What happened here?

[the_dude42]

I took a two year hiatus from magic. Not because I didn't love the art in it's entirety, I just wanted to branch out, try something new. But now I'm back, and more in love with magic than ever before. My question to those of you who remained in the magic community during my pilgrimage into satisfying my ego: what happened to the magic community?

It seemed when I left, magic was a major city, to ascribe it to a metaphor. There were so many different venues to check out. Theory11 was a huge place, with new releases almost every other week it seemed, and it had just started that new feature, the wire, which is an incredibly interesting concept in and of itself. The Dan and Dave website was also an incredibly resourceful place, for both cardistry and Card magic. They, too, had many major releases, as well as a wealth of great books being added to their catalog every month. The Blue Crown was just getting started, and seemed like a major success.

And now it seems completely empty, devoid of anything new save a few downloads. Everything seems to be exactly as it was when I left, except the enthusiasm to learn. I go to the card magic subsection of this site, a section that used to have new content, new ideas, new thoughts, almost every ten minutes, and the most responses are from threads that start out "Hey guys, how is this done?" It's sad, really. Was magic really just a fad, or is there some new, exclusive website that came about these past two years that sucked everyone out?

The Dan and Dave forums are even drier. I know that they did a reboot of the their system, and it looks great, but is there really nothing new to add at all? It seems like the most excited person about magic is Zach Mueller, which is a complement to him, but to the rest of the community, why? The only talk I do see is on the latest one trick DVD, which, suffice it to say, shouldn't be what magic is turning into. Which brings me to my next point,

Were there any books on magic released while I was gone? I actually only know of one that I hadn't heard about "Japan Ingenious" by Richard Kaufman, which seems like an incredible read, mind you, but is that it? I love watching movies and all, but reading a magic book does feel so much better, for lack of a better word. Has magic really turned into just another marketing scheme, or is there something I'm missing here? It seems that besides DVDs and downloads, most people are interested in the newest and latest playing card design. Again, it's awesome that there is a wealth of new decks to choose from, as well as great flourishes to play with, but where is the magic? Are all the Tommy Wonders dead in the world, or have they just gone into hiding?

I don't mean for this post to come off as condescending, or rude, in any way, I just really want to know what happened to this forum, this community. Anything would help guys. Thank you.

 

[Parker Nolan]

I suppose you are right, but you have to think of it almost like an Industrial Revolution. So many innovations were made so quickly, a lot of new releases may just be rehashes of old projects. In my opinion, the reason there is so much time between trick releases is because they have to be checked for total originality, and it also makes each new release seem so special, instead of a customer being blasted with two tricks a week.

 

[Lyle Borders]

Hey there!

First off, welcome back! Glad to see you're back into the magic world.

Since you have been gone, we have been VERY busy here at theory11. In the past two years we have had 15+ playing card releases, including massive collaborations with charity: water and The World Wildlife Fund, literally changing lives and bringing together the magic community under one cause. We have had more than 36 magic releases, from individual powerhouse effects like Edge and Sneak Peek and Regeneration to hardcore sleight techniques from Jason England. We have also seen the magic world evolve with the debut of The Wire, arguably the most groundbreaking advancement to the publication of magic in recent years. The Wire empowers anyone to create and publish magic and cardistry concepts and ideas and release them to the world in ways never before possible. The Wire has seen over 2,700 artists and more than 300 releases, all made possible because The Wire is such a unique and game changing platform.

That is just scratching the surface of what has happened here at theory11. Elsewhere we have seen incredible growth for the artform. If you have been out of things long enough, you may have missed quite a bit of what Bill Kalush and the Conjuring Arts Research Center have been up to. His team has our full support as they take magic from before our time and make it available to our generation. Their system enables anyone to search and read and discover hundreds of thousands of pages of books previously difficult (or impossible) to obtain - now available in an instant at the click of a mouse.

