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Scotty on Sleights
It doesn’t seem that many remember Scotty York. He’s faded from memory as the magic culture shifted over the last decade or two. Like his counterparts Jamy Ian Swiss, Eric Mead, Steve Spell and Doc Eason, he was a bar magician. According to his biographical sketch on Genii’s Magipedia: Scotty York (1937-2012), known as “The… Continue reading
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News Break
“Of course, the news has a way of scattering your brain regardless of when you catch up on it. In 1852, Henry David Thoreau complained in his diary that he had started reading a weekly newspaper and he felt that now he wasn’t paying enough attention to his own life and work. “It takes more… Continue reading
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What’s the Effect?
“The great difference between the professional magician and the amateur magician is that the professional magician knows what an effect is. He knows what the audience sees. It doesn’t matter how crude the method of performing-as long as the effect is good, he will use it. The amateur is more interested in the method. If… Continue reading
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Book Notes: Out of this Furnace
Originally published in 1941, Thomas Bell’s historic fiction novel detailed the life of three generations of Slovak immigrants who settled in the steel town of Braddock, Pennsylvania. Braddock is about 10 miles up the Monongahela River from Pittsburgh. Many know it as the home of Senator John Fetterman who started his political career as the… Continue reading
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Reflecting on the Structure of Magic Effects
In the Mystery School book, Eugene Burger published an essay On The Structure of Magic Effects. Fortunately it was reprinted in the first posthumous book written and published by Lawrence Hass. Unfortunately I believe both are only available on the secondary market. It’s only a few pages long however there’s much to consider and contemplate.… Continue reading
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Quotes of Note
Whenever I read a quote that speaks to me, I put it into a file that I keep in a text editor app that syncs to the cloud. I’ve been doing this for many years so you can imagine it’s a long list of mostly random quotes. Here’s a few recent on the performance of… Continue reading
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Book Notes: Lesser Magic
I don’t believe I’ve spent as much time reading 68 pages as I have with John Wilson’s Lesser Magic. I have read and reread it several times since acquiring it a few months ago. “Reading a second time leading to a different shift than the first, the coordinates having shifted, the perspective experiencing them having… Continue reading