Terry Evanswood - Beyond Belief Review
July 15, 2008
It is rare that I have the privilege of being an audience member. My chance came this past weekend on a trip to Pigeon Forge, TN for a small vacation. Among the many shows attended, including the Dixie Stampede and Comedy Barn, I definitely could not miss Terry Evanswood’s Beyond Belief magic show.
Due to my knowledge of magic, I will not go into too much detail about effects themselves. My main focus is on the overall experience of the show.
Our experience began with a late arrival due to heavy traffic. Upon arrival, we were greeted with smiling faces and taken to our seats. Terry was in the middle of interacting with the audience with humorous “Ancient Chinese Proverbs”. I was laughing before even taking my seat.
My hopes were that we had not missed the card manipulations. For 6 years, my focus in magic evolved around card productions and vanishes. To this day, Cardini remains one of my favorite performers.
To my enjoyment, a short introduction was made for the next set and Terry returned to the spotlight for his take on this wonderful form of magic. With my hands clasped together, I leaned forward as Terry produced multiple fans of cards as well as single cards, as I had expected.
The remainder of the show was filled with a pleasant blend of excitement and side hurting comedy with audience participation. There were moments of tears and goose bumps to accompany a beautiful levitation. To top it off, spectators were on the edge of their seats during a daring escape, only to be shocked with an unexpected surprise.
What I like most about Terry Evanswood’s Beyond Belief is the fact that he is a down to earth magician, entertainer and performer. While highly skilled in the art of magic, he treats his audience as an equal, as his friends.
I will gladly see his show again if I am in the area. If you are looking for a very entertaining evening of magic, comedy and good, clean fun, then you should make it a point to pay him a visit.
www.pigeonforgemagic.com
Did I mention the tiger? Also, you may be interested in some of these effects:
- King Rising Levitation
- How to do Street Magic Special Promotion (includes King Rising AND Balducci Levitations)
- Criss Angel’s Levitation
- Guerilla Guide to Loops
- I’m having difficulties uploading the images. Bare with me and hopefully some pictures will be up soon.
Thanks!
First Peek - Danny Garcia BentTouchSlink
July 15, 2008
BentTouchSlink is the brand new DVD coming from Ellusionist in August.
BentTouchSlink: 1 Disc, 3 Tricks, 1 Daniel Garcia - What more could you want?
Filmed by Ellusionist at our studios in Sausalito, California; DG goes into every little detail you could want on these three pieces of classic Garcia.
More details to follow… Watch this space…
Greatness in Magic
June 21, 2008
Greatness is defined (amongst other things) as:
- Remarkable or outstanding in magnitude, degree, or extent
- Of outstanding significance or importance
- Superior in quality or character
- Powerful; influential
- Very skilful
- Enthusiastic
- Very good; first-rate
How does this help us in our magic though? How can we assume these characteristics and combine them into our presentations?
One school of thought is that we should always strive to be different, and in being different, staying true to yourself and your own ideals you will become the best you can be.
I personally feel that this is just like every other rule in magic – there to be adhered to where possible, but broken when necessary.
How do we start to become different though? How does being different lead to greatness?
Every single person reading this blog is unique, the product of different experiences, different cultures and upbringings, different social circumstances – so why should we all perform the same routines?
I’ve been guilty of the following before, but as soon as I reached the aforementioned conclusions, I’ve strived to retain some of my individuality into my presentations, to attempt to remain apart from my peers.
Think back to your entire repertoire – everything you currently perform. How much of it follows the exact same script that came with the instructions or on the DVD? How many of your effects have you re-scripted or added your own touches to?
Take the 2CM effect for instance, do you use the same cards that were shown on the DVD you learned from? Why do you do this?
Why not change the initial cards into two cards that two separate spectators think they’ve been holding all along?
What about the ACR? How many of you can honestly say that you’ve put together your very own take on it? Have you considered the strongest finale you can possibly put together for it?
Whilst doing this though, please don’t fall into the “too perfect” trap – heaven knows, I’ve been there before, and for every minute we spend attempting to prove that we’re not using duplicates, we’re not using gaffed decks or crimps, we’re possibly forgetting that many spectators would not even consider these things.
Often, the more perfect an effect is, the more a spectator will dismiss it as “He just did something when I wasn’t looking.” – If a spectator even considers that you made some secret move, you’ve lost the battle.
I’ve just returned from a two week vacation, and as you can imagine, I took a couple of decks and some reading material with me – I spent some of the time reading, a little time performing, but most of my time considering this article and how I was going to use my experience to hopefully help guide you to dizzier heights than I could ever reach.
