Karl Fulves

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Karl Fulves!

How can I end this month of winners. I chose to include Karl Fulves. This is straight from Wikipedia:

Karl Fulves lives in Fairlawn, New Jersey, and is a private person who has repeatedly turned down all requests for interviews. There is not much known about him other than his incredible output of magic literature. He has taught thousands of beginners, young and old, to perform remarkable feats of sleight of hand through the books he has published.

You probably own one of his self working books published by Dover. Karl Fulves has compiled so much magic knowlegde over the past years that is hard not to thank him for his hard work. Such a contribution is a true work of dedication to the art.

I don't know if he is a great magician but I am sure he certainly helped a lot of great magicians with an idea or two that made their acts great. I took so much of his work and made it my own. With little knowledge and creativity it is fairly easy to apply something that he wrote in "Self Working Rope Magic" and use it in your own complex rope routine.

I consider the importance of his work towards other magicians even greater than that of Michael Ammar and Daryl Martinez. Yeah he is that great.

And with this I end this month. Tomorrow it is going to be back in business. Tearing the veil from magic grace.

Whit Haydn

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Whit Haydn!

Whit Haydn is one of those guys who is just a joy to watch. His ideas are not ground breaking but his style is timeless and his performances are solid. He is a true magician... his stuff is strong for laypeople (as it should be) and well structured.



This is strong stuff. What else could be said? The audience is involved, the handling was nice, and the structure made even the palm almost self working, as it was done in the off beat.

Whit Haydn does the classics in magic. And he does them well.



But his character is what makes him so great. He is a con man, that is about to teach others how they get fooled by fooling them over and over. Such a nice premise. Again, not new, but Whit does it in such a way that he made this premise his own.

And that brings me to the most important aspect. He takes the classics and makes them his own. Gosh I cannot tell you how much Cups and Balls routines I saw following exactly the Vernon structure. I saw many rope routines who emulate Richard Sanders (even the out of place laughs), Francis Tabary or even the great George Sands. (Who would have been in this list of winners if he was still alive.)

And a great character, combined with solid performances who are designed to have the strongest impact on laypeople is what makes up a winner. Whit Hadyn... I really like you. Keep doing what you do.

Ricky Jay

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Ricky Jay!

Let me start by saying: I don't like Ricky Jay. Something about his charisma makes me feel uneasy. I cannot point my finger on what it is that makes me feel weird. Yet I have to admit, he really knows his stuff. And unlike a lot of performers he is able to just shut up.



Why is he a winner in my book? I stated that I don't like him. Well he is able to polarize. I know a few people who love what he does and there are a few who don't like him either. And that is a mark of a good artist in my opinion. I cannot say he sucks, all I can say is that I don't like him and that is poor on my part and by the nature of balance a great achievement for Ricky Jay.

His patter is well scripted, his effects are strong and his sleight of hand is well rehearsed. How can I not make him a magic winner?



So whenever Ricky Jay comes to my mind, another feeling, aside from dislike, crawls up. I call it respect!

Yo Kato

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Yo Kato!



Yo Kato is a magic winner. (Thank you Tony for your help with his name) I do thimble stuff myself, I know how hard it actually is. At least the sleights that he does. That is a display of dexterity that I like. Is it about magic? No! It is about being faster than one can think. And that is well accomplished in this case. And Yo Kato does it seemingly effortless.

I have this theory, that if a magic trick is easy to figure out, you can still show it if you don't give your spectators enough time to figure it out. And you do this by confronting them with the next thing they have to think about right after the first one. And you keep doing that until the desire to figure things out is conflicted enough with the inability to do so. Then, and only then the spectators will actually enjoy the performance itself, because they have stopped thinking about method.

This theory applies only to effects whose main method can be guessed within seconds of course.

So Yo Kato needs to be that fast in order to still be deceiving his audience. And being fast and not messing up by flashing or anything like that is worth a winner title in my very humble opinion.

Jochen Zmeck

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Jochen Zmeck!

If you are a German I probably won't have to tell you who he is, to the rest: Jochen Zmeck is the author of a magic book called "Handbuch der Magie" (Handbook of Magic) which is the must have title in Germany. In a way this book can be compared with Harlan Tarbell's "Tarbell Course in Magic."

