The Clog: magic from Vanishing Inc.

Our friend, and Vanishing Inc. megastar Rune Klan, recently performed for Queen Magrethe II of Denmark for her 70th birthday party. Here’s a YouTube clip of him performing one of his signature pieces (included in our latest book, Rune’s World, of course) for the Queen on a national Danish television channel:

Those who know me may know that I can be a bit OCD. Only with certain things though. Such as having a nice clean card case with no sticky crap left behind from those damn security stickers. What’s up with those stickers anyways?

Taking the sticker off completely serves two purposes. One, I love magic that involves using the deck box in some way, shape or form. So if you want to use the back design that comes on most card boxes to hide an extra card, it wont be very fooling if at first there is a sticker on the box, and then the next second the sticker has magically disappeared. Two, I think the sticker used to seal the box just looks ugly if it is not taken off.

So here is my solution to getting a nice clean looking box. I’m sure many of you that are also OCD do the same thing, but for those that are not, and want to be OCD like me and my fellow brethren, read on!

First of all, this explanation is assuming you have a brand new sealed deck of cards, if you don’t, it may be a little harder to take the sticker off. First you must very carefully peel the entire sticker off the card box making sure it doesn’t rip. Once it is off, use the sticky part of the sticker to dab off any extra sticky crap that may have been left behind on the card box, trust me, it works. There… it’s that simple. It usually takes about 2-3 dabs depending on how much sticky stuff is in the contaminated area, but once this minuscule task is over, you will have a nice clean looking card box that no one else in the world will really care about except for yourself.

P.S – Have you seen CAANDY yet?

I just returned from the World Magic Seminar, a fantastic convention in the greatest magic city in the world. I perform in Vegas a lot, but usually only for a night, privately, and then I’m off again. What made this trip exciting was that I decided to go all out, and see a show every night I wasn’t working. I stayed an extra week to do so, and what follows is a short summation of the things I loved, and how you as magicians might like them, too.

Bear in mind that I’m honored to say most of these people are friends of varying degrees, so I wanted to like the shows. And without exception, I did.

Also, two tips. This is a great time to see shows in Vegas because attendance is quite low and literally all the major shows are offering half-price tickets. Second, after a show one night, pop into the Paris hotel and have a drink at the dueling piano bar. It’s a cool, fun, mindless, free way to wind down after a show.

Luke Jermay’s Mental at Osheas. Luke’s style of mindreading works for me; he’s an intelligent, edgy guy, and his material has always intrigued me. I’m elated for him that he has a show on the strip, and he told me some exciting news about the next step in his career. I enjoyed seeing this show immensely, and he dealt with the difficult task of a very small crowd the night I attended, and he handled this and another unexpected problem with aplomb.

Jason Alexander as Donny Clay. Related only to magic in the sense that Jason does some, and that he kindly blurbed my book, I attended so that I could have the great honor of hanging with him after the show. My good friend Jon Lovick techs the show, and the three of us had a nice conversation backstage that made two things abundantly clear to me: Jason Alexander is a humble, kind man. And, he has a refined, mature outlook on magic. The show itself, “Donny Clay,” is an hilarious spoof on crackpot “motivational” speakers (think Tony Robbins, but even moreself-serving). It’s a topic that begs for satire, and this is the best I’ve seen. Alexander dances, sings, and does improv with audience volunteers, and as magicians we can appreciate the skill required for all three things.

Penn and Teller. The hippest guys in the room, no matter the room. This show is, as it has always been, boundary-pushing, self-expressive, political, and extremely deceptive. It’s a magic show for the most refined magic tastes, and they have loads of new material. Teller’s production in the beginning of the show is pitch-perfect, and every routine is a high-point. It’s obvious that these two gentleman are always hard at work on new material, refining their show, and giving value for the ticket (Penn accompanies a jazz pianist for a jam session before each show, and both Penn and Teller stay after to sign autographs). These little touches help make this show an easy recommendation, and there’s one more omission to the show that makes it even more palatable. Penn has dropped the F-bomb completely. I’m no prude, and this word never bothers me onstage or off, but when I last saw the show (eight years ago), he was peppering every sentence with it two or three times. It was more annoying than it was “blue,” and with this minor pretension gone, the show is, put simply, a perfect, artistic magic show.

