Interview:  Julian Mather

 

Julian Mather is a magician, speaker, marketer, developer, teacher, and most importantly, someone who knows how to draw you into his world as a performer and make you a better person as a result. Julian is always encouraging, always positive, and always the professional. I discovered Julian’s Magic School while exploring the web, looking for resources for the Roadshow. After reading his material and watching dozens of videos available for the asking, I ordered everything available through the magic store, several gigs of downloads, and quickly realized both the value and real world experience that went into each effect.

At one time, I thought I was prolific…that was until I encountered Julian. The amount of material available on his various sites, the videos (120+),  and the brand new program that teaches future performers how to develop their own first rate shows requires an enormous expenditure of both time and effort. Julian and I think alike. He understands the real world value of an effect scripted to entertain the ‘public’, and not necessarily fellow magicians. He is truly a professional performer, and that is the basis of my interview with Julian Mather…       

Rick:  Hi Julian. First, let’s talk a moment about Julian Mather. Where do you reside? Married/single, and how did you get into magic? What do you consider your strengths and your specialties?

Julian: I am a 52 year old bloke (that’s Australian vernacular for a general run-of-the-mill sort of guy) married to the wonderful Miss Vicky. We have raised two daughters now 19 and 21 who treat our house like a fully serviced hotel. That’s just to let you know Australia is very similar to the rest of the world.

I got into magic through one of my past careers as a documentary cameraman. I would travel away a lot and as a result you end up spending much of your life in hotels and bars. I did not want to end up with sclerosis of the liver so I always took part of my home life to keep me occupied at nights. Following some odd activities like printing black and white photos, then restoring pieces of furniture – yes, I would travel with items like antique drawers I could sand and polish – learning magic tricks seemed relatively sane.

The more people heard I was studying magic, the more I was asked to perform and over a dozen or so years I had amassed hundreds of school show performances and many more performances to audiences in Australia, USA, South Africa and UK. These were essentially all free shows but I really applied myself to it with a professional mindset.

In 2008 I took an almighty leap of faith and left a career that I was very highly regarded in and ran away and metaphorically joined the circus. In reality, I set to being a local kids and family magician. It worked – as that is what I still do today.

My strengths are I am willing to question things in the world of magic that seem to exist because of tradition but make little sense to me on close examination. I took Eugene Burger’s maxim of ‘be your own authority’ to heart.

I only claim to be expert in one thing in the world of magic: I’m an authority on how to be a middle age person and leave your job to pursue your dream to become a magician and make a comfortable income from it.

I seem to be able to take tired old props and breathe a little new life into them but that’s about it.

Rick: I’m in awe of the work you have invested in your site, Julian’s Magician School. The content, the dozens of custom images, and the quality of the material you retail to fellow magicians is second to none. What are your hopes for the magician who finds your site for the first time?

Julian: My hope is that when people find my site for the first time that they take a chance and trust me. First and foremost I want to help people become confident because I never was and I know how that felt.. and it’s not nice. Magic has helped me enormously and I am driven to share what I have learnt.

Integrity, that there is consistency between what I say and do, is so important to me. I just hope people give me a chance to prove that to them. Unfortunately magic is full of outlandish claims on the packaging of tricks that rarely live up to the hype, so I get tarred with the same brush. That’s life, and I take it on the chin like the rest. But I really do have something that can help others so I always hope they don’t err on the side of caution and give me a shot to prove myself.

Rick: Who is your target market?

Julian: You know every time I do a public show, let’s say a strolling event at a festival, I will break into a mini show and draw a crowd around. I pack the front row in tight but there will always be at least one man, usually 35 -55 years old, who stands back from the group and watches me like a hawk. He never joins in on the fun but he’s there from the moment I set up until the moment I move on. I know who he is. He is me twenty years ago. This is exactly what I would do as I was fascinated by how someone became a magician, how they made a living from magic, how they got a crowd to stay, how they got strangers to pay them. All this and more I wanted to know the answers to because something in me compelled me to ask.

So who is my target market? Males 35-55 who are dissatisfied with their job and never have unleashed the magic performer in them. I know my target market intimately.