It covers pretty much every facet of magic and contains many, many principles which are used today. As old as this book maybe (1979) it actually is interesting to see how this book held up. The book is intended to be read by laypeople, therefore it is a really good book to start with.

Almost all recent German magicians grew up with this book and it's teachings. So all the German magician you might have encountered (Topas, the Flicking Fingers, Alexander deCova or Dirk Losander) encountered Jochen Zmeck during their magic life. That is why he has such influence, that is why he is a magic winner.

David Blaine

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: David Blaine!

Hold on to your sanity... yes, David Blaine is a magic winner. I guess I don't need to link to any YouTube videos on this one. You all know him.

Unlike many magicians he seems not to boost his ego by saying how great he his, for whom he performed and how many prizes he won. He has managers who do that for him. He is one of those performers who doesn't need a fully blown script, whose patter feels amateurish, yet he is able to captivate a whole audience. How come... my humble theory: to laypeople he is genuine. He seems like a real guy who happed to do magic. And I am not saying he does tricks, no he does magic.

David Blaine is exactly the character one would have the belief that he could be the real thing. He seems modest, doesn't jump into the spotlight once the magic effect is done and doesn't talk a lot. He simply does magic and then shuts up.

Well we all know why he does it. In order to get bigger reactions, but still that leaves a good light on him. In a real bizarr way he seems larger than those who point to themselves after the effect saying "Look at me, I did this, I deserve applause."

An Ha Lim

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: An Ha Lim!

I have seen many, many manipulators and almost all of them had one thing going on: They were not having fun. At least not as they were doing all the manipulations. You could can see their faces, you could see that they are hoping that the next load won't flash or that the pull doesn't get caught on the way to the secret place.

An Ha Lim, a Korean manipulator seems to have a lot of fun. A small little man with loads of energy.



I am not sure if this happiness is fake. I heard quite a lot about Asian and how they are drilled to be friendly, happy and good. (in the arts that is) But whatever the case might be, I like his performance, I like his demeanour and the fact that he seems to explode with energy. Too much to be contained in that little man.

He is a winner! On more than just one level. Just another note on card manipulation. Lot's of manipulators seem to think that once the cards are in proper palm they are invisible. No they are not it is quite easy to figure what is going on and from where the cards are coming from. The only way to get around that issue is to do it fast and to produce a lot of cards. That way the hide and seek aspect of the routine becomes trivial and focus is directed towards the sheer amount of cards being produced. I think An Ha Lim understood this as his routine really is not about hiding the cards that much as it is about producing them gracefully.

Mac King

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Mac King!

Mac King is one of those performers who just feels like a regular fellow. A normal person who happens to do some magic. And that is I think what makes up most of his character. A fairly calm show without large illusions, lasers and music by Phil Collins. When Mac King performs I cannot help to imagine my uncle doing this sort of stuff at a family reunion.



Yet, the stuff he does is executed in a most perfect fashion. he has got the sleights down (the few he uses) and that is a contrast that I think works great. That is why Mac King is a winner in my book.

Barry and Stuart

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Barry and Stuart!

A few years ago I stumbled across Barry and Stuart. A YouTube video of a nice little routine involving a Rubik Cube.



They were funny, and the routine was well thought out with a weird twist. It was a multi layered premise with a philosophical touch. A look into a demented mind. I was hooked. This was far out in terms of presentation.

And the more I saw of there stuff the more I got into loving the approach of those two magicians from Aberdeenshire Scotland. They have a dark twisted sense of humor, the routines involve blood, mature themes and swearing. Awesome stuff.



I know quite a few magicians who don't like Barry and Stuart. When asked why they couldn't tell me why. My guess jealousy! Because Barry and Stuart did just a little work to tweak common tricks to make it their own. Not a great amount of work. Something everyone could do... if they would have done so. But they didn't, so they look at Barry and Stuart and see their own failure. Is that the fault of Barry and Stuart? No!

Both these guys are winners. This is what grown up magic should look like, this is what I like.

Tom Verner and Janet Fredericks

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Tom Verner and Janet Fredericks!

This husband and wife team is not up to par with the great magicians in the world. Yet what they do is important to some. Both are "Magicians without Borders" and they perform magic shows for children in refugee camps, orphanages and hospitals around the world. Often in war torn places where love, laughter and magic are desperately needed.



