I had the great honor to sit down and ask Oscar Munoz a few questions about magic. Here is our little interview, I hope you enjoy!

Sean Clark: How do you practice?

Oscar Munoz: I Practice everyday. I have a set time in the day just like I have set time when I workout at the gym. I write the line if it’s a talking piece and try them out in shows. If it does not get me the reaction I need I go back to the drawing board. I always adjust to my audience. If it’s a music piece, in other words, a silent act, I first get the routine down with music and all the moves. Then I blindfold myself and practice in the dark. That was instilled in me by my theater coach. Why, you ask? Well, it keeps you from thinking about the moves and allows you to concentrate on your emotions while connecting with your audience. I can go on forever talking about the subject. 

SC: Do you specialize in a particular kind of magic? Close up, Stage, Children? And why? 

OM: I do it all. Why, because I do magic as a living. I dabble in all types, whether it be close-up, stage or children’s show because i makes you a full rounded entertainer. I believe at the end of the day, it’s about entertaining your audience, magic is secondary in my eyes. You’re only as good as your audience allows you to be. Once the show is finished you start all over again, with a new audience. 

SC: Do you feel the internet is helping or ruining magic?

OM: I don’t think the internet is ruining the magic world, at least for me. You must remember it’s not about the magic effect, but the connection with the audience. You can’t get the human emotion from a computer screen. I think that if the magician is smart enough, the internet can be used for his or her betterment. I dont think that the internet kills the magician, I think that bad magicians or magic on the internet kill the magician. 

Thanks Oscar for taking time to set down with me! Please go check out Oscar’s Facebook page. 

Sean Clark: How do you Practice?

Cedric Taylor: As an Urban Entity, I must practice my patter.  For those who don’t understand what patter is, patter is a script that we must follow in order to set the tone for the finale of our main effect.  Its the equivalent as a stand up comedian remembering his setup for his punchline joke. My punchline happens to be the moment I tell a spectator what he or she is thinking.

SC: Do you specialize in a particular kind of magic? Close up, Stage, Children? And Why?

CT: As I stated earlier, I specialize in mental magic, also called mentalism. It’s something we all call mindreading. My act is usually suited for a strolling audience. I will adapt a lot of what I do to the stage. I generally don’t do children’s performances. From ages fifteen and up is what I strive for. Not that I hate children, I love children. It’s just my style is suited for a more mature audience. By mature, I mean those who would enjoy mindreading. Every now and then, I will find myself doing some card tricks for kids and stuff. 

SC: What do you think of Criss Angel, David Blaine, Lance Burton, Penn and Teller, David Copperfield, Mac King, or Amazing Johnathan? These are the faces of magic today, is there anyone that stands out for you and if so why?

CT: Wow! That’s a record for the longest wuestion ever! Isn’t it? HaHa. Well I love them all for different reasons. Criss Angel is a true showman and whether you like him or not, there is no denying his following. Kudos to Criss, besides I love his female demographic!

David Blaine, David Blaine, David Blaine… What’s not to love about David. He showed me that not all performances have to be done on stage. In fact he and Criss collectively made me want to take my performances to the streets. It’s no longer taboo. The one thing I dislike about them both are the fact they are so good, no matter what performance I do on the streets (Even if they have never done it before.), the general public will link you to one of the two. You have no idea how many “The Black Criss Angele” comments I hear. In a way that gets on your nerves but alls that shows you exactly what you need to do in order to seperate yourself from the two, whichs is why I’m a mind reader!

Lance Burton is cool, when I say cool this guy does his magic with such a suave presence. It’s like mixing Criss Angel with Hugh Hefner. 

Penn and Teller, WOW! They have by far the best patter I have ever seen. Their brians should be one day donated to science. 

Copperfield is who every magician should want to be. I love him for the same reasons I love Criss Angel and Lance Burton.

Mac King is really neat, his performance makes me want to be as smooth!

Amazing Johnathan, he’s a madman! What makes his performances insane are what makes him great!

Others who stand out to me would be Uri Geller, and a guy named Peter Turner. Let’s start with Geller, he made being paranormal cool. I like him for his motives or not, but Geller is my favorite performer of all time! He created a movement. That’s something very few performers can say. Plenty of guys has influenced an era, but no one has ever had the impact of Uri Geller. I liked the fact that he lived on the edge and was willing to put himself in some of the most compromising situations. And the fact that he took all that James had and still continues to fool people, is totally beyond me! Gellerism. Enough Said! Peter Turner deserves to be mentioned because he is a genius. He has literally told me his actual methods and still manages to fool me. If psychics were real, Peter Turner would be the best genuine psychic. 