Rick: I purchased your entire package some time back and it has to contain several gigs of information, pdfs, posters, and videos. Although there was something for performers of all aspects of magic, the bulk seemed to center on entertaining at parties and gatherings, as opposed to stage performances. How long did it take you to develop the package and what did you most NOT want to part with?

Julian: Everything I sold via my birthday-party-magician.com website was created to give people the best opportunity to get out there in front of someone, anyone and actually perform something. For most of us that means family friends and colleagues.

I was not aiming at magicians who wanted material for their show, I was aiming at people who wanted the confidence to perform. The step up to performing in front of people is just too high for most people. Finding an old packing crate that people can use to make the step up easier is what I think my routines were. Everything I use myself and I know they get reactions. Everything is technically a one on a scale of one to five. I simply put out material that I wished was available when I started.

Rick: As a lover of the classic flea circus, I was mesmerized by the Hernando routine. Tell me something about the thinking behind the development of Hernando.

Julian: Following on this is the routine I most wanted to keep to myself. It is simply the best routine i know because it is the most useful. This is a get out of jail routine.

My Dad was an amateur magician who never performed and I bet he rarely did because he was crippled by the lack of confidence I was too.. early on. I’m sure I inherited that from him. He must have had one of the very first stiff ropes. It was bent and tattered but he would toy with it a lot. He used to make the little flea walk across the rope in the clever handling that you learn in the routine I teach.

Then about 5 years ago I saw Duane Laffin do a short version of this routine as a throw away time filler at a magic conference. I looked around and there was little interest from the magicians. My heart was pumping. I thought this was brilliant. All I did was take my Dad’s idea, add Duane’s basic structure, added a few tired old hackneyed magicians jokes to it and voila! Hernando, The World’s Strongest Flea was born.

I take no credit for any originality. I tried contacting Duane for more info on it but never heard back. If anything I am happy to have given new life to something so totally captivating for audiences.

Rick: The number of videos you have on YouTube offering support to your site and your magic is staggering. Time wise, what percentage of your time is invested in the video aspect? Do you see video as the future? Why do you offer the videos for free as opposed to bundling them and selling them? Do you consider the time you’ve invested in the videos as important to your future plans?

Julian: Each of my magician school videos takes me 6-8 hours to complete. Often I don’t even know what trick it will be until I sit down and start. I plan and write out HOW I am going to teach it then begin the process. The shoot and edit take half the time, then the uploading, building a web page, doing Facebook posts and tweets and RSS feeds takes up the other half.

Video is incredibly powerful and it is happening now, not the future. That said I always encourage people to use books and video. It’s like a knife and fork. Separately of limited benefit but used together – WOW!

Julian’s Magician School videos are free and will remain free because why should someone have to pay to have the opportunity to improve their lives. I try hard to make sure that most of the tricks I put up are what I loosely term public domain. My rule of thumb for that is if I can find the trick in a public library, then it is accessible for all.

Also, the building of one’s confidence should not be the exclusive right of those who can pay for it. Often the ones who need it most are the ones who cannot afford it. I consider this to be a basic right along with things like education and health care. Let’s extend this out to something I wasn’t aware of before I started publishing the videos. The internet is a worldwide phenomenon. The western world with its relative affluence are not the only people who now have access to my videos. People from many developing nations follow me too.

Can you imagine being someone who worked a whole month of manual work and ordered a $25 trick online only to open it up, and instead of Solomon’s Cave of Treasure they found a playing card with a piece of fishing line and a small square of double sided tape.

Of course there is a place for paid magic. Julian’s Magician School is simply an alternative.
Sure these videos will help me in the future. They have given me a voice in the world of magic and also given me a chance to prove my integrity and consistency that I mentioned earlier as important.

Rick: Maybe this question is more for my benefit than most of my readers, but I’m shameless.. What are your primary methods of promoting your site and your products? What seems to be most successful?

Julian: My number one method of promoting my site is what I just mentioned, being consistent in my approach and voice. To be honest the people find me, I don’t find the people.

Certainly YouTube is a great way to drive traffic to your site. For it to work for you though you need to offer something different. People don’t come to me because I’m a great magician, I’m not. People come to the videos because I can offer them some hope to one day being the confident person they aspire to be.

