Santiago's Magic Musings

A possible home for "In Restless Dreams."

2010-04-23T08:14:00.001-07:00

I know I've talked about my show only a little bit and if vague terms. Mainly this has been simply because much of it was still a bit to nebulous for me to want to commit anything to what was at most a long term vision.

Well, it's come a little closer now.

One of the things that has been a hold up is finding a theater space that meets my needs. There are not that many theater spaces to begin with in the area and limiting my choices by a specific set of criteria made those choices practically non-existant.

No, let me rephrase that. My choices were non-existant but largely due to a certain level of ignorance on my part. Ignorance that it seems a very large number of my friends could have cured me of since they all knew about it.

See I spent some time yesterday afternoon searching around for information about possible venues, with several of the ones I was already familiar with in mind, to try and find out greater details (rental rates, stage plans, etc etc), and I found a place called "The Actors Theatre" in Santa Cruz.

On a lark I swung by there yesterday afternoon while waiting for my usual Thursday night activities to start and was lucky enough to run into the production manager for the space. I got a quick tour and then sat down and had an excellent conversation with the business manager there.

It's a small space, intimate which I like. 88 theater style seats as well as two wheelchair designated spaces, so basically 90 seats. The stage space is about 20'x25', they provide the lighting and sound systems (I provide the techs), and I get featured on their webspace and newsletter. The rates are very reasonable.

One of the things that has kind of held me up has been the thinking it takes to design a show when one doesn't know anything about the space it's going to be in. We've been doing that kind of thing for years with the Golden Stag Players but doing it for a magic show introduces it's own level of problems.

Now that I have a space in mind, the desing process has already been picking up and I feel like "In Restless Dreams" may have found it's first home.

How long?

2010-04-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've written anything here and for that I do apologize. I imagine that there might not even be anyone reading at the moment but really that is okay.

Where have I been? Around. I took a long break from magic mainly because I got a regular day job. As much as I love doing magic professionally the economy combined with a mortgage isn't always easily sustainable on a humble magician's earnings.

I haven't been inactive though. I've spent time working with the lovely Daya on magic for her forthcoming musical tour as well as developing some new material of my own. I hope to have a full scale stage production written some time soon and from there will begin the process of finding a place to perform it and pulling together the funds to properly produce the show.

The process has been long, finding the time in my otherwise busy schedule to stoke the creative juices and produce something, but I have done a number of things lately to bring that creativity back to life and it is working.

So thank you for your patience. If all goes well it may not be to far in the future when you will see my theatrical presentation out there on some marquee.

Rainbow Weddings doesn't respect their vendors.

2009-02-11T11:28:00.000-08:00

Okay, look, at this point I think it's pretty clear that I am indeed "gay and lesbian friendly." I have offered my magic services to "gay and lesbian" weddings and other functions. I'll work with virtually anyone.

Well, there is now one organization that is "gay and lesbian friendly" that I refuse to work with and I'm going to explain why.

Rainbow Weddings. If you are someone who has a service to offer to "gay and lesbian weddings", seriously consider doing so on your own instead of using their advertising services.

About two years ago I purchased advertising with them. I was totally fine with it. A little on the expensive side but I felt it was worth giving it a shot like so many of the other advertising venues I've tried. I did it to see if it was worth it. And like any half way decent business person I kept track of my ROI with their advertising.

Zilch. I bought a years worth of advertising and never even got a query let alone a gig. Now I'm not bitter about that. This is just business for me at this point. I spent the advertising dollar and gave it a reasonable amount of time to show me if it was going to be worth while or not. If I had gotten a query or two that would have been sufficient. A gig or two would have been great. In this case, nothing.

Well, at the end of the year I got the expected emails saying "Hey, your account is about to run out. Time to renew." I told them "No thanks" and then had the expected exchange of messages asking why. I explained that financially it didn't work for me and that my ROI didn't justify continueing to spend money with them. There is one other reason which is, simply, that I'm just not doing as much with magic these days and that what I want to focus on where my magic is concerned is the creation of my stage show.

Now at this stage I would have thought that I would not hear from them anymore. Contract done, etc.

No.

I started getting advertising emails from them. Special event notices like wedding expos and such. No automated means of getting off their lists so I sent messages asking to be removed. Nothing. More SPAM. More requests to be removed. More SPAM.

I called them. I spoke to them on the phone and politely asked to be removed from their mailings. Got promises. Got more SPAM.

I called them again. I spoke to them on the phone and more firmly asked to be removed from their mailings. Got promises. Got more SPAM.

Notice the pattern here?

Well, today takes the cake. I am getting the same fucking message I got originally asking me if my services are "gay and lesbian friendly" and how would I like to advertise with them.

So, here we are.

People at Rainbow Weddings, you clearly have no respect for your vendors and I will not only not be doing business with you, but I am informing everyone I can that you don't seem to be very trustworthy.

"Scrolls" is now available!

2007-07-09T08:25:00.001-07:00

Well, the time has finally come. My book, "Scrolls: A Book of Story Telling Magical Theatre" is finally available for order from Leaping Lizards Publishing.

"Scrolls" contains routines, essays and a one-man show of magic based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe entitled "Poe's Grave."

Effects include "The Devil's Suicide" (my version of the six card repeat), "The Eye of The Seer" (a spooky approach to The Egg Bag), "Reincarnation - The Broken and Restored Thread" and many other effects.

And if you order before August 1st you will receive a bonus CD of effects as well.

For a sample from the book or to order please visit:

http://www.leapinglizardsmagic.com/scrolls.htm

Enjoy!

Doing Demo Videos

2007-05-29T17:40:00.001-07:00

Well it's taken a fair amount of work, but I've managed finally to put together my first website demo video. It's not much, but I rather like it for a first effort. Once I get a better handle on how to do this video editing stuff I can make improvements until I get the kind of thing I really want all together.

On the artistic integrity of a good story...

2007-05-21T22:58:00.001-07:00

Okay, usually I'm talking about magic, or perhaps I'm talking about my rapier studies and SCA related things.

This time I'm talking about story telling via "Heroes."

So we now have ended the story. Or have we? Now that the first season is over, let's talk a little about how it ended. I am not satisfied. A couple of months ago I heard that they were going to take the story into another season. I knew then that I was likely not going to be happy about it. And here it turns out that I am correct.

First the big continuity error: Peter Petreilli should have just flown away. He could you know. The first power he absorbed was his brother Nathan's. We know that once he absorbed a power he could use it again and again. He could fly. And if Peter loved everyone "unconditionally" then he should have been willing to fly off and blow up at a safe distance. Why did it take Nathan to do that for him? Because he's scared? Well, yes, they established his reliance on his brother throughout the season, but I'm still no so sure. He seemed ready to use other powers to protect people despite the danger to himself.

But who else should have died? DL certainly. I'm guessing that in the original story that DL probably did die. Why didn't he? We'll get to that.

Who else? Ando probably, and definitely Syler. Ando's death would have turned Hiro into the hero he is supposed to be and Syler was the villian that needed to be destroyed in the end.

So why didn't these guys actually die? (And yes, Syler is still alive. The image of the manhole cover is painfully obvious even without the "symbolic" cockroach crawling on it.) I'm guessing "Corporate Greed."

The network sees that they have a good thing going making them money. So they say "Hey, let's change the story a bit so we can keep everyone's favorite characters and milk this thing for more money." So out goes the artistic integrity of the story. You could see it. You could feel it. The ending didn't justify all that had gone on before.

Imagine how much more powerful the story would have been if Ando had bought the farm at Syler's hand in Isaac's loft? That would have been the moment that Hiro's heart would have been sacrificed to the dragon just like in his favorite story of Kensie. How much more would it have meant to Nikki to save Micha once she truly realized that he was all she had left of DL now that she knew that despite the manipulation of their lives and relationship they really did love each other?

Someone once told me that the difference between a Hero and a Champion is that a Hero is dead. Cynical, but think about that in light of little Molly looking at Parkman and hoping that he doesn't die.

I've enjoyed this series right from the beginning and I expect that I'll continue to enjoy it into it's second season. But this would have been so much better had it been a one shot thing. The artisitc integrity of the story would have been maintained. I know that it's a battle for writers to keep their visions intact in the face of corporate greed. It's sad to think that this story seems to have suffered that.

For those of you who are the "artistic story teller types," whether you be magicians or writers or whatever, think about the artisitic integrity of the story you create and tell. Think how much more it could be if you don't hold back and especially if you don't sell out. Those moments are precious and it sucks to give them up to something that might be easier to do or will be "more commercial."

Oh, and while you're thinking about that, also think about who was wearing Kensei's armor at the end there. Looked like "Hiro's dad" didn't it? *smile*

On aging paper

2007-05-15T14:42:00.001-07:00

Occasionally when you are working to create your own props you find that you need to have paper that looks old. This is especially good for routines where the props are old books or maps. Nothing looks worse then when you are telling a story and you try to pass off something freshly printed from your computer as an old letter from several generations ago.

But paper is kind of delicate stuff isn't it?

Well, no, not really. Paper can take a pretty fair amount of abuse. And as such you can do some things to it which makes it look older then it actually is. Here then is a brief listing of different ways that you might use to make your paper look old.

1. For color, soak it in dark tea
2. To make sheets brittle, get them wet and then cook them in a low temp oven.
3. To yellow them just leave them out in the back of your car for about a month!
4. You can make paper look dirty by rubbing powdered chocolate on it.
(Yes, I know some people would consider that a waste of good chocolate.)
5. Use the microwave to cook ketchup or steak sauce onto the paper to get "dried blood."
6. Get sealing wax from your local art supply store and drip some on.
7. Get Violin Rosin from the music shop to rub on the paper for that "old" smell.

Sometimes it takes just a touch of creativity to make your props looks that much better, but when you do the payoff is amazing!

Technorati Post

2007-05-14T23:05:00.000-07:00

Technorati Profile

Want to be a Magician?

2007-04-11T09:44:00.001-07:00

Starting this April 16th, at the Boulder Creek Community Center I will be teaching magic classes!

There are two classes being offered.

First, a class specifically for adults and children together. What a great way to spend time with your kids, learning a skill which builds hand-eye coordination, self confidence and is great fun besides!

Second, a class specifically for adults only. Here we'll be examining more sophisticated magical techniques that you will be able to use to perform in most any situation and even build your own effects from!

Want to know more?

Sign up now at the Boulder Creek Community Center or call: 1-831-338-4144 to reserve your spot!

Santiago the Magician
Enter a World of Elegant Magic
Santiago's Magic

And so it begins....

2007-03-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

A long time project of mine is finally coming to fruition.

I have entered into negotiations with a publisher for my first book; Scrolls.

Scrolls is a collection of magic routines, essays and a one man play of magic effects based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. If all goes well then it will be published sometime in the fall.

I can only begin to scratch the surface on how I feel about this. Every time I have had an article published I have been overjoyed. Being a writer is almost as much fun as being a magician, and I've wanted it for far longer. When some of my essays started to see print I became utterly enthralled with the idea of actually publishing a book. Like many people I've even started half a dozen different novels and like many people those novels remain unfinished.

But creating a book of magic was something different and now, here I am, talking with a publisher!

Wish me luck, and believe me, if this all comes together you can bet you'll be hearing about it and where to buy it!

Santiago

Spammers at it again....

2007-03-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

For anyone out there who is getting SPAM that says it's coming from the Santiagos Magic domain name, I do apologize. It isn't coming from me at all. Some SPAMMER has latched on to my domain name as a way to try and hide the source of the messages. You can tell this from a number of different ways, but primarily you can see it in the fact that the addresses used are nonsense. For example I never send out messages from:

dwsch@santiagosmagic.com

Any random assortment of letters before the @ is a sure sign it is a SPAMMER.

