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Tom Frank V.I.P. industrial Strength Magic 493 Posts |
The Importance of Sessioning
Some of my fondest memories, in my life in magic, have been sessioning with other magicians. As a 14 year old kid in Cincinnati, every Saturday morning, my pal Shawn Greer would pick me up in his, little red Chevette. We would make the trek across town to our mentor, Larry Pringle’s house. There we would meet with Larry, Ken Bierly, Roscoe Harrison and sometimes Paul Swinford would come over. This went on for years and created a strong foundation for my study in magic. What do you do at a session? Perform, learn, grow and feel the power of entertainment! The best sessions have people with a variety of skill levels. This is nice because if you have the knowledge and skill you can help others. If you are a beginner you have the best opportunity to get fooled badly AND a great opportunity to get pointers on how to do it better. . . or just right. The important thing is that everybody participate. Sitting around a table is best. Close-up pads, optional. Derek Dingle taught me at an early age, that you should be able to do your best work on a wet bar. No one really wants to perform on a wet bar, but his point is good. A close-up pad doesn’t reflect real world performing conditions when you’re out and about. Everyone should participate. I am particularly fond of the Round Robin. A must at any session. A Round Robin is where you go around the table and everyone does a trick. This is important for growth. Of course no one is forced to do anything they don’t want to, but the session is about going out of your comfort zone for the purpose of bettering your magic. Sometimes you just want to see how a trick looks and feels before showing to the public. Sometimes you want a critical evaluation of what you are doing. Both are extremely helpful. In between group sessions Shawn and I would session several nights a week till the wee hours using harsh and slurred phrases like, “Flash! or FLASH LIKE HELL!”. We were unrelenting and learned how not to flash. It is not uncommon for new magicians to focus completely on what they are doing technically. They stare at their hands, mumble their words and forget who they are performing for. I remember my dad asking me as an 11 year old, “who are you doing the trick for. . . me or you?”. Good lesson to learn early on. The magic session is a terrific place to come out of your shell. There is safety, concern and love of the art at a session. When I was a kid,I took magic lessons from guy named Paul Rolling who worked at Haines House of Cards in Norwood, Ohio. I must have been 10 or eleven years old. My folks had just divorced and my mom wasn’t really dealing with her grief and anger so well. As for us four kids, we all just did the best we could. I found a home at the magic shop and became a fixture. Cincinnati had a great magic scene, and I felt like Alice in Wonderland. At some point the sessions left Larry’s basement and we met Saturday afternoons on the stage or in the back room of Haines House of Cards. There I would hear of the epic “back room” sessions across the country both current and past. Names like Dia Vernon, Ed Marlo, T. Nelson Downs & Malini. What round table in Chicago? Magic Castle! What’s that? As a youngster I romanticized what it might be like to hang out with Dai Vernon at the Magic Castle. A decade later that dream would come true when I moved to LA. I was 21 years old and lived with Sylvester the Jester. It was a non stop magic session for 2 years. I owned magic shops for a dozen years and couldn’t begin to count the number of sessions that were held in the back rooms. A right of passage, entrance to a welcoming world of like mined people. What could be better? During my shop years, you never knew who was going to come in. People like Sal Piacente, or David Ben, Stephen Minch, Robert Giobbi, Johnathan Pendragon, Mike Ammar, Lee Asher, Aaron Fisher and a ton of people you never heard of, but who were great! It was common to see a sign on my shop door that said, “In the back room, ring the bell”. I had installed a wireless doorbell to inform me that customers wanted to enter. When my last shop, Seattle Magic closed, at the request of Tim Flynn & Steve Ameden we continued the sessions at my Alki Beach Magic Studio. For the next two years, every Tuesday night (I don’t think we missed one) I hosted a session that grew into an amazing weekly event. Friendships formed, tricks learned and polished, cocktails and beers consumed, cigars and cigarettes smoked and cards shuffled. Magic sessions are only as good as the people there. Are there those who want to share their knowledge? Anyone looking to learn a new trick, sleight or subtlety? Who just wants to have fun and talk magic? I DO! Now it’s your turn. Pick up the phone call a couple of your magicians friends. Set up a time to meet at your house or a coffee shop, or a bar. Get your cards and coins, color changing knives and packet tricks in your close-up case and get it going! Bring something to take notes or a video camera. Keep track of what you’re learning and do it again next week and log progress. It’s not about blowing smoke up your ass, it’s about getting better at what you love. Make it as good as it can be. . . then make it better! |
KirkG Inner circle 1391 Posts |
Maybe a Cups and Balls Barbeque would be a good idea?
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Tom Frank V.I.P. industrial Strength Magic 493 Posts |
Sounds great Kirk. Bet you would do an excellent job with a pot luck!
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Atom3339 Inner circle Spokane, WA 3242 Posts |
Wisdom here. Right on, Tom!
TH
Occupy Your Dream |
Tom Frank V.I.P. industrial Strength Magic 493 Posts |
Do you guys like to session? Do you do it regularly? How does it usually go?
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Devious Inner circle 2120 Posts |
Tom,
Since rarely do I like to go out and venture during my days off from the pitch. I would bet that most buskers would rather take a break from visiting with other magicians or from heading back out into the field as well. As you are well aware, Buskers and the "indoor" guys have very different ideas on what sessioning is... We usually don't discuss "tricks". We're more focussed on day to day survival. So ours are "Survival Sessions". I actually think the indoor guys get more accomplished, whereas we just take breaks, gripe about a rude busker, or smoke another stogie! p.s. I stopped having brewskis during my breaks, a very good thing and represents progress. So I've got that going for me. |
Pete Biro 1933 - 2018 18558 Posts |
Dean Dill's is the hot place in Glendale (or all of L.A.)
