Hello Cody, I am relatively unfamiliar with your work, but I am very impressed with your polite and very thorough answers to the questions being asked of you.

I have been doing magic for years, have just recently returned to performing semi professionally.

I had a few walk arround gigs from Sept- to Dec of 06 and I am re-enginering my strolling repetoire before heading out again in another month or two.

I have been reluctant to add the Invisible Deck because I feel it has been overexposed.

I was thinking of using Darwin Ortiz's You do as I Did, because I feel that those who might know about the invisible deck would still be fooled by his version.

Could you elaborate a bit about your "Secrets of Invisibility" download?

The description on your site does not say much about it other than "it's great".

Do you care to share some general thoughts about ID.

I feel it's overexposed and don't want get caught with my pants down or feel the need to suspiciously switch decks to hide the evidence.

How does your "Secrets of Invisibility" help to resolve these issues.

Thanks for coming to the Café, I think you have lots of really great practical advice here-

Mark

Hey Mark,

Funny you should mention the ID and it overexposure. I just commented on this in another thread…I will copy that post below and then further comment.

From previous thread:

“Bill Goodman told me a funny story a few years ago. He said he met a magician that would no longer do the Invisible Deck because so many magicians were doing it and that everyone had seen it. (I don’t agree with this…I think it’s a wonderful trick!)

Anyway, he went on to argue that there really aren’t that many magicians in the world…it only seems like that to other magicians. Bill’s analogy was funny to me…he asked me if I thought that there were more nuns in the world than there were magicians…I of course said yes there are WAY more nuns in the world than magicians…he then asked me…when is last time you saw a nun? (Love Bill’s sense of humor)

His strange logic holds true...the vast majority of our population in the world will never ever meet a magician or even see a magic show so I don’t think that tricks are over done. We (as magicians) really need to focus on making our magic “special” for the small part of our population that will encounter us.”


My point is…I don’t think the ID has been overdone. Try this…go out on the street tomorrow and perform ID for every person you meet…and then after the performance ask them if they have ever seen that trick before. Then try to fun a nun to show to! ;-)



Concerning my handling for ID…well I love the trick so much I have several methods! The one that I use for walk around allows me to show the thought of card to be the only reversed card in the deck…and I can show both sides of the deck. I will be honest and tell you this…It does not use the standard 1 deck ID method…it is a real fooler to magicians however…but who cares about that? ;-)

The other two version of ID in my invisibility notes are meant for stand up shows and are not really practical for strolling.

I hope this helps,
Cody S. Fisher

I think it's great too. But I am still hesitant to add this and many other "standards" to my strolling/ restaurant repetoire not only for fear that they have been exposed, but because "too many magician's are doing it."

In Countless threads here on the Café; members ask; "What do you do in your walk arround performances? "What are your "Top 5" card tricks for restaurants?" "Which routines get the "best reaction" from your spectators etc.

And then the answers generally go something like this-

"Majikmann45678" advises-

1.) "Silk in TT"
2.) Sponge Bunnies or Sponge Balls (gota' do em' they kill
3.) ID
4.) The often miscalled "Two Card Monte"
5.) Ambitious Card
6.) "Crazy Man's Handcuffs"

If the majority of close-up workers are all doing the same things that what is it from an audiences point of view that separates one magician from another?

There is nothing inherently wrong with the above tricks, I know from experience that they all play well.

In my walk around gigs last fall as part of my introduction, I asked occasional spectators if they have ever seen a close-up magician before, if they responded "Yes" I pretty much knew to stay away from the effects above.


I don't feel there's a need to obsess over this point but I think it's a good idea to have some back-ups and alternative methods for effects like those mentioned above.



Is your reason for several methods really one of "love for the trick" or a silent acknowledgement that it IS overexposed and perhaps a bit over done?

I'll check it out-

Thanks Cody-

Mark

"Is your reason for several methods really one of "love for the trick" or a silent acknowledgement that it IS overexposed and perhaps a bit over done?"

I definitely do not think it's overdone...like I said before...It's only overdone in "our little magic world". That logic just doesn't hold true...as laymen (in general) aren't aware of methods...they only see effect...to say I am chaning my methods to compensate for it being overdone just doesn't hold true for laymen. If you really had magic powers and could do the ID for real...a laymen would have the overall same impression as the guy who was just using a normal ID.

I have a lot of methods because I generally love the trick and love experimenting with it. To a laymen...the effect is the only thing that matters...some of my work on the ID just happens to fool magicians. The are not fooled by the trick...they are fooled by the method...laymen are fooled by the trick!

Take care my friend,
Cody S. Fisher

I'm Catholic and I see nuns every week! I guess Bill is right. Except for people that go to places where it makes sense you might find a nun you might not see them. I guess if you go to places where you are likely to see a magician (cruises, tradeshows, family restaurants) you are probably more likely to see one or two.

But Bill is funny and that's a funny story!

Casey