Post by Mark WildenPost by Ray HaddadYou can get away with that until someone does YOUR act better than
you. Don't laugh. It's done all the time.
As long as you're pleasing your audience, who cares?
///ark
Because it's LAAAAAME.
I'll explain.
The field of professional magic is filled with performers complaining
about amateurs souring the market. They note that a club who hires a
bad singer won't hesitate to hire a good one later, but the same club
who hires a lame magician will often swear off magic acts.
My belief, which few professionals share, is that the responsibility
for this woeful situation does not lie with the amateurs. How can it?
They don't know any better. The responsibility lies with professionals
who fail to communicate the level of skill they possess over and above
the amateur's.
It's difficult, of course, to communicate "skill" when we're
simultaneously using our skills to hide magic's secrets. That's why
many reputable card workers swear off flourishes on the grounds that
they lessen the effect of magic. Magic should appear to happen
effortlessly to seem truly "magical."
The problem is that, if magic appears truly skill-free, then the
magician becomes irrelevant, interchangeable, generic. Just some guy
with a credit card. Think of it this way, does anyone ever come here
trolling for a place to buy a one-handed faro shuffle or rolldown coin
display?
(I should add that I am in no way a flourish-freak, and am in fact part
of the camp that views flourishes as impressive but unmagical, like
juggling; just trying to make a point is all).
Adding to this is the public perception of magic, one that the shops we
support do little to correct, the notion that anyone can buy a trick
and be a magician. Yes, I know we will all say, over and over again,
that there is more to magic than just tricks. And we're right when we
say it. The problem is that the public doesn't see it that way. The
mantra is ours, not theirs. And that, too, is the responsibility of
the professional to address. Whose else's can it be? Who else is
positioned to make a difference AND cares enough to try?
Bob Cassidy once likened modern mentalism to a giant karaoke bar.
Because most people never hear a real singer in training, they're
likely to applaud anything they hear that's remotely in tune.
Likewise, many mentalists get away with landing paying gigs just
because they know a few tricks and adopt a self-important air. Just as
many beginner magicians buy a few tricks and immediately try to start
landing paying gigs. Doesn't make them professionals. Doesn't
distinguish them from each other. But it does behoove the true
professional to distinguish himself from them.
Skill is, as I'd mentioned, one way to do it. I also employ a certain
level of professionalism in my attitude that also helps. When I take a
gig, I make it a point to help the host plan the function, make sure to
entertain any special guests or VIPs that the host may identify, and in
general try to inspire confidence as a professional who's done this
many times. That's one of the ways I distinguish myself, and it works.
They may not remember a single trick I did (except my PK Touches ...
they always remember that), but they remember me, personally. And
since I am the product, not my gimmicks and sleights, that's exactly
the way I want it.
By the way, along those lines, there's a restaurant worker technique
I've developed consistent with this philosophy. Under no circumstances
will I approach a table with a trick. I will always introduce myself
first and, this is the secret now, carry myself as if I were the owner
or at least the maitre'd. In other words, behave as if I am a
professional who belongs there. It's all in the attitude.
Anyway, point is, if we allow ourselves to say it's "okay" to imitate
others as long as we're "entertaining [some] people" (which doesn't
take much at all, honestly), then we're failing to distinguish skilled
professionals from gimmick-buying amateurs. We're also setting our
sights way WAY too low. We're allowing ourselves to be lame and/or
forgiving others for being lame. We are contributing to, or at least
failing to discourage, the attitude of the person that started this
thread (who I suspect may have just been a troll), that any trick you
see can be bought somewhere and performed just the way Cyril does it.
Again, that's the fault of those of us complaining, not the naive
amateur who doesn't know better.
None of this makes it any less aggravating, though, to see trolling
such as that which started this thread. It's a reminder to those of us
who DO know better that way toomany people think magic can be bought,
ready-made. It's why you'll see people like me and Ray occasionally
harp on people like "McM" or Mitch Leary, who attach disproportionate
significance to the "trick [the method by which you fool]" and none at
all to the "effect [the method by which you ENTERTAIN]." We all love
clever tricks; it's how pretty much all of us got started. But tricks
are the beginning of magic, not its goal.
So, bottom line, to answer the admittedly rhetorical question I quoted
above, it's not enough to "please" your audience. The magician must
himself be entertaining, not merely rely upon clever tricks anyone can
buy. When that distinction is clear to everyone, we'll at last stop
getting trolls, munchkins and wannabes asking where they can buy the
latest trick they've seen on YouTube.com. They'll stop, because
they'll at last know that they're seeing something that must be
developed, not purchased.
After all, there's the real answer to McM's question, "where can you
guy Cyril's water bottle refill," which is to tell him, "buy the bottle
at any store where you can buy bottles, get the water at the tap and
apply a great deal of magical skill."
Magically yours,
Jim Kawashima