a phone call. Chances are, the agents and cruise lines will not phone you back - you'll have to PHONE THEM and follow up. Remember, these people can get a hundred promotional packets a week. Your's will have to stand out from others, look professional and be well produced. With your DVD, don't get too caught up with special effects, transitions etc. They need to see you work for a live audience and hear their reaction.

How long do agents book you in advance?
I am usually booked up 6 months ahead - with some cruise lines it can be a year ahead. It all depends on the line. In most cases I plan my bookings early in the year. My agent will contact me with dates for the year and I will chose which ones I want. Because I have other projects and tours on land, I fit the cruise lines in around that. Then there are jobs that can come in if an emergency arrises and I have to fly out the next day. My show bag is ALWAYS packed and ready to go. My Cunard gigs came up this past week for next month, so it depends on the cruise line.

Do the agents tell you that they will be promoting your services?
Yes, they will often ask you to sign an agreement saying they will represent you. In most cases, there is also a clause that will say if you leave that agency, you are not allowed to work for the cruise lines they booked you for, for two years after leaving the agency. This is a standard clause with pretty much ALL agents. When I left my Australian agent years ago, I could not work for Princess for two years. The only way you can do this, is if you give your old agent their 15% and your new agent also gets his 15%. That means you are giving away 30% of your fee!! It just isn't worth it! I waited for two years then was free to work for Princess again and only pay one agency fee.

How do you suggest packaging your promo DVD?
The main thing is to remember your promotional material really needs to look professional. If you just burn a DVD and throw it in a clear plastic folder with a hand written note, it will go straight to the trash. You want to come across as a professional entertainer, somebody who has worked a lot of different venues and knows the business inside and out. Spend the money and get a professionally produced DVD with color graphics etc. Just like you'd buy in a shop. They aren't expensive anymore and quite often you can get a few done at a time. There was a time when you had to print 1000 to get a good price, but not anymore. Many local printers can print color on your DVD covers and inserts. You also want to send a cover letter stating you are available for cruise ship work, they type of entertainment you perform, how long you can be away for etc. You will need several head shots or promotional photos. Make sure you also have a passport, you never know they might want you straight away:)

As I always tell people, make sure you are ready before heading out on a ship. Do you feel confident your work is of an international level. It's no use saying you won the local stage competition - if you won FISM then I'd mention it, otherwise don't brag about local competitions because quite frankly, that does NOT impress bookers. The proof of the pudding is in your work. If you perform the same type of magic as everybody else, such as a snowstorm, Kevin James's bowling ball routine, card sword etc etc. then chances are YOU WILL NOT GET BOOKED. Everybody is doing the same old thing - you need to have some originality. The most common illusion on cruise ships are the Origami illusion - I know one booker who, if she sees ANY of the above effects will not book the act. She'll just say something like, "Oh, the folding box trick again!" This is the reality.  If you perform standard illusions or effects, even if, in your mind, they are structured or routined differently, it's the agent or head of entertainment who will see the DVD and it's THEM you have to impress. They only have to see an origami box and that's it. With your DVD you have to get them to look at more than 30 seconds! If they watch a full minute then you are doing well. Be original and be creative if you want to work on ships.

Ten years ago I would easily say things were different on ships. Many magic acts could get away with performing similar routines and effects because there wasn't the access of instant magic we have today. Ships today are looking for acts that can play to an international audience. Passengers are traveling a lot more today and many have seen it all. That's why I always suggest to acts trying to get in to the cruise market, make sure you are ready. You will only get ONE chance on a ship - if you are not up to the high standard they expect then you won't get booked back.

My book is now available from magic shops around the world - Entertaining on a Cruise Ship. It includes the information and contacts you'll need - plus loads of stories and advice from fellow performers. If you want to purchase it direct then visit: www.thecruisemagician.com OR go to AMAZON and you can buy it there.

