talkmagic.co.uk

Francis McAllister’s Advice

Hi guys, this article I wrote for you beginner magicians out there. This article took me awhile to right, but I think it was important.

From my mistakes’ you beginners can learn what to do, and what not to do!

So here it is!

Bring your favorite gimmicked trick with you all the time

It’s always good to bring a gimmick or two with you where ever you go. Once you build a reputation, people will ask you to see a trick.

It’s always good to do a card trick, but a gimmicked trick really shows the impossible. Don’t bring a gimmick that is a lot of hassle or is brittle, bring something that resets quick, and packs small. Remember even small packs big!

I Always bring my ID, or my disappearing card case. Something the size of a deck of cards is fine.

How Do You Make A Reputation

This is one of the biggest asked questions from beginner magicians. Here are several things that you need to do, to make a good rep.

1) Patients
Your not going to be known around school or the work place as a magician right away, you need to slowly build up.

If you show a couple of people a few amazing magic tricks, they will never forget that moment In there life. They will tell other people to come watch this amazing person, and those people will tell other people and so forth. Trust me on this, the word will spread fast. I am known all over school for this, just by showing a couple of friends some tricks. Just have some patients, and the pay off will come.

2)Promoting yourself
Some people do show their stuff to there friends, but nothing happened. If this does happen, which sometimes does, here is something you can do to help.

Put on some free shows at school, or at the work place. Make some posters, sure it may cost you one hundred or more dollars in printing ink, but you won’t get anywhere if there is no advertisement.

If your in school, talk to the principle, ask him to announce the show on the morning announcements.

By now you have spread the word a fair bit, and many people will show for your magic presentation.


Those people will bring there friends, and there friends will bring there’s. Don’t feel down on yourself if some people don’t come. The first show is more of a convincer for more people to come, the people who did go were amazed, and will come again to see this, just by pure interest in what you do, I assure you after that first show more people will come.

3) Know as many Impromptu Tricks as you can.

This is very important, find as many interesting and unique impromptu effects as you can. If you so happen to forget your deck of cards at home, you won’t need to worry. Its better to be prepared, then to be standing there in front of a large crowd, completely embarrassed. Trust me on this, this has happened to me several times when I had nothing with me when I first started magic.

If someone asks you to see a trick, you can do something totally impromptu, quick and easy and leave them hanging and wanting more.

4)Bring A Pack Of Cards With You Where Ever You Go
If you bring a pack of cards with you, you wont have to end up doing impromptu effects to save yourself. Im not saying that impromptu effect suck, you can do impromptu effects with cards, but I find that more set up tricks always have a better reaction. Call me crazy, but it just feels that more satisfying knowing you worked hard to set up the trick, and it paid off well.

5)Don’t Just Stick To Cards
Card Effects are my favorite, however I find people get bored with them after awhile. Also they start to think its just skill more then magic, and as a magician you want to try and keep that magic feel to your routine.

Mix you routine up with coins, rope, paperclips, rubber bands, everyday objects are really awesome for magic.

Many magicians, when first learning magic always start off with card magic. I might be wrong with this but I say 80 percent of them do. After three of four months of doing just straight card tricks, for me I felt bored with it, and I felt like it lacked something. I then picked up a great book which I recommend to you guys!

6) Mark Wilsons Full Course In MagicThis is a must buy for beginner magicians, Mark teaches you almost every kind of magic there is. Impromptu, Coins, Cards, Mentalism, Stage, Parlor, Kids shows, Rope, Reputation makers.
This book really helps you become a better magician, and turns that beginner into an amateur or even pro magician. Many of his tricks have inspired me to create my own similar effects, and with ought this book, I would still be back to cards, my audience dead asleep. You can get this book either online, or at Indigo, Chapters, or Coles.


7) Hawk Eyes
I Refer hark eyes to people who stare constantly at your hands, even when the biggest misdirection is made they still stare down, looking at your every move. Even when you talk to them to try and break their focus, they still don’t break it, and don’t give you the eye contact you in fact need.