Criss Angel’s Believe. This show is about to become good. You’ve read all the biting press, and cab drivers and bell men all over the city cautioned me (without prompting) not to see this show. Indeed, magicians I attended with who had seen it before said that the previous incarnations were sloppy and ineffective.

I’m happy to say I liked the show. There are problems, I think, but these are fixable. Criss came across very likeable onstage, and the people surrounding us in the theater were Angel “loyals,” and very happy with the performance he gave them. The show now contains eight illusions (up from a measly three he opened with). I’m told that by April, all the dance numbers will go (no big loss, trust me), and there will be thirty illusions in what will certainly be considered a full-on magic show (rather than a Cirque collaboration). This is a smart move, and as Criss works in the new material, I think it will turn out to be a great show.

Ka. The must-see show in Las Vegas. Worth every penny of its expensive ticket price, it has nothing to do with magic, but it’s an evening you’ll never forget. I first saw the show with Rune Klan, Joel Givens, and Raj Madhok, and it nearly melted our faces off it was so visually arresting. Eight years later it’s tighter, a bit shorter, and has an even clearer story-line.

David Copperfield. I grew up on Copperfield, and saw him often as a child. But it has been too long since I have had the pleasure, and it was great to see him again. This particular show was great for me, because it contained the perfect balance of “vintage Coppa” as well new things that fooled me. Of old favorites, he closed with my favorite grand illusion: The Fan, which he now does alone (indeed, there are no assistants or dancing in the show, which gives the whole production a more intimate feel, and is a wise decision as Copperfield’s persona in now well into middle-age). He also did the Scorpion card location, which is wicked cool, and Kenner’s ring flite to the miniature shoe—always a crowd pleaser. He did James’ Floating Rose, and my girlfriend loved this; it always looks amazing when David does it.

Of the newer material, there is a car production that I did not expect at all, and it happened right in front of my face: fabulous. He does a beautiful locked-box prediction routine with many layers of deception, filled with good interaction. He also penetrated a solid sheet of metal, and this looked marvelous. Copperfield’s show just gets better and better: fabulous writing, wonderful choice of material, and now, more than ever, we get a sense of his humanity (his background, his father, his passions, etc.). Another amazing evening.

Amazing Johnathan. Straight from Copperfield we zipped in a cab to the anti-Copperfield, The Amazing Johnathan. I had seen this show more recently (but not in this theater), and it was largely the same fun, hilarious set. If you’ve never seen AJ before, see him in this new venue; it’s conveniently located and a good space for him.

Love. Another non-magic show, and another feast for the eyes. If you love Beatles music you’ll adore this show. If you’re like me, and like Beatles music, you will like this show. If you can choose one Cirque show (and you might have to, as tickets for all of them are 150 bucks or so), I still think Ka has moments that shine brighter than Love. But my girlfriend would dispute this assertion because they’re both so good.

Phantom of the Opera. It would seem that this is a non-magic show, but see it for two reasons. First, if you’re a fan of the play, the Venetian is without question the place to see this show. They built the theater from scratch, and it has the best production values of any play I have ever seen. Second, there are some great magic special effects in the show, with the Phantom appearing and vanishing in startling, unexpected ways. A very family or wife-friendly show, you will enjoy it.

Being a card guy, I am not exactly what you would consider knowledgeable when it comes to mentalism; neither do I do much of mentalism, maybe besides a simple book test or some equivoque here and there.

