home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!cambridge-news.cygnus.com!cygnus.com!news.sgi.com!nntprelay.mathworks.com!news.eecs.umich.edu!not-for-mail
- From: Paul Nielsen <nielsen@vulture.eecs.umich.edu>
- Newsgroups: alt.magic,alt.answers,news.answers
- Subject: alt.magic FAQ part 1/4
- Followup-To: alt.magic
- Date: 02 Feb 1998 15:53:46 -0500
- Organization: University of Michigan AI Lab, Ann Arbor, MI
- Lines: 637
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
- Message-ID: <yziivhux684l.fsf@vulture.eecs.umich.edu>
- Reply-To: nielsen@eecs.umich.edu
- NNTP-Posting-Host: 141.213.12.22
- Archive-name: magic-faq/part1
- Last-modified: Thu Mar 6 10:22:35 EST 1997
- X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34
- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.magic:61534 alt.answers:31879 news.answers:122338
-
- Frequently asked questions in alt.magic/part1 (of 4)
-
- Last modified: Tue Dec 2 12:40:34 EST 1997
-
- Please send suggested corrections and additions to: nielsen@eecs.umich.edu
- This document is available on the Web at
- http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/nielsen/alt.magic
-
-
- WHAT'S NEW/MODIFED
-
- This section lists what's new or modified in the FAQ this month....
-
- 1. Reorganized video section to match book topics. Additional titles
- added.
-
-
-
- ======================================================
- Topics:
- Part 1
- I. GUIDELINES/ETIQUETTE FOR POSTING
- II. MAGICAL EVENTS
- III. MAGIC ORGANIZATIONS
- IV. ELECTRONIC MAGIC STUFF (CD ROM, on-line info)
-
- Part 2
- V. BOOKS ON MAGIC
-
- Part 3
- VI. OTHER MAGIC REFERENCES
- VI-A. MAGAZINES
- VI-B. VIDEOS
-
- Part 4
- VII. LIST OF DEALERS
-
-
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- I. GUIDELINES/ETIQUETTE FOR POSTING
-
- alt.magic is a public newsgroup with an estimated readership of 41,000+
- ALL postings should be made with this in mind.
-
- Q) What is the purpose of this group?
- A) This group is for the discussion of magic as entertainment, including
- but not limited to close-up, sleight of hand, platform, stage, and
- illusion magic.
- For discussions of pagan, occult, and spiritual magic try alt.magick
- (note the "k"), alt.paranormal, alt.divination, or alt.pagan. The are
- also alt.skeptic, alt.hypnosis, and alt.paranormal for other non-magic
- discussions.
- For discussing "Magic" the card game try "alt.cardgame.magic".
-
- Q) Why not alt.conjuring, alt.prestidigitation, or alt.magic.tricks?
- A) Because escape artists are magicians who don't partake in "conjuring".
- Illusionists don't partake in prestidigitation (sleight of hand). And
- many magicians (myself included) don't like to refer to magic as tricks
- or trickery because of the negative connotation that you are out to
- "get" the audience. The emphasis should be on entertainment, not merely
- a puzzle, etc. (From: presto@bach.udel.edu (Jason Y Nocks))
-
- Q) What topics should -not- be discussed in this group?
- A) Since this is a public forum some of us would prefer not to openly
- discuss the secrets behind the workings of magical effects. The
- following are some of the reasons given to support this policy:
- 1) You ruin the illusion for others.
- 2) Magic as an art only exists when the performance appears impossible.
- Focusing on "how it is done" reduces the art to a puzzle.
- 3) Magic as an art exists to entertain. To allow an audience to focus
- on the performance and not the gimmick is the ENTIRE REASON for the
- performance. The curiosity you feel when you're fooled by magic is
- part of the entertainment. When the curiosity is removed, so is some
- of the entertainment.
- 4) Although the public thinks it wants to know what we are doing they
- are disappointed when they find out.
- 5) Some folks count on the elements of surprise and subtlety in their
- techniques to feed their kids and pay rent.
- 6) The secrets are not yours to give. The creators of certain effects
- have typically written books or produced effects in order to 'stake
- their claim' and to be compensated for their work.
-
- Q) What topics should be discussed in this group?