Well my advice is, finish your trick there and walk away. Don’t try to do your best effect on him, its just a waste of magic, and it will make you look worse then you are at that point

I often find these type of people really ignorant and oblivious that they know how it’s done, but they think they know how its done and tell more people.

What I also find is that, he/she will get there friends, and the (hawk eye) will tell his/her friends to in fact watch your hands.

This has happened to me only a couple of times, however this does not make you feel good, especially if you try and show them what your made of, and still end up looking like a loser. Just walk away and save it.

Know when to stop

Learn from my Mistakes guys please, know when to stop. What happened to me when I first started magic, everyone was having a good time, everyone was freaking out, and I wanted to keep freaking them out more, I wanted more. However there are several problems.. Here they are

1)They Eventually Are Going To Get Board!

No matter how strong your magic is, after awhile there attention spans get less and less, and no instead of freaking out, they just go...oh...cool..I liked that other trick you showed me, with the aces, that was a better trick.

2)You will Run out of tricks to show
You will show so many tricks to them, you have basically showed them all of your tricks, every single one, so what now?

That’s the problem, you never want them to ask you that.

I don’t know how many nights I have been up late, trying to learn new tricks, and showing them only a half ass trick, when I know if practiced well, it will make it even stronger, and you have almost no chance of messing up.

Trust me, if you blow them away with just one of your simplest tricks, stop while they are freaking out, then you can blow them away some other time, and in fact show them that you really are a magician.



Have A well Thought of routine:
Trust me on this, have a routine that you do all the time. Stick to it, and if you are doing magic for people who have seen your routine, show them some simple impromptu tricks, with everyday objects.

I say have a routine with Nine Tricks, a lot of people say ten But I will tell you why. The first three tricks are to get the audience warmed up, then the second half of the show focuses on more of a mentalist feel, and end three tricks are your best mind blowing tricks you perform.

You don’t have to have any mentalism tricks, this is just the feel I have in my show. You can add any feel that you want, but it must have simple, impressive, mind blowing. Don’t go to slow, you don’t want to bore them either, have tricks with comedy to make the audience relax. You don’t want the show to end up being awkward.

Stick to this routine until it gets boring for you, once you have mastered them and know them on the back of your hand, Learn some new tricks, toss away some old ones that you no longer want. Once you have new tricks, master that routine and repeat it over and over again.

Respect other magicians
There will be many magicians you come across that you do not like, even though they are a cheap rip off of famous magicians, you still have to respect the fact that they put there but on the line to entertain.

There are several magicians who I know that I do not like, but I still respect there style and there way of doing magic.

Like the old saying goes, to get respect you have to show it first.

Getting Feedback
I don’t know how many people get offended when someone tells the creator of the effect, that the effect wasn’t that good.

When you ask for feedback, you better be prepared to hear the good comments, and the bad. Take the good with the bad, take the bad comments and improve them in your trick. It sometimes may seem harsh, however in order to be a successful magician, you have to hear lots of harsh comments to help you get out there.

Read as many magic books as you can

Go to the library and take out as many magic books as you can, study many famous magicians. In order to be a magician, you have to know a lot about your field of work. Study the greats of magic, Harry Houdini, Robert Houdin( sorry if I spelled that wrong), Di Vernon, etc..

It will open up your views to magic, and it just makes you more passionate in what you do. A lot of history is envoled with magic, many fascinating stories involving magic can help you create your own stories to your tricks, or even inspire you to create your own effects.


Be yourself when performing

So many new people who start out with magic, try to be like David Blaine or Criss angel. I even admit to wanting to be like David Blaine.

In fact I wanted to be so much like Blaine, I did his famous stare, and if you’re not Blaine this does not turn out to well, in fact when I did it, I looked like a guy who just escaped from a insane asylum.

David Blaine did something original and because of it many people wanted to be like him. That’s because he was original.

How do you do that, be yourself.

I can’t stress that enough, no one is more original then you. When you do your magic, be yourself, no one is like you, and that is what really makes you interesting.


Practice Practice Practice

Practice, I can’t say that enough practice as much as you can. If you practice, it slims down the scenario of messing up.

