One of Joe's biggest talents is being able to cater magic to a specific audience. When any of the huge companies that hire him book him for a gig, Joe instantly creates a presentation that:
-Incorperates the brand.
-Is incredibly entertaining.
-Sells the message that the company is trying to convey.
I managed to get Joe to give some advice about how to cater your magic to a specific client.
Chris Beason
born to perform.
Chad Sanborn's magic is hard to define. One moment he is doing incredible walkaround magic as he mentally bends people's silverware, and the next moment he is on the largest stages doing an act that is so incredibly Vaudeville-esque that it could have easily come from the 1930's.
All of that isn't even bringing up the fact that Chad is a very busy actor, doing all sorts of commercials, television spots and more on a daily basis. Chad is truly a jack of all trades and so I had to ask him a few questions about his magic.
I managed to catch up with Michael to ask him about his new DVD, the Drop'N Project.
Your new DVD "The Drop'N Project" has some seriously original routines. How did you get started with creating magic?
Thank you. I think what happens with all magicians is that they go through these phases. I have spoken to several friends of mine in the magic community and we all pretty much have the same story. We start out and try to make our gimmicks ourselves after we see how it's done. Sometimes they last and most of the time they work once and fail miserably. But what happens is that the creative juices have started flowing.
Next, we start meeting magicians and discovering ALL that magic has to offer. After realizing that there is SO much magic out there it hits us that ANYTHING can be made! You find yourself at Michael's craft store or Home Depot looking at EVERYTHING on the shelves and thinking to yourself, "I know I could do something with that!".For me it was a result of working SO MUCH! I was at one point doing 6 nights a week at restaurants and I forced myself to ONLY carry cards, coins and rubber bands. I occasionally watched some video tapes and read some books but rarely did I do full on routines. I remember watching John Bannon's "Impossibilia" and I fell in love with his thinking. My next tape was Dan Garret's "Close-up Connivery". To this day I have only found a few DVD's that have ALL workable material. John Guastaferro's material is excellent as well as Joshua Jay's.I have been going through this phase where I look at routines and try to trim the "fat" off of them…does that make sense? There's a lot of routines out there that do not necessarily have to be as long as they are. Most moves are redundant and if you're working close-up magic for a client time is money. SO I would begin to develop magic that I call "Hit and Run" style. Walk up, introduce yourself and then blow 'em away with something astonishing! Thank them for their time and onto the next group. All in all about 3-4 minutes.A few years back, Kostya Kimlat and I started up Restaurant Magic Business. As a result of that, Kostya created a national directory of magicians and partner restaurants/clients called www.SeeLiveMagic.com. This has become a brand by culminating excellent magic with professional and courteous magicians. So while working at the Orlando Magic games as their official magicians we would stroll around the entire arena and perform at the exclusive areas and lounges, performing for all of the fans and the VIPs and celebrities throughout the arena. FInally we would do meet and greets with the corporate clients in the private suites upstairs.
All this led to us developing a very casual and inmate style that I love.
Chris BeasonCheck out Micheal Eaton's fantastic new DVD:
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/2687
Tyler Wilson is THE definition of an artist. Everything he does exudes creativity, whether it be his shows, books, photographs or even they way he talks. But that's not all; Tyler also has an encyclopedic knowledge of virtually everything that has ever been released to the magic market.
Tyler Wilson is an incredible thinker, and with his second book now on the market, I had to catch up with him for an interview.
1) Your new book "Reinventing the Real" has gotten INCREDIBLE reviews. It's a really innovative book in terms of material and design. When did you decide it was time for a new book?
Believe it or not, I started writing Reinventing the Real while my first book, Dominatricks, was still at the printers! I knew it wasn’t going to be a quick process, so I got an early start. It took me four years to finish the book. I am the world's slowest writer (it took seven hours to pop out that sentence). It's not that the typing is slow, it's that I write, write, edit, re-write, edit, write more, edit more, and then write even more. I want it to be the best it can be. And then by that time, the trick will have changed over the course of many more performances, which means I need to start the writing/editing process all over again. I'm also easily distracted, so it works best if I do my writing on a park bench or in a canoe, otherwise I'll spend an unhealthy amount of time on the internet looking at pictures of cats.
2) This book is one of the easiest-to-read, most well-designed and original books I've ever seen. What did you emphasize the most when putting it together?
The magic. It always has to be about the magic. The format, design choices, and structure are all in place to compliment the magic. Did I mention the magic? Next priority was not misspelling “pork.”
