Aaron Jones Magician

Today’s Magic AudioBoo Is working with other magicians on a magic show.

Some Classics of Magic

As I reflect on the effects in my shows both stage and close-up I have come to realize that almost all of them are classics of magic such as egg bag, torn and restored newspaper, cut and restored rope, the ambitious card, coins across, cups and balls and the list goes on. Why do I like these old classics and why do I continue to develop them and use them more than new effects? Well they work, I enjoy doing them, the routines I create entertain my audience. So I want to talk about why I think the classics work and how I go around working out their presentations.

First I want to mention why I think the classics are classics. The main reason I think this is because of the basic plots of these effects are easy to understand. Like an egg disappears and reappears, a newspaper is torn then restored to its original condition. Spectators can easily understand the point of the effect without any convoluted explanations. This is similar to classic movie plots that are constantly recycled. Why is this? Well they are easy to understand. I feel this is the same for magic effects, and is one of the main reasons the classics of magic are still relevant today.

Because the main plots of classic magic are easy to understand and follow they allow a lot of innovation for performance while maintaining the basic core of magic. If you look at Jeff Hobson’s Egg Bag, or Doc Eason’s bill to lemon routine you will see exactly what I mean. There are many many more examples of this. I feel the classics of magic open the doors to many great and entertaining presentations that are modern and don’t seem old like the effects themselves. These effects have remained for years because of these points. This does not mean that newer effect are not good, there are plenty of great ones, but these classic effects sometimes remain even stronger than some new effects.

As the plots of these classic effects are simple to understand, when working out you own presentations for them you can concentrate on the entertaining aspect of magic. You won’t need to create difficult to understand justifications for the effects because this effect is clear with these classics of magic. You can concentrate on how you want to engage with an audience and using the magic as the medium to do this. Sit down with any classic of magic and try to work out a new and fresh presentation for it and you will see what I mean.

If you are new to magic please do not skip over the power of the classic effects of magic, there are more to them  that may appear on the surface and for this reason is why many professionals still continue to use them to this day.

Aaron

Shikoku Magic Friends Club Public Show 2009

The 4th Shikoku Magic Friends Magic Club Public Show will be held in Takamatsu March 21, 2010. Doors open at 1:00PM and the show begins at 1:30PM The event is free and free refreshments.  This is a great event as it gives a chance for those Magicians here in Shikoku a chance to perform with regular performers. There will be both a close-up show and a stage stage. The venue is small and intimate. If you will be in Takamasu, Kagawa Prefecture and want more information please let me know! I will also be in the show.

Aaron

Today’s Magic AudioBoo is on Magician’s Magic vrs Laypersons’s Magic.

Magic Goods Collection

This weekend I came another cool find at the library. The book is called Magic Goods Collection by Masayoshi Tsuchiya. It is of course in Japanese and is about magic collectables. It contains a lot of explanations as well as pictures of many magic collectables from North America, Europe and of course Japan. The Japanese memorabilia is the most interesting part of the book for me as many other books I have come across don’t have a lot of detailed information on Japanese magic collectables. The books covers many aspects of magic collection from books, posters, magic sets and magic props and other magic related goods. I will probably will end up buying a copy of this book.

Aaron

Doing "The Duplex Mind"

Last month at the Shikoku Magic Friends Magic Club we decided to give everyone “homework” from the book The Encyclopedia of Card Magic which is different from the magic book of the same name in English. One of the members choose randomly pages from the book and assigned each of us an effect . Then last night we all performed then taught the effects we studied from the book. It was a great success and really showed how many great effects are contained in books that many of us overlook. So we decided to do it again for next month. The effect that I leaned and performed is something that I will keep doing and will add to my close-up show. It is a great effect half magic half mentalism. Next month as well we will have our annual public magic show. I am looking forward to next month!

Aaron

Taiko Dai

Here is another post where I ties in my experiance of living in Japan to magic. Well I find so many great examples! Anyways, in the picture in this post is something called “Taiko Dai“. There are not found all round Japan but are popular in Shikoku and some other parts of Japan. Inside each of these big floats is a taiko drum and a drummer. Members of the taiko dai team carry it while the drummer plays inside. There are also guys on top and standing around it directing the poor guys carrying it how to move it and bounce it around. They have regional competitions during festivals and they can get quite crazy.

Ok Now why I am writing about taiko dais? Well it goes back to when I first saw them in the Summer of 2001. I went to the local festival in Sakaide, Kagawa Prefecture  where on one of the days a Taiko Dai competition was the main event. They are big, heavy and the guys carrying them where doing amazing things I have never seen before. It felt like magic. I was seeing hearing and feeling something completely new. I will never forget it. This reminded me how many people may feel when they see magic for the first time. It is also important to pay attention to this and really do a good job of creating this feeling because if you do it right the spectator will never forget you. So when I work on my show on effects, presentation etc. I always keep this in mind. I always want to bring an enjoying feeling of something new and wonderful to my audience. I want them to feel the way I did. Which a good performance mixed with just the right effects you can create this. But it takes work and love for the art for this to happen. Also the magic and the presentation has to be who your performing character is wither its just you or a stage character you have created. When you have blended these together the audience will enjoy your performance and will remember you and have the same feeling I did when I went to that Taiko Dai festival.

Aaron

Today’s Magic AudioBoo is the volunteer magic show issue.

Today’s Magic AudioBoo is about when people try to help you book a show but tell the client things that are not true about you show.

Magic Pot

Today I went into Takamatsu the capital city of Kagawa Prefecture for a show I had to do at a Cafe. The show was well, interesting as I thought when I originally booked it ( I knew it was going to be a challenge). Was not easy but went over well. 25 years of experience got me through this one. The show was well received but I was burnt out. I’ll  leave this story for another day. Anyways, I wanted to visit the magic shop in Tamakatsu but it was closed.  I had some time before the show so I went by. I always seem to get there when it is closed. Eventually I will get to the shop when it is open. Magic Pot  is the magic company here on Shikoku that puts on the Shikoku Magic Convention as well as many other magic events and run the magic bar chain “Tejinaya” on Shikoku and the Chugoku area of Japan. This year the convention is in Takamatsu again and will be held in May. Once I know more information about this years convention I will post it! I hope they get the same venue as last year because it was very good.  I also dropped by one of the big book stores there and WOW they had a lot of Japanese translations of influential magic books usually found only at magic shops such as the Card College series, books by Derek Dingle and a whole lot more. When I have more time going to go back there and look through them all. Now I am going to have a hot bath and head to bed!

Aaron