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Month: September 2014

Mat Franco’s ‘Secret Weapon’ Revealed!..

Mat Franco’s ‘Secret Weapon’ Revealed!..

A Message from Jay Sankey..

I wish magicians would stop complaining about Matt Franco winning ‘America’s Got Talent.’Is Matt especially original? Definitely not. How about especially skilled? Again, no.Matt isn’t even especially entertaining. But Mat did exactly what far too many magicians fail to do. He truly CONNECTED with the judges and television viewers.And he did it by being something ultimately more important than being original or skilled.He did it by being charming and humble. Which made him supremely LIKEABLE. And in the ‘business of showing,’ likability counts for an awful lot.

Yes, like many magicians, I wish this kind of important television exposure was spotlighting our more creative, original, inspired and skilled performers.But as a community, we are so foolishly focused on keeping secrets and presenting irrelevant puzzles, the general public has little else to measure a magician by, other than, “Did he screw up his tricks?” and "How much did I like him?“The same can’t be said of dancers, musicians, actors, comedians, painters and photographers. With those, the general public is far better informed about originators, styles, skills, bodies of work, influences, personalities, etc.

While in the magic ghetto, our obsession with secrets has created a vacuum of such public ignorance, likeability can win major contests. And fake ‘tv magicians’ without originality, skill or veteran performance chops, are created in video editing rooms and broadcast around the planet, as perverse representations of real magicians.But instead of complaining, let’s look to our own performances and creative efforts, and raise our own expectations.Far too many performers in our community are ‘karaoke magicians,’ singing verses written by others, to melodies created by others (and often out of key.)Instead, strive to be much more than just another ‘paint by number’ performer.

Take risks. Explore. Find what is truly yours. Your voice, your perspective. And dare to share THAT through your own deceptive performances.And keep in mind, the tricks are just tools. It’s how much of your unique self you’re able to express with them that really matters.The focus on ‘keeping secrets’ has misdirected magicians and the viewing public for long enough.

Long live real magic.
Jay
P.S. I created the innovative InsideDeception community to provide the greatest variety of training for amateurs and pros who are serious about using magic to express themselves.  

P.P.S. And speaking of tools, here are two FREE, visually-driven effects that are inspiring some really great comments on YouTube. I sincerely hope they help you express yourself…

‘EYE OPENER!’  
DROP ZONE
Balancing the magic act..

Balancing the magic act..

BHUMIKA K. for The Hindu..  Magicians pull rabbits out of hats. And 16-year-old Tejaswi Ananth wears many hats — juggler, shadow-play artist, unicyclist, balancing freak…

At nine, when you say a kid is juggling a lot of things, you assume he’s busy with school and after-school activities, playing, cricket camp or some such. But when Tejaswi Ananth turned nine, he started juggling — with silk handkerchiefs, balls, then clubs, and now at 16 he’s graduated to steel daggers. And he does it when he’s hula-hooping. All this while he’s balancing on a rolla bolla!

It helps to have a hobby magician for a father. And Anantha Padmanabha has designed their whole house, far beyond Electronics City, to cater to the young boy’s talents. “While building this house, my father had installed a spotlight. When I asked him what it was, he introduced me to shadow play,” says Tejaswi. 

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Magic and the CEO — Applying Lessons Learned From the Stage..

Magic and the CEO — Applying Lessons Learned From the Stage..

Entrepreneur

Upon seeing a magic trick for the first time, a child is filled with awe, wonder and excitement and left thinking about greater possibilities. That’s because a magician knows exactly how to draw people in and engage and encourage them to believe in what they saw.

Selling a belief is at the core of magic, as it is in business. Prior to my becoming the CEO of Perfecto Mobile, I worked as a magician. The many tricks and magical acts that I performed in front of a wide range of audiences provided lessons about being a leader, a presenter and getting people to believe.

In many ways, running a startup company requires these traits, too. I often draw upon them as I navigate today’s challenging business environment while at the helm of my company. Here’s are four insights from my varied experiences:

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First magician to win ‘America’s Got Talent’ credits Las Vegas star

First magician to win ‘America’s Got Talent’ credits Las Vegas star

By MIKE WEATHERFORD
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

For nine years, Las Vegas based magicians have competed on “America’s Got Talent,” from Nathan Burton in season one to Smoothini the Ghetto Houdini this year.

But on Wednesday, it was non-Nevadan Mat Franco who became the first magician ever to win NBC’s talent contest and its $1 million prize.

Still, the city is so thick with magicians that it’s no surprise Las Vegas can claim a little piece of the 25-year-old magician’s victory.

“It’s not little at all,” Franco said by telephone from New York today. “Jeff McBride was the biggest magic influence in my life growing up,” he says of the Las Vegas-based veteran who stages the monthly event “Wonderground” in Henderson.

“It was just a complete obsession ever since I saw him on ‘The World’s Greatest Magic 2’ on NBC back in ’95,” Franco says. “He’s just a huge inspiration to me, big time.”..

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