Hi Everyone,

I know this is an old thread so no one will probably read it, but I just thought I'd let you all know that I'm selling my lecture notes online through PayPal.

They contain brand spanking new material plus my thoughts on how to get a residency, how to build a crowd at a trade show and finally how to get the best reaction.

If you're interested please feel free to private message me.

All the best

Matthew

Somebody needs to get these notes LOL. It's Matthew Dowden for heavens sake. It's gotta be good stuff, just check out the party animal set. Picking mine up on payday.

Looks like I'm bringing this thread to life. I just got this dvd set last week. And for me being a worker, this THE BEST set I have purchased in years!

I instantly fell in love with his bold deck ditching routines. I quickly added the technique to my ambitious card to mouth. The misdirection is sooo strong that causing the deck to vanish is just the perfect ending! This has totally given me some of the best reactions in quite some time at my restaurant.

His personality is very charming and entertaining. It brings a breath of fresh air to a live performance dvd. I have become so sick of watching either $30 one trick dvds or crotch magic dvds where magic is filmed at the waste and taught that way too. Matthew was very fun to watch and taught everything well. They certainly put a lot of hard work into this set. I will definitely be getting more from Matthew and Russ in the future!

By the way, that lucy girl was incredible! hehe...

Brian

Brian, you;re right on the mark about this DVD set. It's rare these days to get a set of what they call 'workers'. And it's filmed live in a bar without fake reactions. I wish other creators and producers would watch this set to see how it should be done.

Hello Brian,

Great to hear that you enjoyed the DVD's.

Although I shot and edited the DVDs, Peter Nardi at Alakazam deserves full credit for producing the entire project to such a high standard and making sure it was filled with great material that workers will use. Matthew is, in my opinion, one of our best workers here in the UK and as you can see from Party Animal, the ladies seem to love him (which in a magician seems rare!).

You may also be interested to know that I've just finished the edit on a brand new project under the rsvpmagic banner, starring Wayne Dobson. Of more interest to you, may be the fact that one of the three featured magicians is Matthew J. Dowden, who along with Mark James and Michael J. Fitch. They all did a superb job of translating Wayne's stage and cabaret material into close-up situations. You can see the teaser trailer here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/rsvpmagic

I expect this to be ready in about four weeks, so watch for the set at your favorite dealers!

Best,
Russ

Nice one Russ.

Looks like this is going to one of your best yet. Dobbo is brilliant.

I love Party Animal - one of the best DVD sets ever produced.

Anything by Matthew Dowden is brilliant - I got a chance to see his Striking Vanish in person a while back and it was mind blowing.

I can't wait to see the new Wayne Dobson set it sounds great.

Craig

This is with one of the best DVD's ever produced, one of my all time favourites, great material, great magician.

I think I have watched this more than any other DVD sicne I have had it. I love this type of material. It is real magic that gets great reactions and will work for any group of people.

Top stuff. I cannot reccomend this enough.

After reading all this stuff how can one not get this?

I already added this one to my cart at Penguin....I am looking forward to it!!
Mike

Funnily enough, I pulled this out the other day for reference purposes. It is a really good dvd. Some nice twists on old plots and some fun new ones as well. Matthew is an excellent performer.

Look forward to seeing Matthew on the Dobson set.

Sorry to bump this up, but I thought another review was necessary. it is a great resource.

This DVD was released almost 5 years ago (2007 I think?) and the material still holds true.

Commercial routines jam packed with good presentations.

The routines have been discussed in the previous pages, so I won't touch on them.

Apart from the effects and pro tips from Matthew, you get to see a real worker in action. How he handles the spectators is a lesson in its own. There's even a shot with a slightly rowdy all male bunch, and Matthew handles it like a pro.

For a walk around worker, this is probably one of the best investments you can get.

-Nadzri

Worth the bump, totally agree with Nadzri. I have had this set since it came out, still one of my favorites. Really good for getting a look at entertaining real people and how real people react.

Couldn't agree more! One of my favorites! So many great effects and the price is way cheaper than what I would have sold it for!

Brandon