Once they are there, I always make sure they can get to my site easily and get my free ebook. It is 40,000 words of solid practical and at times life changing suggestions. I know this because so many people have told me how much it helped them. This is the fuel I need to keep going.

My primary strategy for promoting myself is to give away for free really good quality information. I keep getting emails saying why aren’t you selling this stuff? I don’t sell it because I want people to know that if the material you get for free from me is top rate then if I do offer something up for a cost then you can be guaranteed it will be better. So really it’s a win – win for everyone. This is not my philosophy, it’s a style that is catching on called abundant giving.

So in short the secret lies not in technology or gimmicks or sneaky Google algorithms, it is simply trying to give people the best you can so they are willing to hear more from you.

Rick: Just recently, I signed up and received four in-depth videos detailing the building of one’s magic show. For those who haven’t seen the videos, tell us what you hope to accomplish, and what type of response you’ve received to Live Your Magic Dream and Build Your Magic Show?

Julian: LiveYourMagicDream.com is simply an umbrella site for all my projects. One of those is BuildYourMagicShow.com where you get 4 very detailed content rich videos if you simply give me your email address in return. I never spam people or trade their email addresses. The videos actually contain some of the routines I was selling through my website. Now I am giving those away too.

What I hope this does is gets people to think about how they structure their magic shows. There seems to have been little real thought go into this up until now. I know there will be people tut-tutting me as some sort of jumped up wanna be expert in the world of magic. I simply say go and watch the 4 free videos. If after that you think I don’t have anything that is worthy of further investigation then you have many ways you can let me know.

I also hope to raise the bar on children’s and family magic education. Am I doing this? Let the people speak for themselves:

“My wonderful wife knows exactly how much I’ve invested in magic materials. Following my first performance using Julian’s material she said: “That course is the best magic thing you’ve ever purchased!”

“…this is all diamond quality content and I am so grateful to be here.”

“…this is the most completely applicable course I’ve ever seen”

“Anybody who wants to put a show together would be crazy not to do this course.”
“…absolutely stoked to be a part of this course. It has already turned my show around in so many positive ways”

The response has been outstanding. It almost needs to be because the production schedule for each of the 5 modules is grueling with approx 40 videos per module. I would hate to think I was doing it all for nothing.

Rick: What’s in the future for you? What direction do you hope to take your magic?

Julian: The future is very exciting. What I have done so far is the tip of the ice berg. I actually wake up every day and go Yeah! I’m still alive. There is so much I have yet to finish.

Next on the schedule is a business side of magic project unlike anything out there. This is going to knock the socks off everyone as it is SO ACCESSIBLE. You wait and see. I’m bursting to give details but now is not the right time. I’m very big on delivering on my promises so stay tuned.

Then there is 3 Minute Magic Show.com  This is another FREE venture to give people inspiration to be able to take a few simple tricks and construct a 3 minute magic show from them that will let you approach people with your magic. What you say, a 3 minute show? How is that possible? I know it works because this is how I made my big leap up in confidence. I tried for years to a 30 minute show but it never got me the confidence. I stumbled and bumbled and stuttered my way through.

One day I thought enough is enough. I started doing a 3 min show ten times in a row and my confidence soared. I am really excited at the potential for this to get people in front of audiences.

Rick: Lastly, what is your favorite effect to perform for adults? Favorite effect to perform for children? Words of advice for future performers…

Julian: My favourite effect for adults is the same as for children and grannies and grandpops: Sponge Balls … the most maligned and dismissed trick in magic. I get great reactions from other routines but nothing consistently gets whoops and hollers like those little yellow balls. Come along and look at BuildYourMagicShow and you will SEE what I mean.

The best things any future performers can do is not expect it all to happen next week. Think in one to five year blocks and set goals accordingly. I am living proof this works, that everything I promote works because above all, I am very average, I simply set goals and don’t stop until I achieve them. Do you know why I sign off my videos with, “If I can do it, you can do it”? Because it’s true.

