#207801 - 11/12/09 01:03 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Jager]
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Scott F. Guinn
Member
Registered: 11/10/09
Posts: 3
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The clip is located here. I can't find the clip on this webpage. I subscribed yesterday and I can't wait to see whats on the Menu.
Hmmm... it was right there when I clicked on it. Maybe try a different browser?
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#207803 - 11/12/09 02:53 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Scott F. Guinn]
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Paul Gordon
Registered: 05/01/08
Posts: 162
Loc: UK
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Dear All,
If you want to see me perform - for laymen - parts of both "Diminishing? Not Likely" and "Twister" from The Magic Menu issue 1, then watch my promo video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcWoPdj1geA OR here: http://paulgordon.net/promovideo.html
Diminishing? Not Likely! is the second trick in and Twister is the one you can see me perform on a bar top! Both tricks were first created and published by me in the mid 80's. I perform both at every function I do and have done so for years and years. The first trick in, btw, is Corner of Piccadilly which got a great review in Genii by David Regal.
I hope you like the clip...
Yours, Paul Gordon
Edited by Paul Gordon (11/12/09 02:54 AM)
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#207808 - 11/12/09 06:51 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Paul Gordon]
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mrgoat
Registered: 01/17/08
Posts: 1136
Loc: Brighton, UK
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I think it's brilliant Mr Scruff gave you permission to use his music in your reel. I love his stuff, and would like to also pay to use another of his tracks in my reel. Do you have a contact for him because Ninja Tunes are yet to reply to my email?
Many thanks
Damian
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#207828 - 11/12/09 08:49 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: mrgoat]
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Glenn Bishop
Registered: 03/14/08
Posts: 417
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I liked Paul Gordon's promo - I liked the way it showed the audience and the audience reactions - to the magic.
_________________________
Bish The Magish
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#207846 - 11/12/09 10:40 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Glenn Bishop]
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Paul Gordon
Registered: 05/01/08
Posts: 162
Loc: UK
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Thank You Glenn! Appreciated...kind words! Paul
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#207852 - 11/12/09 11:03 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Paul Gordon]
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Glenn Bishop
Registered: 03/14/08
Posts: 417
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Oh yes and it was strong - good close up magic - by a great close up magician - that is what got those great audience reactions.
Well done Paul Gordon.
_________________________
Bish The Magish
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#207880 - 11/12/09 03:09 PM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Glenn Bishop]
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Mark.Lewis
Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 442
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I can't tell if he is any good or not. I hate those clips that show a few seconds here and a few seconds there. How the hell can you judge someone in a matter of a few seconds?
I must say that the constant mentioning of the Magic Circle is a turn off for me. I remember them well. A real bunch of incompetents like magic clubs all over the world. Of course the public have no idea how crap they are so I suppose it is a good thing to have on the site since the British Public know them very well.
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#207896 - 11/12/09 07:46 PM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Richard Kaufman]
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Mark.Lewis
Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 442
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I HAVE spent countless hours in the Magic Circle clubroom and used to go there every Monday night so I am well aware of how useless the members all are except for the odd one or two.
Most of them are such bad magicians that they couldn't make the contents of an empty box disappear. I also remember them being very snobby indeed. And with boring personalities to match.
The trouble is that they don't know how to lie, cheat and steal. I was always far more at home with my fellow grafters. None of them could do a single trick but they all had more personality in their little fingers than most magicians have in their whole body. I must say that magicians the world over (not just the magic circle) are very colourless people and have the personalities of a dial tone.
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#207906 - 11/12/09 10:20 PM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Richard Kaufman]
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Mark.Lewis
Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 442
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Oh, about 40 years ago. I think they banned me. I am proud to say that I have been banned from magic clubs the world over. Not in Canada though. Canadians are boring by nature so I think they get terribly excited by colourful characters like myself. They like the contrast.
Mind you I did visit the magic circle once or twice in the last 15 years or so. The members looked terribly old and decrepit and it was most depressing. The worst part of it was that they were exactly the same members as 40 years ago. I looked at them and thought that they were all horrendously bad 40 years ago so God alone knows how bad they are now.
I used to get depressed at all the bad magicians that you see in magic clubs. But then I read something that Al Goshman wrote and it made me come to terms with the awfulness. Goshman basically said that magic club magicians were supposed to be bad and there was nothing that could be done about it so you may as well accept it. He said that it has always been thus and it will continue to be thus.
90% of so called magicians are so absolutely horrendously bad that I can't bear watching them work. Hardly anyone impresses me. In fact I don't think I have seen for example, 10 good close up magicians in my entire life.
