The Year is 1995. The place is Kansas City. Carl Cloutier and I are among a handful of magicians from the North who have descended upon Stevens Magic emporium to shoot a two-volume video set called The Magic of Canada. The magnanimous Joe Stevens tries to make us feel more at home by serving maple syrup and being polite. It works – everyone’s in a great mood. During a break, Carl and I wander over to the vending machines, and while he’s dropping in coins, I’m toying with a deck of cards. Then I see the “insert dollar bills” slot [...]
Send Products For Review Here As you know, each month I review a few products and give them a status of either Gem or Rubble (sometimes something in between). If you have (or know someone who has) a product you would like reviewed, please send it to: Stone Cold Magic Reviews 3367 South 6400 West West Valley, Utah 84128 I’ve got a pretty big stack, but I will make every effort to get the review out as soon as possible. All Gems this month . . . some a little less gemy than others. Craig Petty’s Love Cards – Gem [...]
You’re pumped up; You’re energy’s high; Table number 4 requested “The Magician.” You walk over there and everyone seems nice. You introduce yourself. You pull out a deck of cards, and that’s when it happens. The spectator says the most retarded thing you can imagine: “I’ve seen this one.” Doesn’t that kind of imply that there is only one card trick in the entire universe? How do you counter that? Even if she wasn’t being a heckler . . . maybe she was excited and she was telling her friends how excited she was to see that trick again. However, [...]
Look man . . . It’s not what it looks like. Sure . . . you’ve heard that before, but this time I mean it. Sure I was born a Diamond, and through my pre-arranged marriage, I end up with the Queen of Diamonds, but isn’t that like marrying my cousin or something? Anyway, that all-thumbs “magician” did some “every card has a mate” trick, and next thing you know, I’m stuck next to the Queen of Hearts. She smells nice and is certainly hot, but I didn’t put her there. Then of course, here comes my wife, wondering how [...]
Send Products For Review Here As you know, each month I review a few products and give them a status of either Gem or Rubble (sometimes something in between). If you have (or know someone who has) a product you would like reviewed, please send it to: Stone Cold Magic Reviews 3367 South 6400 West West Valley, Utah 84128 I’ve got a pretty big stack, but I will make every effort to get the review out as soon as possible. How’s this for a weird set of reviews: 2 gems, one rubble and 1 that’s bot gem and rubble. Read [...]
Last month the statement/question was, “You don’t have a camera? Really!?” This month it’s “You don’t do magic with your business cards? Really!?” I’m not gonna spend a lot of time convincing you that magic with business cards is critical. However, think of this: you meet someone on a plane or standing in line at the grocery store or at a networking meeting, etc. The guy asks you what you do for a living. You say that you’re a magician (or whatever you call yourself). Then you produce a business card from thin air (back palm or whatever method you [...]
The Magic gods Smiled That Day I hope everyone had a weight-gaining, new-belt-hole-punching Thanksgiving! I know I did. It was baby Oliveah’s first Thanksgiving. We hung out with some friends for the big day. Of course, I got asked to perform some magic. So I busted out 10 ESP cards that I keep in my wallet. I performed an effect where the spectator handles the cards for the most part. However, the cards must remain in a particular cyclical stack for the effect to work. As I was about to perform the effect, one of the guests (friend of our [...]
. . . So there I was, sitting in the car with the motor running while my wife ran into the store for “just a minute.” Ya that’s right, I fell for it! While my wife’s minute turned into thirty, then forty, then . . . well, you get the idea – I got bored. I had eaten the last little mint from my box of tic-tacs and was fiddling around with the box. So bored was I that I started to wonder, “What magic trick could I do with this little box?” After awhile I worked out a method [...]
It looks like we’ve got a balance of 2 gems and 2 rubbles this round . . . not bad. Cameron Francis’s Exchange Rate Inc – Gem Damian Nieman’s Fast Company – Rubble Mickael Chatelain’s Exit – Rubble Liam Montier’s Gafftastic – gem Cameron Francis’s Exchange Rate (MSRP: $30.00) Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: I’d Just Love to Lay You Down By Conway Twitty. I’ll just dive right into this. For $30 bucks, you get 8 tricks . . . mostly good tricks, but even so . . . that’s a little pricey considering the price of other DVDs [...]
I’ll give you three guesses as to what the last “C” stands for in ACAANC. I’ll give you a hint; it rhymes with “rap.” Any Card At Any Number. To paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, What’s the deal with that plot? Spectator number 1 names any card. Spectator 2 names any number. Spectator 3 counts down to the named number only to find that the card at that number matches the card named. It’s a decent effect. However, many of the methods are way to fidgety and call attention to the wrong place at the wrong time. Additionally, many methods use crazy [...]
I have a good friend who is an amazing mechanic. At least 4 or 5 thousand times a day, someone will discover that he’s a mechanic and ask him a question about a car problem that they’re experiencing. He always has a good answer and some good direction and advice for the curious car owner. Of course, the beauty is that in most cases, this results in my friend taking on a new customer. So the free advice resulted in some cash. Other than the multiple times I’ve used this phrase in an article, how many times have you heard [...]
Man o’ Man . . . This gaggle of magic is one of the worst bunch I’ve reviewed. I’ve reviewed a ton of stuff over the years, and . . . well . . . just read it yourself . . . L&L Publishing’s World’s Greatest Magic – Magic With Dice – Rubble Shane Black’s The Pandora System – Rubble Simon Lovell’s Million Dollar Secrets With Cards – COMPLETE AND UTTER RUBBLE Stephen Tucker’s and Martin Breese’s This, That and The Other – rubble L&L Publishing’s World’s Greatest Magic – Magic With Dice (MSRP: $20.00) Random I-Tunes Song Of The [...]
Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk . . . Whoop, Whoop, Whoop . . .No . . . not those three stooges. I’m talking ’bout the kind make many of us cringe – though, arguably, the aforementioned stooges may also make many of us cringe. So, do you use stooges?I personally don’t. Am I right? Am I wrong? Does it matter? I guess we’ll find out. Post your thoughts below.To me, there are three kinds of stooges. One is guy planted in the audience well ahead of time waiting for you to call upon him. Then there is the impromptu stooge where you [...]