It may be that, instead of the magic world being stale and unchanged since you last checked in two years ago, it has evolved into something altogether different than what you remember. Some of the major players in magic have changed, and the way we communicate magic is in the middle of a dramatic evolution, but it is certainly still alive. More than alive, I would venture to say that magic has never been stronger. You just need to dive back in to see it all.

Welcome back!

// L

 

[the_dude42]

Thank you my friend for that quick and thoughtful response. It's people like you that remind me each and every day of the wonderful magic of the community beyond flipping a card, or vanishing a coin.

That is truly incredible to see such a growth in T11 from what was simply a mysterious candle (if I remember correctly), back in 2007.

I have heard of Bill's incredible advancements, I think that was actually the last huge accouncement I had heard about before venturing off into the unknown.

I think perhaps you may be right my friend, I was quick to assume, and that assumption may have been incorrect. All I can say is that I'm excited for what's to come.

Again, thank you for the wonderful welcome.

- Dude.

 

[krab]

There have been a ton of great books this year alone. High Caliber by John Bannon, Full Bloom by Gaetan Bloom & Kevin James, Creative Magic by Adam Wilber are just the books I have picked up this summer. Honestly if you are looking for talk about the books this is the wrong forum. Only a few of us push the books.

 

[the_dude42]

May I honestly ask which forum is the best? It may seem like I am just beginning again in magic because of my being away, but I assure you I am well versed on a lot of the material I have studied. Any direction you point to would be of great assistance my friend.

 

[Craig Browning]

May I honestly ask which forum is the best? It may seem like I am just beginning again in magic because of my being away, but I assure you I am well versed on a lot of the material I have studied. Any direction you point to would be of great assistance my friend.

I'm confused by your question, are you talking about the handful of sub-forums listed on this site's index or the plethora of other forums on the web that deal with magic, like The Magic Bunny, Ellusionist, Magic Cafe, etc.?

THE "BEST" of anything is the place you feel most comfortable in and a part of. For me it is where I can bring the most help to people just now breaking into those areas of magic I'm most studied in (big stage, Bizarre & Mentalism). Perhaps, if you are so well versed, you need a larger forum. . . personally, I'd think you would want to find a place that would allow you to focus more and develop you skills in one key front in order to excel at something rather than being a jack of all trades.

If you're after a wide sense of variety, the Cafe is where you belong. If however, you want to focus on things a bit more, I'd find smaller communities that can give you the level of attention and guidance you need in key areas. T-11 tends to focus on cards and street magic more than anything else, as does Ellusionist (though I and a few others would like to change this with either or both of these forums. . . we need a bit more diversification to be effective in how magic has changed).

I'm well known on most of the forums out there in that I have frequented the majority of them. They all have their good side and down side, so you are the only person that can decide what works best for you.

 

[krab]

T-11 tends to focus on cards and street magic more than anything else,

The street magic part is one thing I would love to change. It use to be street magic was busking, and should still be busking. What is called street magic now is just guerrilla magic. What kids call street magic didn't exists before 1997. Why is magic the only place where this happens. I see street musicians in Austin all the time. Any night on South Congress or in the Sixth Street area you hear people playing for tips. Never have I had someone just walk up to me with a guitar play a quick song and leave. You never see someone walk up to a crowd that a street musician has gathered and pull out their guitar and sing the latest pop song. It just doesn't happen, so why do we put up with it in the magic world?

 

[the_dude42]

My question was actually directed at krab 1. He stated in an earlier post that discussing books wasn't this forums strong point, so my question was where I could find a suitable forum for that topic specifically. I'm a huge book reader, and discussing the latest DVD just doesn't do it for me.

