Hi Wayne, I was wondering your opinion of Jay Sankey's claim that Dan likes to steal some of his effects. I don't know Daniel personaly, but seeing that he was put in the hospital for being a card cheat; that makes me feel he is an unsavory character. Or maybe just foolish? On the other hand I do believe most people deserve a second chance. Nevertheless, what is your reason for helping him further his career?

Thanks

I spent 10 days with Daniel recently - from what I saw he was a very honest & upstanding guy. It was clear that he is self-taught & when I asked him about the Sankey situation - here's essentially what he told me:

He told me that until very recetly he was not famaliar with much of the magic community. He had heard Sankey's name but was not famaliar with his work.

(I can personally relate to this, being in a similar situation. I wasn't aware of much of the magic community until a few years ago.)

Daniel continued to say that a little while back he had put up a couple effects on his website. He was then contacted by Jay who informed Madison that the effects were similar to some of Jay's work. I personally don't know exactly what was said by whom - however, the end result was that Madison pulled the products off his site - they were only up for a week or so. Madison was under the impression that the issue was over. Obviously Jay was not, but beyond that you'll have to ask either Jay or Madison.

That's really all I can say on the subject. I haven't known Madison for very long, but from what I've seen - I was given no reason to distrust him. But let me also say that Jay is a brilliant thinker & creator - I'm sure he had his reasons for sending out the letter that he did.

As to your question - what is my reason for helping him to further his career? Madison has some very good work. He's an interesting character with an interesting story. He is very talented, loves the art, & we seem to have a similar approach to magic.

I guess this is the reason why creator's can't patent tricks. I sometimes thought I had come up with a new method or trick only to discover later that it had already been done. I thought I created a new sneaky method for making a coin disappear and then seen Tim David's, "Unaware". I believe he uses the same method.
How do you feel about when others take a method or trick, improve on it, and then market it as their own?