One of the friends that I was vacationing with is a manager at a bar that I’ve worked at before, and he’s seen me perform on countless occasions, so he’s used to seeing what I’m capable of – yet he’ll always ask me to perform, constantly trying to “catch me out”
He’s a good friend, but he also knows that there’s no such thing as magic, which as you can guess, makes my job so much more difficult.
There *is* one thing in my favour though, he’s completely enamoured with Out Of This World – it’s an effect that he’s seen me perform on numerous occasions, and has burned my hands every single time – always waiting for me to make some secret move that would separate the cards out into the right piles.
Some of you may balk at performing for someone like Ant, maybe you’d call him a tough cookie – but to me it’s the ultimate challenge. If I can pull something on Ant, I won’t have a problem with spectators who I’m in full control of.
To cut a long story short, I performed Stigmata for him whilst we were away, having very carefully structured his mind to knowing that I was unprepared to perform.
We were walking down a road, past some shops (one of which I knew sold playing cards), and I steered the conversation towards magic, gently ribbing him for not believing that I *am* capable of real things.
I went so far as to tell him that he could purchase any deck of cards he wanted to, at any time, and I’d do something that he’d never seen before, and would never believe possible.
Then I went into the store to get a drink.
He’d fallen for the bait, and followed me in. My carefully worked route through the store led me past a pack of playing cards, and he couldn’t resist challenging me – with an air of “Let’s see you prove it then Mr Fancy Pants Magician!” he bought them.
We got back to the hotel, with him holding the deck all the way, and into the bar, and handed him the deck to shuffle.
To cut a long story short, about 40 seconds later he was speechless – completely speechless and had *no* frame of reference with which to compare the event to.
Through careful planning and structuring of the moment, I’d create almost the perfect effect – and it only played for one person.
Sometimes I see Magicians balk at the amount of preparation they have to put in to perform an effect, for the payoff – I guess they’d never consider going to the trouble I went to, to perform that one effect and get that single moment of pure astonishment – and *that* is a shame.
Whether your pet effect or routine plays for one spectator or an audience, if you’re working towards creating that little bubble of altered reality – if even for a moment or two, then *nothing* should be too much hard work.
Magic is entertainment, and the ultimate goal of our art should be to entertain people – to take them away from their perception of reality, maybe even to make them forget their troubles for a few moments and be able to concentrate on something that can entertain, confuse and amuse them.
The more time you spend preparing for a performance – whether it’s even just showing your pet spectator (the first spectator you’d show a new effect to, whether it might be your mother, father, sibling or friend), or preparing yourself for a day on the streets – the more time you spend preparing for it, the greater the effect will be.
How can you achieve greatness in your magic? Put yourself to the trouble of being different, prepare thoroughly, and make sure that *no* effect requires “too much effort”
C. Thomas Howell Live Webchat!
June 12, 2008
Tommy Howell from Celebracadabra is going to drop by and hang out on our forums, on this thread Friday 6pm PST / 9pm EST June 13th 2008.
He’ll be answering questions live about his interest in magic, what got him stoked, Celebracadabra and his trials & tribulations with learning the craft.
Tommy is a cool, down to earth guy and he’s excited about speaking with everyone. It’ll be a fun gig. Hope to see everyone here.
The most important ingredient of a Magic Act
June 6, 2008
You practice, practice and practice until you can do the routine in your sleep. And after you have achieved perfection you continue working on the routine for a few more weeks before you perform it for the audience. But remember the final acid test of the effect will be the ‘reaction of the audience’.
You might have spent a fortune to buy an effect, you might have dedicated ages working on its presentation, costuming, music and lights. The effect might be your “favorite” - the one you love to perform the most - among all the effects you have learnt a magician. But if it lacks one ingredient -‘Reaction from the audience’ the sooner you remove it from your act , the nearer your act would be to perfection.
To give an idea of what I am talking about, you can see below, a couple of pics of audience reaction to my performing in the streets of Goa.. By no means I am saying that I am perfect, but this is the kind of thing we all should aim for - we should have fun and the audience should have fun too!!
But do not be hasty to drop an effect if it does not elicit the reaction you expect, the first time you perform it. Give it some time to be proved. Make sure you have gained sufficient knowledge on the presentation/performance before you drop it from your act. Make sure that it really lacks the most important ingredient of the act of magic- AUDIENCE REACTION - before you decide to drop it.
You can give the effect another try when you see it generating audience reaction when performed by another performer. After all Magic lies in the performer and not the Prop.
Cheers- Cliff
Fluidity within magical performance.