Remember, my weekly BLOG has stories and advice for magicians PLUS weekly reviews of magic effects: http://romhanyreport.blogspot.com/

Happy Cruising
Paul Romhany
www.paulromhany.com

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Free eBook from Jay Sankey

I don't have to tell you who Jay Sankey is, or why you should want to download this ebook - BEST
OF THE SANKEY MAGIC NEWSLETTER. It's in a pdf format, and you can open it right here and read it, or save it to your desktop and read it at your convenience.. The effects are:

1 - ONION
2 - BLOWN AWAY
3 - ROAD RAGE
4 - HEAT THERAPY
5 - SILVER & GLASS
6 - BUSINESS TRANSACTION
7 - JAVA TRANSPO
8 - SEER
9 - SPIDERCARD
10 - NOISEMAKER
BONUS 1 - GENERAL ASSEMBLY
BONUS 2 - UNDERTOW

http://www.sankeymagic.com/SankeyMagic_e-book.pdf

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Jay Sankey's POSH.. (my version)

I first saw this effect in Jay's newsletter, I think it was the Aug. 2008 issue, and I've never forgot it. I am not a master of coins, so I am always looking for a coin routine I can do that makes it 'appear' as if I can perform a trick or two.. This effect, re-written in my own words, fits the bill perfectly......

What you need.. Two quarters and a Sharpie. This is a nice coin routine, which Jay says was inspired by Francis Carlyle's Homing Card effect.

Remove a quarter from your right pants pocket, give it to a spectator and ask them to put their initial boldly across the face with your handy dandy Sharpie marker. Announce that you are going to vanish the coin in either a visible or invisible manner. Stick the hand with the quarter into your right pants pocket, coin at fingertips, and state... "This is the visible method". Apologize for your lack of magic, take your hand out of your pocket with the coin still a fingertips, and announce that the invisible method will probably be more impressive.

Naturally, when the right hand was in the pocket it dropped the marked coin the the pocket and picked up a second quarter, which just conveniently happened to be in your pocket beforehand.

As you bring the second coin out of pocket, don't pause, but casually toss it from the right hand into the left hand. Finger palm the second coin and 'pretend' to toss it back into the right hand. Using dramatic effect, slowly open your right hand to show that the coin has 'vanished'.

Show you hand totally empty, slide it back into your right pants pocket, and then make 'em wait a moment as you slowly bring the coin out of the pocket, at fingertips, and show it as the initialed coin. Give your audience time to catch it's collective breath...

Now, you're holding a coin in each hand, with the marked coin in the right. Take the coin in the right hand and perform a 'false transfer' to the left hand, making it appear as if you put the right hand coin in the left hand then opening the left hand to show a coin while keeping the right hand coin in finger palm.

Using your right forefinger as a pointer, explain how to intend to make the coin in the left hand travel up the left arm, across your chest, down your right side... and right into your right pants pocket... again. As you point to your left arm, run your right forefinger up the arm, across the chest, down the side, and into your
right pocket for only a brief second.. just long enough to drop the marked coin in the pocket !

Now, as Jay says.. you're so far ahead its pathetic..

Personally, after I finish with the Sharpie, I drop it... where else .. into my left pocket. As you stand there, coin in left hand for all to see, perform a french drop, or whatever else excites you, to make it appear as if you transferred the coin into the right hand. Keep the right hand closed as you quickly stick the left hand into your left pants pocket to get the Sharpie.. and leave behind the coin of course..

Tap the right hand exactly three times with the Sharpie in your left hand, uttering some sort of mumbo-jumbo, and again open the right hand VERY slowly to reveal that the coin has AGAIN vanished. Show your right and left hand clean.. wonder where 'o where could the little coin be.. and slip your right hand into your right pocket to retrieve the marked coin..

Remind them that you told them your were going to make the coin go up the arm, across the chest, and into the pocket and, if nothing else, you're a man of your word...

 
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Lee Asher Vintage Magic Videos

If you're a regular visitor to Lee Asher's website or a member of his mailing list, and I'm both, then you are aware that he began a personal project in 2008 to publish some of the true classic magic videos to his site. It was so popular with his fans that he decided to continue through 2009 publishing videos that would be impossible to find in one place, even on YouTube.

Here is a list of some of the magic greats that have videos posted on Lee's site..

MAGIC the movie, Muhammad Ali, Frances Willard and Glenn Falkenstein, Lewis Ganson, David Stone, Siegfried and Roy, Jerome Murat, Gali Gali, Jason Byrne, Pierre Brahma, Richard Ross, Yumi Nakajima, Houdini, Simon Drake, Richard Turner, Milbourne Christopher, Horace Goldin, Marc Paul, Chris Hart, Harry Blackstone Sr., Larry Jennings, Finn Jon, David Berglas, Chris Kenner, Joseph Dunniger, Jack Gwynne, Steve Fearson, Danny Cole, Ed Marlo, Banachek, Ray Hyman, Ching Ling Foo, Shimada, Billy McComb, General Grant, Cardini, Milo and Roger, Takamitsu Uchida, Joseph Gabriel, Sam Shade, Jose Frakson, Robert Harbin, Max Maven, Johnny Ace Palmer, Steve Cohen, Tommy Wonder, John Thompson, Chan Canasta, Greg Frewin, Peter Warlock, Mandrake the Magician, Geoffrey Buckingham, Jay Ose, Jerry Andrus, Richard Himber, Tom Mullica, Channing Pollock, Roy Benson, Al Flosso, Richiardi Jr., Frank Garcia, Fred Kaps, Tommy Cooper ..

