Wow! You guys thought I had no social life check this guy out!

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What I admire most about this is... this guy took something he loves to do and boy does he do it well. Shows it to the world and is most likely making a decent living off of it.  And even if he didn't make a living off of it. He most likely would still be doing it.
I also find it fascinating what other people can do with a deck of cards... Well in this case a few Thousand deck of cards!!!!
link just in case

Otto Wessely

Who is this guy...
Well a friend of a friend of mine told me about this German/French Magician (apparently we have a few things in common, like we are both short!), about a year ago and just recently he kind-of has exploded in the European scene. He has plenty of other videos... But the one below I believe shows his Brilliance!! sit back get ready to giggle
Cheers Chris
Otto Wessely Youtube Video

Costco Playing Cards

Here is the run down of the new playing cards produced by the U.S. Playing Card Company Bicycle Deck, for the big retail club company Costco.

1st off at $9.99 for a box of 12 that is a steal!!!

2nd glance the cards seem to do just fine. Spreading the cards and shuffling them. I wont get into the nitty gritty such as the deck itself is a bit thinner then the regular Bicycle deck 808. You see only a magician or gambler would want to know these things and my view is… if the cards past an audience member eyes then they can be used. 

3rd test. Breaking them in. I normally go through a series of steps every time I break in a new deck that consists of a couple different type of shuffles and end with a few not perfect farrow shuffles with a nice waterfall finnish.  What I noticed was that this deck breaks in very very easily. 

4th Two hours of wear and tear blood sweat and tears… the cards were done and what I mean by done. Crimps, Buckles and the move of all moves the DL were way more difficult I was catching thirds when I wanted just a DL. The Crimps and Buckles kept their shape (I did not like that) 

5th the mercury fold seemed much easier to me, not faster just easier the cards wanted to bend which can be a plus. 

6th Putting them in a card guard or trying to flatten them did absolutely nothing to try and rejuvenate these cards. 

The Card Box: not a big fan of these having the normal Spade logo at the bottom of the case and on top to playing cards. A face down card with appropriate color back and a face up 10 of hearts. I would much rather have the old solid back design.  

Conclusion:  If your doing a strolling gigs or table hopping your going to get 2-4 hours of life from these cards depending how rough you are with them. The way I handle cards I' ll most likely get 3 hours max per deck. Which to tell you the truth is not bad at all for the price. Normally I go through a deck a night while performing anyway. So why not use the cheaper cards. 

Hope this helps you al, it help me.     Cheers Chris

Sit back and relax

Light Show

I have no clue how they do this nor do I want to know: But it is cooooool!!!!

Strange Job Requests

Howdy folks,
This Email came in for me to do a job. Let me have you read it and then I will post my thoughts on all this...


Hello Chris,
My name is *******. I have a very unusual request. I am looking for an
entertainer that can
impersonate a psychic. I am having trouble reuniting with the girl
that I love (it's a long story) and
she is kinda into the numerology, astrology,... the "feel" of things.
She is Chinese and I have had a
terrible time trying to learn her customs and her emotions without
screwing up first.
I don't need anything big just someone to pop out of nowhere and
pretend that they have seen her
future and it looks extremely bad if she doesn't reunite with her
soulmate (me) :).
I can pay $200 if that is OK (or please let me know). It hopefully
shouldn't take long to sit down in front of her, shake some bones, and
read some tarot cards. If you can help me out or know someone who can,
please, please let me know. We can go over the details if you can help
me. I will give you my voicemail and cell number because I don't carry
my cell much at work or school.

Thanks,




So this dude wants to hire me and lie to a girl he supposedly loves and tell her that they will live happily ever after. No wonder this girl dumped him in the 1st place. What kind of Moron does this to a girl? Lets start our relationship on the foundation of a lie. 
Advice to Moron:
Grow up and move on!!!!
2nd Just because we magicians practice the art of deceit  and illusion and yes money is a bit tight around here does not mean that we will take any gig that comes our way. We do hold on to our dignity and most of us have high standards....
3rd If you happen to find an even bigger idiot to do this for you, may love never enter they soul. 

Let this be a lesson to you all... 