May 30, 2008
Fluidity within Magical Performance
Once we’re a little advanced in magic, one of the main things we’re told is to plan out our performance, our script, even choreograph the main points within the routine as much as we can, but there are many occasions when it pays us to leave the script behind and concentrate on coincidence and happenstance.
This can be called adapting to your circumstances, or reacting to the unknown situations that you never want to encounter – but I along with many Magicians call this ability Fluidity, or being more Fluid in your performance.
Circumstances often dictate that we have to move into unknown territory, away from our practiced and polished routines – but are you confident enough with your knowledge and experience to be able to do this?
Some degree of fluidity is needed in any presentation – otherwise, how would you recover from an error? What would happen if halfway through a routine, one of the spectators who’d up to now been well behaved, turned to the others and said “I’ve seen this one, it’s the one where he makes the card end up in his wallet”?
You *could* follow the trick through and end with a card to wallet, but is that the only outcome for that series of sleights?
One example from a performance of mine, for a good friend’s Aunt and Uncle, came halfway through the Two Card Monte – after I’d switched just one of the cards over, and asked her whether she thought she was holding the Spade or the Club, she replied with a laugh “Neither, I’ve got the Ace of Hearts!”
Now, my Two Card Monte changes the Black Queens to the Red Aces, and I know that there was no way that I’d flashed, or that she’d seen me perform this before, I knew she must have been playing at “fool the magician”.
Fortunately though, a quick unseen glimpse at my deck told me that she *was* holding the Ace of Hearts – at this point, why do I need to carry on to the end of the effect, I’ve seemingly changed one of the cards into the card she named. I replaced the other cards on top of the deck, dropped the deck into my pocket, looked her straight in the eye and said “The Ace of Hearts? Now, that’d be something wouldn’t it?” I left a brief pause, still maintaining eye contact then told her to turn the card over.
To say that the reaction was stunned would be on the modest side, she literally squealed and laughed – and just because I had the presence of mind to change my presentation halfway through.
I’m not saying that this is always a good thing to do, there are many hundreds of circumstances where leaving your tried and trusted presentations and going out on a limb would be a bad idea, but just like all the sleights we practice for hours on end, it’s another weapon in our arsenal.
How can we practice this though? Is it even possible to think of all the circumstances that can occur, that would give us chance to exercise our creative muscles?
Personally I don’t feel it is, I believe fluidity can only come from real performing experience.
You may mess up on occasion, heaven knows I have, countless times – but as long as you remember two of the golden rules, I don’t think you’ll go too far wrong.
1. In most performances, there is no need to tell your spectator exactly what’s going to happen – would you introduce an effect by saying “In this presentation, I shall have you choose and sign a card, from where it will continuously rise to the top of the deck”? or even “I’d like you to take a card, and once you’ve signed it and replaced in in the deck, I shall turn the back from red to blue”? Leave the ending of the presentation a complete mystery, and only ever tell your spectators what’s happened, not what *will* happen.
2. Always, and I mean always, have an out – have some way of salvaging your routine if all were to go wrong. Fortunately, there are many ways of doing this.
Answer the following questions for yourself, and see what results you come up with
1. What would you do if the spectator purposefully changed their mind on the card they’d selected?
Would you accept what they say and go with the flow – even if it means you’re going to end up looking like a bit of a fool if you carry on with the same effect? Would you change the ending of the effect to encompass this new card too? Would you be nervous at the challenge in front of you and clam up?
2. What would you have done in the situation I mentioned in the Two Card Monte Performance?
Would you also have forgotten the traditional end of the effect? Would you have corrected her and carried on with the ending – which in my opinion would have been weaker now that one of the kicker cards has been mentioned? Would you have classified her as a tough cookie or heckler, and dealt with her accordingly?
3. What are your outs? Do you have something for everything you do?
Would you be able to change the ending to the effect so drastically, yet done with enough subtlety that makes the mental change of gear invisible? Would you simply apologise for the trick going wrong and move on to the next item in your routine?
Answer these three questions, and you’ll have taken the first step towards a more fluid performance. - to quote Louis Pasteur “Chance favours the prepared mind”
The sky is falling!
May 15, 2008
No matter where you go on the internet to find your news and community, sooner or later you’ll see someone talking about how this or that is killing magic.
But is it?
Is magic *actually* dying?
With an unprecedented number of new magicians entering the art, some magicians with what you might call ‘Old fashioned values’ claim that magic is becoming watered down and hijacked, becoming nothing more than a fad.
Whilst this may be true for some, what negative impact does it actually have on the community?
I’ve read on a number of forums, how “All the kids want to do is learn the secret and then expose it on the internet,” and whilst this is undoubtedly true in a small number of cases, in many others, it’s because those new magicians haven’t yet learned any better.
