"Street Magic".. THoughts.

[mrpopular]

After watching the most recent BBliveshow I was Just curious on what my fellow Scam school classmates (and teacher) think on the street magic performers.

2 of the bigger names I can think of

David Blaine
Who obviously seems to have changed his game from "street magic" to huge stunts like being underwater for -- Days
http://www.alexshalman.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/david_blaine.jpg


Criss Angel - Mind FREAK.
HE can walk on water, be run over by a steamrollers.... Or it's just well placed camera angels, with multiple takes??
http://www.cs2.org.vt.edu/beeks/spring08/mackenzie/criss_angel.jpg

Just curious who out there is Fan or foe.

[shwooddotcom]

I think this is a really interesting thread to start, but with everyone's permission, I'm going to wait for a few postings before I share my opinion. I'd love to just hear what you guys think before I re-color things.

[murphy1d]

"Up-Close" magic is awesome.

Dressing in Emo-wear and acting like the 3rd or 4th coming, is not.

[mrpopular]

My views are like Murphy stated. Whenever I see the up close stuff where the people are right next 2 the performer. When I saw Siegfried(sp?) & Roy although I was amazed with disappearing elephants, the entire time I wished I had a better view of the stage to see if I could find the trap doors etc... That's why I love that scam school close up style.. Now I'm sure Shwood can enlighten me on more then Blaine and angel. But when they get personal and do things up close things like change water 2 beer. I am blown away. It's the big stunts they do that all seem like a hoax.... A clever camera angle

[travislopes]

Criss Angel is definitely the real deal.

See:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxWMZPqqM7E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDBf_ZL_vKk

[xibalba]

Street magic can be entertaining. I still prefer comedy magic.

[esophagus]

Street magic is alright, but large performance piece street magic is BS. Specifically Criss Angel and David Blaine.

[happyhippyharry]

Criss Angel is incredibly fake and incredibly stupid.
When he "Walks on water" he is really walking on a special type of glass that can't be seen to the naked eye - He can see it through his camcorder

When he "Walks through glass" there is a shot of him tying his shoelaces. When he's doing this the glass pane slides upwards, leaving an empty hole covered with a piece of paper.

ALL his "volunteers" and "spectators" are actors
CRISS ANGEL IS FAKE!

[murphy1d]

Criss Angel is incredibly fake and incredibly stupid.
When he "Walks on water" he is really walking on a special type of glass that can't be seen to the naked eye - He can see it through his camcorder

When he "Walks through glass" there is a shot of him tying his shoelaces. When he's doing this the glass pane slides upwards, leaving an empty hole covered with a piece of paper.

ALL his "volunteers" and "spectators" are actors
CRISS ANGEL IS FAKE!

Thanks for the play by play of the videos posted above (which have play by play). But yours was nice too.

[xibalba]

Isn't all magic technically fake? Some sort of trick. :p

[happyhippyharry]

Isn't all magic technically fake? Some sort of trick. :p

I see what you mean, but what is the point of performing magic in front of people who pretend to be amazed?- REAL magic is having no actors pretending to be spectators

[xibalba]

Yea I get that. Still can be entertaining.

Can't forget about The Real Chris Angel. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2buJPsMNJK8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqm5-MfdjGE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOxvvSkT0h8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIe3eEMe6CQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNa8Kw8yBzE

[happyhippyharry]

Aww man - That one with the brick!

[astx813]

Isn't all magic technically fake? Some sort of trick. :p

Yeah, it's all trickery, but the difference is in the performance of it. "Real" close-up illusions (you know what i mean) tend to take a practiced skill, like palming, misdirection, or in some cases (like the Blockhead) a strong understanding of anatomy and such. These larger scale "illusions," with pre-rigged locations and seeded (or completely fake) "audiences" hardly take any skill to perform, just knowledge of the mechanics of the particular illusion. Sure, they look cool when performed, but deep down I just can't be as impressed as I am when a guy (maybe one with spiky hair?) 5 feet away from me makes something disappear or appears stabs something sharp through a part of his body. I meant for that to be a short answer, but apparently I couldn't get it out in one sentence.

[tokenuser]

I get no thrill from the Blaine's and Angel's of the world. Its a huge production number that is set up as a media event. The tricks are there to trick the TV audience, with cameras at the right angle, etc.

Like xibalba, I am a bigger fan of comedy magic.

Best magic show I ever attended was Penn and Teller. Comedy, great setups, and a sense of "how the hell did they do that" that comes from live stage shows.

Brian is a different beast (esp when channeling Mr Happypants). His magic is up close and personal - and Scam School is instructional, which I think makes it much more fun. I'd love to see him in a live show, and maybe one day our schedules will line up.

I'm in Vegas for a week at the beginning of March, staying at the Rio. Because of flights, I hope to fly in the day before and see Penn and Teller's show there (saw their traveling act in LA several years ago).

Because I will be at cocktail parties/receptions with clients, there are a number of tricks I want to break out while they are doing cigars ... I mightn't smoke, but with the human chimney, and the jack-o-lantern, I could have some fun with it as well.

