An Interresting Day (SP)

After a scary event last night, today was a very fun day. A good friend of mine, Matt Richman drove from Philadelphia to New York City to hang out and visit the magic scene in NYC. When I came to Tannens Magic at noon; Matt, Tatanka, Shawn Pandit and Ricky Smith were there talking and sessioning. I came late so I only enjoyed Ricky for 5 minutes :’(. We were hungry so we went to McDonald’s to nourish our bodies, except for Shawn, his body nourishes itself. When we got back to Tannens, Tony Chang was there being himself (too cool for nourishment). Later on Ben Pratt, a nice guy named Alpen and Gary Au came to the shop and we all hung out, did magic and talked about LOST and meth. The group left leaving just me Tatanka and Matt, we then went to the Dark Side of Magic, also known as Fantasma where we saw Simon Lovell briefly and hung out some more. Literally 5 minutes before Matt had to leave, we were able to film his nice version of Paul Harris’ Reset, Matt calls his version Reset Redone.

Here is the clip we filmed, since we didn’t have much time we needed to film 2 parts separately for numerous reasons.

I hope you enjoy watching one of the most talented young sleight of hand artists I have ever come across other than myself .

 

Spencer Peterson

Happy Thanksgiving and Some Advice

Hey everyone,

I hope you guys have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Enjoy your holiday to the fullest.  For those who have some extra time on their hands today, here is a wonderful tip to practice on card magic.  Keep your breaks small.

Although this seems to be obvious, many magicians including myself keep their breaks too big.  Spencer was the first to show me that every single move requiring a deep break can be replicated with the very tip of your skin keeping the break.  Remember you can always make your breaks bigger for the move but while you are relaxing, smaller breaks will be a lot less noticeable.  Some people ask why do big breaks matter, they’re invisible from the front.  Well they are WRONG, they may be invisible at one or two different angles but smaller breaks are undetectable from most angles. Use this to your advantage and enjoy.

If you didn’t understand this completely, Spencer will make a video about this in the near future.

Once again have a great Thanksgiving,

Tatanka Tan

Playing Cards

If you browse through any of the magic forums like The Magic Cafe or the Theory11 Forum, the same question ALWAYS pops up; What is your favorite brand of Playing Cards?

In the last year, I have received many decks of cards and I have played around with all of them. Some are good and some are really bad, I’ll tell you guys which ones are my favorites and why.

This list is in no particular order:

• Bicycle Rider Back: The most used brand of playing cards, I only use them for practice and sometimes when performing for laymen. Their quality isn’t the best but they’re still usable.
• Tally Ho: These cards come in both Fan Back and Circle Back designs, both are very nice (I personally prefer the Fan Back design). These cards can be purchased easily at drug stores if you live in New York but they’re also available online. They have a great stock and feel nice.
• Bicycle Vintage Fan Back: These cards are pretty much higher quality Bicycle cards with an awesome looking back design. They have a nice, elegant look.
• Split Spades Lions: David Blaine and his associates decided to created a customised deck of cards with a custom box, custom back design and custom court cards with faces of David Blaine, his friend and his coworkers. These cards are BEAUTIFUL, a lot of work was put into designing this deck. Also, the cards have a slightly thicker stock making them last a long time. RECOMMENDED
• Studs: These are a fairly cheap brand of playing cards that you can get at Walgreens. They have a really nice and simple back design and are thin, making them nice and soft.
• Arrcos: These are without a doubt my all-time favorite playing cards. They have a simple vintage back design and they feel incredible. These are the Rolls-Royce of playing cards. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Spencer Peterson

Beginner?

Hey,

If you’re a beginner in magic and don’t know where to start, don’t worry. Here’s a guide of things I would recommend doing and NOT doing when starting out.

-Read the following books:

• Complete Course in Magic by Mark Wilson
• Magic: The Complete Course by Joshua Jay (Book and DVD)
• Tarbell Course in Magic (8 volume set)

-Watch the following DVDs:

• Easy to Master Card Miracles by Michael Ammar (These DVDs are INCREDIBLE)
• Expert Coin Magic Made Easy by David Roth (3 volumes)
• Amazing Magic and Mentalism by Jay Sankey (2 volumes)

-PRACTICE a lot before showing the magic to real people (not magicians). Practice not only in front of the mirror, but try to do it on video until the magic is perfect. Remember this quote “Perfect practice makes perfect” meaning that you can practice something 100 times a day, but if you’re doing it wrong all your time and effort is worthless. Make sure you completely understand what you learn before putting time into practicing it.

-LISTEN to the feedback you get from spectators and other magicians, but don’t take aything personally.

-ENJOY what you’re doing and have fun!

What NOT to do:

• Learn magic on YouTube and other free online sources, free magic online is crap and unethical. STAY AWAY FROM IT!
• Show a trick to family or friends shortly after you learn it, I know it’s tempting but it will be so much better after Perfect Practice.
• Buy every new DVD from Ellusionist or Penguin Magic that only has one trick on it, the older stuff has so much more valuable stuff on it. You get more “bang for your buck” with older DVDs/VHS and books than every new single trick DVD that comes out daily.

