David Blaine Real or Magic Discussion.

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My question is this - Why do you want to know so badly? So you can perform it? Do you want to hear, "Just like David Blaine!" or do you want to hear, "I've never seen that before!"

I would advise against performing -anything- he did on that special. In the very least you'll have to come up with presentations that are vastly different. The world already has David Blaine and he's way better at being him than you ever will be. Be yourself.

I appreciate your candor. Being from an artistically driven family, I celebrate honest critique. I live by a simple yet dynamic axiom: Truth over pain. That being said, let me follow suit. I do not have any desire to emulate Blaine. That would, in my history of experience, be something that would rob me of being me.

Thank you but, please, don't estimate me. I am not a spectator in this situation.

I understand your concern for I seem like a poster child at being new (Especially here). That doesn't mean I am new to our world of conjured excitement!

The world of Magic, the calculation and estimation of our species which Magic can utilize for it's success, and therefore, new to the intellectual world of misdirection and the calculations that require it's success... Is a privilege! I, cherish such, and would not dare to assume those who lack presence... Even though, everything speaks otherwise!

Knowledge, patience, and experience is key!

I do not know you or your history or even anything about you that would allow me to calculate your dynamic or intention... Funny you feel likewise.

I don't regurgitate magic. My drive is to process and re-purpose. Alter as much as I can if I can and when I can. This belief is what has allowed me to become successful in a quarter century of living with magic and it's many facets.

Just because I have purpose, doesn't mean my purpose is what you have given me to believe.

Smarts are still abound.

~MAH~

~PS~ Who are You to tell me I CAN'T BE LIKE BLAINE!? I have the confidence. Why don't you!?
 
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Wow, you missed that by a mile. That's okay. If you don't get it, you don't get it. As you were.

Pipi94 - I found a company selling it (I hope). I'll see soon enough.

WyattSB - completely agree! That's what I would have done.

The hunt continues!
 
Sep 1, 2007
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Fellas, let's please stay professional and not argue over differences of opinions. Thanks.

Not so much a difference of opinion as not liking getting brushed off when I want a point to be clarified. If I missed the point as he claims, then perhaps he could explain the point to me. But apparently he believes that's none of my business.
 
Sep 1, 2007
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Exactly Randy. Not trying to copy Blaine though. Just wanna know how's done. Then see if I can repurpose it. (The setup, gimmick, gaff, or what have you). Make it my own if I can.

This was the point you didn't want to explain earlier? Christ...

As has been said before dude, odds are you'll have to invent your own method from whole cloth because it's probable that a lot of that material is not commercially available nor will it be in the foreseeable future.
 
NO, It is my mistake. I though your comment and another where one in the same and after looking back, that wasn't the case. I'm sorry for that confusion for it lead to a mess. My point was not that at all. I don't expect to be 'Elvis' Nor do I expect that there is a million dollar Elvis impersonator. But, his influence gave birth to a ridiculous amount of musicians. I am who I am today because I was heavily influenced by David Copperfield, The Pendragons, and Penn and Teller.

Someone earlier said something that was equating me to nothing. To tell some that they can never be better than is just horrible. I can be something else and that might be better than in reflection. Might not. But I can sure as hell try. I didn't want to develop my though because there was a lot of negativity and assumption as to my intentions or motivation and I don't live buy negative thoughts. Very unproductive. That said, it was not a brush off but an opportunity to just not continue a discussion if its just going to lead to more negativity. I didn't answer you before because you said to not speak t you again. And I was honoring your request but now since you have addressed me again, I feel that that is an open door again and I appreciate the opportunity to clarify. Problem with type and text and forum is it is had to convey tone and can therefore be very misinterpreted.

I hope that clears things up a bit.
 