Krab 1, on your last post, you discussed street magic, and I do agree with you here as well. I think it's interesting that people WANT to do magic for random strangers, and I think the right performer can do a wonderful job at it (see Danny Garcia for examples). The problem is, not everyone can do that. In fact, most people can't, especially kids. It takes a certain kind of experience that can only be picked up by people that WANT to see what you are doing, not people that feel like that are supposed to. It's also a reason I don't care for one trick DVDs, is because you will often get kids who feel that they can do the effect, whatever i may be, without practice, or any entertainment, save the effect. It's an interesting topic, and again, I don't want to say the street magic is a bad thing, because it's not. Just that it's not as easy as it looks, and not everyone can be david blaine..

 

[Steerpike]

The street magic part is one thing I would love to change. It use to be street magic was busking, and should still be busking. What is called street magic now is just guerrilla magic. What kids call street magic didn't exists before 1997. Why is magic the only place where this happens. I see street musicians in Austin all the time. Any night on South Congress or in the Sixth Street area you hear people playing for tips. Never have I had someone just walk up to me with a guitar play a quick song and leave. You never see someone walk up to a crowd that a street musician has gathered and pull out their guitar and sing the latest pop song. It just doesn't happen, so why do we put up with it in the magic world?

Oh my god, I'm going to get so much hate mail for saying this, but there is indeed a musical equivalent and I have personally witnessed it happening. Douchebag hipsters. I have seen literally no less than 2 dozen different hipsters wandering the city with an acoustic guitar or, worse yet, a ukulele that they would randomly pull out in public and start strumming on. They never asked for tips, and in fact most of them did that weird look where they would dart their eyes around without moving their heads, obviously looking to see if anyone was watching them be "quirky" but they didn't want to look like they were looking for people watching them. It takes all of my willpower not to go up to these people and say, "Okay, you've got my attention. Now what are you going to do with it?" I once saw a dude with a ukulele and a newsie hat strumming his instrument in the middle of a Halloween store doing that look I just described while his buddies monopolized all 4 dressing rooms with about 10 costumes each. I swear it went on for like half an hour, it was so sad to watch.

That's what most of these kids who call themselves street magicians look like! I would even go so far as to hypothesize that some of them are the larval form of public-ukulele-inflicting hipsters. No art is immune from people just dying to convince you how cool and original they are while trying to give the impression that they're not actually trying to do so.

 

[krab]

I can say I'm glad I have never seen this in Houston or Austin. I think it might be because of the music scene in Austin though. There are times you will see people playing on the corner that are better than the acts in some of the bars.

 

[Steerpike]

I can say I'm glad I have never seen this in Houston or Austin. I think it might be because of the music scene in Austin though. There are times you will see people playing on the corner that are better than the acts in some of the bars.

Perhaps the Northeast just has a higher concentration of trust fund babies? It's not as if Pittsburgh's music is all acoustic, whiny indie rock. We also have some decent metal bands. I'm currently set to do some shows with a guy named Lou Lombardi. He's taking his hard rock band, Strangelove, and putting together a variety show called Loudini's Rock and Roll Circus. I'll give you the full story some other time, though I will say that the slow process of embracing the fact that we've become a college city is definitely helping the local cultural scenes.

 

[the_dude42]

Man. We have a road in my city that is DEDICATED to this sort of thing. I'm talking plaid on plaid on stripes hipster here. The "I don't need glasses but I wear them anyways." And I have seen what you are describing before, and although I think the idea is neat, in practice, it looks exactly as you describe..

But, I don't think it's art that these people want, it's exactly what you said. Attention. Which, is funny, because close- up magic should strive to take attention away from the magician, and put the focus on the people you are performing for. After all, if it wasn't for them, it wouldn't be magic at all.

 

[Steerpike]

Which, is funny, because close- up magic should strive to take attention away from the magician, and put the focus on the people you are performing for. After all, if it wasn't for them, it wouldn't be magic at all.

Which is what I consider the Benjamin Disraeli philosophy. Disraeli had a gift for making people feel good about themselves. Even though he was a well-educated politician and incredibly witty author, he would ask people for their opinions and genuinely listen to them. The queen penned a novel herself, and in his correspondence with her he would frequently use the phrase "we authors." He knew precisely when to move the spotlight off of himself and onto someone else. That's something that takes a lot of restraint and practice to pull off, something I still aspire toward.