I have always wanted to test out Max Maven’s effect, “Disposable Colour” (I learned it from his Nothing DVD, but it can be found originally in his Red Book of Mentalism). For those who are not familiar with it, the effect is as clean as it can be—a crumpled paper ball is thrown into the audience for a random audience member to catch and come up on stage with the performer. The magician then asks him to name any colour—and let’s say the participant says “Blue”. The participant is instructed to unfold the crumpled paper ball in his hand, only to find that written on it is the word “BLUE”.

Clean? Amazing? That’s why I wanted to try it out. And I managed to do so recently at a children’s birthday party.

WHAT? Let me explain.

I was hired to do a show for a birthday party—20 kids, eight to twelve years old. Most of them were girls, with only a few older boys. I needed someone to come up for a sponge ball routine (the standard routines, don’t worry), so I thought to myself, “Why not use Disposable Colour to invite a kid up on stage?”

I threw the paper ball out – and what do you know, a boy caught it. He hurriedly ran up and stood beside me proudly.

“Hello, what’s your name?”
“Jayden.”
“Okay Jayden, say hello to the audience.”
“Hello…!”
“Alright, Jayden, let me ask you a question so that I can get to know you better. What’s your favourite colour?”
“Blue.”

I don’t know if the audience could see it, but as Eric Mead puts it, adrenaline shot out of my eyes that instant.

“Now there’s no way I could have known that, right? Have you ever told me what your favourite colour was?”
“No…”
“Okay, Jayden, you are still holding on to the paper ball I threw out just now. I want you to open it and… there’s something written on it…”
“What the…”
*audience erupts in astonished gasps*

I took a bow, and here’s where I decided to take my chance and go in for a second miracle. I stole a spongeball from my pocket and continued.

“Jayden, wasn’t that amazing? You can keep that piece of paper as a souvenir… Now let me ask you a question. Do you have a second favourite colour?”
“Yes!”
“Okay, what’s the colour?”
“Red.”

No adrenaline shot out this time—it was all used up just now. Instead, my heart stopped.

“Jayden, I want you to stand here and stare at the audience. Now you said red just now, correct?”
“Yeah. Red.”
“Good. I will try to produce a little red ball from behind your ear…”

I reach over and from his ear… I produce a red spongeball.

*audience erupts into spontaneous applause and kids rush up to squeeze the ball*

Talk about a strong opener for a kid’s show. Beat that.

Moral of the story? Taking chances in magic can pay off, BIG time. Just make sure you have an out, or else!

Last weekend I had the exhausting, but rewarding task of manning the Vanishing Inc. dealer stand at the Blackpool Magic Convention. I met dozens and dozens of customers who all had very nice things to say about our products and website. My fiancee Sarah and friends Kerry and Fritz helped out behind the stand over the weekend as we all had a lot of fun.

I thought it might be interesting for those who couldn’t make it to the convention, so here goes:

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the stand! Our next stand in the UK will be at the Bristol Day of Magic in May.

I am always proud to bring new talent to The Session and this year my friend Matthew Wright was a big hit. He performed his original magic in all three shows and for many, was a highlight of the convention. Here’s a video of him performing his amazing Poker Face routine in the evening show on the last day of the convention. I hope you enjoy his presence, clever routining and enjoyable performance as much as we did when he performed it live.

Hi friends!

Just a quick update on what we’ve got in store for you.

As always, we’re hard at work on the Complete Sankey. This trilogy will be over 500 tricks and a very, very important work by the most prolific creator of our times. Sankey has created SO MUCH MAGIC that we forget how many stellar routines he has devised. We all do a few great Sankey tricks, but what we’re realizing as we chip away at this project is that WE ALL DO DIFFERENT GREAT SANKEY TRICKS. Look for this trilogy to drop in early 2011.

Rune Klan Book and DVD. The Rune Klan book is at the printers and the first ever, exclusive reprint of Three Pieces of Silver, his underground coin magic video, has been transferred to DVD. We’ll have a downloadable sample up soon, and we’ll be able to accept preorders on these items in the near future. We’ve spent three years on this project (almost daily), and it will be our biggest release to date.