Rick: Julian, I want to ‘thank you’ for taking time to share your thoughts with the Magic Roadshow readers. I am slow to promote fellow magicians, but in your case, I fully understand the amount of hard work and dedication that has gone into your site, your career, and your products. Here’s wishing one of the really ‘good guys’ in all of magic endless success in the future.

Click For Info on Build Your Magic Show

Over 120 Free Videos

Tons of Resources & Articles

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Card Passé-Passé – A Card Effect Revised
R. Carruth

This nice effect was published in an alternate form in issue 30 of The Jinx. After reading the handling, I changed things around a bit to accommodate a seldom used device in my arsenal. This effect will require a packet of nineteen cards and a change bag or egg bag.

The magi counts fifteen cards into the hand of a spectator…Rob for short. Since there seems to be something ‘off’ by the magi’s count, Rob is asked to count the cards back into the magi’s hand. Fifteen there are…

The magi again counts the fifteen cards back into Rob’s hand, again using a suspicious count that leaves Rob slightly confused.

The magus holds out the change bag and asks Rob to drop two cards into the bag. He does.

Rob is asked to count the cards into the magi’s hand a second time. There are still fifteen cards in his packet.

Magi again counts the cards back into Rob’s hand…again using the funny count.

Rob is asked to place two more cards into the change bag…which he does.

Rob is asked to count the cards in his hand…There are STILL fifteen.

He is now given a rubber band to place around the packet, and asked to drop the entire packet into the change bag.

After due diligence, the bag is shown empty. After a little more diligence…the packet is shown to be in Rob’s pocket…….

(Note: I am leaving the patter up to you…)

This effect works best when you have access to your audience before the performance. You will have to secret a packet of fifteen cards, wrapped in a rubber band, into someone’s pocket. This effect actually works well with a female carrying a large handbag. It’s not hard to secretly drop a packet of cards into some of these large monstrosities. If space is a concern, you can create your own change bag out of a couple of paper bags and carry it folded in your pocket.

Hold a packet of fifteen cards in hand…with four more in your pants pocket. After re-approaching Rob, ask if he can assist you with a very special trick…Tell him you are going to count fifteen cards into his hand, and do so like this…”Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, and 2 are ten, and 2 makes twelve, and 3 more make fifteen..”

Rob will look at you like you’re crazy.

Assure Rob that there are really fifteen, and ask him to recount the cards into your hand. Rob will discover that there ARE actually fifteen cards in the packet. While Rob is counting into your left hand, slip your right hand into your pocket and palm two of the four cards. Secret them to the top of the pack.

“Rob, I can tell you’re the suspicious type, so I’ll count them again, “Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven, and 3 make ten, 2 make twelve, and 3 are fifteen..”
“Let’s cut the number down a tad and make the counting simpler…drop two of your cards into this bag.”

After Rob does so, ask him to again count the cards into your hand. He will count fifteen…

As before, you will secret two cards from your right pocket, adding them to the packet in your left hand. Count the seventeen cards back to Rob exactly as before…”Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven, and 3 make ten, 2 make twelve, and 3 are fifteen..”

“Tell you what Rob, why don’t you drop two more cards into this bag. “Rob does.

“Count your cards now, Rob, and you should have thirteen.”

To Rob’s surprise, he STILL has fifteen cards. Hand Rob a rubber band and ask him to wrap it around the packet.

“Every time you drop two in the bag they return to the packet. Let’s drop the whole packet in the bag and see what happens.”

After a little patter you can now show the change bag empty. If you’re using a paper bag, simply tear down the ‘other’ side of the bag, showing it empty. This will be quite the surprise for Rob…but not quite as big a surprise as when you ask him to look inside his jacket pocket…or when you ask Carolyn to look inside her handbag.
Use a small rubber band that only allows one pass around the packet. You will have that one guy who wants to wrap it four or five times if possible. I know this sounds long and complicated…but it’s not. It IS time consuming, which is generally a plus for most of us. Develop your own patter…something that fits your style and character. If you can vanish a couple of cards in mid air, you can remove the two cards each time instead of having Rob drop them in a bag and vanish them in any way you see fit..

This effect was originally published in an alternate form in The Jinx, issue 30, as “Oscar H. Paulson’s Card Passé- Passé”. Revised by Rick C.

