I think that street magic is disappearing. Like real street where you walk around downtown showing crowds amazing things or just like 2 people. I ask this because I perform magic at school and it is just like street. Small spaces and a lot of anxious kids. Is this art disappearing?

( P.S does anyone know of any good DVDs that teach the like next level sleight of cards. like between beginner and intermediate)

Daryls encylopedia of card sleight will fill that gap

also if street magic is disapearing its not a bad thing , just makes us more unique don't you think.

Gareth

It's the MEDIA COVERAGE of street magic which is fading as the flash-in-the-pan phenom of David Blaine gradually looses impct. There are still just as many street mages out there if not more, but without the media coverage, we just go back to being stealthy amusers who move within an unsuspecting populace.

Go to ellusionist.com great street dvds are there.

Yes, Mighty Fool, I am here.

Street magic has always been there, in the form of busking. It will always be here.

Of course, the David Blaine style street magic may or may not be fading, since it is so difficult to know how many actually do it. Pros really can't because it is hard to make money. Besides something truely underground is always hard to track.

I need some stuff that is true stret like walk up and BANG!! like david blaine. I have always loved his magic and I want some tricks that give me that kind of impact

'Lo ChrisKline! Hey, no argument on the 'dosent make much money' and 'underground' stuff, and you can call us buskers if it makes you happy, but at least youre acknowledging our existence now!

Street magicians are beginning to consider themselves "walk-around magicians" which is what they were before they were street magicians. Makes sence, walk-around magicians have a lot more oppurtunities available to them.

Others are realizing that without a TV special and book deal, there is no money in "street magic" ... thus they are buying hats and becoming "street performers".

JoeJoe

Street isn't dissappearing. The media coverage is a factor, and its seems that there is just less magic in general being shown.

Street will ALWAYS be around in one form or another, as long as there are streets to perform on. IMHO.

To a degree, the media is irrelevant. Street magicians (buskers) or strolling magicians (whether on the street of not) have always been there and always will be. Neither has ever depended on the media. Street buskers make their money if they can attract a crowd and provide a good show. Strolling magicians make their money if they can get hired to work restaurants, corporate hospitality suites, etc (which is how Blaine more than likely made money before "Street Magic.")

The only thing that might be influenced by the waning media is the decisions new magicians make when they get into magic. For a long while, many new magicians were influence by either the big stage shows or talk show visits (Copperfield, Henning, etc) they saw on TV, or some local party or restaurant magician. For the last number of years, it has been the Blaine specials. Everyone wanted to stroll the streets.

Street magic is decreasing but not disappearing, there is always a guy somewhere in the streets performing

I really did not care for the street magic specials. To me it took away from the magestic piece and become tricks, To me the stage shows and paid closup shows are the best way to convey magic. OR street performance, I will do that every now and again granted the moment strikes. But don't do a series, and do something with meaning it impacts them more.
That is my opinion, Don't get me wrong, Blaine is one HECK of a performer he performs amazingly. But I just don't like the street magic, " Hey let me show you this."
That type of street magic I will be happy if/when it turns into, an intimante moment between two people.

Again just my views * covers head and takes cover*

Your friend,
Mayo

Street magic is the only way a magican can be a magican because it takes that one or two people audience people who can be parents or friends and it really amazes them and it gets you motivated to keep performing and you can see each individuals reaction as for say stage there is big crowds and cant really see all the reactions ECM

I would like to think that it is dissappearing but I don't think it is. The more it goes away the more unique and entertaining I will become. It wouldn't be too fun if everybody started to magic:)

I don't think it's going anywhere. Street performers will always be around. I think people unconciously need them or us. After all there isn't a city in the world I've been to where street performers weren't present. It's like an archetype at this point, maybe not always obvious but still there.

The only way? Tell that to David Copperfield (some call him a magician), or Gazzo (a street magician, but who would prefer to do his act for 100 people rather than two), or Ricky Jay, or Michael Ammar, or any of the tens of thousands of magicians who perform for more than two people at a time. I like to perform for two people on a whim, but never on the street, and certainly not if I can get 30 people--or even ten.

Oh yeah, street magic is definitely dead. Dead, dead, deadskie. Best to throw your cards back into the drawer and become an accountant like your Mom and Dad said.

There are MANY ways to 'be a magician', and someone who insists that his way is the only one, is wrong, but he's no LESS wrong than one who insists that a certain way dosen't even exist! (Hint hint CK!) In a busking setting, I'm sure Gazzo would flatten me, or any street mage most likely. In a street-magic setting......I dunno, I've never seen him do it. Since you can't exactly carry a table around with you though, he'd be deprived of his forte (cups & balls), but I'm sure his matchless pure showmnwship might make up for it.
In a stage setting, I'd be absolutely no PRAYER of a match for Copperfield! But how would D.C. do on the street with no cameras, assistants, key-grips or 12.7 million worth of stage technology backing him up? I have no idea, because again, I've never seen him try it. There are MANY different types of magician, and each of us is best in his/her own element. For buskers, it's the(relatively) controlled safe setting of a pitch, for street-mages, it's the free, unpredictable world of anywhere, and for others it's the ULTRA-controlled & safe confines of a stage. There's a scene in the movie "Face off", in which it's remarked that sometimes "a $100 snitch can get you better results than a billion-dollar sattelite"...beleive it.

There IS one form of magic that we Street guys doff our hats to.....Children's birthday party magicians. *shudder* I'd sooner deal with a pack of armed skinheads on the meanest street than go before a horde of sugar-loaded 8 year-olds! If they find ANYTHING unentertaining about your act they will, like a school of pirhana, attack, and the only bit of you which will be left will be the dying echo of your scream.

Yes in some areas it is now a crime to perform on the street.