Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Big Hands!

Here's something fun a friend just sent me. A YouTube video called "Rachmaninov had Big Hands". I'm not sure of the origin of this, but it's really creative and fun.

What kind of magic routines might this inspire?

As I've mentioned before, it's important to find inspiration from a variety of sources, not just magic related ones.

And of course inspiration, in its many forms, is one of the important things we should give Thanks for this season!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Monday, November 24, 2008

John Calvert

This past Saturday evening I was highly fortunate to be able to attend a performance and lecture by John Calvert, that was hosted by the Peoria Magicians Assembly. John Calvert is a living legend in magic, and his life and career read like some sort of high society adventure novel. He had a career as a movie actor "back in the day", and has traveled around the world numerous times performing magic. I've been wanting to see his show for years, and this was my first opportunity to do so.

And at 97 years of age, I must say the man still absolutely exudes charm. He absolutely lives up to his reputation as a master showman and ambassador of goodwill. One can't help but get caught up in his aura of good humored fun and positive emotion. He's a great lesson in what it means to be a master performer.

He's really the epitome of what I'm always advocating: find your character, be yourself, extend charisma, choose magic that fits your character, connect with the audience, (I could go on, and on, and on...), and he's a one-man study in poise and being comfortable on stage.

He's a true artist in every sense.

At the end of his show, John made a strong assertion that we in the magic fraternity are blessed to share joy and goodwill with the world, and that it is our responsibility to do so to the best of our abilities. And he attributed this mission of goodwill with his amazing longevity.

I couldn't agree more. If John is scheduled to come to your town anytime soon, I highly recommend that you do whatever you can to catch his performance. I'm confident you won't be disappointed by this master artist.

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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Turning Inspiration Into Action

As an artist, do you approach magic that way? Do you seek inspiration and use it to enhance your performances? Do you work to improve the "craft" of what you do so that it becomes more effortless and simply second nature, and so that you can therefore focus more and more of your energy and attention on your actual expression, that you are conveying through the vehicle of your craft? These are all topics that occupy my thinking on a regular basis.

My lecture at the Quad Cities Magic Club on October 23 was a big success. The following week, one of the attendees wrote an email to tell me that he'd already applied several of my techniques to his magic to give it more impact, and was noticing better audience response in his very next show! This is the sort of thing that's rewarding for me; not just getting people inspired about their magic, but seeing them getting actual results from what I offer. It's those determined and dedicated enough to take the ball and run with it, so to speak, that offer weight to these approaches to our art.

John Calvert is bringing his show and lecture to my area next week. I'm looking forward to seeing him, as I've always wanted to experience his work, and have just never gotten a chance 'til now. He's a living legend in magic, has performed literally around the world, and he's now 97 years old, and still performing. Simply Amazing! I'll try to put up a review of his performance and my thoughts on it sometime shortly afterwards.

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