276: David Deeble - An Unnatural Talent

The "Long Beach Mystics" became an almost "mythical" group of magicians who grew to fame and notoriety in the magic world. Consider the names of some of these former members: Stan Allen, Mike Weber, Dana Daniels, Mark Kalin, Jonathan Pendragon, Kevin James and David Deeble, Wait...which name doesn't immediately pop out to you as being "recognizable"?

Well, in this podcast, you will see why David Deeble should be another name that you should add to the frontal lobe of your memory data banks. I admit that I had not seen David perform until the MAGIC Live! convention in 2013, but after seeing him there and later hearing his "story of recovery" at the MAGIC Live! 2015 convention, I became one of his biggest fans and it made me wonder where I had been for all these years.

David Deeble is hard to categorize but if I did put him in a box, I guess it would be a comedy juggler. But due to what could have been a life changing injury, he moved from being a conventional juggler. Perhaps that's why I had never seen him perform at a convention...okay, I'll leave the comedy to David.

Here is a taste of the humor of David Deeble recorded live at comedy clubs.

David Deeble tells about his time with the Long Beach Mystics beginning in 1980 when he was 10 years old. He also regales us with some fun stories "from the day" about some of the Mystics. He also talks about attending the 1984 Abbott's Get Together which, coincidentally, was my first Get Together, too. For a glimpse back into history, Click Here to visit an earlier episode of The Magic Word that contains the fun video discussed in this podcast.

Due to a unicycle indoor accident (when he hit his head on the door frame), he lost the use of one of his arms. As a juggler, a husband and soon-to-be-father, you can imagine how devastating it was and could have been on his career. But David decided to move on towards his goal and find other "unnatural acts" that he would do that no other jugglers were doing. In particular, he learned how to toss an olive into the air and catch in on a toothpick held in his mouth. Also, he tosses a billiard ball from his foot into the air and catches it in his eye socket!

David also talks about how he likes to be introduced, how to handle problems when something goes wrong in your act (i.e. dropping the juggling club, etc.), releasing tension with comedy, using "stock" lines versus writing your own lines, working on cruise ships, and more.

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275: Where Comics and Magic Collide with Jon Armstrong

Pow! Bang! Wham! - Poof!Whoosh! Flash! - Hocus Pocus! Abracadabra. Presto Change-o

Jon Armstrong is not only a pretty face in the magic community (among other things like being the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Academy of Magical Arts, Close-up Magician of the Year, Consultant to theme parks, film and television, headliner at Caesar's Magical Empire, and appeared on many TV shows including "Penn & Teller Fool Us" and other talk shows), but Jon is also a self professed "comic book nerd".

Jon visits ComiCons each year and is a sought after as a panelist discussing the confluence of "magic" with "comic books" or "graphic novels",

Magician Jon Armstrong (www.cardjon.com) performs his signature effect "Tiny Plunger" which Penn calls the most original card trick he's seen.

In this podcast Jon Armstrong talks about how art influences life and vice versa, how magic and comics intertwine and how and why we should wisely choose our selection of tricks. Basically, we should select those things that reflect our unique personalities rather than just buying the "trick of the hour" that just came out.

He also refers to a book entitled "Understanding Comics - The Invisible Art" and why it should be required reading for magicians. You can read the free PDF excerpt by Clicking Here or download the entire PDF by Clicking Here or just read online all 223 pages of it by Clicking Here. Jon discusses how he approaches groups to perform close-up during cocktail parties. And he talks also about "branding" yourself and how he does it.

Click on the image above for more information and to order your Tiny Plunger direct from Jon Armstrong.

274: To His Credit with John Lovick & Seth Kramer

And in this corner, weighing in with his side of the story...Handsome Jack!!

Toward the end of podcast #268 with Gregory Wilson, he levied rather serious allegations against John Lovick (a.k.a. Handsome Jack) as being "another piece of work". John posted a product review of Gregory's DVD set and pointed out several omissions of proper crediting to the creators of tricks taught on the DVD's. Since then, Gregory has (according to John) called him a "liar" and that his review was full of lies. John has made repeated requests for Gregory to submit the list of "lies" that were in the review. And, according to John, Gregory has promised on numerous occasions, both in person and in writing, that he would soon submit the list. Years have passed and the "list of lies" has never been submitted to John.

To this day, John stands by his review but has stopped "holding his breath" awaiting any such list from Gregory.

John Lovick talks about his product review and submitted it here for all to read. The edited was 1,000 words to fit in the magazine, but the original 3,000 word review is also attached in this link. In this podcast, John goes into minute detail listing the tricks in the DVD that should have been credited.

He goes on to point out some rather obvious problems with statements made by Gregory in the podcast that seem to contradict themselves. Moreover, relevant to the discussion of "thievery in magic", a few "character flaws" are pointed out so people can watch for these traits in others before they choose to share ideas with people who might "steal your ideas" or not credit you for your work/creation.

He also expands on the confrontation among Gregory Wilson, Rob Zabrecky and John Lovick regarding the providence of the A-B-C Lecture. Rob's testimony is read into the transcript as well, basically confirming the story as stated by Apollo Robbins in his podcast episode #270.

Following John in a much shorter recording is Seth Kramer who gives us the chronology of when and where his card moves have been printed which predates the un-credited version that were published by Gregory Wilson. Although Seth sent me the documents published in the magazines mentioned in the podcast ("Apocalypse" and "Ruminations"), I chose not to link those articles as they contained explanations of secret methods.

2016 well underway but it's not too late to get your new year magic wall calendar. Mine is hanging next to my computer and I love it. You can support The Magic Word with your purchase and if you have Amazon Prime, then shipping is free!