- A) All the other aspects of magic. For example,
- 1) Magic as entertainment
- 1a) Showmanship
- 1b) Delivery
- 1c) Presentation
- 1d) Philosophy
- 2) The performance of magic
- 2a) Embarrassing moments and how to handle them
- 2b) Views on borrowing/imitating
- 2c) Putting together a show
- 3) Magic performances
- 3a) Upcoming
- 3b) Performances you may have seen
- 4) Favorite effects
- 5) Magicians
- 5a) Favorite magicians
- 5b) Yourself and your performances
- 6) Where to learn more
- 6a) People willing to teach
- 6b) Books, tapes, magazines, clubs
- 6c) Magic dealers
- 7) Magic as a business
- 7a) Booking
- 7b) How to advertise
- 7c) Openings
-
- Q) What other sources are available on-line to find out more about magic?
- A1) Many of the subscribers to this list are willing to further discuss
- magic via e-mail with anyone expressing a sincere interest.
- A2) There are hundreds of pages on the World Wide Web devoted to magic and
- magicians.
- A3) Jeff Isozaki posts four monthly lists of Magic in Movies and Magic in
- TV indicating movies, actors, and scenes in which magic appears. Jeff
- posts this list to alt.magic on or around the first business day of the
- month. It can also be accessed via WWW at the URL address:
- http://www.daimi.aau.dk/~zytnia/eg.html
- Special copies of the list will NOT be sent out upon request so
- please do not request such.
- A4) MagicNZ is a FirstClass Graphical BBS in Auckland, New Zealand
- Internet: fc.magic.gen.nz Port 510
- Web Site: http://www.magic.gen.nz/magicnzbbs.html
-
- Q) How I get into the Magic Castle to see a show ?
- A) The Magic Castle is for members only and their guests. Visiting
- magicians (out of town and members of IBM/SAM may also be admitted)
-
- Q) Is there a possibility this news group could be altered in some way so
- that people wouldn't accidently keep posting things that belong in
- alt.magicK?
- A) It is easiest to just ignore these articles. Many newsreaders have a
- feature called a "kill-file" which will mark articles containing certain
- patterns as having been read or delete the article.
-
- Q) Hasn't it been proven that most of magicK is actually magic?
- A) Many magicians have become involved in debunking charlatans who claim to
- have supernatural powers, most notably Houdini and more recently The
- Amazing Randi.
- Magicians can duplicate almost any miracle. There is a branch of magic
- that has blossomed in the last 20 years that uses occult science as a
- theme. Some of the material is strong enough to start a new religion.
- Here is one effect that gives you an example....
- It is an occult alter. A young novice wearing a robe steps up to the
- magi. Several occult steps are performed. After building up to a climax,
- the magi takes a ceremonial dagger and raises it high in the air. He
- quickly plunges the dagger down, and the novice screams. The robe then
- falls to the floor, empty. The novice has vanished. If you were at a
- coven meeting and saw this, you would certainly be affected.
- Smaller/simpler miracles are much easier - of course. When someone
- describes a paranormal event, a magician knows how trivial it is to fool
- someone. Of course he/she is skeptical.
- (Example from: Bruce Barnett [barnett@crd.ge.com])
- See also alt.skeptic.
-
- Q) Can experienced magicians give some tips on how to read a magic catalog?
- How can we spot tricks that are over advertised?
- A) It's amazing what people will say for money. The trouble is that you'll
- find a lot of misleading but correct ads in a strict legal way. Look
- for reviews of the items before you buy. Go and watch a demo, and then,
- if the demo looked wonderful, you need to have someone tell you whether
- this can be done by someone at your skill level.
- Suggested questions: Do you really need this item? Is it useful in more
- than one way? Or is it limited to the effect described? Will it gain in
- value over the years? Is it a limited edition? Will it help you in
- your act? Do you plan to USE it?
-
- Q) Do you believe that it is detrimental to the art of magic to post
- "insider" information pertaining to the methods used to achieve a
- magical effect?
- A) POLLING RESULTS: compiled by Hans Masing.(HCM100@PSUVM.psu.edu)
- There were 48 responses within the allotted polling time. 35 were
- magicians, 13 were laypersons.
