But did he have the cards?

Does it matter? I'm sure he did but I doubt they came from Skinner. He more then likely bought them from Gambler's General store when they still were able to get them. It's the internet you can say you received anything from anyone.

I have had many dealings with Jeff over the years. I met him once. I am very close with Ray Grismer (or was, before he became quite ill and moved to Florida to stay with his other daughter).

Jeff had a stroke a while back. I suspect he had several "mini" strokes before that. I am not a doctor, and this is, as I stated, pure speculation. I also saw signs in my correspondence (again, I am not a doctor--based on my observation of Jeff's writing and tirades and interaction) of what seemed to be mental illness. I do not know this for a fact, but having been involved with mentally ill people throughout my life and working in a center for mentally ill people in the past, I suspect this may be the case.

When I first began to interact with Jeff, he was never anything but pleasant with me. I always got any orders in a very timely manner (then agin, I am only a 6-7 hour car drive south of Wallace), and it was always of the highest quality. I know that he did have a fire at one point that set him back. I don't know about typesetters breaking down or not--I know he claimed that was the case, if memory serves, twice.

I also know that he did not treat Ray Grismer well, although he sold Ray's stuff and raved about it in his ads. And Ray is absolutely the salt of the earth.

As time went on, things between Jeff and me changed. Jeff no longer speaks to me or returns my emails, either, and when I tried to bid on an item he was selling on eBay several years ago, I got a message that I was not allowed to bid on his items--probably because at one time I sold a set of PF cups to John Mendoza on eBay. And yet, last time I saw his ads, he still has a few quotes from me in them. Possibly it's because I became close with Ray. I never got my last direct order from him, either, but the check was never cashed, so I'm not out any money on that one.

I don't hate Jeff. I feel sorry for him. Clearly, there is more to his behavior than simple vindictiveness. And I would not wish a stroke, mental illness, or substance abuse on anyone.

Magic has had many great thinkers who have succumbed to mental illness, depression, substance abuse, etc, over the years. Anneman, Daley, Ferris come to mind. More recently Dan Harlan has had some serious issues where he became unable to make good on delivery of products purchased.

People are human. Some people have problems that none of us ever know about, and sometimes even they do not know about. A man from my church is convinced that the landlords at his building poison his food when he is out, so he will not eat, and that there are video cameras hidden all over his apartment and listening bugs in his electronics and on his phone line. This guy is flat broke, clearly delusional, and yet seems normal in every other way--and truly BELIEVES people are out to get him and trying to kill him. I cannot imagine having to live like that.

Perhaps Jeff Busby has similar issues--or maybe not. But even though I, too, have been treated badly by him, I wish him only health and happiness. Because I haven't walked in his shoes. I don't know what drives him to behave the way he does. And, no offense but, in point of fact, neither do you.

I shall not say anything about JB here.

However, I will make a statement in defense of Jake Zimmerman, because he has received some of the same kind of criticism as JB.

Those of us who did business with Jake knew about a year and a half ago that he had bitten off way more than he could chew. Some of us chose to gripe and moan. There were even a few people who were p.o.ed because he did not send them certain free items that he had apparently promised them in time for this show or that show.

I chose not to jump on Jake, even though I had a lot of merchandise on back order.

When Epiphany took over for Jake, the first thing she did was to ask me what I was owed. I sent her a list. Gradually, over a period of about 8 months, I got most of the items or reasonable substitutes. What they couldn't provide for me, they refunded the money for.

I'm not the only one that they did this for. As I understand it, Jake and Epiphany managed to either fill the orders, make acceptable subsitutions or refund money to all concerned.

I knew that flogging him on an open forum would not get the material out any faster.

So, I won't flog JB either.

I do understand some of the problems he has. I'm a diabetic. So is my brother. I have to watch everything I eat, drink, inhale or otherwise introduce into my body. I have to be very aware of mood swings and physical reactions.

I do not wish him any harm. In fact, if by some miracle an angel would wave his wings over JB and make him whole again, I would rejoice over it.

Uncontrolled diabetes (and this is my specialty, what I go around the country speaking about and doing shows to raise awareness of) leads not only to horrendous physical complications (Let's not even go there.) but to paranoia, mood swings, and deep dark depression -- and, in extreme cases, to disassociated identity disorder.

I feel badly for everyone who was burned by Jeff - and this includes some close friends. But I feel a lot more sorry for Jeff himself. If I allowed my diabetes to get out of control, this might easily be my fate.

*jeep!
--Grandpa

My brother let it get out of control, with disastrous consequences. The day after I came home from the combined IBM-SAM convention in Louisville, I got a call from a local hospital. My brother was in the ICU, awaiting a quadruple bypass. His lack of maintenance of his diabetes had caused a heart attack and kidney failure. Now he is on dialysis three times a week.

