There was a recent article in the Chicago Tribune about Bill Malone and his newly released DVD set from L&L Publishing, Malone Meets Marlo. We’ll talk about the set a little later, but 1st I want to focus on Bill Malone.

Understand, I don’t know Bill Malone personally and he certainly doesn’t know me. I can only judge him by his public persona and magical output. One only has to view the video on the left to see he is a man of exceptional talent and showmanship.

There’s also a video available of him doing Sam the Bellhop. This is what a self working trick should look like, but SO SELDOM does.

Starting with the Henning Nelms book, magic critics and pundits have preached the entertainment angle of magic into a place it should never have been. Of course magic should be entertaining. That goes without saying. Entertainment is not weaving some inane story around a pedestrian trick while the magician wrangles a few embarrassing twitters from the audience. Wearing a humorous hat or putting one on the reluctant helper doesn’t help – trust me on this!!

I was fortunate enough to see David Williamson again recently and even though he is still magic’s best foole, when it comes time for the magic – he mystifies. More than any other time I’ve seen him, he emphasized the necessity of frying the spectator and ending clean. To, me, this has always been at the core of good/great magic. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to discuss his lecture in the near future.

Malone Meets Marlo – It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a set of DVDs as much as these. In recent years L&L seems to be stretching 2 DVDs worth of material on 4 to 6 DVDs. Frankly, there’s not a lot of good stuff left. Here we have 6 DVDs reasonably full of good material – some of it exceptional.

I never saw and Marlo in person. I have a hard time believing that he was a good entertainer, despite what people like Racherbaumer have written. He certainly was the most prolific author on card magic we have ever seen or probably will ever see. I know there are a lot of arguments regarding the originality of much of his material. I am not enough of a magic historian to make a proper comment on this. I do know, however, that some of you output is excellent magic.

What we can get out of the six DVDs, if nothing else, is Bill’s perspective on the best of Marlo’s work. Some of the tricks, when presented by Bill and least, are staggering. Any kind of a card man or a magician with an interest in cars will certainly find much of interest and some items to be added to the working repertoire.

Others, certainly more capable than me, will review the discs in depth. I’ll be interested in seeing their commentary.

This set of DVDs is much more subdued than the first two from L&L. I’ve heard it suggested that this is purposely done to preserve the deference Bill wished to express towards Marlo. I have no idea.

Although much of the usual crowd is there, the eye candy has certainly gone down hill, actually way down. They have gone from staggeringly good-looking women wearing the bare minimum to overly tattooed average lookers. To put it another way, Falanga has gone from tits to tats — not a good trade, Louis, not a good trade!

That minor criticism aside, you will certainly get your money’s worth from this collection.

Take care……..

All content copyright 2009 by Intensely Magic. Use ONLY with specific permission.

Bill Malone – Entertainer

consultant (k?n-s?l‘t?nt) someone that knows 350 ways to make love, but doesn’t know any women

Criss Angel may not be much of a magician, but whatever he does must work. His latest squeeze:

Way to go Criss!!

Take care……..

All content copyright 2009 by Intensely Magic. Use ONLY with specific permission.

Now here’s a magic book I would buy

Some years ago, Stephen Youell, his holiness, ran a paid website called Cogitations. There was a lot of discussion whether Youell actually delivered what was promised. From my perspective and that of many others, he didn’t. His friends and other enablers persisted in excusing him by claiming they got value for their money. So what! The man had created a contract with your subscribers saying he would do certain things and he didn’t. That’s a fact.

I received and retained a number of messages that Youell sent to people that were just unbelievable in their hatefulness and meanness. At the same time the footer on his Café signature cited a Bible verse, hence the moniker his holiness. At the end of this particular conflagration Youell did his best you won’t have me to kick around anymore (Richard Nixon circa 1966) and rode off into the sunset. Apparently, his horse got lost and turned around. He’s back. Just like getting shit on your finger – you can’t get rid of it.

B. D. Erland wrote, maybe the most intense magic blog I’ve ever read. I don’t know who he is or even if that’s his real name, nor does it matter one whit. I do know that he is a young man who cares about his magic and the state of the art. His essays are brilliantly conceived and thoughtfully constructed. Do I agree with everything he says? Absolutely not! He is however someone who is willing to civilly debate any issue. After he closed his blog — come back B.D. — he apparently became embroiled in a verbal altercation with Youell on the Café.

Anyone that has been around the Café for any length of time realizes that trying to argue with one of Brooks insiders is absolutely fruitless. Your posts will be deleted and his buddies’ posts will either survive or be the last word. Here’s B.D.’s recount all of the altercation:

Ye Olde Magic Blog

(B.D. and others – put Evernote on your computer. When you get a PM or thread on the Cafe that you want to keep – move it to Evernote. Brooks and his henchmen are impotent to alter history then.)