And for what it's worth, every day now I'm getting several hundred bounced messages instead of the jackass who is sending them.

Not a lot I can do about it, but there is something you can do about it.

If you happen to get a SPAM from what appears to be my domain, or really ANY SPAM, please use the on-line SPAM reporting tool: SPAMCOP.

This tool will allow you to run the SPAM through a quick process that generates email complaints to the actual network administrators of the domains and ISP's really being used. Those people can shut the offenders down.

It's free and it works. I've been using it for years now.

Thanks,

Santiago

Santiago's Dreamworks Adventure

2007-02-01T18:41:00.000-08:00

What a day!

I've only been waiting for this to come around since just before Thanksgiving. That's when I got the initial call. And I've been a wreck ever since.

Yes, I've worked for some pretty good sized clients before. Law firms. Banks. Computer hardware and software companies. I like these events because the people usually are just uptight enough that I get the chance to really mess with them and they just eat it up.

But this was different.

This was Dreamworks. These guys know how to have a good time and they work at a job that is fun!

At first I thought I was going to be doing strolling magic. This is good. I love doing strolling magic. Then I found out that they wanted a formal show. Okay, I can do that too.

For 200 people.

Hmmm. Okay, that's a bit larger then I usually work with but I can still do that.

Then, it's two shows for 200 people. Hmmm. Okay, stretching my resources a bit but I can still do that.

Then, it's two shows for 100 people each. Okay. I'm more comfortable with that. Can I do the same show both time? Yes. Good. I can definitely go with that.

20 minutes? Hmmm. A bit shorter then I usually do, but I can edit a bit to come up with something that will flow well.

No fire, but they do want *poof*. Poof? Hmmm, I can do that too, but I need to work out some details.

It's been weeks and months of planning, but that's okay. Except they keep making these requests and changes. Okay, I can deal with this, but the closer we get to show time the less likely I'll be able to make modifications.

I settle on a line up. Thanks to the fact that they are filming this and putting it up on monitors half way back into the audience I have the chance to put some of my favorite close up material back into the show. I do this.

I settle on a line up of standards along with my new closer and my big piece is my 2 Ring Linking Rings routine. It's become something of a Masterwork Piece for me, so it has a lot of drama in it. And as much as I love the medieval-iod music I use for it in SCA settings, I change to a different bit of music. I know they are filming this and I know there is a chance that some of the film is going to be used for promotional material on their part so I select a piece of music I know is Royalty Free in order to avoid any problems. Truthfully, I like this bit of music better anyway, but it is modern fantasy sounding so it doesn't work well in SCA settings.

The day comes and I have all my show packed up early. I must kill time. It would do no good for me to be there to early. My contract says that my first show is at 4:00 pm so I plan on being there no later then 3:00. I get there at 2:45.

I'm thinking this is good. Plenty of time to relax, feel out the room and take my time setting up the one effect I'll be doing *poof* in.

Nope. Doesn't work out that way.

For some reason they think my first show is supposed to be at 3:00 pm.

YIKES!

They have a limited amount of time to run this. How fast can I be ready? I tell them "ten minutes to setup my show and ten minutes to get in to costume."

So while I'm setting things up I'm thinking "take out the *poof*." Sorry, but this is delicate stuff and I can't afford to rush it. It only changes the end of one effect a little so I can afford to abandon it.

The room is long and narrow. It's the cafeteria. Not what I was expecting. They gave me the impression that the room would be one where they do presentations. On the other hand, perhaps they do presentations in the cafeteria sometimes. I don't know, but again I just adapt. This is why I select the kinds of effects that I do. My show is highly adaptable and I can perform it almost anywhere.

I work the audience for a bit while the camera crew finishes setting things up. They are going to get me a lot of good, high definition footage. I should have it in a couple of weeks.

Showtime.

I go with my standard opener. I had been toying with a change here but decided to fall back to my standard because it helps me relax and by this point I am a freaking stress monkey. Whatever other impression of calm and professional you get from reading this, remember that under this calm cool exterior beats the heart of a stressed out maniac.

But my standard opener does a couple of things for me. It allows me to see who in the room is going to be worth playing with and it allows me to fall into the flow of my show with little thought. I know myself well enough to know that even if I am stressed out, once I hit the stage all energy goes into the performance and I forget about everything else.

Next I go into my favorite card trick. You all know it. You've all seen it. But here I'm hoping that the footage I get of the effect in close up (because those cameras where rolling) will be worth putting on my site for advertising. We shall see.

Then I go into "story time" and tell my "three monks" story with the three rope effect. The magicians who read this will know the effect as "The Professors Nightmare." After the show was over I had several people tell me that the audience was absolutely enraptured by my story telling. Good. Hopefully that will help make up for the lack of *poof*.

I move on to my musical 2 Rings Linking Ring Routine. (I really need to come up with a better title for the effect since it is something of a "masterwork" piece.) They were the most responsive audience I have ever had for this effect. Applause at every appropriate spot and totally amazed by the end.

I have to admit that I really turned on the energy for this one. So much so that I actually felt my legs trembling! I had to control that while still keeping the energy up. And again, after the show, one of the sound guys came up and told me that he figured I must have been pretty nervous because he could hear my heart through the body mike I was wearing.

Well, yeah, skippy. I was nervous. This is one of my best effects and I am doing it for the people at DREAMWORKS!!! *smile*

I finished off with my "Poe-tic Ribbon." This my recitation of a bit of Edgar Allan Poe (the "Dream within a dream" speech) and the production of a rainbow ribbon from the air. It's a nice bit that rounds out the show.

The applause was damn near thunderous. No *poof* but I got you people. And that's what counts!

Short break, reset my props.

"Santiago? Could you pose for a minute here. One of our artists is drawing a picture of you and we want to get some footage of him doing that while you are inspiring him."

D'OH!

So, fortunately for me I have a few more effects in my table. Learned a long time ago that it's always a good idea to bring more things then you actually need, because the things you actually need are never enough! So I performed that rubber band trick of mine (you all know the one) while they filmed mister Dreamworks Artist Guy (whose name is actually Ryan Savas) drawing pictures of me.

And yes, I did get a copy. (I'll probably put it up in the next day or so.)

So now it's time for the second show.

Only, turns out most of the people came for the first show (more then 100) and few came for the second. I had an audience of only about 30 for the second show.

Okay, adapting again. We bring the energy down a bit and make the show feel more intimate. A bit harder on me because as a smaller crowd they weren't sure if they could respond. But I worked them. And by the end I had them.

So where is everyone? Turns out the most of the people who came to the earlier show were now off in rushes. For those of you that don't know what that means, "rushes" are the daily films that are watched by everyone for editing and content. Dreamworks is in crunch mode finishing the last little bits of the next film "Shrek The Third."

So this was my day at Dreamworks.

Everybody is happy. The agent who booked me for this gig came to see me perform, and he's already talking about other things he wants to book me for. The people at Dreamworks are happy and I may very well hear more from them. There is a chance, albeit a small one, that a clip of my show may end up somewhere in the extras on the "Shrek The Third" DVD. Some sort of "behind the scenes" extra showing how cool it is to work at Dreamworks.

Because you know what?

It is cool. Even if I only got to work there for a day.

Scammers at it again!

2007-01-11T10:38:00.000-08:00

Scammers try any number of ways to get your money. About a year ago I recieved a message which had a number of the tell tale signs of being a scam, but I investigated it just a bit to verify. Basically the message I recieved said someone was interested in hireing me to entertain at an event, and they were willing to pay for my travel, lodging and everything else along with my services. It looked potentially like a large paying gig.

I sent back a proposal and promptly recieved a cashiers check in the mail for several thousand dollars over the amount I quoted.

This is, of course, how the scam actually works. They expect you to call or email them back and say "I'm sorry, but you sent to much money." They then tell you it's alright. They trust you to cash the check and send them back the difference.

Yeah, right.

See, here is the thing. It's all in the timing. If you do this relatively quickly then by the time your bank has managed to verify the funds, it's to late. The check is, of course, a fraud, and the bank will then hold you responsible for all the money including what you sent back to the scammer.

No, I was not caught by this. I never lost a dime, but I did gather enough information in my dealings with them to open an FBI case.

So, I'm putting the word out there. If you happen to get a message like the one below, it is a scam. Don't go there.

-----------

Mr Keyshawn Jaxson , recommended us your company Santiago's Magic.
Below you will find a proforma invoice with the full details of our first order.
Please sign and send back to us by fax or email: proforma_invoice.doc

Thank you in advance, and contact us as soon as you can, with a full offer.
Also let us know if the prices you published here at http://old.pinagalli.org are right or not.

Manager Campbell Nick .
Jaxon Soons LLC, California
Phone: 795-637-3884
Fax: 395-657-9969

Do not trust Chu's Magic!

2006-10-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

I do not trust Chu's Magic!

Why? Because they are SPAMMERS!

I have never bought a single item from Chu's Magic. I never even heard of them until I started recieving advertisements from them. Advertisements for people I've never heard of for material I have no interest in.

The only way they could have gotten my address would be to have bought it from someone else or harvesting it from somewhere.

In any case, SPAMMERS are already annoying enough. Getting SPAM from a business I might have considered doing business with if I had found out about them through legitimate means is not only annoying, but flat out enraging.

I will not do business with Chu's Magic and if you care about your privacy I would suggest that you don't either.

Santiago
Enter a World of Elegant Magic
Santiago's Magic

Where have you been?

2006-09-22T09:37:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been gone for so long. It's been a busy couple of months.

Right at the beginning of July I was in the middle of producing a theatrical show called "Gothic at Midnight" starring my friend Joshua Kane. Joshua came out and gave us a fantastic performance, and although the audiences weren't nearly as large as I would have liked, the experience was amazing. Joshua taught me a lot about producing shows as well and so next time around things are going to be much better for my star.

He was an absolute champ.

At the very same time I was busy purchasing a house. That's right, the fates are twisted and while my wife and I had literally spent a year looking around at houses, the perfect one didn't fall into our laps until I was so up to my eyeballs in production work that I literally drove myself crazy trying to keep it all running.

Then, of course, was the move itself, which was mostly handled by me since my lady wife was busy working to pay the bills. Though we did get professional movers to get all the furniture over, which was a nightmare in and off itself. If you happen to live in my area (Santa Cruz, CA) and you need to move - do not, under any circumstances, use Bluebird Moving. You have been warned.

As the world has settled out I have been busy getting my contacts back into play. Working the Ren Faire this year, arranging gigs, and generally getting my entertainment business in shape again.

Soon I will also be teaching at a local Arts Academy as well. A place called "The Radiant Life Academy." I will be teaching acting and magic classes. I look forward to it.

So that's the past few months in a nut shell. I promise that I will have some better thoughts on the world of Magic from this side of things soon.

Thanks!

What Impresses You?

2006-06-19T10:43:00.000-07:00

I was considering some of the things that happened at The Dragonslayers event I did this weekend, and I think I'm finally narrowing in on one particular incident that sort of unsettled me.

The Dragonslayers event was a Ren Fair kind of thing and I had a booth which I preformed magic and fortune telling out of. It was fun and I had a good time.

However I knew that I wasn't going to be the only magician who attended the event. One of the other local professionals was there as well. I've known him for a number of years and typically when someone calls me for a kids show I direct them to this performer because he is very good with kids.