This is the link to all of the vintage magic videos presented by Lee Asher. Of course, as one of magic's great practitioners, Lee's site offers much more than magic videos. His card magic effects are among some of the most visually staggering anywhere. Check it...

http://www.leeasher.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=35&c=1540

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PHREEQUE

Phreeque Show (freak show) is an amazingly quirky little site that features stories and photos of many of the true 'classic' freaks of times past.. a time when it was politically correct to call someone with a physical disability a 'freak'.. It was also correct, in part, because they chose to call themselves freaks while touring with circuses and fairs across the country, or in some cases, around the world..

When you access the homepage you'll see about a dozen different 'poster' that were used to actually promote the individual or individuals in the sideshow. Utilize the drop-down boxes under the posters to see dozens and dozens of wonderful articles about a group of truly amazing folks.

http://phreeque.tripod.com/

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Easy Bar Tricks - Video Tutorials

Easy Bar Tricks is a large collection of bar trick and magic effect videos. I think I counted thirty something videos on the site, all of which can be watched on their dime, and not yours. There are also downloadable effects that can be purchased, but the bulk are Free..

I think you'll find something here to make it well worth your time spent.. To quote from their site...

"Easy also means that our tricks can be performed anywhere, in real life and without any big setup. There is a lot of Internet magic tricks out there that looks good from the cameras angle but are nearly impossible to perform in real life. Our tricks are handpicked for being easy to learn and because they work in real life situations when performed for real people. I perform these tricks when I go out with my friends and you could do the same.That said, we have several professional performers and magicians among our customers! "

Check it out, I think you'll be glad you did..

http://easybartricks.com/

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Harry Houdini - a Quick Take

Eighty Three years after Houdini's untimely death he is still one of the most recognizable figures in all of magic. His popularity amazes me. Although there are many photos of the master, there is little film .. and that is generally the 'standard' by which reputations are made.. I hope the following will inspire some of you to delve a little deeper into the life of Harry Houdini. What we are we owe, in part, to his magic and his popularity. Houdini brought magic out of the small halls and onto the front pages of newspapers around the world. Take the time to go to your local library and check out a good book or two! The following text is by Victor Epand...

Born in 1874, Harry Houdini would become one of the world's most renowned magicians. He began his magic career performing in sideshows at cheap attractions known as Dime Museums. He played the Wild Man in circus acts and taught himself all of the traditional card tricks.

He began the rudimentary versions of his escape acts in the 1890s. He met his wife while he and his brother Dash were performing at Coney Island under the billing of The Brothers Houdini. Bess Rahner replaced Dash and the program was renamed The Houdinis. Bess remained Harry's stage assistant for the rest of his career.

In 1899, Harry met another person who would become a vital part of his professional career- manager Martin Beck. It was Beck who encouraged the young magician to focus more on the escape acts and less on the more traditional magic. Beck booked The Houdinis on a vaudeville circuit. The act was so popular that the duo was on stage at the best vaudeville houses within months. They then toured Europe, where Harry became known as "The Handcuff King" due to his ability to escape from those restraints.

As part of his act, Houdini would encourage the local police to put him in handcuffs and lock him up in their jail- often after allowing them to conduct a strip search. These antics brought him a great deal of success and material wealth. He was able to purchase a gorgeous dress, originally made for Queen Victoria, as a present to his mother and a home stateside in Harlem, New York (where it remains standing to this day).

In the early 1900s, Houdini was back in the United States performing and escaping from entrapments such as handcuffs, jails, ropes, chains and straight jackets- often when hanging from rope in plain view of the audience. Imitators began to spring up, inspiring Houdini to move his escapes to water filled cans. The chance of his drowning brought the audiences back in. He encouraged others to come up with things from which he could escape. These entrapments ran a wide gamut from mailbags to nailed shut crates to the belly of a whale that had washed on shore.