Rudy Coby and The Magic Castle

Hello Everyone,

I was very fortunate to visit the Academy of Magical Arts last night  partly for business and yet had a great time. The 1st act I saw was in the close-up room. Johan Stahl from Sweden He did his Awarding Winning Act. There's just something charming about a foreigner speaking english and mystifying the guests in the room.

here is his Link:  http://www.johanstahl.se/

The other Act I saw was this guy: http://revision3.com/scamschool

Brian Brushwood He actually scared me with during a part of his act and it fooled.  He had the entire audience screaming and just freaking out. In all my years of doing magic I have never seen a room freak out. That my friends says something.  He is a magician that has found his niche and I say run with it Brian…

The Main Event Rudy Coby aka LAB MAN Here is his Website: http://www.rudycoby.net/

Me and Rudy go back way back… I mean when I was just starting out performing magic for real people and getting paid for it. This guy hit upon an act that kIds and adults just loved. It was unique and just darn Clever. So Darn Clever that he got Two TV specials out of it, and toured the world… Then he disappeared. When I say he disappeared he literally left the Magic World.  In 2008 he resurfaced and has been slowly performing here and there. Last night was my 1st chance to meet the legend live. I even got to go back stage and say hello.  The Show it's self had a few glitches but over all it was a good show. The Stage it's self was a bit small for him in my opine. But do yourself a favor and try try try to see this guy perform, you wont be disappointed. 

Here is The Magic Castle Link The Magic Castle

The IPad and being a Magician

So the Ipad from Apple has now been out for 12 days…

So today I am going to talk about the business side of Magic.

I had the chance to play around with one for a little while. What does this have to do with magic? Tons!!

1st  Off I want to make it clear, It is not a computer nor is it an Iphone. 

2nd. I'm and not the worlds most computer savvy guy… However I do know my way around a computer and I never took  a class.

Well as a performing magician and or a magician who travels a lot. This device can and will help you in many ways. I can see this device replacing my hand written note book that I keep for all my brilliant ideas thats with me at all times. When I have had to do a presentation to get hired for a job even though I've already sent them a video they still want to see me in person. When this happen theirs usually three or four people in the room.  What better way then to pull out your Ipad and have them watch a video of you performing while you get ready, or wait for someone to come into the room. I would definitely use a 45 second commercial format.  Also if your demo-ing close-up magic I would show them your stage stuff via the pad. 

There are many more things I can mention such as having MapQuest up while your driving to your next gig. But that's a given. That everything is about the presentation. If you show them that you are in the forefront of technology. They will remember you trust me, it's just good business sense. Lastly just for the sheer coolness of the device, I'd much rather be caring this device on a plane then a computer but that just me. 

To bring this full circle I want to add that when I picked up the device for the 1st time I found it very intuitive and within minutes I was sending an email to my wife.

I hope you liked this post, it is a bit of a departure from my normal Blogs. But I thought what the heck… Please feel free to add a comment or if you own the Ipad let me know what you found most useful or just tell me what you use it mostly for (in the field of Magic). Cheers Chris  

the IPad

Playing Cards

Hello Folks,
Another installment of my blog... Today we are going to talk about Playing Cards. If you've been at my home you will know that I collect Playing Cards from around the world (it started as gifts people will give me and then I started buying them myself). Funny, in my Stage show I only do one card trick in my act, and in my Stand-up show I do 3 card tricks in my show, that's it. Odd for a Magician because you think that there should be more. But I feel that their are so many great Card Magicians out there and well if the Trick doesn't fuel my story that I am conveying why bother doing the card trick. So for folks that have not seen my Card Collection. Here are two links that I frequent and yes I buy their line of playing cards.
Why? I really like to look of them, to me they are... Art. Particularly the Face Cards, the Joker and obviously the Backs of the Cards.
Enjoy
Theory11

Ellusionist

Both Sites are great for magicians as well to learn magic. But I stick with just the Playing Cards.

The Above image is a very difficult Card display that not to many magicians do now a days Created by the great Card Magician Harry Lorayne. FYI Yes that is a whole deck of cards that I am holding up.

The Silent Giants

For those of you who have seen my act, you may have noticed that I am influenced by many of the Great Silent Comedians of the Silver Screen. I draw inspiration from them and I still to this day find many of the movies very very funny. So take a peak at one of my favorite websites. Brows around and I hope you will find some humors gems that by todays standards is well, all new!
My lecture "Who needs a Mic" touches upon Physical Comedy and who better to learn it from... Then these fine folks.
Slapstick-comedy

Magic in the Air

This will be a simple post. These last 2 months I have had an increase in business Drastically. Is the economy improving? I am not sure, what I do know is now is the time to act. So with that I will leave you with a joke...
What did the Elephant say to the naked man?
How do you breath with that thing?
Hehehe
till next time
Best Wishes, Chris