As for hipster communities, we have one of those in my hometown as well. Most of the Lawrenceville neighborhood is packed to bursting with them. I can't be certain, but I think I actually saw one of them in a bar that had one of those mustache tattoos on his index finger. He also had one of those "Why bother?" beards too, which makes the whole thing even worse.

 

[Deechristopher]

He knew precisely when to move the spotlight off of himself and onto someone else. That's something that takes a lot of restraint and practice to pull off, something I still aspire toward.

Giving someone else the attention of the group can be one of the strongest things you can do as a performer, I always try and make a participant the star of the final phase of my first routine, have the group applaud them. Not only does it make you look like a nice guy, but it makes that person feel great and it gets the group used to applauding at a climax!

I am intrigued as to what a "Why Bother?" beard looks like, I hope my beard isn't a "Why Bother?" :/

 

[Steerpike]

I am intrigued as to what a "Why Bother?" beard looks like, I hope my beard isn't a "Why Bother?" :/

Remember a couple of years ago when Criss Angel had that grungy look, saying he was too busy to shave anymore (but not too busy to take selfies with dancers at night clubs)? That. It's when your facial hair is overgrown on your cheeks and neck and everything, but you still look in the mirror every morning, shrug, and say, "Why bother?" For some reason, it's a popular look with hipsters.

 

[TylerRouss]

Dude, while a lot of your original issues have already been addressed, there was one up there that I have to agree with you on. I have noticed every time that I log back on here how much the general community has degraded. At this point I feel like there's about 5 or 6 guys legitimately getting on here trying to give or get advice, while everyone else is just trying to capitalize off each other. It's infuriating.

 

[ChrisWiens]

I

Were there any books on magic released while I was gone?

Yes. Hundreds. The problem is, you will NOT see them on sites like Theory 11, Ellusionist etc. It`s not the marketplace for books, sorry. As much as I hate TMC for several reasons, it`s a good place to find or read about new (and old) books.
For example Stephen Minch announced that the new Hofzinser books (I own the German Edition) by Magic Christian (the world leading Hofzinser expert) will be published in December. I bet a truckload of virtual beer that you will never ever find a post about this here.

 

[Deechristopher]

Yes. Hundreds. The problem is, you will NOT see them on sites like Theory 11, Ellusionist etc. It`s not the marketplace for books, sorry. As much as I hate TMC for several reasons, it`s a good place to find or read about new (and old) books.
For example Stephen Minch announced that the new Hofzinser books (I own the German Edition) by Magic Christian (the world leading Hofzinser expert) will be published in December. I bet a truckload of virtual beer that you will never ever find a post about this here.

A lot of the members on the forums here aren't as knowledgable when it comes to books, the only way this will change is if people like you guys post up about books that you feel are valuable.

Some people might not be interested, but if even one or two people take something from your post, it makes it worthwhile.

Regards the "Why Bother?" beard, I'm happy to announce that I don't have one 95% of the time. Except maybe over Christmas so I can get my Santa on.

 

[Craig Browning]

The street magic part is one thing I would love to change. It use to be street magic was busking, and should still be busking. What is called street magic now is just guerrilla magic. What kids call street magic didn't exists before 1997. Why is magic the only place where this happens. I see street musicians in Austin all the time. Any night on South Congress or in the Sixth Street area you hear people playing for tips. Never have I had someone just walk up to me with a guitar play a quick song and leave. You never see someone walk up to a crowd that a street musician has gathered and pull out their guitar and sing the latest pop song. It just doesn't happen, so why do we put up with it in the magic world?

I couldn't agree more. . . that's one of the reasons I started those threads about creating sub forums for Mentalism and Stage. . . we're missing far too many specifics as things stand. While I don't want to see another maze akin to the Cafe, I think a handful of subforums would prove more than beneficial for one and all.