Digital Dissolve Review in Genii

[MickeyPainless]

I'm sure this will be deleted as soon as someone of power reads it but I just wanted to encourage everyone interested to read the review on DD in the Dec. 07issue of Genii magazine!
Mick

 

[clarrus]

why would this be deleted??

 

[Sean.Cinco]

I haven't read the full review that David Regal wrote, but I found an excerpt of it on the cafe:

"Some of the artists I saw on this site are people I know and like, so I felt bad for them all when it looked like one of the Theory 11 releases accidentally copied an effect originally put out by Steve Dusheck....(I) wrote to Theory 11 to tell them that there was a good chance they inadvertently duplicated the Dusheck item. I received a reply that seemed, to my way of thinking, curious. Our series of back-and-forth emails revealed that,...it was intentional. In fact, permission was at one time sought from Mr. Dusheck, and that permission was refused."

What does T11 have to say about that?

 

[clarrus]

That seems like a vague statement to make though. It tells us something claiming proof when none is presented. I'm not trying to knock that guy down but he's saying that through e-mail traffic he discovered that permission was sought but denied.

Also i'm sure Jack already read this and would have deleted it already if he wanted to.

 

[waynehouchin]

I'm sure this will be deleted as soon as someone of power reads it but I just wanted to encourage everyone interested to read the review on DD in the Dec. 07issue of Genii magazine!
Mick

Mick:

I would encourage everyone to read it as well & no, your post will not be deleted. I haven't yet read the full article from David Regal, however, I do disagree with the conclusion that is drawn.

The statement that Theory 11 sought permission from Mr Dusheck & was denied is false. It may be the case that years ago (long before Theory 11 was even conceived) BJ Bueno may have had a conversation with Steve regarding Digital Dissolve, however I do not know this for sure, and I do not know the details of what they may have discussed. When we (Theory 11) released Digital Dissolve - we all thought that it was original - it wasn't until after the release that we were told there was an issue - which is why we have suspended sales. We are fortunate enough to have some incredibly talented people on our team - why would we knowingly release something that we knew we did not have the right too? We wouldn't - we could have easily substituted one of the other projects we have lined up for Digital Dissolve.

With that said, We will do the right thing here. I can't disclose the full details yet (because they have not been fully finalized) but we have been in touch with Steve Dusheck and have reached a resolution. Needless to say, we are working as hard as we can to correct the mistakes made with Digital Dissolve & we have implemented a workflow to insure that something like this doesn't happen in the future. There's no conspiracy here, just a series of unfortunate mistakes that we are working to fix.

Anybody can make a mistake & miss something. With all the work that we put into T11 & with the number of people involved - things were quite crazy before launch. We all had an incredible workload. It's unfortunate and disappointing that we missed this, the important thing is that we convey our sincere apologies to Mr. Dusheck, and that we fix the problem. We will right this & we will make sure that it doesn't happen again in the future.

On another note - Happy Thanksgiving! Let me know if you have any other questions or comments regarding this & I'll talk to you guys soon!

 

[Sean.Cinco]

Mick:
With that said, We will do the right thing here. I can't disclose the full details yet (because they have not been fully finalized) but we have been in touch with Steve Dusheck and have reached a resolution. Needless to say, we are working as hard as we can to correct the mistakes made with Digital Dissolve & we have implemented a workflow to insure that something like this doesn't happen in the future. There's no conspiracy here, just a series of unfortunate mistakes that we are working to fix.

Hi Wayne, it's good to hear that there's finally a resolution between T11 and Steve Dusheck. With that said, in the same thread I found the excerpt at, I also found a review of DD from Mr. Dusheck himself:

I just took one of my pills so I could visit the Café without getting upset. Today I received Digital Disolve in the mail. The person who bought it gave it to me. I can honestly say the DVD and routines are very good. But the Bueno handling is the standard putting both coins in the persons hand and removing the gimmicked coin right out of Bo Bo. I cannot see how anyone could take full credit as the inventor of a trick using my gimmick and my display moves.
There is a move by Lee Asher that is very good and also practical. That deserves high praise.
They should have watched my DVD or read my instructions because they missed some important handing, that probably seemed minor to them, when first showing the coins.
I do not do street magic. I designed my handling so a lot of people could see the visual change rather than two or three people. The last place I performed for two years had 8 people at each table. I often did parties where I was surrounded by a large crowd of people so my visual change was performed at chest level. When I demonstrated the trick at conventions or when lecturing, everyone saw the instant change.
My routine evolved to become practical for every working condition. They should have shown my original routine on the DVD. They also missed out on one the lines I use that is very important.
The gimmck is well made but the shim serves no purpose and only adds bulk. The Teflon makes the gimmick too slippery. The noise problem can easily be corrected. I told Jamie there was more to making a sliding shell than just removing half the rim. He didn't want any additional help fro me. I'm sure Jamie and I will become friends again, in time, and I'll tell him how to fix the noise problem.
All in all it's a good product. I feel very bad that Bueno took all the credit.
By the way, I did not start this thread or have any of my friends start it. I do not know most of the people supporting me or the many magicians who send E-mail directly to me. Only three personal friends have contributed to this topic.
Steve

Also, happy Thanksgiving to you and everyone else here on T11

 

[clarrus]

can I get a link for it?

