talkmagic.co.uk

Dunno where else to post this, so here we go

I love finding out about things at short notice! On Monday afternoon about 4pm I received a phone call from one of the local magicians asking me was I going to the Lecture in Limerick that night. It turns out that this was the first I heard about it but I decided to head up anyway. Nick Einhorn was the lecturer for the night, the creator of that nice haunted deck variation 'Spooked'. I was especially delighted to see him because his book "The Art of Magic and Sleight of Hand" was the book that first got me into magic!

Nick was very clear and a good laugh, and most importantly most of what he thought was entirely useable for a close up magician which is an added bonus, as I'm sure you will agree, a lot of lectures, like a lot of books or DVDs really only contain one or two things you can actually use. As this was one of the last visits on his current tour we also got to see a lot of new stuff that will be in the next tour, but more importantly we also got to see some effects that Nick will be releasing through out the year (And buy them).

The lecture started off with an item that is maybe more suited to stage or parlor than to close up, but it is of course adaptable. The routine involved borrowing 3 finger rings from the audience and went into a multi-phase routine that included vanishing one of the rings, linking the three rings together and then unlinking them. He also discussed a bit of byplay that can be used here including a great little moment where you take a ladies finger ring and make it much bigger. There were also plenty of warnings here about doing magic with peoples belongings.

Some other highlights included:

Nick's new Coin in Bottle routine:

This was very clever and very entertaining. The routine begins with a production of a small mixer bottle (The bottles they give you mixers in at the bar) and it ends up with a 50p coin inside in the glass bottle (This can easily be done with any coin with just a little work). The routine then ends with the coin being removed and the bottle is vanished. This is a very clever routine, due to the handling and it's nature, the props are examinable both before and after the effect. To the spectator it is quick, entertaining and astonishing which is what all good effects should be. This routine is not released yet, the DVD is not made yet / Instructions are not written up but I believe he mentioned that it was looking like September. If this goes for anything near the price he was selling the props for on Monday night then pick it up, it's peanuts!

Nick's version of Wayne Dobsons 'Lethal Tender':

I believe that is the name of the effect anyway, I have not seen the original effect. This is a clever little transposing coins routine involving a Chinese coin, a US half Dollar and a little black coin purse. There is a lot more that can be done with it too. This is also currently un-released so I have not seen the full routine in print, but I can verify that the props are of top notch quality and also useable for a few more effects. This also takes up minimal pocket space so there is no reason that it should not be on your person when table hopping. This was significantly more expensive than the CIB effect, but when you see the props you will know why. This is also brand new; Nick mentioned that he only received the props from the manufacturer at the end of last week.

Nick's own book test 'The Daughter of all Book tests':

I'm not really in the mentalist camp myself, but I understand the workings of a number of book tests that are currently on the market. This one is foolproof. It can be done on any book, ideally pre-prepared but worse case scenario it really only takes you a couple of min to set up a book. It's cheap as chips as well and very natural throughout. The book is handed to the Spectator while he looks for his word and he is actually given complete free choice of page. There is no reason why (Given the price) that you could not set up multiple books for this and even give a spec free choice of book! The nature of the device allows it to be used for other mind reading routines too.

Other items covered were a card at any number effect, a card production routine, a wonderful way to use a deck of cards for a lead in to a matrix routine (A deck is ribbon spread, turned over and swept up. 4 half dollars are left in it's place.) a gimmicked (Martini) deck that Nick came up with and more.

In summery, the lecture was interesting, well thought, extremely accessible (Nothing knuckle busting) and completely useable. If you get a chance to check him out please do. You will not be disappointed.

I left with his lecture notes (What was covered in the lecture less the three highlights above which will be marketed separately, and an awful lot more.) and the props for the coin transpo routine. Anyone who picked up the coin transpo effect or the CIB effect were left with the promise that whenever the teaching materials are ready they will be sent on to us. Neither effect is complicated so it's unlikely that we will completely forget how it works between then and now, and it's nice to play with exclusive magic =P