-
- The average age of magicians in the poll is 32.2 (mean of 26). The
- typical layperson is 31.7 (mean of 27).
-
- For magicians, the average experience is 12.9 years, however there were
- a few outliers with more than 30 years that skewed the results.
- Eliminating these outliers, the average experience drops to 2 years.
- *****
- Of the 35 magicians who responded, 46% of you say that methods should
- not be revealed, 43% say that they should, and 11% are undecided.
-
- Not surprisingly, of the 13 laypeople who responded, 33% said that it is
- detrimental, 54% said it is not detrimental, with 13% undecided.
-
- Q) What is the best kind of magic? Who is the best magician?
- A) As in every other area of human endeavor, those with personality would
- prefer that the quality of magic were measured by personality. Others
- would prefer that it were measured by technique, creativity, success,
- humor or originality. Of course, it is always the mechanically adept
- that would prefer technique to be the ultimate criterion, the successful
- (and their lackeys) who would prefer that success was the measure, etc.
-
- Perhaps we could take a break from the polarizing polemic, and recognize
- that making magic is a difficult business. Good illusions, good parlour
- and good close-up magic all have roughly equivalent wonder-generation.
- A good close-up artist will cause an exquisite level in wonder to a very
- few, while a good illusionist will create a more modest degree of wonder
- in a large crowd. If you want to optimize for money, of course you'd
- prefer the large crowd. If you want to optimize for entertainment, I'd
- guess parlour magic has got to be the winner.
- From: Doug Peters [peters@nortel.ca]
-
- Q) What advice to successful magicians have for aspiring magicians?
- A) From: TELLER
- 1. Read everything about magic that you can get your hands on. My
- favorite basic texts (and I consult them to this day) are, THE
- AMATEUR MAGICIAN'S HANDBOOK, and LEARN MAGIC by Henry Hay; CLASSIC
- SECRETS OF MAGIC by Bruce Elliot; THE ROYAL ROAD TO CARD MAGIC by
- Hugard and Braue; and THIRTEEN STEPS TO MENTALISM by Tony Corinda.
- Chase them down.
- 2. Learn to do the cut and restored rope. Polish it so that you can
- absolutely mystify people with it. This is a great, great trick
- that will stand you in good stead. I still use it in our show (in a
- new form).
- 3. Learn some version of the Cups and Balls (there is a wonderful
- one-cup routine in the Bruce Elliot book above). #2 and #3 formed
- the basis of the act I did for years.
- 4. Wait 10 years before doing the Linking Rings. It's overdone just at
- this time in our history.
- 5. Learn a powerful trick for the ending to your show. Warning:
- production tricks are really hard and eat up all your time folding
- silks and fake flowers.
- 6. Remember you are a kid. You look like a kid. Don't think you'll
- fool people into thinking you are an old sage from the Himalayas.
- 7. Do a short act. Don't worry about getting paid yet. Do six minutes
- that is wonderful and amazing. You will be able to handle longer
- stints as the material develops.
- 8. The "Miser's Dream" is a really easy trick that's really hard to
- learn to do in a concise, entertaining way. Learn it. Learn to
- vary your methods. Learn to do it fast. Lots of coins, quickly,
- then a beat of comedy. Then more coins, then more comedy. Then an
- ending. Get hold of a videotape of Al Flosso doing the Miser's
- Dream. Watch how entertaining that old coot is.
- 9. Perform as often as you can. You will never get good until you
- stand on stage for a zillion hours and learn how to do it for real.
- It's nice to daydream about grand effects, but if you get out there
- -- by whatever means you have to use -- and perform, perform,
- perform, you will improve.
- 10. Behave towards your audience with sincere respect. You are not
- superior because you know a few tricks. They are the people you OWE
- a wonderful show to.
- 11. No matter how badly a show goes, remember it's just a show.
- Tomorrow there will be a different show and you can redeem
- yourself.
- 12. Make sure you remember all your ideas. Maybe some stink now only
- because you don't yet know enough to make them good. Ideas are
- precious. Keep notes.
- 13. Stick with it. If you truly love what you are doing, you will love
- rehearsing, laboring, getting stage fright, wasting money, even
- failing. Love magic and your audience so powerfully that you are
- locked in the jaws of its love. When the cub scouts throw things,
- love the pain; it will teach you. Stick with it. Getting good
- takes, not weeks, not months, but years. Years. Be prepared.