John Guasteferro Book. We’re massive fans of John G’s work, and we’re so proud to announce the completion of his first-ever hardcover book. It is NOT a rehash of his stellar DVDs you already have and love. Instead, it’s a new collection and, we think, a new vibe. This book will arrive in a few months, and we’re so excited to publish it.

Brett Bishop DVD: Brett Bishop was one of the hits of The Session 2010 and one of our favorite new talents. We’re proud to be the producer of his new DVD. Terrific material for bar and strolling magic.

Downloads: We’ve got new downloads coming, too: Ken Niinuma of Japan and Chris Mayhew both offer up practical, offbeat card material. It’s all coming your way soon!

FRIDAY JANUARY 15, 2010
After arriving in Bristol the day before to do magic at Illusions Magic Bar, I travelled by train to Gloucester. Thankfully, the snow had disappeared. From the train station I took the taxi to the hotel, set up my things in my room and sat down with Andrew, Danny Garcia, Mark, Alex, and Ray. Eventually, conventiongoers dripped into the Holiday Inn and so the pre-Session commenced. We had dinner and shook hands with old and new friends and at some moment the cards came out and the sessioning began. Ideas, routines, nuances, and sleights started to interact between the Sessioneers. Anyways, around 4 a.m., I fell asleep, dreaming of Ace Assemblies and the magician’s version of Card on Ceiling…

SATURDAY JANUARY 16, 2010
After having little sleep and a lot of English breakfast we started sessioning yet again. Registration opened at 11.30 a.m. and somehow my badge ‘disappeared’ and I had to wear a badge with a big “Z” on it…

The Session line-up consisted of Joshua Jay (USA), Brett Bishop (USA), Chris Mayhew (Canada), Thom Peterson (USA), Mark Elsdon (UK), John Archer (UK), Rune Klan (Denmark), Danny Garcia (USA), Danny Buckler (UK), Steve Falkner (UK), Rodney James Piper (Spain), Alex Rangel (USA) and Matthew Wright (UK). I know what you’re thinking: guaranteed a good time!

At 1.30 p.m. Andi Gladwin and Joshua Jay welcomed the seated conventiongoers and shortly after this announcement, Danny Garcia started The Session off. Mr. Garcia showed us ‘Greed’, a multple bill change, ‘William Tell’ (ninja style card effect), ‘Static Sandwich’ (a nice handling of this plot), ‘Timeline’ (a mystery card effect), ‘Stretch’ (an effect using a rubber band and a finger ring), ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ (a bill penetrates both strands of a rubber band one at a time), and ‘Butterbill’ (a three phase routine where a straw penetrates a bill). All these tricks (except for ‘Greed’) are impromptu, easy to do, magical, and fun to perform. Typical Garcia-material and an excellent and funny lecture to start The Session with!

The Session on Creativity was scheduled at 3.30 p.m. Mark Elsdon, Noel Qualter, and Daniel Garcia were questioned by Andi on creativity. How can one be more creative? How does a creative process look like? So what are the rules when creating magic? There are no rules! You can create anything you want! Daniel Garcia took the initiative and demonstrated the creativity in the room by a collective magic session with a shoe as starting point. Questions: what can be done with a shoe? What are the properties of the shoe? I thought that this event was very useful for the magicians in the crowd who wanted to be more creative. Again, the best things to be creative is keeping a notebook, reading (not only magic books), and sharing ideas with close friends (which is essentially sessioning).

Inspired by the previous event, I did a little card routine at the Magic Bar, which was set up for enthusiasts who want to show their magic to other magicians. Great fun!

Brett Bishop had a lecture at 6.30 p.m. He started off with an interesting effect using some powdered cherry flavoring and a bottle of water, named ‘Oh Yeah!’. The powder disappeared and appeared in the bottle of water. Other tricks he demonstrated were ‘Trans’po Boy’ (an unusual transposition found in The Session booklet) and ‘Go Cut Me a Big Switch’ (a matching effect with a kicker using a jumbo deck and a regular deck). Of course, this effect can also be done with a mini deck instead of a jumbo one. Furthermore, Mr. Bishop taught us ‘For Jack’, a very cool packet trick, and ‘Ringside’, where a coin and a ring change places on several occasions. ‘King’s Cross’ is a flourishy tranposition of a selected card and the four kings. All in all, a great lecture! Brett is such a nice and funny guy. Did you know he can classic palm a jumbo coin and fngerpalm two decks of cards?

