Team Work

Another delay in blogging but I'm glad to report much magic has occurred.  Darren and I visited the Magic Circle and were pleasantly supirsed by the warm welcome we received. The acts we  saw were 4 close up performs, all MUCH better than me, but the level of skill is attainable I believe. I shall blog about this later.

The Project Elmsley DVD has proven it's worth.  I can now perform the 4 Card trick and Dai Vernon's Twisting the Aces quite well.  Wednesday evening was spent in the company of Darren and the other two members of our Sleight Club and I ran through the Elsmley count with them all. We all seem to be getting a handle on it now. Working with a small group of friends is certainly a rewarding way of studying magic. Darren wowed everyone with his rather nifty "Waiving the Aces" as well. between us all I think we're progressing quite nicely. Darren has been a driving force in the other area of magic. As well as learning new material we need to get more gigs and here Darren has been most helpful. Thanks to his effort we have secured a domain name and are in the process of designing the site. This whole magician for hire thing is starting to feel very real.

  Darren has also managed to get a spot on the stage and has invited me up there with him. this again is a lovely piece of team work. Darren was the first of us to have the concept of a laser reveal.  We developed the idea between us, working out elements of humour as well as the mechanics of the effect. (the basic effect is a chosen card is lost in he deck, placed in a pack of cards and held in the spectator's hand. A laser is then shone on the pack and the pack is then opened and spread out to reveal the chosen card now has a hold burned through it. ) We have decided that this effect will form the finalle of our set. TO stir some creativity I sugested it would be nice i f the card could be signed. Darren and I both came up with methds and between us we've ade one work very well. SO there we have it, team work it helps with the following:

Motivation
learning
double checking how good you are performing
Creativity
sharing opportunities to pimp yourself.
support

Rough Month.

Can't believe I didn't manage to post once in January! I managed to damage my spine in a major way over Christmas. This meant I could only  sit at a computer for a  certain amount of time and I felt I really should spend that time doing data entry for my day job.MY   Boss is a really understanding guy (and my manager is also really understanding) so I felt I should  use my computer time helping them out instead of blogging. HOWEVER unlike other times when I was injured this time I managed to get a LOT of magic done.

  To begin with Magic reading. Magic in Theory by Paul Lamont and Richard Wiseman  was a fascinating read dealing mainly with the use of misdirection. Hiding the Elephant  also kept me occupied. Whilst not strictly speaking a magic book and more of a magical history book I believe the modern performing can still learn from it.  The book charts the history of stage magic in the Victorian era and the development of certain techniques and the changes in the public's tastes.  It certianly made for some relaxed reading.

  Brushing up on performance techniques is always good but it helps to have something to perform. I dearly want to join the Magic Circle in the near future so decided to work on a few gaps in my knowledge.  My mate Nick tried teaching me the  Elmsley count but unfortunately I just couldn't make it look neat and clean. therefore I treated myself to the "Elmsley Count Project with Lian Montier"  this was worth every penny. So today I'll be sitting down for a few hours to learn  an effect using the move (well to BEGIN learning the effect).

  Many more things are afoot in my world of magic, a trip to London, a new club and a fantastic new Podcast. However these can wait until  tomorrow.