He showed up at the event and came in behind one of the audiences I had gathered while I was performing my three rope routine (yes, I know what it's called, but I'm trying to be general here for the lay people in my audience.) which actually works in a fashion most magicians aren't aware of. In fact every magician I've shown it to claims they have never seen this variation, which is why I keep it this way.

After my show was over he approached me and we caught up with each other. We hadn't seen each other in a number of years and the last time that he and I actually even worked a gig together was something like 8 or 10 years ago.

After a few minutes of catching up he pulled out one of the ubiquitous card wallets that magicians are plagued with and proceeded to show me a trick. Now you have to understand that these little care wallets, or as they are often referred to: "packet tricks," are sometimes very problematic. After all, when you pull one of these out, the first and automatic assumption on the part of the spectator is "these must be faked/gimmicked." And very often they are correct.

Okay, admittedly I have one or two of these myself. I stopped buying them years and years ago when I realized the problem with them I just mentioned. But to be perfectly fair, there is one that I still use once in a while. I choose to use it because I feel that the effect is strong enough to outweigh the obvious problems and suspicions.

However this particular effect presented to me was, well, kind of lame. In my opinion anyway. I'm sure that it is probably impressive to some people. I'm certain that it must be impressive to the children who are his primary audience.

What struck me as strange in this case was that he seemed to think that I would be impressed as well!

Now I'm not saying that to somehow brag. That isn't the case at all. Rather what I'm getting at is that when magicians get together to talk shop we aren't usually going to try and impress one another with a "packet trick." It just isn't going to happen. We'll show them to each other to discuss the mechanics and see how clever the creations can be, but trying to impress one another with a "packet trick" is just plain foolishness.

This morning I realized why this bothered me so much. When last he and I worked together, all those years ago, this was the same kind of thing he was doing then. He was doing a number of other things as well, but this was indeed a substantial part of his work. Over the years I have worked hard to expand my repitior and to move away from these kinds of things because they are so common and so "obvious" to me and therefore I assume to my audiences.

That was a long time ago and I'm sorry to see that this performer is still stuck in the world of "packet tricks." I would have thought that he would have moved on from there by now.

Damn.

John Edward is at it again....

2006-06-12T11:27:00.000-07:00

Holy crap. He's on TV again. A new series. "John Edward Cross Country." Now he's going every where to get the audiences.

TiVo caught it for me. I'll be letting TiVo know that was a bad thing. "Bad TiVo. Bad bad TiVo."

In the meantime I decided to watch. Definitely the same old tricks which anyone who picks up their first book of "mental magic" would know. Interestingly enough he has a few new tricks for how to pass the buck. At least they are new tricks to my experience.

Okay, I know I don't need to tell all of you this, but I feel a need to state this anyway.

John Edward is a fraud. He can not "speak with the dead." No one can. He is doing nothing more then a battery of well known linguistic tricks and basic salesmanship skills such as active listening. He is using techniques familiar to magicians all over the world.

Don't fall for this crap. Even when I do it as a magician to entertain you, don't fall for it.

Please.

David Blaine Drowned Alive???

2006-05-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

Since I was asked about my opinion regarding the New York Underwater Bubble Guy, AKA David Blaine, I thought I'd go ahead and make a general post about him.

Personally, I have never liked him. My reasons are fairly straight forward.

When he first appeared on the air waves a few years ago, he was performing his "Street Magic." David is pretty much responsible for the current wave of popularity in this particular field of magic, and while I can't fault him for that, I do have a problem with the impression it has created.

In the same moment as creating the popular movement of "Street Magic" David also convinced a huge segment of America's youth that it would be cool to be a "Street Magician." The only problem is that for the most part they all STINK AT IT! More then any other popularity boom in the magic world that I have had the opportunity to witness, "Street Magic" has led to a higher percentage of "bad magic" then any other type.

Like most magicians, David spent the entire hour doing various small effects while hyping the one "grand illusion" that would be presented at the end of the show. He would levitate himself in the street.

Now, for what it's worth, I know the levitation that he used. I know how to perform it, though I haven't practiced it in the least. And I know that you can get a couple of inches off the ground when you do it. But more about that later.

So, the rest of the TV special David is doing a selection of card tricks, one coin trick and one 'body' trick (a kind of controtion). The entire time his presentation almost always involves him walking up to someone, looking down at his shoes and mumbling something that sounds a bit like "heyyawannaseeeatrick."

Poor presentation, poor presence and nothing at all to make me want to like him.

Now before I start sounding like a bag of sour grapes, let me just say that David's *technical* skills are really impressive. Some of those card manipulations he does are certainly beyond me. He is an extremely good technician. It's his persona that I have problems with.

Then it was time for the grand illusion. He is going to levitate himself on the street in front of people. And he does it! Except that what we all saw on TV and what they saw live WERE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS! That's right, David used a camera trick. The people who were there live saw David come off the ground a couple of inches. On TV we saw him come off the ground by 12 to 18 inches.

Since then every special David has done has followed the same basic format of about four tricks repeated over and over again for different street audiences spliced together with hype for whatever "grand illusion" he is currently doing.

Except that after the levitation he hasn't done another "grand illusion." Instead he has done various kinds of "endurance stunts." So far he is been put into a block of ice for how ever many hours it was (which was done by James Randi years ago when he was still performing regularly by the way), he has been suspended in a box over a river for several days, he has stood on top of a pole for several days and then jumped off into a pile of cardboard boxes and now it's spending time in a bubble of water. YAWN.

Did you know that when he was hanging from the bridge in a box he actually had an active internet connection? There was a big deal about it because a bunch of people kept sending him email telling him how lame the stunt was.

He also had a show in Vegas. A show that opened and closed in less then a week. Why? The audiences were bored. He simply couldn't sustain their interest.

But there is some sense of justice. The "kids" who all want to be "Street Magicians" are getting bored with him as well. At least as far as I can see in the various forums I watch. They are complaining that the stunts are stupid and boring and they want to see magic instead. Not only that, they are starting to realize that David isn't that interesting a person either.

So I have some hope. A tiny flicker of hope anyway. And maybe, just maybe, even David Blaine will start to realize that stunts are not magic and there are better things for him to be doing.

"Gothic at Midnight"

2006-05-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have been gone for a bit. I've been busy. I am preparing to produce a show here in Santa Cruz. My good friend Joshua Kane is coming to do his one man show "Gothic at Midnight."

Want to know more? Of course you do!

Gothic at Midnight
A Tribute to the Masters of the Macabre!

The Demons of Darkness have come to Santa Cruz!

Join us as we cheer away an evening with tales of revenge, madness and despair. Classically trained actor Joshua Kane, inspired by the old-time radio dramas of Orson Welles and Vincent Price, populates the stage with unforgettable characters, bewitching audiences with a devilish sense of fun and whimsy. Audiences will experience a roller coaster ride of terror and laughter.

June 30th, July 1st
8:00 pm
Rio Theater
Downtown Santa Cruz

For more information and to buy your tickets visit:
http://www.wildbabu.com

An award-winning tribute to the Masters of the Macabre drawing from the works of Poe, Dickens, and Bierce, Kane “amuses you with his antics, frightens you with his intensity and charms you with his tales of the fantastic.”
—The Charleston City Paper, Spoleto Festival, SC

“If you have forgotten how good it can be to listen to a real storyteller and be swept up in a story, or if it’s been too long since you experienced the joy of listening to someone tell you a tale that makes your blood run cold, you need to listen to Joshua Kane, a man whose voice is an instrument of delightful terror.”
—Neil Gaiman
author of American Gods, Neverwhere, and Sandman

"Savvy, witty, and spell-binding....
-Peter Straub, bestselling author of Ghost Story

Embracing Masculine Magic

2006-04-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

Recently I went on a rampage regarding the presentation of a card trick by a woman who decided that the best way to keep the attention of her audience was to be dressed like a hooker and to reveal the card by pulling down her top and showing her breast where a duplicate of the card had been stashed.

In the process of the ensuing discussion the point was once again raised that women in magic have a really tough time and that magic has a lot of very heavy handed masculine themes along with having appropriated very important feminine themes.

I'm not here to tell anyone that this isn't the case. Quite the contrary, but I'm also not going to give anyone a lecture about what it means to be a woman in magic. For starters I am not gender equipped to really know.

But a thought did get raised which I feel deserves some consideration.

With the trend towards recognizing the real differences between what women in magic are doing and what men are doing, there has been plenty of focus on women rediscovering the things that are decidedly feminine about magic.

Yet there seems to be no thought whatsoever regarding what is masculine in magic. The assumption is that magic has, all along, been masculine in nature but I think that assumption must be questioned.

Men doing magic have for sometime hijacked feminine themes such as production and restoration. It is clear, when looking at the entire repertoire of magic, that many effects are very feminine in nature and yet it is men who have been doing them.

This got me to thinking that the reason magic seems so unnatural is the fact that performers are crossing over gender lines in a particular way.

Now in the past I have argued that effects are not gender based, but rather routines are. I still stand by that. I do not believe that specific effects are either masculine or feminine, which may seem in contradiction to the premise of this essay, but bear with me and I think you will see that this isn't the case.

I am going to use one of the classic effects as my example and see what kinds of conclusions can be drawn from it. My choice for this is the "Sawing" illusion.

Now right off the bat we can already see that this might very well be a definitely masculine piece. After all, it is all about what a man is forcing his female assistant to endure. Or is it?

Historically the piece was originally performed by a man who was sawing another man in half. Admittedly this didn't last long, but it did start out that way. So from that alone we can safely assume that at least the conscious attempt was not intended to be one of masculine authority asserting itself over that which is feminine.

But then why the change? It happened almost immediately. So much so that almost no one ever remembers that it didn't start out that way!

Yet when the change did occur there was an immediate reaction which had to be significant enough to let this mode of presentation continue. The audience responded to it much more strongly. Why?

Could it be that on a certain level they understood that destroying this woman was somehow wrong? A violation of the natural order of things? Perhaps.

But let us look further into this effect.

It isn't complete until the victim is restored. Healed. If the premise holds true, then this effect holds a balance of both masculine and feminine themes as healing is very definitely associated with a feminine perspective in our culture.

It took Richiardi Jr. to bring this effect into a vastly unbalanced state by doing the illusion without restoring his victim; his own daughter. The audience sat horrified and left hanging in limbo waiting for what they knew should happen but never did! And without that healing restoration at the end, he produced real horror in his audience. Which was his goal!

So what does this really tell us?

I think it points to a true idea about magic. That truly good magic is balanced between destructive and creative perspectives. Or masculine and feminine ones.

There is almost a kind of Yin Yang approach to every effect. A card is lost and then found. A rope is cut and then restored. It may very well be possible to see every effect as having a destructive beginning and a restorative ending. Or at the very least a large balance of them.

In recent years women have been reclaiming their role in magic. For this I am grateful. I even do my small part by teaching a female student in the art. In this headlong rush of women re-entering this world there has been a lot to learn both for the female magician and the male.

I am a child of the era of Women's Lib to a certain extent. I was raised by my mother operating as a single parent for many years and there are many behaviors and standards that I hold to which I can directly attribute to being raised by a strong female figure. I am also very aware that I am not alone in this. I have observed many of the same standards among male peers who grew up in similar circumstances as mine. We know a little something about "feminism" from an honest male perspective.

But one thing that troubled me over the years is "radical feminism." Growing up I did have the opportunity to observe many women for whom the words "all men are scum" was a kind of constant mantra. So much so that even some of the girls I dated in my high school years would make the same comment and follow it up immediately with "but you're different" when they realized that I was still standing there.