After some more sessioning and an enjoyable dinner, we were invited to step in “Rune’s World” at 9 p.m. During this talk, hosted by Josh, Mr. Klan told about his career path and how arrived at the moment where he is now a Danish celebrity. We saw some hilarious footage of Rune from his Danish television show “Hokus Fucking Pokus”. Rune did a linking ring in a tank filled with water and a giant cups and balls where he produced a person at the end! Furthermore, Mr. Klan performed an awesome coin and bottle routine and also bedazzled us with CoinRUNEque. I told Rune afterwards that I definitely got inspired concerning the comedy in my magic and couldn’t wait for Rune Klan’s book!

From 11.30 p.m. till late was The Session Uncut. Let me start of by saying: what happened at The Session, stays at The Session…

Are you ready for a small overview of this event? Are you sure? Alright, here we go. This event was hosted by Andi Gladwin. Steve Faulkner performed a escapology routine and Matt Wright did a very cool lottery number prediction with his wizard puppet, Eugene (in no way related to Mr. Burger). Brett had a very interesting take on a Chad Long effect with a very surprising ending (I have to see a therapist about that) and Mark Elsdon had a hilarious bit with book titles (such as How to shit in the Woods). Andi was kind of thirsty because after every act, he got some shots of sambuca…

As a conclusion to this event, a female magician was invited who could make things disappear. And she had interesting handling on the LePaul Spread. Her work was a but angle sensitive so she flashed now and then. Nonetheless, she did an excellent act and got an erected ovation by the magi in the room…

After this exciting event, we went to the bar and continued sessioning and exchanging routines and ideas. I don’t know why, but after every effect I produced a royal flush as a kicker. I went to bed way too late and went to bed with a smile because I heard so many good stories told by Éireann and Alex Rangel…

SUNDAY JANUARY 17, 2010
I got up pretty early and had some breakfest. After a short stroll in the dealer hall, we seated to see Thom Peterson lecture at 10.30a.m. The Amazing Guy, introduced by Kerry Scorah, made an entrance from beneath the table. He began the lecture with ‘Surprise’, a ring in a chocolate egg. He continued with ‘Spooning’ and ‘Revenge of the Spoon’, two effects that fit perfectly together. The former effect was a spoon bend (perfect in a theater setting) and the latter utilized the out-to-lunch principle. ‘A Fish Tale’, a routine with a plastic fish and cards: I still think the routine is a bit weird, but the basic idea can applied to other effects and venues. All effects were from Thom’s lecture notes (they look awesome!). To close his lecture, Mr. Peterson performed ‘Psycho’. Basically, the spectator picks a card, shuffles it back into the deck, clutters it across the table, and finds his own card. Very cool!

After getting some coffee and showing some weird Dutch card magic, I was ready for the flash talk. However, Ray Kosby had taken my seat. He apologized taking my seat. Eventually, I made Ray rise…that’s a magi joke… Anyways, Chris Mayhew could not make it to do the flash talk, so instead Super Mario did the flash talk. Super Mario demonstrated an interesting card at any number, which was also published in last year’s Session booklet. What? You weren’t there? Tsk tsk…

Shortly after Chris’ flash talk, the convention continued with the next event, named, Your Strongest Card Tricks. A survey was done among thousands of magicians to the questions: What is the strongest card trick you do? What is the strongest card trick you have seen? And the same questions were applied to non-card tricks. I think this was very useful. It made you rethink the card magic you perform for laypeople. For magicians, you can perform the most technical routine with a triple kicker. However, for your paying audiences I think you should perform effects that can be described in one sentence. David Blaine’s ‘Card through Window’ was one of the outcomes of strongest card trick that you’ve ever seen. Eventually, performers did the card effects that came out of the survey. Thom Peterson demonstrated his handling of Doc Daley’s ‘Last Trick’. I did a handling of wrong-card-changing-to-right-card, Mark Elsdon performed an ‘Out of This World’ and Rune Klan did a card effect where a card travels back to the deck. Danny Buckler told a story about Rich Purpura and how your material should fit with your personality. The result of the survey will appear on The Clog in the near future.

