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Magic Roadshow November 9th, 2007 Issue# 81 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 seven countries worldwide. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ Hi All Welcome to another issue of the Magic Roadshow. If this is your first issue, then I want to both Welcome you and Thank You for signing up. I hope I can make a real contribution to your magic. Finally.. we're actually having some cool weather in the Carolina's, and that puts me in the mood to write. I have that classic view of the writer - locked away in a tiny cabin in the mountains while winter starts to take it's course - spilling words onto the pages of the great American novel. I wish... Winter makes me think of magic and reconnecting with magical friends. Winter makes me think of magic conventions, like SCAMCON in Columbia SC. ( www.SCAMCON ), and the Winter Carnival of Magic in Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge ( Winter Carnival of Magic ), both of which will find me front and a little left of center.. Now is the time to make YOUR plans to be there too.. I think you will find this issue interesting. I'm going to call this issue the 'teaching issue', as it's full of very informative articles and a few less links than normal. Somehow, I've found myself with an abundance of good articles recently, and I've tried to balance them with resources. But, I've not made headway the past couple of months. So.. here they are in all their glory.. Comments, requests, rants or raves? EMAIL ME -------------- In This Issue -------------- - It's a Small World After All - Introduction - The Hypnotic Aces - Effect - The Pass - Video Tutorial - The Close-Up Magician - And Extreme Cases of Noise - Article (Brad Chadwick) - Brevity - Why It Matters to Magicians and Other Magical Sorts.. - Less is More - Article (John Kinde) - Creating Retail Magic - Article - Magic Tricks - Tricky Magic Blog - Kreskin Recording - Audio from the '70's - Lesson from Improv Comedy: Planning vs. Procrastination - Article (Avish Parashar) - Close Up Tricks - King And Queens - An Effect - FAKE - Pick 'em out - Free Downloads - Expert at the Card Table & Easy Mentalism - Resources and Reader Submit _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ It's a Small World After All - Introduction and Effect I get emails from readers, literally, from around the world. I love to read about their circumstances, how they got into magic, and how the progress their craft. From time to time, I'm going to publish an email, with permission of course, and introduce you to fellow readers. Vi Frank lives in Aruba. Aside from being a beautiful tropical island, it's not exactly a hotbed of magic. But, that reminds me of a well-used biblical verse that goes.. "grow where you're planted".. and Vi has grown through the years into perhaps the best magician on the island. ------------- Hi Rick, Allow me to tell you a little more of myself. I'm from the island of Aruba in the Caribbean. Although Aruba is the number #1 tourist destination in the region and we have "everything" (i.e. high living standards), magic is very rare on the island, and before the internet age almost nothing was obtainable. From the hundred thousand people living in Aruba, maybe there are less than 10 people able to do card tricks on my level (Royal Road to Card Magic type of level - reasonable amateur level). However, almost everybody in Aruba likes playing cards and card games! I've been playing cards since I was 2 years old, and into magic for the last 25 years (back then, I went on vacation to Disney World, saw a magic shop, bought the 'Expert at the Card Table' and some other books, and was immediately hooked). I stopped practicing about 15 years ago due to work, study, etc. and mostly because I was the only one I knew baffling people with sleight of hand tricks - all the rest of Aruba was playing card games and doing some self working tricks. Even the guys working in the casin'os (and we have about 15 for such a small island) were just able to do the fancy flourishes required at the table (you know riffles and stuff). In the 15 years without formal practice, I would still pick up the deck every once in a while and manage to amaze people with a basic repertoire I maintained through the years - usually the strong stuff motor memory won't let you forget - doing sleights like the double lift, the pass, the glide, some false counts, shuffles and cuts, and basically fooling everyone with witty patter and misdirection. But last year I decided that it was a shame to let all that knowledge go to waste and I started again .... what a discovery when I turned on the internet and saw what these kids are doing nowadays!!! The Buck twins just blew me away and now I'm hooked again! So Rick, you can imagine what a wealth of information and a real treasure your eZine is to me! Thanks to guys like you people like me (living in magic deserts like Aruba) can connect to what I consider one of the finest arts in the world. All the best and "saludos" from Aruba, Vi Frank ----------------- The Hypnotic Aces For this effect you need 2 things: A fast Pass, with almost no hand motion, and a good feel for the audience. While carelessly separating the 4 Aces from the deck, I begin to give a brief history about how through the ages famous magicians have proven that a strong mind can influence someone's perception, even to the edge of total hypnotic control. Your patter must be interesting and "tuned" to your audience. (e.g. when I'm in the middle of a group of superstitious people my patter has a somewhat "spooky" hue to it - when in front of skeptics a more scientific based tone). At the end of my "lecture", I ask for a volunteer. After helping my volunteer relax with friendly patter, I ask him/her to place the ace of spades casually on top of the deck, the ace of clubs on the bottom, and the two red aces in the middle. After doing so I ask him/her to re-confirm what was done and to mention what card was placed by him/her on the top. As soon as they mention the ace of spade, I turn the top card face up to reveal it ..... it turns out to be a red ace, but I state that they're correct and that the ace of spade is indeed on top (sometimes the volunteer or others in the audience start saying that this is not the case, but I ignore them and treat them as if they were hallucinating). I then continue as if nothing has happened and ask the volunteer which card he/she placed on the bottom of the deck. They reply "the Ace of Clubs", and I turn over the deck, reveal the other red ace on the bottom, and just bluntly state that again he/she is totally correct, and immediately I fan the deck and state that of course the two red aces are in the middle. By then I have a wave of protest from the crowd and the volunteer, and I start to look somewhat puzzled and ask if it seems they have seen something different than I did. They usually state firmly that it is the two red aces that were on top and bottom, and the two black aces were in the middle ...... I then smile understandingly and with an "Oh, I see ...." kind of statement I explain that they must have been hypnotized - or maybe under my control - or maybe, just maybe, even under my spell from the very beginning. I then proceed to "wake them up", and with slow and deliberate movements I reveal the top card .... It's the ace of spades! I slowly turn over the deck .... It's the ace of clubs! I slowly fan the deck face up, and behold! The two red aces are there in the middle where they were placed from the start! When done right with the right tempo, I've stood amazed at the mind blowing effect of this trick! I've been doing this trick for more than 20 years, ( I think I got it from an old magic book) and I've actually had people invite me to their homes for a private "fortune telling session" based on the strength of this effect. The 'secret', of course, is the Pass, which has to be done 2 times: Once after the two red aces have been placed in the middle, and once after the two black aces have been shown in the middle to the audience. Needless to say you have to focus on their eyes, draw their attention with your "mystical" stare, and at the right moment, when they have that puzzled gaze, the pass occurs undetectably and without the slightest clue. Although the moves are not original, I think I read something similar in a magic book 20 odd years ago, the routining is mine.
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