Update: JC SUM WEEK

JC Sum is one hell of a guy! He's also a brilliant mind and fantastic illusionist. When I mentioned to him that people voting on the site said they'd like to see more books reviewed he immediately sent over a copy of every book on his site all the way from Singapore and he sent his Perfect Coin Pail. I just received the package this weekend and I am very excited.

I was planning a JC Sum week but with this much stuff it is going to be longer than a week! Right now I think it is going to take a minimum of two weeks, and likely longer to review all this stuff!

JC and I have also agreed to a holding a little contest! More details will follow soon, the prize will be a copy of his book The Event Illusionist valued at 85 dollars!

Here is a list of all the books to be reviewed:

Illusionary Departures
The Event Illusionist
Urban Illusions
Beyond the Stage
Equilateral

Pendragons DVD Volume 1

L and L publishing has just released a 4 DVD set by none other than the Pendragons! Aside from this being a milestone in magic history, this is being taught for the first time by world famous and respected illusionists. The only video set that is on the same subject (roughly) is the 2nd volume of Rand Woodbury's Illusionworks videos from yesteryear.

Alright, Volume 1, what do we get? I am going to explain what is on the DVDs followed by my recommendation then a more thorough review.

Contents:
The Hindu Basket
Intro, History and Concepts, Why not to use fire, Sword choice and Safety, Basic Swordsmanship, The Foulard, How to get into the basket, Placing the swords in the basket.

Color of Emotion
Introduction, and Concepts, Materials, Preparation and Presentation.

The Shadow Box
The Work

Clearly Impossible
History and Discussion

Bonus Interview with Jonathan Pendragon by Patrick Martin

Alright, upon initially watching this DVD I was turned off, not because it was done poorly but because I could NEVER perform these illusions with the same presentational flare as the Pendragons. Honestly, while watching I was embarrassed for Jonathan at many of the poses and choreographed sequences him and Charlotte perform. Two minutes later, I realized that it wasn't awkward in performance, it was only awkward because a small segment of a much larger show with no proper video introduction to the Pendragons is presented.

Despite the lack of a full show in this DVD I have to say the information is truly priceless, To say that this DVD is thorough is the understatement of the year. Every aspect you could imagine is covered. I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone who is planning on doing illusions. If you are not planning to do illusions and only want to see the Pendragons perform, these might not be your cup of tea. That being said, any interest in illusions would justify purchasing this DVD.

Alright step by step, We start with the Hindu basket, and while I find it to be a particularly weak effect, Jonathan does mention that it is a perfect first illusion and proceeds to list many reasons why. If you look at this DVD from that perspective it is an amazing introduction to illusions. It is very clear and often superfluous with information. There are great pieces of advice imparted and it makes it very difficult to review these DVDs without leaving a few of those along. A great one of course is the section on not using fire, why to not use fire and why it costs so much more to get insurance with pyro in your show.

The only thing that stuck out as strange was the lengthy explanation on swords and sword combat. That being said, anyone using any swords in a show would be stupid to not buy, watch, re watch, and take to heart all advice Jonathan has put in this section. A prime example would be, "Never point a sword towards the audience" if your hand is sweaty or the sword isn't high enough quality you might end up with a blade flying into the audience and a lovely lawsuit on your hands!

The explanation on foulards was particularly information rich, mentioning specific fabric types and what you are looking for in a proper foulard and where to find fabrics for this sort of thing. How it should flow and what type of movement you want. You also get something invaluable, insight into the mind of Jonathan Pendragon, a brilliant thinker in illusions. He mentions the logic and thought process behind the lengthy of a cloth relative to certain illusions and what you must keep in mind for successful presentations.

How to get into the basket was a difficult segment as you can imagine, Charlotte, aside from being remarkably attractive, is also very limber and able to pop in and out with little trouble. The difficulty in this section is the sound, and this is a recurring problem throughout the whole DVD set, there tends to be a lack of consistent volume levels. I'm not sure if this could have been easily rectified but it would have been nice to not have to crank up and crack down the volume from time to time.