STAY TOONED... @ www.pete-biro.com
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Tom Frank V.I.P. industrial Strength Magic 493 Posts |
I agree with Pete, Dean Dill's is the BEST Weekly Session in Los Angeles. Don't get there as often as I like but it's always a great time where I learn a few things! You never know who might show up! Not uncommon for out of town magicians working the Castle to come by on a Wednesday afternoon.
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Atom3339 Inner circle Spokane, WA 3242 Posts |
Spokane, WA is hoppin'. Our club meetings are good and a group of us session at least once a month, usually 5-10 guys. Ages vary from 19 to a few guys in their 70's. So we get a variety of viewpoints and suggestions when one of the guys shows an effect. And ALL of us are constantly working on new material. We all respect each other and some of the stories are WILD.
TH
Occupy Your Dream |
Tom Frank V.I.P. industrial Strength Magic 493 Posts |
Right on Atom! Pacific Norwest REPRESENT! I had a shop in Seattle a decade ago. A fellow named Tony Chang worked for me and ran our back room sessions, they were epic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_li-M75uP4 |
Scotty Walsh Loyal user Ireland 207 Posts |
Lack of sessions is probably the biggest drawback to living in a small town in Italy. That, and non English speaking audiences. I did meet an Italian magician here, a retired illusionist that has been on Italian TV a few times, and he offered to take me with him to conventions in Rome. So, maybe as my language improves, this can change. I do miss those Seattle sessions, though.
Out here I go to "dinner parties" on occasion, and people do nothing but drink and eat and talk. It's such a waste of time! I prefer to smoke and session! |
timmyjimmy New user 32 Posts |
You never know what you're going to get when you open up a box of chocolates!!!
or as the saying goes, a can of worms. I never really did get to session in that back room of Tom's Settle Magic as I arrived late on the seen! But another great saying is, Better late tna never! And I can truly attest to that! Thank you Tom Frank and mmany others for taking a 44 year old novice and treating him with kindness and respect, and yes Love! Those Alki magic sessiions were AWESOME and never will I forget! Ten years later (almost)and I am getting paid for gigs and traveling round America meeting people either at a seminar or lecture and also performing great magic! binging love and wonder to people verywhere I go! So Tom Frank, your magic sessiion never ends as those of us who were and are touched by you, and those of us who teach others thru sessiioning and your example carry on! I read above about the busker who is too tired or burned out to session. That is really a bummer as he could regenerate his bateries and those of others ho may need to be touched by him. I session almost weekly with one of the greatest magicians inthe world, Steve Dobson. I realize I will never reach his skill level, but what if I could achieve a fourth of it! He is a master at magic and cn take ANY trick and make it better. The blessings of sessiioning continue on. Because of th Alki Sessions I learned that there was this underground thing of magic, I learned of S A M and I B M. Heck, I learned a foriegn language! I am not fluent in that language yet, but happily I am on the road to fluency! The light you lit in me Tom is burning bright! I only hope that someday I meet someone that wnats to learn this great art as much as me and I get the opportunity to touch them as you have touched me! It takes a special and gracious person to open thir home and heart up to a whole community as you did in Settle. I learn things from everyone of you magicians. Power, Presence, Attitue, Grace, Love, Humility, and so much more. sessioning...I am all for it! The round robins were inimdating because I was so green and being 45 and older than most of the finger flingers... It was daunting. But thru them I began to unerstand and learn, we are all differnt with different magicall ideas and talents and avenues we are pursuing. Perseverence, trust and hard work... throwing decks of cards agaiinst my locker at work and an attitude of "kep coming back" lifted me to the lofty (Tongue in cheek) magical place I enjoy today! Ha ha ha. I love this magic! THANK YOU FOR THE SESSIONS, MAY WE ENJOY THEM AGAIN! |
timmyjimmy New user 32 Posts |
Actually I did attend a few sessions in that back room. But I suppose they would be called lectures.
I met Nathan Kranzo in that back room, and more importantly for me at the time... I met Michael Ammar! I performed the cups and balls for you all in that back room and really butchered it on Master Paynes "tall) table. I learned a lot that day. Mostly that I have a long way to go! You created a safe environment for me and others! At 44 years of age, you met a kid residing in that old man body, yearning to grow! So why not sessiion? Maybe you will meet another and that "Kid" will touch you back and surprise you in ways you never expected! That "kid" lives on now at age 54! AWESOME! Thank you again for all your trials and tribulations that led you and us to a magical placethat wouldn't have happened had life not served you up some lemons! I like the lemonade we made! |
Deadsets Loyal user 212 Posts |
Quote:
On 2013-09-27 02:57, Scotty Walsh wrote: I have the same issue, I live in an island state in Australia and only know one other magician who doesn't do any close up work. As a painter ive spent time painting with others and it is the best way to get honest feedback and learn new techniques. Thanks for the read its excellent. |
Emanuel Chester New user Howell, NJ, USA 30 Posts |
I have the feeling that social media and the ease of video replace session rooms with Youtube, where everyone is a critic. This is especially true for areas that are low in magicians (as far as they may know each other).
Renaissance Man ~ I am interested in a lot, I can do a lot, I have done a lot. Not all equally well, and there's still a lot more for me to explore.
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Michael Kaminskas V.I.P. 117 Posts |
IMHO there is no replacement for sessioning. As technology has allowed us to move faster and gain much knowledge ...take for example this forum...I find there will never be a replacement for the printed page or true interaction with others in our field.
I try and seize every opportunity to create and share with magicians around the globe. There are no right or wrong answers... just the opportunity to learn in a positive and personal way. I suppose that is one of the main reasons I still love lecturing and attending lectures. Glad to see others feel the same way. |
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