I spent nearly a week with Jeff years ago, and this time was very insightful. What you see on the video IS the way he acts and interacts with people. It is not an act for the camera, or how he presents himself for magicians. This is who he really is. Mysticism is part of who he is, and he does sometimes present something to make a point or to get one thinking. Jeff lives as his ideal of a 21st century shaman. There is no real separation of magic and life; to him they are both the same. At least this is what my experience has led me to. What this set appears to be to me (still not having seen it yet ) is a documentary or picture of where he is now in his life. It may be exaggerated a bit because of the setting and the shoot, but it is the Jeff McBride that I've met.

Tony Iacoviello

That's one of the things I came away with from these DVDs. I've met Jeff on a number of occasions, but certainly don't know him. After watching these I got a sense that to Jeff, being a magician is not a career, it's a way of life.

I'm not saying this to be mean, but based on your opinion of just these two effects, I don't think you are qualified to review this material.

Have you ever performed these effects? You couldn't have and had think they are lame.

It's this type of magic that can brighten someone's day, because they saw what they feel is in fact, REAL magic.

99 and 3/4% of everyone you'll ever meet has never seen magic close-up. They may have had a relative do a 15 minute "I'll find your card routine" that helped with their insomnia, but not the type of close-up material Jeff performs.

Korttihai_82,

Watching the latest McBride DVD set this evening, I was expecting to find rave reviews of them on the Café.

Happily, almost all of the reviewers concur with my personal opinion that these are fun, fooling, commercial and practical effects polished from actual performance.

In your review, korttihai_82, you opened by stating:

In this sentence you give the most positive review that anyone could ask for this DVD set. In essence, you state that after seeing the lecture once, you choose to see it again. Then after two successful live viewings of this lecture you decided that you enjoyed it enough to buy the DVD version for your personal collection.

Maybe there was nothing new in this lecture for you on your third viewing. But, by example, you advise everyone else to see it at least twice.

You then go on to review the effects. This is where your surprising negativity begins to emerge. You are clever, however, to leave out all of the powerful Discussions and Bonus Material that, for me, are the gems of this package. The insight given by Eugene Burger and Jeff McBride come from 20 years of teaching magicians and 40 years of performing for live audiences. These sections are where the pros will find the real magic.

As a full time magician, I found the discussion sections alone worth the price of the set. They are truly the highlights of a $650 master class for only $100. And you don’t even have to pay for airfare to Las Vegas.

As to your review of the rainbow streamer being lame and ridiculous… I have performed it for thousands of people while being paid by venues such as: The Magic Castle, The
Venetian Hotel and Casino and Tao Nightclub and even while hosting House Hunters on HGTV. So I hope no one else starts using this Lame and Ridiculous effect.

Others have pointed this out to you already, but I would love to see your reference for the bead and string mystery in a children’s magic book. A good friend of mine wears this around in her day job as a Hollywood 1st AD and regularly performs and gifts this to producers, directors and celebrities. It is the only magic trick she performs. She raves about its success.

As to McBride's belt, that is his personal solution. The belt fits his
character and the story that he wants to tell. He was performing at burning man, where outlandish costumes are the norm. I expect that his goal was to carry everything. The pouch provides an organized cornucopia of magical opportunities. Remember, classical buskers would carry a table and a satchel full of tricks. Many modern day street workers like Gazzo and Cellini carry pouches or Dr’s bags. Would you have preferred he wear a suit with sewn in topits, pulls, holdouts and extra pockets in the desert? Solid Impromptu magic actually takes a lot of practice and preparation. It simply has the external apparent quality of being extemporaneous.

DVD 2 is just as full of powerful magic as DVD 1. You even say you like a few of the effects and explanations in your review.

I particularly like the information on the straitjacket and the effect performed
nightly for years at Caesars Palace in the Magical Empire by Samina. As magicians, we
instantly jump to the method when watching magic and a transformation doesn’t often alter our consciousness. However, I have seen audiences profoundly moved by Samina when she performs this piece. I have personally met people who have kept that small gold coin as a lucky charm for years after it was given. This is a moment of magic that should be considered by walk around performers the world over.

Yet again you left out the best part of our magical dinner when you decided not to review the Discussions and Bonus Material. Shame on you, this real world advice is an opportunity to be apprenticed in the real work behind being a real world performer.

I see from your careful review that you haven’t yet watched the 3rd DVD. I would advise that you should complete the viewing before you offer a review to others.

The 3rd DVD was possibly the most informative for my own personal work. So if you choose not to watch it, it will remain so more exclusively. Thank you for your review.

I have a review for you. Complete a product before you review it and consider performing a few of these effects for real audiences before you pass judgments. You might like the fireworks that you see in their eyes, and the appreciation you receive from sincerely gifting magic.

-Paul Draper

I stand by my words. If someone doesn't agree, I don't care a ***. There has been lots of praise in my PM box how most people agreed my points. Sadly those same people seem to be scared to write publicly, how they were disappointed on the set as well, because all you seem to get with a review that doesn't agree with the masses, is you getting flamed.

If so many of you fanboys have seen the set, then why not bother writing review about it? Because your too *** lazy? I, at least, bothered to write my own honest opinion about it.

Are you two serious? You want to take a review thread and turn it into opinion bashing? Really? What a bunch of BS. Grow up, both of you, or take it somewhere else.

I went into Kinkos with Jeff and he did the rainbow streamer to flower for the girl behind the counter, it changed her mood and attitude completely. We went back an hour later and she was wearing the little flower on the button of her shirt.