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Would you like Issue #30 of The Jinx? You can see the original effect, plus a number of other effects, courtesy of Mr. Annemann…
https://app.box.com/s/w7l0i5034ndenzzo6c72

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** Remember.. signing up for the Magic Roadshow Journal of Magic is FREE. There is NO obligation and your email is 100% safe. I don’t even share it with other magicians.. You will be notified each month when a new issue of the Roadshow publishes and you can unsubscribe with one click.   Subscribe Now

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Die Maiers’ Comedy Trapeze

When was the last time you watched a good trapeze duo on video? What! Never you say. Then you are in for a treat. Die Maiers, is a German duo of performers.  Sabine Maier and Joachim Mohr are the artists, each playing an inept character unqualified for the rigors of the trapeze. Their stutter steps are reminiscent of Buster Keaton and their performance is quite outstanding…

You’ll enjoy this…Thanks to my friend Elliott Black for the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eor9b_WANEs

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Magic Tips and Tricks – Christmas Special

The Holidays are upon us and I can’t wait…I’m a sucker for presents and I love the lights and tenor of the Season. If you don’t already own Magic Tips and Tricks, I’ve adjusted the price for the Holidays to $8.06 to make it quite affordable to all. The Kindle edition is only $2.99.

I wish from time to time I’d chosen a different name for this book…I know it sounds simplistic. But I didn’t care as much about the title as I did the content. 126 pages of good stuff for Roadshow readers.

Order at Amazon

Order Kindle Version

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The Amateur Conjuror…

COLUMN #34. “All Great Things Come To An End”
©2013 by Ed Glassman

Hi…
This is my last column. I loved writing these columns. However, I now want to do other things: write columns about my other interests in life (‘creativity at work,’ for instance), dance to a different tune, create new songs, think about other things, and write a book.

To celebrate, I am not going to include a magic trick in my column today. My magic tricks are in my four books which are now available in hard print and in Amazon Kindle form (ebook). To help you find them, CLICK ON EACH TITLE below to connect to Amazon…

1. Family Magic-1: Easy-To-Do Magic Tricks That Astonish and Amuse.  Click Here

2. Family Magic-2. No Hands Card Tricks.   Click Here

3. 25 Amazing Magic Card Tricks Easily Performed Over The Telephone (Family Magic 3).
Click Here

 4. 45 Astonishing Card Magic Tricks For Kidz Of All Ages (Family Magic 4).   Click Here

Enough of that for now. I have totally enjoyed writing my column “The Amateur Conjuror” for the “Magic Roadshow.” Rick is such a marvelous, generous human being that it was a great pleasure. I think Rick Carruth, the noble editor of the Magic Roadshow, is a splendid human being and friend.

And I must thank all persons who read my column. I especially appreciate you.

Now for my last bit of magic. I pronounce my secret words and Rick Carruth, our gracious editor, is rendered powerless to resist, and he will publish this last column even though it doesn’t show how to do a new magic trick.

Bye all.

Editor’s note: Both I and the Magic Roadshow will miss our monthly treat from Edward. The Amateur Conjuror was a collection of effects for the real world…carefully constructed by a very thoughtful mind to amaze those not “in the know..”. Edward Glassman, as his resume will attest, is quite the writer. With many scholarly works to his credit, we were fortunate that we were able to get Ed to turn off the academic mindset to compose thoughtful and interesting articles for those of us who appreciated his wit and wisdom.  I certainly wish my friend the Best in all his future endeavors, and say ‘Thank You Ed” for all the time invested in our little magic journey.

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Werner Miller – Two Effects for Roadshow Readers…

20. The Last Card

Have a spectator sitting across the table facing you. Openly sort out the thirteen Clubs, and hand them to the spectator who shuffles them. Retrieve them, and deal them singly and rotationally into three piles, one in front of you, two before the spectator. Deal the first card to yourself, then proceed clockwise until the cards run out. At the end, your pile consists of five cards, each of the spectator’s piles contains four cards.

Ask the spectator to decide on either of his piles. He’s free to shuffle it once more, then he notes and remembers the top card (leaving it there), places his other pile on top of it and drops the combined pile on top of your pile.

