Performance
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A Fine Line
A recent magic podcast featured a two part interview with a comedian talking about the similarities and differences between magic and stand-up. A significant portion of the second episode was on the comedian’s approach to working with the audience or as it’s called, crowd work. Crowd work is hard and requires empathy and respect as… Continue reading
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To Speak or Not?
A rhetorical question: if you see someone performing and they behave badly, treat others horribly or make people uncomfortable, should you say something? I’ve taken both approaches and I really don’t know. On one hand, no one wants unsolicited advice. On the other, I don’t believe that people want to look like insensitive jerks. I… Continue reading
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Sharpe Comments
The popular journalist knows practically nothing many subjects on which he writes, but he disguises the fact from those who are equally ignorant under an interesting style of writing. Advertisers, salesmen, and politicians puff and discourse on any and every matter with the least possible backing of facts, if they think it to their advantage.… Continue reading
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Toni Forster on Magic Books
Until recently I had not heard of Dr. Forster. I purchased Ted Lesley’s Paramiracles published by Hermetic Press book from a second hand dealer. It had come out about 30 years ago and, for some reason, hadn’t shown up on my radar screen. Dr. Forster was a friend and confidant of Lesley’s and, for a… Continue reading
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What’s In Your Wallet?
Everyday Carry (EDC) has become a ubiquitous selling point for magic tricks today. You’ll find it in ads and videos marketing the latest gadgets, downloads, and tricks. In the past before close up magic became close up magic, stuff magicians carried was simply called pocket tricks. If you think about it, EDC is another term… Continue reading
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Exploring Performance
Magic, whether you consider it an art or a craft or, perhaps, both, only exists for a moment or two. The performer and the audience co-create an experience that triggers a reaction and an emotion. Magic doesn’t exist outside of the performance space between the performers and the participants. It’s relational. It doesn’t exist in… Continue reading
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The Phoenix: Volume 1 Number 1
From January, 1942 through February, 1954, the Phoenix ran for 300 issues under the editorship of Walter Gibson and Bruce Elliott. It was the direct descendant of the Jinx which ended in December 1941 with the untimely death of Theodore Annemann. With two good friends, I spent a few years digging through the Jinx that… Continue reading