3) Your new book is easily the most aesthetically pleasing book that I own. How did you go about designing it?
Thanks a lot, man. I happen to think it's pretty damn sexy, too. I'd love to take credit for it, but all the mammoth praise should go to the girl of the hour, Janice Baker. She's a professional designer out of Reno, Nevada. She's enormously talented, with killer style. When you're working on a book for four years, you naturally get certain design elements in your head with a rough outline for how you'd like it all laid out. But as soon as Janice got a hold of it, she blew my expectations out of the water. When I got the first drafts back, I had a smile from ear to ear, which was quite painful, actually (try stretching your mouth out that wide; you’ll probably tear something and look like Heath Ledger in Batman). She's in high demand in the corporate world, and it's easy to see why. You know the Subway logo? Well, she didn't design it, but she likes to eat there sometimes. You just can't go wrong with a cold cut trio. Where was I? Ah yes, Janice Baker. She's badass and I'm incredibly fortunate to have had her on my team for this project. Thanks, Janice!
4) In Reinventing The Real, every trick contains a hilarious presentation. How do you generally go about writing a presentation?
Each trick is different. Sometimes I have a solid trick but then hum and haw over the presentation. Other times I have a solid presentation but then hum and haw over the trick to put it with. It also very much depends on when/where I plan on using the trick; context is everything. A general rule of thumb I tend to adhere to is to keep presentations born out of normal, everyday experiences. If you look at traditional, observational stand-up comedy, it's the same type of thing. Audiences get into the performances because they can directly relate. If you have to start a presentation with a two-minute explanation of the socio-political climate in Norway, and how it affects the indo-Chinese Californians' thoughts on Spongebob, then you're fighting an uphill battle. That's not to suggest you should dumb everything down, but you need to ensure the audience understands exactly what they're about to see. Only by understanding can they appreciate. And only by appreciating can they be fooled pantsless. And then you can sell their pants on Craigslist. Free money!
5) One thing I was hugely impressed by is how well your book is credited. Jeff Prace and Rich Aviles both tell me on a regular basis that you are an encyclopedic knowledge on all magic... What are your thoughts on proper crediting?
Let it go on record that I man love Rich Aviles. Regarding your question, I'm less of a human encyclopedia and more of a human Wikipedia. I'm always updating my knowledge with earlier and earlier findings, with the occasional random edit to include Ke$ha. I'm fascinated by the history of magic and how the tricks, moves, and ideas have evolved over time to where we are today, so I love reading books that span hundreds of years. If you head over to cherryvillain.com, I have videos showing the often-surprising origins of magic’s classic plots.
When it comes to crediting, we need to separate a few things. First things first: crediting is only an issue when it comes to teaching. If you’re strictly a performer, then it’s perfectly okay if you don’t know nor even care about magic’s history. There’s nothing wrong with that. But things change the moment you decide to sell a trick/book/DVD. You take on a responsibility to research your material and ensure it’s fit for release.
When it comes down to it, if you create something, you’re awesome. Pat yourself on the back for the accomplishment. No joke, you’ve done something great and you should be proud of yourself for it. No one can take that away from you. Now, if you later find out someone else thought of it too and published it fifty years ago, does that diminish the work and creativity you put into it? Hellz no! If anything, you should feel even better that you’re on the same creative level as some of our past greats. You’re in great company. It’s nothing to feel bad about. But it DOES mean you can’t release the trick onto the market. You can continue performing it and feeling great about what you’ve done, but you simply can’t sell it. It would be the same if you created a cute mouse character with a high pitched voice and big round black ears. Disney might have some words for you. The kind of words not allowed in a Disney film.
The first thing research does is it prevents us from rehashing existing material. I can’t count how many times a magician has shown me a variation of a move, only for me to tell him that the move he based his on was a variation of an even older move, and his variation of the variation has now come full circle and recreated that original move! It’s the plot for Inception 2. Research prevents such duplication from cluttering the marketplace. The second thing crediting does is applaud and thank our past masters who have built such an amazing foundation for us to live on. Crediting isn’t a burden, it’s a celebration. It’s a wonderful thing. But you specifically asked about “proper crediting.” Crediting can be just listing names, but "proper crediting" must come from within. It's about being honest with yourself, citing any inspirations, and if you're not sure about the actual history, asking others. And if someone points you to an earlier source, look it up! Don't just take the person’s word for it, read it yourself. I see a lot of people these days just copying credits word-for-word from other books without checking the sources. So when errors creep into those original credits, these erroneous facts keep spreading. Instead of making the new author look great, it makes him look twice as bad. Copy & pasting is not "proper crediting." I'd rather see someone be honest with fewer credits than someone trying to sneak past the credit police with their ctrl+c skills. I have a friend who never checks, so I recently punked him into unknowingly crediting an ‘80s sitcom character on his last DVD. Muwahahaha!