Houdini never claimed that his escapes were due to any supernatural powers, but promotional materials from the time claimed he could "dematerialize". He did let out some of the "tricks" behind his stunts while he was alive to others in the magic community. Many types of locks and cuffs could be opened with the proper amount of applied force. Some others could be opened with shoe strings. He often carried picks or keys hidden on his body and could regurgitate a small key. When he was tied or straitjacketed, he allowed for space to move by puffing out his chest and shoulders, moving his arms away from the rest of his body and then dislocating his shoulders.

The London Daily Mirror Challenge

In 1909, the newspaper gave Houdini the challenge of escaping from a pair of special handcuffs that had taken a locksmith five years to create. The feat was scheduled to be performed on March 20th at the Hippodrome Theater in London. Four thousand spectators and one hundred journalists came out for the escape. Houdini's attempt lasted longer than an hour. At one point, he asked for the cuffs to be taken off so that he could take off his coat but the Mirror representative refused- stating it would allow Houdini to see how the cuffs unlocked. Houdini cut the cut from his body with a pen knife. Nearly an hour later, his wife Bess came on stage and gave him a kiss.

There are different schools of thought on how exactly he escaped- which he finally did at the one hour and ten minute mark. Bess may have slipped a key into his mouth with the kiss. A book by one of Houdini's fellow magicians claimed that it was in a glass of water she brought him when he asked for her help. Others suspect that it was all a publicity stunt on the part of the mirror and Houdini's struggling was just for show. Regardless of how he escaped, Houdini broke down in tears when he was finally free and stated it to be the most difficult escape he ever faced.

Water Filled Milk Can

The Milk Can Escape was an invention original to Houdini. He brought it out in 1908. He was handcuffed then sealed inside a large Milk Can that was filled with water. He performed his escape behind a curtain (so others couldn't learn his trick) and asked the audience to hold their breaths while he was in the can since he wouldn't be able to breathe in there. Later versions of the act included the can being placed inside a wooden chest. He was able to escape by pushing out rivets on the inside that had been filed down ahead of time. He pushed off the lid, climbed out and replaced the rivets and lid.

Suspended in a Straight jacket

Houdini's straight jacket escapes were very popular with the public of the time. He would be strapped in then hoisted up by his ankles from either a crane or a building. He escaped in full view of his audience below. He added a safety wire to his ankles later on after he was blown into the side of a building several times. The wire allowed him to be moved away from the side if impact seemed likely. He escaped from straight jackets by puffing up his chest and shoulders, pushing out his arms and dislocating his shoulders while it was being put on.

Houdini's death has become a sort of legend on its own. After one of his shows, Houdini was approached backstage by a college student named J. Gordon Whitehead. Whitehead asked if there were truth to the rumor that the magician could take any hit to the stomach. Whitehead hit Houdini three times before the magician said to stop. There were several more blows put in during which Houdini seemed to be in pain. That incident occurred on October 22, 1926 and Houdini did not die immediately. He made it to a show in Michigan on the 24th and performed with a high fever. He was diagnosed with acute appendicitis but refused treatment. He died of peritonitis caused by a ruptured appendix on Halloween night of 1926. He was 52 years old.

Victor Epand is an expert author for a variety of subject matters, including clothing, jewelry, computers, toys, and flowers. Please visit http://KrishnaDesign.com to browse a few of Victor's websites.

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Systematic Sorcery - Free eBook

Systematic Sorcery was produced by our friends at the Magic Touch. This great 28 page magic resource reminds us all of the wonder of the Si Stebbens stack and how useful it can be to pull off some effects that are almost impossible to reproduce using any other practical method. Yes, there are many other stacks, but most require a lot of work from the user, unlike the Si Stebbens stack which can be effectively used within a hour or less.

Aside from teaching the stack, there are a number of effects taught utilizing the set-up, plus some sleights, like the false hindu shuffle, which are useful to maintaining the stack while shuffling, or appearing to shuffle. Here is a list of the effects...

-Si Stebbins System
-The Set Up
-How the System Works
-How To Name A Card at Any Position
-Basic Tricks - - First – The Glimpse
-The Overhand Shuffle and Cut
-Naming A Freely Chosen Card
-Name Three Chosen Cards
-My Magic Card
-Let Me Spell It Out To You
-The Amazing Book Test
-Well Blow Me!
-The Magic Touch
-A Few After Thoughts

Check it out.. I've offered this resource before, but it's well worth repeating.. it's in a pdf format, so it's easy to save..

http://www.magictouches.com/pdf/SYSTEMATIC-SORCERY.pdf

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Two of my Favorite Karl Fulves Effects..

