Who's a Pro?

[homunculus]

Does anyone here do magic professionally, or are y'all mostly hobbyists?

I've done four professional gigs now. One a teenager's birthday party (that was the first I ever did); two shows for libraries here in Warwickshire, England; and one birthday party in a local wine bar (the music was so loud, nobody could understand my instructions - but it went really well considering...)

Just curious...

Paul.

[Voob]

Mark Lewis?
Peter S.?

[Richard G]

Retired. I used to table hop at the Red Onion, and other bars whos names I don't remember on Mission Beach in San Diego. That was my weekend work when I wasn't working for the U.S.N.

[Peter S.]

I've been a pro since 1977.

[homunculus]

I "know" a Mark Lewis who is a big fan of gaffed decks and optical shuffles, from another board.

He also enjoys bamboozling people with "psychic" chicanery (cold reading etc.)

That Mark Lewis claims to be the greatest magician in the world...

Paul.

[Voob]

He's here, mate.

[SteveW]

I was a pro for a while. I was out of work and bar hopped. Made pretty good money too from tips.

I did one kid's show. Man, never again!!!!!!!!

[homunculus]

He's here, mate.

Ah, good. I do hope you are all taking notes ;)

Paul.

[Mark Lewis]

I have never said that I am "the greatest magician in the world"
I am renowned for my modest and humble demeanour.

[Blondin]

I'm not a magician at all, although I once played one on TV (just kidding). I have a cousin who has done it as a paying hobby for about 20 years and no he has never revealed anything to me.

I was in San Francisco on business about a month ago and I went sight-seeing along the waterfront. I saw a guy doing magic and I stopped to watch him as I love good sleight-of-hand. He was doing the ring trick (among others). Do they still call them "Chinese rings"? Anyway, that is one of my favorite illusions because it is so simple and so baffling. I never knew how it was done though I had my suspicions.

This guy was pretty good. He was an older gentleman in old-fashioned attire and a big waxed white mustache. He did some cool card tricks and stuff which I really enjoyed. He kept inviting, make that insisting that everyone move forward, until we were standing right in front of his little table. He finished his act with the rings again and he was doing it right in front of my face. I didn't want to but I couldn't help but get a glimpse of how the trick works occasionally.

I still think he was doing a marvelous job but someone should tell him not to get people up there and do the rings right in their face like that. I can never look at the "Chinese Rings" the same way again.

I knew it must be something simple but not knowing exactly how it was done somehow made it more like "magic". Now it's more like "juggling".

I wish I hadn't seen...

[Brown]

I was "hired" (to use the term loosely) to do a spooky magic act at a Halloween party. Supposedly the act was to be directed to the kids, but it was actually the adults who were amazed by the tricks.

One of my tricks involved tying a knot in a rope, and then causing the knot to fall off the rope. One of the kids (about 7 years old, I guess) grabbed my rope, tied a knot in it, and pulled the ends really hard, thinking that pulling hard was what made the knot disappear. He ended up ruining the prop, of course. Adults know that you can't make a knot vanish by pulling on it, but I guess some kids don't know that.

One of my best tricks was an impromptu trick that I made up on the spot. As part of the Halloween party, the kids played a game in which they had to break balloons by sitting on them or stepping on them. Well, there was one balloon that resisted all attempts to burst it. Kid after kid jumped on it, and it just wouldn't burst.

"You're being too rough!" I said. "All you have to do is touch it very gently, like this...." I touched the balloon very lightly with the open palm of my hand, and it burst with a loud pop! Even the kids were impressed by this trick. What the kids didn't see, of course, was the open safety pin that I'd wedged between two fingers, with the sharp point protruding next to the palm of my hand. (The safety pin had been a prop in one of my other tricks.)

[ALEXANDRE]

I've been working as a professional mentalist now for some time. I perform mostly at private parties and corporate events/parties. I am also a Radio & Television Broadcaster nationwide.



ALEXANDRE
www.EyesandMinds.com

[Psiload]

Originally posted by Mark Lewis
I have never said that I am "the greatest magician in the world"
I am renowned for my modest and humble demeanour. Well, you may not be the greatest magician in the world, but you certainly were the greatest magician at the Jarvis Cornfest last August:

http://www.cornfest.ca/Program/sat%20aug%2021.html

Mark Lewis (Children’ s Magician)

Maybe you didn't draw the crowds like the Krazy Kanuck Kloggers, or the Pig & Duck races, but you sure wowed the kiddies, didn't you?

