It's clear that at Vanishing Inc., we're a big fan of Alex Elmsley. He was an amazing thinker and a pioneer of close-up magic. This 2 DVD set is from a lecture and workshop that Alex gave in England during his final few years with us. It was filmed at Colin Rose's house and was attended by my friend Richard Morrell who recounts the events for us:
The workshop (DVD 1) itself was a mix of a teach-in on Alex's false
counts and stories and memories of his meeting famous magicians, and
his thoughts on magic in general. Plus performance/explanations of
amongs other things his Everchange count, Twisters Flush, One Poor Lion
and an in-depth look at his Kasual Kosky swtich which is a great
re-thinking on the Kosky Switch. To finish the workshop we were talking
about the inherent discrepancy in doing the Ghost Count face-up and
someone mentioned that you could do some routines with Jokers, and
casually asked Alex if he had any such routines. Mr Elmsley stands up
and without any build-up launches into a performance of his Dazzle
routine, with the original cards, and blew us all away!
During the lecture (DVD 2) I was sat on the front-row and got to help in a couple of things,
didn't quite practice my L&L style reactions, but I hope I did it
justice! The highlights for me were
Power Poker which is a great poker routine where the spectator can
choose his own hand, yet you still end with a Royal Flush. Color Filter
which is Oil and Water meets Cards through Handkerchief. His Kasual
Kosky (as mentioned a great casual alternative to the Kosky Switch) and
his Andrews Color Change. Three in
Hiding is a great routine based on the spectators hiding objects in
their pockets, and you divining what they are, here done with playing
cards, also supplied is a great way to frame this around poker. I got
to help Alex with his Oyster Shells routine which is a brilliant way of
having some fun and letting the spectator take the spotlight for a bit.
