There was a time when “Street Magic” meant something (think Harry Anderson, Gazzo, Kozmo, et al). Today it means that you have a camera crew following you around while you “fry” people. By the way, if you don’t know any of the three parenthetical mentions, you need to get out more. Stop reading this magazine and find out who those guys are.

The phrase “Show the camera” or “show it to the camera” should never be part of your patter… unless, of course, you’re a “street magician.” I’ve had this idea to write this article for over a year, and it’s been sitting in my “someday I’ll write an article about this” file waiting for the right moment.

That magical moment came today. Jay Sankey released a very cool video on YouTube addressing this very thing. It’s a hidden camera performance of one of his marketed effects, Bigger Finish.

Aside from the very cool hidden camera performances, this YouTube video has some excellent commentary about being real with your audience. This ties in very nicely with this month’s Roots and Branches, The Magical Passion of Adele. Make sure you read it if you haven’t already.

The point in all of this is to be your real self and create real connections with real people, not faux people created by the presence of a camera. Quantum theory states that the observation of an event impacts the outcome.

No where is that more true than a spectator with a camera crammed in his face while being told (implicitly or explicitly) to “react.”

Take the time to make real connections with people, whether they be those who might hire you, those who have hired your, audience members or total strangers at a bus stop. Remember, the purpose of this column – No Stone Left Unturned is to improve the business side of magic.

You need to be able to sell yourself on paper and in person. It all begins with you. So be real; don’t be sucked into fantasy footage of over the top reactions of spectators that have been “slaughtered” by a magician. Most of the time, it’s not real.

Be real. Be you. And for the love of all that is good and holy, don’t EVER say “Show the Camera” to a spectator.

Until Next Month . . .

P.S. For the curious, here’s Jay’s video I mentioned:

The post Show The Camera appeared first on Stone Cold Magic Magazine.

The answer is simple. His name became a household word, and therefore closeup magic became a household word, and therefore more people know about magic, and more people hire magicians. He was great for my business. However, and this is a BIG “However.” He may have caused, unintentionally, some pretty heavy damage to the craft of magic as a whole.

The good news is that it’s reparable, but it’s going to take a lot of work from us. So what damage did he cause. Because he was so popular and so famous and such a huge hit, people wanted to be like him. A LOT of people wanted to be like him, and suddenly “street magic” videos were available everywhere, and people started doing double lifts, buying Ravens and calling themselves magicians.

These people through no fault of their were “sold” on the idea that only after 20 or 30 minutes of practice, “They too could become street magicians.” This causes a lot of bad magicians doing a lot of bad magic with no confidence, no patter, no emotional connection with the audience, and worst of all: THEY ALL TRIED TO EXACTLY MIMIC DAVID BLAINE!

This phenomenon quickly spread throughout the United States and quickly began causing people just my magic (before they see it) based on Joe Newbie with the invisible deck. The invisible deck is great, but people who bought it 20 minutes ago should not be using it. I have no problem with new people wanting to get into magic and learn the secrets and even be like Blaine. The only problem I have is that a new generation of magician has been created; one where practice is no longer the cardinal rule for magicians, and frankly that’s a world I can’t deal with.

So I’m calling on all students of the art, all true performers. Please commit to practicing several hours per week or even per day. Please for the sake of our art, do not desecrate our craft by being a shoddy performer. Take the time to study the classic works (more about classic works in a later post). Take the time to really learn the moves, and really fine tune your skill and your presentation. I guess what I’m trying to say is, “take the time to be a REAL MAGICIAN.”

Remember the days before Blaine? Remember the days of Blaine . . . suddenly, everyone was asking you, “have you heard of that guy . . . the street magic guy?” He through a card through a window! He levitated! He swallowed a thread and pulled it out of his abs! He bit a quarter in half! He made a card rise out of the deck! He made a card change in that guy’s hand! He read that guy’s mind!

On and on and on it goes. Some magicians hated it/him while others loved it/him. What’s the difference? Many said that the haters were jealous. I don’t buy that. I think the haters were blinded. They were confused. They didn’t see what he was “all about.” the magic was filmed from the audience’s perspective. That’s who matters, not you or me, but the audience. I just watched Blaine’s DVD, Fearless, the other day, and it really sort of re-grounded me. It got me thinking again about what really matters in magic . . . the reaction from the audience . . . not even the reaction per se, but the reason for the reaction. What matters is what they’re thinking that caused the reaction.