The battle moved to The Weekly Magic Failure. Youell’s posts certainly fit the classic definition:

The act of trying to make something hopelessly weak and unattractive appear strong and appealing. An impossible process that usually results in a larger, uglier turd.

The whole thing is absurd. Youell long ago lost the right to claim any sort of heat of the moment defense. Hiding behind the incredible bulk makes it even less palatable.

Take care…….

All content copyright 2009 by Intensely Magic. Use ONLY with specific permission.

Polishing A Pig

I consider Jim Coles a friend, even though I never met him in the classic sense. He’s a fellow blogger and a good guy. You only need to look at his postings like The Geek Factor to realize Jim really thinks about and cares about magic.

Jim asked me to read and give my honest opinion on his latest manuscript Under Cover. Under Cover is a 22 page pdf describing one of Jim’s pet effects – a spectators initialed quarter appears under the cellophane wrapper of a sealed cigarette pack. As with all good tricks, it can be described in a simple sentence, so it has something going for it.

The pdf is carefully photo-illustrated and Jim precisely describes the performance and preparation. To his credit, he also divulges the weaknesses of the effect:

1. It’s not done by real magic.

2. You use a pack of cigarettes. This obviously means your a Communist and child molester. (As a former smoker, I resent the fervor of the anti-smoking crowd, which puts this at the top of the criminal heap. Meanwhile, the CEOs and CFOs are robbing us blind and laughing their asses off – but I digress.)

3. No instant reset – this is not an any time any where impromptu trick. It is primarily for formal shows and those occasions where you really need to impress.

4. It’s not difficult, but the setup requires some patience and precision.

Actually, a short list. Everything has been audience tested over the years and I can’t imagine anyone having questions after reading the manuscript, but I’m sure Jim will be there to help if you need it.

Why you should by this:

1. The effect is off beat and not seen very often.

2. It’s easily understood from a spectator’s viewpoint. You won’t lose their attention and they don’t have to remember anything.

3. This is a fully honed, professional routine and if it is the kind of trick you do, I can’t think of a better alternative.

4. It’s one of the rarest things in magic – a true bargain. It’s available at Library.com for $6.50. The price of a Frappacino and a lot less fattening.

5. You end clean. I can’t stress the importance here. I’ve seen the best in the world finish routines dirty and they all look as if someone has them by the kajonies and are about to squeeze. There’s too much good magic to perform tricks where there’s a stench in the air from finishing dirty.

6. You don’t have to endure terrible, overbearing music in the ads while miracles are performed for a motley collection of street bums and space queens.

In summary – I really liked it. It’s the kind of magic I like – direct, memorable and unfathomable. It requires enough thought and preparation, that you won’t see everyone else doing, but there’s nothing beyond the reach of the average magician.

In the right hands, you could make a serious reputation with this. I doubt you’ll have women tearing off their clothes, but then again……..

All content copyright 2009 by Intensely Magic. Use ONLY with specific permission.

Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em

Today I ran across a very cool mail site called Wordle. I don’t really know what to call it, except Word Art On Roids. The picture here is what it arbitrarily built when I put in the URL of the i/m blog. I’m not sure of the magic application, but I’ll bet it can be put to good use. I hope you enjoy it.

Take care…….

PS I forgot to mention that I had trouble using it with Firefox. It worked fine with IE – now there’s a switch.

All content copyright 2009 by Intensely Magic. Use ONLY with specific permission.

Something Seriously Cool

I don’t attend many magic lectures any more. Although I came to the conclusion long ago that most professional magicians are pompous, overbearing and over-rated gas bags, I used to be willing to attend 20 or 30 lectures a year hoping to find a few gems. I had the opportunity to see David Williamson, Paul Harris, David Roth, Michael Ammar, Duke Stern and a few others that made the hunt worthwhile – at least I used to think so. As I’ve gotten older and gas has gotten more expensive, I’m going to fewer and fewer. You have to open a lot more oysters to find a pearl it seems.

I recently attended John Lovick’s lecture and was sorely disappointed, as were many others that I spoke to. Here was a lecture that had been advertised for months and Lovick acted liked he just heard about it that afternoon. It was disorganized, uninformative and, in general, just not very good. From my perspective, he wasn’t very gracious to the attendees either. I will admit that I enjoyed getting a glimpse of his Handsome Jack persona, but it certainly wasn’t worth the cost or time invested in attending the lecture.