[Mark Lewis]

I understand that you wow the kiddies too.
However we can go into that another time.

[Dr Adequate]

Originally posted by Mark Lewis
I have never said that I am "the greatest magician in the world"
I am renowned for my modest and humble demeanour. Originally posted by Mark Lewis here (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=1870729564&highlight=greatest#post1870729564)
Furthermore I am one of the world's greatest magicians... When you realise what genius is in your midst I shall expect to see you all grovel appropriately.

[Mark Lewis]

Dr Adequate. I am afraid that you are inadequate.

You are posting things out of context and we can all see through it. Furthermore you do not appreciate humour. Perhaps you should get a sense of it.

Now do look carefully and pay attention to detail, my boy. When I refer to detail I am not referring to what you see in the mirror every morning. You ARE a detail, a mere one.

Compare the two extracts. In one of them I claim that I did not say I was the world's greatest magician. This is quite true. I didn't.

The second extract made this clear. Here I merely claimed to be ONE of the world's greatest magicians. Modesty precluded me from saying that I was actually the greatest. I did not want to seem egotistical.

Now do try to correct your inadequacies, there's a good boy.

[Dr Adequate]

Originally posted by Mark Lewis
I have never said that I am "the greatest magician in the world"
I am renowned for my modest and humble demeanour.
Originally posted by Mark Lewis
Furthermore I am one of the world's greatest magicians... When you realise what genius is in your midst I shall expect to see you all grovel appropriately.
Originally posted by Mark Lewis
Modesty precluded me from saying that I was actually the greatest. I did not want to seem egotistical.
That's a shame. 'Cos you come off as a ridiculous, preening fool, for whom boasting has become a substitute for the success which eludes him. A failed small time conjurer, a failed psychic, a failed con artist... and a legend in your own head.

Get a life.

[Mark Lewis]

And you come across as merely inadequate. As a magician you couldn't make the contents of an empty box disappear.

How do I know? I have seen you perform.

You are dull and have no conception whatever about showmanship and presentation.

I am going to see you perform again. I shall make myself known to you in person. I shall offer you a few tips out of the goodness of my heart. I rather think you need them.

[Psiload]

Originally posted by Mark Lewis
I understand that you wow the kiddies too.
However we can go into that another time.
http://www.world-famous.com/MagicHypnosisStuff/Magic%20Hypnosis%20photos.html/hypno3teaside.gif

Did somebody say, "Wow the kiddies?"

Hey, little boy... I'm Mark Lewis, the world's greatest childrens magician! Wanna see a trick? Watch... I'll make my hands dissappear down your pants!


Give it up, baldy. :p

[Mark Lewis]

I am not going to give it up. You are. However you will have to wait your turn.

When I am ready I will detail your entire life history here. Someone has been sending it to me. I have no idea if there is any truth in it or not.

I shall simply post it and let the rest of you judge the matter. However I think it would far fairer if I were also to post the matter on usenet so we can get a more objective view of the matter.

There are rather too many of your immature friends here.

[CFLarsen]

Originally posted by Mark Lewis
I am not going to give it up. You are. However you will have to wait your turn.

When I am ready I will detail your entire life history here. Someone has been sending it to me. I have no idea if there is any truth in it or not.

I shall simply post it and let the rest of you judge the matter. However I think it would far fairer if I were also to post the matter on usenet so we can get a more objective view of the matter.

There are rather too many of your immature friends here.

Post it, then. Anywhere.

[Psiload]

Originally posted by Mark Lewis
I am not going to give it up. You are. However you will have to wait your turn.

When I am ready I will detail your entire life history here. Someone has been sending it to me. I have no idea if there is any truth in it or not.

I shall simply post it and let the rest of you judge the matter. However I think it would far fairer if I were also to post the matter on usenet so we can get a more objective view of the matter.

There are rather too many of your immature friends here.

Since when have you had any use for the truth? I've already demonstrated that you're a shameless liar, why pretend to be otherwise now?

