Hey Guys,
Searching through the net I found this really good essay on street magic. It is by the owner (I think) of a Magic Magazine called ANTIMONY. His name is JAMY IAN SWISS
Here it is -
In Search of Street Magic
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
"Ballad of a Thin Man"
Bob Dylan
Something is indeed happening, and if you're not sure exactly what it is, you're far from alone. It's called "street magic." But what is it? And for all the hubbub (and dollars) it generates - does it actually exist?
Street magic is being touted as a new kind of magic, a new form, a new style. Entire websites are devoted to the subject - entire product lines - and now, a new glossy magazine. And so, one is compelled to ask: Is there any there, there?
Your intrepid reporter - yours truly - has been trying to find out. While I claim no definitive opinions - and will offer several conflicting ones - here are the results of my labors so far.
What it isn't - an aside.
For sake of clarity, we should establish a definition for those who came in late. The term "street magic," until 1997, traditionally referred to magicians who made their living performing in public spaces and collecting money from the crowd. Jeff Sheridan revived this ancient form in the early 1970s in New York City, and many more have since made their mark in this world, including Chris Capehart, Jim Cellini, Gazzo, and others too numerous to mention. However, in 1997, David Blaine's first television special aired, entitled David Blaine: Street Magic, whereupon many things in the world of magic changed - some of which I intend to consider in the pages to come. One of those changes concerns terminology: Making your living on the street by attracting a crowd in a public setting and then "passing the hat" to earn money must now (or at least for the time being) be called by its older name, "busking," in order to distinguish it from "street magic."
We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.
I've spoken with a number of colleagues in the preparation of this essay. Author/publisher Stephen Minch asked me if street magic "is the new bizarre magick; i.e., a dream-chamber for amateurs rather than a genuine performance venue?"
Minch offers a provocative comparison. But what is a "genuine performance venue?" And is venue the only factor that defines a form or type of magic?
I have come to think that a specific form or type of magic - such as manipulation, close-up, mentalism, and illusions - or perhaps children's, strolling, platform, and stage magic - can be meaningfully discussed (and indeed demonstrated to exist) by dint of four facets. These are (in no particular order):
1) Performers
2) Audience
3) Performance material
4) Venue
A quick check of the examples cited above will confirm this analysis. Whether we talk about a type of magic based on its material, effects, and methods - i.e., manipulation, close-up, mentalism, and illusions; or based on professional venue, as in children's magic, strolling, platform, or stage - we will quickly acknowledge that the existence of these forms is specifically reflected by existing performers, audiences, material, and venue.
And so: Street magic, street magic - wherefore art thou, street magic?
Thou art a will o' the wisp.
1) Performers
By my reckoning, there are approximately five men of whom I am aware who currently make much or all of their livings doing street magic. These are, in approximate order of appearance on television: David Blaine, Derren Brown, Cyril Takayama, Criss Angel, and Marco Tempest.[1]
There is a longer list of performers who have generated television specials or short series that are not currently producing such material, including Chris Korn and J.B. Benn ("Mondo Magic," 6 episodes); Alain Nu ("Mysterious World of Alain Nu," 4 episodes); the short-lived "T.H.E..M." ("Totally Hidden Extreme Magic"); and a single special last year from Keith Barry. (Korn and Benn have subsequently shot further shows in Singapore for broadcast in the Far East).
It's very easy to tell that these men are contemporary street magicians: They perform surrounded by camera crews.
It is unclear to me that there are any other street magicians operating in the world today.
2) Audience
Defining the audience for manipulative magic, close-up magic, mentalism, and illusions - or for children's magic, strolling magic, platform, or stage magic - is an easy matter, and it is unnecessary for me to do so, since you can readily do it for yourself.
The audience for street magic is apparently found on the street. But unlike busking, in which the performer establishes a performance space (a stage of sorts) and then attracts an actual (reasonably fixed and paying) audience, street magic supposes that the performer is to accost random passersby with the intention of performing magic tricks. If you think this is a wise and reasonable idea, consider the Borat movie, in which a New Yorker threatens to break every bone in Borat's body (admittedly for trying to kiss him, which in some cases may be preferable to another Attack of the Invisible Deck); indeed, Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) was actually punched in the mouth on the street last November by a man whose clothing he offered to purchase.