And none of them were in the bloody magic circle.
Edited by Mark.Lewis (11/12/09 10:23 PM)
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#207907 - 11/12/09 10:37 PM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Richard Kaufman]
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Bill Duncan
Registered: 03/13/08
Posts: 1242
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I have come to doubt that there is such a thing as “good commercial magic.” In more than twenty years as a consumer of magic performances what I have seen is that there are many, many, good commercial performances, but that even among the best magicians (doing their best tricks), a trick can fall flat. And I’m not willing to blame the audience.
I’ve been told for as long as I can remember that the Six Card Repeat is “good commercial magic” and yet in all the performances I’ve seen over the years I have never seen it get as strong a response from an audience as I have been told it “always” does. As best I can tell, the trick sucks, but some folks can get a laugh with it. On a good day.
Anyone who reads any magic magazine in the hope that they’ll learn a trick that’s “commercial” will probably be disappointed. I think the best we can hope for is inspiration, ideas, and some guidance. I suspect the original Magic Menu succeeded because it provided some of all those things more often than not.
Hopefully this new version will provide similar value to its readers, and improve on the production values of the original. To that end, I would recommend the book Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace by Joseph M. Williams. There are 10 editions so it should be available for next to nothing from the local used book stop, or University book store.
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#207910 - 11/13/09 12:45 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Bill Duncan]
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Paul Gordon
Registered: 05/01/08
Posts: 162
Loc: UK
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Mark, I've been a member of The Magic Circle for nearly 20 years. (AIMC.) When I visit, I'm often one of the older ones there and I'm in only in my late 40's!
It's a good clubroom (lovely museum/library/theatre etc), lots of good/great magic, nice people and worthy of much better comments than your negative ones.
Paul Gordon
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#207915 - 11/13/09 07:39 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Paul Gordon]
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Mark.Lewis
Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 442
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Gordon old Chap. You don't look that old. You only look around 35 years old in your video. Still I have faith in you. Eventually you will look as decrepit as the rest of them.As for being a member for 20 years I would not consider that anything to be bragging about.
Still you are obviously very proud of being in the Magic Circle otherwise you wouldn't be promoting it so much.
As for "nice" people I am afraid I don't like "nice" people. "Nice" usually means snooty lawyers, accountants and worst of all doctors who are better at killing people than curing them. And they aren't nice anyway. Magicians are full of egotistical back stabbers and as for the notion of "good/great" magic such an event is so rare that there is more chance of being struck by lightning.
"Nice" means boring and it seems to come out in the magic. I far prefer the rogues and vagabonds that I have hung out with all my life. I don't like them either on the grounds that I don't like anyone but at least they are more colourful than all the drab twits that inhabit magic clubs.
No doubt it has a good clubroom but it had that 40 years ago too. It probably has all the old incompetents too or at least it did when I was there a few years ago.
As for being a member of the "inner" magic circle that means nothing to me either. They seem to be just as bad as anyone else.
Not you of course. I never judge anyone until I can see them properly a few times. Alas your video tells me nothing except that you speak with an English accent. Since I happen to be Scottish this is one point against you straight away. I did see your book in a magic shop the other day and looked at it cursorily. I think it might be a good book since it had nice pictures and at first glance easily written. I shall look at it more closely but I must warn you that if I find any references to the Magic Circle in it It will be a count against you.
I must now address Mr Duncan who doesn't seem to like the 6 Card Repeat trick. I have some sympathy with him even though I have been performing this trick for decades. Harry Stanley insisted I learn it and I resisted with great irritation. I told him that I hated the bloody trick and always had. I thought the standard patter was corny and I saw no great mystery about it. I was told that there was one fellow who made a sensation out of it (I think it was a comedian called Reggie Dennis but I could be wrong) doing it in different languages or something but I hadn't seen it so didn't know.
Nowadays you don't see the trick that often but in the old days the trick was overdone and known as "the six card repeat that is repeated too often."
Anyway I detested the trick but Harry forced me to learn it and actually coached me in his method of doing it. I found it to be a wonderful item after all. Not a great mystery but one of the best ways of opening an act especially if the crowd is a bit inattentive and rowdy. I remember working the Northern Clubs in England and nobody would pay any attention when I first came on.
As soon as I started with the 6 card repeat within a few seconds the noise quietened down. This had never happened before. I have no idea why the trick is so effective as an opener. I think it is the sheer monotony of the counting that does it. The audience keep hearing you say the same thing and even if they are inattentive they eventually pay attention to see why you are repeating yourself the whole time.