Go ahead and post whatever details of my life you think you have. You're a sad, pathetic, deluded, dishonest, little never was... oh, I forgot bald , you're bald too. My life is like a picnic compared to the pathetic train wreck of a life you're leading. Your sad litany of failure is smeared all over the internet. I don't blame you for trying to disassociate yourself with your own foolish ramblings. If I were you, I'd try to wriggle out of my own skin too.

Bring it on, chrome dome.

[Mark Lewis]

Certainly. Go to alt.magic immediately

[Psiload]

Originally posted by Mark Lewis
Certainly. Go to alt.magic immediately Better yet... why don't you bring alt.magic to me? I'm too lazy to go looking for it, and I'm sure whatever you splattered over there isn't worth the effort anyway. Besides, I decided long ago that usenet is for kooks(like yourself), and the people who love them(unlike myself).

In short, your act isn't worth crossing the street to catch... but you knew that.

Post it here, or don't. I could really give a freckle on your gleaming pate either way.

[Mark Lewis]

No. You have to go there. Santa Claus said that I can post it anywhere. Since he seems to be under the delusion that we must all do as he tells us I have obeyed him and posted it on alt.magic

I prefer you to be judged not by your friends but by a different crowd entirely.

I am sure there are just as many objective people over there as there are here.

Don't be lazy, my boy. Seek and ye shall find.

The child appears to be getting angry now. He can give it out but he does not seem to take it very well.

Don't mess with me in the future, son (or is it madam?) In future don't be rude. I have been dealing with idiots all my life. Especially men who wear eyelashes and list their hobbies in their profile as "fancy boys"

[Psiload]

Originally posted by Mark Lewis
No. You have to go there. Santa Claus said that I can post it anywhere. Since he seems to be under the delusion that we must all do as he tells us I have obeyed him and posted it on alt.magic

I prefer you to be judged not by your friends but by a different crowd entirely.

I am sure there are just as many objective people over there as there are here.

Don't be lazy, my boy. Seek and ye shall find.

The child appears to be getting angry now. He can give it out but he does not seem to take it very well.

Don't mess with me in the future, son (or is it madam?) In future don't be rude. I have been dealing with idiots all my life. Especially men who wear eyelashes and list their hobbies in their profile as "fancy boys"

You've been dealing with idiots your whole life, huh? Why doesn't that surprise me? Given what they spawned, it's not like I'd pegged your parents as a couple of rocket scientists.

Anywho... alright, I'll do what everyone else does to you, when they're not outright mocking you that is, I'll humor you. OK... I'm over at google group alt.magic. I see some nonsense about a magic poodle. I see some joker plugging his stage hypnotist act. I see a bunch of magicians playing with their cups and balls( I'll bet you're dying to join in).

I see the usual useless usenet screed, but I don't see any contributions with your illustrious name attached. Are you using a pseudonym... "Hairless Hyponitist", "Shiny Top Svengali", etc... ?

What gives, Mt. Baldy? What the hell am I supposed to be looking for?

[CFLarsen]

Originally posted by Mark Lewis
and posted it on alt.magic

I'm afraid I cannot find it. Do you have a link?

[Psiload]

Just as I suspected... a wild kook chase.

Will I never learn?

[Dr Adequate]

Originally posted by Mark Lewis
And you come across as merely inadequate. As a magician you couldn't make the contents of an empty box disappear.

How do I know? I have seen you perform.

You are dull and have no conception whatever about showmanship and presentation.

I am going to see you perform again. I shall make myself known to you in person. I shall offer you a few tips out of the goodness of my heart. I rather think you need them.
I am not a magician.

That was a very strange lie for you to tell.

Are you off your head, or a troll?

[Ashles]

Are you off your head, or a troll?

Oooh! Oooh! I know the answer to this one!

Ask me! Ask me! My hand's been up ages!

[Dr Adequate]

What we need now is for Suggestologist to posit a postmodern deconstruction of the false dichotomy which underlies the structure of our thought about Mark Lewis.

[Ashles]

I like Mark Lewis' fantastic method of debate.
"I shall post the truth about you on alt.magic"
"Er where? I can't find it"
"Oh ho ho, it's there alright you must look for it. Bye now" [footsteps running off]


What does his stage show consist of I wonder?

ML: Look children I will make balloons appear out of thin air. There! They are behind you [runs off stage as children look]


Are we absolutely sure he said he was an illusionist and not a clown?