Never perform a trick that you just learned the night before, I have done this and more then once have I messed up because of it, please trust me on this, practice until you have mastered it, and can do it in your sleep.

You ask any Magician, what’s the most important thing in learning a new trick, they will tell you its practice. If they don’t say that, they should not be involved with magic.

Practice as much as you can, until you feel comfortable on performing it. First show it to your family, then a friend, then build up the confidence.

Never Admit To Messing Up

If you mess up infront of a live crowd, why admit to messing up while you can act like it was part of the show. Lead it right into another trick, after you have been in magic for a couple of months, you learn some effects specially designed for messing up. My favorite being Jay Sankeys Back In Time Effect.


Here are some simple things you can say, if you do not have any tricks to fall back on.

I swear it worked in the magic shop

It’s so quiet in here you can hear a career drop

This is the first time I messed it up, again

Ladies and gentlemen the real magician will know be here shortly

Making fun of yourself relaxes the audience, and opens them up even more, and because of that they respect you for at least trying. So don’t get upset if you mess up, just laugh it off, and im guaranteed everyone will have a fun time.

Well guys that’s my advice and tips for any beginner magicians, and I hoped it helped.

My Next Article will be about performing for large groups.

Thanks for taking the time for reading!!!

Practice Practice Practice

Francis McAllister

I really must disagree with a lot of this.
First of all this article should have started not by promoting gimmicks to carry around, but promoting books and DVDs where you can get the knowledge needed to do amazing tricks and not gimmicks to do them. Sending beginners to waste their money on things like "The raven" or other hyped gimmicks that are forgotten after a few weeks, is the worst advise you can give.
To be a good magician you need skill, and the ability to perform, and while some people may have been born to perform (pun not intended), skill is a thing that must be acquired, through learning and through practicing. Gimmicks will only make a hole in a beginners pocket and leave him with no useable information.

About the segment about reputation:

obviously your in school and approaching other school kids with this article, and sorry to say but obviously you also don't know what the hell you are saying, I'm not saying it to offend, I'm saying because that's what you wrote,
Patience is a key, and that is true, but also sitting with hands crossed and waiting for a talent agent to book you and will make you the next CA (also a point needed to be addressed).
School even though a very social place, is not a performance theater. You can not expect, or make others expect that school principles and teachers will be happy to give away school time for your performance, or even to announce a show you are going to do inside school, and I'm sure that also with you this was the case.
Another very important point, teenagers are the meanest race alive, and while you or others may think that performing to good friends and relatives is easy and nice, that's not the case when you try to perform to teenagers you don't know, or even worse some that will want to sabotage your performance (just to remind you, even though CA and Blaine are hot on TV now, magic isn't really MTV and might not be considered "cool" by everyone). So the most important thing is not to know your crowed, but know yourself, be sure in what you do, know the routine by hart, and don't be afraid to improvise with the patter, don't make it look like you are reading from a script or it ill be easier to throw you off balance.

About Hawk Eyes, walking away isn't the best way to deal with it, it's basically like quitting, and you will find that those guys will always pop out after the first or second trick you did. Why? Not because they are ignorant or dumb, ignorant people won't care and still see the magic, and still say they know how it's done. These people are usually smart but stubborn guys that just don't like to be fooled or just really want to know how you do it. And if you will walk away every time one pop out you will never be able to do a full show.
So what is the answer? simple, there are a few ways, after you spotted that your hands get "hot" from all the looks, and that will happen every time slight of hand comes to place, throwing the people off by telling something funny, or doing something slowly and then to show it hasn't happened yet, that way when all the people will look closely they will see nothing, because you did nothing, but it will be funny, and it will relax the people and they won't be paying attention to your " dirty hands" as much as before.
Of course you will still have the guys that will be looking the whole trick at your hands, not caring about the trick but about catching you, so what is the way to stop them? Throw them off balance, you can do it with a simple joke, a comment or something you say directly at them, that way they will have to look at your face instead of at your hands, and that is exactly when you can earn yourself that move you want. you can of course throw them off in an even better way, make them the next participant, they will think it will only make it easier to see how you do it, when the truth is it will be harder, because then they will have to do what you tell them and pay attention to what you do and say at the same time, and as long as you talk to them they will be looking at your face not your hands.

