I'm just coming back into coin magic after close to 20 years away, and it's so great to see some familiar names in this thread like MB of course, Vinny, Lawrence O, Manny, Tim F, The Killa from Manilla.... just opening my boxes of coin magic books and DVDs, and all those beautiful gaffs (I have quite a few Lassen beauties, some Jamie's stuff, and Roy K. too)! Roth, Rubenstein, Gallo, Latta, Cam, Bertini, Harbottle, Brewer, Kurtz, Kenner, Liwag, etc etc. A real treasure trove, and I pretty much get to experience it all again. Thank you all!

Hi rutabaga great to see you here after all these years I'm glad you remember me .....Liwag haven't heard his name in a long time. I know Marion enjoyed his work and Marion's suability I now the best lol
vinny

Good to see old friends returning here.

Hiya Rutabaga…indeed it’s been a long time. But that’s how it goes sometimes, you just one day let it go. I have done that a couple of times over my journey. The first time for years, almost long enough to forget about it. But one day while playing with metal puzzles with my sons, I remembered through some of the trickier ones that I had a real fondness for magic and all of the sudden it was back in my life. Even came to realize during that time that just a few blocks over from where I worked, the old Lou Tannen’s Magic Shop had re-established itself in another old building. When I walked in, it was sorta like walking back in time. I picked up a few things I remembered like the old Nickel to Half I used to have, and eventually got myself going again. Been with it even better ever since. And the invent here of the Cafe had a lot to do with it as well. It carries you when you need that magic interaction to throw logs on the fire…and not to mention all the friendships that go on & on here. Anyway, glad to see you back, and as the old song says, “…Right back where we started from.”

Welcome home, friend.

Thanks MB, great to see your success here. I still have your Crimp Change work somewhere.... need to dig it all out! I have some recent hand surgery, and it was my wife's suggestion that coin magic would be great physical therapy. I grabbed a Morgan dollar and well... here I am. Looking forward to seeing what new in the world!

Well, indeed it is great to have you back Rutabaga. You see, we left the light on for you. And I thank you again for checking out my work. That Crimp Change download was something a lot of people here and from around the world picked up on, along with a lot of the follow-up effects I came up with using it in a variety of ways. I remember even doing a Coin to Key with it. Man, those were the days, the ones actually that set me on my way sharing magic with so many. And happy your hand is recovering well enough to get back into some coin magic. Lots of good stuff out there, along with some old classics that have brought us all from back in the day, to here no matter the journey we took.

Again, welcome back!

Always nice to see some good SOH, and sometimes from hands you may not know about that can do it about as good as anyone. A few ways to do this but this is some of the cleverest of all. I’ve been playing again with one I came across recently, nothing as good as this but it uses the same dynamics with a bit of the same magical affect. And like I said, I don’t know this magi, but what I do know is that this is very well done, and no magic needs to be done any better than that. I was doing a bit of magic just today at my grandson’s field trip for the kids and teachers, and without a word, the crowd went wild. Anyway… oftentimes no story or patter is necessary as the magic clearly speaks loud enough for itself...

Man, when I was a kid and would travel back & forth downtown Manhattan to the old Tannen’s Magic Shop, I couldn’t afford much but sure did enjoy watching all the magicians demonstrate the tricks. Especially, I was always so intrigued by the coins showcase, just all kinds of coin magic in there. I remember just being able to get something like a Nickel to Half dollar trick, and maybe a packet card trick, but that was gold to me back then. Even remember Lou Tannen there, he would always throw a little something extra in my bag. I couldn’t have it all or even close to most of it, but I did have the old Tannen’s Magic Catalog, and man, I used to lie in bed and go through it cover to cover almost every night before falling to sleep with it in my hands, usually with my finger stuck in the coin section somewhere. Do any of you remember it? Here are some pages…Some sweet dreams are made of these…

www.fulltable.com/vts/m/magic/tan/n.htm

I also have fond memories of Tannen's. Although I didn't find the shop until later when Tomy Spina owned it. By that time their catalog had expanded to a hard cover version that was a couple of inches thick. A hulk of a book. I might still have a copy somewhere and remember reading that thing like a novel. Pre-internet days that were nostolgic yet leaving room for want. The limitations of being able to determine how good an effect was from simply reading a description and cartoon illustrations left much to be desired. I for one am glad Penguin pioneered online demos with the likes of Oz Pearlman. That in combination with online Reviews and resources like the Magic Cafe have made the ability to progress my magical skills increase to an exponential speed. I do owe Tannen's a debt for sparking the interest in this art that has entertained me for many decades. Also, I met my first magic teacher there who I think about to this day. I'm not sure any other magician could have sparked my interest the way he did.

I know exactly what you mean Marion, I first started going to Tannen's in the 80's and my first hardcover catalog was number 14 with Copperfield on the cover. He signed it for me when I saw his show around 1983. Also have 15 (Blackstone Jr.), 16 (Doug Henning) and 17 which was the "new" larger page format and might have been the last hardcover catalog they did before the interwebs came along and ruined everything (only slightly kidding).
I've not been yet to the newest Tannen's location but I'll get there one of these days-

Man, I had so much fun this morning while at the mall…Absolutely magical!

I was there with my wife, just walking around. She went one way and I went the other checking out the stores. When I came out of one of the stores, there was a guy set up doing magic for the passer-bys. He had a little crowd, so I walked over to check him out. He was doing various closeup things and then he did a coin trick. When I finished, I applauded as it was pretty good, ending with a jumbo coin. Anyway, he looked over at me and surprisingly said, “Aren’t you Mb from the Cafe?” I said, I am. He then began to say how much he liked my magic, and then asked if I had something to show to the people gathered there. I always carry a few coins and so I did my old “ReVisited.”

They all watched carefully as I took them through it (and so did he). There were gasps and oohs & ahhs at each magical turn. And when I pulled the half dollar from the hole in the Chinese coin, folks there went crazy with excitement…”HOW?” And you know, I had to also hit them with the Ringa Dinga, and that made the magi light up as he told me later that he was hoping that I did that part. I did that part for a couple that was watching and they and everybody there couldn’t believe that now the coin was surprisingly a ring. Man, what a moment!

Me and the magi exchanged numbers and I wished him well, as he said, “I hope I get that good one day.” I told him he would and gave the crowd back to him and dissapeared into a passing sea of people behind some applause. It was so much fun. And ReVisted is one of my absolute favorites as it has everything in it as to coin magic, a great story, coin vanishes and changes right up close, and then even an impossible transposition into a ring, if you want to add that part for a bit more. It’s a heckuva trick, and these same 2 coins have taken me a long way on a wonderful journey… Everytime I get a chance to do it, it feels like an old friend…:)

I do a workout every other day at the gym and get to do some magic there for the instructors. I had forgotten just how much fun 3 Fly is and using my FlySki just makes it such a direct effect that it’s hard to put down once I picked it back up recently. I don’t see a lot of people doing it much anymore, which means it’s a great time to revisit it again. I do a few neat things in it but I really think the shows I give of my hands sells the trick hook, line & sinker every time. You cannot deny what you see once I show it to you so openly after each fly of a coin. Even if you were thinking something, once I show you my hands, you don’t think it any more. Man, the mind’s eye is a powerful thing.

Hey, I got to hit them with another one this morning… And you know, I like to keep things simple and often times that just means showing a little piece of something else I do. This was one of those little pieces that plays big behind a little presentation. The magic of it is so immediately powerful that people are just in awe, and believe me this morning they were. Im glad to come back across this little thing as many times it’s all you need to make a good impression and leave people with a big smile for the day ahead. It’s like pulling a coin from their ear, except they see it magically happen right before their very eyes!

So good. Zero confusion and magical!

Love it

“…BarryFernelius wrote:


Darwin’s Laws (From Designing Miracles, by Darwin Ortiz)

1. How laypeople think is the most important subject in magic.
2. The only thing that matters about a method is how impossible an effect it produces, not how good it makes you feel inside.