The lecture of Joshua Jay started at 3.30 p.m. Watching Josh perform and lecture is always a delight. First he explained ‘Hitchcock’, an effect he performed last year at Blackpool. I just love this routine. The whole presentation is something I really like. Followed by ‘Cornered’, a bill switch idea that has many applications. Besides explaining ‘Signs’ and ‘Voodoo’, he taught us ‘Prediction Piece’, a matching corner prediction. And to end the lecture, Mr. Jay performed ‘Transporter’, an interesting take on the classic card to wallet. Overall, an excellent lecture!

What I liked, it’s immediately after the lecture, magicians started to talk and try to adapt the material to their own personal style. “What if you did this?” or “What if you used an other prop?” or “How can I add an engaging presentation?” or “How can I make women through their money to me?” Oh, when looking for some books in the dealer hall, Christian Schenk invited me to do thirty Mercury Card Folds. In exchange I received a Phoenix Deck and I might be changing brand of cards.

At 7 p.m. Alex Rangel and Matt Wright rocked the bar with the Bar Magic Show! I believe this was a great idea and was very well received.

The Session Gala Show commenced at 8p.m. Danny Buckler was the Master of Ceremony and as the MC he had this Shakespearian aura, which I really liked. Mr. Buckler started off with a Six Card Repeat, Thom Peterson did a bit where two bills were torn and found in a Chinese fortune cookie. Matt Wright did a coins across, where the last coins floats from one hand to another and an amazing card bit on Lady Gaga’s “Pokerface”. Dynamo performed a multiple selection in such a manner only Dynamo could do. Alan Hudson performed an interesting balloon act where he predicted the sequence of popping by a participant. Followed by a very cool thimble on routine on music from the ‘90s. Those were the times… After the interval Mr. Buckler performed a book test and to close the gala show was John Archer, being hilarious as always. He started off with a story and continued with a very funny Bank Night routine. Mr. Archer closed his set with a blindfolding act where he correctly described three pictures drawn by three participants.

A quick note: Rodney James Piper plus a camera equals hilarious footage.

We sessioned in the bar til the depth of night. Fooling The Amazing Guy with my card at any number, performing every card effect from my upcoming booklet, and just laugh a lot and having fun!

What is so nice about The Session, you can have a chat with the performers, sit down with them and share magic. Also, the events they have always differ, which I really like. And of course, there is sufficient time between the events, so there’s plenty of time to session.

In conclusion, I had a great time! I even think it was better than last year’s convention. It was great fun seeing old friends and making new ones. Thanks to the Andi for organising it (with help from Josh and Kerry). My roomies Dennis and Leann. All the members from TSD who attended The Session, the whole Session 2010 line-up, Ray Kosby, JR, Lee, Nicolas, Christian, Ollie, and the crew of Scotland (better known as the “Nine of Diamonds”). And thank you to you who inspired me and/or shared your routines and ideas with me. A big thank you to the birthday gang from Chippenham who made my performance at Illusions legendary. Thank you Sam, Alan, Sylvie, and Mark for a good Thursday evening!

But I owe a huge thank you to the family who came out to see me and do some magic for them. Last year I did a magic act for them (it was the guy’s birthday). And this year the whole family came back to see me. They all remembered my name and the birthday guy was still talking about the Ring Thing I performed last year.

You made it this far…now put The Session 2011 in your agenda. See you there!