On October 30 (at precisely 12:01AM EST) I’m launching an exciting collection of some of the most creative and practical deceptions I’ve developed in years.

There are many things about these ‘special effects’ that make them so special. First, having the opportunity to produce them with master illusion designer, Roy Kueppers. I worked closely with Roy to develop the extremely popular ‘Slyder’ gimmick, and Roy has also shared his rare manufacturing talents with David Roth, Ellusionist and many others.

Second, each of the effects was developed to fulfill a handful of very demanding ‘real world’ criteria, with an emphasis on startling, ORIGINAL effects and NATURAL handlings.

And third, each of the effects involves ‘a new breed of gimmick.’ Gimmicks that are not a substitute for sleight-of-hand, but rather a perfect compliment. Gimmicks that are designed to work ingeniously with every day, ordinary objects. Items you would normally find ‘lying around’ at school or work, as well as stuff you would typically carry in your wallet. These are modern effects and gimmicks developed with the power of the ‘unplanned performance’ very much in mind.

A great gimmick IS magic. I’ve loved pure sleight-of-hand for over 30 years, but I can also still remember my first glorious gimmick. It was a fake stack of nickels for the classic ‘Nickels to Dimes’ effect. You know, a small, round, silvery metal ‘cap’ with a few horizontal grooves running around it. It looked like nothing. Like a piece of something or other that had fallen off a lawnmower. But if you placed a nickel on top of that little cap…MAGIC. It looked exactly like an honest to goodness stack of nickels!

Even better (MUCH better) was that with that simple, trustworthy gimmick, you could create a deceptive effect that was both practical and dead easy to do. Again, MAGIC.

Brilliant gimmicks are an expression of the mind, not the hands. But when you combine even a single, basic sleight with an awesome gimmick, you get the best of the mind and the body. Separately, gimmicks and sleight-of-hand are marvelous. But together, they can create an experience that is so much more than the ‘sum of the parts.’

I haven’t touched my ‘nickels to dimes’ gimmick in many years for a lot of reasons, and one them is that the cap you slip on top of the fake stack of nickels LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE what it is: a GIMMICK. The same goes for all the paddles, dice, cups, boxes, mini wands, and strange-looking playing cards and ‘coins’ found in most magic shops.

While you can definitely have fun and even ‘trick’ people will all those puzzles, that’s not the same as doing MAGIC. For that, you need a different kind of gimmick. A gimmick that works in total silence and never brings any unwanted attention to itself. A gimmick that brilliantly serves the modern ideal of  ‘doing the extraordinary with the ORDINARY.”

A good gimmick must be deceptive and practical (or it won’t get used) and it must also be very well made (or it won’t get used for long.) But for a gimmick to be truly GREAT, it must also help achieve a GREAT effect. An effect worth creating. That’s the kind of truly inspired gimmick that blur the lines, between the sleights of the hands, the principles of the mind, and what people experience as MAGIC.

I love great gimmicks, and I really CAN’T wait to share with all of you my ‘new breed of gimmicks’ on OCT 30. If you too are fascinated with gimmicks, I’d appreciate it if you would please take a moment to post a comment, and share with the rest of us the name of one of your favorite gimmicks, and why you like it so much. Thank you! LLRM

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”-Ludwig Wittgenstein

As a community of mechanically-focused hobbyists, it is not surprising that many of us do not put a great deal of thought into the language of our scripts. But when you take a moment to step back and really consider such popular phrases as, “Pick a card,” “Watch carefully,” and “Please hold onto this,” they seem strikingly dull, even robotic.  Fortunately, none of us has to be Shakespeare to bring a bit more life to our language.  We merely have to think about it and do it!

Language is an extremely personal thing.  In fact, it is one of the easiest ways you can choose to express your uniqueness, and chances are that if you are reading this sentence you have a relatively large vocabulary.  However, I am certainly not urging you to adopt overly ornate language, e.g. “Fellow Creature, I beseech thee, please be so gracious as to extend your right hand towards this humble collection of multicolored, die-cut sections of cardboard such that you are able to actually, and in reality,  select but one from among the great many.”