False cut the cards. The spectator’s card is still fifth from the top down.

Spell “C-L-U-B”, with each letter shifting a single card from top to bottom, and discard the card falling on the last letter. Continue this way eliminating every fourth card, until you are left with only one card; it is the spectator’s card.

Or: Use the thirteen Spades or Hearts. After they have been dealt as described, instruct the spectator to note and remember the bottom card of either of his piles and to place that pile on top of his other pile. Drop your pile on top of all, so that the spectator’s card is now at position no. 9 from the top down.

False cut, then continuously spell “S-P-A-D-E” (“H-E-A-R-T”, resp.), at the end of the word discarding the next card (i.e., every sixth card). Again, the spectator’s card remains.

 

21. Not That Diamond

Have the thirteen Diamonds shuffled by the spectator, then deal them as in “The Last Card” into three piles. The spectator decides on either of his piles, shuffles it once more and notes and remembers the final bottom card. Then that pile is placed on top of the spectator’s other pile.

Point to your pile and turn over the top card. Let’s assume, it’s the King. Either place it face up on the table or place it face down back on top of your pile (spectator’s choice). Then put your pile on top of the spectator’s combined pile. The spectator’s card is now either the eighth in a 12-card packet or the ninth in a 13-card packet.

Perform a false cut.
Recall the value showed up on top of your pile (King, in our example), stating that this bit of information makes it easy to find the spectator’s card. Spell “N-O-T” (deal out 3 cards into a new pile, then drop rest on top), “T-H-E” (do the same once more), “K-I-N-G” (the value can be a 3-, 4- or 5-letter word, so deal out the corresponding number of cards, then drop rest on top), “O-F” (deal 2 cards, drop rest on top), “D-I-A-M-O-N-D-S” (deal 8 cards, drop rest on top).
Turn over the final top card; it is automatically the spectator’s card.

Werner Miller is a retired math teacher living in Austria. He has created literally hundreds of math based magic tricks. His primary interest is recreational math and applying it to puzzles and magic.
Check out more (and more elaborate) math-based magic by Werner Miller at:

http://www.lybrary.com/werner-miller-m-7881.html

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The Magician Who Puts The Show Into Show Business With His Tricks Of The Trade..
Thomas Heath for the Washington Post

It’s not often we get the opportunity to look inside the mind and analyse the thinking of the super successful. Mark Phillip’s sets the standard for corporate magicians. That’s why this article is such a treat for the many who are envious of the corporate performer…

“Practice, practice, practice. Memorization. Cold-calling businesses. That’s all part of the game. His business is not little kids’ birthday parties, or Las Vegas glamour. Instead, his bread and butter is the trade show. Companies pay him thousands of dollars to troll the floor of a convention centre performing his close-up magic tricks while delivering his client’s corporate message. His 12-minute act runs twice an hour, six to eight hours a day. The big challenge is getting the clients to hire him in the first place…”

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/nov/19/magician-tricks-corporate-message-business

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Check out this selection of effects, available via video, for performers of all levels. When I first ran across this package, I saw two videos that interested me to the point that I was willing to pay $6.95 for the entire package.. just to get what I wanted. I don’t regret it one bit…. You won’t either.

http://streetmagic.info/10vids.html

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Reverse Card Change Tutorial / Cambio de Color de Carta al Reves

Here’s three great video tutorials by FernandoP1 and Art Zone Productions. This first card change is very visual and technically challenging. There are angles that must be mastered. Once done, you’ll own a color change like no other in your arsenal.

Let me know how this effect works for you…

http://youtu.be/BlivDvyhWiw

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Clickshift Tutorial Revealed – An Amazing Card Shift Control

FernandoP1 demonstrates a card change that, for all practical purposes, appears impossible. The change is performed with one hand and no visible moves. You’ll have to watch the video to understand the control. I’m not going to tell you it’s easy and that you’ll be performing it five minutes after watching the tutorial…but it’s something that you can do…with practice.

Master this one if you want to blow away your magic buddies. They will appreciate it more than the general public…although both will be quite amazed.

http://youtu.be/XMvDFSy1RlQ

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Wheel Pass – You Can Do It..