-
-
-
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- II. MAGICAL EVENTS
-
- Send your list of ongoing magical events including: brief description,
- location, cost, and admission requirements to nielsen@eecs.umich.edu
- Contributors:
- cragaisi@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Ragaisis)
- jti01@duts.ccc.amdahl.com (Jeff Isozaki)
- nielsen@eecs.umich.edu (Paul Nielsen)
- FLANAGA@ricevm1.rice.edu (Scott Flanagan)
-
- Upcomming events and one time showings merit separate postings.
-
- --
-
- Clubs for magic:
-
- Comedy and Magic
- Hermosa Beach, CA
- Does this place still exist? Do they still perform magic?
-
- El Duco's Magic, HB
- Lergoeksgatan 18
- S-215 79 MALMOE
- Sweden
- +46-40-214592
- +46-40-217228 (fax)
-
- Illusions
- Keystone, Indiana (Just North of Indianapolis)
- (317) 575-8312
-
- Magic Castle
- Hollywood, CA
- http://www.crl.com/~ivler/mc.html
- This is a members only magic club. Probably the best place to watch magic
- since they have 3 different magic venues, large stage platform and
- close-up.
- The Magic Castle is a membership systemed night club. If you are not
- a member, you have to have a guest card or go to there with a member.
- There are some rules on the back of the guest card.
- 1. Absolutely no one under 21 admitted. Proof of age required.
- 2. Strict dress code. Coats and ties for men, dresses for ladies.
- No casual wear. (No jeans.)
- 3. This card is non-transferable, good for one visit only and must
- be surrendered at the door. Expired cards not accepted.
- 4. Guests must have dinner and make reservations well in advance
- (1 week recommended.) There is an entrance charge of $?????
- for each guest in addition to the dinner price. For reservations
- call 851-3313 between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday thru
- Saturday. Please notify the Castle if you plan to cancel.
- 5. This card honored for dinner Sunday night thru Thursday only
- by advance reservation. Shows follow dinner and are open to
- all guests. This card not honored on Friday and Saturday.
- If you go there with a member, you can go on any day of the week
- and you don't have to have a dinner, you don't have to pay the
- entrance charge.
- (213) 851-3313
-
- Magic Island
- Houston, TX
- (713) 526-2442
- We went with a coupon for about $25 per person. That included dinner, a
- live stage show with two acts, and two close up shows. Without the coupon,
- prices vary, depending on what you order. $50 per person is probably a
- reasonable minimum estimate, but they may have gone up. The food was good,
- and the entertainment ranged from fair to excellent.
-
- Mississippi Live
- Minneapolis Night Club
- They have magicians Wed-Sat nights.
-
- Reuben's
- For some magic talk at 38th and Madison in Manhattan.
- Check it out on Saturday afternoon.
- Straight out of Woody Allen's "Broadway Danny Rose"!
-
-
- Tower
- This is the place in Snowmass Village, just outside Aspen Colorado owned by
- singer John Denver. Doc Eason and Eric Mead share the magical duties there
- working 4 nights a week with Friday night being "tag team night". The
- Tower has been a magic bar since 1975 (20 years old this year) with Bob
- Sheets being the original magic guy. Kevin Dawson, Peter Elliot, John
- Lonergan have also put in time as regulars. Special events have featured
- Ammar, Carney, Givan, Murdock, Goldstein, Close, Spill, JCWagner and
- others. For further info email doceason@rof.net (Doc & Alison Eason)
-
- --
-
- Theatre:
-
- Altered Reality
- National Improvisational Theater
- New York, NY
-
- Le Grande David and His Own Spectacular Magic Company
- Cabot St. Theater
- Beverly, MA
- (508) 927-3677
-
- --
-
- In Atlantic City:
-
- Trop World
- Bunny Collins, Brooks Comer, Bully Damion, Dale Vargus
-
- Trump Castle
- R.J. Lewis, Carl Ash Marn Ann Calkins, Arian Black
-
- --
-
- In the Bahamas:
-
- Carnival's Crystal Palace
- Dick Arthur
- Nassau
-
- --
-
- In Las Vegas:
-
- The Las Vegas magicians' round table is held on Wednesday nights. You
- never know who will show up in the land of magic. All magi are welcome.