As you know, this particular column, No Stone Left Unturned, is dedicated to the business side of magic and the logistics side of magic and the non-magic side of magic, so why am I talking about David Blaine? Simple. In order to be good at selling yourself to your clients, you need that magic flame to be lit, that bug has to bite. You’ve got to remember how you felt when you first got into magic. Those feelings keep you excited and passionate about your craft. It may not come from a Blaine DVD for you, but that’s what did it for me. It got me wanting to perform more regularly for lay people again.

Please, for the sake of magic, get passionate . . . think about the audience, and bring back that lovin’ feeling

The post Don’t Blaine Me appeared first on Stone Cold Magic Magazine.

I wish you could hear Jim Snack’s voice. He’s so enthusiastic that he fills you with energy. His course (see the end of this paragraph) includes all these CDs which – literally – kept me awake and alert on a drive from Arizona to Missouri. It may be the first “covers-all-the-bases” course for magicians; it’s certainly the one which can lead you during the first decade of your career.

Throughout this interview, Jim got so excited about magic, about performing, that it seems he would climb right through the phone lines and shake me by the collar. He really believes that you can be a star of magic, and he’s shown a lot of people how to get there and be that.

Because his voice is so powerful, we have him in “normal” font and me in italics. Although Jim is one of the top working magicians today, he began his career in 1979 performing magic on the streets of New York City, Boston, and at fairs and festivals from Maine to Florida.

Today Jim works as a motivational speaker and entertainer, presenting over 100 programs annually for business, educational, healthcare and human service organizations. His programs mix magic with motivational messages about teamwork, change, creativity and communications.

Jim’s client list reads like the Fortune 500, and includes such companies as General Motors, Toyota Manufacturing, Astra Zeneca and more. In addition, Jim is the author of Success In Magic, a comprehensive business-building course for magicians.

This was originally slated to appear in Street Magic Magazine, but that magazine went defunct about the same time that I wearied of its use of obscenities. Looking for a healthy place to publish it, I spotted Stone Cold Magic Magazine and arm-twisted good old Jeff into running it.

So let’s talk to Jim . . .

That’s about what it is: the first five to ten years what you’re going to learn while building the groundwork for your business. Marketing is just one part of a business plan. I like understanding the entire career ladder for magicians, what the possibilities are, what you need at each level, in each different type of venue.

Take for example, the audience of this magazine: street magicians. Where do they go next? What’s the next step? You’re out performing on the boardwalk at Atlantic City, passing the hat and making $50 a pass if you’re lucky. Where do you go next? I mean, what’s the next level?

Well, the next level might be working at a comedy club. Or it might be working private parties. And the next level would be getting more corporate work, with the eventual goal of doing trade shows. My definition of trade shows is merely “street magic in a business suit.”

Jim spoke longer – twice as long as this interview would indicate. This printed interview gives you at least two invaluable pieces of advice which can advance your career significantly. But Jim and Stone Cold Magic Magazine doesn’t stop there.

Jim has cleaned up the audio file a bit, and has posted a free copy at Jim’s site – and your favorite magical Grandpa suggests you check out the rest of his site while you’re there to see just how powerful his course is. There’s even a free mini-course offered on the site, which will show you how to get to that elusive “next level.” I cannot say enough good about this man and this course he offers. Since my goal is that we have better magicians, I strongly recommend the Success-in-Magic course.

And, as always, I remain your faithful Grandpa – you can reach me via email and we’ll wish each other a merry Christmas and yahoo New Year! (Boy, is this interview old!)

Please take a moment to reply to and “like” this article

The post Succeeding With Jim Snack appeared first on Stone Cold Magic Magazine.

This issue of No Stone Left Unturned just may spark controversy and debate. Just keep in mind that this is my opinion and my experience. So please keep an open mind as you read this article. The question at hand is should you take tips or not, and should you work for tips or not… these are two different questions.

First, “should you work for tips?” This question is asking if your method of payment for the gig should be tips or should be payment by the owner, planner, etc.

Second, “should you take tips?” This question is referring to someone who is working a paid-by-the-hour or flat-fee gig who is offered a tip by the spectator.

Let’s address the first question: Should you work for tips or for a fee?