The biggest misconception about crediting is that it takes away from your own accomplishments. If you don't credit anyone, you'll look like a superstar who created the entire thing from scratch! Right? RIGHT?! Nope. It tends to have the opposite effect. I see magicians painfully try to squirm out of crediting, fighting teeth and nail to keep hold of "their" creations. Guys like Harry Lorayne do this frequently for a lot of their material. And when confronted, they invite even more controversy by spinning long, convoluted stories about “independent creation” and whatnot. All they'd have to do is say, "Yup, [insert name here] had something similar before me. But check out what I've done with the idea..." That’s it. That’s all they’d have to do. But pride gets in the way. There is no shame in acknowledging prior influences. Quite the opposite. It shows you care.
6) Finally, what advice do you have for magicians who want to create more original tricks and sleights?
First of all, I’d like to thank you for all the blush-inducing questions. You’ve been so flattering that I thought I was being interviewed by a bottle of Prozac. But to answer your question: write! Write all your ideas down. These ideas can be for anything: tricks, moves, trick names, presentations, clothing, interesting props, whatever! In this day and age, phones all have note-taking apps that can make sure you never, ever lose an idea. You, me, and all the people reading this are walking, talking idea machines (no offence to wheelchair-bound mutes). Ideas come from anywhere at any time, and if you don’t write them down, you’ll forget. Trust me. I used to forget tons of ideas before I started writing them down. I could have had something as awesome as Hippity Hop Rabbits, but now we’ll never know. This inspiration is the best place to start. They’re your own ideas, so you’re more motivated to act on them. Some books like Fitzkee’s Trick Brain advocate writing objects and plots on pieces of paper so you can randomly grab three slips and try to create that trick (“ferret” “heartburn” “transposition”). The problem with this plan is that the results are uninspiring. There’s no “you” in it to drive the trick forward. There’s less satisfaction – on a personal creativity level – for developing the trick. Using your own ideas as a starting point is far more fulfilling. Notes don’t need to be pages long, so don’t be put off by the idea of writing much when you’re out on the town. Here, let me go into my own notes to give you examples of what I mean. You’ll be able to tell these are my genuine notes because of the poor quality of ideas (I’ll purposely include some stinkers) and the even poorer quality of writing:
- Double Lift name: Double Dragon
- Presentational premise: Have a side effect to one of your powers. So if you've got super-memory, the side effect is that while you're using it, you say the worst puns ever. Or maybe you uncontrollably dance an Irish jig. Or whatever.
- Right Place, Right Time: Have an envelope with a prediction. A spectator deals down cards from a face-up deck until she wants to stop, while another spectator times her on a stopwatch (or iPhone equivalent). She ends up at the Five of Diamonds and it takes her 8:27 seconds to do it. Opening the envelope shows a Five of Diamonds, and on the back is written “8:27.”
- Moving Belly Button: Secretly part the hairy treasure trail in the opposite direction. Shifting this visual marker makes it look like the belly button moved instead of the hair.
When you’ve got time to sit down and create, you can open up your notes and start expanding on your ideas. Sometimes you’ll end up somewhere completely unexpected. That’s when things get really fun.
Check out Tyler's incredible new book:
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/2681
Chris Beason
born to perform.
Most magicians look at magic from one of two perspectives:
Aaron Fisher is different. Aaron looks at magic from the perspective of an art form. If there is a single part of a routine that is not 100% effective, efficient and aesthetically pleasing, Aaron will toss it and start again.
A great example of this artistic thinking is in Aaron Fisher's work on the "get-ready". To most, the "get-ready" is that small movement either before or after the move to prepare for it. But Aaron doesn't try and eliminate these moves: he uses them to his advantage. I managed to catch up with Aaron to ask him a few questions about "get-readys".To see more of Aaron's work, check out Panic!:
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/2647
Chris Beason
born to perform.
Timothy Noonan is a huge player in the corporate magic world. Having done shows for literally dozens of Fortune 500 companies, Timothy knows what an audience wants.
I was fortunate enough to catch Timothy for an interview on corporate magic.
1) You are easily one of the busiest corporate performers in the United States. Did you start out performing corporate magic?