SC: Wow, what a long answer! So, do you feel the internet is helping or ruining magic? With sites like YouTube, you can easily ruin a magicians hard work by revealing effects. Do you feel it helps the art to progress or is it slowly killing it?

CT: The interent in some aspects has ruined magic. If you take into consideration all that it has done for magic, then we could all live with it. I’ve seen guys career literally skyrocket because of the internet. It’s the ultimate marketing tool. YouTube has helped me as far as exposure to television executives, so i’ll be grateful! Like I said, earlier if you take into consideration all of the good vs. the bad, we could all live with it. 

SC: Do you do this professionally?

CT: How, nice of you to ask. The Urban Entity is a name that i’ve adopted and something that I struggle to live up to. In my mind, I wanted to be the closest thing to The X-Men’s Charles Xavier and Magneto combined. Thus The Urban Entity was born. I” a;ways be a street performer. I want to do for mentalism, what Blaine and Angel have done for street magic. Because I admire Uri Geller’s style so much, I feel b adding all of that together and using my character. I know I could truly become something special!

So I was contacted by the producer of the show Pawn Stars. He was interested in a antique pocket watch effect that I have. Then he asked if I could perform it on the show! Of course I said yes, and then we talked more…super nice guy! I have been practicing this effect and hopefully will have a video and/or pics for my blog. I will keep everyone posted. 

Effect:

An envelope is introduced. You establish that it’s contents will prove important later. 

A deck is introduced, and your spectator selects a card. You ask them if their selection could be a part of a particular poker hand what hand would that be? (ex. flush, straight, full house, ect…) 

A hand is named, and the envelope is opened to reveal four cards from another deck. Those four cards plus their selection make up a five card poker hand, but not any poker hand — the exact hand the spectator just named!

This is a super direct, straight forward effect with an ultra simple methodology that’ll leave you speechless. The effect you create seems so free and so fair there is no feasible explanation but that you do posses the skills you claim to.

This is an amazing mentalism routine with a gambling theme - A very in vogue subject at the moment.

- Any hand can be named.

- No linguistic or psychological forces.

- No extra cards or gaffs are left inside the envelope.

(PDF download available; see below)

Review of effect:

I personally do not usually do poker style magic. However, this adds the element of mentalism to it and I was intrigued. Branden said the name was inspired from Luke Jermay’s Room 101 (also a great trick). His effect was later updated and re-named Koran’s Medallion, both are fantastic pieces. I suggest looking into both effects if you don’t already have them.

The PDF given is very well written and illustrated, with great directions. Branden takes you through the steps of this mental miracle with ease. I found it very understandable, even if you are not comfortable with poker style effects. The prediction is strong and not convoluted at all, so the people watching will not get lost or confused. The only problem I do have is if you start doing the effect and the person watching has no clue about poker hands. If this were the case, the magician would have to explain more in the beginning and might loose watchers interest. Other than that, this is an incredibly first-class example of mentalism! The idea/name came from Luke Jerermy’s Room 101 (also a great trick). Room with a view is, to quote Branden “a very direct, and powerful, piece of mentalism”. Check out the link for more information on how to download your own Room with a view! This is available through www.mindlapse.net 

Room with a view: http://www.mindlapse.net/products/room-with-a-view

Jason Escape is one of those illusionist that will blow your mind. He has been attempting to escape from things since an early age. Jason has been all over but he calls Boston home, that’s where you can find him doing some amazing stuff! And making magic a world of his own. I got the opportunity to ask him some questions! I am so thrilled he took time to talk with me.

SC: How do you practice? 

 JE: I am kind of manic. I like to do many things at once. I will be reading several books, having a sitcom on in the background, a deck of cards nearby, my pendulum, pencils and paper, a notebook and whatever else I am working on that day. I go back and forth between many things. I have many notes open on my computer and work back and forth consistently. This method works for me.  Of course there are long time periods where I need to focus in on specific routines and ideas.

 SC: Do you specialize in a paticular kind of magic? Why?  

JE: I perform intuitive magic. I have put away my magic tricks and work with my intuition and intuition of my audience. My goal is to do it for real.  I accomplish this by tapping into my inner knowing and the energy that I get from the universe. This is what I truly believe. This intuitive magic and the intuitive readings are very intimate and I enjoy that interaction with people. I also am an escape artist and perform daring stunts around the world.  The stunt that I perform most is the inverted straitjacket escape.

