Dear Café Members,

I was just wondering what has happened to "The Magic Café" forums lately? I remember a while back, when the Café, especially the grand illusion forum, was filled with a plethora of great knowledge, creative ideas, and interesting historical discussions with regards to modern illusion applications. It seems as if lately, as "Chezaday" posted in another topic, "the Café has gotten kinda lame." I hope that this forum can return to what it was months ago. I understand that Copperfield is truly a master, but it appears that there is a new topic in his honor almost everyday. Well, hopefully we will have all our members back soon. I remember reading some really great posts on illusion, performance, and history, and would really like to see this forum start going in that direction again.

Sincerely,

Beau Alexander

I am really looking forward to some new stuff as well. The Copperfield appreciation thing has gotten almost out of hand. There're so many threads about him and in many cases someone probably just wants to know how a certain thing is achieved.

Beau is right on .. the Café has become Lame .. with a capital "L." The only people posting anything of interest are Dave Womach, myself and that other guy that wants to rip-off Copperfield's material.

Come on boyz... let's get something interesting on here.

Steve

Amen!!!

This forum has been a great wealth of information and inspiration!!!

Bryan

Dave! Hows the new stuff coming together? Still sorry about that one guy's actions last year...

I almost forgot .. Steve Kline and the Twins have contributed to the Café with some interesting items. They of course are actually on a short tour of the mid-west right now. I'm sure Kline will have some pics up before you know it.

Sperry adds some colorful commentary too .. but I think he's on spring break somewhere right now .. maybe with some little hotties?? I think the high school is back in session this week though.

I miss the good old days when Zigmont would set things straight on here .. who will ever fill the void?? I'll be online, waiting for my answer ..

Steve

Oh yeah, Zigmont is really missed. He knows so much about everything and his posts were always a pleasure to read. Now quit the pyro and get back here!

There have been over 1.3 million posts on the Café. Just about any question I have can be found by searching this awesome sight. To all of the past and current posters who engage in witty, thought provoking discussion, commentary and idea sharing - Thanks!

Kregg

I forgot to mention the big Gilles "Magic Room" controversy... the wife gave in and he got his room. I think it would bring a tear to David's eye if he saw his shrine in person... I know I got weepy...

Steve

OK here's a little something to spice things up... TRUE STORY...

So I'm doin' this birthday show last weekend and it's in this really, really rich area of North Chicago. I mean their townhouse thingy garage door was made of, like, some rainforest oak wood or something insane like that. Anyway, they got the kids around who are all like five years old and spoiled to no end. This one child was, like, way hyper on a McDonald's happy meal or something and kept standing up and dropping his pants throughout the entire show. And then he would run off with his pants around his ankles. The mother who was present, along with the other adults who don't know how to raise children, kept yelling at him to come and sit down and behave rather than coming and making him sit with them.

I just stood there the first time totally caught off-guard at this spontaneous attempt at a half-public streaking during my show. The second time he did it I gave the mother a look of GET YOUR SON UNDER CONTROL and made a comment about how if he did it again I'll have to ask him to be removed and he'll miss the rest of the show because he was being inappropriate. Sadly, again this time, the mother only scolded him. There was nothing I could do about it, I wasn't about to touch the kid with his pants around his ankles and bare rear end hanging out to see. All the kids were giggling and "ewwww grosss"-ing him, which only encouraged this behavior.

Finally I'm closing the show with vanishing bandana... yeah, you can about guess where this is going...

So BOOM SARMOTI BLACKOUT the banana is gone! All the kids are like, "ooh wow, where'd it go?" and right on cue as if he knew what was coming, little 5 year old gets up and says I KNOW WHERE IT IS and BAAAAAM IN YO' FACE drops his pants again and exposes himself to everyone and then runs around like a crazy person. I mean this kid was like a ninja, he'd sit down and act like "oh, OK, I won't do it again" and then when you didn't expect it there he was waving it around like an idiot.

I got the money and left... but it makes you wonder what goes on at the house. Unfortunately a lot of the folks I work with are the kinds where their kids basically grow up in a toy store and the parents negotiate with the child rather than properly discipline them. I mean I tried every trick in the book I knew, I got really Willy Wonka on this kid and it still didn't phase him. Luckily he finially closed off the show with a bang and it really didn't cause too much of a problem with my performance. It's not like they were yelling or not paying attention. This kid just thought he needed to get in his 5 seconds of fame. It was very awkward though... you'll have to wait for the book to get more crazy stories from my life

Hopefully that lightened up things a bit.

Wow!!!! And I thought my mind was warped.....Sperris is projecting a weird combination of Emeril and S&R....hmm emeril could use a few sequins
Magically Yours

-AC

Should we call you as Pee-Wee Sperris??

Now that Dan has finally returned to his little computer, in his lonely apartment .. we can finally get things back to normal here on the Café once again. Apparently school is back in session in the little town of Geneva ... ouch!

Steve

LOL... great story Dan... the funny thing is I did this at the last Copperfield show!

Just-kidding!!! Anyway, I hear that! I'm sick of kids all up in my KoolAid and they don't even know the flavor!!! You'd think they'd understand the importance of sitting and enjoying the show... and letting others enjoy... but NO!!! There's nothing like a little kid trying to did around in your case while you are doing a flawless billiards manip!!!

Bryan

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for your response to my post. Dan, that is a great story! I have had some crazy experiences at parties, but none that can trump that. Well, hopefully this forum will get moving in the right direction again, and stop making so much cyber love to david Copperfield.
Thanks again,

Beau Alexander

Great story Dan! I can't top that one! lol...
Dave

I can not agree more. I actually stopped using the Café for a bit because of it. I'm just now beginning to use the Café on an almost daily basis again. I miss how it was before when you could ask a question and get people to help you out without taring into you. It seems as if some of the members have gotten an "I know everything/I'm better than everyone here" type of attitude. There are also a lot of nonsense topics now too, like the said "Copperfield" posts. Here's hoping the Café returns to how it was before.

Jim

A funny thing happened a few years ago that was absolutely ridicilous. If someone wants to know about it, drop me a PM. If I talk about it in public, I might get arrested!

Dan, that was a great story! I've never had anything like that, but it stil brings back memories...makes me remember why I don't do kids shows anymore!

Obviously there are people here who care about the Café, otherwise this thread would have never continued. So, it falls to us to take up the slack in the rope, and provide the atmosphere and environment that we desire. I know that many people here, myself included, love the Café and the many, many members of it. Those people are out there, and they are still providing us with what I deem valuable information.

Just remember that time can skew one's perception. In the same manner that someone may only remember all of the good sketches from Saturday Night Live years gone by, we too are more likely to remember the good that we see, because good things seem more worthy of memory faculties. So, I believe that it is also possible that there has always been a good amount of garbage, but the gold was always, and still is, there as well.

Richard Hughes and the kinds of posts that he gave us are greatly missed, but in his absence we must be, as I said earlier, willing to pick up the slack.

Nick Fox

So how does Laser work? and that flying thing too.

Oh that hurt!

:bg: