Discourse in Magic

This week Jonah connects with Ekat, an incredible magician, youtuber, cardist, and so much more. Together they’ll talk about creating content online, the difficulty in marketing magic, and the challenges that come up when trying to ethically review magic products. You Gotta Join The Circus  Ekat was first introduced to magic while still living in Russia, where her favourite place was visiting the circus. Mesmerized by a magician who was performing for attendees waiting in the line, her first question to him was, “how did you do that”? The magician told her that if she wanted to learn how she’d have to join the circus. She didn’t join the circus but she did take to heart the lesson to take control, seek out, and teach herself the secrets of magic. To Review or Not To Review Ekat has made a name for herself on Youtube as a reviewer of magic products. Together, she and Jonah talk about her process of choosing which products to review, how she reviews them, and the ethical questions she has to ask herself when deciding to review magic products in the first place since even talking about them in a critical way can annoy members of the community who would rather these discussions be kept out of the public.  Similarly, Ekat got started on Youtube by documenting her journey learning different magic tricks and teaching them to her viewers. So what tricks does she teach, and under what circumstances would she choose not to give a tutorial? Hint, the answer is in whether or not the trick is old and universal vs one that is still being actively marketed by a living creator.   Read The Comments?  Given that Ekat is on Youtube, and sometimes stirring up controversy by simply talking about how some tricks are done or reviewing products and sharing honest critiques, it’s no surprise that the comments from some in the community can be harsh. Ekat will share her thoughts on how to handle criticism online, how to navigate it as a business owner where you don’t have a choice about whether or not to post content if you want to stay in business, and the lessons she’s learned facing her harshest critics. Wrap-Up Endless Chain Bao. It’s really unique what he does with TikTok, and he understood the whole influencer marketing thing with his videos with milk. What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like? I really like all of the development with magic apps. Technology has to evolve and the more advanced it is the more it does feel like magic. I love that it’s evolving. I hope to see more seamless integration with technology One thing that I don’t like it is that there are too many things being released right now. It’s become too much of a market releasing things without quality. It’s too much of a machine. Take home point I would say, you have to do what you love. If you don’t like creating content, don’t create content! Try to find a way to marry what you like with your magic. Plugs Ekat’s Youtube channel is the center of where they create content: youtube.com/user/babycatxd You can also slide into Ekat’s DMs on Instagram with your questions: @ekatmagic And keep an eye out for Ekat’s Penguin Magic Lecture.

This week Jonah connects with Cody Clark to talk about his sensory sensitivity shows for autistic audiences, performing with autism, and the obstacles that still remain in the magic community for minority and disabled performers. Won Over By Magic Cody shares with us the story of his autism diagnosis and the choices his parents made at the time to not subject him to harmful treatments but instead continue to offer him the same opportunities that his neurotypical siblings were being offered. As he grew up he wanted to lean heavily into the arts or sports but both proved to be full of challenging barriers. That was until he attended a magic performance where he was invited onstage to help saw another audience member in half. Here he found something he could do. He immediately purchased his first magic kit and joined up with a local magic club.  Overcoming Barriers As an austic performer, Cody is passionate about ensuring this shows are accessible to all audiences and provides unique sensory sensitivity shows where other autistic people can enjoy the magic without loud noises, like having a focus on silk magic. From there, Cody has found a niche in the fringe festival circuit where he’s carved out a space for himself.   However he shares with Jonah the continued barriers he faces in simply working with his market to be fairly paid for his work in a world that systemically undervalues disabled people and still allows for disabled workers to be paid below minimum wage in many countries, including the US. Embracing Passion Cody will share how a love of trains, a love of old school country music, and a love of magic have all combined to form his stage personas and offers advice to other performers on how to step out of their comfort and ask for advice or help when they need it. It’s been Cody’s experience that there is no better community to ask for him than in the magic community.  