Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Justice, Busking & Culture

Very happy to hear, my good bud Alexander (an outstanding magician & busker) went to court & faced a judge regarding a summons he received while busking on Royal St.
Charges Dropped! (it really shoulda been: "Charges dropped & here's a couple grand for wasting your time") Nice to hear there's still some justice available in this city (felt so sorry for Alex, who had to spend his valuable time & energy to handle this ordeal.) It's high time this city stop harrasing & starts embracing the street entertainers that bring so much to the culture of this unique town!

One of my video clips featuring Alex:


Indeed. Look at any advertisement drawing tourists to this town... most of them include a street performer! Granted: Royal St is clogged & I can see where the police need to mitigate occasional problems (but that mitigation should not include judges & court!) & yo: that problem wouldn't exisit if we could have (a portion of) Jackson Square back (like it used to be in the 80's & 90s: when the square used to support 6-8 INCREDIBLE acts)

 What would really be cool is if they would open the INSIDE of Jackson Square (the park portion) for performances... in addition to the stage area, they could post 4-6 other spots performers could work (I'd even be happy with some sort of regulated system like is used in other major cities (SMART cities that appreciate what these artists do for the culture.)

Pic from LA Tourism site: 

Monday, February 27, 2012

Fat Bro Elmsley & Rotten Eggs

Spanish Master Juan Tamariz takes the Elmsley count to new lows:

http://m.youtube.com/?reload=3&rdm=4pnix9iuj#/watch?v=7_Dq4pXcakY

In other news: Eric Johnson almost caused a car crash while relating his Shemp (3 stooges) tale bout burnt toast & a tape worm ;)
4 more info:
Tune into Episode 21 of "magic on the side" (yes, its on iTunes)

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Toddler. Trickin

I did card magic for a two year old today (26 months for those that count those)

Mainly for an experiment
(he preferred the Dlites ;)

Tips (case you're ever in that situ)
They like "sounds" (springs & riffles)
"cardistry" will be tolerated (briefly)
The "erdnase / houdini change" Plays

How was your day?

So today, after breakfast and an 'Angled Afterburner' practice session ;)
I received the pleasure of self induced vomit ... 7 times; to retrieve a (new) false tooth (hey those things ain't cheap!)

Am I being too personal here?

Point:
Sometimes life gives you lemons...

I'm gonna go take a bubble bath

How was your day?

Wrasslin w/ Theory

So, I was dusting the shelves &
this note / scrap of paper fell out of an old notebook.

Thought I'd take a sec & share a quote from our kindred craft (big time professional wrestling)

----------------

"If it's really emotional.... they forget that it's make believe"
Eric Bischoff
(*big time pro-wrestling promoter)

-------------------

Magic & Wrestling:
Kindred entertainments that use secret techniques to create drama

Here's a great article on the history of "Sports Entertainment"

http://m.neatorama.com/2011/06/20/the-man-in-the-mask/

Friday, February 24, 2012

The Magician's Wife

A fun short film, featuring one of the heroes of my magical youth "Prof Bill Pryor" (the older magician working behind the counter)

This film was part of the 2011 Magic Live short film contest... A fun 5 min:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2qYOBCLEtE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Jimmy Talksalot

Great to see my good bud Jimmy Talksaot back in NOLA. He's killing it

Mardi Gras

Fat Tuesday

Always glad it's here &
Always glad when it's gone

CYA next year!
(* It's on Jan 13;
10 days after superbowl... Yikes!)

Saturday, February 18, 2012

"Magic is Dead"

... Is the name of the "site de jour"

http:/www.magicisdead.com

'style & elegance in the deceptive arts'

Interesting webspot to spend a lil free time (cardistry snobs might wanna bypass this suggestion)

Enjoy

(and plz be patient... I'll get back to posting "deep info" after Mardi Gras insanity is over.)

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Zapd! Sexy Coppy Magic

Zapd is a cool lil website builder / app for the iPhone

Here's a Copperfield tribute page I cobbled together to practice using the thing.

http://355s.zapd.co/

Magic Mansion

Just got word I'll be auditioning @/for a new magic themed nightclub here in NOLA...

Tomorrow
One day after major dental surgery

Perfect

Stay tooned

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Life is good

After 10 (somewhat pleasant & productive) days without Internet... I'm back & ready to resume blogging.

That'll be all for today
Lots to catch up on

Ps: dentist visit went well...
Life is good

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Be a Better Busker

In my spare time, I work busking / street performing on the cobblestones of the French Quarter. It's a great way to both make money and practice/rehearse.

This 'part time job' started many moons ago, when Tom Frank introduced me to this wonderful art form. It was at the Taste of Cincinnati back in 1988... I made more $ in one day, then I did in an entire week (working as a movie projectionist at the time.) I never went back to work after that day. I spent a month living, learning (and maybe just a tad bit of partying) with Tom and then headed off to Chicago. The summer I spent there was the stuff dreams are made of (good friends, good times, good money & good magic.) I then traveled to NOLA for the winter and have been here ever since.