They do magic for a reason. And that reason is not money, nor is it fame. And that fact should be noted. It is a good thing that some still see the magic in magic. And that makes them magic winners, even though the routines are campy, cheesy and kitschy. To me the motivation makes it all up for it.

Cyril Takayama

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Cyril Takayama!

There a quite a few TV magicians. Criss Angel, David Blaine and Cyril Takayama who become "Cyber Celeberties" with videos of them performing all over the Internet. And often working for a camera one feels the need to overegg the pudding, by adding stooges, camera tricks, edits and post production. And yes even Cyril did it. But obviously he is also able to do an entire routine without going overboard without it being a card trick.



And that is quite a feat in the TV world. Also, he is quite creative even though not all is highly polished. I hope he keeps doing this stuff and doesn't go the Angel path of not being able to do any magic without any of the tricks mentioned above.

Cyril, don't fuck things up... so far you are good.

Denis Behr

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Denis Behr!

Germany has quite a few magicians that are really really good. Denis Behr is one of them.



Simple, direct and strong. That makes this a good effect. Since this is a live performance video one cannot see how highly skilled Denis Behr really is. On his website and his YouTube channel you can see a lot more video showcasing some techniques you may have wondered what they look like in reality.

Denis also made a really good contribution to the magic world. An online search function for magic books and effects. It is regularly updated and gets bigger and bigger.

I have never met Denis in real life, but I know him through his many contributions to magic forums. And those taught me a few things. First, Denis Behr knows what he is talking about and if he is just speculating on something he will say so. Second, He is incredibly helpful and third, he really is everything but lazy. I suspect a lot more is coming up... So look out for him, a true magic winner.

I really like this one:

Teller

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Teller!

The silent half of Penn and Teller deserves a mention on his own I think. He clearly is the better magician (I have not seen Penn do anything else but a card force) and he is skilled. And weird! Talk about unique ideas and such.



That card bit in the beginning is simple and direct in terms of method. What magicians would not like that? The rabbit thing is sick and keeps the audience watching even though it is a "stupid sucker" bit.

Think about it: Teller took a classic in magic and took it apart to make it his own. And it surely is. Who else would have a motivation of the shredder in order NOT to hear him talk. Just Teller who's big gimmick is not hearing him talk.

I turned this around thinking, what can I do to make my tricks my own in such a way, that everyone who copies it needs to change it? That is why I like Teller, that is why he is a magic winner.

Chad Long

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Chad Long!

Shadow Coins
Close Up Magic

If you watch both videos, you'll know that Chad Long is a highly skilled magician. He knows how to handle an audience, he is funny and likable. In terms of character he is not very magical. He belongs in the category of a jester. And that is a good thing. I have seen so many magicians who try to go for that magic moment so desperately that it just become ridiculous and painful to watch.

However, watching Chad Long perform is just a joy. You can clearly see that his audience is having a really good time. And isn't that what a paid performance is all about?

His pacing is quick, the "time effect ratio" is really dense and those two point make sure the performance is not boring. I have seen many magicians who spend 5 minutes for an effect. Close up! It might be a killer effect, but wasting 5 minutes on it is bad. And doing walk around magic this sort of stuff that I just mentioned is unthinkable.

Chad does it correctly, that is why Chad Long is a magic winner and why he is among my April list of winners. Kudos to you Chad, keep on doing that.

Marco Tempest

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Marco Tempest!

It is easy to see what parts are hand made and which parts are enhanced:


You see, the technological aspect didn't harm the magic, it just enhanced it a bit.
And this is something, that Marco Tempest understood well. The marriage between new age technology and old school magic.

I really cannot think of an magician who did that well. Andrew Mayne, Chris Kenner and even Penn and Teller have created iPhone apps that really are not up to par with what Marco does. He seems light years ahead of them.

By the way: I got an idea for an iPad app (those things are not on sale in Europe until late May, stupid shit :-( ) and here it goes. A card is shown (let's say the 8 of hearts and placed on the iPad) underneath the card an animation is showing, how the pips are torn off, maybe floating around then the little hearts are turned into clubs and then painted black. In the end the pips float back under the card, the card is turned over and turns out to be the 6 of clubs or something.

I really like what Marco Tempest does.


he is doing what we imagine a real magician could be doing. Damn....

