Magician's secrets, perhaps?

Off to Blue Bell, PA! Great video Hudson! Talk to you all once I have settled! Should arrive tomorrow!
Pete

Good luck and Bon Voyage, Pete...

Pete, hope the move went well.

Best luck in your Magic start-up in a new town.

Being new in town could be a reason to get some Magical buzz with the local press, especially in your local neighborhood. Check the grocery stores for free newspapers and send them a press release.

-Mary Mowder

Hi everyone! Been very busy here - good busy!

Midwest Magic Jubilee (St Louis) was fun - saw lots of people from previous years. Competition was also good - took third place in close up. Competition was strong an I was happy with my performance. Got some very good suggestions on how to improve the routine, which is a great benefit of these regional competitions.

Hope everyone else is having a great summer!

Hudson

Congratulations Hudson! 3rd Place is a great showing for such a large contest.

-Mary Mowder

Thanks Mary. Now the hard part is making it better ... I just got Levent's DVDs on Miser's Dream and am working through that. It was recommends as a good source for loading a stack of loose coins - and I wanted to start working on the Miser's Dream! Two birds with one stone!

The DVD certainly answered the coin question I had and the DVD is chock full of information and various approaches to that routine. Over 5 hours of information! A good value! (So far, I haven't finished it yet).

Hudson

Hey all,

We arrived three weeks ago and the house is going well. We got the first floor settled and the 2nd floor is close to being finished, then on to the third floor! That is where my office is and my magic and other fun stuff. I have slowly been unpacking the boxes up there. I am still in search of a job as a naturalist. I landed a part time jog at an environmental Education Center and I continue to look for full time work. Once I get my office straightened up I can start dabbling in my magic again. No rush at this point since a full time job is my priority. I am going to try and make the IBM Ring 6 meeting on September 14. It is 30 minutes from my house. I also have a contact with SAM which I haven't belonged to before, but I may look into it.

Hudson, congrats! Speaking of Miser's Dream, did any of you see the cookie version that just came out from Wack-O by Danny Orleans. Very interesting! The metal disks have cookies printed on both sides. Performance for Children with a giant frisbee cookie at the end.

Pete

One things for sure, with three stories (and your Magic office on the third floor), you'll be a fit Magician.

Best of luck on landing a full time job.

-Mary Mowder

Hi, all!

Hard to believe it is time to get out the Halloween stuff! Where did that long summer go?

Kudos, Hudson! That has to feel great!

What doesn't is remembering the times we have moved- I hope to avoid it in the future at all costs. Glad you are "in" Peter! Be careful of the "no rush" philosophy- I still have boxes unopened and sitting around like downed limbs in the woods and, yup some of them are full of magic stuff. This is roughly 8 years later...

Jim

Interesting experience at a Halloween gig last week. I had been told the specs would be mostly adults with some kids whenit ended up being exactly the opposite. So as not to bore the adults with juvenile effects, I prepared to do essentially card magic. Too late to change for my young audience, into the card magic I trundled. I was astounded at their interest and enthusiasm for card magic! They were one of the most energetic and attentive groups I've ever performed for, and we had a wonderful evening. Goes to show you can never tell. Hope all of you are having a good Halloween season and sticking with a bit of practice on a regular basis.

Regards Jim

I've found this too, that kids love card magic. Glad the show went well!

Jim - glad to hear the show went well. After a few miscues on audience information, I always come with a much wider range of material than I plan to use. Always bring my close up bag to stage shows and always include a couple stage effects for close up gigs!

This last week was crazy for me - 4 gigs in 5 days. Also had some meetings regarding longer-term ongoing gigs (good outlook). It's been about two years since I moved to magic full-time and I'm just now felling like the business side is on track to reach my goals. Good feeling!

Hope everyone else is doing well and the gigs are rolling in!

Hudson

That's awesome news Hudson! Congratulations!

I do have some gigs and opportunities rolling in, but I'm still striving for my goal of full time magician.

I also pulled out my Mogar knives and begin working with them in earnest recently. I've had them for a couple years and have never used them at a gig. Pretty expensive to be sitting in a case, unused.

I've combined some ideas from the Ascanio book and actually built a routine. I tested it on my daughter and she liked it. I still feel it's at the, "I don't know" stage though. I really like the Fred Kaps move with the hanky! I've been thinking about posting the routine here for some honest assessment.

T-

My knife routine always gets a great reaction. Short, just 3 color changes, but the final change is in their hand.

"I will put both knives in your hand. Now close your hand, turn it over. If I take out the black knife, then you have the ..."

Great finish to any CCK routine.

Hudson

That's a great idea. I never thought of that!

How is everyone doing? I haven't been on the Café much lately - work kept me busy but my show is now on hiatus while we air our second season, so I'm practicing some new stuff. I just cracked open Spreadwave 2.0 yesterday and have been having a great time with it.

Hi Andrew,

Nice to hear from you. I just "liked" one of your comments in "Not Very Magical Still" this afternoon.

I'm just getting Ring and Ribbon out into the world and thinking about starting Karl Hein's T and R Card. (if I can find the material I need).

-Mary Mowder

Nice hearing from you as well!

I'm spending a lot of time working on Cube3...I'd never solved a Rubix cube before and I'm having a lot of fun with this one. Really trying to incorporate some new stuff into my act and this will fit nicely. Plus it makes me look smart-ish which is a plus.

Hello guys! (Mary, is it OK to call you a guy?)

Have to admit I have fallen off the practice wagon a bit. Good to hear from you. I have always fiddled around with harmonica thru the years, and am now starting to establish a good practice schedule for that, inspired by a fab player named Christelle Berthon. If you want to hear some great harp playing, look her up on youtube. I am thinking of concentrating on card magic for a while, even tho I feel many specs have no respect for it. Regards all... Jim