Black Bert, an Austin Texas Magician is launching a new site, and I wanted to help him get the word out. I have seen him perform magic for large audiences from the stage and up close from across a small table.
The guy is great at what he does.
If anyone in Austin is looking to hire a local magician or even just see a video of one in action then please check out Black Bert’s site.
In the old days of Twitter, Follow Friday was a chance to introduce other members of the small but growing community to Twitter users that you found to be of interest. Lists were typically limited to five users in one tweet – no more and no less.
Today, Follow Friday has become a chance to promote yourself, groups you belong to, and any friends that promote you in what is effectively a closed daisy chain of cronyism. On top of Follow Friday I am also seeing Musician Monday and Magician Monday.
To alleviate the growing pressure, I would like to introduce Sycophant Saturday to my Twitter followers. This will allow Follow Friday to return to its roots as well as to provide a catch-all for all of those other groups. Sure, Thespians could claim Thursday, but what about Barristas? Newscasters? What about a day for groupies who tweet out dozens of Follow Friday lists? There are no days beginning in B, N or G.
Join me in curing the immense pressure on Twitter to fit all of these lists where they don’t belong. Let’s make Sycophant Saturday a Twitter Tradition.
With only rare exceptions, this does seem to be the trend.
“Oh, I’m not like those other magicians. I’m snide on the Internet. Tee. Hee.”
Not that I can blame some of them. Some of them have been burned. Some of them have worked hard just to see the direction of the art go off in a direction that burns their friends.
What really burns me right now is that a lot of people are assembling “what not to do” lists. I want to appreciate the advice. I do take what I can into consideration. Other people just post giant tirades about how any magician not just like them is doing it wrong.
Just about once a week, yet someone else of any varying level of experience also tries to start a new blog which is ultra critical for cheap laughs. Give up.
I much prefer communicating with magicians face to face. When you get too many of them online, they act like they invented the Internet Tough Guy act. Yet one of the best memories I will ever have was the Texas Association of Magicians conference held earlier this year. The ones you meet face to face are wonderful people.
As for being snide on the Internet? I was doing Quantum Link when it was new. Once 2011 hits, the rest of you will be about three decades too late for that to be unique or clever.
Alright. I haven’t dear-diaried in a while. Here goes.
I enjoy stage magic a lot more. I still suck at the pass, but I can do one well enough. More importantly, I can pull one off for an audience of just one person. But that’s not what’s important.
I really finally feel like I’m making friends through the magic club. Last year I was able to attend the Austin Magic Auction and purchase a good deal of “bigger” magic. No sawing women in half big, but some good foundations for stage work. I’m edging closer to the things I loved watching as a kid. I’m happier this way, too.
This site used to be a showcase for my music ! Well, here goes!
The above was conceived, composed, and filmed in a 24 hour span. Some of it sucks. I’m strangely proud of the rest.
Every time I finish a story, the market for that genre closes due to an overabundance of submissions. That’s alright. I’ll just stockpile the finished pieces and submit when the chances open up again.
I like tarot cards. I don’t believe in any forces behind them. To me, they are 78 or so beautifully crafted pieces of pasteboard given really vague adjectives. I like to use those adjectives to pick my own brain when writer’s block strikes.
Tarot cards also seem to make some happy balance between my vices. Magic (cards). Fantasy (divination). Creativity (writing tools).
I don’t even remember the last time I tasted a drop of alcohol. The only TV I watch is boxed sets of Friday the 13th: The Series to help me fall asleep. It’s not that I don’t have any vices. Mine just happen to be very productive vices.
I still work on magic, and most of what I practice is larger effects. It’s easy enough to stash a deck of cards, some rubber bands, and whatever else in my pocket to tinker with on lunch at work.
It’s a little more difficult to work with big metal rings or bass cups from the office break room while phones are ringing in the next room. I suppose I could keep pulling ropes through my neck. It’s quiet enough, but potentially unnerving.
I am also writing. A lot. I have a journal full of idea scraps and a system of randomly pulling scraps together. It’s been a lot of fun. While I have no doubt that some of the writing in this blog is rough, the fiction is written, re-written, proofread, and re-written again. So, I do that in my lunch breaks.
Magic needs to wait until those times between the kids, the wife, and simply unwinding.
Last night was magic club night.
Wow. There were performances last night the likes of which I have not ever seen — the likes of which most of the club was astounded by. Not only is this a very talented club, but the people are just amazing to speak with and be around.
I learned a new effect and had a prop passed on to me, with the promise made that one day when I was a seasoned member that I help another new member with advice and a new tool. The member who helped me had been given the same chance years ago, and passed that on to me along with the new tools.
I hope to do him proud both with the effect and with my future help of a future member.
I would like to point out as well that this is an effect I have wanting to study for quite some time. And now it will be one that I study and enjoy practicing for some time. My oldest is already astounded by my less-than-polished efforts.
I can only hope that my future recipient is as happy when I pass whatever it is I can offer on to him or her.
Yesterday I made clear an intention to blog once to either this site or to my Nightshine Islands podcast site every day between Saturday December 5 and Thursday December 10. Fridays are usually out of the question.
Last night I posted a whole list of excuses to my podcast as to why I have not uploaded any new audio in 14 months. I did so in video blog format so that I would need to actually show my face while making those excuses.
A good friend of mine asked me to make one blog post a “magic” post. I enjoy performing solely for stress relief and personal pleasure. I will perform in public if asked, and am capable of balloon animals as well. One day I will probably be a self-made party clown. In order to get feedback from friends and family, including my brother and fellow amateur magician, I will post private videos. These are practice videos of a handful of routines that I am working my way through. I primarily am concerning myself with presentation now, and not so much learning the magic itself.
As a side effect, some of my friends now seem to expect it from me. Maybe I should be glad I’m that guy? I sincerely don’t know — I’m just enjoying it for the sake of enjoying it.
Tonight I did have fun re-practicing and pulling off a couple of effects. The difficult one went off without a hitch, and the easy one was suffering some bizarre malfunction that had to be dealt with on the fly. Go figure.
My oldest son was present to be a spectator, and to ask me to do magic with some tiny sponge dinosaurs. He interrupted between the “two tricks” to make this request, and I had to politely turn him down. His reaction to the easy effect made everything else worth the struggle.
I hope the friends and family who see it think as well of it as my son did.
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