That’s the biggest points I wanted to address, there are a few more but I'm short in time.

Cheers mate.

I don't think you stressed how important it is to get out and perform in public. There should also have been a guide on patter. Maybe I'll post something here about that soon. Other than that, great work!

exuse me i dont no what im talking about, im sorry but that did offended me.

if you read more of my article i acaully did write about reading books, so maybe before you acaully judge my writting maybe acaully read the hole thing..

I could really care less what you think, I wrote long and hard with that peice of writting, and what i get is.

i dont no what im talking about...

exuse me but who do you think you are, I dont care if you are david blaine himself , maybe you should have read the respect part in my article... or did you miss that part as well...

but go ahead its your turn to argue with me, and prove me wrong, becuase i know thats what your going to do.

So go ahead start thinking of what to write back, times a tickin.

and also this is the point in a begginer start in magic where he already learned the special skills to become a good magician.

and there is nothing wrong with gimmicks,

and also i didnt just promote gimmicks

really read what I wrote, but i really think this article was a waste of time.. becuase if its going to be judge like that, and not read throughly like i wanted it to.

Im just going to take it off, becuase i feel like it was a big waste of time

This is something i wrote a while ago for beginners wanting to start public performance


Are You Really Ready?

This is not meant to be insulting but a friendly piece of advice. Many people try to run before they can walk. When you perform your first show you want to enjoy it and for it to go well. For this you need a solid act that is well rehearsed and with good patter. Do you know your effects well enough? the things you need to consider include "can i perform the trick while standing, talking to people etc". It is all well and good being in a nice warm bedroom performing a trick, but in the real World it is different.

Do you know what you are going to say to people. I firmly believe that having good patter is just as important as having a good effect. It is the little jokes and stories that help make the effect entertaining to the audience. So i assume by now you have practised your patter.

Are you confident? it takes a lot of guts to go up to strangers and perform magic for the first time. It really is harder than it looks. They do not know who you are. They will be a lot more judgemenal and harsh than family and friends will ever be.

'When can i start charging people for my act'. This is a real bug bear of mine. Too many people try to run before they can walk. Anybody can go into a magic shop, buy some tricks and call themselves a magician. Magic is not about tricks, it is about people and how you interact with them. You are an entertainer and need to make sure the audience have a good time. Never advertise your act until you have a full act that has been practised and you are confident with. A bad act could really affect later bookings if word gets round in your area. When you are at a booking you are doing so much more than magic. For example when you work a restaurant you are providing business for the owner, you help distract the customers if the meal is late etc.

This is why i believe that......

Your first real show should be for Family and Friends

This is because it gives you a chance to practise your act and patter under working conditions. Ask them to give honest views on what they think of the show. This will give you the much needed confidence when you come to perform for the public.

You could arrange a small dinner party for family / friends and be the after dinner entertainment. If you intend to perform close-up for the public this gives you valuable experience with working at a table. If you have a video camera i would get someone to film the show, you can then look back later and make notes. You will see what areas (if any) need improving. The other good reason to do this kind of show is that it gives you a chance to try out effects. You will find some just don't work in the real World, they may be boring or confusing to the audience.

Now to the act! You want to begin with a nice simple trick, one you are most confident with. It is good to do as this will relax you. I have been starting off with "It's a steal" (Martin Sanderson). A nice quick and snappy effect that gets people into the magic. Why do i do that trick? because it is quick, simple, entertaining and gets me ready for the complex stuff. It is good to start with something simple then the audience will be even more impressed when you perform the harder stuff. Remeber to have a little chat inbetween effects. Show an interest in the audience and they will do the same to you. Once you feel relaxed you can move onto your more advanced and involved work. You really need a good selection of material. I normally vary between card effects, coin, mentalism and maybe the odd prop. If you are performing card magic you really need a few tricks up your sleeve. Variety is the key here and will help you stand out from the other performers. I would not do the harder stuff first as you will be stressed if it goes wrong.