----------------

METHODS don’t matter as long as spectators are unaware of them. On the other hand, CONDITIONS are important, but not as we perceive them. The conditions, as perceived by the spectators, are very important—as long as we emphasize their importance. They allow us to build the illusion of the impossible. But magicians misunderstand conditions.

For instance, some magicians will tell you that your version of ACAAN is worthless unless a spectator shuffles the deck. Therefore, you need to be able to perform it with a borrowed deck. But in actual performance for real humans, we almost never use a borrowed deck. But if the spectator believes that they shuffled the cards (even if that isn’t true), that’s just as strong as having them shuffle their own deck...”


I came across this from another board here and thought it important enough to bring to the coin forum…

I think the basic concepts are true enough in just about any magic. In this discussion, they were speaking of ACAAN, but it rings true as to coin magic as well. I never thought it to be as important as some think to always do things as classically put. I mean basics are important of course but once you got that down good, then creativity can open new doors…if you let it. I have found this to be true more so than not on my journey. To better understand what people see and react to is of the utmost importance, most times as Ortiz mentions here, more than how it may make you feel inside. I remember early on listening to people that have personal bugaboos as to doing things certain ways, and then found out that it might fly completely over the head of the specs, so you’re worrying about much of nothing a lot of times. Anyway, thought this may have some relevance here.

That's all true but that doesn't mean you can't practice hard and impractical moves by yourself just for your own sense of accomplishment. Just keep it to yourself if it doesn't add anything to the performance.

Yeah, hard to argue with a master like, Darwin Ortiz, and I really believe he meant this as to the specs being the most important part of the experience. I too feel good about some moves and just deceptively controlling the situation, but I do believe that it don’t take a lot to fly over the heads of specs if you really understand basic mechanics. I do tend to like things simple but I usually enjoy a bit of the more complex as well sometimes. But yeah, sometimes you just get a kick our of some things, like I like doing (for myself mostly) the Murphy Deck Flip when I handle cards, just something I like to do, not that it makes me feel alive or anything but like a fidget toy, I just like fiddling with it and impress myself doing it backwards & forwards.

I remember relative to that post (which was much longer) I chimed in about ACAAN as to what purists think and just getting the job done. They both have their place but for “lay people” which to me is always the best audience, the method that works is usually good enough. In my take on Gadabout Coins, I use an open that is a bit more technical. I “feel” that it is a bit more clever & deceptive, but the basic use of a friction pass does the job just as well, maybe better. I guess just my creative juices stretching a bit. It’s all good.

"Train hard, fight easy."

No argument here, I just have to overthrow everything.

This is great! I just got a chance to go over a newer book by an old friend here on our forum, Bill Citino, You Do Cards?!

Now you know I always speak of expanding your coin magic with other things in closeup, and what better thing is there than a deck of cards? Bill is an accomplished coin guy and held in high regard by the big, small and all of the genre’s practitioners, including some other coin guys that also are good at cards. That he has taken his fine abilities to the other side of the street and found the same kinds of high recognition is to be applauded. I have personally been applauding him for a long time as he has been putting out stellar work for quite a while now. It’s so good to see this new work, which is chock full of some good, doable card magic and he even sneaks in a neat little coin trick for you from another stellar card man that happens to dabble quite proficiently in coins as well.

This is just a wonderful piece of work from a real student of the game. I know we’re all coin guys here but up your game a bit and check out this book. It is well written with helpful step by step instruction and some nice illustrations, and a whole host of notable friends that help Bill deliver this next big step in helping your coin magic to be even more.

*Highly Recommended

Here’s more…

I was just discussing a lot of the new magic coming from some of the up & coming young magi’s. Some of it doesn’t resonate much with me, but every so often you catch youngin’s that really got something to offer, I mean something really worth considering and thinking about. So, here’s something old that I played a lot with and enjoyed along my way. But here it’s been kicked up several notches as to application & presentation. I was first long ago impressed with it just as to coins, but better realized it’s greater brilliance after watching the work of Rick Merrill using other things, and from Justin Miller’s wonderful Silver Dream. This carries that theme but makes it quite a bit crisper and even more magical. Amazing work!