Wrap-Up Endless Chain There was one mentor of mine I’ve been saving for this moment. I consciously did not mention them in other moments because I wanted to bring them up now. The big unsung hero of magic, the person who’s given me stage time and so many other stage time through indie magic, monthly, and also a transgender magician who does magic as Rodney The Younger, who does magic as Andrea Merlin, Queen of Magic,. Taylor Martin,.  They’ve been a professional magician for about 60 years. Based in Indianapolis and they are an unsung hero because they weren’t necessarily, well, they knew they were trans of course, but, they weren’t necessarily intentionally, like, I’m going to break barriers here, here, and here, like even I was. Instead, they just needed to make a living in this world and how they’ve dealt with the hurdles from places like the Magic Castle of all places. That’s up to Taylor if they want to elaborate, but they had the best Magic Castle rejection story I’ve heard, I will say that. What about all these barriers, how Taylor’s toppled these barriers has been so inspiring to me and that Taylor’s characters are why I have Conductor Cody, why I have Nudie Suit Cody and why I have just Plain Suit Cody. The whole character thing comes from Taylor. What do you like about modern magic?  To compare the things I like I will compare two hobbies, one that I left when I got into magic, and then of course magic. I’m into toy trains, especially Lionel Trains. When I left trains and got into magic, both hobbies were the exact same, old white guy hobbies who were dated. One hobby has since evolved and is currently publicly relevant. The other has stayed dying. Guess which is which.  Magic has listened to those critiques, magic has figured out how to evolve, how to be relevant, how to invent new ecosystems, to learn magic, how to get people exposed into it whilst retaining its core charm about what magic is. Where toy trains have continued the descent downward. And they literally think, “oh, just make it operable on your iPhone. That will get kids in”. Where really, that’s just a bandaid on a larger problem with that industry. Where magic for all the faults that still has, it is now a relevant part of the ecosphere again. It’s gone from people being bullied for being a magician to people being celebrated for being a magician. That’s the big thing I like about magic a lot. What do you not like? I think there’s a lot of throwing the baby out with the bathwater in magic right now, because there is a lot about old white guy magic that needs to die. But at the same time, a lot of it’s still good material. Those L&L DVD still have a lot of gems. The elders are still in the magic club, the elders are still at the magic conventions. There are still great people with great advice. But yet, I feel like we’re too eager to abandon those old routines. In my professional career, I consider myself like the country singer Emmylou Harris. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Emmylou Harris, but she takes the old Carter family songs and adds rock and roll to them. So essentially, that’s what I feel I’m doing taking classics of silk magic, taking the misers dream, but yet covering them and my own personality so much, like with Emmylou Harris songs, you don’t realize until after the fact wait that wasn’t old classic wait, that was a traditional piece of music or magic! And that also circles back to why I’m doing volunteer work for the S.A.M. and the S.Y.M. The place where magic clubs, I feel as an ensuring that their members learn basic magic skills. And it should no longer be a lecture club. But I do still feel there is a valid place for magic clubs in the future. I’m not ready to let them die off. And that’s why I’m using my positions in the S.A.M. ecosystem to contribute ideas on how the societies, on how the assemblies, can become training grounds instead of just the lecture circuit. Take home point I’d say that liking things, I’d say that different types of audiences, that script writing, that all the things I mentioned today, they’re all nothing to be scared of, but rather it’s a different way of thinking. Whether it’s with disability is a different way of living in the world. A different way of thinking about magic routines is beyond stunts. A different way of thinking about how to have a career in magic. Don’t be scared of any new things. Don’t be ashamed of being your honest self. Instead, just embrace and cherish your different way of thinking. Plugs Everything you need for more Cody Clark can be found at codyclarkmagic.com  And lately Cody has been really enjoying TikTok where you can follow him @codyclarkmagic