No, I actually began performing at theme parks for Paul Osbourne way back in 1986. My first theme park gig was performing a 30 minute illusion show 10 times daily, and also performing the puppet shows 10 times daily. The usual hours were 10am to 11pm, seven days a week for 5 months straight. Often, I would manage other shows, perform my own show, run sound and lights for another show. Brutal, but amazingly fun. From there I had a stint working for Ken Fletcher's Magic Masters shop in Las Vegas, then to a show called the Wizard's Secrets, a close up illusion show at the MGM Grand produced by Gene Patrick Productions and Director John Moerhing. During this time Joel Bauer used to drive out to Vegas and cold call trade shows, sleeping on my sofa, but that is another story (as a side note, he had a 100% booking ratio). From there, I took my show to Japan for six months, and then landed my first trade show by accident. A new world opened up to me, and I focused on corporate entertainment since then. That was around 1995 or so. Since then I perform at trade shows, corporate events, and sales meetings. I also do quite a bit of keynote speaking now as well.
2) The magic that you perform is very commercial and hilarious. What makes corporate magic different than other types?
Corporate entertainment is generally for a more (but not always) literate and critical audience. Corporate entertainment can be for any type of business, but I generally perform for the tech sector. There are usually engineers, programmers, high level executives in the audience, and they have a discerning palate. So my presentations tend to be more on the cerebral side. You are right though about the comedy element, there is an interesting juxtaposition with the highly educated audience - they can be absolutely doubled over with laughter with Rocky the Raccoon. I think the reason is because it is so out of the normalcy of their routine, they are usually so focused and serious much of the time, that the right comedy magic can kill. Listen, my magic is certainly not earth shattering, I am not the most original performer, but I do know my audience and what works for them.
3) You're great at tailoring magic to specific audiences (as seen by your impressive resume). How do you typically add the companies message to your magic?
Aha, this is actually a big secret you are asking me to give away here, as the main barrier to trade show and other performing is the challenge of the customization of the magic. Suffice it to say that being able to tailor your magic somewhat can be a huge hit, but is not always the right thing to do. Sometimes, you must go with what you know, and stick to time, audience tested routines. If you feel you must customize the magic, make it personal, something with the products or services highlighted in a relevant and meaningful way.
4) You do more types of magic well than most magicians have ever even tried. What is your favorite type of gig and why?
Thank you, but I feel that I am just an average magician who also makes my clients happy. I do not see myself as special, except that, you are correct, I do perform close up, stage illusions, comedy magic, and mentalism. Working in the theme park venues, I never focused on ONLY stage, or comedy magic, or mentalism, or close-up. I had to do it all, and I had to perform hundreds of times. My favorite is actually combining the comedy magic and mentalism, performing for smaller corporate groups of 100 or less. It allows me to give a more intimate, stand up performance and create a more theatrical experience.
5) Finally, what advice do you have for magicians who want to book more gigs?
Decide on your message, do not be a jack of all trades. If you want to do corporate, tailor your website to look, feel, and sound corporate. If you also do kids shows, have another site for that. Write material from the viewers perspective. In other words, it is not so much about you, as it is the experience the reader will have, or the benefits they will achieve should they go with you. Also, make sure you keep it clear and simple, make it easy to book you. Include a call to action. Come see my lecture at IMX to learn more!
To hear more from Timothy from your own home, sign up for IMX Live right here on Penguin!
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/2659
Chris Beason
born to perform.
Joe M. Turner is a fantastic corporate magician out of the Atlanta area. One of the busiest performers in the Southeast, Joe performs in more places than almost anyone that I know. While it's not possible to always know where he is performing, the one thing that you always know is that his deck is probably in a memorized stack.
In this video, Joe Turner shares his easy method for memorizing a deck of cards.
Chris Beason
born to perform.
Gregory Wilson products aren't like other magic releases. They're
field tested more than military weapons and most drugs. The man isn't
normal! He performs magic non-stop, and whether he's at a gig or
ordering a venti latte, he's "on" 24/7/365.25.
Gregory Wilson products aren't like other magic releases. They're
field tested more than military weapons and most drugs. The man isn't
normal! He performs magic non-stop, and whether he's at a gig or
ordering a venti latte, he's "on" 24/7/365.25.
Gregory Wilson products aren't like other magic releases. They're
field tested more than military weapons and most drugs. The man isn't
normal! He performs magic non-stop, and whether he's at a gig or
ordering a venti latte, he's "on" 24/7/365.25.
Alvo Stockman
Mark Tirone
Chris Beason
Maxwell Murphy
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