DOES JAY USE OTHER MAGICIANS TRICKS?

Q. What or whose effects do you preform besides your own if any? Adam K.

J: I perform many effects that I did not create, though in most cases I've modified the handlings to suit my own style. They include:
Francis Carlyle's "Homing Card," John Scarne's copper/silver handling, Tenkai's "Two Pennies", several Brother John Hamman effects, the linking rubber bands from Tarbell Vol 7, and David Roth's "Coins Across." I have my own versions of many of these effects, but in some contexts the handlings created by the originator is a better fit, so I perform that one.

DRESSING RIGHT FOR THE GIG

Q. Some guys recently told me that it's okay to do a show in jeans and tennis shoes so long as the pants and shoes are clean.  What do you think? -Walt A.

J: It's all about personal style.  I have only worn tennis shoes when performing in the "street" (which I haven't done for years.)  At gigs I tend to wear casual dress shoes.  Then again, I regularly wear black linen SHORTS at casual gigs, especially in the summer, and plenty of performers would NEVER wear shorts.  Communicate with the host/ organizer and try to get a sense of the spirit of the event and what the guests will probably be wearing.  Many performers go with the rule of thumb that they want to dress "just a little bit better" than the guests.  However, most of the magicians and mentalists I have worked with all agree, if you are going to err, you want to err on the side of being a little too over dressed than under dressed.  If all the guests are wearing suit and ties and evening dresses, and you show up in jeans and tennis shoes, the organizer has a right to feel a little disappointed.  But always keep in mind your own comfort too.  That is essential for you to perform at your peak.

AVOID GETTING DIRTY

Last night. Walkaround gig, banquet hall, very friendly bunch of people. Made sure an announcement was made ("one of Canada's best sleight-of-hand magicians is with us tonight and he promises to steal nobody's wallet) and then had a great 60 minutes doing my thing. Then I crossed paths with Him.  I'm sure you've met him before. Not a shy guy dealing with his emotions by being a bit of a jerk.  And not just a guy looking for a little attention.  A mean-spirited son of a bitch who knows EXACTLY what he's doing. 

I walk about to the group, introduce myself and spot him right away.  I do a quick mentalist bit for one of the women.  Then do some of my one coin work (from REV COIN MAGIC 2.0.)  Then a friendly-looking guy asks to look at the US half dollar I'm using, but as I hand it to him the SOB grabs the coin, holds it in his outstretched closed hand and says, "Okay, bet you can't it now."  I look around at the group with raised my eyebrows, clearly expressing, "Is this idiot kidding?" Then without pausing a beat I go into my in-the-hands Triumph effect (BACK IN TIME) for one of the other women.  When I finish, everyone is suitably amazed, I thank them and start to walk away. Captain A-Hole speaks up, still holding out his closed fist, "Hey, what about your coin?" I stop and turn on my heel just long enough to look at him like he's a 4-year old and say, "It's only a coin."  Then I'm gone. As the old saying goes, "Don't wrestle with a pig.  You both get dirty and the pig likes it."

SLOW DOWN

The chances are very good that you perform your magic waaaay too fast.  Take your time. Relax. Every piece of information is important. And if you think a piece of information you are sharing with the audience (via gestures, words, etc.) is not important. Cut it.  Be ruthless on this front. Cut, cut, cut. And again, slow down.  You will seem much more confident and the magic will seem far more valuable. That's one of Blaine's great strengths. His. Very. Slow. Rhythm. It seems thoughtful, even mystical. Not only will a slower delivery help the audience focus and appreciate, it will also "open things up" in ways you never imagined.  As an old philosophical adage suggests, the things are not what is important.

It's the stuff between the things. Does this seem contradictory to the
idea of "giving each moment of magic it's due?"  Well then, it probably IS
inconsistent.  Which just reveals the limits of consistency. (Jay vanishes
in a cloud of smoke. Slowly.)


FORWARD MOTION

Okay, so on one hand I think it's key to be in the moment, to be goaless, to give each magic moment in an effect it's due.  Let it register with people. Resonant. Impact.  But on the other hand, momentum is also key.  A sense of rhythm or forward motion in a performance. A steady beat vs. a single beat.  For me, what helps is knowing the last effect I'm going to do for a group.  Now, I admit that I often don't know how many effects I'm going to share with a group until I'm with that group. Three?  Maybe just two?  Five (if it's rocking?)  But that's about the effects in the middle.

So I can still know I'm going to close with HOLY MOLY or PAPERCLIPPED or
INSEPARABLE. But with that knowledge comes kind of a theatrical responsibility not to rush to get there. And if I don't rush, but I know my closer, it can feel so reassuring and in fact, in a way, free me to really let each magic moment settle. Confidence. So important. "I know where we are going, but I'm not totally sure how we are going to get there." (That line just jumped into my head.)

SEEING AND BEING SEEN

"I see you see me." I think Sartre wrote that.  I also always remember the thoughts of Martin Buber regarding 'you' and 'I' and some third divine-like meeting place.  Sort of a third (shared) identity.  I love feeling MET. Feeling seen by someone else.  I also love feeling like I really SEE another.  For me performance is a lot about that.  Paradoxical.

The artifice of performance and how through it we can arrive at something "truer than the everyday." Drama is so cool the way it can inspire such powerful raw feelings.  Ultimately, now something like a book or a movie, a fiction, can help us get in touch with how we REALLY feel about being alive.  Magic is a part of that fiction-oriented community. A holy tool (a tool that makes life whole.)  But of course so much comes down to how we use that tool. In what spirit. (Jay gets TRIPPY!!!!!) Light the incense!! Hit the gong! Hey, are those wooden beads? Daddy-O!  Long live real tragic.

LET THEM IN

Sometimes I find it so disheartening the way the general public sees magic. They see it in such an unoriginal, cliched light.  And of course, we are to blame (if anyone is.) Let's keep screwing around with our presentations and approaches.  Let's lose the tired and typical ways of doing what we do. Most of all, let's trust our own originality.  I mean, we all ARE originals, we just have to work to access and express it more. For me, being as truthful as I can in the moment is a great way to do it. So avoid those full-length scripts, keep it to just a few lines.  Heck, maybe no lines.  Try to show someone a trick today without saying the stuff you usually say.  Shake it up.  You, them, magic.

Growing Up With Jay

Can you tell us a bit about where you grew up, school, early
memories of family life?

My earliest memory is of floating on my back in a wading pool, my mother's
hands are supporting me from below. I'm looking up into the face of lion
carved into the stone at the side of the pool and water is pouring out of
his mouth. I can hear the muffled, rumbling sound of the falling stream
hitting the surface of the pool. As a teenager I seldom showed my family
magic. The first time I showed my father a trick I was extremely nervous.
It was the classic coin trick "Scotch and Soda." I must have been twelve
or thirteen. Even though I repeatedly told him to not open his hand too
soon, he too was so nervous that he opened the wrong hand at the wrong
time. I burst into tears and ran out of the room. Growing up on a farm,
and having to do chores in the morning before I went to school I was
always worried that my clothes smelled like pig shit. I spent several
years along in my very plain, white-walled bedroom room practicing in
front of the mirror. Practicing, practicing, always practicing. I thought
I was relatively happy during those years, until my early thirties when,
during a session of guided mediation, the therapist suggested that I
imagine I was "back in my bedroom room on the farm." I was shocked by the
unexpected feelings of dread, sorrow and lonlieness that swept up from my
stomach to my chest. It was a real awakening for me.  I started to have a
better understanding of just how much magic has not only been a huge part
of my life, but also a way THROUGH my life. A remarkable modus operandi.

First "Close Up" Gig

Q: I'm going to perform my first close-up magic gig at this end of this month. Can you give me any useful tips or can you recommend any products that are specifically for performance? - John M.

J: Bring only a handful of effects to your first gigs (not a full suitcase!) Focus on five or six effects, max.  And because you are just starting out and will probably sometimes come across as less than 1000% confident, try to stick to EXAMINABLE props like an ordinary pack of cards, a few coins, etc.  Nothing sucks louder than starting a gig by having someone grab a gimmicked prop right outta your hand and discovering the gaff. (When I've had that happen I felt about 1-inch tall and wished to heck I had a few animal balloons in my pocket!) And stick to SHORT effects!  Less than 1 minute each.

So:

really practice a small handful of items so you know them COLD (and make sure to show them to your friends, wife, whatever.)  Stick to examinable stuff.  And then FOCUS ON THE AUDIENCE. And always remember that (and this is very important) you place MUCH higher expectations on yourself than 99% of the audiences you will ever encounter. That's one of the few good things about people generally not being "overly respectful" of magic. The pressure is off.  Stay loose and HAVE FUN!!!  They will respond to that every time!  Good luck!!

PS. As for product suggestions, I can't recommend HOLY MOLY, MERCURING or BIGGER FINISH highly enough.  Also, keep your eyes peeled for my upcoming releases, NAILED! and THE REAL WORK ON RESTAURANTS AND BARS. Both are perfect products for close-up/ walkaround conditions!

Jay

MAKING PEOPLE FEEL GOOD

I've been thinking a lot about the relationships I try to establish with
the members of my audience. Whether performing for 1 person in a bar or 8
people at a corporate banquet, I tend to focus on trying to make people
FEEL GOOD...

...about participating in the magic, about having fun with other people,
about meeting me, even about being themselves. I sometimes think of myself
as a "tour guide of the emotions" because -after performing a certain
effect or handful of effects for a long time- you get a strong sense of
which emotions each part of the magic experience tend to inspire in
audience members.

But I definitely don't try to stay close to "only comfortable feelings."
Guiding a shocked response towards wonder or laughter, or helping people
through shyness or even fear is all part of my nightly job and I've found
that the sooner I can inspire people to feel GOOD and even SAFE, the
sooner they will trust me to guide them into more unpredictable emotional
waters.

How do I inspire them to feel good? By LOOKING at them as much (or as
little) as they secretly want me to. And by LISTENING to them in a way
they seldom experience. Also by TOUCH. Of course, introducing myself as a
"magician" (complete with a sincere and reassuring smile) is a fine start,
as is a brief moment of magic, but that's only as an ice-breaker.

The next level of interaction and the far more subtle (and unconscious)
experience involves helping each member of the audience feel SEEN,
RESPECTED and APPRECIATED.

It's a rich and beautiful process, and in the final analysis much of it
comes down to trust. Paradoxically, only by trusting yourself to be an
effective, graceful and intuitive guide, will your audience trust you.