Session Tuesday

I keep knockin"..
and some of my magical friends open the door...
Don't know why it is this way at times...
Jose tells me I inspire him, Leslie T says the same.
Jose has been magically dead for several months lately. I call him, email him, and try to poke him.
Jose has a lot of talent magically but gets side tracked.
I know the feeling. It is difficult to maintain a steady work habit in the magic field, especially if you do not have an audience or clientele to perform for...
The fear factor creeps in too.
It is one thing to practice your magic effects and quite another to actually go out and "do" magic for others.
But it is the doing, or sharing of your magic that will make you better, cause you to sharpen your skills. It is thru the interaction with others that you will begin to fine tune and hone your effects. It is the place where you will get the laughter and accolades that performing for non magicians can bring. This what will boost you to keep practicing your magic and the knowledge that what you do magically actually works.
Putting a smile on someones face and in their heart will lift you up as well.
It is only thru the "giving" away of yourself and your talent that you will grow magically.
I arrived at last nights session early, not trusting traffic... My friend Leslie Thyagaragin was there, He is staying in Jose's rental home while preparing to move back to India. It's a sad story of non marital bliss, and now a child is involved.
Leslie is a kind soul.
He is extremely talented in the art fields.
He is packing and giving away lots of his magic apparatus and paintings etc. Doesn't want to have to ship them to India.
It hurts to see a friend hurting.

Jose arrived about 6:45 and the session began in earnest. We worked on cut & restored rope, Professors Nightmare and cards, and coins, rubber bands and more.
Hopefully we can kick start Jose to begin the journey again!
He has a specialness about him. And I love him!

This brings me to a major point (at least to me) in our session last night.
A young magician named Bill arrived. He is from China and does some nice cards and coins effects. He explained that Chinese spectators have been burned so long that they are very skeptical when watching a magician. In other words, they burn your hands. We discussed this at length. Areas of misdirection, or rather, directing their attention. Using their cynicism against them. Letting them think they are catching on, and in the end, their own attentiveness catches them in a web of deception, making the climax to an effect even stronger. Hopefully this leads them to relax and enjoy the magic rather be in the "try to catch you out mode."

Bill also brought up some concerns he has about the challenge he faces because he doesn't speak perfect English. It's not really bad English at all. Just that it has a brokenness to it or the accent being from China. Americans equate broken English to ignorance and or stupidity. The fact is, we are the ignorant ones when we do this and allow our self righteousness to blind us to the opportunity to learn and grow. Simply because someone from a foreign country doesn't speak English as well as a native, that in no way means they are stupid. It is just harder to listen to them.
I told Bill, he needs to find a way to embrace this difference. I know of two close up effects that he can use to do this. The Charming Chinese Challenge, and the Hong Kong Coin effect. Being from China, he can really be in the moment with these effects.
As I looked around our small gathering of magicians, it dawned on me that this was a problem with the others as well. Jose is of Philippine descent, Leslie of Indian descent from India, and I am a white dude from Seattle.
I brought up Gazzo, who is from English descent and how he uses that fact to enhance his performance.
A good looking woman uses her looks to get things, and we should learn to embrace our differences as well. Why do stage magicians always have a stunning woman as their helper?!
I also have a magic friend that has had many physical challenges, he uses a cane, has long silvery hair. He does really good magic, and does it really well. He too has a hard time getting out and performing. I ask him to embrace his own unique specialness as well! He has a beautiful speaking voice. I wonder if anyone has ever mentioned this to him?
Another magic friend is Jewish. He brings that into his magic and doesn't shy away from his uniqueness.
How do we touch people? I believe we each bring a uniqueness to the world, if we will only find our voices to speak.
It is ironic that most of us focus on all the things we don't have, instead of the great and wonderful things we do have.
I mentioned to Bill that since he has a hard time communicating with American speaking people, to invite them to listen closer, more carefully, he could even whisper a little to draw them in.
Leslie T is very good at this by the way. I too must learn to change my voice, raise and lower it at times. A whisper at the right time is just as effective as a scream at the right time, and just as "loud."
It was a good discussion, I thought!
Chad Reibman arrived about 9:45. I was to leave at 10:15 because I had to go to work. I called work and let them know I would be a little late.
The session was beginning to heat up!
Chad wanted to see the tables I built as one was for him!
I let him play with them, perform some card and coin stuff on each one and he selected his table.
It was great to see Chad jump right in and perform magic amongst these guys. It is often very difficult to be "the new guy."
The more I walk this magical journey, the more amazed I am by other people. There passions, their talents, their stories. Who they are, where they come from.
It is really wonderful!