He controls his diabetes now!

As I recall - the guy wrote great ad copy.

Dumb question: does he still have that talent and if so why not hire him?

You're right Jon, he wrote GREAT ad copy. I don't know if he'd still be able to do that or not--or if he'd be willing to do it even if he is able.

The last few things he penned (or keyboarded, as the case may be) were rants about how he had been given short shrift by this person and that. So I think he has decided to forego the writing of ad copy.

In my lectures and at health fairs, I challenge anyone who expresses nervousness about insulin syringes, to see the size of a dialysis needle. Yes, if I have to frighten someone into taking their diabetes seriously, I do.

*jeep!
--Grandpa

If you really want to frighten them, give them the following information:

1) Show them the dialysis needle. Then explain that for the first six to nine months, they will have a pair of catheters hanging out of their chest. They will not be able to bathe properly because if the catheters get wet, the bacteria on them can travel right to the heart. Once the fistula is installed, then things improve.

2) They will have 5 to 6 hours of their life, three times a week, tied up while they are taken to dialysis, receive the treatment, then travel back home.

3) They will feel awful during the treatment.

4) The bill for the treatment is $13,000.00 per month. If they are lucky, their state will cover the cost...after the first three months or so.

5) There is also the toll on their families.

Diabetes is much easier to cope with than the alternatives.

BTW, you are doing the Lord's work with this. More power to you, Chet!

Busby was a great dealer for me. He sold tons of Tabman Tables and Erdnase Train Tables and I loved all his ad copy. The fact that he and I had a "falling out" has nothing to do with his talent and he never cheated me personally. Many days he would sell better than a thousand $$$ in Drawer Tables. I shipped them all over the world to his customers. He did get mad at me at some point but he was a great copywriter and had a mondo mailing list. This was all before the wonderful internet. And thankfully he introduced me to Sefalaljia because of his association with Stewart James at the same time. Im sorry to hear he's so sick. I wouldnt wish bad health on anyone.

I keep reading he wrote great ad copy. Is that a special gift? I know in advertising that a great, memorable ad can have people talking about it. I didn't know in magic retail it meant that much ( other than people being mad at dealer ads that don't match the product).

Can we still read an example of Mr. Busby's ad copy? I'm just curious what a great magic ad reads like.

Thanks!

The one that I remember is the one he wrote up for a 1940's Hugard's Program on Ebay. He wrote such a detailed description, pages long, that it sold for something like $150-$200. A phenomenal price for this piece.

I listed the same program, 2 weeks later and couldn't get $20 for it! No it wasn't two bidders knocking each other out, it was the description.

OK,that's great ad copy at work!

Joe, I'll dig something out for you to read. I have hundred's of faxes from Jeff Busby on file. His writing style for ad copy and most everything was very detailed and well thought out and designed to motivate you in one direction or another. There's some examples of his faxes in my book Tabman Magic too.

I have the ad copy for the Tabman Drawer Tables and some others Ill dig up and scan. Jeff was/is really a brilliant writer. I think it was Jeff who came up with the motto, "The more you tell, the more you sell!"

Or, it might have been Michael Ammar too. We were both working with Jeff around that time. I know theres lots of people who hate him for various reasons but no one can deny his genius. I cant speculate on any of it. He and I are not friends and I doubt he has anything good to say about me judging from the last email I got from him many years ago but I've never been sorry I got got work with him on both his, mine and our projects.

Tab, that's a very healthy attitude about the experience. Thanks very much for sharing some of your story.

Joe

I located the paper files with all the Jeff faxes in them. What I may do is scan some of them and upload them to one of my websites, probably http://Sefalaljia.com for your reading interest.

Jeff Busby remains one of my all time favorite memories in magic and because of his incredible copy writing and reach, I met a lot of the great people I know today and call friends.

The last time I heard from Jeff he told me that I had "brass b*lls for even emailing him and to never contact him again or he would... (I don't remember what he said he would do but Ive never contacted him since then). Not only was Jeff a brilliant copy writer but he could write a very pointed and what could be described others as "nasty" fax, letter or email. That was in the late 1990s sometime.

Not being one to take things personally, I continue to admire his talent.

I believe that John Mendoza has taken over from Busby as the current ad copy writer. IMHO he is the current BS slinger in the magic marketplace. Whatever he happens to be selling is always "gorgeous", the best version, etc. The magic community eats up such ad copy and such bull slingers reap the profits. There are buyers and thinking buyers. The latter are in the minority.
MR

If thinking buyers were in the majority, 95% of the DVDs that are issued today would have never been produced.