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canaday Special user Florida 742 Posts |
The Magic of Jonathan Friedman – The Musical
$40.00 http://www.murphysmagic.com/product.aspx?id=61742 The Hype: Jonathan Friedman is as strong a writer as he is a magician. And his background is an even split between magic and music. He has combined these passions for this sensational new book, The Magic of Jonathan Friedman: The Musical. Jonathan delivers 24 fully fleshed-out close-up routines using cards, coins, guitar picks (because, of course!), dollar bills, plastic bags, billets, and more. The material is all original and practical, making it suitable for modern close-up performers. Jonathan sees magic and the world through the prism of music, so his writing and theory is influenced heavily by the music and musical artists he loves. But you don't have to be a music lover to appreciate the creativity behind his magic. While some of the presentations are themed around music, the concepts and effects go way beyond that. You'll learn 24 effects, including: Edge: Three guitar picks are balanced on top of each other in an impossible feat of skill. So Punk Rock: A multi-phased routine with the card box, including an amazing ending where a spectator's drawing vanishes from the back of a card and appears on the card box, underneath the cellophane. The Freshest Coin Transpo in the World: A two-phased copper/silver transpo where one coin is inserted in a plastic baggie. It's as original as it is practical. The Chewing Gum Incident of 2017: Some chewing gum and its paper wrapper go through a series of magical transpositions! Card Tricks Suck: An unusual presentation for the Ambitious Card with a wild ending; the spectator's selection gets sucked up through a straw! In Clenched Fist: A four-phased 'coin through hand' routine that all the cool kids, and magic rockstars, will end up doing. Friedman is a mix of Paul Harris, Allan Ackerman, Jay Sankey, and Elvis Costello rolled into one. The combination is a beautiful one, and the material itself is housed in a gorgeous, hardbound, full-color production numbering over 200 pages. Above all, The Magic of Jonathan Friedman: The Musical is a fun, funny read that will equip you with 24 practical, close-up routines that are easy to do and high on impact. 206 pages, full-color hardback. Each copy comes with a custom, signed guitar pick. My Take: With rock and roll being such a big part of most of our lives, why this hasn't been done before is a mystery to me. The only other instance I can think of that pays homage to rock and roll is Aaron Fisher's use of Beatle song titles as titles for some of his routines in the Paper Engine. There are a few magicians that I can think of that are also musicians. Michael Close, Nathan Kranzo and Marc Desousa (and me) to name a few. It's about time someone paid tribute to something so much a part of the fabric of our lives. When I reviewed Jonathan's previous book (The 80's Called - They Want Their Magic Book Back), I had mentioned that it had the feel of Paul Harris' early books. That has not changed here. If you enjoyed routines that were a bit wacky back then (remember Whack-a-Pack?), you will enjoy this. This book is more musically oriented than his first and it has a much improved look since this one if published by Josh and Andy at Vanishing Inc. This one is hardcover and loaded with color photos showing every move that needs to be made. Jonathan uses some original moves on some of his routines and teaches each and every one such as the Plastimatic Paddle Move and his Mixmaster Force that enables you to force a selection out of ten choices. The Mixmaster is a little involved and will take you a little practice to get used to it but it is obvious that a lot of time and effort went into its construction. I think the patter is geared towards the younger, edgier crowd but for any routine that appeals to you, you should consider your own patter or plot. He throws a lot of humor into his writing and yes, some of it is pretty silly, but this makes it fun to read. I would suggest reading through it once just for the pleasure of it, then a second time to get the work. As Vanishing has done such a great job in describing the routines in the description, I will just mention a few that caught my interest. School of Rock. I have always been a huge Beatles fan and have even visited the Cavern in Liverpool where they got their start so the subject matter appealed to me (and I am sure it would to Aaron Fisher, too). Edge - Imagine, if you will, a three fly routine done with guitar picks. Very clever idea and perfect if you are at a club where a band is playing. (I used to take a D'Lite, go up to one of the amps and remove the power light. Really fried the band.) I got the feeling that this one will be done by a lot of guitarist/magicians out there. The Freshest Coin Transpo in the World - Very nicely structured coin routine that has a coin jumping in and out of a see through Baggie. The bag makes this one super visual plus it is probably even within the capabilities of someone who is not a coin worker. Air Guitar Serenade - A guitar pick transforms into a folded card which is then revealed to be the selection. Drumstick Magic Wand - You can't let those guitarists have all of the fun. Card-a-Pick - The name of a card is written on a guitar pick with a permanent marker but it is incorrect. With just a gentle rub, it transforms into the name of the selection. One thing I really liked is that he showed a way to use a Frixion marker that I was unaware of. It really amps the magic level up. In case it is not obvious, I really enjoyed this book. Now I think I will stop typing, get out my Les Paul and wail! |
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