Not buying these admittedly extreme examples? Veteran busker Chris Capehart told me that if you try to walk up to strangers to perform a magic trick, "People freak out." The art and craft of the busker lies not only in his ability to get people to pay for the privilege of watching - but to bring the audience to him.
3) Material
If you look over the kind of material that is sold across the Web as street magic, you will discover a wide range, but most seems to fall into two (admittedly highly approximated) categories. The secondary catalog seems to consist of standard magic tricks, often renamed to conceal their origins or to match a trendier style of titling, along with utility items like D'lites, Thumb Tips, Sponge Balls, and the like. But the primary catalog consists for the most part of tricks that, while they fulfill certain marketing requirements, deliver very little in the way of effective magic. Many of these tricks are available for purchase via an immediate download: you provide your credit card information and seconds later the instructions are yours. Clearly, if you can simply download the instructions, then such tricks require a few simple materials - a piece of string, a spot of glue - that can quickly be assembled at home. And they are, by and large, relatively easy to do, so that the buyer can be encouraged - wisely or not - to try to perform them immediately.
Most of these tricks are accompanied by online streaming video demos, produced to imitate the appearance of a street-magic television special, complete with heavy-handed music and a graffiti-covered wall in the background. Denny Haney[2] often explains to his own customers that "When you download these tricks, they don't come with the music and they don't come with the graffiti wall behind you. You have to make your own graffiti wall!"
Above all, however, what seems consistent with the vast majority of these tricks is that they are short, fast, one-beat effects. There is no routining, there is no theatrical build, there is little if any presentation to speak of. This is "magic as stunts," to use Eugene Burger's terminology. "A stunt doesn't point beyond itself," Burger explains. Magic points to a world of mystery and the impossible; a stunt plays on shock value and surprise. This is magic that often borders on a practical joke, just as the short-lived television series mentioned above, "T.H.E.M.," essentially took a "Candid Camera" approach to presenting magic.
Searching through the net I found this really good essay on street magic. It is by the owner (I think) of a Magic Magazine called ANTIMONY. His name is JAMY IAN SWISS
Here it is -
In Search of Street Magic
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
"Ballad of a Thin Man"
Bob Dylan
Something is indeed happening, and if you're not sure exactly what it is, you're far from alone. It's called "street magic." But what is it? And for all the hubbub (and dollars) it generates - does it actually exist?
Street magic is being touted as a new kind of magic, a new form, a new style. Entire websites are devoted to the subject - entire product lines - and now, a new glossy magazine. And so, one is compelled to ask: Is there any there, there?
Your intrepid reporter - yours truly - has been trying to find out. While I claim no definitive opinions - and will offer several conflicting ones - here are the results of my labors so far.
What it isn't - an aside.
For sake of clarity, we should establish a definition for those who came in late. The term "street magic," until 1997, traditionally referred to magicians who made their living performing in public spaces and collecting money from the crowd. Jeff Sheridan revived this ancient form in the early 1970s in New York City, and many more have since made their mark in this world, including Chris Capehart, Jim Cellini, Gazzo, and others too numerous to mention. However, in 1997, David Blaine's first television special aired, entitled David Blaine: Street Magic, whereupon many things in the world of magic changed - some of which I intend to consider in the pages to come. One of those changes concerns terminology: Making your living on the street by attracting a crowd in a public setting and then "passing the hat" to earn money must now (or at least for the time being) be called by its older name, "busking," in order to distinguish it from "street magic."
We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.
I've spoken with a number of colleagues in the preparation of this essay. Author/publisher Stephen Minch asked me if street magic "is the new bizarre magick; i.e., a dream-chamber for amateurs rather than a genuine performance venue?"
Minch offers a provocative comparison. But what is a "genuine performance venue?" And is venue the only factor that defines a form or type of magic?