In addition all the staff gathered to see the magic guy do something for them, and Jeff did just that. At one point he even went into split fan productions! The place was a-buzz with excitement. It really was an incredible thing to behold.

Tony Iacoviello is right, this isn't an act for Jeff, it's the way he lives his life. He really does create magic wherever he goes.

I've never seen service like that in Kinkos, they went out of their way for us and even threw in some freebies.

:)

Got my DVDs on Saturday but haven't watched them yet.

I'd always heard that the thumb-through-ear trick was as ubiquitous in Japan as the "removable thumb" is in the US. Certainly I read about it years before Mac King's book...possibly in one of the Martin Gardner compendiums of impromptu stuff.

I love Jeff McBride. The one thing I've never gotten used to is the "flourish - turn - smirk" "flourish - turn - smirk." It seems to reek of, "Look what I can do!"

But he is a Master.

--Josh

Lucky. Come morning it will be a month since I ordered it, three weeks since it was available at L&L, yet still not in my hands. Next time I go to the source.

Tony

Tony,

Holy cow -- who'd you order it from??

--Josh

I'd rather not say. I did get a note a few weeks ago saying that they would be shipped in 10 days. The package may have been lost in the post. I sent the shop an email this past weekend. Who knows, it could show up tomorrow. They have always been good.

Tony

I'd find a different shop.

After seeing Jeff personally do his magic 24/7 wherever he is, I'd have to say its always amazed me. He really knows how to handle all situations and get the most out of the people around him. I am really looking forward to this DVD to hopefully fill in some of my missing notes from the Australian Conference (which was supposed to be taped but the organisers really blew it).

Just received this set.

Jeff is 100% shaman and magician all day every day. It is inspiring just to see this natural enthusiasm for the art he constantly exudes. In July 2007 I was fortunate to be invited out to dinner with Jeff, Gaeton Bloom, Shoot Ogawa, and Lennart Green at the Australian SAM convention. To say this was a memorable night was an understatement. Jeff did the streamer from bill in the restaurant before we sat down for the meal. The staff member was absolutely delighted and naturally, service was excellent all night. The other thing about Jeff is he really is a magician in the most metaphysical sense of the word. We ended up in conversations about the Kabbalah and all sorts of other forms of mysticism and it is obvious Jeff takes the pursuit of 'real magic' seriously.

Jeff is a masterful magician and so forth but he has other very important qualities that really set him apart. His level of showmanship is incredible. Jeff can take what others may see as a simple 'throwaway' effect and build it into a metaphorical, meaningful, memorable, entertaining and also POWERFUL performance. His ability to create 'moments' where people truly feel the magic and whats more... feel it coming from him (Jeff) is astounding and worthy of lengthy study. Forget magic methods, they are much less important than a variety of other things we can all learn from masters such as Jeff.

Despite the fact I had seen Jeff perform a lot of this stuff at the convention, I never tire of watching his details on showmanship, acting, adding meaning to the magic, eye contact at the right moments, presentation, etc. These things are invaluable to all of us who perform!

Cheers,
Al

Al,

Thanks for a very well written review! I was on the fence on this one, but I now believe I will place an order!

First let me say that I LOVE Jeff McBride. I have every video he ever made, and I watch them repeatedly. He has really gone the extra mile to teach every magician how to always be ready to "perform".

This DVD set, however, left me feeling strange - I think the proper word is "uncomfortable" - and not just because of the whole "neo-Woodstock" thing. I felt more like Jeff wasn't quite as rehearsed and prepared as he has been on previous videos. At times, he seemed to be unsure of where the camera was, and he didn't always seem comfortable with the audience he was provided. He often seemed to string out some things unnecessarily and cut others too short. The magic also just didn't seem completely polished. Many of his moves looked more like those of a new magician who is performing for the first time than a seasoned professional putting his best street magic on video.

I did enjoy his philosophy on being "always on". I especially liked the ideas he gave for leaving tips, accepting change, etc., and I am planning to always have some version of the Wishing Rainbow on me, because it can be used in so many ways. I am not much of a card guy, but the card magic is what interested me the most on these DVDs. I see a lot of potential for McWallet. I also liked the Scarne Transposition - very workable and practical.

I liked some of what Eugene had to say, but I didn't think that Abbi contributed much to the DVD. The whole "henna hands" thing just made me feel like she needed to go clean up before the shooting.

Had I known exactly what was on the video, I probably would have still bought it because I like Jeff. I just wish they had edited a bit better and put it on two DVDs.

I jsut got this set. Now, I've only just start watching last night. But MAGIC WISHING RAINBOW and RAINBOW TO DOLLAR are worth the price of the set.

Granted, I already perform this. But I thought his lecture on them was fantastic.

I'll try to write up some sort of review soon, but If the rest of the set stays on this track, it will be one of the most important DVD's to come out.

For crying out load! Even if you don't like Jeff's magic anything he puts out is worth getting! Simply put the rhyme and reason Jeff does what he does is a learning experience and that is worth it alone.

Jeff is always on! And I mean always, I have never seen him not even when he is at home! This is who he is, and the magic itself is a personal thing for everyone, however the theory Jeff can offer to everyone is priceless!

sickmagic!

Go sickmagic, you go baby!!!

Jeff IS MAGIC. The preview felt strange. I just got the set and it was fantastic. I did enjoy his philosophys that he shared. The lecture portion was entertaining and useful. Two rainbow streamer thumbtips up.