I agree with you David.

His tricks are thrown together and rushed out to market so the eager Penguinites will snatch them up so they can pay homage at the Church of Sankey.

I'm suprised that he claimed to have "secret files" concidering how much he markets.

Read the discription before spouting off ignorance:

For years, there have been rumors that Jay's been keeping a "secret file" filled with astonishing routines he's never shared with another magician, and for once the rumors are TRUE! Now Jay has finally decided to "tip his mitt!"

The secret files consists of a file of magic ideas that he had been keeping secret, and has released.

It's obvious that you are just trying to make fun of him when you have no idea what you are talking about.

I just cannot understand their point.

Let him market whatever he wants, at least you know exactly what you are buying beforehand and you can almost try it out before you buy it.

And I would be interested if someone could point out the connection between a quarter and a cigarette in a Cig thru quarter effect.

It's pushing a Camel through an eagle.

Just kidding. Actually, I use a feather instead, which ties into the eagle and is tons better than a cigarette for a variety of reasons.

Regarding this Sankey effect, I think it's "okay," but I personally wouldn't use it. Different strokes for different folks.

Cig-thru-Quarter

When Don Alan came to Fort Wayne, IN and showed me his presentation of the Presley Guitar routine I was throughly entertained.

The reason for a cigarette is that it is to be a lite cigarette. When the cig is half way thru the coin. Magician puffs on the cig. If this was not actually thru the cig smoke would stream out from the point it enters the coin and the lite end would not glow and burn brightly. This is so effective you will be showing all the friends of the person you 1st showed that nite.

Michael Ammar came out with a routine using a pencil, others have used a rolled bill. None of these get the reaction that the cigarette does. Plus you can end with the vanishing cig trick, pull or TT version.

Since smoking is prohibited everywhere now, I have stopped presenting this trick. It is not any fun with anything else.

Just imagine, borrow a quarter, borrow a cigarette, perform a miracle. Vanish the cig. and keep the quarter for your presentation. They never ask for the quarter back.

I could do my Laundry for free each week with what I made doing this trick.

I'm leaning toward Astinus. Jay has a contract with Penguin. Perhaps he does have a quota to meet, but that doesn't mean that I'm gonna concider him a "sell out". If Penguin calls me anytime soon wanting me, I have a funky feeling it would be something I would concider in depth. I don't think it would take long to make a decision. As it stands Jay Sankey could buy my broke behind!! If he's laughing all the way to the bank...more power to him!

BTW, I'm expecting Penguin to call any day now.(yeah,right) Lee.

Leefoley3, although I consider him a sellout at this point in time, He is a talented man and before Penguin, he put out great stuff.

He may be in some financial trouble and needs the money, but the thing that bothers me most is the way he ignores his fans.

OK...Sankey fans will say "he doesn't ignore his fans". Rather than explain, just go to the Penguin site and go to the "Just Ask Jay" section.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/discuss/viewforum.php?f=10007

Since he signed his contract with Penguin, Jay has promised to answer 5-10 questions a week. Read the comments of all the folks who asked Jay, and those who just wanted to hear from Jay.

He goes months without a response, and when he does, he usually pushes his product.

Don't take my word for it. Read the thread. The more you read, the more you get the idea.

I like Jay. I just feel bad for the hundreds of questions that were asked and never answered. Even if he answered 1 a month, his fans wouldn't be giving up on him.

Gret idea with the cig thru quarter. But what I was trying to say is that there isn't more relative connection between them than between these items in this effect. I feel there is a connection in both cases but not that much. My friend in fact came up with a Straw thru Swizzle Stick (you can find it in the Linking Ring Parade of February 2003). But still you might associate the two. A cig, matches and money are usually found in a person's pockets.

Some say Jay has been releasing stupid things sinc when he joined Pengin. Others say it started even before. This shows that it boils down to what Larry said and I will quote:

"Regarding this Sankey effect, I think it's "okay," but I personally wouldn't use it. Different strokes for different folks. "

I got to thinking about this latest Sankey trick. I didn't like the the idea of a printed penny. It would be hard for a kid to be impressed by that.

If could see a REAL penny in between the flap of the matchbook (look at all the gaffed coins). With THAT prop I would buy it in a heartbeat and pay a lot more. The only thing I would change is his handling, which someone who never saw magic, but pays attention, could figure out.

I am still holding out hope that Jay will go back to his roots even if it means a cut in pay. Some of the best creators prefer respect to cash.

Same thoughts here Ibd1Mon99

I was expecting the coin to be melted and stuck inbetween the flap...

I love Jay's stuffs.. his 'Best of jay sankey" is still one of my favorite vids... the guy is a genius in terms of creating new magic.
there are a few of his tricks that I do on a consistent basis and gets alot of reaction for.

but man he is putting out WWAAAAAAYYYYYYYY TOOO many products in the past year.
not entirely sure why would he do that...

and that "ask Jay forum" is JUST A JOKE.
come on now... dude doesn't even show up... they need to take it down ASAP to save the embarrasement

imagine if our honor guest doesn't show up at all on this forum..
yeah, that's kinda how it feels like for the Jay Sankey forum.

sigh

I could be wrong here, but I’ll venture a guess that Sankey is well respected by many magicians including his peers, I know he has mine.