- Just give a call to any of the shops when you're there and they'll fill you
- in.
-
- There are alot of magic shows in Las Vegas. Some of the shows are:
- "Alakazam" - ?????
- "City Lites" with Joseph - Flamingo Hilton
- "Elaine's Restaurant" with Mike Skinner - Golden Nugget
- "Jubilee" with Bob Arno and Hans Panter - Ballys
- "Roman Festival" with Jordan Hahn and David Kesterson - Caesars
- "Spellbound" with Joaquin Ayala & Lilia, Tim Kole & Jenny Lynn, Mark
- "Splash" with Shimada - Riviera
- Kevin Barnes, Teresa Liu, and Joe White - Excalibur
- Lance Burton - Monte Carlo
- Melinda - Lady Luck
- Siegfried and Roy - Mirage
- Vince Carmen and Phyllis Guggenheim - Circus Circus
- Plus many others
-
-
- From: silverman@kelvin.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Steve Silverman)
-
- Michael Skinner at the Golden Nugget.
- He is the resident magician and strolls between Lily Langtree's and
- Stefanos restaurant. Michael has been referred to as one of the
- worlds finest close-up performers by some very notable people. I
- was fortunate enough to have dinner with him during my last visit
- and must say that he is also a very nice person and real gentleman.
- ----
- From: Andy Latto [andyl@harlequin.com]
-
- A very entertaining show, and an amazingly good value for
- the money (only about $10). Some of the effects were old
- chestnuts, like chopping off an audience member's head with a
- guillotine, but there were some very nice illusions, and some
- good slight of hand with birds. In addition to the magic, there
- are two very good specialty acts: Anthony Gatto, one of the two or
- three best jugglers in the world, and a group that plays basketball
- and jumps rope on unicycles.
-
-
- In Reno:
-
- "Spellbound" starring The Pendragons
-
- -----------
- In Beverly MA -
- From: jpoulter@island.amtsgi.bc.ca (Jack Poulter)
-
- Le Grande David etc...
- This company of performers also presents shows several
- times a month at the Larcom Theatre also in Beverly MA. A visual
- banquet at most reasonable rates. Highly recommended.
-
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- III. MAGIC ORGANIZATIONS
-
- The following organizations exist to promote magic and further its
- development. Each produces a magazine and sponsors local club meetings.
-
- International Brotherhood of Magicians
- P.O. Box 192090
- St. Louis, MO 63119
- (314) 638-6406
-
- Society of American Magicians
- Richard Blowers, National Administrator
- P.O. Box 510260
- St. Lousis MO 63151
- (314) 846-5659
-
- The following is a list of magic clubs in Belgian
- From: Geert.Janssen@f832.n292.z2.fidonet.org (Geert Janssen)
-
- Here's a list of the belgian magic clubs!
-
-
- INNER MAGIC CIRCLE President
- MERTENS Jean Paul Deerlijksestraat 15 A 8500 KORTRIJK
- Tel: 056/229439
- Fax: 056/229713
-
- KLEINE JOKER
- President
- THIJS Louis Bieststraat 46 3360 LOVENJOEL
- Tel: 016/462237
- Secretary
- NIJS Bart Broekhout 13 3012 WILSELE
- Tel: 016/447057
-
- MAGISCHE CIRKEL GENT
- President
- DE GEETER Kristof Steenweg 296 A 9810 EKE-NAZARETH
- Tel: 09/3856434
- Secretary
- BRAEM Marc Ottergemsesteenweg 125 9000 GENT
- Tel: 09/2222815
-
- VLAAMSE GOOCHELAARS VAN BELGIE
- President
- JANSSEN Marc Arbeidsstraat 11 2500 LIER
- Tel: 03/480.61.96
- Secretary
- JANSSENS Magdalena Heiligstraat 99 2620 HEMIKSEM
- Tel: 03/887.74.11
-
- IBM RING
- President
- ISBECQUE Claude 20, Square F. Riga 1030 BRUSSEL
-
- CENACLE MAGIQUE
- President
- BERGERON Docteur 12, Rue Paul Bossu 1150 BRUSSEL
-
- CLUB (IN CHARLEROI)
- President
- FALQUE Robert 219, Rue Des Haies 6001 MARCINELLE
-
-
- FRAMAGIE
- President
- SCHRAEPEN Vliegveldstraat 51 3500 HASSELT
-
- POETJE PAH
- President
- VAN GOOL Fernand Vinkenstraat 1 2250 OLEN
-
- IBM RING 298
- President
- JANSSEN Marc Arbeidsstraat 11 2500 LIER
- Tel: 03/4806196
-
- I.V.M.V.G.
