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"James Brown does the material we all wish we had the nerve to do. Misdirection and spectator management are the real secrets to his work and he is an expert at both." Peter Wardell

INTRODUCTION

'I thought it might be appropriate for me to introduce these lecture notes with a
little preamble. Having spent the vast majority of the last 10 years performing
close-up magic to everyone, from royalty to the homeless, I have focused my
attention solely on misdirection techniques rather than clever sleights.
Boldness is the order of the day here! I enjoy the adrenaline rush that comes with
pushing the boundaries a little, testing the rules.
After some time I realised that, just like in life generally, fear is the only
thing that truly holds us back. I was lucky, I managed to put that one to bed a
few years ago.

How?
First I had to analyse what it was that I truly feared…
For me, like most magicians, it was getting caught! So let’s look at that for a
moment. We are not brain surgeons! No-one will die if we mess up a palm. There
is no collateral damage except to our own egos! So how do we deal with these
situations of ‘failure’ and how will this knowledge affect our performance in the
future?

Let us assume that the first kind of problem is messing up a move or trick… If
the audience doesn’t know what you are planning to do (and assuming you
have the chops to ‘get out of it’), as long as you DON’T TELL THEM you have
cocked up, they will NEVER KNOW! Never underestimate the power of ‘moving
on’. People are only aware of failure if you acknowledge it yourself. Think of the
magician who says, “You should have seen me practicing!” when we drops the
coin. Way to go highlighting a mistake! You might as well erect a neon sign
saying “THIS IS WHEN I COCKED UP!”

Most mistakes can be covered by saying nothing and moving on. Your
audience will not remember these moments of non event. They WILL remember
the moments you draw attention to.

Leading on from this are the times when the spectator challenges you with
‘seeing’ something - “You just turned over two cards”, or “I saw you put that in
your pocket”. What is really happening here? May I suggest that these people
fall broadly into two categories: The first are those who DID see something. These
are the people who may either be more perceptive than most, or who have some
prior knowledge of magic. The second are people who simply don’t want to be
‘fooled’ and will therefore claim knowledge by random guessing and/or by
telling everyone they knew what was going to happen and they are in no way
surprised or impressed.

Can I suggest that the same technique works with both… DON’T CARE!
The best thing to do in these situations is to remain fairly ambivalent.
“You just turned over two cards!” - “So I did!”
“I saw you put that in your pocket” – “Well done!”
You don’t leave them any where to go. If they push the point I usually say
something vaguely condescending like “It’s not REAL you know!” or my
personal favourite “Well done – Have a cookie*”
*Please note – I have a few individually wrapped cookies to hand to give to such
individuals.

NOW MOVE ON!
When you realise there is nothing to fear from failure/being caught you begin
to push the boundaries of ‘what is possible’. Some of the following routines are
born out of this mentality. Yes, you may get caught! But for all the times you
don’t and are treated to free drinks and advances by beautiful people… It’s
worth it!

CONTENT

TOCTP

A psychologically deceptive, double hitting, thought of card to pocket.

Caught 3 Times

3 spectators cards appear one at a time between two face up cards within the deck. Each time the spectator is holding the cards and letting their imaginations run wild!

Brainless Travellers

A reworking of the classic effect from Still Fancy a Pot of Jam? High impact magic for the confident performer.

Ahead and Under

Four of a kind instantly vanish from the deck and reappear ANYWHERE!!

Triple Whack

What Harris would have done if steroids were legal!

ITHwich

An in the hands sandwich with a hypnotic twist

Card on Ceiling

Ever thrown the deck in the air only for the pack to split everywhere? This method not only makes Card on Ceiling flawless but also give a new level of impossibility!

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This ebook assumes a good standard of card skill. It assumes you are familiar with the side steal, cull, and other basic sleights.