Friends and Rubber Bands
Greetings. It's been a few weeks since last I wrote to you. I've had my head down like many of you, just trying to stay ahead of the floundering economy. I hope you are all still getting plenty of bookings and that the magic business is still going strong.
I recently received an email from a very old magic friend, Greg Solomon, from Florida. Greg and I first started exchanging mail back in the mid-80's when I was publishing my newsletter called Ruminations, Magic That Makes You Think! It frequently included challenges for magic routines, and subscribers were invited to send in their solutions. Greg sent me routine ideas as well as challenges of his own.
Like me, Greg loves to meander through toy stores and novelty stores and office supply stores looking for unusual things that could become props in new magic effects. When I finally met Greg, and his wife, Connie, it was in NY during a magic symposium. The three of us hung out and played with toys he brought along for a brainstorming session. We had a lot of laughs and came up with some good ideas.
A lot of time went by and about a year ago Greg reached out to me. It was like it was yesterday. We were both very happy to be back in touch, and the brainstorming immediately started like only a day had passed instead of 20 years.
Magic has blessed me in so many ways, but chief among them is the ability to make long-term friendships. My best friend is Eric DeCamps and even though we are miles apart, we speak weekly and exchange emails, too. He introduced me to Meir Yedid and for years Meir and I worked together on projects. These guys introduced me to other guys, and then my publications and columns yielded even more friends like Greg. I hope magic has blessed you in a similar way.
One of the recent brainstorms I got was when I started playing with these animal-shaped rubber bands Greg sent me about a year ago. I remember laughing when I saw them, and then put them away in my magic junk drawer (you have a couple of those, don't you?).
Then the other day the routine hit me out of the blue. That's the way it happens, right? So imagine you step up to a little boy and blow up a balloon so you can make him a doggy, but in the middle of your twisting, the balloon breaks. You don't have another balloon but you do have a rubber band. So you stretch the rubber band the way you would a balloon. Then you pretend to blow it up, stretching the rubber band as if it was getting bigger as you were blowing. Now, using a thumb tip, you switch the regular rubber band for one of the animal rubber bands (matching color). All you need to do now is pretend to twist the rubber band into shape, and then display the animal rubber band. Voila! Perfect for walk-around.
Until next time,
Steven
I recently received an email from a very old magic friend, Greg Solomon, from Florida. Greg and I first started exchanging mail back in the mid-80's when I was publishing my newsletter called Ruminations, Magic That Makes You Think! It frequently included challenges for magic routines, and subscribers were invited to send in their solutions. Greg sent me routine ideas as well as challenges of his own.
Like me, Greg loves to meander through toy stores and novelty stores and office supply stores looking for unusual things that could become props in new magic effects. When I finally met Greg, and his wife, Connie, it was in NY during a magic symposium. The three of us hung out and played with toys he brought along for a brainstorming session. We had a lot of laughs and came up with some good ideas.
A lot of time went by and about a year ago Greg reached out to me. It was like it was yesterday. We were both very happy to be back in touch, and the brainstorming immediately started like only a day had passed instead of 20 years.
Magic has blessed me in so many ways, but chief among them is the ability to make long-term friendships. My best friend is Eric DeCamps and even though we are miles apart, we speak weekly and exchange emails, too. He introduced me to Meir Yedid and for years Meir and I worked together on projects. These guys introduced me to other guys, and then my publications and columns yielded even more friends like Greg. I hope magic has blessed you in a similar way.
One of the recent brainstorms I got was when I started playing with these animal-shaped rubber bands Greg sent me about a year ago. I remember laughing when I saw them, and then put them away in my magic junk drawer (you have a couple of those, don't you?).
Then the other day the routine hit me out of the blue. That's the way it happens, right? So imagine you step up to a little boy and blow up a balloon so you can make him a doggy, but in the middle of your twisting, the balloon breaks. You don't have another balloon but you do have a rubber band. So you stretch the rubber band the way you would a balloon. Then you pretend to blow it up, stretching the rubber band as if it was getting bigger as you were blowing. Now, using a thumb tip, you switch the regular rubber band for one of the animal rubber bands (matching color). All you need to do now is pretend to twist the rubber band into shape, and then display the animal rubber band. Voila! Perfect for walk-around.
Until next time,
Steven
posted by Steven at
9:29 AM