 

[Sean.Cinco]

can I get a link for it?

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=227479&forum=202

Mr. Dusheck's review is on page 10 (I think).

 

[podcastrant]

Just a heads up. Dusheck posted this this morning.

On 2007-11-23 09:41, Steve Dusheck wrote:
Two of my friends have been in contact with two people involved with Theory 11. Both have received completely different offers. Now Wayne states that no one knew I had been selling the gimmick and moves for decades and have it on my DVD. They knew enough about my gimmick to credit it at the end of the DD DVD and they also changed the dates of when I put the trick out. One of the people involved with the copy of my routine quoted a passage from my original instructions on the Genii Forum years ago so he certainly knew Bueno's handling was almost the same as mine and that bueno did not invent the gimmick. Everyone has at theory 11 different story so I don't know who to trust.
They all seem to think that it is a matter of money. Getting a royalty is not the issue. When I give people permission to make my tricks I do not ask for any royalty or payment of any kind. It is the Theory 11 DD DVD giving credit to Bueno that is the issue and they don't want to change the DVD.
I do not believe no one at theory 11 knew the gimmick and moves were mine. Since they knew enough about me to add my name to the credits they could have easily contacted me before releasing the trick.
One person involved at theory 11 stated they sold a thousand DD so far. Another person at Theory 11 claims they only sold 60 of them. So even if I only cared about royalties, as they assume, I certainly can't trust their financial statements if I expected royalties.
Copying tricks is a way of life in magic. It's not moral or ethical but it's not against the law. The majority of magic hobbyists don't care who invented the trick or who made it as long as they can buy it. MM has been doing a very good business for years. Sometimes magicians complain about them but it soon goes away and they continue to sell their versions of the tricks.
This issue will soon fade away because everyone wants a sliding shell and they will buy it from anyone. In a few weeks the gimmick will be in a box of old tricks and the hobbyists will need the next, newest trick.
That's enough for now. The issue is not resolved. But you can bet they will not keep the Bueno trick off the market.
Steve

 

[j.bayme]

At this point, I am extremely confused, but in the meantime I have posted the following message on the Magic Cafe:

Steve,

I truthfully have no idea who you spoke to, but NO ONE from my team would have EVER claimed that we have only sold 60. I am the ONLY one who has reached out to you on behalf of theory11 this past week (immediately after my post), and as requested via email, I have been in communication with Marc Desouza over the past two weeks.

We will do all we know is right to correct any inadvertent wrong done, and I assure all that as stated before, no one from my team nor I had any mal-intent nor evil plan prior with release of this item. Of course not. I knew of no issue whatsoever at the time of release. David Regal spoke to a consultant of our site on September 3rd-- 72 hours after launch of our site. I nor any of our senior creative team spoke to David via email or phone. The message to one of our consultants was long before additional research was completed and we realized the mistake made and acted on it. I was certainly not contacted for what we are doing and have done to resolve the mistake made prior to publication of the Genii Article.

We of course realize that this is entirely NOT a matter of money-- it's a matter of doing what is right and making right out of wrong done. As conveyed to Marc, we'll do anything we physically, humanly can to make things right. As conveyed previously via email, we will OF COURSE correct the crediting and attribution. We will do everything we know is right and due on every level in order to make things right. We know that was wrong was done, and mistakes were made, but this was certainly not a deliberate mistake by theory11, and we are committed to correcting it on every level.

Steve, I have sent a private email alongside this message with further information.

 

[jimbowmanjr]

Yo guys....c'mon pick up the phone, get a conference call with all involved and hash this out. I think the impression is being given that there is some confusion even amongst the team at T11 and other individuals speaking on behalf of Steve as to what is even being done about this.

My interest is in seeing Steve satisfied as well as T11 doing the right thing and moving forward here instead of backwards into some cloud of confusion.

The only thing we should even see after this point is "Guys we just wanted to let you know everything is sorted out. Steve is happy and we are happy with the resolution. We are moving forward to bring you incredible and original magic." I am sure everyone involved has a phone number and a phone available to sort this out. E-mail and public forum posts are feeding the confusion and fanning the flames.

--Jim

 

[j.bayme]

Jim,

I agree with you completely, and I have only posted publicly on the rare occasion where I felt additional information or official clarification needed to be posted. For all else, I agree that the matter is best handled professionally, directly, and privately, and that is our aspiration. I have PM'd you.