As you might imagine this generated a certain amount of confusion on my part as well as a certain amount of discomfort and even out right dislike. I told off any number of them for being so short sighted that they would mouth such a slogan without spending any real time thinking about it's source or why they were saying it in the first place.

From points similar to this have grown "masculinism" movements similar to "feminism." Men celebrating their "masculinity." Now before you go off thinking I'm talking about various sorts of hunting and fire related events I want to point out that I'm thinking more of an intellectual appreciation of what it means to be a man in these times. Those "wilderness man" type retreats have their place I'm sure, but it's never been one I've felt a need to embrace.

So what does all this have to do with magic?

Well, I've begun to wonder if men have lost their way in magic as much as women have. Do men really embrace the seemingly destructive urges of magic? Do we really need to set things on fire or cut them up in order to appreciate the masculine side of the art?

Is it possible that we've somehow given up a noble aspect in favor of a more basic one?

There was a time when a true look at what it was to be a man meant something closer to what we think of as "gentleman." A real man, a gentleman, was someone who embodied nobility, dignity, grace, intelligence, chivalry, courtesy and honor.

Gentlemen engaged each other with dignity and grace. Their power was measured not by the things they could destroy but by the things they had control over, starting most importantly with themselves.

It is true that the things we can destroy we have control over, but at what price? We seem to have given up displaying our power over something in a different less obvious manner in favor of simply saying "see I control this thing because I destroy it *and* bring it back!"

So perhaps the question we masculine magicians need to ask ourselves is "what is it to be a real man?" Take magic out of the question for a while and consider just what a "real man" is.

Do we really think that a "real man" is one with destructive tendencies? One who thinks nothing of shoving a woman around and being rude to the people who are paying attention to him? Does a "real man" need to be pushing people around at all?

I might offer an answer of "no" to these questions. Generally we don't think of this as being a "real man." We think of this as being a jerk. Or worse.

Or perhaps a "real man" is someone who treats everyone with kindness and dignity? Is a "real man" someone who is secure enough in themselves as a person first and a man second that they need not always be the one in charge? Does a "real man" not only recognize his essential masculinity but also recognize and respect it in other men?

Consider the issue of magic again as part of the equation.

Would you really think that a female magician sawing a man in half would work? Would you consider it a "novelty?" If so, why? Answer that and then consider your answer and what it might actually mean.

I think it is entirely possible that we have lost our way. Women have certainly become over encumbered by images of beauty and restrictions of expected behavior over the years. They have needed to break out and I think that they are achieving that break out.

However, along the way I think we have over looked the possibility that men have become over encumbered by a set of expectations which can be just as debilitating. Men have to be strong and rational because that is what we are told to be by the same kinds of societal sources that women have been receiving their mixed messages from.

And whatever direction society goes, so to does art.

So now I encourage you to reconsider what you see as masculine and feminine, not just in your magic, but in your everyday surroundings. I think you will begin to see that many of the things expected of all of us are artificial at best.

Okay, does this mean that we should all give up our "Sawing" illusions, or our "Sword Through Neck" or whatever else which seems excessively violent, and therefore may be in danger of being excessively "masculine?" No, I don't think so.

But I do think that we need to reconsider our attitudes and expectations when it comes to these kinds of effects and what kind of impression they have on audiences.

Where this will take us, I do not know. What I do know is that by thinking about it we can not help but be taken somewhere.

This is merely a first step.

Turning "Tricks"

2006-03-13T09:42:00.000-08:00

I read various forums on magic. This everyone knows. I post on them as well when I can, but this time I am utterly unable to think of what to comment.

Well, that isn't true. I can think of what to comment, I simply can't think of a tactful way to do it.

Last night, just before going to bed I checked in on one of those forums that I watch and discovered a link to a short video clip of young lady doing a card trick.

Except that this was more along the lines of "bad magic" combined with "soft porn." Seriously.

This lady is reasonably attractive looking, but to my eye appeared to be deliberately made up and dressed up to look like a hooker. At least that is what I'm hoping because if this is the way she usually appears then I would strongly suggest a fashion consultant.

She performed one of the most obvious card forces on the face of the planet, mainly because it's clear that someone told her "if you wave the deck around really fast people can't see what you are doing" and she took that as advice rather then a warning about presentation.

Once the card was forced upon the spectator she pauses for a second and half and then says "I won't try to read your mind but instead I'll just reach down here...." and she pulls down her leather-iod bodice from her left breast and shows a miniature copy of the card which just barely covers over her nipple.

"Is this your card?" she asks.

Sigh.

I am utterly disgusted.

Aside from the obviously tacky nature of the clip, the magic itself is pathetic. The revelation at the end is lame, ham fisted and completely pointless. (No jokes about the point being hidden behind the card please.)

Starting with the card force. As mentioned above she is using a method which should be smooth and clean. In most peoples hands it is, and as such is virtually undetectable. It is not a method I use personally, but not because it isn't good, only because I have no need of the method for any of my current effects. If I had an effect where I needed to force a card on someone I would seriously consider this method. When done right it is extremely effective.

Presentationally she is clearly leaning on the idea that waving her arms in the air makes it impossible for the audience to focus on the deck of cards and this covers the action she needs to do in order to accomplish the force.

Okay, so by this point she has managed to force a card on the spectator. Badly, but the job is done.

Next she gets the card returned to the deck and then does nothing.

Nothing.

Okay, maybe that doesn't mean anything to anyone else, but if you watch me or most any other magician you will find that when we do something that involves returning the card to the deck, we also then proceed to mix the deck up. Shuffle, cut, whatever.

We do this for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is to reinforce the idea that the card is truly lost in the deck. Some magicians will even say "... and now I'll lose the card in the deck."

Why? Because you can't find a card if it isn't first lost!

No, little miss magic hooker just holds the deck and pulls down her top to show off her breast, and oh yeah, a miniature duplicate of the card.

"I'm not going to try and read your mind..." she says. Well no kidding. Really? Probably on some level she realizes that dressed as she is the card is not what is on the spectators mind anyway.

"Instead I'll just reach down here...." making your eyes really focus on what you've been looking at the entire time mister spectator man.

"Is this your card?" First response? Yes it is and thank you for letting me look at your boobies.

Second response? Nope. Because if it was my card it would, at the very least, BE THE SAME SIZE!!!! That is obviously a different card with the same value on it so I now know that you just made me pick that card from the deck. Thank you for letting me look at your boobies.

Women in magic have a really tough time. I get that. Magic as a form of entertainment has long been dominated by men and as such has developed strong masculine themes.

So what ends up happening is that many women coming into the magic world are taught by men and have male perspectives presented to them as if they were cannon. Sadly most women, when starting out, don't even realize this problem and the result is presentations exactly like this one.

I can only hope that someone will point out to her exactly the problem with this. I would do it myself but there doesn't seem to be a good way to contact her.

Not only that, but upon doing two seconds of research, I have discovered that this woman is, in fact a model who does nude work. And while I don't mean porn (because her profile suggests otherwise), it wouldn't surprise me any to discover that porn could be involved.

So it appears that being a magician isn't a goal. For her it is a tool to help set herself apart in the modeling world. I suppose I can understand that. Just like any other business world you need to have something that makes you different from all the rest.

I just wish someone would teach her to turn her "tricks" into magic.

Tim "Santiago" Converse Joins the Ranks of The ICBM

2006-02-22T13:32:00.000-08:00

San Francisco/Santa Cruz - February 18th, 2006.

Local Magician Tim "Santiago" Converse, while attending the West Coast Inner Circle of Bizarre Magic gathering in San Francisco, was admitted to the very exclusive ranks of that magic fraternity.

The Inner Circle of Bizarre Magic, founded by Joe Cabral, is devoted to bringing the art of story telling and theater back into the art of the performance magician. Although the ICBM has existed for about fifteen years now, it is only allowed a very small number of people into it's actual membership.

Every year, in Connecticut, the ICBM holds an annual gathering where magicians from many different disciplines gather to discuss their art and share their knowledge with each other. Often this gathering provides entertainment to the public as part of the festivities and that entertainment is always of a most unusual and fantastic nature.

The ICBM has many noted magical names among it's members including such Las Vegas luminaries as Eugene Burger, Jeff McBride and Max Maven.

"Being invited to join their ranks in an extreme honor," says the Santa Cruz Magician.

For more information about "Santiago's Magic" visit the web at:

http://www.santiagosmagic.com

Who-dini

2006-02-21T16:29:00.000-08:00

The other day I was sitting in a friends living room and he happened to mention that he met someone at a convention I might be interested to know. A writer by the name of Paul Dini.

Now as it happens Paul writes for many of the animated series I have loved to watch over the years.

But what caught my interest in this particular moment was that someone else in the room, upon hearing the name "Paul Dini" automatically thought that my friend was speaking of some magician.

It's that dreaded "-dini" addition to the name. Everyone thinks that and they certainly have a reason to. For how long now have people been adding the "-dini" extension to their names in order to say "Hey I'm a magician."

One wonders if the Oxford English Dictionary, that bastion of language, will eventually include "-dini" as a suffix meaning "the magician."

Certainly this is an honest mistake to make. Look at this history at play here to begin with. The man everyone knows as Houdini was actually named Eric Weis. He changed his name to Harry Houdini in deference to the two magicians who had the greatest impact on his life; Harry Keller and Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin. He took the name "Houdin" and added the "i" on the end in the mistaken belief that it would mean something like "Son of Houdin."

Isn't it ironic then that generations of magicians have named themselves after a man who named himself after other men?

Well I think it is. Imagine what some of those famous magicians might have called themselves if they had followed the pattern.

Eugene Burger -Eugeni! Hmmm, interesting thought.

Teller - Tellini? Sounds like a talk show.

Penn - Pennini. Okay, I think I've seen that on the menu of an Italian Restaurant.

David Copperfield - Davini! Oh wait. He actually did that when he was a kid.
Well, I suppose if there is anything to be learned it's one of the same lessons I have gone on about before.

Develop your own character.

Develop your own style.

Develop your own personality. (Especially if you don't have one.)

There are enough amature "-dini's" out there. I don't think we need any more.

I wonder if Paul ever gets asked to do a card trick?

Tim "Santiago" Converse
You Are Invited to Enter a World of Elegant Magic
Santiago's Magic

The Act of Destruction and Creation

2006-02-09T16:13:00.000-08:00

It is certainly human nature to destroy. It is also human nature to create. We forget that.

We assign "creation" to specific groups of people. Women create. Artists create. Builders create.

But in doing this we also block ourselves from accepting the role of creator.

"Men don't create, women do."

"I don't have any artistic talent to create."

"I'm not good with tools so I can't build or fix anything."

Denying that side of things makes us weaker. Destroys us.

Destruction and Creation are often the very heart of what the Magician is about.

Things are "Cut and Restored", "Torn and Restored" or in some fashion destroyed and reformed from the parts, the ashes, the remains.

So why do so many magicians focus upon the act of destruction but give so little thought to the act of creation? You've seen it without thinking about it I'm sure.

Consider the "Cut and Restored Rope."

Magician's cut that rope with great zeal and enthusiasm. They use huge knifes or scissors and they struggle as if cutting the rope were hard. All done in the name of "convincing the audience of the reality of the rope being cut."

Destroying it is somehow difficult. And so much effort, so much focus is placed on this act of destruction that the assumption must be that the act of creation or restoration is equally as difficult.

But when the time comes to restore the rope it is treated as if there could be nothing easier. It is handled with an almost casual, off hand manner, as if such things are almost common place.