Language choices cannot be divorced from the issues of character and venue.  For example, you might like the idea of performing as a rather rough, even somewhat rude person.  (Frankly, I would love to see more of that in magic.  We have spent far too long pretending to be friendly, polite, tidy, emotionally repressed “vanilla performers!”)  But the hitch is that a rather brusque, rude persona would be a very hard “sell” in many corporate environments.  It also may not suit you.

Mind you, most of us employ a variety of languages depending upon context, so the question remains, “How can I develop a language specifically suited to the performance of magic?”

For starters, effective performance scripts tend to be more emotional than intellectual.  Again, performing styles vary, and it would be a grave mistake to try to be someone you are not, but if two equally proficient magicians perform for the same crowd, and one is more intellectual while the other is more emotional, I would wager that most of the time it will be the latter performer whom the audience enjoys more.

While people respond to expressions of joy, excitement, humor and drama, intellectual appeals will often leave an audience feeling a little cold. Ask yourself, would you rather an audience think you are a good magician or feel completely enthralled by your performance?  Of course, the energy you put into your character will in no small part determine the tone of your show, but your word choice can also go a long way towards developing a more emotional than intellectual approach.

But here is the catch.  Most of us find it considerably easier to talk about what we think, than about what we feel, and unless you are prepared to invest some authentic emotion into your show, there is no point choosing emotional language.  It will just come across as phony.  What do I mean by “emotional language?”  Professional actors are of course able to say pretty much anything and imbue their words with a range of emotions. Still, some sentences seem to lend themselves more readily to an emotional investment.

Here are five very different ways to ask a spectator to do the same thing. “Pick a card.” “Choice is destiny, choose yours.” “Prend une carte. That’s french for pick a card.” “Go ahead. You know what to do.” “Go ahead, pick your nose. I mean, pick a card.”  As the emotional component varies, so will the responses.

Consider the difference between, “Pick a card” and “Touch whichever card you feel drawn to.”  Yes, “pick a card” is much simpler (and simplicity is a powerful guide towards inspired performances) but the second phrase is far more engaging by making explicit reference to the sensual (“touch”), the spectator (“you”) and even the invisible relationships that are the lifeblood of the idea of magic (“drawn to.”)  Vivid language has a way of bringing effects to life.

We have all seen young magicians use lines of patter that were completely inappropriate, though not all errors in judgment are so obvious.  In stand-up comedy, I learned the simple rule of thumb that, if you do not talk a certain way offstage, you probably should not talk that way onstage.  There are plenty of exceptions to this rule, but unless you are a trained actor, you would do well to stick to your own everyday language.  When performing be sure to make the very most of your language!

For your language choices to be suitable, you must have a strong sense of what is comfortable for you.  At the same time, you have to develop a sense of the degree to which you want your language to play a part in your performance.  I have seen marvelous performers who speak very little, and more commonly, absolutely dreadful magicians who speak far too much.  If you stick with language that suits you, your audience will experience you as natural and authentic, two of the most powerful allies in theatre.

Performance scripts should also be as brief as possible.  This does not mean you cannot develop the “bookish, poetic character with the antiquated language and the dung brown wig” you have always dreamed of.  Just that, even when you want to deliver a long script about the mating rituals of crickets (while naturally covering four coins with four cards) cut out any unnecessary words.

Powerful language is also specific.  As slight as it is, even the difference between “Hold the coin” and “Hold this coin as tightly as you can” can add a lot to your magic.  Make explicit reference to whatever is around you, including the people, the performance space, your props and yourself.  The more you do that, the more you “ground your magic” in the here and now, and the more powerful it will be as a result.

Though emotional language tends to be more engaging than factual, effective magic scripts are also informative.  By this, I simply mean: do not say the obvious. The classic example is referring to your open, obviously empty hand as “my empty hand.”  As an amateur cartoonist, I learned the powerful idea that the caption beneath the cartoon should never repeat whatever information is contained in the image above it. Instead, the caption should only add to that information.  Thus, the caption and image fit together like a lock and key, perfectly complimenting each other while also being wonderfully efficient.