I really hope this helps one if not more people,

Spencer Peterson

Performers

Hey guys,

Here is a quick list of performers to watch:

Juan Tamariz: A quirky Spanish magician who can fool any audience and while keeping them entertained.  Look him up online to see some videos of him.

Tommy Wonder: One of the best magicians in the last decade, in stage and close up he brought elegance and astonishment to magicians and laymen alike.  Unfortunately he passed away just as I was getting into magic so I never got a chance to meet this legend.

Jay Sankey: I recently saw his lecture, which really inspired me to add more comedy in my magic.  The spontaneity of this guy is great.  He is a great example on how to use comedy to aid in your magic.

David Stone: The French magician most known for his Real Secrets of Magic DVDs, these videos are an essential rescourse on how to perform restauraunt or walk around magic.  It is refreshing to watch this master perform.

Any of the Finger Flickers: This European group of magicians are known amongst the magic community for their fresh magic and great sense of humor.  Watching their DVD will keep you laughing your ass off the entire time.

Bob Sheets: Wow, Bob sheets is, in my opinion, one of the best close up workers alive.  His persona is disarming in a way that makes the magic much stronger and more memorable.  He knows how to lead you down the garden path and hit you with strong magic.

David Oliver: Although not as well-known as others on this list, but he is one of the best.  I fortunately have had a chance to learn from him, and he is amazing in both close up and stage magic.  His stage magic takes classics to a new level while his close up will have even experienced magicians fooled.

Kostya Kimlat: Known as the master of the cull, Kostya is a full time close up magician who is delightful to watch.  Watching him live is a great way to understand how to stretch the moment of astonishment to its fullest potential.  He is one who combines really good sleight of hand along with strong staging and theater.  This is ever so important nowadays with all of the people who are good with sleights but cannot perform, we need more poeple like Kostya.

John Cassidy: The funniest person I have ever seen.  Though not a magician per say, he is an excellent performer who will have anyone laughing until they cry.  A great comedian, great performer, and all around great guy.  Please, if you get a chance to see him, do it.

David Williamson: Enough Said.

This is just some of the people who have impacted my magic with their performances.  Remember, magic has to entertain as well as amaze.  Just because you fool someone doesn’t mean they are entertained.  Our art today has seemed to not know performance.  Magicians used to take theater classes to help strengthen their magic, today it seems to be all about the sleights.  We need to learn how to take both into account when creating routines and acts.

I know this was a lot to read but it will help out in the long run.

Tatanka Tan

Repro-Rétro

Bebel is an extremely talented magician based in Paris, France. He is one of the smoothest card handlers in the world, his magic is a big inspiration on me. This is his wonderful version of Reset performed by me, I hope you guys like it.

Spencer Peterson

Spencer Peterson

Hey everyone,

My name is Spencer, and I live in the heart of New York City. I mostly do card magic but I enjoy coin magic and mentalism. I’m also interrested in photography and snowboarding, and I speak 3 and a half different laguages (English, French and Polish and learning Spanish). I guess i’ll stop bragging and i’ll add a few of my favorite books to Tatanka’s list:

• Totally Out of Control – Chris Kenner
• Real Secrets of Magic – David Stone
• The Paper Engine – Aaron Fisher
  
• By Forces Unseen – Ernest Earick
  
• Mastering The Art of Magic – Eugene Burger 
  
• Session – Joel Givens

I really hope you enjoy this blog, and if anyone has any questions or comments, please feel free to post them.

Spencer Peterson

Tatanka Tan

Hey guys, I just wanted to give you a formal introduction to me.  My name is Tatanka and I live in New York City.  I have been doing magic for a few years and have specialized in mainly card magic.  I have been starting to dab a bit into close up mentalism as well.  For all of you reading this I recommend that you read some if not all of these books:

• Art of Astonishment by Paul Harris
• Books of Wonder by Tommy Wonder
• Absolute Magic by Derren Brown
• Beyond Secrets by Jay Sankey
• Card Fictions by Pit Hartling
• Maximum Entertainment by Ken Webber
• Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz

Of course there are much more books I could recommend but these are great resources that have shaped my sleight of hand and performance style in magic.

Spencer and I will continue to offer you all insights into sleights, effects, the creative process, theory, and performance tips.  We hope you enjoy the blog.

Tatanka Tan

Hello!

Hey guys and possible guyettes,

Our names are Spencer Peterson and Tatanka Tan, both living in New York City. We work at Tannens Magic in the city and are both fanatics of Card Magic. We can call ourselves move monkeys but we love performing for people in the real world. In this blog we will talk about what’s going on in magic, what we’re working on, reviews and more! Hopefully all of you check in frequently because the more you guys give us, the more we will give back.

Thanks for supporting the blog,

SP and TT