[xibalba]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNQhtTfrdS8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMx3u2P8cp0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAhcLVJI0yM

[xibalba]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn1v1FEUHS8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQdqjv0DAVc

[mrpopular]

I interested on what Brians thoughts are.. seeing how he is possibly from a different perspective seeing as how he is the performer

[deanlol]

You know I like all the videos that have been posted but they have little to do with Street Magic. Some of them are stage magic and others are just parodies of magicians. I know many people have problems with David Blaine and Criss Angel but I don't think this should be a place to slam them.

In Brian's recent interview with Daniel Garcia one person was asking what did David Blaine do for magic. Daniel Garcia replied incredulously, "Only revolutionize street magic!"

No matter how much you may hate Blaine, he did make magic sexy again by taking it to the street and sharpening its edge so to speak. Blaine appeared shamanistic to laymen.
I mean for Christ's sake he was doing magic in COMPTON! How street can you get!?

When most people think of magic they think of a guy with a tux and tails, with a top hat, pulling a rabbit out of his hat. That conjures up images of a hack. Blaine appeared to be performing miracles.

And I bet a lot of magic dealers out there LOVE Blaine because their sales probably spiked after his broadcasts.

Personally I like street magic because it has a purity to it. There is no real stage and miracles happen right in the audiences hands (or ears, or mouths, or whatever). But to me the less gimmicks are used, the better.

Deanlol

[xibalba]

I posted those vids to prove my point comedy magic is better than street magic.

[deanlol]

I posted those vids to prove my point comedy magic is better than street magic.

Ok I see your point.

[hayz]

yes, chris angle and david blaine do a lot of fake staged camera tricks and huge scale things, but if you go back and look at their earlier episodes and sepcials before they became hugely known, its is blatantly obvious that they know their sleight of hand, are smooth, and are very good at the basics of magic. To me, this sleight of hand and impromptu tricks are the true essence of street magic.

[hogiewan]

I like the street magic stuff (and the comedy stuff - love the amazing jonathan). I liked blane when he first got popular, then he just got weird. I even figured out how to "levitate." Never really saw angel much, and never liked what I saw.

I really hate the 5 min montage of people with "amazed faces" after each trick, though.

[jasoni]

It just feels like those two guys are full of themselves. Some of the slight of hand stuff is cool but the big setup up tricks were you can tell they have done some of the things using editing sucks. Check out the Chris Angel video of him pulling a girl in half, two different crowds in the video, edited together to look like one trick.

[furai]

I think deanlol hit on some key points. Blaine's fame initially made a distinction between his illusions and ones that people seem to have disdain for, the larger scale put on, "knowing" they are being intentionally being fooled on an elaborate setups. People want to be fooled just enough that it doesn't seem one is taking advantage of them and their mind's stupidity. Just like being made fun of.

What makes an illusion magical is being astonished and awed. Having a stage with tigers and "knowing" its done with smoke and mirrors doesn't appeal like it use to, you know, before it became common knowledge and a euphemism. They still amaze and fascinate people. 10 days in a coffin? Walking on water? It's still part of that.

What made Blaine's creation powerful was the term best associated with him and his tact; guerrilla magic. Wow'ing people that didn't want to be wow'ed is truly amazing. It snaps them out of their boring daily lives and taps into the fresh view that children's eyes have. Creating this experience in a close-up condition adds to the enjoyment, what I'm most interested in learning to help procure some brew.

I've never seen a Sigfried and Roy show, I'm sure its worth seeing. I've seen some Copperfield and was impressed, just detached because of his grand scale on things and camera angles. Perhaps he wants to be the biggest and he is able to do things that other magicians don't have the resources to do. Criss does some wonderful takes on traditional magic, it's his edge. I enjoy it for the entertainment value.

Penn and Teller are phenomenal! Comedy is entertainment, might as well combine the two arts. Where do they even come up with this stuff, talk about imagination. I watched The Amazing Jonathan clips and he is pure laughter.The other vids with the Cody guy were new to me and I hope his show was in the late 80's/early 90's, quite humorous but cheesy.

Each are special in their own ways, they are the best at what they do. Illusionist are honestly about fooling part of you. We love Brian because he doesn't do it just at the audiences expense, he makes it fun then shares it. Would you reveal the secret to a trick that costs thousands of dollar and supports your livelyhood? Once you know how its done, it loses its magic and you can relive in your fascination by seeing it in someone else's eyes.

[xibalba]

Ruby Cody's specials were in the early 90s. He is relaunching his magic career because he was working with Marilyn Manson creating stage illusions for MM and stuff.

[travislopes]

I think that this whole Street Magic discussion would be a good topic for the next BBLiveShow.

[mrpopular]

I think that this whole Street Magic discussion would be a good topic for the next BBLiveShow.

That would be an awesome topic

[murphy1d]

That would be an awesome topic

...that he can discuss AFTER recording is over. Never burn bridges for the Chriss Angel La Cage Aux Folles!

[ephus]

I personally think slide is the best for the fact you can do it anywhere and with just about anything. Anyone who can tell you how they will do something, do it, and you still not see really how or when it happens, is a truly skilled magician.