It’s up to *US* as a community to band together and look after the beginners, to teach them the right way to learn, to teach them the power of the magic club or society, and finding a trusted friend with whom to practice.
I have no doubt that reading this entry will be a huge mix of skill levels and experience, from professional to just beginning.
To the beginners, please, be patient with your progress. You might think that one day you’re getting nowhere, and another you’re ready to go out and perform for the world, but please, be patient and brutally honest with yourself.
To the professionals, I beg of you - be a little more lenient and patient with the “kids” who are just beginning. All they want is to learn the right way… Teach, don’t preach.
Others say that the prevalence of magic websites such as www.ellusionist.com are to blame for the proliferation of new magicians. Again, now it would seem that a magic store is only ever a google away - but how much easier is that for us?
The closest real magic shop to me, the one I visit most often and would love to hang out at every day, is a hundred miles away - and I’m sure I don’t have it as bad as some.
A few years ago, we would have had to make that journey every time we wanted to pick up a new deck of cards, pick up some refills for our lotions and potions or replace the thumbtip that the cat ran off with. (Don’t laugh, I swear one day I’ll find a dozen or more hidden away somewhere.)
Now, we click on the right name in our favourites and a few moments later, the order is placed and being processed.
Some may say that this takes away a lot of the human contact associated with a visit to the magic shop, but if you’re in a rush… Well, honestly - how many of us were ever able to just nip into the brick and mortar store, purchase the one or two items we wanted and walk out again?
How about the prevalence of magic on TV with shows like Celebracadabra, showing how Celebrities can learn magic quickly? *Surely* that’s to blame for the downfall of magic? The fact that you can tune in almost any day and find a show with magic on it, that the tricks are being performed by a variety of skill levels, cluing our spectators and audiences in when performed badly.
The fact of the matter is that when Penn & Teller can’t kill the Thumbtip by exposing it on international tv, and the efforts of all the Masked Magician’s shows put together can’t keep us down, will the next show that features no exposure do us any bad?
Yet other complaints have been based around custom cards, and the manufacturer’s website being emblazoned across the box. I can honestly tell you that the magician behind one of the top rated effects so far this year has exactly that to blame for hooking him in to magic. If it hadn’t been for a deck of black tiger cards, and seeing “More Black Tiger Gear available from www.ellusionist.com” on the bottom of the box, his entire magical output so far and in the future would never have existed.
That may be just one story - but that’s the first story that springs to mind.
Cards, like anything else, are a tool - they’re like the mechanic’s spanner or the painter’s brush.
They do what the artist chooses to do with them.
That’s right, it’s up to *you* to make them make sense, it’s up to *you* to create a web of mystery surrounding them, or fashion a reason for using them.
Some say that they shouldn’t have to do that - but hey, if we were all the same, we’d all like musical theater…
Collectability, or, Black Ghost Decks and Me.
April 21, 2008
With the release of the much heralded Second Edition Black Ghost Deck now less than 24 hours away, I’ve been thinking about collectability vs function, about just what it is that sets the Black Ghost Deck apart from it’s every rival.
Is it that untill very recently, they’ve never been officially offered for sale? Is it due to the extremely small quanitity ever produced? Or, is it maybe that the deck itself was just *right*?
When I was asked to be the guest blogger for this post, I realised that the timing was perfect for my sphere of knowledge, you see, I’m a collector. I’ve been collecting various things for most of my life (from Autographs to Star Wars Figures, from Trading Cards to Movie Props), and I’m now almost able to tell whether something’s going to take off in a big way, or be resigned to the broken toy shop in the sky.
Or at least, I thought I did.
That all changed with the release of the original Black Ghost Deck Giveaway, back some 3 Christmases ago.
I remember now, reading the forum post that laid out the rules. “If you spend $350 or more, we’ll give you a brand new, extremely limited edition Steel Case Enclosed Black Ghost Deck” was the essence of the post, and I don’t mind admitting that I was a little dubious at the time.
I’d not ordered anything for a while though, and at the time, seeing that I was using the regular Ghost Deck, and wanted to replenish a few other items, by the time I’d finished adding everything up - I wasn’t too far off the target.
Now, the other thing about me is, that if you tell me something’s free - but I have to spend another $50 to get it, I most likely will do. I know it sounds strange, but I’ve got to have it, whether I need it or not.
Order placed, I waited for my parcel to arrive.
Between Christmas and the New Year, it finally did, and I unpacked everything excitedly, unable to contain my joy at managing to get all the giveaway prizes that year.