Think about that kind of fat-free communication as you develop a script to accompany your actions during a routine. If you want to draw attention to the complete lack of anything in your hand, do so in a way that adds something to the performance.  One of my favorite ways to do this very thing is to take a second to compare hand sizes with one of the spectators by holding my hand palm-out and asking her to do the same.  It is a fine opportunity for comedy, connection and interaction while clearly conveying the information that my hand is undeniably empty.

Many of my scripting preferences reflect my experience as a close-up magician and may well be less applicable to stage magic.  This might be especially the case in regards to what I call “loose scripting.”  As an intimate entertainer, I welcome interruptions and in fact treat them as valuable additions. Loose scripting works in a variety of ways to bring life to your performance.  It sends a subtle message of strength and confidence to your audience while also giving you both room to interact and create a truly intimate space, if only for a few moments.  The inherent flexibility of such scripts also allow for improvised dialogue which, as most experienced performs will attest to, can be some of the   most memorable moments of a performance.

Finally, strong magic scripts should frame your effects.  Your words do not interpret the performance for your audience.  Your audience interprets everything for themselves.  But your words powerfully guide that interpretation, which is why your words are such a profoundly important part of your performance.  Not just for the sake of connection and character, but also for the magic.

A classic example of how your words can influence your audience’s experience of the magic is when a performer has someone peek at a card in the pack and then a few moments later asks, “So you are merely thinking of a card, right?” Thanks to such verbal framing, the selection has moved from the physical plane (peeking at a card) to the immaterial (thinking of a card.)  What you say before, during and after a routine should not only support the proceedings, but also subtly frame the events so as to gently coax the audience towards a maximum magic interpretation.

Ultimately, I am not suggesting you use any of the examples given here.  I am really just trying to get you thinking a little bit about the wealth of exciting possibilities regarding your own language choices.  A little less time working on that nifty flourish and a little more time thinking about what you want to say and how you want to say it will yield amazing results.

“The relationship between what we see and what we know is never settled.” – John Berger

Here are nine principles regarding the audience’s visual experience of a performance of magic.

First, during the performance of an effect the audience is always looking somewhere.

Second, each spectator sees/ gathers a series of images during the effect.

Third, spectators often gather slightly or even starkly different images depending on a wide range of variables including seating position, mental concentration, emotional involvement, etc.

Fourth, each spectator’s collection of highly subjective images make-up the raw visual ingredients of their ultimately unique experience of the effect.

Fifth, there are six primary areas of audience focus: the performer’s face, his right hand, his left hand, the props, the face(s) of any participants and the hands of the participants.  When the magician is holding a prop (rather than placing it on the table) or when both of his hands are within a few inches of each other, the separateness of the spheres vanishes and a single sphere of focus is shared.

Sixth, the performer’s focus, though not absolutely controlling the audience’s, powerfully guides it.

Seventh, to aid in this guiding, the experienced performer will employ his eyes, the direction and angle of his head, his hands, words and props.

Eighth, the odds of the audience’s focus shifting from a sphere of attention are in direct proportion to the length of time nothing of interest has happened in that area.  With this in mind, it is often wise to guide the audience to focus on a sphere of attention a moment before you desire them to not be looking there.

Example: just prior to executing a Classic Pass, I use my eyes, the angle of my head and the position of my hands to draw the audience’s attention to the deck, usually as I am squaring the cards.  This dramatically increases the odds of the audience looking up into my face when, a moment later, I lower my hands, straighten my shoulders and look the spectators in the eyes.

Ninth, it is far more effective to guide the audience’s focus towards something rather than away from something.

“We never do anything well until we cease to think about the manner of doing it.” – William Hazlitt

There are many kinds of knowledge including intellectual, emotional, intuition and even body knowledge. An example of this last kind is when your hands can be said to “know” a move so well that the mind can forget it.