So is he the future of magic? I hope not, I don't wanna see copies of him floating around the Internet. I hope Marco stays unique with his stuff.
Marco, I declare you a magic winner.

David Williamson

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: David Williamson!

He is a magical prodigy, no doubt about it. No hard work at all, he just is able to do that. His sleight of hand is above average, his ideas are creative and he actually enriched the magic world with his Striking Vanish. Watch this really old matrix he did. Pretty classical, but already with the Williamson touch:



And he is really funny too. Sometimes his "funny" over shadows his magic so much that the "vampire effect" takes place, that people kind of miss out the magic because they had so much fun. This is stuff that we mere mortals that we are do not have to deal with.

It is kind of hard to not make him a winner.

Tonny van Rhee

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Tonny van Rhee!

I never had the pleasure to meet Tonny van Rhee, even though Belgium is very close to Germany. But I have come across his magic influences which seem to be all over the place. 3 years ago a magic friend from London showed me a little trick with a pencil. I was amazed and I agreed that this trick should be cherished as it is strong stuff for laymen, but unfortunately easy to see through by magicians. Therefore this trick would easily end up on YouTube making it as "popular" as the 21 card trick. So I will not mention the effect at all. I was told this trick was originated by Tonny van Rhee who applied this particular effect to pencil.

So I got interested. Who is this Tonny van Rhee? Turns out he is an old magician who was more than busy over the decades. I would even almost go there to say he is one of the most under appreciated magicians out there. Sure his stuff is not difficult, but most of us will love that fact. The routines I saw are well constructed, well structured and well presented.

I was not able to find a none demo effect of Tonny van Rhee on the Internet, which is a bad thing. If you are into structuring your routines you will like Tonny van Rhee's thinking process.

So is he one of the best magicians? No! But he sure knows how to take easy stuff and make it strong. In a way he is the opposite to Jay Sankey, who is able to take difficult stuff and make it weak.

Rudy Coby

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Rudy Coby!

The coolest magician on earth. Talk about outlandish style. Talk about unique, talk about being back. Last year Rudy Coby made his comeback to the magic scene. He has quit because he was - among other things - super pissed off at the magic scene. About others who stole his act.

Rightfully so. If you have an act that is tailored to you and someone else uses it I guess I would be pissed off too.



As you can see Rudy Coby, is creative, funny and so much out of the usual "pick a card and remember it"-scene. And that I like.

So Rudy, you are a magic winner, ergo you have one spot right here.

Simon Drake

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Simon Drake!

Simon Drake is one of the few who really thinks about characters and their "choice" of effects.

The elegant, mystical gentleman, who has to pay a price for doing magic:



The baroque young hell of a chap who dares to play with destiny:


The devilish psychopath, who goes beyond the limit of the common taste.


Yes, Simon Drake knows how to create every single character, how to choose the correct effect and how to present them. Aside from all of that he is a terrific magician who dares to takes paths that so many of us do not dare to go.

Will he reach every possible audience with this kind of approach? Of course not. But this is not the goal. He doesn't do magic "for everyone" resulting in half assed mediocrity, but does a really good show for those who appreciate what he does.

Simon Drake you are a magic winner. Chapeau!

Harry Anderson

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Harry Anderson!



Enough said?

Seriously, Harry Anderson is one of my favourite magicians. His character is "Harry the Hat" a con man with a wicked sense of Humor. I am sure that quite a few people do not think that he is funny, but he is entertaining as hell.

I recommend the book "Wise Guy" by Mike Caveney about the magic live of Harry Anderson. His early years, his shows on streets, fairs and at Universities. Also about his appearances on Saturday Night Live and of course Night Court.

Harry Anderson is not only creative (both close up and stage) but also understood the importance of a signature piece. In his case it is the needle through the arm. When I hear about the needle through the arm I think of Harry the Hat. Who else can claim that?

Harry Anderson is a magic winner. And a pretty successful one I might add. He is one of the few magicians people might mention when asked to name all magicians they know.

Only Smart people think that he is funny and entertaining, while dumb people think that he is over rated. YOU are a smart person, Right?

Lennart Green

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Lennart Green!

He seems chaotic, yet he is skilled. In terms of method he rather does his own stuff (which suits his character a lot more) than rely on classic card techniques. He is funny, quirky, likable and overall a really enjoyable character. You would wanna meet this men even outside of any magic frame. Take a look his appearance at TED.