Is there magic in this? Is there really a sense of magic to be gained? Perhaps.

Or could the thought simply be "Well, I'm so powerful a magician that restoring this rope is child's play!" Indeed it would seem that this is very much the thought that crosses the minds of these magicians.

However if that is the case and you are that powerful a magician then why was cutting the rope so hard in the first place? Haven't we always been told that the act of destruction is always easier then the act of creation?

Consider what kind of impact the "Cut and Restored Rope" might have if it were approached in this fashion.

Cutting the rope is easy. Casual. Yet another act of sad destruction in a world which is always suffering such things. A casualty of common place proportions.

But to restore it. Ah, there is magic. With gentle strength the magician picks the ends up and weaves them together right before your eyes. It takes focus and concentration. It takes control. It takes real power. Something mysterious is happening that shouldn't be.

It takes an act of creation, of restoration, of healing.

As a magician think about it. Try it. Consider your "Cut and Restored Rope" routine (or some other "Torn and Restored" type routine) from this light. Try changing the way you perform the routine to conform to the idea that the hard part is the restoration of the rope.

You don't even necessarily need to change the words you speak. Just change the way you relate to the object you are using your magic to restore and see what kind of impact it has on your audience.

You'll feel the difference I'm sure.

And maybe it's for you and maybe it isn't. But you won't know until you try.

In that effort you will destroy your old perceptions and create new ones. You will think about what you have accomplished in the minds of your audience.

You may just give them a deeper feeling of wonder then they've felt before.

And that is a true act of Creation and Destruction.

Read a Book!

2006-02-08T21:01:00.000-08:00

My mother used to say that to me all the time.

“Read a Book!”

“Go outside and play!”

Anything to prevent me from being sucked into the television.

Of course now I read all the time.

I’ll bet you do to. After all, you’re a magician. Your reading books and pamphlets all the time right?

But what else do you read?

If you had to stop and think about that one, then you may be having the same revelation I had not long ago.

Before I got involved in magic I read all the time. I read Science Fiction and Fantasy mostly. The occasional Horror or Mystery. I read them all for pleasure.

Then I got into magic and gradually I was reading fewer and fewer novels and more and more magic books, magazines and instructions. I got pretty darn good at all the stuff I spent time with as well.

But what use have I for telling the story of ‘Sam the Bellhop’ or ‘Diamond Jack’?

Don’t get me wrong. These are good stories and for the right performer they are hysterical. I remember watching Doc Eason do his version of ‘Sam the Bellhop’, which just killed me. But I digress.

So I was learning more and more magic and I ran across this thing called ‘Bizarre Magic’. I was at that stage where I was just absorbing everything I could, so I checked into it and I found that it really appealed to me.

Okay, so I wasn’t sure about some of the darker aspects that the whole field seemed to be filled with. I wasn’t sure I wanted to deal with all the ghosts and goblins and stuff. I don’t believe in that stuff, but I knew that I had read some really good books about it. Like there was this one..... but I digress.

Well, I found, after some open minded digging, that the real goal of Bizarre Magic is story telling. Good story telling, and I knew that I liked a good story. There was this movie that I saw not to long ago..... but I digress.

So there you have it. The trick is story telling. I liked that a lot. I sat down at my computer with a deck of cards, determined to write a story using some particular new card sleight I had just learned.

My brain locked! I couldn’t write a word. I had no referent to work from.

No books, short stories, recent movies. Nothing.

I had so completely immersed myself in magic books and magazines that I had lost touch with popular culture and just didn’t know what to write. I hadn’t developed a character, I just knew that I wanted to write stories for my effects.

After all, what audience would really want to hear a story about how I learned to do a “Luben Gearing Pass”? (Thanks for teaching me that one Mr. Mruzik.)

What is a “Luben Gearing Pass” you ask? Well I could tell you, but then I would be digressing.

And then the voice of my mother came flooding back.

“Read a BOOK!”

Not a magic book. A novel. A story. Mystery. Fiction. History. It didn’t matter. Just something other then magic.

So what’s the connection?

Check out a Bizarre Magicians reading list sometime. You’ll find that unlike most other magicians, the Bizarrist is reading books about history, culture, mysticism, religion and a fair amount of trivia as well.

The Bizarrist is getting ideas. He/She is collecting them from all kinds of places.

Check out the music a Bizarrist is listening to as well. You’ll probably find lots of interesting stuff there.

The point is this: Immerse your self in more then just magic books, videos and magazines. You aren’t going to find stories there.

You’ll find them in music and movies and novels.

You’ll find them in history, science and religion.

You’ll find them in popular culture.

In other words: “GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY!”

“READ A BOOK!”

Corteo

2006-01-25T11:38:00.000-08:00

Laurie and I went to see a new Cirque du Soliel show last night called "Corteo."

We had excellent seats, but I think just about every seat in the house would have been good. The stage was set completely in the round with entrance and exits set at direct opposite sides from each other. We were six rows back from the stage with completely unobstructed views.

Since I bought the flea circus I have been looking for resources to improve my performances and make them different from anyone else. What a surprise right? Not that I expect I could do anything with the flea circus that would be reminiscent of Cirque, but inspiration comes from lots of places and I watched the show with different eyes then I would have had before.

The show was really good, but there were a couple of things that didn't work for me. Laurie and I both felt that Act 2 wasn't as strong as Act 1. For me at least, the problem was part technical, part enthusiasm and part lost story.

The story of Corteo is basically the visions of one man, a clown, imagining or experiencing his death and the procession of his journey from this life to the next. Visions of his childhood, of his life as a clown and of those who care for him giving him the send off/celebration only a circus could provide. Very artistic in that respect, but this is what we've come to expect from Cirque and in that they do not fail.

The first act was filled with wonderful routines, but I think my favorite had to be the trampoline act. They took two trampolines and dressed them up as beds, complete with brass head and foot boards. Then all the acrobats involved, obviously dressed as children, proceeded to have a massive pillow fight. Obviously a memory of childhood, the acrobatics were exactly the kind of thing I wished I could have done as a child bouncing on my own bed.

The jugglers were excellent, firing stuff around the stage at least as fast as we've ever seen the Flying K's do it. And they added a certain amount of acrobatics as well, making the routine extremely dynamic.

And then there was the Ringmaster.

Wow.

That guy had all the power you would expect a top Ringmaster to have. His voice was stunningly powerful and when he cracked the whip he carried it sounded like a gun shot underscoring his commands. But more about him for the second act.

Also in the first act was a Chandelier dance. As Laurie and I sat waiting for the show to start we could see, through the scrim, three chandeliers and Laurie said to me "Someone is going to be swinging from those soon."
She wasn't wrong. Four women, representing the clowns passed loves, came out and proceeded to do a whole aerial ballet which was really amazing. One detail I caught, only because I happened to look at just the right moment, was one of the women nearly clobbering someone in the audience as she took a running leap off a far exit point, hanging onto the chandelier. Her kick reached out over the head of the person sitting in the exact corner seat there, who flinched mightily. In a way it was nice to see that these people are people and therefore not perfect.

The Cyr Wheels were also amazing, but I've always been found them. These are the big single hoops which an acrobat braces themselves into and then spins around in, doing continuous cartwheels and other stunts. Always wanted to try that.

And then there was the highwire act. This was good, but in my opinion probably the weakest part of the first act. Mainly because I think most people don't really realize just how hard it is, especially when the performer manages to make it look so effortless. She really was excellent, but managed to be so precise and controlled that she took some of the drama out as a result.

Her final bit was to actually walk up an inclined wire which is a real difficult feat to perform. Don't believe me? Try walking up a two inch wide inclined blank (45 degrees please) and then imagine how hard it is on a wire! The one thing that probably threw people off though is that the wire under her was moving in a continuous loop downwards. This gave her the appearance of "moon walking."

There were a couple of performers who were midgets. Mostly they were clowns, but they did have a couple of routines in the second act.

But the end of the first act involved the lady midget wearing a harness which attached her to a cluster of very large helium balloons. The size of the balloons combined with her small size basically turned her into a floating toy which got tossed into the audience where people could simply hold their palms up and launch her back to the stage. Very amusing, if slightly creepy. I would consider this to be the closest Cirque would come to doing a traditional "Side Show" act or stunt.

End Act 1.

The two scrims were lowered creating a corridor across the stage and as we watched we could see that they were setting up something for the next act. The Intermission was half an hour and it took them pretty much the entire time.

They set up the trapeze act.

This was the first, and only technical problem I had with the show, but I can't see how they could have solved it either. The Trapeze Act was strong. Probably the strongest thing in the entire second act, but because of the required setup there was no place they could put it except at the very beginning. As such, the rest of the act suffered by comparison.

But what a routine. A trapeze act with no trapeze! Everyone who went flying back and forth between the platforms did it completely on the strength of the catchers on each platform. No trapeze bars, just strong arms to catch and throw people. It was damn impressive.

And then back to the Ringmaster!

Once the trapeze act was over they lowered the lights so the stage crew could clear the setup, so you had to do something to distract the audience. For the next five minutes (it only took them FIVE MINUTES to strike the trapeze!) the Ringmaster performed out in the audience by whistling classical music! And I mean really whistling! He could hit those notes like you would not believe! I swear there must have been dogs across country who were perking their ears up and saying "What was that?"

Once the trapeze was struck, the Ringmaster and a few of the clowns and other performers ended up on stage to perform a complete musical number on Whistle, Water Goblets, Violin and Tibetan Bowls!

Again, very cool.

Then we got the aerial banner dance. I don't know what it's called, but that is the way I think of it. Basically it's the bit where the acrobat (usually a woman) suspends herself from long banners of cloth and wraps herself up and does various stunts while being swung around the stage.

I've lost my appreciation for this act unfortunately. The first time I saw it I liked it a lot. It impressed me. But I've seen it repeatedly since then and the act really doesn't seem to evolve any or, for that matter, connect all that well with the story. We started losing the story here and that made things a bit difficult to follow.

Yes, she did the routine well, but it just doesn't really do much for me anymore.

Next we had the weirdest moment of all. A juggling act involving balls, a hoop and one of those streamer toys. All good material. Except for the chickens. Just before this started the Ringmaster marched across stage yelling that he hates chickens. Then jugglers came on, doing some really impressive stuff that I want to try and figure out, but at the same time rubber chickens start falling from the sky.

Is this some kind of French thing or something? Neither of us got it at all. The act ended with the performers huddled under a large umbrella as a huge load of rubber chickens were dumped on them. They leave the stage and the Ringmaster, followed by four guys with brooms, comes back on the stage yelling about hating chickens.

I don't know. Strange. Not story related at all that we could figure.

Then the two midgets came back on stage and did one of those "strength" acts where they do balances and poses on a spinning platform. Interesting but again it didn't carry any of the story thread in it.

The next act didn't have any story thread in it either really, but it was so worth watching and really wish that Seamus could have been there to see it. It was a ladder walker and he was hilarious. His style was very frenetic but his balance was absolutely perfect. Most of the routine was done with a ladder that looked about seven feet tall to me, but after he finished that, one of the angels descended from the sky with a ladder that was at least twice that height. He only did one trick with it, but it was great. He got all the way to the top of that thing and stood, not on the highest rung, but two little platforms that topped the struts of the ladder. And was then rescued by the angel.

There was a comedic presentation of Romeo and Juliette done by the midgets in a stage they rolled out which I looked at and thought, "Wish I had a place to store something like that because it would make a great performing setup!"