Placing swords in the basket might sound like an unneeded section but the wisdom imparted is amazing, especially the solution they used to put flaming torches through despite the current disdain towards pyro.


Color of Emotion
This is a great trick, designed by Jonathan for Charlotte, in short, an emotion is thought of by a spectator and Charlotte paints the emotion on a canvas then writes the emotion though of on the top of the easel. A great trick if you have an assistant to perform this type of effect. This also uses a marketed item by another magician John Cornelius' Thought Transmitter. If you are alright buying it or finding another way to accomplish this, great! Otherwise you might be a bit upset as they don't provide a friendly on the spot alternative. The painting once finished is given away to the audience member. Now you have to appreciate that this is not like close up magic, the tricks are described with more information than you could ever imagine, I suppose like sitting down with Channing Pollock and him explaining the fine touches of dove work, just brilliant!
Information like, how to keep paints from drying up, how to keep your palette fresh, using gloves unpowdered, all the information you might come across if you performed this stuff for years. Truly amazing the amount of "extra" information that you are given. By extra I mean information that you don't need to perform but that makes it much easier, more complete, and more practical for the working performer.

The Shadow Box is another great illusion for the first time illusionist, it can be said that Volume 1 is a great introduction to illusions and the illusions for the most part are great for the beginner!
Jonathan explains how he made his own, perhaps a high school student student looking to build something bigger would look towards this illusion. The Work section is lacking, a lot, there is just a discussion with Jonathan and Charlotte but no prop to examine, no demonstration without paper up, nothing... I was a bit shocked at this and thought there would be more, they also reference that you can find working of a shadow box in Tarbell or Greater Magic. I took a quick look through some books and found the following for plans for the trick:

Tarbell Vol, 4 pg 413 The Girl From The Light
The Oriental Magic of The Bambergs Pg 215 The Girl From The Light
Illusion Builder to Fu Manchu Pg 58 The Girl from the Light
Great Illusions of Magic Pg. 259 Lady from Light

Clearly Impossible is The Pendragon's see through sawing in half and it is tremendous, it fooled me terribly and upon reviewing just the performance fooled me again! Only after the explanation did I have a chance in hell of seeing what was going on. Now that being said, owners of the DVD DO NOT have permission to construct their own. This seems odd to me, and I'll explain why. If you are going to product a DVD set with many of your original things on them surely since they are explaining the effects owners feel there is some entitlement to perform them as shown. That being said, it could be argued that you are purchasing The Pendragon's work on these illusions and tricks and therefore you are only privy to the information, tips, and routines presented to you by them. I tend to sway towards the latter but understand the thought of building what you see. Which is why I don't quite understand why this was put on the DVD. We have 3 wonderful tricks, The Hindu Basket and Shadow Box, for beginner illusionists and Color of Emotion for a stage or parlor piece, why would you go ahead and explain a much more sophisticated, complex, and secretive illusion on what appears to be a very beginner to illusions friendly DVD? While I don't understand or agree with it being on here I think the trick is magnificent and I am sure you will too!

The interview with Jonathan is a fun look back at starting out, meeting Charlotte, etc. Nothing too magic heavy in here.

In terms of cons, the sound could have been improved in a number of places, it would have been nice to have a full performance by the Pendragons, even if it meant taking up half a DVD. While the two intro illusions are great perhaps Clearly Impossible could have been switched out with something more beginner friendly. An actual demonstration of the Shadow box would have been great.

Despite all this I still found the DVD very helpful and worthwhile. Available from L and L Publishing for $34.95.

Update: Out to Lunch Marathon!

Thanks to wonderful people like Doc Eason, Magikraft, and Paul Romhany I will have a number of Out To Lunch based products. Lunch is Served, Doc Eason's Out to Lunch Clip, and Business Card-iographic DVD. They will all be reviewed as soon as I get all of them and have time to put them in to action.

How to Produce Your Own Theatre Show by John Pyka

How to Produce your Own theatre show is a very good example of self publishing. For 25 US Dollars you will receive a PDF emailed to your inbox immediately! This PDF is 27 pages of information written by Mr. Pyka and an additional 6 pages of Press Releases, Contracts, Riders, etc. Followed by 3 pages of ads for Mr. Pyka's other books and booking opportunities.

