Good God...If Ohio was closed, where the hell would we get our endless card supply?!?!

I'm a frequent to Cleveland, and I know that place has seen many good magicians *points to self*.

As for East or West, New York is/was a landmark to some of the greatest magicians and magic (Houdini, Blaine, 3 Card Monte, Tannens, etc). Where on Earth is there a better place from some good ol' street magic or scams? I wish DC was as heavily magic populated as NY. Although I guess some would kill to be within 2 hours of 2 of the greatest magic shops on the planet (Denny and Lee's Magic Studio in Baltimore, MD and Barry's Magic Shop in Wheaton, MD).

Now for the West coast, the Magic Castle rules all. But there is Vegas, which I guess is considered the West coast. Some of the greatest magic conventions and competitions have taken place in Vegas and Reno. But we are forgetting a few places. R. Paul Wilson is one of the greatest cardmen in all history, so he's the Irish magic charm. Then there's England, home to some of the worlds greatest magicians.

Just my 2 cents...
~Jonton

[quote]On 2005-10-10 18:58, Jonton wrote:


Jonton -

You might be surprised to know that some of this country's finest close up magicians (and stage) magicians live in the greater Washington Metro area...Bob Sheets, Darwin Ortiz, Alain Nu, Mark Phillips, Larry Davidson, Scotty York, Harvey Rosenthal, Al Cohen and Richard Kaufman to name a few of the better known ones (...and I apologize in advance to whomever I overlooked). Genii's home is in the area. There are also some of the finest collections in magic in this area and other magic notables. In short, there is a great wealth of magic experience, knowledge and talent. Bob Kohler and Tim Conover also grew up in the area...and there is the Library of Congress with the Houdini-McManus-Young collection. In fact, the Magic Collectors hold their convention here next year. If we go 40 miles north there are the magicians in the Baltimore area who include many other well known names. SAM Assembly 23 has met in the National Press Club for over 50 years and IBM Ring 50 is one of the IBM's oldest Rings. There are a number of other formal and informal magic groups in the area as well. Since Al's Magic Shop closed in DC, we just don't have the downtown DC focal point that used to exist, but there is a lot of magic in the area.

Bill

Kainoa frequents the area as he resides in Delaware. Joe Cole who has a great book with small coin purses called MicroEconomics lives a couple hours away. Chris Capehart has one of the finest Misers Dreams you'll ever see lives in Delaware as well and often visits the DC area. The great Horace Bennett was from VA. Woody Landers and I both perform in and around Richmond VA. A lot of talent can be found within a couple of hours of DC.....

[quote]On 2005-10-10 20:00, BillWells wrote:


Woohoo...look what I started! I was aware that Genii is based in DC, but if I were to visit the address given on the Genii magazine, what would I find? A warehouse? A factory? An office building? A museum? I'm only 16 and car-less, so I don't get around in the community much. I make it to Barry's once every 2 months if I'm lucky. I was at the ring 50 magi-whirl this year and was very disappointed by the lack of attendance. The only senior magician that I have personal ties with is Dave Shepherd (not really senior, but long-time performing magician). He taught German at my school for a number of years and started the magic club (Conjuring Club) that I now run and have made locally known. I really wasnt aware of the amount of celebrities that are in the area. I'm a huge fan of Ortiz and his work with Wilson. I also have a great respect for sheets, york, kaufman, as well as the others. God, I need to get out there and meet people. I'm going to become a member of IBM ring 50 later this month, but I have no transportation to the meetings. I have a few friends in the local SAM group (256 I think, but I'm probably wrong).
If anyone cares to PM me to give me that boost in the butt that I need to get out there and meet these guys in the community, be my guest. I'll be takin my next trip to Barry's either this Saturday or the Saturday before halloween to stock up on a few supplies that I need for my club and I'm doing a small halloween show at my house that I need to pick up a few things for.

Okay, gettin off topic. Thanks for the info Bill and I hope to be talkin' to ya later.
~Jonton

Oh, my goodness, Jonton. Reverse those initials of yours (first and real last name) and you'll know who I am; do a search on my username here at the Café, and you'll be surprised at how cranky I can be. *laugh* I will probably see you at the shop this coming Saturday.

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I always felt fortunate for having the opportunity to meet so many great magicians over the years, east, west, north, south, local, English, Argentine, or wherever. The funny thing is, quite a few of these magicians are transplants to their current area; how does one count them in this? Does it actually matter, anyway, which area has supposedly BEST magicians? I might like certain magician's styles very much, but it rarely has anything to do with a regional flavor in that person's thinking or performing, but instead instead with what makes them unique; their approach, their theoretical underpinnings, their orchestration, etc.

Perhaps the question is as pointless as, which coast produces the superior musicians? Is there really a point to such a question? I could point out the various things that make a great music scene even in a small place like the US (whether jazz, Irish traditional, blues (of all different styles, and both acoustic and electric), or a host of other styles), but I have to laugh at asking where the best musicians can be found.

I'm not sure what the point of the question was, but I'll advance that the best magicians are where you find them, and that density AND access to a magic focal point (large city/magic shop/convention locus) is the best predictor of congregations of magicians. DC/Baltimore, New York, Las Vegas, California, Chicago, all of these and many other places have great magic shops that bring top lecturers and that allow easy access to other magicians and free exchange of ideas IN PERSON. It's one thing to write things up and send along a description and a few sketches (something which has become a bit more difficult through email, to magic's great impoverishment in my opinion), and quite another to be limited to just text, as happens through most electronic communications.

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Hey, Jonton, I'll see you soon...