This week Jonah connects with John Gaspard and Jim Cunningham, the minds behind Sunday Night Magic and the Eli Marks series of mystery novels.  Together they talk about creating content adjacent to magic and the joy of creating works that are not intended to make any money.  Neither Jim or John identify as working magicians, but they both share a profound love the art form and have each found unique ways to get involved in the magic community using the strengths that they each possess proving that even if you’re not a working magician you can still contribute and help grow the magic community, even when creating magic adjacent content.  Sunday Night Magic When John Gaspard wanted to start writing with magic as a focus in his mysteries he needed to learn how magic worked. In Minneapolis he met Suzanne who agreed to give John lessons in magic. Soon after a friendship struck up and an idea was proposed to create a monthly event where magicians would be invited to give a lecture and perform for a public audience. John brought Jim Cunningham on board because of his connections in the magic community and his experience as an MC and with their combined talents Sunday Night Magic was born.  Eli Marks Mysteries Of course, Sunday Night Magic was just a side effect of John’s efforts to create a mystery novel centred around magic in an authentic way. He has always put in a lot of work to ensure that his central character, Eli Marks, thinks and behaves like a real working magician and nothing bugs him more than when authors write about a specific field without doing their research. One of his favourite highlights, that he recounts for us, is receiving feedback from Teller himself after reading The Linking Rings and saying that the book really got all the details right.  Currently John has seven books available in the Eli Marks Mystery series, with an eighth on the way, and if you listen to the audiobooks you’ll be hearing the voice of Jim Cunningham narrating the novels.  Behind the Page To help promote the books, and get to know more about the inspirations behind the tricks featured in each mystery, John and Jim has also started up the Behind the Page: The Eli Marks Podcast. Where they not only offer up behind the scenes conversations behind each book in the series but also interview the magicians whose tricks they feature in the novels.   Wrap-Up Endless Chain Jeff Atlman. You might think you don’t know him but you do. He’s a prolific comedian and actor who has now moved back into magic in his semi-retirement.  Jay Johnson is a ventriloquist who was a great friend of Harry Anderson who is insightful and funny and has a billion stories about magic and performing.  What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like? John really enjoys Fools Us and how they are presenting, and respecting, magic.  Jim really likes how artistic and dramatic the magic artform is becoming and no longer relying solely on comedy and spectacle. Seeing magic presented as a theatrcial event that can rock your world is really special.  John doesn’t like seeing performers running on auto-pilot and are no longer critically analyzing their performances. It’s not fun to watch.  Jim doesn’t like that it is still very hard for many local communities to be exposed to live magic. If you don’t live near the right city or can travel to the right location you might never be exposed to really wonderful local live acts.  Take home point Just say yes and don’t worry about things being money makers. Be open to try new projects.  And magic is such a cool artform and you don’t have to perform to love it and enjoy it.  Plugs Sunday Night Magic can be found on facebook at facebook.com/sundaynightmagic All things Eli Marks can be found at elimarksmysteries.com Jim Cunningham also performs each year at The Phantom’s Feast which you can learn more about by visiting trailofterrormn.com/phantoms

Jonah is back with Ben Train with the Toronto Magic Company to ask him questions about how they’re handling the virtual slowdown during the summer, how they’re preparing for the future of Unconventional.fun, and what tools they’re using to run their business and coordinate with their growing team. The Virtual Slowdown Jonah and Ben share their feelings for the future. Will there be a future for virtual shows even after the world re-opens and returns to normal? Will some people want to keep booking and hosting virtual gigs? What about a hybrid model where you might do some in-person gigs mixed with virtual entertainment?  Learning At Home Ben and Jonah have had to adjust a lot after working from home for a year. How has Ben’s lifestyle and priorities changed? As things slowly go back to normal not everyone is hoping it will return to normal. So many people have adjusted to working from home and many may want to keep working from home going forward, and that means there’s still a future for virtual events.  Tools To Run Your Business Learning to run your business from home after a year we’ve just had has meant finding new tools. Ben and Jonah will recommend some of their favourite organization tools they’ve used to run the Toronto Magic Company, especially as they’ve had to expand the company in the past year and bring more people onto the team. The Future of Unconventional.fun Ben and Jonah are currently planning the next convention and today they’ll pull back the curtain on how they plan the convention and process involved in scouting and booking guests for the show.  There’s also still time to sign up for future Unconventional.fun events by visiting Unconventional.fun!