Reading this PDF I was very excited to get to know some of the real gritty details of working a theatre show, but I didn't receive any of those. Instead I got a lot of common knowledge to any theatre enthusiast. This book lacks the type of depth and clarity I would love to see in a book on producing theatre shows. Don't get me wrong, there are a handful of wonderful insights in this PDF but surely the price and the information could have been a bit more balanced. This 'Book' is shorter than many sets of lecture notes. Those lecture notes might cost between 10-20 dollars tops. Also we are greeted with a lot of spelling and grammatical errors. For 25 dollars, and 26 pages of information, there shouldn't be any errors, spelling or otherwise.

Much of the book is made up of definitions, explanations for some common theatre terms, stages types, etc.

What a black box theatre is like, how a thrust stage changes your performance and choice of material. All information that could be readily obtained with a few google searches or a coffee with an actor. Quite honestly, I am disappointed. Very disappointed. While I don't question Mr Pyka's ability to put on a spectacular show, lecture, etc. I do question his ability to release a PDF with such a high price tag for the information you would be receiving.

I can not recommend this book, but I can point you towards another. For more information regarding touring with a show and the agent/producer/talent buyer relationship please see this book: Booking Performance Tours: Marketing and Acquiring Live Arts and Entertainment it is under 20 dollars and many more pages than 26 with a very extensive appendix section containing riders, contracts, and other forms for all stages of the booking process. Also for those new to theatre, take a look at This Book for under 15 dollars.

For those who would like to read Mr Pyka's book you can find it here for 25 dollars. You've been warned!

Happy Face by Paul Romhany

Alright, let's take a look at some of the pros and cons. First let's discuss what you receive then we will get into the routine and the accompanying DVD.

When you purchase Happy Face you receive a 5 cards, printed on very thin stock, that measure about 5.5" by 8.5" semi-glossy on one side only. The lack of coating on both sides means that some cards with faces on them have a semi-glossy face on one side and the same card changes to have a new face with a dull side. Perhaps a small detail but something to consider nonetheless. I would have opted for the extra few bucks to produce the cards with semi-gloss coating on both sides it just lends a better feel and look. I'm also bit concerned with the durability of these cards. They are very thin. I was hoping for something a bit thicker or possibly even something plastic coated or laminated for longer lasting props.

Alright, the cards are a very nice size, easily handled and the provided routine is dead simple. Unfortunately we do not see Mr Romhany performing this for a real live audience. It would have been nice to see what Mr Romhany gets out of this item in a real paid performance.

The effect is this, 4 cards with sad faces are shown, and placed on display. Two of the 4 cards placed down are faces towards the audience and two have their backs towards the audience. The last remaining card is a smiley card! By rubbing the smiley card against the frowning cards they each change into smiley cards as well. This is of course a variation on the classic Wild Card plot by Peter Kane.
Nothing particularly spectacular is taught in this trick, you are really paying for the cards and the smiley/sad idea. I tried this out for a few youngsters and they were quite receptive to it. I'm sure with a little work you could make this a good routine in your children's program.
Mr Romhany mentions on the back of the DVD that he uses it for his Humor Seminars, which is all nice and dandy, except he never teaches it, explains about it, or performs it! This was a let down. For those of you looking to purchase this item for any humor seminar, don't expect to get a presentation from this Trick/DVD.
Onto the actual DVD, which is shot in Mr Romhany's living room with a handheld camcorder. That being said, the video quality is quite good. Mr Romhany presents the trick and uses an artist's easel to hold his cards up, this is great but unfortunately they are expensive and the only solution given on this DVD is take a piece of cardboard and putting a section along the bottom for the cards to rest on. I suppose it would work but I would hope for something bit better than a piece of cardboard or two.
The presentation is fine, but basic, it is clear that this has been performed for audiences before by Mr Romhany. One this that did bother me was the errors made during the explanation. Mr Romhany apparently didn't prepare a script for the explanation and it is clearly seen when he flubs up a few times. Why didn't he just shoot it again? I'm really not sure but the errors seem significant enough to me to do a second take.

