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I have been looking at the Vanishing Bandana, but there is so many different type. Justin "Kredible" Willman performs the Vanishing Bandana in this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjywmn1EQaI do anyone know witch version he use?

What do you mean by which version?

There's only one method as far as I am aware.

Dave.

www.madetomeasuremagic.co.uk

yes, but there are more than one that have made it, and the introduction is not the same on all of the versions

There might be subtly different versions, but they are all junk magic. There are plenty of quality routines out there, if you look.

TonyB wrote:There might be subtly different versions, but they are all junk magic. There are plenty of quality routines out there, if you look.

I'm not sure why you call this junk magic. I have seen two different magicians perform this in front of hundreds of people and get a great reception both times.

It's very visual; extremely funny and I suspect easy enough to perform that you can concentrate on your presentation. This trick certainly doesn't fit everybody's style--but for those who can include some comedy magic I consider this a winner.

The one that he makes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjywmn1EQaI

do anyone know what version that is, is it this one:

http://tiny.cc/18b77

Or this one:

http://tiny.cc/38p6h

Or maby a third one.

TerryC, I consider this junk magic because you could get a monkey to perform this adequately. My ten year old son did it for his scout camp last year. It is magic for those too lazy to learn a real trick and a real presentation.

I saw a singer and pianoist at a bar let the electric keyboard do the playing while he went off for a coffee. He thought he got away with it, but he didn't. That is on a par with the vanishing bandana. It is the magic version of karaoke.

I get what Tony means. It's a fun routine and you'll get good reactions, but it's the magic equivalent of painting by numbers. I don't have any problems with it, other than that it's used such a lot and, by its nature, all the performances are going to be rather similar. There are different versions, but essentially they are the same.

If you then went on to do the appearing sponge bananas, or something (anything) else, then you'd start making it a bit less commonplace.

Why does it matter how easy somthing is to perform. Bandana is not my sort of trick but it can get very big reactions!

There is a chap down at my local magic club who does this on stage (not that Ive ever seen it done close-up!). Absolutely fantastic routine. Always a killer reaction. I'll try filming it next time and stick it up

It's fair to say that this is more comedy than magic though, no? I know very little about stage magic but after seeing the youtube clip posted above I could work out how it was done. Watching the homemade youtube versions just confirmed my suspicions (how can so many youtube magicians be so deluded as to their skill level?! If it's not perfect - DON'T UPLOAD IT!)

Surely the magic element is just the punchline and not the point. I can't image many people saying "Wow, how did he do that?" The act is sketch comedy with a quick bit of magic at the end. I haven't seen it done live but that's what I'm guessing from the professional clip.

magicj wrote:Why does it matter how easy somthing is to perform. Bandana is not my sort of trick but it can get very big reactions!

It's not about ease, it's about the spread of the already pervasive laziness of magicians. It is an entertaining routine, but whenever another goddamn magician does it step by step, action by action identically to the previous 567423768 magicians who do it the same way as well...

In Teller's foreword to Eric Mead's "Tangled Web", he comments that the number one criticism of other magicians he receives from lay people is that magicians are all the same. And let's be honest, many of us are. Too many of us are too lazy to actually put effort and work into new routines. We find a script that we like (often the first script for whatever trick we learn-- usually lifted off a DVD these days) then perform it verbatim. The bandana trick is the epitome of this problem, since it's done to a recording!. No new jokes, no new timing, no new anything. Just a photocopied routine.

It doesn't have to be this way though.

Tomo wrote quite often that the way to fool an audience of people who know a few methods is to completely take apart the routine and put it back together to fit your own vision. This process can help with creativity and originality as well. Watch Brian Brushwood's live performance videos. He takes the concept of the bandana trick-- learning a trick in front of the audience via audio recording and failing-- and adds his own personality to it. He uses the same concept to a different trick and adds innuendos and blood.

So rather than using the routine exactly as originally scripted, take it apart and adapt what you like to fit your own personality and standards.

That, or suffer being one of the unoriginal magicians people complain to Teller about.

magicj wrote:Why does it matter how easy somthing is to perform. Bandana is not my sort of trick but it can get very big reactions!

Bringing out a stripper at the end of a routine will get a big reaction too, or dropping your trousers. I want the reaction to come from my talent and presentation, not from some junk I bought over the internet to fill out another five minutes of my act.

If you were a comedian and you stole five minutes of someone else's act you would be rightly pilloried. Why is it all right for magicians to copy instead of thinking out new routines?

This trick is sold on the basis that it will be performed pretty much as set out in the instructions (and the CD). That's not really the same as lifting someone else's act.

It's a fun bit, which is just the right length for a talent show performance or similar show. However, if you do it right out of the box, there isn't really any of your talent on show; you are just going through the motions. There are so many more things you could do, which haven't been done quite so similarly by so many others.

I think we've covered all the possibilities here.