With magic, there are four main kinds of knowing. First, through reading about an effect as described in a book you gain an intellectual understanding of the routine and its method. Second, when you practice the effect you begin to foster a physical relationship with the routine. By then fleshing it out into a full presentation through rehearsal, your understanding moves to a third level. And finally, the performing of the routine for an audience results in the fourth kind of knowing.

Strangely, the goal of these “knowings” is to forget, at least on a conscious level, the how and why of the effect. Only when such specifics have vanished from your mind will you be able to give all of yourself to the performance. Learn well, then forget. 

What is left in place of all that knowledge? Connection and confidence. Only when you can free your mind from the brute mechanics of the effect and the nuances of your script will you be able to begin to experience one of the truly mystical parts of the entire process. Focusing. Focusing on what? Actually, that is not quite the kind of focusing I have in mind. This is not a union birthed by separation.

You know how you sometimes feel before a performance? Part nervousness and part something else? With a great deal of experience the nervousness will subside, leaving you just with that something else. Namely, a focused consciousness as a result of you gathering your energy. This focused, prepared and gently expectant energy is the best performance fuel you will ever have.

But here is the really challenging part. The enormous amount of experience usually required to hush your nervousness can also run the risk of dulling your passion for magic. All too many experienced magi become jaded and no longer get a kick out of performing magic.

I developed the principles, philosophy and psychology of what I call ‘bending’ as an alternative to both the content and form of traditional magic. While I think bending allows for a much greater range of styles and applications, I do NOT think of bending as in any way ‘better’ than traditional magic. Bending is simply another option on the mystery menu.

I recently presented a few lectures on bending, and I was discouraged to find out that, even though many of the magicians and mentalists in attendance were familiar with some of my writings on bending, many of them still believed that a “bend’ is really just another name for a “magic trick.” This is FAR from the truth.

To clarify, here are a few important differences between bending and traditional magic. (And again, please keep in mind that I am comparing and contrasting the two styles, NOT suggesting one is in any way superior to the other.)

CREDIT & CAUSATION

Traditional magic often reflects an intimate relationship between a performer and an impossible feat. The magician ’caused’ the impossible to happen, and the performance explicitly encourages the audience to give the performer the credit for the shocking event. With bending, the performer often seems as surprised as the witnesses. And with some bends, the performer is not even PRESENT to take any credit. (Watch my ’Whew’ and ‘Sign Language’ bending videos on my ‘Bending the Real’ YouTube channel.) http://www.youtube.com/bendingthereal

ORGANIC VS. FOREIGN

Magicians often introduces objects, gestures and words that are not organic to the situation nor the personalities in the situation. Bending attempts to use only what is ’found’ in the space. In that way bending is responsive and organic. The bending experience will be foreign, but all the ingredients will be supremely common.

GOALFULNESS

Magic is often focused on getting ‘big reactions’ from people. With bending, it is more about an acceptance and even a disregard for ‘big reactions.’ Instead, bending stays focused strictly on introducing convincing ingredients into the moment, ingredients that do not ‘add up.’ Bending nurtures more of a ’people will make of the illusion what they will” philosophy.

INSPIRING QUESTIONS

Bending is a celebration of deception in all its forms including impossible feats, startling pranks, disorienting practical jokes, ingenious puzzles, wordplay, sight gags, cons and much more. Traditional magic is restricted to sharing deceptions as ‘magic tricks.’ While magic often inspires the question, “How did he do that?” bending is also interested in sparking other people to ask themselves, ”What just happened?” “Why did he do that?” and “Why didn’t I think of that?”

NON-PERFORMING

Magicians are often actors clearly ‘playing a part.’ Someone who bends, plays no party whatsoever. In fact, bending is almost a kind of non or even anti-performance. For the deception to ‘hit’ observers on a certain level, it is key that they suspect nothing. Magicians often require a ‘suspension of disbelief.’ Bending attempts to stay outside the frame of ‘theatre and live in the ‘natural world.’