All in all, this routine could be good for the children's performer but I would not consider performing this for an audience of adults, especially considering no routine for adults is really given despite the mention of one on the package.

The DVD is short and the routine could be learned in a one or two viewings at most. The sleights involved are a glide and a double lift. Mr Romhany teaches both, part way through the whole packet is turned over which is made out to be a move. I thought this drew too much attention and could easily be replaced with a gentle turn of the body or lowering the cards down and lifting them back up reversed.

For the $29.95 price tag I think your money could be better spent on other items. If you are looking for a piece for your children's shows, this might be worth taking a look at. I'd recommend viewing the demo which is taken right from the DVD HERE .

If you find this routine might be right for you then 30 bucks might be worth it but it seems like a 15-20 dollar item at most especially considering the low quality cards provided. For the 30 dollars I would hope digital files of the card be included in case you wanted to make more cards when these wore out, which I assume would be within a few months for any working children's performer.

Not recommended for anyone but the children's performer and only if Mr Romhany were to provide a link to download the files and print your own cards as well.

Happy Face sells for $29.95 from Hocus-Pocus Magic or Paul himself at http://www.paulromhany.com/

On a happier notes, the music on the DVD was very pleasant! I would have liked to have that in a format I could use, it sounds similar to most royalty free music but you'd have to confirm with Mr Romhany

A Review of an older book...

Actually, it's a set of lecture notes. I am a big fan of books in magic, they are efficient, beautiful, and often contain the detail and excellent tricks that people are looking for! The practical stuff, a magician's life of magic in a volume. Any magician who has accumulated a significant library knows there are certain hidden gems. Specific books that people disregard, but you know better than that. Under appreciated works full of information most people are constantly looking for.

A common day example would be the Dale Carnegie book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. I recently found a set of lecture notes by Denny of Denny and Lee's in a bargain bin at my local brick and mortar.

Let me tell you first what these notes are not, they are not full of tricks (there are actually no tricks at all!), this set of notes is a very concise clear set of instructions on defining yourself in the magic world and making a real living from magic.

My first impression was that these notes are dated, and this is true in many ways, the advice on using a tape player instead of recorder for example. Also these were written in a time before the Internet, so no info on that either.

But this book does write a few things that are must knows, a formula for a "club date act", how to charge 5 times more than everyone else doing close up magic and have the client be HAPPIER about it!
Some great tips on getting your publicity together, although he advocates black and white photos over colour, I'm not an expert in this field but from an expert, Paul Romhany, states in his cruise ship book, that a black and white is advisable but colour photos are worth the extra cost. I would wager that the artistic integrity and feel of the photo lends itself to being either black and white or color. Take a peek through some posters at a music store and you will see black and white and color ones, if either were the other way (black and white being in color instead) they would lose a certain flavor I'm sure.
The notes are 41 pages in length, and to be honest I was slapped in the face after reading these notes. The ins and outs of performing magic for a living are all covered and I couldn't be happier!

I would highly recommend these notes, although I would love to see them updated. At 12.50 from Denny and Lees I don't know how any working pro or wanting to be working magician can afford to be without these notes. I am sorry it has taken me so long to get them!

Update: Miracle Factory News

I have just heard great news from Todd Karr. He will be submitting a whole host of products for review. I will not be reviewing the very exclusive items from Todd Karr as I believe a certain amount of secrecy should surround products like that. I will be reviewing the Erdnase Scroll though as I am a big fan of all that is Erdnase! Products to be reviewed will include the DVD and CDs from Miracle Factory, The Shakespeare Experiment (Which I have yet to find a real honest review on) and hopefully The Erdnase Scroll.

Again anyone who would like products reviewed please email me first.

Verbal Magic by Juan Tamariz

The other books I have reviewed so far have had rather lengthy reviews. This book is a little bit different. I am going to attempt a rather brief review and see how I feel about it afterwards.

