Wednesday, November 5th

The day's performance field trip didn't really yield much, just one performance of Dr. Daley's Last Trick for some guy in the magic nook as Tyler conducted a class. Meh. It got him, but... Meh. Still, I managed to talk him into buying a Johnson Copper/Silver/Brass set (where's my commission, TCMAC?) and got to see Fred demonstrate a whole bunch of stuff. Man can he talk a blue streak.

After that, Pat Umphrey came by the house and we ran through the reduced Dai Vernon Cups and Balls routine, and after that, we were given challenges of applying the principles inherent in the Cups and Balls template to a 2-cup and then a 1-cup routine. It's a bit tough to explain, as it relates to Tyler's pretty complex thoughts on templates of magic routines. Still, some interesting stuff came of it. After that, we went into the Benson Bowl routine, and it's amazing just how awkward the thing felt. Despite the fact that it uses balls, a wand, a big load climax and a loadable receptacle, it feels nothing like a Cups and Balls routine. I suppose that's obvious enough to anybody who's familiar with these routines, but for me... Just way out there.

Later, it was back to TCMAC for another lesson, got into the bill switch (Tyler's preferred handling is a combination of the Kowslowski method coupled with Roger Klause's ideas of half-steps), and subsequently messed up my cuticle. Given that I've got some bad habits anyway I think I might give it a shot from scratch working from the left hand. So many exercises that we've been doing have involved building up ambidextrous ability that I might as well put some of that new motor function to work.

After some basic practice later on we had a bit of a jam session, where Tyler whipped out as many of the card moves that he's worked on, refined, or invented as he could remember, and I think in the near future I might be able to pester him to get some of his work on film to upload to the world. He's conflicted about it -- on the one hand he understands that it would help his credibility to show that he can in fact follow up talk with walk, but on the other, he's always been a strong traditionalist about video, and how it can take something away from you almost permanently. None of this is for sure, but we might be able to get some shuffling and passing technique up. If we do... boy oh boy, will that be a treat, if only so that the guys in Vancouver Seven (and I guess any regular readers of this blog) will have an idea of what I've been talking about.

Finally, got to watch Don Alan's Greater Magic Library video. That was nice, as I'd never had the chance to see him work. The man sure can throw a lot of show at you in a short time.

Coming up soon will be a discussion on pre- and post-performance priming that I think might be of interest.