I have come to think that a specific form or type of magic - such as manipulation, close-up, mentalism, and illusions - or perhaps children's, strolling, platform, and stage magic - can be meaningfully discussed (and indeed demonstrated to exist) by dint of four facets. These are (in no particular order):
1) Performers
2) Audience
3) Performance material
4) Venue
A quick check of the examples cited above will confirm this analysis. Whether we talk about a type of magic based on its material, effects, and methods - i.e., manipulation, close-up, mentalism, and illusions; or based on professional venue, as in children's magic, strolling, platform, or stage - we will quickly acknowledge that the existence of these forms is specifically reflected by existing performers, audiences, material, and venue.
And so: Street magic, street magic - wherefore art thou, street magic?
Thou art a will o' the wisp.
1) Performers
By my reckoning, there are approximately five men of whom I am aware who currently make much or all of their livings doing street magic. These are, in approximate order of appearance on television: David Blaine, Derren Brown, Cyril Takayama, Criss Angel, and Marco Tempest.[1]
There is a longer list of performers who have generated television specials or short series that are not currently producing such material, including Chris Korn and J.B. Benn ("Mondo Magic," 6 episodes); Alain Nu ("Mysterious World of Alain Nu," 4 episodes); the short-lived "T.H.E..M." ("Totally Hidden Extreme Magic"); and a single special last year from Keith Barry. (Korn and Benn have subsequently shot further shows in Singapore for broadcast in the Far East).
It's very easy to tell that these men are contemporary street magicians: They perform surrounded by camera crews.
It is unclear to me that there are any other street magicians operating in the world today.
2) Audience
Defining the audience for manipulative magic, close-up magic, mentalism, and illusions - or for children's magic, strolling magic, platform, or stage magic - is an easy matter, and it is unnecessary for me to do so, since you can readily do it for yourself.
The audience for street magic is apparently found on the street. But unlike busking, in which the performer establishes a performance space (a stage of sorts) and then attracts an actual (reasonably fixed and paying) audience, street magic supposes that the performer is to accost random passersby with the intention of performing magic tricks. If you think this is a wise and reasonable idea, consider the Borat movie, in which a New Yorker threatens to break every bone in Borat's body (admittedly for trying to kiss him, which in some cases may be preferable to another Attack of the Invisible Deck); indeed, Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) was actually punched in the mouth on the street last November by a man whose clothing he offered to purchase.
Not buying these admittedly extreme examples? Veteran busker Chris Capehart told me that if you try to walk up to strangers to perform a magic trick, "People freak out." The art and craft of the busker lies not only in his ability to get people to pay for the privilege of watching - but to bring the audience to him.
3) Material
If you look over the kind of material that is sold across the Web as street magic, you will discover a wide range, but most seems to fall into two (admittedly highly approximated) categories. The secondary catalog seems to consist of standard magic tricks, often renamed to conceal their origins or to match a trendier style of titling, along with utility items like D'lites, Thumb Tips, Sponge Balls, and the like. But the primary catalog consists for the most part of tricks that, while they fulfill certain marketing requirements, deliver very little in the way of effective magic. Many of these tricks are available for purchase via an immediate download: you provide your credit card information and seconds later the instructions are yours. Clearly, if you can simply download the instructions, then such tricks require a few simple materials - a piece of string, a spot of glue - that can quickly be assembled at home. And they are, by and large, relatively easy to do, so that the buyer can be encouraged - wisely or not - to try to perform them immediately.
Most of these tricks are accompanied by online streaming video demos, produced to imitate the appearance of a street-magic television special, complete with heavy-handed music and a graffiti-covered wall in the background. Denny Haney[2] often explains to his own customers that "When you download these tricks, they don't come with the music and they don't come with the graffiti wall behind you. You have to make your own graffiti wall!"
Above all, however, what seems consistent with the vast majority of these tricks is that they are short, fast, one-beat effects. There is no routining, there is no theatrical build, there is little if any presentation to speak of. This is "magic as stunts," to use Eugene Burger's terminology. "A stunt doesn't point beyond itself," Burger explains. Magic points to a world of mystery and the impossible; a stunt plays on shock value and surprise. This is magic that often borders on a practical joke, just as the short-lived television series mentioned above, "T.H.E.M.," essentially took a "Candid Camera" approach to presenting magic.