Many of my past Just Another Magic Monday posts have shown off card manipulators as I learned about some of them. However, recently I posted about Go Magic Go and the Royal Road to Card Magic. I did this because I’ve decided to make 2010 a magical year for me and those are the tools I am using myself to gain some magical confidence. The Royal Road to Card Magic isn’t a book about card manipulation even if it does have some utility flourishes. Instead, it is a book about good old fashioned card magic.

For many people, card magic is the reason they think they don’t like magic. Since card magic is so easy for people to get started at, many people learn the tricks but don’t learn how to really perform them.  Without the performance a trick is just a trick and rarely, if ever, entertains. Thank goodness for my pro wrestling background, I already understand this fact.

Card magic can be extremely entertaining though. In the hands of the right performer, a simple deck of cards can be all someone needs to entertain any group of people. In the magical world many would say that Bill Malone is one of the best card magic entertainers there is. I only learned about him while talking with an old friend about my new journey into magic. In the following video Bill Malone does a lot of magic, but you may not even notice it because the routine is so entertaining.

Enjoy Bill Malone’s – Sam the Bellhop

If you liked this post please follow me on twitter and/or subscribe to my RSS feed. If you only want to see my JAMM posts you can subscribe to the Just Another Magic Monday Feed.

Today’s JAMM post, as you have probably already figured out, is me recommending the book The Royal Road to Card Magic. But that is not all. I didn’t start making my way through this book until I came across an podcast series called Go Magic Go. Unfortunately, this podcast isn’t still being created so you have to do a little, technical, leg work in order to find it. I’ve done the work for you so just point your RSS reader to http://thetrapdoor.libsyn.com/rss.

If you don’t know what an RSS reader is, a great online tool is Google Reader. Just click the “Add A Subscription” button and add the URL above. While your at it, do the same with http://ducharme.cc to follow the blog you are currently reading.

Back to the topic at hand. The Royal Road To Card Magic is the book they work through in a special series of podcasts  Go Magic Go did for beginners. Even though the book is written well and you can get a lot out of it on your own, what you get from the beginner series podcasts is almost like a virtual magic mentor. You get tips for practicing, things to watch out for and other information that you would only get from making mistakes yourself.  I still haven’t gotten through the book because I’m going quite slow ( as recommended by the Go Magic Go podcast ) and still was learning some very powerful techniques and tricks almost immediately.

Here is the first lesson to get you started:

For less than $10, this book is a gold mine of magical technique. It goes well with the fact that card magic is a nice inexpensive way to start learning magic theory. The Go Magic Go podcasts are free and come with a wealth of information for anyone serious about magic. So I highly recommend listening to more than just the Beginner Series podcasts.



If you liked this post please follow me on twitter and/or subscribe to my RSS feed. If you only want to see my JAMM posts you can subscribe to the Just Another Magic Monday Feed.

Feeling a bit disheartened in my quest, I almost gave up. Then I remembered something I had heard from one of Jeff McBride’s videos. Magic is a gift. Then I searched for ,”The Gift Of Magic”. One of the first things I found was this video which shows how much of a gift it has been for one magician by the name of Bill Rollins. It seems he had the good fortune to attend McBride’s Magic and Mystery School and decided to write a poem and share it via youTube as a thank you.

This poem is awesome, and could almost move into one of my Wednesday Warriors posts. The issue of mentors is often a big missing in this world. But as they say

When the student is ready the teacher appears

For any of you interested in magic, here is a little Hogwart’sesque advertisement video for the school.




And for those of you buying gifts for the magician in your life ( eh, hem – I think my family knows who I am talking to ) and wish to give them the gift of magic they do have gift certificates available. For those of you more magically inclined though, remember that magic is a gift that we bring into people’s lives. So give joyfully this holiday season.

Have a magical season

Before I go too much further, Scam School is not a show teaching you how to do magic.  According to the intro it is, “The only show dedicated to social engineering at the bar and on the street.” However, Brian Brushwood is a magician and a great entertainer. The following clip is an episode of Scam School that deviated from its normal format to show Brian’s performance at SXSW.

Scam school is great for magician’s to watch because of its perspective. There is a movement of bizarre magic out there and Brian Brushwood is one of the people at the forefront. For non-magician’s it is great to watch for its edutainment value. It is very entertaining, and you get to see a cool thing to do at a bar or just hanging out with your friends. For instance, check out this episode on “The Static Shot.”

In the end though, the show is called Scam School and it presents itself as thus. Even though the homework is usually to watch movies like “The Sting” or buy domain names and do a domain smack on someone. All in all I recommend this show to all lovers of magic ( and bar scams ).

For more information:

• Scam School Website
• Brian Brushwood’s website
• Follow Brian Brushwood on Twitter
• Check out one of Brian’s other shows
  • BB Live Show
  • NSFW

If you liked this post please follow me on twitter and/or subscribe to my RSS feed. If you only want to see my JAMM posts you can subscribe to the Just Another Magic Monday Feed.

“Just came across this remarkable video: find 15 minutes and watch this short-length movie, I think it’s worth it”

As I watched it, especially near the end I kept thinking of words I have heard Jeff say time and again.

I believe magic is all around us.

He is so right. As a magician myself, this is the energy I love tapping into as I perform. I hope I can continue to see the magic all around me as I delve more into my own magical journeys.

Please take 15 minutes and watch this, whether you are into magic or not.  It is a beautiful short film with high production values. It is a powerful piece that has tapped into the magic it is trying to portray.

That’s Magic! from Brandon McCormick on Vimeo.

The music from this short film is available at: http://www.whitestonemotionpictures.com/2009/01/thats-magic-soundtrack/

For an added bonus here is a video of her working the Montreal Jazz Fest in 2009.

I’m a sucker for a French ( and Russian ) speaking redheaded entertainer

Serious Issue + Humor is good but magic makes it better