SC: What do you think of David Blaine?  

JE: I think David Blaine is a excellent performer.

SC: Penn and Teller?  

JE: Penn and Teller have taken stage magic to a new level and continue to push the medium to its fullest extent.

SC: David Copperfield?  

JE: David Copperfield tweeted me on Twitter, well actually he replied to me on Twitter. He seems to be a nice guy.  His stage illusions are amazing.

SC: These are the faces of magic today. Is there anyone that stands out for you? if so why? 

JE: I do not really follow the current trends in magic. I am kind of in my own world when it comes to that. I have many friends who are very into the magic scene and that seems to keep me connected enough. I truly love magic and love watching great magicians.

SC: Do you feel the internet is helping or ruining magic? sites like youtube can easily ruin a magicians hard work by revealing effects, do you feel it helps the art to progress? or is it slowly killing it? 

JE:  David Blaine had a recent performance where he did some very basic routines that anyone could find on the Internet yet he continues to entertain people with the WAY that he does it. No one seems to care that you can find his secrets on the Internet. He doesn’t seem to care either.  No one ever questions the WAY that I do my intuitive magic and no one has ever told me that they have seen it on the Internet.

SC: Do you do this professionally? 

JE: Of course.

Check out Jason Escape on his website 

Check out Jason on Twitter

Mario Marchese is amazing person and magician to start off! He is an inventor of art in his own unique way. An interview is coming up with him right here. Before the interview debuts here, I wanted to introduce you to his creative inventor side. I call him the inventor of art. Suitcase Machine is a combo of magic and art. A must see site dedicated to his craft of amazement. You need to check it out because more people need to more of Mario. If you want to learn more about Mario, check out http://www.mariothemagician.com/. An amazing interview coming soon in mean time check out his sites.

I had the chance to sit down with Street magician/illusionist Johnny Daemon this week and I ask him a few questions. Johnny likes to be known as the Psychological Illusionist, a creator, performer and consultant. 

“Magic isn’t something physical. It’s an emotion you felle, like happiness or excitement. It’s a combination of seduction and disorientation, and as real as anything else in the world.” Daemon says.

SC: How do you practice your magic?

JD: Well I perform so much now, my practice time is when I perform at bars and other low end places. 

SC: Do you specialize in a certain type of magic?

JD: I love mentalism and mindreading the most, because I think there’s so much more you can do with presentation and it impacts people a lot stronger when done right in my opinion.

SC: Up-Close or Stage Magic? Children Magic?

JD: You’ll never see me doing stage illusions like you’ve seen guys like Copperfield, Jeff McBride and Franz Harary doing. I will never perform for children, period.

SC: What do you think of Criss Angel, David Blaine, Penn & Teller, David Copperfield or any other famous magician? These are some of the faces of our generation of magic, do anyone in particular stand out? If so, why?

JD: David Blaine, love him to death cause he popularized street magic and I really like the organic way he did it. Despite what people think Criss has changed the magic game forever. Everyone can argue that he isn’t as genuine as Blaine in his methods. That might be true, but when you consider Criss’ job is to make a quality TV program by any means necessary. With that being said I think he’s done a damn good job. Comedy magic is not something I support at all cause it takes away from the art in some ways and essentially trivializes it. David Copperfield is just the man; the godfather of modern times. 

SC: Do you feel that the internet is helping or ruining magic? With sites like Youtube which can ruin a magician’s hard work by revealing the effects. Do you believe it helps the art to progress. 

JD:   I think the Internet overall helps magic because you can market yourself and people can discover you all around the world from sites like YouTube and Twitter. When it comes to magic sites that market products, I think they should be a lot more secretive to the public than they are now and not let just anyone purchase from them. For example, at Eric Jones’ website he asks the question, “Who is the professor?” Before you can see the products. As far as revealing magic, there’s not much you can do for people commenting on your videos of how they think it works. Those who post videos of effects that they know are someone else’s work are scum in my opinion. On the other hand I don’t have a problem with basic sleights and techniques being shown, cause that’s the equivalent of books on magic at the library. But products and performances should never be publicly revealed. 

SC: Do you do magic professionally or amateur?

JD: I do this professionally, I perform 4-6 nights a week. 

SC: Where can fans connect with you at?

JD:  http://facebook.com/J.M.artistry.1

http://twitter.com/daemonartistry

http://youtube.com/JMartistry