- President
- BRENGMAN Gerrit Grensstraat 1 1860 MEISE
-
- LES 52 DE LIEGE
- President
- PLERS Rudy 120, Rue Paul Du Fort 4100 SERAING
-
- LUCKY RING
- President
- Peter Willis (INT-323-4751980)
- Dirk Remacle dremacle@minf.vub.ac.be
-
- MAGIC CLUB BELGE
- President
- THIRIART F. 194, Boulevard D'Avroy 4000 LIEGE
-
- MAGIC VICTORIA
- President
- JACOBS Jan Schimpenstraat 5 3500 HASSELT
-
- MAGISCHE CIRKEL KORTRIJK
- President
- LINK Rob 'T Rode Paard 16 8510 BELLEGEM
-
- OPEN MAGIC CIRCLE
- President
- VERHEYEN Marc
-
- VRIENDENKRING VAN GOOCHELAARS
- President
- STAES Willy Wijngaardstraat 94 9000 GENT
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- IV. ELECTRONIC MAGIC
-
- There are a hundreds (thousands) of magic related Web sites and most of
- them have pointers to other magic sites. Here are a few of my favorites to
- get you started:
-
- Robinson Wizard's All Magic Guide
- http://www.uelectric.com/allmagicguide/
-
- The Magic Page
- http://www.daimi.aau.dk/~zytnia/eg.html
-
- Magic Etcetera
- http://www.math.ukans.edu/~atteberr/magic.html
-
- Magic Page
- http://user.itl.net/~encore/
-
- The Linking Page
- http://www.netdepot.com/~gargoyle/magic.html
-
- --------------------------------------------------------
- World of Illusion CD-ROM is published by Alan Ran Multimedia Group
- Contact Ed Pierce edpierce@interaccess.com
-
- --------------------------------------------------------
- Houghton Miflin Interactive published a CDROM for Windows and Macintosh
- called "Inside Magic". It contains Quicktime videos of probably 60+ card,
- coin and prop tricks, and comes with a "bag of tricks" containing a set of
- marked cards and two coins and 3 rope segments. The Quicktime videos are
- entirely under your control - you can slo-mo, single-frame, go backward,
- etc. There is a "presentation" mode to see how to present it and a
- "reveal" mode to see how it's done. There are also videos of more complex
- routines that use combinations of tricks. The give you a "recipe" for each
- of the steps. A reference web page for "Inside Magic" is
- http://www.hminet.com/home/products/magic
-
- --------------------------------------------------------
-
- There are a number of BBS magic discussions. This list is current as of
- Jan 1997.
-
- System Country Sysop Phonenumber
-
- MAGIC!-US (MAGIC! HQ) USA David Lichtman +1-8188967450
- MAGIC!-NL The Netherlands A.Van Rietschoten +31-23588725
- MAGIC!-BE Belgium Geert Janssen +32-34806666
- (20:00-02:00 CET)
- MAGIC!-NZ New Zealand Alan Watson alan@watson.co.nz
- http://www.watson.co.nz/
- Chris Parkinson parky@magic.gen.nz
- http://www.magic.gen.nz/~parky/
- MagicNZ Bulletin Board's internet connection via the web:
- http://www.magic.gen.nz/magicnzbbs.html
- MAGIC!-SE Sweden Olav Holten +46-86044555
-
-
-
- ------------------------------------------------
-
-
-
- ___________________________
- (____(________________(____()
-
-
- ________
- / \
- | A |
- | S /\ |
- | / \ |
- | ( ) |
- | )__( |
- | |
- \________/
-
- --
- PN
-
-
-
-