Hello everybody! Considering this is my first post I'll start by introducing myself. My name's Chris, I'm 21 and I've been doing magic as a hobby on and off since I was about 9. I'm now thinking about taking it to the next level. I'm not quite ready to perform in restaraunts, I know that, but I'm definitely considering it for the future.

I'd like to make one more note before I get to the point of this post. I did searches, I looked around, I read stuff, and I couldn't really find any threads like this one so don't flame me. Save it for someone else. If you think I didn't search, then PM me and we'll arrange for you to give me lessons on how to search better because I tried. It's kinda sad that I even have to put this here, but whatever.

The question:

As a restaurant magician what are the three books and three DVDs/Videos that you cherish most and why?

Thanks!

-Chris

USE THE SEARCH FEATURE!!!!

Hehehe, just kidding. First off, welcome to the board. It's always good to hear from newcomers.

Now, while I am not a restaurant magician, I can recommend some good DVD's and books for you to check out. Just click any of the links below:


Born To Perform - This is great for card magic

On The Spot - Great for on the spot, impromptu effects.

The following three books are highly recommended as well:

Art of Astonishment Volume 1 (Book)

Art of Astonishment Volume 2 (Book)

Art of Astonishment Volume 3 (Book)

I hope that helps!

Hey crookedchris,

Welcome to the boards. Hopefully you'll find these as helpful as I have. There are some very knowledgable people here!

I have heard many references to a wonderful handbook called "The Restaurant Magician's Handbook" by Jim Pace. It covers everything you could ever want to know about restaurant magic.

I've also included a link to a web page that has an article that is basically a response letter to a young magician that wanted to get started in magic. The person that responded went into great detail about many things to think about when you get started in this. Feel free to read a bit - it may jog some ideas that hadn't been thought of before. (I hope posting this link is ok because its not a competing site or anything.)

http://magic.about.com/library/weekly/aa091898.htm

Best wishes to you and good luck with your magic.

Restaurant magic can be a lot of fun and very rewarding! Seeing the faces light up when you produce or vanish something right in front of someone is really great!

Take care,
Dave

^^^
would people stop posting that. its pointless and has no relevance. you can post a helpful post and add "welcome to penguin town" if you wish. people think its a kind of contest. your avatar says "stop the spam" well that I consider spamming. stop being a hypocrite.

My fav DVDs i use for restaurant are

on the spot-greg wilson
Crash course 2(i add a TON of my own stuff, just use this for reference)


and a few more i can't remember.

The Restaurant Magician's Handbook by Jim Pace is great. I am reading it for the second time and give it two TTs up. Glad to see that CrookedChris has become "a fine feathered friend" Welcome.

Daniel

ya get jim paces book, i dont have it but i browsed through it for some time at a magic shop, it looked really good, i didnt get it because it didnt pertain to my field of work.

Thanks for the feedback.

"The Restaurant Workers Handbook" A Practical Guide to Restaurant Magic by Jim Pace & Jerry MacGregor as mentioned above, "The Complete Guide to Restaurant and Walk Around Magic" by Kirk Charles, "Real World Magic" by Jerry MacGregor (these are books). "The Art of Hopping Tables" by Mark Leveridge (2 video set-not sure if it is still around or where to find it), there is also a restaurant video/DVD made by Paul Wilson. I personally don't own any of these (hope to soon), however, I was informed by restaurant magicians that these are great tools to get you into restaurant magic. This doesn't really have to do with actuall DVD's or books about restaurant magic, but, your also going to need a good repertoire of all kinds of magic. What I mean is that you're going to need not just cards, but other kinds of magic (spongeballs, coins, pens, whatever). A friend told me that your magic should only consist of 40% cards, 60% other in restaurant magic and that you should rarely open with a card effect (especially an effect that get's them to pick a card). Hope this helps in any way.