This week Jonah connects with Peter Samelson where he offers up three questions we can ask ourselves to make our magic scripts better. Something Theatre Couldn’t Do Peter Samelson originally focused on theatre with an intention to do something with his life that was worthwhile and mattered. After training to become an actor and moving to New York to make an impact in the theatre scene he realized he was going to struggle to make that impact. At first he was fed up with magic, mostly because he wasn’t attracted to the primary focus of deceiving or fooling people, but once he moved to New York and began seeing how magic could impact a theatre audience and the difference it could make to the theatre scene he began to view magic in a new light. With magic, he had an opportunity to reach people in ways that many people in theatre couldn’t do. Magic As A Moving Image Peter also offers up a master class in dissecting your script. He explains about the images of magic. Magic is a real-time moving three-dimensional image. It almost doesn’t matter what the script is around it, the image has a potency. In a script you need to not only have imagery but imagery that is not just personal imagery, you need universal imagery. Three Questions The best way to approach any bit of magic that you’re trying to find a script for is to ask yourself these three questions. Why, what, and who. Why am I doing this and why should anybody care about this? What is this about and what would it look like if it was real magic. Finally, who is your audience and who are you in relationship to them? Wrap-Up Endless Chain Christian Cagigal or Todd Robbins  What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like? Peter likes the fact that the focus on social media and on online performances has led to an exposure and driven magic forward to develop new effects and new solutions to problems.  Peter doesn’t like the idea that just publishing something doesn’t give you the right to perform it. There’s been a back on forth discussion on performance rights. Peter is of the mind that if you are publishing a book that the understanding of it is that the person who picks up that book is going to use it.  Take home point Keep asking yourself why. Why are you doing this trick? Why are you doing this routine? And, more importantly, why should anybody care? Plugs You can find Peter on Facebook (facebook.com/peter.samelson) and Instagram (@samelsonmagic) and on his website at Samelsonmagic.com   Jonah also recommends a wonderful masterclass on vanishing ink that you can find out by visiting vanishingincmagic.com/magician/Peter-Samelson

This week Jonah connects with Doc Dixon to talk about comedy in magic and the work that goes into getting those laughs. If you’ve been in magic for a while then you definitely know the name Doc Dixon. He is a creator, a thinker, a performer, and a worker. He has appeared on Penn & Teller’s Fool Us twice (and fooled them once!) and you’ve probably seen him at a convention or you’ve seen something he has come up with.  In this interview, we learn about what he loves to do. We talk about being a worker, we talk about writing, we talk about creating magic, and so much more.  Comedy Is Simple, Deception Is Hard Making magic funny is pretty simple for Doc Dixon. Did they laugh? If they didn’t, then it’s not funny! Doc Dixon talks about how he builds jokes into his routines and how he discovers where the laughs will be from audiences on virtual performances to making Teller laugh out loud on Fool Us.  Do Good Magic Throughout his career, Doc Dixon has set out to do one thing. Do good magic. He’s a big believer that it’s not about the number of tricks you can squeeze into a performance but that it’s more important to know your timing and understand how long new tricks will take up in your act vs old tricks where the routine has accumulated jokes over time, “like barnacles on a ship”. Understanding your routine, it’s timing, and where the personality lies in your performance will always be more important than the number of tricks you have at your disposal. Never Too Late When the pandemic hit and every live show in the world was cancelled, Doc Dixon thought he could wait it out. And he kept waiting. And waiting. And pretty soon he was worried he had waited too long. So he reached out to Jonah and the Toronto Magic Company and signed up for the Upgrade Academy to polish up his business skills and launch his virtual magic business. He learned how to market his show as well as learned who to market to, as he soon learned that the audiences that attend virtual shows are different than the audiences that did, and soon will again, attend live in-person shows.  Wrap-Up Endless Chain Charlie Frye. He’s great at magic. He’s a great juggler. He’s a great artist. And he’s a kind person… he’s gotta be a serial killer! (Doc Dixon clarifies that he’s joking). What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like? It used to be that everything about magic was clouded in secrecy like a secret society. Now the information is available to everyone to learn and share, even if you have you weed through a lot of useless information. It’s sad to see performers that expose tricks just for youtube hits. Take home point If you want to have a piece that’s really good, you don’t have to keep looking for new magic. Take that piece you’ve been doing a long time and focus on it and work it. The jokes, the comedy, the bits, are going to expand while it gets smaller in some weird wonderful way. You’re going to take out the dead weight and you’re going to put on new stuff.   Plugs Dixonmagic.com where you can also follow Doc’s latest blog post. If you’d like to stay informed on Doc’s upcoming writing projects, the best thing to do is subscribe to his newsletter at dixonmagic.com/contact where you’ll also be included in special messages that he only shares with those who subscribe.