Then there was the Teeterboard. Which was presented as some kind of "gang showdown." I liked this. It had a story again and was really impressive to watch the two rival heroes try and out do each other.

For the final routine they set up a series of horizontal bars for acrobatics. They actually had four set up in a square and two ends were flanked by another bar each. Then, on top of that they spun things in various directions, just to keep it interesting! So you had all these acrobats swinging around the horizontal bars, trading places and moving into and out of the basic "flight pattern" around the central square.

I know I keep saying this, but "VERY COOL!"

End Act 2.

Other moments to be remembered - well, with Cirque there is always various characters who are floating around the action, providing a certain amount of interaction or spectacle.
Because this was a vision of traveling to heaven, there were plenty of people who were dressed as angels running across the stage at various points, or floating down from the sky to watch and participate.

There were basically two images from these characters which stuck with me.

First was one of the angels. She floated down over the dwarf couple doing the "strength" act and dropped "snow" over them. Because of the music, the lighting and the general image this struck me as being very similar to the "Snowstorm" illusion I have performed on a few occasions, and even they they didn't do it as magic it was very magical to me.

Second, and I think much stronger then that, was one of the clowns walking across the highwire. Sounds simple enough yes? Sure it does. Until I tell you that he was walking on the UNDERSIDE OF THE WIRE!!!
That's all he did, but he was on the underside of the wire carrying a pair of candelabra whose flames were pointed down to the stage just as his head was. The illusion was absolutely brilliant.

That was a great moment.

It was a wonderful show. One of the better ones from Cirque I've seen in a while. Seeing it live certainly makes a difference and while I did feel that the second act wasn't as strong as the first, it was all still a really excellent show.

If you get a chance to see any Cirque show it's probably worth it, but I'd rate this one higher then most, probably because I like the story itself as much as anything else.

And come to think of it, there might just be one thing I can do to put a Cirque-like act into my flea circus...... hmmmm....

A Solution in Search of a Problem

2006-01-19T09:44:00.000-08:00

Over the years I've noticed that there are many magic dealers at there who churn out garbage. Okay, not a brilliant insight I realize, but recently I came across something that really amazed me, and not in a good way.

One of those dealers out there is now selling a product called "The Devil's Bottle."

The effect is simply that you show a glass bottle that is empty, you whack it up against something, but not to hard, to show that it is indeed a solid glass bottle. Then you give it to someone to hold on to (making sure that they hold it over a trash can or something like that) and with the "power of your mind" you cause the bottle to shatter in their hands.

Sounds pretty cool really. On the surface.

Then you start looking into it.

The price tag for this miracle is $1000.00! That's right. $1000.00.

For this miracle you get the secret and 12 prepared bottles.

Prepared bottles? Yes, you get told how to prepare your own bottles as well, but apparently they are expecting to sell replacement bottles along the way. They say so, but they haven't yet stated the price tag on said replacement bottles.

And apparently, from what I now know regarding the secret (revealed to me by someone who saw their science teacher do this about 60 years ago), it's not worth $100.00, let alone $1000.00.

Now here is the thing I mean about "A Solution looking for a Problem."

About three years ago someone was selling an illusion prop where you put a glass on a tray, set the tray down on a table, walk away and the concentrate and the glass shatters. Price tag: $50 (as I recall). Also, that was a remake of an even older version of the same product.

And if you were even remotely inclined towards being a tool user you could probably have built the gimmick for even less then that.

That's what I mean about "A Solution looking for a Problem." They wanted to go further by making the effect involve even less objects and more interactive, both good things, but in the process they "solved the problem" by creating a nightmare.

How much more effective would a good presentation around the old method be compared to creating a new method that is 20 TIMES MORE COSTLY?? Not to mention the replacement bottles in case you are not able to manufacture them yourself!

Great solution. Was there a problem here? Were magicians really clamoring for a "better" way to break a bottle so loudly that they would be willing to spend this kind of money on an effect with limited application anyway?

Or were they just hoping that somehow magicians were just stupid enough that they would part with $1000.00+ on something that would likely only ever get used a few times and then sit on the shelf next to their Imp Bottles?

Hope for the Puppies

2006-01-16T12:22:00.000-08:00

A glimmer of hope raised it's head the other day and I just had to share.

A new kid appeared on the forums I have been watching lately. He states flat out "I'm 15 years old and don't have much money" so we know where he is coming from. He then talks about what he's interested in and asks that dreaded questions: "What DVD's should I buy?"

Okay, why is this a "dreaded" question? Because DVD's and Videos do not teach new magicians to think. They teach them to repeat. Yes, I do indeed have a fair number of DVD's and Videos in my own library, but when I'm working out something new I always turn to my books first. Most often my Tartbell collection. And truth be told, I haven't purchased a new Instructional Magic DVD or Video in a long time.

But books! Ah, the books are there and every time I read them they are wonderful and I learn something new.

But I digress.

I responded to this young magician with the comment that if he was so short of cash he would be better served buying a couple of books (and I recommended a couple focusing on the areas he is interested in) and pointed out that for the same amount of money he could get five times as much useful material and be learning skills rather then repeating things that are being fed to him.

No real response from him.

But here is where the hope comes in.....

Other kids, the same age, jumped in and said "Yeah, what he said." There are kids out there, new magicians, who are starting off learning the value of books and basic skills. Who recognize that what they get from a book is ultimately better for their development as magicians then learning the "hot new tricks" being poured out of the magic marketing machine.

A bright bit of hope indeed.

Searching for Inspiration

2006-01-10T18:37:00.000-08:00

Where do you find inspiration?

It's interesting to me that many magicians don't seem to find inspiration at all. I mean that they simply use the "patter" that comes with the trick they bought and that is all they do.

The nature of the artist is, in my opinion, the ability to push yourself beyond the usual boundries. And if you look at the range of most popular magicians out there, they are all defined by the fact that they are inspired by something outside of the magic that they do.

Inspiration comes from so many places, but I've begun to wonder if inspiration is a kind of infinite loop. If each art form takes some inspiration from some other art form. Ultimately I suppose all of these art forms take their inspiration from life. The often repeated phrase "art imitates life" certainly comes to mind.

And certainly we have seen many a person who tries to live a life which imitates art.

Is there really a circle of inspiration here?

Makes me wonder.

Magic Puppies Revisited

2006-01-03T21:57:00.000-08:00

Not to long ago I was discussing Magic Puppies and how I found myself in the position of being more like one of "the old guys" then one of the young guys.

I had been considering it for some time now, but I decided to go ahead and ask about establishing a new forum on their list. They have forums for cards and coins and rope and videos and other such things.

They had no forum for "creativity."

Now they do. And I'm the moderator.

I guess that makes sense, since I suggested it and I offered, but now I'm committed, or at least I should be.

These really are kids. The other day I took a look at videos one of them posted of himself doing a couple of card tricks. I use the word trick deliberately here because they weren't good enough to be 'effects.' The videos were horrible. I was diplomatic but I really wanted to say "What the heck were you thinking?"

Well now there is a forum for discussing creativity and character development. Now I'm sheperding people online in discussions that will hopefully open their eyes to ways to be more then just the average finger flicker.

I hope.

New Year's Eve in Review

2006-01-02T09:49:00.000-08:00

Well, that was cool!

This year for New Year's Eve I spent the evening at a friends house and using everyone who came as a test audience for "Professor Scratch's Flea Circus - Something Itchy This Way Comes!"

Everyone was great! The Circus went over beautifully and I had one heck of a time performing it.

I'm going to have to spend some time writing down all the jokes that people offered up to add to the act afterwards. There was some great stuff and of course I've already begun planning the additions to the Circus that I want.

Princess Tiffany certainly won over hearts. She's so cute that way. I'm starting to think that I might have to keep her and Katinka seperated though. They are starting to compete for peoples attention.

Guiseppe broke his high diving record and now he wants a medal for his bathing suit. Where the heck can you pin a medal on flea sized Speedo?

Kalishnakof is starting to yell. I think his hearing is going, but then that cannon is loud.

But it was definitely a great show and everyone had a good time!

What more could you want really?

Professor Scratch's Flea Circus

2005-12-28T19:54:00.000-08:00

Well, this year my big Christmas Present to myself was my very own Flea Circus!

I've been thinking about this for several years now, ever since I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Katie Kangaroo at an ICBM conference. The idea had appealed to me long before then but Katie told me so much and so I began spending more time with the idea. Katie really inspired me to pursue the idea!

As of this coming New Years Eve I will begin offering my own Flea Circus Entertainment under the name of "Professor Scratch."

I've created a new website and I will be doing my first show New Years Eve! I'm very excited to add this to my show offerings. I've never wanted to do "kids magic shows" but doing "kids shows" is something that I've known I would maybe have to do in order to keep building my entertainment business. I don't view it as a stictly "kids show" offering but I recognize the potential of it in that realm.

It is certainly not going to be a "kids show" on New Years Eve!

As much as I love the coporate gigs and wedding gigs, I go through the occasional dry spell, which I wouldn't have nearly as much if I was willing to take the "kids shows" I usually pass up. I've never wanted to do magic for kids because magic for kids doesn't interest me and so I don't want to work at it very much.

The Flea Circus is a show that interests me and gives me enthusiasm. As such I have the focus I need to produce a worthy and worthwhile show with it and I will be able to offer it to Adults and Kids in the same way that a regular circus is for "children of all ages!"

I'm truly excited about it and I hope you'll all take a peek at what I've got up so far on the web. As you read the site you'll see the kind of humor I am going to inject into the whole thing.

It can be found at:

http://www.fleacircusentertainment.com

I already have a contact set up to see about performing this at Dickens Fair next year and this coming year will be more then enough time for me to develop the show completely for the fair market. It should be excellent.

Thanks all!

Another Look at The Protocols of The Elders of Magic

2005-12-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

Well, as predicted there are now people who are selling their copies on eBay as well as people who are raving about how they got ripped off in buying this book.

Perhaps the stupidest argument I've heard is that this was a quick money scheme on the part of Max Maven. Yeah right. This guy is making money hand over fist in seven different countries, appears on Television regularly in those countries, has several other books that he makes a lot of money on because they are regularly selling and many different effects on the market. He gets booked all the time and doesn't need to make 'quick cash.'

This book was limited to 500 copies only and sold for $40.00. It took him three years to compile all the information that went into it. At best that means $2000.00 tops for three years of work. And he's not getting that much money because he's not getting all the money for it.

Do the math people. It doesn't make sense.

No, this book is clearly a labor with a specific purpose and it's going to take someone smarter then most of these people to figure it out.

I know that I've gotten something out of it and I've shared that knowledge with a limited number of people. They all have gotten much the same from this book as I have. Have we gotten what Max intended out of the book?

I don't know.

Next time I see Max I'll ask him.

'Tis the Season

2005-12-04T09:22:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. It's been busy.

As they say. "'Tis the Season."

Today's musing is more about the general state of the Holidays. Regardless of what belief you hold, this is the season when we all stop to celebrate "Christmas."

I have mixed feelings about that.

If you are a Christian, then "Christmas" is all about the celebration of the birth of Christ.

If you aren't, then what is "Christmas" about? Let's face facts here. There are a lot of people in this country and around the world who aren't Christian, and that's a good thing in my opinion. Diversity is what makes us great.

So "Christmas" is about something else then. It's about the "Spirit of Giving" and "The Joy of Family."

Unless you happen to be a big toy company or some other retail outlet, in which case "Christmas" is all about the "Spirt of Selling" and "The Joy of Making Money."

No, I'm not going to go into a long rant about Commercialism or something like that. I don't think it's necessary. I'm sure you've heard it all before.