This is a remarkably difficult and amazing book to read. Sometimes the effects are mind blowing and other times you get the feeling the effect is a little bit childish and perhaps something is lost in translation or perhaps it is cultural. But I have never had so much fun fooling myself over and over again with the items in this book! I would recommend it ONLY to those who will be doing magic remotely, or to those who want to fool themselves and experience a childlike joy that we had upon our initial introduction to magic.
This book is a compilation of translated tricks that Juan delivered to audiences over the radio in Spanish. So you can imagine that a little bit will be lost to an English speaking audience. That is understandable. Many of the tricks float around an oil and water idea with cards separating. I enjoyed playing with many of the effects and some of them just left me bored, so I skipped them. But one thing is for sure, this book is a treasure trove of cool trick that will fool YOU! I've rarely come across a book like this.

Anyone who reads this bad boy, and likes it, would do well to get copies of Impuzzibilities and Further Impuzzibilities by Jim Steinmeyer. Both are very cheap and have very fun routines!
If you have every wanted to magic over the phone then the set of three books mentioned will be a treasure trove!

*Also if anyone has any other titles similar to these in nature please let me know! I'd love to read, review, and recommend them if they are good! Even individual items from magazines would be nice. Thanks!!*

So in short, this book will teach you the tricks by following along exactly as written, I first did them with my partner beside me following my reading from the book, cards in hand, and they all worked! I tried again with a conference call and found the tricks from Verbal Magic were better received than those from the Impuzzibilities books but I am sure that it was presentational and some refining could turn all these tricks into amazing miracles! That being said I would not be surprised to see many YouTube videos performing the tricks from Verbal Magic. It would be nice to see Juan doing a few videos like that online for us to follow along so the impostors get squashed before they ruin this brilliant, fun book!

For a nice change of magic, go get this book, then call a buddy on his cell phone and make sure he's got some business cards or better yet a deck of cards!

Smoke and Mirrors by Rick Marcelli

This book has received some significant hype but with one key problem. I have yet to find a review for it in a major magic magazine. Okay, so the book has yet to be reviewed by the big shots, Magic and Genii, but wait... that's odd, Magic gave Rick Marcelli a spread in the magazine to promote his book and it doesn't appear to be a paid advertisement. Something isn't right here. Let's take a look at this books introduction to the market. The first advertisement for this book was on page 3 of Magic magazine, and pg 49 of Genii both September 2008. Naturally this issue of Magic also contains an article by Mr. Marcelli on page 52, The Secrets of Show Biz, which gives your essentially some well edited excerpts from the book. A very good article for those wanting to know the feel of this book and type of information. October 2008 Magic Magazine has another ad on page 41 for the book but no article by Mr. Marcelli, an ad on pg 49 in Genii and once again no reviews! Nov. 08, Magic Magazine, ad on page 31, Genii magazine ad on pg. 46 but no reviews... no more ads from here on and as you can imagine no reviews!



This is a very unfortunate start for this book. The author claims he is David Copperfield's first manager and this is true. In forums online (The Magic Cafe) Rick Marcelli takes a bit of flack and Charlotte Pendragon chimes in on his behalf. There is something seriously strange going on here. Did all the magic magazines choose to ignore this book? It certainly seems that way.



Here is my take on this book. The book is a slim softcover book, 8.5 by 11, About 140 pages long. Here is where it gets scary, 75 bucks! 100 if you'd like it personally autographed. I will say this though, that includes shipping to the US and Canada. Which is an added bonus I suppose. I purchased the 75 dollar option.



The book is true to it's word, Secrets of Becoming a STAR in Magic! Let's take a peek at the table of contents shall we?



Ch. 1 Getting Started

Ch. 2 Getting Your Act Together

Ch. 3 Do You Need Representation?

Ch. 4 It's All In The Package

Ch. 5 What Makes a Star

Ch. 6 Show Biz Secrets for Magicians (sound familiar?)

Ch. 7 The Present

Ch. 8 The Future of Variety and Magic

Ch. 9 People I Sometimes Agree With

Ch. 10 Reading and Resources

Ch. 11 List of Contacts

Ch. 12 Final Thoughts



Well there it is, but at 140 pages this certainly seems like a lot of chapters and therefore not a lot of information per heading. Our first chapter takes us down the life story of the author, why you ask? Because it is to make a point, all celebrities were just like you and I at one point.