CLARITY + CONFUSION

The master magician Dai Vernon wrote, ‘confusion is not magic.’ Traditional magic is about many things, including control. Which is why many magicians used tightly scripted patter, a small collection of props and much more to arrive at a very specific theatrical experience. This same goalful mindset even includes a narrow emotional range of reactions to the magic. Confusion is seldom what a magician wants people to experience. However, with bending, while clarity is important, a much wider range of emotions is passionately welcomed. Creating a profound ‘does not compute’ moment with people, can often inspire confusion if the experience is uncontrolled. With bending, confusion, anger, disorientation and annoyance are all welcomed responses.

ENTERTAINMENT

Traditional magic often strives to be ‘entertaining.’ As a result, most magicians are friendly, conventional, and ultimately non-threatening in both form and content. Bending has less interest in being strictly entertaining. Instead, bending is focused on being challenging, even upsetting. It is free, far more wild and ‘off the leash’ of Entertainment.

SIMPLICITY

Simplicity often nurtures a wider range of interpretations and relationship than complexity. Up until the past decade or so, a great many traditional magic routines where just that, ‘routines.’ Presentations with a beginning, an end, and often several ‘magic moments’ in between. In contrast, a bend is usually a simple, single moment. (Maybe two, seldom more.)

FASCINATION WITH METHOD

To cite another Dai Vernon adage, “If you can remove a sleight from an effect you have probably improved it.” Bending is all about ‘serving the effect’ with whatever means does the job, as simply and as convincingly as possible. And while in many magic circles there is a lot of lip service to the virtues of being effect-minded, the reality is that many magicians are all but obsessed with intricate and complicated methodology. And there is (of course) nothing wrong with this, though it cannot help but pull attention away from effect. This is why one of the mantras of bending is, ‘SERVE THE BEND.’

AMATEURS + PROFESSIONALS

Playing the part of a traditional magician is a tidy fit for professional work. An agent understands what a ‘magician’ is, just as audiences understand when you introduce yourself as a ‘magician.’ Bending is not only a far less established term, it also fails to bring to mind a mainstream image and an idea of what someone who bends looks like, behaves, etc. Even as it becomes more widely known, bending will remain far less ‘framed,’ and so it’s a deception style better suited to individuals interested in experimenting and exploring the sharing of deceits, rather than earning an income with it.

“The hand is quicker than the eye.” – Traditional Expression

Few phrases have done more harm to the art of magic than the one cited above.  Ironically, even as it refers to sight, the implications of the expression have powerfully blinded both magicians and the lay public.  In the minds of the general public, it perpetuates the grossly belittling generalization that when all is said and done, the art of magic comes down to fast hands, while in the minds of sleight-of-hand students it suggests that speed is a magician’s ally.

The reality is that speed is more often an enemy of the illusion than a friend. Few things will ever draw attention to a sleight and spark suspicion more consistently than a fast execution.  Actually, speed does harm to almost every aspect of our craft, from quickly performed sleights and hurriedly delivered lines of script to a rushed first climax or even a sudden, forced change of facial expression.  Speed usually requires a burst of energy that in most contexts only serves to break the spell, inspire suspicion and snap the gentle thread connecting the performer and audience.  Speed also often leads to confusion or creates the impression that the performer is anxious.

However, as usual there are exceptions.  For example, when I execute the Classic Pass or Marlo’s “In Lieu of the Through the Fist Move,” (sometimes referred to as  “The Twirl Change”) I employ a burst of speed.  But in each case, these small, fast movements are concealed within a larger action like a cloth thrown over a birdcage to quiet the occupant’s song.

I can still remember the night, after I had been performing stand-up comedy for only a year or two, when a much more seasoned comic took me aside and gently suggested that I try doing my act, not just a little slower, but at half the speed.  I was extremely skeptical and immediately imagined strained, excruciating silences, but I agreed to try it.  Not surprisingly, it was very difficult for me to do and it felt more than a little unnatural, even disorienting.  But after a half-dozen more shows, I had to admit, performing at a slower pace yielded stronger audience reaction.