Sep 1, 2007
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The thing about an influence is that it goes deeper than just the surface elements. I'm learning to sing and write my own music as well. Elvis Presley is only one of my influences, but it's more than just crooning out Heartbreak Hotel note for note. Mainly it taught me the importance of having good technique and still being able to pull off that slightly raw gospel tone for emotional inflection. From Peter Gabriel I learned to affect a more soulful tone and how to make a song evolve during its progression. From Alice in Chains I learned more about using harmonies. I learned from singers like Russel Allen of Symphony X to increase the "size" of my voice by expanding my floating ribs. Peter Steele of Type O Negative and Michael Poulsen of Volbeat showed me ways to more effectively use my low end (I'm a bass/baritone). Miracle of Sound and a host of symphonic metal bands taught me more about production and arrangement. And lately I've been expanding my horizons by listening more to progressive stuff with funky time signatures and polymetres as well tracking down Northern/Eastern European folk as a way to get more in touch with my roots.

That's what having influences is about. You absorb technique and theory. Every beginner emulates. That's the way it works. The first couple of songs I wrote were pretty obviously aping Iron Maiden, not gonna lie. But eventually you start working out what does and doesn't work.

When I first started out as a magician, I ripped off pretty much everything. But by the time I started busking I was writing original presentations and routines. Now I'm actually more influenced by books and movies than other magicians. I'm a weird mix of Rod Serling, Grigori Rasputin and Nikola Tesla.
 
Apr 17, 2013
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It is these reasons I keep pushing Steal like an Artist on creative types. It talks about how you learn from your heroes. Like a family tree of your style. It's an $8 book that the guy has put a great deal of it up on his website for free.
 
Dec 18, 2007
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Northampton, MA - USA
My question is this - Why do you want to know so badly? So you can perform it? Do you want to hear, "Just like David Blaine!" or do you want to hear, "I've never seen that before!"

I would advise against performing -anything- he did on that special. In the very least you'll have to come up with presentations that are vastly different. The world already has David Blaine and he's way better at being him than you ever will be. Be yourself.

I missed this earlier but it needs to be repeated. . .

The whole Urban~Shaman movement in our present, was given a catalyst through David's work but it's far older an underground movement; it's where David rose up from and he took guidance from out of Mentalism by creating a persona that supported his claims. Sadly, the thousands of magicians that have mimicked him and that other guy do so as "Magicians" rather than approaching things as a Shaman, a manner that creates "real magick" vs. doing tricks. David has blended the two in a way similar to how a Mentalist blends the hardcore stuff with Mental Magic, and for the same reasoning; Production Value!

Go back and study David's specials and you'll see how he'll use card tricks to suck you in and then he gives you a look at something that goes way beyond things you can "explain" in your head, such as the spike through hand/arm or pulling the thread from his stomach, etc. The other thing he does is that he doesn't come off as a showman, he's just David, some guy off the streets that dresses just like you do (and unlike pros in the magic world, he tends to dress down vs. up -- the rule of thumb for us is that we dress 10% better than our patron base. This has been a standard for over 100 years. David dresses his age but more like some middle classed guy you'd meet at Starbucks or even Dunk'n Doughnuts; he doesn't try to be superior, he just does his thing).

When we learn to approach our work in this manner we don't need to replicate the stuff David has done, we can take obscure pieces from out of Tarbell or even older tomes and make them our own -- our signature vs. our version of something people have already seen or heard of. The bane of magic being the fact that so many of us copy one another rather than THINKING and CREATING our our unique repertoire.

I just recently found a book about theater. . . NO ACTING PLEASE - I would strongly recommend it to anyone wanting to traverse this unique path
 
Dec 18, 2007
1,610
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Northampton, MA - USA
I don't understand how David forces people to think of the cards he wants... Or if it's all an act

You haven't been around magic long, have you?

There are numerous methods that allow us to make this happen. You will need to study A LOT OF BOOKS to really discover the gist as to how easy it really is. I have a routine I do on Radio in which everyone listening thinks of the same card . . . we're talking thousands of listeners.
 
Dec 18, 2015
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You haven't been around magic long, have you?

There are numerous methods that allow us to make this happen. You will need to study A LOT OF BOOKS to really discover the gist as to how easy it really is. I have a routine I do on Radio in which everyone listening thinks of the same card . . . we're talking thousands of listeners.
can u tell me more about this? Like what are the books i should get
 
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