Jay if you’re reading this (and this goes for all magic creators too) please keep the effects, books, and DVD’s coming, you make me look good.

Some of the stuff that Jay came out with in the past year was pretty good. I love 3 ring circus (even though some don't). But not all of it was good, there was just too much of it that wasn't even thought out enough.

As for cig through quarter, true neither have any relavence towards each other. But at least both objects can be borrowed, and the patter can be fit so they do go together. Plus, it can be done with a pen. The pen leaves so much more options open for doing pen vanishes, quarter from pen cap, etc. With Jay's new trick, you're forced to do it with a penny and a matchbook. Both don't really have much that can be changed to make it longer routine.

But I still feel that he has put too much out that hasn't been thought out. His videos are still good (most of them) and some of his tricks that he has put out are good too. It's just that some of them aren't that good and there are too much bad ones at once.

Give Jay a break. The man must SURELY be under tons of pressure from Penguin to PRODUCE,PRODUCE, PRODUCE!!!

Deadlines can be killers, even for prolific guys like Sankey.

When you consider the TONS of material he has created and produced over the years, it's a wonder that he can think of ANY new effects, period.

He's only human.

And now he has Nathan, his new son demanding his attention. He wants to be a family man and a father. I can attest that fathering can leave one little time for creative and business endeavors.

Please don't be so hard on Jay, fellas. Treat him as you would want to be treated if you were in his shoes.

Okay, my two cents. I think Jay is coming out with a lot of products lately that to me seem unusable. However, I still like him, due to his videos in the past and his presentation. He's prob my 2nd favorite Canadian, Kudos David Acer. As unusable and as much as I do feel he floods the market with things, one man's junk is another man's treasure. I don't know how many times I've seen a magician do a great routine with something that I past on. Some people see potential in other things. His flooding the market hasn't made me not like Sankey as much, but it has made me think more before buying a product. I won't just buy by his name anymore, like I do for some people. In a Flash was a great effect, I used the old trick that's the same principal, I believe, Journey to the center of the deck. That was the last thing I purchased from him, since I've just seen so much stuff out by him, I haven't had time to look through it all and find my personal Diamond in the Rough.

Joey

AHHH! Diamond in the rough! Joey just hit upon the KEY word here!

I still buy Sankey's stuff, and the truth is, by refusing to "throw the baby out with the bath water", so to speak, I have uncovered quite a few of those diamonds in Jay's material. I'm richer for it, my magic is better for it, and I find it to be a satisfying experience, from a magical standpoint, that is.

...and his single stuff are not expensive and they can be viewed online. I have seen many "simple" effects, that are twice as much in price and with no online video and when you receive them you are very disappointed.

For what it's worth, I agree with the masses. Jay has introduced some nice effects through the years but it takes patience to find the gems. He is marketing himself to death and I'm not sure that he even realizes this. Also, the folks at Penguin should put a gag order on him and make their own decisions whether his products are worthy for the marketplace. If they don't- they'll go down with him...LESS is more!

-Jared

Yes, I totally agree with you , Nash. Penguin put up a forum where it is promised that Jay Sankey will answer 5 - 10 questions per week , but from a casual perusal of that forum it seems like he only shows up once in a blue moon and maybe answers 1 or 2 questions. If Jay Sankey has found that he doesn't have time to do it then Penguin should do the right thing and just take it down . Or re-phrase the forum heading to say :
"Jay will pop in now and then to answer whatever questions catch his fancy, but most of the time you're on your own kids " or words to that effect .

Are you still reading this thread Maxwell or anyone from Penguin ? It really is bad form to promise that Jay will be answering 5 - 10 questions every week and then have him end up being a no-show most of the time .

Jay's profile on Penguin shows that he joined the forum on
October 2, 2003 and has made a total of 33 posts to date (April 18, 2004)
That's a little over 6 months , or about 26 weeks .
33 posts divided by 26 weeks equals Jay making about 1.2 posts per week on average . That's not even close to 5 - 10 answers per week . ( averaging 7 answers per week would have brought Jay's total posts up to 182 by April 18 )

However, to give them a little bit of credit it looks like Jay has been in the forum for the past two weeks answering about 5 questions per week, so I guess they are hitting their minimum for now . Maybe they have received enough complaints recently about his no-show status and they are working to correct the problem.

As I said, I wrote him a personal email, and asked a few questions, but he wrote back to me that he doesn't mind answering a simple question now and then, but he is very busy with his new son Nathan, and doesn't have a whole lot of time any more.

Well, I have TIME to purchase his products, so make of it what you will. We who purchase his effects put the baby food on the table so he can feed his new son, in a sense.

Don't get me wrong, I still like Jay. I like him a whole lot, and I'm not upset that he doesn't have "time" to answer my queries, BUT on the other hand, we are his loyal supporters when we purchase Sankey stuff.

I really try to be as accomodating as possible. I try with all my heart to not think bad thoughts about him, as he is a fellow human being. I try to treat him as I would like to be treated. And besides, their is an old indian saying that says "Never judge another man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins."