Jay

What with all the “Top 5” book lists here lately I’ve been thinking about more books. Sidebar: We were dirt poor growing up, but we always had boxes of books we’d move from hovel to hovel. First thing we’d unpack each place was the books. Images of shelves and shelves of books populate my memories. My siblings and I still text each other the names of books or authors we think each other would enjoy. I love ebooks because I can carry my library in my pocket, but I will always have shelves of “real” books in my life.Here are…

A resource for mystery performers who do money effects.Back in the day I saw Gregory Wilson’s Hundy 500 and was so blown away I bought it and started to put together the trick. Went to the bank and got 5 one hundred dollar bills…Well, no.We didn’t have an extra $500 sitting around for me to turn into a magic trick. I thought about using $20 bills instead, even though it wouldn’t have the same impact, and while we honestly didn’t have even an extra $100 those days, I did it anyway.And then we needed to pay a bill, or buy…

Following are the timestamps for the Psypher tutorial video. This is for the online video, not the DVD version.Psypher Tutorial TimestampsPresenter: Nick Locapo unless otherwise specified0:00:00 - Introduction0:00:28 - Unboxing0:01:42 - The Psypher Material0:03:53 - Set Up the Sharpie0:08:26 - Sharpie + Material Together0:10:45 - Psypher Playing Card0:16:43 - Playing Card Setup and Peek0:27:10 - Performance: Thought of Name and Card Reveal0:29:45 - Explanation: Thought of Name and Card Reveal0:43:37 - Nick’s Peek Device0:46:05 - Performance: Birthday Reveal0:47:53 - Explanation: Birthday Reveal0:52:15 - Card At Number w/Mnemonica0:58:24 - Card At Number no/Mnemonica1:05:09 - Performance: Three Thoughts (Brent Braun)1:10:16 - Explanation:…

A look at what's coming up on the site...Back in the 1980s when I was a full-time magician most of the stuff I did was not original. The “magic to music” stuff I usually did to start the show was original, in a way, but I was still creating an “original” routine that consisted of tricks that others were also doing. And then the “talky tricks” were mostly from David Ginn books and the like. And I usually did them just as I read them.Sidebar: I don’t find anything wrong with doing that — buying a routine and performing it.…

Now, join the email list that will let you know when I’m performing next in the Phoenix metro area!Click here to get on the James Kagan Get Notified List!

Here's the Answer, No Matter What They Say on The Magic CafeNot every actor is a screenwriter, and we don’t expect them to be. Why should magic be any different? If the “script” is good, what’s wrong with a magician following it? What brought this on? In the recent past I got incensed reading a topic on TMC (yes, I should know better than to doomscroll over there).Basically, someone pointed to a video where a magician did John Archer's Magic Square "word for word" and many people had a cow. *GASP!*In general, a lot people had the feeling that maybe…

A fun close-up or parlor magic routine (with a mentalism flavor and an “OMG!” ending) that revolves around the game of chess!The Effect: The performer shows six square cards, each with the image of a chess board setup. On each card a different piece is missing — a pawn on one, a rook on another, etc. He then shows the backs of those cards and each is numbered from 1 to 6. Those cards are laid aside for now.A deck of cards is introduced and instead of playing cards on the faces, there are pictures of chess pieces, one piece…

Can you reframe a magic trick into mentalism? Sometimes...Yes, it’s Roy Walton’s classic trick where one card folded inside of another magically turns inside out.But was it magic, or did you use the power of your mind to accomplish that? (Seriously, if metal bending can be considered mentalism, then cardboard bending for sure could be mentalism. Couldn’t it?)If you don’t do Card Warp, download the PDF document below and give it a look anyway — it may spark some ideas for reframing some of the magic you do as mentalism.The content below was originally paywalled.Cardmindwarp81.8KB ∙ PDF fileDownloadDownloadPS - The…