Do you have enough effects for a show, it is no good just doing the same 2 or 3 effects. So lets consider the various options:

1. A Cabaret Show: You should perform for about 45 minutes (an hour when you get more experienced). So the time you pick asistants, have a chat etc you should do 5 or 6 effects. Of course this depends on how complex and long the effects are. You may find you need more.

2. Table Hopping- I do about 15 minutes per table, so you will probably be doing 4 effects on average. Again you should have a little chat with the table during and between effects.

So before i go on to the next section here is your check list to see if you are ready:

1. I am confident with my effects and patter 2. I have enough effects to fill the time slot i will perform. 3. I know what patter to use and have some jokes to entertain the crowd (unless you are a serious magician)

Getting Work

Many people want to work in a bar or restaurant and who can blame them it is great fun. However, the first time can be stressful and harder than you think. The first thing i will say is please just don't walk into a bar and start performing magic Make sure you have the permision of the bar owner before you go ahead. There have been nasty incidents were people just go into bars and start performing magic.

If you drink in a local pub then have a chat with the landlord and see if he wants a free show one evening. Yes i did say FREE!, why? because this is your practise run and if it goes well you can charge the next time. If you get a booking for a free show then try to get a mid-week or Sunday night show, believe me when i say working a bar on a Friday and Saturday night can be very hectic. You really need good experience for this.

When you are 'working' your mind is racing all the time, you are constantly thinking about the effect, the patter, will someone try to grab the prop / deck etc. Choice of spectator is all important, i have a rule that i will never try to force someone to help if they do not want to. Some people are very shy and get stressed in such situations. So that is worth considering.

In the bar you will probably perform to groups for about 10-15 minutes. Now don't assume that the the music will be turned down! i have worked in places with music so loud people can hardly hear you. Also you may get asked to perform mix and mingle to the customers that are standing around the bar / club.

Now to Restaurants! the venue that needs the most consideration. Again if you know a SMALL local restaurant that needs some entertainment then see if they have a spare slot. But please do not ask TGI's on a Saturday night . The same time will apply to restaurants but you have a lot more to think about. Firstly you need to consider angles. If your effect is angle sensitive then you need to know where the tables are positioned. This may dictate what effects you perform on the night. The other thing is when to perform, i never disturb anyone when they are eating unless they ask. I simply move onto the next table and come back to them later.

Other thing is clothing! you need to be comfortable. These venues get really hot you know Find out what the dress code is for the venue. If a bar does not allow jeans they are unlikely to make an exception in the magicians case. I often get sent a dress code when some clients book me. You need somewhere to store props, so if you do not wear a jacket you may need a close-up case.

Someone asked if people are willing to pay attention in bars / clubs etc. This is all down to the venue. When i work them, it is normally advertised i am on. So when people enter the venue they know there is a magician on that night. It also depends on the people in the venue, you may get families, a bunch of Toffs or the local Hells Angels gang Each group of people will react different. The trick (no pun intended) is to try to get them to enjoy and join in.

People Approach

This may seem really obvious but you will be suprised how hard it can be. It is no good slowly walking up to a table / group and saying "erm... hi.. i .. am a magician". Be bold, friendly and confident! My opener is normally "Right! Good evening ladies! (pause) Good evening gentlemen! (pause) i am Stephen and i am the magician for tonight, Ok so who is going to be the first star of the show". A nice friendly replaxed approach will get people on your side.

I like to get to know some of the table so i also ask a few quick questions like name etc. It is good to get to know people

Advertising

Advertising is not as expensive as you think. Let's assume you have done a test show and it went well, the next step to think about is getting paid work. The cheapest places to advertise are the those free local papers you get on a Friday. The adverts normally only cost a few pound a week. You can also have a card in a newsagent, i used to do this all the time and got a lot of work in the early days.

A rather cheeky way of advertising for free is too find out if a local school or charity are having a fete and want some entertainment, sometimes a local press person is there taking photo's and you may get in the local paper

First of all I had no interest in offending you, and I'm sorry if "you don't know what you are talking about" was a bit of a harsh statement, BUT, I do mean everything I said.
I did read all article, if it'd so hard for you to believe, and fact is not only I did so I also took the time to write a long comment to point out the wrong things, at least in my point of view, you have included in your article.
Obviously my comment about your judgment in writing part of this article has upset you enough to blind you from seeing the important points I made, and I did.