Any and every concern I had regarding the point of the Black Ghost Deck vanished when I saw it sat nestled in it’s steel frame. It almost sat there winking with a certain gleeful malevolence, just daring me to open it up and take a look.
Honestly, it didn’t take me long to do just that - despite having promised myself that I wouldn’t. After all, there was only ever 5000 of these decks made, surely it had to be worth something one day!
(I wasn’t too far wrong with that, as the decks have sold on ebay for… well, take a look)
I removed the deck from it’s box and sat there agog as I spread through the cards. These were literally only the reverse of the cards I was currently using, but that’s like saying that a Ferrari is only a couple of buckets of parts.
There was just something about the deck that captured me, some part of it’s essence embedded itself within my psyche.
I reluctantly replaced the deck back in the box, replaced the box in the steel frame, and sat the frame on top of my book case in my office. In fact, it’s there now - just 8 feet behind me and to my left. (Please, don’t believe for a second that it remains untouched since then, although I may be able to count on my fingers the times I’ve unboxed it, there’s some certain amount of joy that spreading through that deck brings me - almost like a cocoa on a winter’s day)
Fast forward to near the end of last year, and news surfaces that there *may* be a Second Edition Black Ghost Deck on the horizon.
I didn’t know how to feel.
All in one, I felt elated - that I’d be able to get hold of more of these cards, and I felt upset - that now just *anyone* could own them.
Fast forward a little bit more, to a few mere weeks ago, and I managed to catch a glimpse of the gallery for the Second Edition.
I don’t mind telling you, I’m as excited now, as I was the first time I held the Black Ghosts in my hands three years ago.
For the very first time (in my personal opinion), the Jokers are just *perfect* to the vibe of the deck.
Why though? Simple. They show the Black Ghost himself - the dark phantom who’s power seems to purvade the very fibers of the cards, the apparition who maybe even called the cards into being, and the all powerful mage who’s able to project the name of a spectator’s card into his hands*
The same quality artwork, the same love and care that goes into every deck, and the same awesome quality card stock and finish that goes into every Ellusionist deck is gracing these Second Edition decks too, meaning that I’m even closer to the edge of my seat waiting for tomorrow.
I don’t know how you feel about the new alternative coloured and styled playing cards that seem to hit the markets with an alarming frequency these days, but there’s one thing *I* know.
If it doesn’t say Ellusionist on the box, it doesn’t go in my cart.
Brendon Selley.
*Take a look at the jokers, you’ll see what I mean…
All views in this blog entry are the opinion of the author, and may not necessarily represent the views of Ellusionist or any of it’s employees or subsidiaries.
Penn offers guided tour on ebay…
April 15, 2008
Not content with stealing the limelight on the first few episodes of Dancing With the Stars, Penn Jillette (of Penn&Teller) has hit headlines again, this time as he auctions off a tour of his home “The Slammer”, followed by lunch with him.
According to the ebay auction (which you can find here), highlights of the tour include…
- A framed tattoo on real human skin!
- A koi pond shaped like a Goldfish cracker!
- Stunning artwork by Chicago artist Tony Fitzpatrick!
- See a unique sculpture by avant garde artist Jose Alvarez!
- A real fire pole!
- Secret rooms in his home which Penn will reveal to you!
- Liza Minnelli’s panties!
- And more!
After the tour, the lucky winner will then have lunch with Penn, over which Penn will divulge stories of his time in Showbiz (and, undoubtedly remain his quiet and understated self…)
At the time of writing this article, the auction stands at $1,201 - a mere snip for this once in a lifetime experience…
Taken from http://itricks.com/news/?p=3582
UltraGaff release date: April 15th & Exclusive Giveaways
April 11, 2008
RELEASE DATE: Tuesday April 15th, 2008 12PM PST
Gifts only available the first hour - Don’t miss out. learn more >
Here’s your one-time chance to grab one of the following:
** 5 Authentic USPC UltraGaff Uncut Sheets
signed by Daniel Garcia and Wayne Houchin
** 50 UltraGaff Decks signed by Daniel Garcia and Wayne Houchin
I have to get my hands on one of these free gifts! How do I get one of them?
Easy. Web orders placed during the first hour after the release time that contain the 3 UltraGaff DVD set (with free UltraGaff deck) combo will be eligible to receive one of the promotion gifts. Promotional gifts are limited and will be distributed randomly based on the first hour’s orders. After the first hour, you will still get a FREE UltraGaff deck with your order of the Ultragaff 3 DVD set. Yes, some orders within the first hour could have 2 free UltraGaff decks (1 deck free with the 3 DVD set AND 1 signed deck (or sheet) as a free gift).