“Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do.”
Edgar Degas

"If you think that something small cannot make a difference, try going to sleep with a mosquito in the room."
Unknown

“Resist the temptation to try to use dazzling style to conceal weakness of substance.”
Stanley Schmidt

"If you hit a wrong note, then make it right by what you play afterwards."
Joe Pass

"We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out."
Ray Bradbury

“Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end."
Igor Stravinsky

“The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof shit detector.”
Ernst Hemingway

"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."
Helen Keller

"Play the music, not the instrument."
Unknown

"A gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it."
Irv Blitzer

I’ve been to a lot of magic conventions and I am continually impressed by how many great magicians there are out there. From the star acts on stage to the serious amateurs and hobbyists who clearly put in the time. Highly skilled and polished magicians with great routines perfectly practiced and well rehearsed.

Sadly, so many of them are doing the same magic. Many, in almost identical ways.

Of course I love the classics when done well - but a little variety never hurt anyone.

As I type these words there are well OVER 5000 items on our site alone. That includes THOUSANDS of books and dvds with TENS OF THOUSANDS of original and seldom performed tricks. With all that magic you would think we’d NEVER see a repeat trick in a show...and yet it almost always happens.

Yes, it’s true that magic has only so many basic effects. But there’s still a huge amount of material within those themes - all it requires is a bit of “mining”. I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to settling for the easy “find” but there’s nothing more exciting than discovering that great item that no one if doing. It’s even more satisfying when that item is in a decades old book that almost everyone says they’ve read.

It will take effort.

“Man stands for long time with mouth open before roast duck flies in.” Chinese Saying

Close your mouth and start cooking.

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” Buddha

That quote stands on the bookshelf as I enter my office.

I read it every day. Often more than once.

The internet makes it easy to establish yourself as a reviewer or commentator. Heck, I’m doing it right NOW. The problem is that so many people take these reviews and comments as gospel. They are a not.

THIS is not.

Be careful that you do not watch or read a review and use it to replace your own thoughts and reason. At best they provide additional information. But the acquiring of knowledge and information is not the end. In fact, it’s just the beginning. After information is acquired it must be evaluated and synthesized into our own ideas and thoughts.

Learn.

Evaluate.

Synthesize.

Repeat.

"Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together." Vincent Van Gogh

This post is a coming in a few days late. I had so many convention stops last month that I’ve been playing catch up all week long and I’ve finally found a few moments to mention this Elmwood Magic milestone...

May 1st marked our 17th year in business.

I worked for many years in the world of magic prior to that date in 1993 - but when I made the move to open my own place, it was a whole new ballgame. With the help of my good friends Rob & Carol Allen, I opened the doors to our first location: a six hundred square foot shop jam packed with magic on the popular and eclectic Elmwood Avenue in downtown Buffalo, NY. I was 22 years old.

I spent most days pitching Svengali Decks, Nickels to Dimes, Ball & Vases, and the like to curiosity seekers wandering inside. Most opened the door because they had no idea what we sold...some just needed change for the parking meters! But I’d like to think that if you spent just a few minutes inside - if you soaked in the surroundings for a moment or two - you could not help but realize that you were somewhere special. Or at the very least, someplace very different than any other store along the Elmwood Strip.

In seventeen years we grew from that little shop on Elmwood Avenue into one of the largest magic dealers and producers in the world. I seldom made giant decisions to bring us to that place. It was primarily a long list of small tweaks...a gradual transformation. What will happen in the next seventeen years? I didn’t know back then, so I won’t claim to know now but I will say this...

I hear lots of magic dealers saying the sky is falling.

I say - we’re still tweaking. Frankly, we’re just getting warmed up.

Stick around.

My good friend Mike Seege was recently featured in the Buffalo News; he is one of the busiest restaurant magicians in the business. He’s a master of working that venue, creating happy customers and even happier managers almost every night of the week. We’ve worked together many times and have had countless conversations about approach, audience management, and the long list of issues that can occur when you work. The article got me thinking about some of those topics and I thought I would share one that has always been a biggie to me...

When I speak with magicians or read posts on magic boards, I’m often puzzled by how often they claim to deal with difficult spectators. You know the comments:

“They always want to look at my cards…”

“She kept trying to screw up everything I did…”

“…there’s always some jerk in the crowd…”

Anyone who has done shows has encountered a difficult spectator…it’s simply a part of the business. But it’s the exception, not the rule. If this happens every time (or even most times) that you work then you need to realize there is only ONE common element in each of those performances. You.

Most enthusiasts perform close up magic. It’s intimate and personal. If you’re not aware of your audience or conscious of their needs in the moment then you’re establishing that you don’t respect them. If you don’t demonstrate respect, it’s unlikely you’ll get it. There’s no iron clad checklist to insure that a difficult spectator never arises, but here are three things I guarantee will reduce the numbers:

• Look at your audience, not your hands. No one wants to watch the top of your head and it’s no way to engage people.
• When you ask a question, listen to the answer. Don’t deliver questions like a machine gun in an effort to get to some punch line. Remember they’re people, not props.
• Be genuine. That’s the hardest but also the most effective rule. “Turning it on” too much can put a big barrier between you and the audience. The more people perceive they are speaking to a real person, the less likely they are to be rude.

Of course, no strategy is fool proof. Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “The young man knows the rules but the old man knows the exceptions.” Both are important…and both start with the rules. The only way to grow is to pay attention and learn from each moment.