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.
I know.. I'm way, way late with my comment. Sorry, I missed this article altogether and while searching for something else I stumbled across it. Glad I did!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why you don’t like Al's magic, but I realize that we all have our own likes and dislikes. As for me, well I love Al Schneider's magic. Al is not one to beat around the bush; he doesn’t subscribe to the generally accepted performance aspects of magic today. He usually writes about spectators wanting to see one thing when watching a magic act: Someone doing magic! Plain, simple, and very visual magic. The kind that leaves people with a sudden blink of the eyes, shake of their heads, and their mouths agape in an unspoken "Wow!". Not the kind that takes 10 minutes to get to the "Wow" moment, but the stuff that hits them with the "Wow" right away. And then keeps hitting them again and again with visual, in-your-face magic. Nothing to make 'em ponder reality, but just make 'em sit back and enjoy; make them glad they are watching magic.
I hear too many magicians ruminate on purity in their magic. Using only the truest, traditional sleight-of-hand techniques. I like to use whatever it takes to give them a heaping helping of extremely visual magic! I don’t need to make them think about what just happened; just to enjoy it instead. And that has always been the kind of magic that I learned by watching and reading Al Schneider!
Thanks!
Jim