What performances give you your inspiration?

[Josh Burch]

I was interested in magic at a very young age and I was largely inspired at first by the World's Greatest Magic specials as well as public television. I wanted to list a few of the performances I still remember being inspired by and links to performances where I can find them.

1. Perhaps my first exposure to magic was arround 5 years old on Lamb Chops Play Along Shari Lewis taught the Baladucci levitation. I was totally amazed when I first saw it, for some reason I could never fool anybody the same way she fooled me.
2. Shortly after I saw Paul Gertner. I can't find the clip online but I remember a magician doing the cups and balls on Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood. I'm sure it was Paul Gertner, I had no idea I was watching a near legendary presentation by a great performer at the time.
3. The most disturbing act I saw when I was 7 or 8 years old Dexion on the World's greatest magic. One of the most disturbing stage effects I have ever seen. I stayed up night after night trying to convince myself that I didn't see aliens performing that night.
4. Lennart Green on the World's Greatest magic. I couldn't find a performance from the episode I saw. I never thought that after 10 years I would still be fooled by his magic. I used to wish I had glasses so I could "Throw them away!".
5. On my 12th birthday my dad surprised me with a trip to David Copperfield. I had never seen Copperfield before and to this day I still believe the show that I saw to be Copperfield's greatest. The effect that got me best was the Laser illusion. Nothing compares to seeing it live, I was convinced that Copperfield had some sort of robotic legs and an operation to achieve it.

What were the performances that have inspired you in your magic?

 

[KeoSilver]

I started out much the same way as yourself. World's Greatest, David Copperfield, Lance Burton's Specials, and the odd magician on the tele like Sylvester The Jester. When I started I was very very inspired by the more theatrical acts and honestly was bored by the more close-up feel. I still am to an extent, but can appreciate them better now. I loved odd manipulation acts(Phelston Jones WGM), Parlor Acts, and Illusions. At eight years old, I started magic after I started musical theater. Entertaining is what I wanted to focus on. Later down the line David Blaine and Criss Angel hit the scene. David Blaine and the cool street magic thing going on drew me away from performance and led me into focusing on methodology and the Gurilla style of magic. See before I watched a David Blaine special, I believed that magic should only be performed on stage and when you are being paid. Just a note, the television was the biggest influence during my starting out stages in magic. Cable was all our house had on Kauai.

Fast forward to about now at 21, I've moved away from the more "street magic" feel to doing nothing. I prefer not to perform randomly for groups, unless I'm doing it to quiet down or get a kid's mind off of hunger (Server/bartender/room service attendant now). HOWEVER, there is a silver lining. During a hiatus from magic I picked up writing, specifically fantasy writing. The scenes and enviornments that I've read others paint and painted myself through words has influenced me in wanting to bring my audience to my world. Another big influence, which has always been a huge influence to me, was halloween and the haunted house industry. Being an actor for the last two years at a local haunted house has shown that I really love to be dark. (13th Floor SA), (Jasper and Jynx).

Needless to say, I'm very much so influenced and inspired by outside influences of magic. Cyberpunk subculture, halloween and horror, music, performance, costuming, and cirque, have a hand influencing what I do. However to bring it back to magic, Simon Drake I find super interesting. During the show Secret Cabaret, he had this gentleman like character however he wasn't afraid to swing in weird or dark images. (He did a verticle sawing from the crotch up with lots of blood. Click) I don't have much else to say without rambling to much.

Keo

 

[TeeDee]

I genuinely think Derren Brown is one of the best performers I've seen in any art-form. You know people say that every time you read Erdnase you can find new things? In the same way, I can watch Derren Brown's shows and keep learning new things about effective performance.

Ricky Jay's been a big inspiration too. He's become a very well-known magician but he's never made any concession to being "modern". In fact, he's made a point of being almost relentlessly classical in his approach. As someone who loves old magic books, I find it inspiring that he can entertain audiences and build a solid reputation with material that other people might consider old-fashioned.

 

[Randy]

Juan Tamariz, Michael Vincent, Ricky Jay and David Roth are usually guys that tend to inspire me to perform.

 

[Josh Burch]

Juan Tamariz, Michael Vincent, Ricky Jay and David Roth are usually guys that tend to inspire me to perform.

I love all those guys, are there any performances that stick out? My Favorite Juan Tamariz effect is "3 Coincidences" totally awesome card magic

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

For personal reasons, I usually don't watch many other magicians. The ones that have inspired me are those like Derren Brown, who make their acts so believable, and Ricky Jay who personifies the Magician Archetype so well. David Blaine showed me that magic didn't have to be boxes on stage or producing fans of cards to music (which has never interested me). Penn & Teller are amazing and put a real message into their act (Whether you agree with their messages or not).

Other than that, I draw magical inspiration from non-magician sources like H.P. Lovecraft, Neil Gaiman, George R. R. Martin, Cherie Priest, etc. Fiction that blends either magic or the thought of magic into 'reality' is my favorite stuff.

 

[Randy]

I love all those guys, are there any performances that stick out? My Favorite Juan Tamariz effect is "3 Coincidences" totally awesome card magic

It's less of a certain effect time deal, and more about how each of them pretty much make it look like they can do real magic and still show some form of skill, while not being a stereotype.

Though I did get inspired to get back into coin magic from seeing Michael Vincent perform Rhapsodies in Silver on one of his DVD sets.