And here is the third video from FernandoP1. As soon as you watch this video, you’ll grab a deck of cards to see if this is possible. Similar to Lennart Green’s wonderful Float Pass.

http://www.etricks.info/2013/12/wheel-pass.html

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The Easy Great Card Trick – Video

Here is another card trick from mismag822, my favorite YouTube channel. This trick was originally published some time back…but the quality was poor and mismag decided to republish it in a better quality version. Considering the entertainment value, it really IS an easy trick to perform.

With over one million views, it can’t be bad…

http://streetmagic2.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-easy-great-card-trick-tutorial-video.html

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The One Dollar to Ten Dollar Bill Switch – Video

Yes, this is a classic effect. I’m sure many of you have this in your repertoire. But, for those of you who don’t…this is a great learning video. All the folds are shown in detail and the learning curve is quite easy. Watch this video a couple of times and you’ll be fooling yourself…

http://streetmagic2.blogspot.com/2013/11/one-dollar-to-five-dollar-bill-switch.html

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A Late Addition…Illusionists Barry and Stuart Video

Barry and Stuart visited the offices of the Daily Star to promote their new UKTV show. In the process they grossed out the reporter. Watch the video and read the article. This is very fitting after last month’s feature articles on Melvin Burkhart, the Human Blockhead..

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/showbiz-tv/hot-tv/353978/The-Happenings-Barry-and-Stuart-perform-mind-boggling-spoon-balancing-illusion

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Bonus – David Blaine’s Full TV Special… “Real or Magic”

I must admit.. I enjoyed David’s recent special. Any time we can get a magician on TV in primetime, promoting our art, it’s a good thing. (unless they suck..)

David performed a number of effects generally available to any of us, assuming you know where to look. He put enough of a twist on some effects that they were not readily recognized. Anyway.. here is the full special, in HD no less, for you to watch, or re-watch. I’ve thrown in a bonus interview about 22 minutes in length. I would watch the special quickly, or use Keepvid to download it to your computer, as I have a feeling it won’t be up long… 😉

https://magicroadshow.com/davidblaine.php

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Catastrophe or Textastrophe?  You Decide….

“Next time you post your phone number in a public place, think again. This is a collection of text messages I’ve exchanged with people who have done just that…”

What happens when a wise-guy texts telephone numbers, posted in public places, and causes havoc and headaches? All I can say is this is some funny stuff. Be sure to click the ‘archive’ link to see past text messages. Although it’s funny…it is also contains what I would call ‘swear words’, so if you are offended…just move along…there’s nothing to see here..

http://textastrophe.com/

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Free Photos – Resource

Getting photos from Google images and the websites of others can be very risky. There is a lawyer out there just waiting to send you a nasty letter. Fortunately, there ARE places where you can get totally free pics for your blog or website without having to attribute anything to anyone. (The ‘morgue file’ is commonly a file used by journalists to store resources that they may want to use at a later date with a news item…)

http://www.morguefile.com/archive

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MathMagic – Newly Revised and Expanded, and STILL Totally Free

This excellent little ebook, now almost 30 pages long, is still available as a free download. Believe me.. I have bought math magic books for good money that were not nearly as entertaining as MathMagic.

I wrote it for Magic Roadshow readers…and I have no doubt that you will find something among the effects that you will add to your repertoire. These are NOT your typical counting tricks….

You can actually click this link and read the entire pdf without downloading…although a download link in the upper right will let you save it to your device for future enjoyment..

https://app.box.com/s/ia7054zmh7ix3g78647r

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Free eBooks For Subscribers….

Here’s a link where you can download a variety of free ebooks, including Erdnase’ Expert At The Card Table… If you are not a subscriber, you can sign up HERE..

http://streetmagic.info/cbmall3.html

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That does it for this issue. I hope you found something to help your magic study along. Remember, if you have something you would like to share with the magic community, send it to:
[email protected]

 “May my next issue find you well..”

 Rick Carruth / Editor

Senior Professor – Camelard College of Conjuring of Chemmis, Egypt
“Magic’s Only Worldwide Honor Society”
http://www.camelardcollege.org/

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PDF version…     ROADSHOW 149

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