If you're interested in learning more about Busking / Street Magic (the REAL street magic) there's some great resources to jump start your career (in fact, these days there's TONS of info on the subject... I'll try & stay concise.)

1st and  foremost, I'd recommend Jimmy Talksalot's "To Lure With Spectacle" this is a wonderful / concise tome that will give you all the basic info you need before attacking the streets. http://leapinglizardsmagic.com/lure_with_spectacle.htm

Jimmy also has a wonderful blog that contains much of the above info... and more:
http://jimmytalksalot.blogspot.com/

Watch Talksalot "Lure With Spectacle"


Cellini's "The Royal Touch" is an amazing book that contains a great selection of  strong street magic and info on how to apply that magic to the streets. It's a beautiful book. One of my 'top 10' and considering the # of magic books I have / read... that's strong.

The Art of Street Performing. Back in early 2000, while running my Big Easy Magic Shop (RIPI answered a phone call from a guy named Ted. He was interested in coming to town & documenting Cellini's work. Cellini was hesitant to do the project, but after a bit of thought (mainly on how he could/would help others) he decided to do it. It's no surprise that within a couple years of producing these videos, Kozmo became a top-tier busker... I've no doubt, this info can do the same for you. Kozmo's busking DVD's are great. Strong info from strong performers that will have you making big bux before you know it.  KozmoMagic has produced several DVD's on the art of Street Magic. His Cellini series is nothing short of awe-inspiring.

Once you get the basics down, you can wade into the deep end with Eric Evans & his 'Street Magic & the Art of War' ... this book is like art... it will make you think. http://www.secretartofmagic.com/secret2.htm

There are some great forums on the internet that will make you a better performer.

Danny Hustle's 'Buskers Cafe' is a wonderful spot full of top notch guys with great advice.
http://buskerscafe.com/forums/

The Sidewalk Performers Forums are very active and full of info to keep your hats overflowing
http://sidewalkperformers.freeforums.org/portal.php

The 'Sidewalk Shuffle' section on the magic cafe is worth a browse now and again...
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewforum.php?forum=6&39486
the powers that be saw fit to ban me from that site... an act I still thank them for to this day ( with all the other great busking related forums... I'm not sure why guys still post there but they do, & that info is worth reading... so do it.)

Last, but certainly not least...  http://www.performers.net/  . This site (which has been online & active since 1997) has TONS of info on ALL aspects of street performing. Bookmark it. Visit & Revisit this wonderful resource.

You can also learn alot by researching youtube (but you probably knew that ;)
I'll humbly suggest ya take a peek @  some videos of NOLA busker magi on my YouTube channel
www.youtube.com/connjure

There's SO much more I could write about (and so much I've glossed over &/or omitted from this list.) I'm sure I'll be returning to this subject soon enough... stay tuned & in the interim; FAT HATS!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

iMagic

A few of my favorite iThings
... More on these later

Video killed the Radio Man

This post will feature a few of the magi-net-casts I enjoy watching.

Lets see... we'll start with

The Wizard Product Review
These guys have been going strong for awhile, with hundreds of reviews/episodes.
They're based in the UK, specifically in/out of the 'World Magic Store' and as such, I have to believe their reviews are a bit biased on the magic-store side of things... regardless, the show is fun & informative.
Their YouTube channel consists of both the latest product videos, as well as their "Wizard Product Review" show. You can check out both here: http://www.youtube.com/user/worldmagicshop/videos

Regarding reviews (and more) on this side of the pond, I highly recommend Luke Dancy & his "Magic Marketplace" you'll find Luke's broadcast over at http://themagicsession.com/
This wonderful site not only hosts the review show, but also has (free!) online lectures  (**and some really good ones at that  (Aaron Fisher, Caleb Wiles, Jamie Dawes and more.)
The Magic Session is also home to an online video jam site that is loads of fun (think Skype for magi)
Members only... and you could do worse things with your time than become a member.

Here's a few more:

Theory11.com is home to cutting edge close-up, cardistry & more.
They have featured artists, member videos & their new 'wire' gives up and coming 'artists' a chance to showcase original material. *the jury is still out as to whether or not 'the wire' is a good thing... I for one, find it worthwhile to lookin on (but haven't purchased anything.)

Dan & Dave Buck continue to stay on top of what's new & hot in card magic (and more) and they have a buttload of video covering both the basics and the latest... here's linkage to both:
http://www.dananddave.com/learn/media/ is the section of their site that covers the basics of card handling. You'll find all the basics there. Their store http://shop.dananddave.com/magic-tricks.html is home to some both great magic & accessories.

and last but not least
If I'm ever bored... I need do little more than type in 'Magic... ' (Followed by any genre) to discover an insane variety of video-clips. There's a few guys I subscribe too... you'll find your faves, here's one of mine

Jack Carpenter: http://www.youtube.com/user/Snappyhands57 he has dozens of clips & uploads regularly.
I'm sure I'll have more video suggestions to post in the near future...
 but this should be enough to keep you busy for awhile.