My first point about you promoting gimmicks was addressing to the fact you decided to start the article by promoting the usage of gimmicks to beginners, even before, mentioning books and DVDs, and talking about real knowledge in magic and showmanship, which is exactly the worst thing you can see these days in beginners, they throw their money on expansive gimmicks yet don't know how to use them properly, don't know how to present the affects, and without them all they can do is 1 or 2 simple card tricks and a French drop they picked up somewhere. And that is why it was important for me to stress out this very important thing, which is really one of the worse things you can suggest to a beginner at the begging of such article.

Me saying that you don't know what you are talking about was referring to the segment about performing and promoting yourself in school, I didn't said that to insult you personally, I said that to stress out how what you said there was… well, bulls**t, and before you get all your knickers in a bunch again, I will explain. as I already wrote, you said in your article that the best way for you to promote yourself is by making performances in school, and asking from teachers and principles to announce and make time so you can perform to the school, and this is pure rubbish, and if you were honest enough with yourself you would see you probably never actually did such a thing, you only had the idea and decided to write it a suggestion on this article, even though it is nonsense. No normal school on the planet would allow or support such a thing on the cost of teaching time, and I already explained it in my earlier post, and you should know that because you claimed so boldly to really read and understand everything I wrote.
I also stressed the point to which you didn't address, which is performing to your own age (teenagers as it usually is for beginners).

My forth point was about your segment about Hawk Eyes, which in my opinion offered a very inexperienced solution to the problem, so I found it important to present better solutions (in my opinion at least).

What I didn't say was that your article is all rubbish, because it's not, in it's base it is good, and the fact you took the time to write it is great, but as you said in your own article and I quote: "When you ask for feedback, you better be prepared to hear the good comments, and the bad.", and as the one that wrote it, you also need to follow it, and understand it doesn't go only for magic, but for everything in life. I wrote my post, not to * you off but to correct you on several points I found wrong in your article, and instead of attacking me for doing so, you should have fully read it and think "maybe I don't know everything" or "maybe he is right in this or that point", or at least take it to your attention.

Ok, where to begin...

Concerning Gimmicks

Quite honestly, I believe that there's way too heavy of an emphasis on gimmicks. There should really only be a sidenote about them at the very end of the guide. Assuming that this is a beginner's guide, which you stated yourself, and not an intermediate one, there should really be almost no emphasis on gimmicks at all.

Gimmicks are really only icing on the cake for more experienced magicians to push their routines to places they couldn't possibly go with sleights alone. They're not for the beginner who doesn't know any sleight of hand at all and is using them exclusively. Sure, you might know how to make a coin vanish with Raven, but the effect is so much greater when you do a full coin routine and then vanish the coin at the end.

Concerning Books

Beginning magicians need classic literature on either cards or coins or both in order to be successful. I'm not even talking about history here, it's just pure technique.

Two Great Books Are:
The Royal Road to Card Magic
Bobo's Modern Coin Magic

A Great But Expensive Set:
Card College Vols. 1 - 5

Getting either the Royal Road or Card College will give you an incredibly solid foundation in card magic whereas Bobo's Modern Coin Magic is the stepping stone for coin magic. I seriously think that an intermediate magician will be either stellar in coin or card magic and then other things will come more secondary. One who is just beginning should focus on their cards and coins and not worry about other things so much (these last two lines are completely just my own opinion and are open to major flaming if necessary, I'm learning too).

And quite honestly, the books you get from the libraries and such either have very poor techniques in them or do not cover the basic sleights necessary. Sure there are diamonds in the rough, but in general, stick with the classics if you're beginning.

Concerning Burners

...or Hawk Eyes as you call them. Quite honestly, I love people who burn my hands when I perform for small groups of people. Note that I'm not a professional and can't speak for large groups. Generally, I just tone down the tricks to one which involve more angle-proof sleights and it really does amaze them even more on the inside.

