Hello Guys,
The magic community is not shrinking at all!!! Its a term called "Desensitizing." Magic is still a mystery to a lot. But with media attention to people like Valentino, who gives away secrets. The world is now so use to it, that it takes something extremely mindblowing to get them interested. It sometimes takes an endurance artist or a death defying feat. (which is what I'm trying to do these days) There's not enough performing magicians. I use that term very loosely. There are stage magicians who gets paid. But other than a handful of us, there's not a lot of people performing for free. Its good to get paid for your craft, but lets face it. Unless you are The "top dogs", you are not going to get many people to spend their hard earned money to see a few magic tricks.
Vegas and California magicians don't count. Chances are if you have money to go to Vegas, you have money. Same for California. But thats just a small percentage of the world if you ask me that are exposed to magic on a daily basis. Also Criss Angel and David Blaine had basically done it all. People are now waiting for the next big thing you know. So I guess we need to ask ourselves, are we doing all we can to advance magic to keep people's interest, or are we just doing what we see the creators or other performers do.
Now I have ran this idea over with a few executives. I think in order for magic to get that mainstream media attention it deserves, we (meaning every magic performer) need the BET of magic. The ESPN of magic. The HBO of magic. We need a magic channel thats dedicated to magic all of the time. Sports didn't take off till it was exposed via TV. Same with music. Videos sold music. We need a magic channel. Talk shows, Variety, News epicenter. We need to all somehow get together and create the ESPN for magic.
I think Derren Brown or someone like him will be the person to gather the interest of lay people. He's not just simply magic. He's a mixture of things. However IMO, that person will have to be a bit more interesting than Derren. (No offense) He was a bit boring at times. Maybe A Geller/Brown-ish person. Just look at the signs, ghost hunting is killer these days, reality is killer, magic is still killer, but people are tired of card tricks.
Guys, I'm currently trying to push the envelope in some things that I do. Not saying i'll be the next big thing, but I'm saying that I have taken time off to evaluate what I want to do. I do have a criteria to judge myself. Lee Asher once told me, listen to your audience and they'll tell you what they want to see. I don't think magicians are doing that these days.
In case you don't know how to evaluat what you do, here's a few question to ask yourself:
Overall, What goals do I want to achieve?
How will the people react to what I do? Will they like it? Will they hate it?
What is it that I don't like about myself?
How can I fix that, or replace it?
Who are the people that inspires me?
How can I reach them or gain knowledge from them?
What about them that I don't like?
How can I incorporate the good about them within myself of my character?
How can I be different from them and still use the good about that person(s)?
What about my talent makes people happy or want to see more of?
What steps must I take to achieve these goals?
What will seperate me from the competition?
If there's no competition, how can I make what I do cool?
Whom must I talk with or get knowledge from in order for these ideas to happen?
Thats just a few questions. Chances are if you can answer these questions honestly, you will be able to bring something new to the table. Its aslo possible that one person can't do this alone, but its not impossible! Well these are just my thoughts. Hope I was able to shine some light on things.
P.S.
Calen Morelli is a breath of fresh air to magic!!!