Slow down your thoughts, hands and words.  Relax.  Take a deep breath and hold it for several beats.  Then slowly let it out.  Perform smoothly and steadily.  Flow.  How else do you expect your audience to have the opportunity to fully experience and appreciate it?  And given that the audience’s visual experience of an effect makes up a large part of their understanding, handle your props and execute your moves so that your hands, rather than being quicker than their eyes are much slower than their eyes.  All too often, when the hand is quicker than the eye, the wonder is lost.

“Nature never deceives us; it is always we who deceive ourselves.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Are you elegant? Funny? Mysterious? Sexy? Fast-talking? Many magicians get distracted by their fantasies and never take a long, serious look in the mirror. Sadly, this only undermines their ability to make at least some of their most cherished fantasies a reality.

Who you are and your particular performance style should play a large part in determining your target market. Corporate clients are looking for one thing, parents of children celebrating a birthday are looking for another, and the owner of a bar/restaurant is looking for yet another. I suggest you specialize rather than trying to be a “jack of all trades” because being very good at just one thing is challenge enough.

However, I realize that many magicians choose to try their hand at a variety of performance situations, so allow me to suggest that you at least develop a different promotional package for each of the venues. Think about it. You own a restaurant, a guy comes in claiming to be a magician and when he gives you his card it reads, “Parties, banquets, trade shows, restaurants, anniversaries, bar mitzvahs and funerals.” Now imagine meeting a magician who hands you his card and it reads, “Restaurant Magician.” Who are you going to be tempted to interview first? And who is going to be able to ask for more money? That’s right. The specialist. 

Magicians claim that they have to work at birthday parties, restaurants, office parties, banquets and a dozen other venues “to make ends meet,” but in my experience, spreading yourself so thinly across so many markets is a great way to guarantee that you will be struggling to make ends meet for years to come. 

There’s an old show biz adage, “Grab one bell and ring it until your arm falls off.” It takes years to establish yourself in a market and typically just when you are beginning to get completely bored with a market is when that market “suddenly” takes notice of you and your services are in great demand. Be patient. Look at yourself in the mirror, check in with your heart and decide which market you suit and enjoy performing in. Then commit to it and promote yourself with everything you have. I bet you will be thrilled with the results. The universe responds to commitment.

A bend is a deception. A hoax, a con, a trick. Inspired bends are shared with other people, not with an eye on the technical specifics of the bend, but instead with an eye on the experience of those who WITNESS the bend.

A bend is an illusion, and the misleading information can be visual, aural, tactile, verbal, conceptual, almost anything. The most effective bends often engage the senses (or the ‘channels of information’) people trust the most when trying to answer the primary human question: “What is real?”

Bends can be powerful, humbling, and even exciting reminders of the limits of our senses as well as our thinking. The relatively minor experience of “How did that just happen?” points directly to the much bigger question, “How can I trust my senses if they can be so readily mislead?”

A bend can be shared in almost any form and medium. A push-up bra is a bend. A magic trick is a bend. A practical joke is a bend. A forged painting is a bend.  Even a puzzle or riddle, shared with people in such a way as to mislead their thinking, is also a bend. Bends can be shared for many reasons. To impress, amuse, control, humiliate, flirt, amaze, connect, and even inspire. It depends on the bender, the situation, and who the bend is being shared with.

Bends are only possible thanks to a combination of people’s everyday assumptions, the bender’s understanding of the ‘blind spots’ of most people’s awareness, and a familiarity with techniques and principals designed to explore, exploit and even celebrate these ‘blind spots.’ Shared at the right time and place (and in the right spirit) a bend can be a truly transcendental experience.

Bends can involve almost anything, but to inspire the least amount of suspicion and encourage the greatest degree of trust, effective bends often involve the most ordinary of objects. And if the ideas or items involved in the bend are found in the environment where the bend is being shared (eg. a stapler in an office) the bend will often be even more credible and engaging. The key ingredient to any effective bend is other people’s belief.

Of course magic is not dead. There are magicians all over the world still performing magic, and many people who still enjoy watching it. But at the same time, my sense is that many performers, and many audiences are ready for a change when it comes to the ‘art of deception.’