My experience has been that each of these options have their place. However, they create a completely different dynamic between you and the spectator. For example, let’s take the person who works for tips only. Let’s say he works at a restaurant doing table-hopping. First of all, the relationship you have with the audience, subconsciously starts off as “I’m going to interrupt your meal and show you stuff, and you have to give me money.”

Of course I’m oversimplifying it, but the point is that once the audience realizes that you work for tips, so many things happen. First, they suddenly become your unwilling employer. Second, the relationship is not about “I’m trying to share an experience with you.” It becomes a business transaction. Now it may be the most fun, exiting and best business transaction that the audience members have ever experienced, but it’s still more of a business transaction and less of a moment of astonishment.

Back in the day, when I would approach a table, I would often be asked, “how much does it cost for the magic.” I was more of a solicitor than an entertainer, in their eyes. Now remember, as I mentioned in last month’s Roots and Branches, if one person speaks it, several thought it. This means that often, people were assuming that they had to pay me to see magic. So, in their eyes, I’m just there to make a buck. They may have fun and enjoy giving me that buck, but it’s still all about an exchange… 1 trick, 1 dollar please.

Take the person who is paid by the owner or manager of the restaurant. There is still a business transaction and an exchange of tricks for dollars, but it happens between the business people (the magician wearing the marketing hat and the business manager), not the patrons of the restaurant.

When approaching a table under this condition, the dynamic is different. Suddenly you are part of the meal, the experience of eating at this restaurant. It’s more like, “the cool thing about so and so restaurant is you get free soda, a cool atmosphere, and free entertainment.” You have an entirely different relationship dynamic with your spectators.

I feel that this rule applies for the most part to just about every venue where you are directly and intimately interacting with your audience. One exception, of course, is street magic (no, not David Blaine). I’m talking about busking. Do your show, then pass the hat… I still feel that the dynamic is more of a business transaction as I mentioned earlier, however, it’s one that feels more voluntary.

At a table with five people, “holding out your hand” for a tip can be a bit awkward for the spectators.  However, with the hat passing, you take a bit of the pressure off of the audience. It’s also a situation where the audience more or less came to you, whereas at a restaurant, you go up to them and they’re “trapped.”

Now, I’m not telling you that you should not work for tips. I’m just telling you that the magician-audience dynamic is different in each situation. One isn’t necessarily better or worse, although, you’ve probably guessed which one I prefer. The ultimate decision is up to you. Do you like one dynamic over the other?

Here’s one more thing to consider, however. I’ve had several occasions where I was at a restaurant and was approached by a balloon sculptor who was working for tips at the restaurant. A few things went through my mind:

1. I never carry cash, ever. period. So I can’t give him a tip.
2. I look like a jerk to my kids for turning him away.
3. I felt as though the restaurant was doing him a favor by letting him tap into their client-base to make some “sales.”

Remember if those thoughts came into my mind, they likely came into other people’s minds as well.

With paid-by-manager gigs, the mentality is that you are doing the restaurant a favor (rather than them doing you a favor) by improving their product, atmosphere, experience, etc. You are providing the restaurant a service for which they, not the patrons, pay you.

One other point about tips in a restaurant environment: you suddenly become competition for the servers. Remember, they work for tips too. The last thing you want to do is have the servers feel that you are cutting into their bottom line. You want them on your side. Also, think about it from the customer’s perspective… it’s like everything is ala carte:

• You sit down and order your food, and you pay for it.
• You then have some one serve it to you, and you pay for it.
• Then someone comes to your table and makes you watch a card trick, and you pay for it.
• I’m afraid to use the restroom; I’ll probably have to pay for it, especially if it’s a fancy place with the blind towel guy in the restrooms.

So when all is said and done, my view is do not take gigs that are strictly tips. You then can approach your guests and say, “Hi my name is Jeff. I’m the paid entertainment. How are you folks doing?” That’s my intro guys, and it works great. After I take a moment to “break the ice” I spend time connecting with the audience and then move in for the MAGIC!

(On the subject of approaching spectators, check out Jay Sankey’s (filling in for Jason Montoya) article this month about what to do after the first 30 seconds as a great next step)

Finally, this approach allows me to focus entirely on the audience. Much like when you have an effect that is overly technically demanding, sometimes it’s hard to focus on entertainment because your brain is distracted by the moves. My brain is distracted when I think about the fact that the audience might view me as “just a guy trying to make a ‘sale’.”