This week Jonah shares three success stories from the Upgrade Academy.  If you want to super-charge your magic business and equip yourself with the skills and knowledge you need to host successful virtual shows you can sign up for the Upgrade Academy by visiting discourseinmagic.com/upgrade Case Study 1: Doc Dixon Doc Dixon is well known, you might have already seen him on Fool Us, and is absolutely incredible. But he was very nervous about getting into running a virtual business. Which is understandable! There’s no way to know, when you invest in a new project, how it’s going to pan out. So Jonah told Doc Dixon about his two-week guarantee, which means you can try everything in the program and, if it doesn’t work for you, you can get a full refund and some tacos from Jonah so that even if you didn’t get anything from the program you at least get to walk away with some tacos. Doc Dixon ended up with amazing results and while he never got those tacos he does believe that the Upgrade Academy was worth every dollar. Case Study 2: Durgy Spade Before the Pandemic, Durgy Spade was making his income through performing and MCing at weddings. He’s arguably the best in the biz at what he does. And then, all at once, all of his infrastructure vanished. With no more big giant weddings, Durgy needed to reinvent himself. He needed to find a new way to get the magic going and he waited, and waited, and waited, and worried he had waited too long. But he decided to go for it and joined Upgrade Academy to get the wheels moving with incredible results. Case Study 3: Chris Wall Over the course of the past twelve months, Chris Wall has gone through a phenomenal transition. When the pandemic began he had a website with a handful of photos and nobody was booking him, which is probably a situation that many magicians can relate to. Over the last twelve months Chris has participated in many different Upgrade Academy programs and has gone from growing his business to now being a part of the Mastermind program, trying to scale his business past making three to five thousand dollars per month. Chris will share with you some of the biggest difference makers that you can steal.  Upgrade Your Magic Business If you want to work with Jonah and find out how he can help you add three to five thousand dollars per month in virtual magic income, or in in-person magic income, then go to discourseinmagic.com/upgrade.  In June, Jonah will be doing some live sessions all about the transition back to in-person performances.  UnConventional.fun Is Coming Up! The two-day eight-bit video game virtual magic convention is happening May 29th and 30th and you can grab your tickets to return to Magic Land at UnConventional.fun

This week Jonah connects with Chris Cox to discuss his unique brand of mentalism, what it’s been like to go from touring every day to virtual shows at home, and why he loves magic but doesn’t find magic very interesting. Chis Cox is a mentalist who has performed on Broadway and on the BBC and toured as “The Mentalist” in the Illusionists. He’s also spent the past year crushing it in virtual shows, after thinking he would pass on it and enjoy the break after his grueling non-stop touring schedule was abruptly cancelled along with everything else.  Always A Performer  Chris has always been a performer and has always had a love for theatre. Unfortunately for him he can’t sing, can’t dance, and wasn’t funny enough for stand up. But he always loved magic and in his early teens discovered mentalism and realized instantly that this was the thing for him, as mentalism was all performance.  Loves Theatre More Than Magic A lot of people love magic and have no desire to be on TV or perform in front of a large audience. Chris is not those people. He loves theatre more than he loves magic and that has informed his presentation throughout his career. Watching a great play inspires him and investigating why it connects to him informs his thinking about everything he does. Consuming all kinds of theatre can inform you so much more about how the magic happens than watching the same tricks performed the same way over and over again. The goal is the performance and the presentation.  Happiest on Stage Chris is happiest on stage. He loves it, it’s exhausting, and he misses it terribly. When the pandemic started Chris avoided adopting any kind of virtual show performance. He was burnt out from two years of touring and thought he could just wait it out. Eventually it got to the point where he couldn’t avoid it anymore and he found his background in radio helped get him excited about virtual show producing. Since launching his virtual shows he’s learned lots of lessons about what to exploit and how to make it fun with his audiences.  Wrap-Up Endless Chain Here comes a list of people that Chris gets a lot from when he talks to them: – Mark Cailen Mark Kalin Jonathan Goodwin Andy Nyman Tyler Wilson  Noel Qualter Young & Strange And also Paul Dabek! What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like? What they like What they don’t like Take home point Who you are now isn’t who you were or who you are going to be but who you are now is what you’ve got to work with. Finding out who you are as a performer is more important than anything else. Plugs Everything Chris Cox can be found at MagicCox.com Or Facebook at facebook.com/ilovecox Or Twitter @bigcox And also, fingers crossed, Wonderment will be returning soon to the London West End and if you are able to attend you should drop Chris a message and let him know so you can say hi from a safe distance.