Rather, I wanted to take a moment to simply say this...

'Tis the Season. The Season of Caring about something and someone. 'Tis the Season of looking outside yourself and reaching out to everyone in your life who is important. 'Tis the Season to understand one another.

And wouldn't it be nice if that season lasted more then just a month or so each year?

I think that would be a great thing.

'Tis the Season.

Protocols of The Elders of Magic - A Review

2005-11-26T09:32:00.000-08:00

If you were not one of the limited 500 people to buy this book, you might be missing out.

On the other hand, I'm willing to bet that there are also a number of people who bought this book who will be disappointed.

I am not one of them.

I won't reveal the contents, but I will tell you about my reactions. Admittedly I have been somewhat excited about seeing this book. The mystery around it's contents, combined with the limited run and the fact that all copies would be autographed made it worth my while to take a gamble and spend the money.

And when I opened it I must admit that the first thought in my head was "where is the signature" followed closely by, "wait a minute... I spent money for this??"

But as I read through it (it took me practically no time at all), I began to realize that Max had a point in putting this material together. Max is to clever by half to have done this as an elaborate prank.

So what am I really supposed to be getting out of this?

Like so many of Max's routines, the outcome depends upon the spectator.

One can choose to see it in a negative light. One can choose to see it in a positive light.

In my case I have decided that not only do I want to see it in a positive light, but I also want to see it as a challenge.

I'd be willing to bet that many of you, magicians who actually care about the "Art of Magic" will decide to see it as a challenge as well.

And that, my friends, is a good thing.

Santiago
Enter a World of Elegant Magic
Santiago's Magic

Magician Puppies

2005-11-22T11:56:00.000-08:00

Recently I've come to realize just how spoiled I am as a magician.

Most of my contact with the magic industry has been through groups and organizations who feel that the first, most important aspect of magic is the theatrical aspect. Knowing how various tricks work is important, but ultimately secondary to a good quality theatrical experience.

I have begun participating in a relatively new magic forum on-line. I won't reveal the name of it, but let me just say that I feel in a very real way that I have stepped back into high school when I read messages there. People are concerned over techniques and tricks and which video to buy and which book to read and they are all trapped in the thinking that there must be some "holy grail" of magic which will make them all stars.

Repeatedly now I have seen posts from one particular individual who keeps asking variations on the question: "What is the best X trick?" where X can be 'cards' or 'coins' or 'rope' or whatever.

Well, I'm here to tell you that there is no "holy grail" of magic. At least not in the sense that these kids (even the ones older then me) think.

No one ever walked into a magic shop and said "Give me the trick that will make me the next David Copperfield" and actually got it!

But I'm realizing that I have both a responsiblity and an opportunity to make a real impact here. Already I have been posting messages in fits of frustration which basically keep saying "who cares what the best X trick is? Work on your character and your presentation and you'll be able to take any trick you want and make it into the best X trick there is!"

But slowly now, my fits of frustration are turning into the light of realization. If I keep putting this message out about being a good theatrical character first then hopefully I'll be able to get through to these kids and make them realize that they could be doing so much more then every effect they learn from the "easy to master X tricks" video library.

Yes, we all seem to start out in the same place, absorbing as much material as we can. When we first get into magic we suddenly realize, like wide eyed kids in a candy shop, that the secrets of the universe are now at our finger tips. We become utterly obsessed with the accumulation of 'secret knowledge' as if we were spelunking the depths of some ancient temple of wisdom.

My own library stands in mute testimony to that beginning stage in my own magical career.

So how do we improve this situation? By turning to the knowledge presented to us by the "old masters." The ones who have "been there and done that."

Then suddenly I find myself in the place of being one of the "old masters." I didn't particularly consider myself to be one of those guys yet. Figured I had a long way to go before I got there. It may just be a symptom of the circumstances. After all, I wandered into this new on-line forum of my own free will and I made the decision to stay instead of turning around and running screaming when I realized what it actually was.

I certainly don't consider myself to be on par with the big name pros, but when you get right down to it, the view is relative and what I see standing in my place on the spectrum is different from what the real "old masters" and the real "young kids" see.

So I guess it's time to flex some of those "old master" muscles and offer my "boundless wisdom" to another generation of wizards.

Hopefully I'll have something more to say to them then "buy magician X's latest video/DVD/book. It's cool."

Santiago
Enter a World of Elegant Magic
Santiago's Magic

Tapestry

2005-11-15T21:02:00.000-08:00

(This article was originally written in 2002 for a column about "Bizarre Magic.")

Have you ever looked at a Tapestry?

They are often very beautiful. Large geometric designs, or complex scenes.

My favorite kind are the ones that have a large central figure surrounded by scenes depicting important events in the life of that central figure.

“Yeah, but what does that have to do with Bizarre Magic?” I can hear you ask.

Hang in there and I’ll tell you.

When most magicians hear the term ‘Bizarre Magic’, they automatically think about those weird guys doing the ‘blood and guts’ type of stuff. That might be what they see on the surface, but there is something far more profound going on there.

You see, Bizarre Magic is not about ‘blood and guts’. It’s about stories. It’s about telling really good stories.

What kind of stories do you tell?

Do you use the ‘patter’ that came with the trick?

Do you make up stories that have nothing to do with anything except the prop?

Or, do you make up a stories that have something more in them?

These are tough questions. They should be.

You see, the Bizarre Magician is telling stories that have something more to them. Very often the stories are scary, but they don’t have to be. They just have to be good stories. The Bizarre Magician understands that good stories help to suspend the audiences disbelief. Good stories help to put the audience in the right mood and make it possible to get away with some amazing effects.

So, okay, your ready to start writing stories for your ‘Hippity Hop Rabbits’, but what kind of stories are there to tell?

That’s where the tapestry comes in.

‘Ah Ha! Now he’s getting to a point!’

Take a look at the tapestry. What do you see?

As I said, I like the ones with the large central figure and all the stuff around them. Who is in the center of that tapestry?

Nope, not you, but your close.

Your character.

Remember that guy, Jean Eugene Robert Houdin? The one who told us all that a magician is an actor playing the part of a magician. Yeah, that guy. He had a point and the best magicians get it.

That tapestry isn’t about Fred the Barber. Nobody cares about Fred the Barber. At least not enough to watch him perform magic.

That tapestry is about Sir Lancelot, Joan of Arc, Albert Einstien or Merlin. Someone who is Heroic, Tragic or Mysterious. In other words, someone interesting.

That’s what the Bizarre Magician knows. The audience doesn’t care about Fred the Barber. They care about The Mysterious Zoltar.

So the first story a good Bizarre Magician writes is the story of him/herself.

What else is on that tapestry?

All the scenes around the central figure of course. In other words, all the bits of background, history, story, heroism, tragedy and mystery that make the central figure interesting to the audience.

Do you have to tell all this to your audience?

Heck no, but think about the vast advantage you would have knowing it all? Suddenly your thrust into a position where you now know more then how to find a missing card. You know why you would want to. You know why you would even have a deck of cards in the first place.

Have you ever been in someplace and found the greatest little knick-knack that you just knew would make a great magic prop, but you didn’t know what you would do with it? If you have spent the time creating your tapestry, you would have a better idea.

That’s what Bizarre Magic is about. Characters and stories.

Now here is the best part.

Every time you perform you get one more scene to add to your tapestry. One more event that adds to the overall image your creating with your magic.

What makes the best magicians memorable? Doing something worth remembering. You can do that with your character and your stories. Magic becomes that much more amazing when the story makes sense and is in context.

Create a whole world that you are the center of.

Create a tapestry about you and with it you will create a whole new level of interest, not just for yourself, but for your audience as well.

Create a tapestry.

Create stories.

Create Magic.

Santiago
Enter a World of Elegant Magic
Santiago's Magic

History Speaks

2005-11-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

(I wrote this article October 30th, 2002)

As a magician, I have always tried to expand my knowledge, not just of my art, but of the history and mythology of my art as well.

Getting to meet and become friends with highly respected magicians has always been a treat. Magicians who can take the time to lecture at local clubs are always a special occasion and being able to spend even a few moments of private time with them are occasions to be remembered and treasured. They are the precious jewels of a magicians education.

So, it was with a sense of great anticipation that I waited for my friend Eugene Burger. I already had some history with Eugene, being one of those lucky enough to attend The Mystery School.

Eugene greeted me as a good friend and we spent several fun days together, focused on lectures and seminars for magicians in the area.

But as a special treat Eugene took me with him to visit Channing Pollock.

Wow. (For those of you who don't know, Channing pretty much created the modern Dove act. Every magician you've seen working with doves is using Channings creations and innovations.)

First off, Channing lives in a wonderful home on the California Coast where every window is a view on the ocean as it pounds the rocks not ten feet away. A place at least as magical as the person.

So for several hours I sat, saying little but never feeling left out, as Eugene and Channing renewed their friendship of many years and along the way brought me into their circle.

Interestingly enough both Eugene and Channing have a view which seems paradoxical when described but makes perfect sense when discussed. The best way I could describe it is "down to earth spiritualism". Both expressed views of believing in 'something greater' but also not buying the bullshit that seems so omnipresent in many religious and mystical beliefs.

Eugene describes himself as a skeptic, but holds no fear of discussing and questioning the nature of the universe, and as I sat there listening, it was clear that Channing has many of the same questions and just as much joy in exploring them.

So we sat in Channing’s kitchen, surrounded by floor to ceiling windows over looking a storm tossed ocean and discussed magic and philosophy. We told stories, though I had only a few to share while Eugene and Channing told many. I learned the thinking behind some of the more obscure bits of magic lore and the real story of how the vanishing bird cage was created and how Channing developed his dove toss.

It would take a while for me to lose that sense of awe from being in the presence of such incredible people, but by the time Eugene and I left, I felt that I had made a new friend in the world of magicians.

More recently I had the honor of hosting Lee Grable at my local club’s 5th Anniversary Dinner. As president of the club I felt it was a great honor to have him there. I probably don’t need to say this, but just in case, Lee held the prestigious Mantle of Magic. It is only given to one magician at a time. Dante gave it to Lee. Lee passed it on to Lance Burton.

As part of the festivities Lee got up and told stories of his own experiences in the world of magic. While Lee talked I listened, absorbing all that he had to say. His message was a simple one which can be summed up by saying “It’s not what you do, but who you are that makes you great.”

As Lee spoke I noticed that the younger members of the club fidgeted, anxious to get back to showing each other their latest purchases. It saddened me to think that these young kids were missing out on the wisdom Lee had to share. In the future, if they stick with magic I hope that they will remember that they did at least get to meet such a man.

I found this situation to be a rather powerful one for me. In my life time as a magician I missed out on seeing several great performers. When Doug Henning and Harry Blackstone Jr. passed on I was truly devastated. I never got to see either of these men perform live. So now I take very seriously every chance to watch and learn from those performers who are today’s legends.

I consider myself very fortunate to know the professionals I do now, but that to comes at a cost. I have noticed that when magicians get together sometimes the topic turns to who knows who. Sadly many small time magicians seem to think that who they know somehow makes them better then they are. Yet that kind of thinking never takes into account how good they might already be. As Lee tried to point out they forget that it's who they are, not who or what they know, that makes them special.

This kind of thinking also takes something away from the humanity of these people we hold in such high esteem. They have earned our respect and our admiration. They have earned their place in the pantheon of magic.

We should take advantage of every moment to listen to them and speak with them.

But we should also remember that they are human beings with hopes and dreams, happiness and sadness, and perhaps the greatest thing that we can do is give them their space and make ourselves their friends as much as we are their admirers.