When I’m there truly to share astonishment, not do business, with the audience, I’m much more relaxed and therefore the chances of astonishment happening are drastically increased. Hopefully you’ve read this with an open mind. Think about this and what you want out of your relationship with your audience.

Remember, the whole point of No Stone Left Unturned is to help you improve your magic business. Part of doing that is knowing when to be the businessman and when to be the entertainer. Go back and read the first (The Beginning) and second (The Color of Business) articles in the No Stone Left Unturned column. This will help remind you of the purpose of this column along with what your role is with your business and the “hats” you wear.

Next month we’ll talk about what to do when you’re not working for tips and you get offered a tip. Until Next Month…

Please “like” the value of this article:

The post Tips On Tips (Part I) appeared first on Stone Cold Magic Magazine.

Buy one Get one Free:

Hey gang, don’t forget that you have until May 16th (that’s less than a week) to get Stone Cold Magic For Free. You buy Underground Jam for $25.00 and you get Stone Cold Magic on DVD for Free until May 16th.

However, the first 3 people to order will also get a free copy of Brad Gordon’s Clever Eight! That’s three items for only $25.00. Also included for everyone will a few special cards that’s you’ll need to perform a couple of the effects from the 2 DVDs.

Don’t worry, if you already ordered the buy one get one free deal when I first sent the offer, you already have a copy of Clever Eight on the way to you as we speak.

If you haven’t already ordered, get it now. Remember the first three orders get a second bonus gift: Clever Eight by Brad Gordon. The bonus Clever Eight is not listed on the order page and is not in the shopping cart. It will just be automatically sent to the first three orders.

Recent Giggin:
Last week I did a kid’s show. I haven’t done one of those for a while. I thought I was retiring that act, but I resurrected it. I learned a ton with that show. The short story is that the audience was TOOOOOO young… the kids were 4 years old. They were too busy pickin’ their noses to notice the magician. However, I made a mid course correction and started focusing the effects on the adults and using the parents as volunteers, and before you knew it, the parents were having a great time.

The kids didn’t notice, and they got candy at the end anyway, so everyone was happy, and I ended up walking out of there with my fee and a big fat tip! Don’t be afraid to modify things and change your course… thinking on your feet pays off.

Filming Begins:
We’re getting down to the wire. May 28th I’ll be flying to Toronto to film my next DVD project. While I’m there and not filming, I’ll be swinging by Jay Sankey’s house for a day or so. It’s been a couple years since we’ve hung out, so we’ll be doing some jamming for sure. I’ll let you know how the filming went and the Jamming with Jay went in June’s Issue.

Once the filming is done, the editing will take some time, obviously, but we’re still on schedule to release late fall. I’ll keep you posted.

Utah/Colorado Magic:
Here in the mid-west, we’ve got some great minds in the world of magic. I’ve been honored to associate with quite a few of them. I’ve been jamming with a few and some great stuff has come out of these sessions. I’ve been working with Brad Gordon from Utah, Donny Orbit from Colorado and Diamond Jim Davis from Utah. We’ve had some good jam sessions. In fact some of the stuff on the upcoming DVD project will be from the creative minds of these guys. You won’t want to miss out.

Celebracadabra:
I won’t spend a lot of time on this subject, other than to say that this show is definitely worth watching. The first episode was kind of weak, but the second one was much better. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, Celebracadabra is sort of like the reality show, Dancing with the Stars. It’s magic instead of dancing. A handful of celebrities are paired up with a magician, David Regal, Simon Lovell, Rocco, just to name a few.

The magician teaches them a trick or a prepares them to do a show and then the celebs compete. The first episode was Street Magic. The second episode was Children’s Magic. The third episode airs on Sunday May 10th, 2008 on VH1 at 10:00 PM Mountain Standard Time. I’m not sure when it airs in other time zones.

With judges like Jeff McBride and Max Maven and coaches like Regal and Rocco, you’ve got a good recipe for a decent show. The first two episodes eliminated the 2 people who were annoying me, so it’s even more fun to watch now. Check out vh1.com for more details. You can also watch the first 2 episodes while you’re there.

The best thing about this show is that I think it’s doing a great job at giving us magicians credibility. It really is portraying the fact that magic isn’t some cheesy easy to do thing for nerds and geeks. I love it, and you will too. Check it out.

Enjoy the rest of this month’s issue.

-Jeff Stone
And The Stone Cold Crew

The post Filming Begins appeared first on Stone Cold Magic Magazine.