The value of pretending, and the power of wonder, remain unchanged. But the traditional tuxedo, top hat, cutting a lady-in-half, pointless, long-winded tricks, as well as the bland, unthreatening smile is wearing dangerously thin.

Even the more recent version of the ‘lone unsmiling man, demonstrating his mysterious dark powers by blowing minds in the street’…has become a laughable cliche. My sense is that too much magic has become more of a lifeless ceremony than a performance art. Of course, there are many exceptions to this general perception, and inspired performers breakthrough the lameness all the time. But all too many magic performances I’ve seen, involve the performer and audience fulfilling totally prescribed roles.

The performer shows the box empty, closes the lid and waves his hand or snaps his fingers or  something. And a moment later the box is opened and a woman or an animal or a large head of lettuce is found inside. The audience, for their part, claps dutifully.

Same goes for close-up performances. Same props. Same themes. Same patter lines. Heck, if you doubt that even sleight-of-hand performances are often largely ceremony,  just silently spread out a deck of cards in front of almost anybody. Don’t say a word. They will still know what to do. Ceremony. A kind of lifeless dance. It’s as if Magic is Stuck and struggling to retain (regain?) its social relevancy. 

So what’s next for magic? I would not presume to answer that question for other performers, let alone for an entire community, but I would like to share a video I found on YouTube. I believe it sheds light on some of challenges the art of magic now finds itself struggling with.

One proviso. While I think there are many fair comparisons between the subject of this video and art of the magic, the video also expresses provocative views on the issues of race and history, and that is NOT why I am sharing this video with you. I want to be clear about this because I would hate to be misunderstood regarding such sensitive and important topics.

Here’s the video. I look forward to your thoughts about the question ‘What’s next for magic?’ Thanks so much for caring about magic as much as I do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk3ll9NE0IY

We’ve all heard that one. You walk up to a group, introduce yourself as a magician, and immediately someone says, “I wish we had brought the kids.” It’s amazing to think that less than 100 years ago most parents would not have let their children anywhere NEAR a magician. So what happened to how people view magic?

The answer is: television, the web, the styles of a handful of ‘celebrity magicians,’ a shift in our culture’s relationship to ‘mystery’ and many other factors. Unfortunately, this commonly-held view of magic and magicians as ‘for kids’ is one of the main reasons our beautiful, complicated craft is often not taken very seriously. No wonder then, so many magicians and mentalists, in an act of self-defence, take themselves TOO seriously. Little wonder too, the Magician is one of the most parodied characters in our culture.

Sadly, this profoundly limited public view of magic and magicians also impacts where we can perform, what styles of magic audiences find ‘acceptable,’ how much we can charge, and much more. All of us who love magic must ask ourselves: “What can I do to inspire greater respect and appreciation of magic?” Of course, one way to do this is by being the most creative and professional performer you can be. But just how much of a dent do you believe you can make against the armies of magicians (on and off TV) who continue to perpetuate the same tired cliches that nurture this whole  ‘magic is for kids’ (or the more saccharine ‘for children of all ages’) attitude?

Here’s what I know. A solid performance of magic requires creativity and a rare intelligence. It also involves a keen understanding of human psychology. A good magician also needs to be a strong writer, a great performer, as well as often possess a strong sense of humor. Performing magic, especially in this day and age, also requires considerable courage. The list of required skills and abilities goes on and on. So how come so few people seem to have much appreciation or respect for what we do?

It comes down to information. And thanks to our community’s overwhelming (and truly child-like) FEAR of sharing even the most basic mechanics and principals, we have ended up sharing almost none of the many things about magic we all love. So of course, that profound lack of respectful information + armies of cliched magicians taking themselves too seriously = a general disrespect for magic.

And as for the idea of ‘sharing some of the things we love about magic,’ remember this well: unless we want to be the last people in history to perform the art of magic (a ridiculous suggestion) then the question is NOT:

“Should we share what we love about magic with other people?”

The question is: “HOW should we share what we love about magic with other people?’”

What we share, as well as the spirit in which we share it, will directly impact the way the modern world views our art of deception, as well as the maddening attitude that magic is ‘just for kids.’