So….. when I was invited to attend a lecture by David Regal, my initial impulse was no way, but I remembered how much I had enjoyed his DVDs and he certainly seemed like a nice guy and the magic was clever and doable. I decided to go and boy am I glad I did! Regal is a nice guy and his lecture was fun and informative. He was well prepared even though it was the first time he had done this particular lecture.

In all fairness, this is probably more of a book tour than a lecture. Regal has produced a huge and expensive book called Approaching Magic. It is pregnant with every type of material imaginable and it was a real pleasure seeing some of the things performed that I had recently read. As expected, some looked better and a couple actual looked worse than I envisioned. He sold a bunch of books!

Two things struck me as I thought about the lecture. David Regal structures his magic to fool his audience. Even though he does some story stuff, he’s a magician and the trick comes first. Thanks for remembering that!

The other thing I’ve been formulating in my mind all day and I’m still not sure I can state it as succinctly as I would like. Entertaining magicians like Regal don’t spend their time talking about entertainment – they truly teach by example. It seems that only the dullards keep beating their audience constantly with the entertainment stick.

See him if you get a chance – it’s worth the effort I assure you.

Take care……

Final Drivel – Regal did a lot of stuff with magnets – well hidden stuff. It may be time to drag out the old pendulum principal and combine that with these modern magnets.  It could be a powerful combination. I kind of wish I hadn’t sold my Upside Down Topit books now.

All content copyright 2009 by Intensely Magic. Use ONLY with specific permission.

A little faith restored

And whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears, to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way. My fondest hope for each one of you — and especially for young people — is that you will love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism. May each of you have the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will make the world a little better for your having been here. May all of you as Americans never forget your heroic origins, never fail to seek divine guidance, and never lose your natural, God-given optimism. And finally, my fellow Americans, may every dawn be a great new beginning for America and every evening bring us closer to that shining city upon a hill.” –Ronald Reagan (1992)

Can you imagine these sentiments coming from those maroons running our country now? We are paying an enormous price for politics of fear as they have been practiced for the past seven years. Bush – Cheney – Rove – take your pick. I hope they all rot in Hell. I know that may sound harsh, but the hubris of their malfeasance will be borne by our children for generations.

Tom Frank recently wrote:

…..I’ve never know it to be such a challenge to get people to lighten up and little and have some fun. They stand there, watch, pay or don’t pay, but it’s pulling teeth to get a large part of the audience to show even trace amounts of delight.

Actually, I genuinely think things WILL get better. All of us are like the guys with the shovel after a circus parade. There’s a serious load of elephant shit to pickup, but eventually we will and the stench of recent years will eventually fade.

Take care…..

i/m

All content copyright 2009 by Intensely Magic. Use ONLY with specific permission.

It wasn’t always like this…..

We’re fortunate that we have people like Regal involved with magic. This type of quality and magic thinking is becoming increasingly rare.

I understand he’s going on a lecture tour shortly. I hope I can catch him.

All content copyright 2009 by Intensely Magic. Use ONLY with specific permission.

Pure Magical Delight

Anyway, last week he was talking about attending a social function of some sort and the hosts had hired a magician -  dare I say a profession magician – to perform. Colin’s recollection of the performance was:

Here’s a coin.

Now it’s gone.

You’re a jerk!

It doesn’t really matter whether his assessment was correct or not. It appears that we are saddled with a public perception that is damn difficult to remove. The really sad thing is the vast majority of magicians, especially hobbyists and amateurs, are genuinely nice people just trying to have a little fun and spread a little happiness.

There are exceptions…….

A friend of mine recently attended a local magic contest, put on by one of the better clubs. There were 10 participants and, as usual, the club made an effort to have lay-type people there so the contestants could work to non-magicians. So, they had women, children, men etc. in the audience.

One act began with the classic sponge balls from mouth – actually performing the critical pass very well. He then proceeds to end the routine by producing a Goshman Ding Dong from his mouth. Now remember there are small children here – what the Hell was he thinking. Even if he was performing in the Red Wings locker room this would be inappropriate. Who wants to see a routine ending with a soggy sponge Johnson?

To compound the crime he said it was a canon, because the rest of his act was a big bang or something lame like that.

Do you think any of those layman recalled the other nine acts?

All content copyright 2009 by Intensely Magic. Use ONLY with specific permission.

Maybe they’re right

I ran into a program on the Internet recently called Virtual Hypnotist. It was free, so I downloaded it.

I haven’t even looked at it yet. Are any of my readers familiar with it?

i/m

All content copyright 2009 by Intensely Magic. Use ONLY with specific permission.

Virtual Hypnotist