Any book by Karl Fulves is one of my favorites. His card magic books, coin magic books, paper magic book, and mental magic book are some of my favorite reads... And you can get them on Amazon for around seven bucks each.. You can probably find some of them at bigger bookstores like Barnes and Noble.. Check out these two interactive online effects, courtesy of www.Magicmgmt.com .. Remember, you can easily learn to perform these effects with regular coins and/or a calendar..

Date Sense -
This calendar magic trick is based on an idea of Walter Gibson and appears in the book Self-Working Number Magic by Karl Fulves

http://www.magicmgmt.com/gary/date_sense/index.html

Coin Magic Trick -
A coin trick based on a principle developed by Edward Bagshawe and Sam Schwartz. This version was devised by Karl Fulves and appears as Metalogic in his book Self-Working Coin Magic

http://www.magicmgmt.com/gary/cointrick/

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Three Card Monte - Video effect and tutorial w/ instructions on crafting the Gaff..

While we're on the Magicmgmt site.. check out this video of a three card monte effect you can craft for your own use. You will need Windows Media Player, or something similar..

http://www.magicmgmt.com/gary/magic_class/videos/3 Card Monte.wmv

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Coin and Ring Effect

Assuming you don't have Windows Media Player, it's OK.. I'm not going to leave you out in the cold. You can go directly to the site and watch the vids on their player. Check out the Coin and Rings effect while you're there.. I've read the effect in a couple of magic books, but it's good to see it 'live'.. This is a great effect for the beginning magician..

http://www.magicmgmt.com/gary/magic_class.html

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15 Video Sites Better Than YouTube..

Do you post videos to YouTube? Don't think for one moment that YouTube is your only option. I've linked to 15 video sites that have the potential to exceed the results you may get from YouTube. Remember, posting to a smaller or lesser known site gives you the ability to get your video indexed where viewers will see it. Hundreds of videos with the same basic name exist on YouTube and viewers must often search to find your video. Smaller sites allow you the possibility of getting your site listed among the first five or six videos, meaning more views for you and your work.

Note one of the 15 is a site named TubeMogul. This is a new site that automatically post your video on multiple video sites. No need to go to a dozen different sites to publish your video. You can also track your site from TubeMogul and see exactly how many folks around the world are watching your video.

http://mediamentalism.com/2009/01/26/15-video-sites-youtube/

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Double Vision - Free utility

FREE software that enables you to watch video and surf the web in a transparent browser. "Go Double Vision" and you can click through the browser to your open applications and work seemlessly.

Double Vision allows you to view video in a custom transparency while you work in other applications.
This is great for:

-Watching tutorials while you perform the steps and lessons.
-Browser-based video-conferencing while you work.
-Watching video without being obvious to those in your workspace.
-Maintaining your full screen real-estate without putting windows beside eachother and being forced to watch in tiny little windows.
-Keep articles and web pages visible to read while you work on projects, and while you wait for items to load etc.

http://www.godoublevision.com/

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Free eBooks for New Subscribers

Erdnase' "Expert at the Card Table"
http://www.divshare.com/direct/6004719-c1a.pdf

JP Jacquard's "Easy Mentalism"
http://www.divshare.com/direct/6004724-23c.pdf

Hugard's "Encyclopedia of Card Tricks"
http://www.divshare.com/direct/6004872-3e0.pdf

Bobo's "Modern Coin Magic" - A classic
http://streetmagicsecrets.info/bobo.htm

* Here's a couple of my ebooks , I normally sell them on another site, but I'm going to give everyone a chance to get them free for a short while...

Hypnosis Mania
http://www.divshare.com/direct/4523985-60f.pdf

Body Language Magic
http://www.divshare.com/direct/5192312-1e8.pdf

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I encourage you to share your favorite links, videos, and resources with other magicians from around the world. 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..

You can go to the url below and use the web form to easily send your articles and effects to the Roadshow for publication.

http://www.streetmagic.info/submit.html

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Email me..
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May my next issue find you well..

Rick Carruth / Editor

Senior Professor - Camelard College of Conjuring of Chemmis, Egypt
http://www.camelardcollege.org/

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