Our next chapter gets more into it! How to build an act, this means what lengths of time each trick should be and how long the act should be (20 minutes is suggested). We also go into some priceless information, including! How to spot trends in pop culture and television, where people really make it. If you want to be famous you have to be on TV there is no question about it. You also need to take risks and develop a persona, fortunately it is clearly explained how to do that.



Chapter three, Do YOU Need representation? In short, if you have an act, a look, and a promo package, YES you do need representation. This chapter goes into much more detail. A very good read! Truly lays out what your manager does and doesn't do. We finish this chapter with a five-step plan to jump-start your career at any level, it is very accurate and it works!



Chapter four, your promo package. It is covered in here head to toe. I'm not going to go into too much detail as that is the purpose of this book but it lays out everything you need, from what promo you need, how to get the best quality photos, even photographers to research to get pose ideas, website or no website? Choosing photos, writing bios, Video all these are addressed. I hate to say it but this really is invaluable to any performer! I'd pay the price of the book for this chapter alone.



Chapter five, What makes a star? If you ever wanted to know this chapters answers it. Enough said.



Chapter six, Show Biz Secrets for Magicians. Want to know why you aren't as big a success and the talk of the town as you think you deserve? This chapter has some answers, how to be professional (might surprise you), timing your career, your big break(s)!, it's all in here. This is where Magic magazine got there chapter from. I'd recommend reading Magic Sept. 08 to get some info before the big buy.



So far we are on page 60 roughly, the rest of the book is a little bit odd. Next we have a chapter titled The Present, a strange chapter telling us where big name magicians are, Las Vegas. Also where is Rick Marcelli now? It is clear that writing this book was about stroking one's own ego as much as providing very real, practical information. Chapter eight present Rick's assumptions about Magic in the future. Sort of useless for the time being but I suppose it is an assumption to consider.



After this we have a VERY long chapter titled, People I sometimes agree with. This is tales, stories, and testimonials from Rick's friends telling you how great he is. A bit tacky if you ask me. We signs of ego stroking going on. The pretentious title to this chapter doesn't help either. These tales go on for 37 pages!! Holy shit!



Following this we have reading resources, a VERY good chapter with fantastic book recommendations. I happened to own many of the titles given and they are truly spectacular reads. So my hat is off for this list!



The list of websites on the other hand is useless, I know pages like the Genii and Magic magazine websites, The Magic Circle website is not a needed website, anyone who has visited this site would agree it is utterly useless unless I wanted to book the space, not to mention the actual location only allows magicians to visit 1 night per week... Truly a shame!



The chapter on contacts is terrible, it is a list of magic clubs around the world basically, a contact name and phone number with address if available.



So you might think I am being harsh on this little book, I think it is a brilliant book, well the first half is. The second half could have been easily edited down to a handful of pages or improved. I don't need to know magic club info I am more interested in agents perhaps. Where to find agents and their information, the proper way to contact them etc.



I truly like, perhaps even love this book! It delivers what it promises and the information is invaluable IF you are a dedicated magician trying to make something of yourself. It will help you form a nice career. No doubt about it there. But you can't expect to do it being a lazy ass.



At 75 bucks I'd say it is steep compared to other magic books. You'd expect a hardbound book with glossy paper and colour photos perhaps. Well, this isn't a magic book, it's a business book and a small text book targeted to magicians. There are no tricks to perform, just tricks for success and real world advice from a real manager in the business. I do feel the book is a must buy, but 75 bucks is hefty. I'd say it would have flown off the shelves at $55 with a couple reviews in 2 unnamed magic magazines (Where's JIS when you need him?).



So the verdict? NOT GUILTY. If you are serious about performing magic on stage and making it a career, go buy this book, 75 bucks is not a lot of money compared to a career in magic and this information and advice will CERTAINLY improve your career!



Available at Smoke and Mirrors Book for $75 USD don't bother getting it signed.