He doesn't go for any magic moment, that so many magicians seem to strive for. He is just there displaying his skill (or lack thereof) and having a good time. And that is projected towards the audience who thoroughly enjoy his appearance.

Seriously think about it. When was the last time you saw a magician on stage having a good time? Not doing any cheap stock jokes or doing it ultra serious as if he was about to do real magic?

That is why Lennart Green is a magic winner. He might take magic seriously but he doesn't take himself so god damn seriously. He seems to be a guy who can laugh about himself. And that is more important than being able to do a perfect pass.

David Copperfield

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: David Copperfield

I guess I do not need to explain who he is. But I feel the need to explain why he is a magic winner. First of all, he is really, really good. He knows whom to ask for advise, he is able to take advise and he is still developing.

Let me elaborate on that last bit. I have seen many, many magicians. Some are good, some are bad. And most of them stick with their age. They started doing magic when they were young and even as they get older they still pretend to be young.

David Copperfield managed to reinvent himself pretty much every 5 years or so. He started out as a commercial magic whore for ABC, then well done classics, then scenic magic, then bigger illusions, then mega ultra big illusions, then he got into the smoochy phase, then away from the boxy props and now more and more comedy.



Most magicians seem to fail to adopt their magic to the trend of the current time. They stay with their age. That is why David Copperfield is a Winner in my book.

Eugene Burger

Image by Richard Faverty



It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Eugene Burger!

If you love Santa Clause, you gotta love Eugene Burger. If you have not come across this deep, deep voice with a man attached to it, here is a brief glimpse:



His technical skill is moderate at best, nothing ground breaking. But his presentational skill is just awesome. I know a lot of other magicians who copy Eugene Burger exactly and fail. Kind of hard to copy a presentation that is so tailored to a specific man.

And why is that so? Because Eugene Burger actually thinks about presentation. And he does this on a level that is such much beyond most of us nerds. He wrote many books about it. The one book I suggest is "Mastering The Art Of Magic" by Eugene and published by Richard Kaufman. It is a really good read with quite a few interesting thoughts on the art of magic.

And by interesting thoughts, I really mean the deep shit man.

And people like him are rare in magic.

Al Schneider

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Al Schneider!

You wanna know who's awesome? I tell you who's awesome. Al Schneider, he is awesome.

And here is the thing. I don't even like his magic. But it is well thought out, strong stuff.





As you can see, his patter is not really a thing of beauty, but damn this is strong stuff. His moves are deceptive and his style is very elegant and old school. He such a great thinker. I suggest you take a look at that man.

While I cannot imagine myself doing any of the stuff he does he might have something for you. It may be a move, a finesse, a subtle feint or even a whole new concept to think about.



Here is what I like: He gets to the point. He actually does what he is supposed to do. Doing magic. And not just talking like MOST other magicians I know. That is why Al Schneider, who's magic style I don't like, is a magic winner.

Kudos Mr. Schneider you are a cool dude.

Dani DaOrtiz

It is April. In celebration of this blogs one year existence, the whole month will be winner time. Only the coolest and best members of our elite circle of nerds will be featured.

Today: Dani DaOrtiz!

This fine fellow is a terribly entertaining card magician. I do not speak a lick of Spanish (or whatever language he speaks) yet I do enjoy his performance. It is fast paced, hard hitting, playful stuff.

Seriously, watch this:


Six really good minutes of card magic. It is not just the tricks, it is his personality. Sure as a magician you can see what is going on, but that makes me appreciate the structure of his routine even more. That Jazz like quality, that impromptu feel. I seriously urge you to look him up on YouTube, it is well worth the time and effort.

He is such a good performer and you can see and hear that he has a good time doing what he does. His joyful appearance is not fake but genuine. And this pretty much sums up his character. "Genuine"

I also love that he doesn't treat every effect (and there is a lot of them) like it is a miracle. He is modest, despite the fact that he is one of the coolest magicians out there.

Damn I need to grow me some hair.

I cannot praise that guy enough. It is because of magicians like him that I have not completely lost hope.

Dani DaOrtiz, you are the man. Kudos to you, I fucking like ya!

I Suck At Doing April Fools' Joke

So here is none...