Most of my repetoir is completely angle proof, so I never really have to worry about that situation. I suggest having a backup routine which is burnable for these situations. That way you don't run away from the people who are there to be entertained.

Once again, large scale is not my thing, I'm just talking from some small scale experience here. It's a great feeling getting a, "What?! But I was looking at your hands the entire time!" after I finish a trick.

End Notes

In general, the information presented looks fairly sound. Even so, my first impressions of this article were not very good due to spelling and grammatical errors here and there which I had to weed through. Also, as stated previously, this article is clearly geared towards the teenage crowd. The problem with this is that most teens don't want to pursue professional careers in magic and are only looking for something to do in their spare time, thus a beginner's article should probably cover more of where to look and less of how to become known. Assuming that, adults probably would not draw very much from this either because they don't have a protected school setting to perform at; the cold, harsh world awaits them. Most of the things I did not mention I felt had truth to them and did not merit criticism.

I appreciate the effort and give you credit for that; however there are some things which were stated which might throw a truly beginning magician off. I get the feeling that this article is assuming a young, semi-beginning-intermediate magician who might want to pursue magic as a career or is serious about using his skills to make money (basically a career).

Don't let my post or any other ones discourage you, though. It was done with a great intent and has stirred up some conversation, which is always a good thing. It also got me out of my hole in the ground. Usually I don't respond to posts unless I have very good reason to, you should feel special

*If anyone disagrees with anything, please send me a polite PM or something, I'm still learning too! In fact, it can be a flame for all I care*

Concerning the first article by Mr Mystery.

Before I get into what is good and bad... Please take care to proof read your writing and to let atleast 1 or 2 others proof read it not for content but for structure and spelling.

Now. I think your article says a good amount of important information. But I do think it is lacking on some direction. I agree that you shouldn't really start off talking about gimmicks and how everyone should carry them around. That is more or less IF it fits your personality as a performer to even use such a device. I think one of the few benefits that a gimmick has is it allows you to work purely on presentation and your ability to act and control the crowd. I don't care how good your sleight of hand is, your ability to misdirect, whatever. Skill is nothing without the charisma and acting behind it.

Some magicians wonder why some guy who only knows 5 easy impromptu card tricks or packet tricks pulls bigger crowds than them and all their mastery of knowledge. It is presence and character that drives that.

If you stand there nervously, speak with a squeeky voice, stutter, fiddle around, it wouldnt make a huge difference if you did tons of XCM. The idea is, the MAGIC will be remembered for a life time. But with the right character and charisma so will the magician.

Its the difference between, "Man, 5 years ago I met some guy who did some mind blowing magic." and with "Oh yeah, I met this magician, David K 5 years ago. I can never forget what he did for me."

Also, I somewhat disagree to the never admitting to messing up. There is nothing wrong with that. And I think it will ruin your character to try and be seen as "pure" magic. Purity only exists in the stories and that is how many people will look at what you are doing. It will be entertainment from a entertainer. If you approach magic with a human quality, it stops being just entertainment. When I mess up, I might play it off as part of a gag or the trick or even poke fun at myself. But I will also admit to things not working. But I always act like it was no big deal and it just happens because it was "risky" and then I move on to the next effect saying this will blow you away. Or I move on to the next experiment. Depending on the type of performance I am doing, if it is purist mentalist or more magician. (Im in an awkward transisiton phase.)

Think of it like a Cold Reader. Someone could recieve a cold reading and have it only be 15% accurate. But if that 15% is amazing they will forget the other 85%. Of course with magic it's going to be much more surefire, you still have that slack. People will easily forget a bad trick if you let them and give them reason to. I had a performance where I was completely and totally off and only maybe 3 or 4 of the tricks I did really worked. Of course I was working with some risky material in terms of mind reading and suggestion. But when I met a couple of the people that were there that night a month later they recalled it as being totally amazing and having seen nothing like that.

It just seems to me that people are likely to reject someone who is magical 100% as it takes them to an inhuman level. But of course, this doesn't apply to everyone and all magicians. There is that area of magic where it fits.

That is just my unasked for 2 cents.