Hello everyone.

I just want to start by saying how grateful I am for all the advice and help I have received from many of you. With so many people trying to help, there have even been a few discussions on “how best to help Jim.” Sometimes I feel a bit greedy that I can’t give back as much as I’m getting, but I have noticed that I am getting to a point where I _can_ offer some limited advice and answer a few questions. With all that in mind, here is a little about who I am and where I would like magic to take me.

I spent 17 years in the Army and left for medical reasons. No regrets about the time I spent or the fact that I left before the magic 20 year mark. It was time to go. Since then I have worked for two government contractor firms. My current job is extremely flexible in that as long as I get my work done, they don’t care what hours I work on which days. Lucky me  More over, my work still supports our country. When I took off the uniform, the oath I took stayed with me.

Ok, on to magic. I’ve always been interested, and just over a year or so ago, I got hooked. I tend to go all out (a grapho-analyst will tell you that the extreme concentration shown in my handwriting indicates that I am capable of concentrating on one thing intensely, to the exclusion of everything else). This is both a blessing and a curse. Ask my wife what her opinion on that is.

I have never done a “paid performance” but I do perform in front of my classes of adult government employees. Each presentation is used to illustrate a point in whichever lesson or block of instruction I happen to be presenting. This is as close to stage magic as I have gotten.

I’ve also done a fair bit of close up for friends students, and family. The occasional stranger happens to notice and watch as well.

I was supposed to do a show for a 7 turning 8 year old last September, but the b-day boy decided to go rock climbing instead. Now, I have one person at my former employer asking me to do a show for her grandson in March. I plan on doing it and am revisiting the routine I was working with for the cancelled show. This one is turning six.

What particular discipline / aspect of magic do I like best? Yes!
Ok, now a more critical look. I’ve always been the “class clown,” and I like to think I am funny. However, I am funny when it happens, not when I “have to be,” so straight comedy magic is probably out. Humor sprinkled in to other areas – definitely.

I am drawn to the bizarre and the creepy. By bizarre, I mean psychic, ghost, paranormal. I include things like 3rd Degree burn in this area, though that effect doesn’t really fit the genre if you take the strict definition that some folks use. The Web, is also one of my favorites, but I am careful, probably too so, about where I do this one, and for whom. A bit of my sick humor shows in one of my posts where I ask about Chinese sticks with shrunken heads instead of the traditional pom poms. I wonder if Doug Higley would make a set for me?

I really enjoy close up magic. I have almost a fascination with all things paddle move, and have a collection of this type of effect growing steadily. My absolute favorite is called Old Glory. Maybe it is the patriot in me. I’m getting better at cards and coins, but still have a lot of work to do in this area.

Stage / Parlour? You bet. I really like linking rings, and rope magic. I have a take-apart vanish on the way, and am considering making a square circle that looks like a dog house. I’m not really crafty though, so actually building the thing might be beyond me.


Plans and dreams as they relate to magic:
First, I plan to get rich at it. Not that I am opposed to getting rich. With a last name of Poor, one tends to look elsewhere.  Seriously, I’d like to make enough to pay for the habit. Enough to buy my props, learning materials and gas to get to shows. Anything beyond that is gravy. Never turn down gravy, I hate dry food!

I intend to do the b-day show in March. If that leads to more shows, great! My wife does b-day cakes, so that could be a nice up-sell and then we could be doing something together. That’s always nice. My last five years in the Army, I was gone for over 1500 days total.

Once I feel ready, I may try to land a restaurant or two. I think I have a couple of good ideas and good prospects. I’m thinking about spring 07 time frame for this. I’ve started really digging into the business side of magic and asking lots of questions. Thanks again!
Before I jump, I plan to have four three-routine (hate the word trick) sets. I would rotate 3 of the sets as I move from table to table. The fourth set would be held in reserve for those “special guests” and other various needs. Each set would have a theme connecting all three routines and would in fact be a larger routine when taken as a whole. Each routine will have multiple climaxes (no jokes on that one) and would be somewhat modular so that I could stop almost at any time.

One restaurant I am looking at also has a stage area and they have different types of entertainment at various times during the week. Family dancing on Sunday afternoon, Karaoke on Tuesdays, Club night on Friday, Country night on Saturday, etc etc. I’d like to do a mixed format there with a Stage set, break, Walk-around, and then another stage set. I figure three times on stage with walk around between might be good.

My big dream for magic? I want to open a shop / theater (maybe even a Magic Castle East). There would be a magic shop, small parlor area, and a larger theater. Also 2-3 rooms that could be booked for private events like b-day parties etc. The overall business would support the magic shop, so it could offer prices closer to the internet prices and keep the personal service level of the B&M shops. Also this would allow me to work on a special room for séance type magic with mentalism demonstrations and “hauntings.” Not a full dark séance where silly things happen while the performers are “tied to their chairs” but a serious, dark-but-not-bloody (at least not gory) séance where folks can actually see what is going on.

I’m 37 and by the time I’m 55, I would like to work only because I want to, not because I have to.

I disagree.

Figured you would.