Santiago
Enter a World of Elegant Magic
Santiago's Magic

Taking a Good Hard Look at Your Magic

2005-11-09T10:49:00.000-08:00

Magicians are the only performers I know of who are arrogant enough to think that they can be Director, Producer and Performer all rolled into one.

The problem is this merely promotes one continuous problem -- the blind spot. I know how clever I am. I know how good I am. I know that I'm the best magician around. (Please note the tongue planted firmly in my cheek.)

I also know that if I believe my own hype then I'm likely to fall into the trap that I see so many others fall into. Fortunately for me I have a number of different people, all with different perspectives, that I can turn to, try something out on and generally expect to get good and useful feedback from.

And the beauty part is that with only a couple of exceptions, they are almost all *NOT* magicians.

Why is that the best part? Because they are not concerned with *HOW* something is done. They generally don't care. Over they years they've developed a sense of how I manage some of the things that I do, but that isn't relevant to them. What is relevant is whether or not the performance itself is actually any good.

A good portion of these people are not only *NOT* magicians, but they *ARE* actors! Even better because what they do is all about communicating the performance to the audience. This is something to damn many magicians neglect because they are so busy being their own directors and producers that they forget that they aren't perfect.

The best thing a magician can have going for them is to be able to turn to other performers and get them to take a good hard look at your magic. And even better still is when they won't pull their punches. They have to be able to tell you that something sucks.

I've been trying to get one particular routine to work in my magic career because I like it, and every time I pull it out one of these wonderful people tells me "IT SUCKS!"

Not the actual routine, but the way I perform it. Well, it's starting to suck less and less these days. I only pull it out once in a great while and work on it, but I know someday I'm going to get it to a point where it not only doesn't suck, but will actually be good.

And that will be a happy day.

Santiago
Enter a World of Elegant Magic
Santiago's Magic

Doing Magic for Kids

2005-11-04T13:38:00.000-08:00

I have to have a certain amount of respect for magicians who can do magic for kids. Especially the ones who do kids shows professionally.

I'm not really kid compatible. I have a show this evening for a very small group of teenagers, which is fine (just barely) because I happen to know that they are theater kids and can appreciate a theatrical style show. But if it weren't for that I would have turned it down.

It bugs me a lot that people automatically assume that because I am a magician I must do magic for childrens Birthday parties. No. I don't. I entertain adults in Corporate Events, and Weddings and other large scale formal gatherings. Magic for Kids is not the same as Magic for Adults.

Which is not to say that I'm not developing entertainment projects which are going to be more strongly kid oriented. When I get my flea circus soon I know I'll be getting many more kids shows.

But I just don't like doing Kids Magic. It doesn't interest me enough to make me work on it, which means I wouldn't give the best show I can give.

Jeff McBride talks about "doing the show you want to do" anyway, but I think I don't entirely agree. I know he basically says to mix in what you want to do with what they expect. Logically I can follow that, but when I start looking at what I want to do I realize that in my case at least, it's not practical.

The stuff I want to do requires a greater attention span then most kids have. So it just doesn't mix well as a result and I'm still looking, in the end, to present a show that is totally appropriate to what they want.

So those magicians who can do a kid show, and do it well, I am impressed by.

There is, however, another class of magician. An evil little jerk who is really screwing things up. And he's screwing it up for both the Kids Show Magicians and us Corporate and Theatrical Guys.

He has no real identity, but you can see from his website or promo materials that he "does magic for any occasion."

Trust me when I say, "No, you can't."

Somehow this guy thinks that "Sponge Bunnies" and "Rubber Ding Dongs" are going to get the same giggles from business suited adults as they do from 5 year olds. And no one is going to save you if you ask Mr. Business Exec to hold up "the clean hand."

So please do me a favor and stay away from my gigs. I'll tell you right now, the magic your doing for little Billy isn't making an impression on the CEO of Widget Tech Industries and the next time his secretary looks to book someone she is going to pass right by me because of the poor job you did.

Santiago
Enter a World of Elegant Magic
Santiago's Magic

Responsible Readings

2005-11-03T10:13:00.000-08:00

One of the services I offer as a magician is that of "Fortune Telling." My typical method of choice is that of Tarot Cards, though I can perform a number of other styles.

However this does bring up a very definite question, that of being responsible for the readings that I give.

I have encountered a number of magicians who have a complete disregard for the person they are giving the reading to. They don't care what they say but instead ramble off a meaningless jumble of platitudes or card descriptions with no connection and expect that they are convincing the sitter of something more profound. Why should the magician care really? He or she is getting paid no matter what, right?

At the other end of the spectrum are those "fortune tellers" who are so overly concerned that they remove all the "bad" cards from a Tarot deck just to make sure that they don't come up, which strikes me as being just as dishonest.

But what honesty is there in "fortune telling" at all really? I know that there are many people out there who believe that "fortune telling" can be very real and I won't presume to make any statements here about what anyone else does, but I can say in all honesty that I know exactly what I am doing when I give a reading and it has nothing to do whatsoever with any kind of "supernatural" power or some "mystical" property of Tarot cards.

When I give a reading I do it with the express understanding that it is purely a form of entertainment and that what I do is something anyone could do. Of course I don't want them to know what I'm doing because that would destroy the nature of the performance they are getting, but I also want them to realize that this isn't anything beyond the normal.

For me that is the secret to doing a responsible reading. A firm explaination that what they are getting is not the result of something "supernatural" but rather the result of a skill I have learned and they to could learn.

Interestingly enough this does not reduce the level of admiration I recieve when I perform a reading. If anything, it seems to enhance it. People view me as having dedicated a part of my life to learning this skill so that others might benefit from it. In a way, they are exactly right because I do want them to benefit from it.

The benefit I want them to get is reminders to think about things they maybe haven't been thinking about, or to see something in their lives from a different perspective. That's all a Tarot card reading, or any form of "fortune telling", really is. A different perspective.

What most people don't realize is that the perspective they are getting is mine and not some other "supernatural" one.

So, as a magician who does responsible readings, should I give them advice? Only so long as that advice doesn't go beyond the bounds of what kind of advice I might give if the cards weren't involved.

For example I'm not going to suggest that someone stop taking their medication because the cards say so. I'm going to suggest that they see their doctor to have their medication reviewed in case it's warranted.

I'm not going to suggest that they invest their money in some kind of scheme they know about. I am going to suggest that they talk to a professional financial advisor about the scheme they know about to get the best possible advice.

You see? It's not that hard to be a magician who is also a responsible reader.

Santiago
Enter a World of Elegant Magic
Santiago's Magic

Is every Magician Really Unique?

2005-11-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

I was thinking about things to put into my profile and I realized that I started thinking in "market speak." I was going to say something about having spent many years creating a "unique" style all my own, when it really occurred to me that perhaps there is a problem with that statement.

I mean aren't all Magician's Unique?

Now I know that many working professionals will jump up and say "No, not all magicians are unique." What they are thinking about, of course, is the idea that what we see as professionals seems to be the same things over and over again.

A new book, video or DVD comes out and suddenly everyone is doing material from it. They are even using the same lines and stories and so in this sense they may very well be copies and not unique. This much is certainly true.

But the perspectives of the average audience is something else isn't it? How many of the people in my audience have ever seen a magician before? When I think about it I do realize that the lions share of them haven't ever seen a magician before in real life and few have seen them on TV.

So to them I am already unique.

Now, does this mean that I shouldn't worry about developing my own style, my own stories and my own presentations?

Not even close. Of course I want to develop my own stuff because then I do set myself an artistic goal and achieve a level of presentation that sets me apart from even the other working professionals. We all want to be different from each other too.

And I think that maybe that is the real heart of it.

I love magic. I love performing it, but I also love watching it. I don't get to watch enough of it I think, and when I go spend an evening in the Magic Castle, I can't get enough of it. It's a wonderful thing for me to forget about how things are done for awhile in favor of just enjoying how someone else does them.

Of course I know how things like The Linking Rings or The Cups and Balls works. It's my job. But that doesn't mean that I can't appreciate the differences between the way I do them and the way others do them. That's what I'm looking for, and hopefully when others see me do them, then they will get the same kind of enjoyment as well.

Reflecting on those differences simply means that I have a greater opportunity. An opportunity to not steal material, but rather to make sure that I come up with something different that works for me.

To many magicians watch other magic acts for material to steal and frankly that stinks. There is a difference between stealing material and being inspired to create my own material.

So in that sense, maybe I am Unique?

Santa Cruz Magician

SPAMMER Removed

2005-11-02T12:55:00.000-08:00

Wow, not even 24 hours and already people tried to SPAM my Blog.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

So here's the deal, if you want to post here, you have to be a member. If you want to be a member contact me through the appropriate channels. If you SPAM me again I will cast the appropriate magic spell (labeled SPAMCOP.net) and have you shut down.

To anyone else, sorry to have to be so hard nosed about this, but in my world SPAMMERS are lower then telemarketers. If you are a SPAMMER then you are lower then scum and deserve a very long slow and painful torture session at the hands of prison inmates who wish to make you their bitch.

Criss Angel and the Privy of Death

2005-11-02T10:22:00.000-08:00

Okay, so what do you think it took for Criss Angel to come up with that one?

"So, I'll do something so stupid that it riles up people," says Criss.

"Riles?" says magic consultant guy.

"Yeah, and they'll chase me and I'll hide in this Port-o-potty...." says Criss.

"Port-o-potty?" says other magic constultant guy with a look of disbelief.

"...and then, then someone runs into it with their old, beat up truck, and when they open it up I won't be there!"

(crickets are heard)

"It will TOTALLY ROCK!"

Yeah, Criss.

Totally.

How long do you think it will be before David Blaine hangs one over a construction site and tests our patience by staying in it for a month?

Why are some magicians like that?

2005-11-01T17:15:00.000-08:00

I have a good friend who is a magician as well. He is very dedicated to creating something special and to sharing what he learns with people. I have been very lucky to benefit from his wisdom and his generosity.

Unfortunately not everyone can be so greatful or kind.

He recently contacted a full time professional who needed some serious help with his website. Basically in the area of spelling and grammar. He hasn't told me who this person is, but if it's the one I think it is, well, it needs help. Badly.

My friend was kind and suggested that this person review his site.

The response was full of venom and hate. So much so that my friend has had his own confidence shaken in what he does. This is not good.

Why are some magicians like that?

I have to wonder if there is something about our art that makes people act this way. We are so protective of our secrets that we become overly protective over everything we do.

There isn't anything wrong with this part of things. But some people can't tell the difference between constructive criticism and an attack and for some reason it seems like magicians are particularly susceptible to this.

I won't reveal the names of any of the above people. There is no point.

But I will say this much -- get to know who you are hiring if you can. Because if they are willing to treat others in their art this way you have no idea how they might treat you as a client.

Tim "Santiago" Converse
Enter a World of Elegant Magic
Santiago's Magic

Welcome to Santiago's Magic!

2005-11-01T16:39:00.000-08:00

Santiago's Magic is an Entertainment Resource located in Santa Cruz, California.

I have spent many years developing what I hope is a unique set of services for entertaining in the Corporate Environment, at Weddings, Fund Raisers and Private Parties. There are many thoughts and creations which come from Santiago's Magic and I hope to share them with you here.

So if you are interested in the occasional essay, rant or just general thoughts on Entertainment and Magic in general, please feel free to visit here often.

Thank you.

Tim "Santiago" Converse
Enter a World of Elegant Magic
www.santiagosmagic.com