Ben and Jonah are back with the latest from the Toronto Magic Company. This week they’re returning to MagicLand and they want you to return with them.  UnConventional.fun is returning for its third convention, Return To MagicLand, and is happening May 29th and 30th.  New Experiences If you’ve been to previous UnConventional.fun events you’ll be excited to hear that Ben has been spending the last three months building up MagicLand to be even more immersive with more secret rooms and puzzles that will allow attendees to work together to unlock real-world prizes.  And if this is your first time you’ll be able to log in and hang out with magicians from around the world, where you can attend lectures and also walk around a virtual magic themed amusement park and meet with other attendees and jam with them just like you would at an in-person magic convention in the real-world.   Exciting Events and Headline Lectures Make sure to visit UnConventional.fun to see the complete list of all the amazing guests who will be appearing at Return To MagicLand. On top of the lectures, Ben has been working closely with Kevin Ho to create The Museum of Cardistry to show off the most beautiful creations in cardistry. If you’re a fellow cardist you’ll be able to appreciate all the hard work that Kevin has put into curating this special event and if you’re unfamiliar with cardistry you’re going to have your mind blown by the exhibits on display.  Get Your Tickets Now There’s still time to get your tickets to UnConventional.fun: Return To MagicLand and Jonah is very excited to see this event grow and bring in more magicians to form an engaging community sharing their love for magic and virtual magic events. Find out more by visiting UnCovnentional.fun 

This week Jonah connects with Trigg Watson where they break down how he quit his corporate job to perform in magic full time, how he developed his reputation as the “tech magician”, and his advice for you when developing magic for a video camera lens. The Perfect Vessel Trigg was four years old when one of his friends performed magic for him for the first time. He doesn’t remember what the trick was, only that a mint disappeared in his hands and that experience stuck with him ever since.  Trigg always enjoyed making stuff and a lot of preparation and learning magic means a lot of arts and crafts and constructing your own equipment and so magic became the perfect vessel for his love of performance and his love of creation. Starting With The Backup First Trigg has always lived in two worlds, with his more academic side conflicting with his creativity edgy side. Being both a business and a theatre major in college meant that he was having to be wearing a tie in one moment to putting on leotards in the next. Finally Trigg decided it would be easier for him to do his backup job first. So he left magic behind and went into becoming a business consultant.  Starting with his backup job first meant that when he was finally in a position to quit his corporate life and move into magic full time he wouldn’t have his backup anymore to fall into, it would be a total commitment with no room for error. It also meant that he had spent years developing professional relationships with key people in the corporate world who know very well his charisma and his personality and even before he was a full time magician Trigg would always make sure to work in his theatre training into his presentations and networking so that he would always leave an impression in the minds of the people he met.  Finding His Place Trigg is keenly aware that the best magicians have a unique angle and a persona that is very definable. And being a comedic nice-guy magician was very hard to define. They all wore the same smiles, and the same sports coat, and were all kind of fun but it was hard to distinguish one from the other. But one strength Trigg has always had is being able to see into the modern world and notice trends and potentials and his years spent in the corporate world meant that when he first saw an iPad he immediately saw the potential it represented for unique and refreshing new takes on magic. Recognizing his talent for working with modern equipment he doubled down to market himself as the “tech magician” which has set himself apart from his contemporaries and allowed him to continue his craft with his love of crafting.  Advice For Magicians Trigg will share with you some of his advice for performing on TV, or in front of a camera lens, and some of the lessons he’s learned about how different magic is when it’s performed in front of a camera. The camera looks at magic differently and it’s really tough to learn but just throwing yourself in front of a camera and trying to figure it out. Trigg’s biggest advice for aspiring magicians who want to know what it takes to perform on TV is to find someone who is already performing in front of a camera and support them and help them create content.  On top of learning how to perform in front of a camera Trigg also strongly believes every magician could work more to learn how to be more engaging and dramatic actors. Having acting training is the one key element that Trigg can point to for his success. Understanding the importance of a script and creating emotionally engaging moments is what will hit your audiences powerfully. Acting is about listening and responding. It’s not about just showing your emotions but being affected by people that those emotions manifest. Acting makes you more present and more of a listener and that makes you seem more real. And that’s really good because it covers up the fact that we’re also lying. Wrap-Up Endless Chain Stewart Macleod What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like? I love that I can create magic moments for people that aren’t in the same room as me.  I don’t like how hard it is to create authentic moments of astonishment and control people’s focus. Take home point If we can just listen to our audience and be more present then that will take our magic further than any trick we could buy. Plugs You can find Trigg on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and many other locations @TriggWatson