It is actually a better trick than it first seems. I have seen Julie Eng and Wayne Dobson do it and it seems to produce good results. I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand.
Edited by Mark.Lewis (11/13/09 07:42 AM)
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#207932 - 11/13/09 10:16 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Paul Gordon]
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Mark.Lewis
Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 442
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I shall have another look. You certainly don't look as if you are in your late 40s though.
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#207935 - 11/13/09 10:29 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Mark.Lewis]
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Paul Gordon
Registered: 05/01/08
Posts: 162
Loc: UK
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Two marriages & alcohol abuse have kept me young! (I joined The Sussex Magic Circle back in 1976; when Francis Haxton, Peter Warlock & Jack Avis were regulars. Francis was presdident then.)
Paul
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#207959 - 11/13/09 02:24 PM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Richard Kaufman]
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Ian Kendall
Registered: 01/17/08
Posts: 306
Loc: Edinburgh
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I remember my first visit to the Magic Circle in Cheynes Mews. I was 18 in 1986, and I was taken in and walked to the back left corner near the 'bar' where Francis White was sitting under his portrait. He muttered something about 'nice to meet the youngsters' and then I sat in a corner somewhere wondering what I was going to do (I had dropped the average age to a more respectable 67 by turning up).
On the plus side, John Gordon was lecturing that night and I learned something I'm still using today.
Shortly after this I was 'removed from the mailing list'. Or kicked out.
Take care, Ian
Edit: the first trick I saw Jerry Sadowitz do was the six card repeat (at a university gig in Embra). He get a very good reaction to it, but that probably had more to do with the patter line.
Edited by Ian Kendall (11/13/09 02:26 PM)
Edit Reason: and I still have 6 edits....
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#207963 - 11/13/09 03:17 PM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Mark.Lewis]
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Pete McCabe
Registered: 01/18/08
Posts: 1368
Loc: Woodland Hills
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90% of so called magicians are so absolutely horrendously bad that I can't bear watching them work.
Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crap.
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#208025 - 11/14/09 01:33 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Pete McCabe]
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Bill Duncan
Registered: 03/13/08
Posts: 1242
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[mark lewis mode]
I seem to have failed to make my point as both the suave Mr. Lewis, and our esteemed host have missed it. I don’t think the results achieved by Ms. Eng, nor Mr. Finney, are due to the Six Card Repeat.
[/mark lewis mode]
In layman’s terms: it ain’t the trick, it’s the trickster.
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#208026 - 11/14/09 01:42 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Bill Duncan]
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Paul Gordon
Registered: 05/01/08
Posts: 162
Loc: UK
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The best performance of SCR I've seen is by Peter Scarlett. Peter crams so much magic, fun and entertainment out of (or 'into') it!
PG
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#208033 - 11/14/09 04:49 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Paul Gordon]
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Mark.Lewis
Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 442
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I must reluctantly agree with Mr Duncan. He is of course quite correct. But his astute observation applies to ANY trick. It is never the trick. A magician should never present magic. He should present HIMSELF doing magic. As I keep saying a trick is a mere peg to hang your personality on. Of course you have to have strong pegs-in other words good tricks. However what is a good trick in one person's hands may not be so wonderful in the hands of someone else. In other words the trick has to suit the performer and his style and personality.
And so endeth another lesson.
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#208038 - 11/14/09 05:13 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Paul Gordon]
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Mark.Lewis
Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 442
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I say,Gordon old chap. Or should I say old chap that looks younger than he deserves to look.
What on earth do you mean "at last"? I have made many posts on this forum which show off my undoubted genius. You really must read more of them and see what you can learn.
Dearie me. Methinks you have been a member of the Magic Circle for far too long.
"at last" indeed.
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#208040 - 11/14/09 05:24 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Mark.Lewis]
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Paul Gordon
Registered: 05/01/08
Posts: 162
Loc: UK
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Calling me Gordon (as opposed to Paul) reminds me of 5 years of my prep school where I boarded! Five long years of spam fritters, powdered egg, cold baked beans and sardines on toast! As I wrote about in The Real Secrets of Card Magic (no plug intended), my headmaster wrote (1969), "Gordon seems happy to sit at the back of the class and vegetate with a pack of playing cards. He'll amount to nothing!" Well, he got something right!
Paul
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#208042 - 11/14/09 05:40 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Paul Gordon]
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Mark.Lewis
Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 442
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That reminds me of a horrendously awful magician that used to book himself at a convention every year since he was in a position to do so. He was so bad that a well known professional used to leave before he came on and come back when he came off.
This awful chap used to perform like a headmaster giving out prizes at the end of term at a school assembly. Dreadfully posh and incompetent. Thankfully he is somewhat dead now and I shall not mention his name to spare his posthumous blushes.
Naturally he was a member of the Magic Circle.
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#208057 - 11/14/09 10:23 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Mark.Lewis]
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James Munton
Registered: 05/30/08
Posts: 95
Loc: Dallas, TX
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Sounds like Roger. But I don't think he is dead.
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#208059 - 11/14/09 10:27 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: James Munton]
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Mark.Lewis
Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 442
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Roger is indeed posh but never incompetent. Irritating yes. Incompetent no.
A very fine children's entertainer who appreciates the wonders of the choo choo trick.
Anyway you had better go away. You are not allowed to talk to me.
Edited by Mark.Lewis (11/14/09 10:31 AM)
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#208061 - 11/14/09 10:32 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Mark.Lewis]
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James Munton
Registered: 05/30/08
Posts: 95
Loc: Dallas, TX
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#208069 - 11/14/09 01:07 PM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Paul Gordon]
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Silly Walter
Registered: 03/16/08
Posts: 91
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... When I visit, I'm often one of the older ones there and I'm in only in my late 40's!
Paul Gordon
I would have guessed you to be in your mid-30's as well, Paul. What is your secret? Pilates?
_________________________
Silly Walter The Polar Bear
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#208089 - 11/14/09 05:41 PM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Silly Walter]
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Mark.Lewis
Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 442
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I think his secret is that he IS 35 and lieing about his age to seem more mature and experienced.
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#208092 - 11/14/09 05:55 PM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Mark.Lewis]
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Paul Gordon
Registered: 05/01/08
Posts: 162
Loc: UK
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Alcohol abuse, two marriages and a darned hard life! That's my secret...and a trip to Harley Street in London 
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#208110 - 11/14/09 08:58 PM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Paul Gordon]
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Mark.Lewis
Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 442
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He has just exhibited proof that he is indeed old. He is repeating himself. I do that too. Of course I am even older than he is.
Edited by Mark.Lewis (11/14/09 08:59 PM)
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#208122 - 11/15/09 01:51 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Mark.Lewis]
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Paul Gordon
Registered: 05/01/08
Posts: 162
Loc: UK
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If you think I look young, here's my wife in a recent pic - and she's older than me; with three children in their twenties! Paul
Edited by Paul Gordon (11/15/09 01:51 AM)
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#208224 - 11/16/09 03:31 PM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: CraigOusterling]
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Mark.Lewis
Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 442
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Christopher IS mad! Of course "mad" could mean "angry" or just "nuts" Which are you referring to? I think he fits both descriptions but I would like to know which is which.
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#208262 - 11/17/09 12:53 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: CraigOusterling]
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Mark.Lewis
Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 442
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I am hoping to get a copy of the Magic Menu on Wednesday and I am not referring to the Choo Choo trick which used to be called the Magic Menu until Sisti and Munton got to work on it. I shall peruse it carefully to see if it is really as bad as the gentleman who owns it claims it is. He said that Christopher rambled too much. I shall give my verdict later in the week.
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#208285 - 11/17/09 07:22 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Mark.Lewis]
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Mark.Lewis
Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 442
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I have been reading the Roy Benson book. It seems that Benson tended to agree with Bill Duncan concerning the 6 card repeat saying that it is not a great mystery. If I had the energy I would post the full comments but old, cranky people like me need their rest.
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#208286 - 11/17/09 07:40 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: Mark.Lewis]
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Jonathan Townsend
Registered: 01/17/08
Posts: 3291
Loc: Westchester, NY
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How do you compare the six card repeat with the Victor Eleven Card trick or the Kaps version using bills?
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#208297 - 11/17/09 10:39 AM
Re: The Magic Menu
[Re: CraigOusterling]
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Mark.Lewis
Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 442
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How very odd. I didn't know I didn't accept PMs. It must be some technical computer thing that I do not understand that is the cause of the problem.
Anyway I DIDN'T call Christopher's ramblings "ramblings" even though I expect they were. I was merely quoting what someone else said.
I HAVE seen other things that Christopher has written but always on the internet. I don't agree with any of it. I will however be quite ready to admit that his ramblings as they no doubt are may well be the most interesting part of the magazine. People love controversy. I learned that years ago.
For example I bet more people read what I have to say on here than anyone else whether they care to admit it or not. As my old friend Murray the Escapologist used to say "Talk about me good, talk about me bad-it doesn't matter as long as you talk about me"
Christopher is following this advice and I congratulate him for it.
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