Has anybody used the trick Instinct by Matthew Mellow? I was thinking about using this trick to begin building a crowd. If anybody has used it do you recommend beginning on a table or on the ground?

Thanks

Here it is on You Tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psvKz13cTDQ Instinct by Matthew Mellow

Please let me know what you think Thanks

If that is your crowd build, what are you going to finish with?

Personally, I find these tricks horribly boring and fairly stupid. EVERYONE I know that has done ANY variation of slamming the spike or the knife has driven it through their hand at some point. I am not just talking anybody here either, I am talking some BIG names in magic.

It's dumb...on the street I think it would be a tough sell, but so are a lot of things.

Shattered by Scott Alexander is a much smarter way to go, but I even know people who have cut themselves with that trick removing glass from the bag.

If you are going to be a busker find stuff that's bullet proof. You jam a knife through your hand you are not going to work for a long time. If a "street magic" wannabe jams a knife through his hand unsuspecting passerby will have one less thing to be annoyed at for a few weeks.

Was that harsh?

Best,

Dan-

Think outside of the magic store for STUNNING stuff to do on the street. Be different. BE DIFFERENT. Read some Hugard, or Jim Haviland, or listen to Percy Press, look on line to see what busker's were doing during the late 1700's early 1800's. That is where I got my ideas for the card sword and die box. I can close with the die box on the street and it ROCKS.

Old School baby, REAL old school.

I get a huge kick out of the street magic wannabe rock stars (and I am NOT saying you are one I am just making an observation) that want to mimic Chris Angel and go out and buy some piece of crap or another that they think is Chris Angel like. Then if you actually LISTEN to Chris Angel when the guy is setting up his banger he tells you how this trick is based on Selbit, of Maskelyn, or Houdini, or from the discovery of witchcraft. OLD SCHOOL.

If you want to FRY people you need to approach it from an angle that NOBODY else is looking at. OLD SCHOOL does not exist in video. It exists in the Library of Congress, or a library in New York City that Kozmo told us all about on the latest issue of Reel Magic that some eople are afraid to buy because it contains too much good stuff. WAY too much good stuff.
If you want something new, look at what's old.

Best,

Dan-

Yup

I agree with danny on this absolutely, the old school has been my whole life and only doing tricks that are fool proof whether they are dangerous or not has been the rule for me.

infact I've givin up some of the best stuff because of it.

Read Danny`s last post again,,,,it say`s it all. After working the streets with just 10 tricks (Two complete acts) For over forty years,,,the same tricks that Haviland,Press and others performed,,,still doing it now so all has stood the test of time.

Danny,,,you have let the secret out (Wonder how many will listen and act on it!!)

Ken

Listen to danny.

and for building a crowd you don't need an effect you need personality and understanding what to do to stop them.

Thanks I will look at the old school. I close with juggling fire balls with my barehands or fire jump rope.

Danny is 100% as he is quite often. who will listen? There are some people who just don't get it and Chris Angel himself could tell them and they would go "yes yes yes" and not hear a thing.
I would not say don't do a trick. but I don't know how it is done, what I would do is hype the heck out of it and finish with it.
as for me, rope, some form of cup and ball/chop cup, and a card trick. yes I finish with a card trick! sponge balls or other stuff to draw a crowd.

Greetings and Salutations,

Another one of those nutty stunt tricks? Now, I've got no room to talk, or even give advise, I don't work on the street. But ... Sometime in the last two or three years Aldo Colombini had a similar trick that he published, I think it was in MUM ... I think. All my mags a re a complete mess, but I know it was a Colombini trick, instead of slamming your hand on anything, you had three spectators each pick one of four bags, and the magi, through the use of a force, as I recall, always picked the dangerous bag. As I read it, there was no way to get hurt, and if anyone could get hurt, it would be the magus reaching into the bag. I've got piles of mags which I've kept because I wasn't smart enough to file it properly, but I though it'd work great on a stage, and, since it uses volunteers, could make the routine look huge. Would it work on the streets? Probably. Best yet, it's free for the reading.

That's my less than $.02 USD worth. YMMV. And, for what it's worth, I, too, would recommend following Danny H's advise.

Joe Zeman aka
The Mage Ulysses

Classics are classics for a reason. You can do contemporary stuff poorly and old stuff poorly as well. I think it comes down to working the bit. People buy into the new flashy crap because they want instant gradification. It doesn't work that way. Its all about building the bit.

I was working a pitch this past month and needed to do a ton of 5 min shows. A TON! So I needed somthing that worked for me and the audience. So I did a simple sponge ball trick (one trick not a whole lot of boring crap) and then juggled 3 knives and passed one under my leg. I had decided on this set the night before my first day. Id done the sponges for years and always do it the same way and it always gets the same responce so no big surprise there.

What shocked me was by the end of the first day I had people cheering and screeming when I passed the knife under my leg. It wasnt what I did but how I did it and most importantly the audience liked me! So that month but mostly that first day taught me if you work one bit and realy pay atention to where the fat is and trim it and replace it with meat you can take just about anything and make people like it. If your fun the show is fun. The $$$ reflected the fun!

So basicaly in the end all I can say is take the bit and go work the thing. Who knows if you can find away to do the smashed and stabbed trick realy well and interestingly it might make a good closer, who knows maybe a whole act! don't worry about finding perfect tricks becuase none of them are perfect. Its all about you man.

Anton
Also a friend of mine will be performing at the magic castle this week with a script that I wrote for the smashed and stabbed trick that makes it much more relatable and interesting for the audience and builds to a very nice applause que. I feel that in most of the versions out there the ending is a bit blah and not framed right. My feeling is it wil go over pretty well and ill let everyone know as soon as I do!

AH... yes. A great trick! I saw it on the Greater Magic Library DVD on "Mentalism". I included the trick in a kid's program I developed once. All the kids got candy and I got rubber dog poop. Hilarious!

This is the trick right here...
http://www.theambitiouscard.com/details.......ER%20[*]
I don't carry it now but...
I have it and it's great! I'm sure it's available somewhere.

Frank

I can't open the link. Anton first thanks for all your help on Unicyle I am idling on giraffe unicyle very well. What sponge ball routine did you use if that is ok to ask?

Thanks

IT is available from Aldo's site for 10 buicks.

Greetings and Salutations,

That's it! That's the one he wrote up. When I get a minute, probably after this semester, I'm going to start digging through my back issues.

Joe Zeman aka
The Mage Ulysses

The simple I hold one you hold one bit. But the bit is all about build up. Simple tricks that play big. that's it realy. The rest is you.

Anton

p.s. Are you juggling on the giraffe well? Any free mounting?

Wow...not since I was your age Anton.

I hope you are doing well man, I miss our chats.

Oh and Molotov on your marriage! That's awesome!

All the best,

Dan-