Do you brign the idea to the restaurant, or do you just find one that usually has magicians and try to get hired for a few hours a week? please elaborate. Any help would be great thank you

use the search feature. From the question you are asking I wonder if you are good enough to work restaurants.

Paddy, I know it may seem extremely annoying to a person like you who has been in the forums for years and has been a magician for longer working in restaurants. But you may be surprised that not everyone in here is as grand and all knowing of a magician as you, and not everyone has read every single post like you. Your entitled to your opinion but i disagree with your opinion that he is "not good enough to work restaurants" not because I know that he is good or not but because you made that assumption simply based upon the fact that he doesn't frequent these forums and isn't as experienced as you in dealing with management. If everyone knew exactly what to do and no one had any problems or questions then there would be no need for these forums. I understand that there are many threads similar to this one in the forum but he is asking a specific question that is unique to his situation, if you do not want to share your experience and knowledge or you don't want to politely explain that there is a search feature and that his question might be found elswhere then shut your mouth and don't put people down. If you continue to arrogantly shun younger magicians feeling that they are foolish and not worth your time then you are killing the art for future generations. So either be helpful or shut up.

^^^^^^^AMEN^^^^^^^^^^


Good Ole Paddy.... What can I say?.... Well, I have never had a problem with what Paddy says, in fact I agree with him (most of the time) the problem lies in the way he says it.

Perhaps on the one free day Paddy has [i]from working as a full time restaurant magician for the last five years, [/i] he should look into a sensativity class or a personal relations/communications class and then he can come back to the forums and contribute nicely.

LOL

I never said i was going to be a walkaround. I just wanted to understand the way it works. I never said i was a pro.

Read your post again especially your last sentance. You said any help would be great. It sure seems like you want information so you can become a restaurant magician. Well anyways, as paddy said if you are interested in learning more about restaurant magic then you should skim through the restaurant section or use the search feature for specific info.

Your question cannot really be answered without considering where you happen to live. I live and work in New York City and did not have to explain the details of restaurant magic to my restaurant. They already have had strolling magicians in the past and understand the benefits. Someone out in the boondocks would possibly have to more of a job selling himself and this concept of Restaurant Magic. I apologize that I really didn't answer your question, but in order to give a valid answer more details would be necessary.

Magic

Nick

OK, one with only initials, I'll follow your wisdom. I will say that the reason I believe that he is not ready is the sentence structure of his post.
To wit: "Do you brign the idea to the restaurant, or do you just find one that usually has magicians and try to get hired for a few hours a week? please elaborate. Any help would be great thank you"

With misspelled words and improper punctuation and grammer, he appears to be still in school. Too Young.

But I will bow to you wisdom and your VAST, (perhaps half VAST experience with only 52 posts,) and hearby do refuse to offer advice in this area. I would do as most penguins do, and that is offer advice in an area that I have no experience in nor knowledge of, but that is not my style.

Peter
ssaymssikesaelp

whoa! Paddy!



TOO YOUNG?!?! All great magicians start at a young age. And I know many many successful young magicians! You have absolutely no right to say someone is too young for magic. I started at a young age and am still young, and I am very successful as a pro magician. Many of the magicians in the penguin forum are in the same situation. Not smart to type 'too young'.

Nick

Nick, calm down.

Paddy,
I think I speak for everyone when I say that your wisdom and experience is appreciated greatly here on the forums. You have contributed greatly in aiding fellow magicians express their talent, and you have been a constant source of reliable information and advice. Yet some of your snap judgments of younger magicians, even though you might mean no harm, is very destructive. There are many young magicians who are just getting into magic who get excited and after a few months or years of practice feel they are confident enough to become proffessional performers, but they do not understand what is in stroe for them once they get in front of people. Performing in front of a group and being able to captivate minds is not a skill aquired through a few summers of boredom and a $30 DVD and a $20 gimmick up your shirt. I agree that these young magicians are not ready to become performers, but they are magicians none the less. These magicians are not ready and I assume that after your years of experience you could probably discern between well experienced magicians and those who are not yet ready, for example through their age and by the way they speak (or type). But you nor any other magician has the right or the ability to decide whether or not a magician is "good enough" or not. There is a difference between saying someone is "not good enough" and saying that someone is "not yet ready" or "need more practice" one way is destructive and one way is constructive. When you tell someone that they are not good enough you are slowly discouraging them and extinguishing that spark of enthusiasm and passion that creates great magicians. You should not allow anyone to doubt their own potential, it is helpful to warn them that they will not become great overnight, but who is it helping if you just give up and just shun them with no explanation.

I don't know if this was just some vague sarcasm or not but I think you should understand that a persons post count is not a measure of their worth or experience as a magician or a person.
I think that these views are what I was trying to portray in my first post but I came off a little arogant and I admit I was disrespectful and I apologize for that, but I still stand strong with my belief that your critisizim, although you mean well, comes across as harsh and destructive. I wish you would continue to aid your fellow magicians and set them straight especially in your area of expertise (which I hope you know I never doubted your expertise as a restaurant magician) and I hope you continue to critisize those who are foolish or have been misled, with the harshest critisizm as long as your intentions are constructive.

-AAWWFF

the number of posts someone has ,has nothing to do with anything. if lance burton or greg frewin or any well known/famous magician became for some reason a penguin member right now and had no posts, does that take away any credit from advice THEY may give? myself, i have few posts, i only post when i see something that is worth posting over. it's not a race to see who can get the highest amount. its about helping each other out. you have your career paddy, i bet you wouldnt be where you are if magicians who were making a good living told you when you were not good, that you were simply a prop magician or lacked skill to do a sleight properly. i also understand why you say things as you do, there is no point in leading someone to believe they have a chance if they dont at the time, dont tell them they suck or are no good, tell them what they need to know to make it work.

All "great magicians" did not start at a 'young' age. true alot have started young, including myself, but it is the hard work that you put in for many years that makes you great. i know magicians who started at age 60, and became a great magician. i also know kids who started magic at 6, but did not become great, or just plain quit. what paddy is trying to say i think is, dont rush out to work a professional venue until you actually have a solid foundation with your education first. you have all the time in the world after you become an adult to venture off into the work force.

although good typing does not constitute magic ability, it sure as heck is not going to hurt you to be well versed in grammar, and typing, when you apply for jobs. magic takes years of practice, and i do not think that most very young kids have the required knowledge, or skill to take magic on as a profession.

granted there are rare exceptions, but this is something you cannot rush, and may even affect your future career for the worst, if you dont put in the required time before you rush out to make a quick buck. i started my magic journey at age 7, but i spent 9 years practicing, and reading book upon book, before i decided to go pro at age 16. i did not start magic at age 15, then go pro 6 months later.

I think that Paddy is right. Straightedge is NOT READY.
Here's why:

lack of self-confidence

OZ is the man and I would buy whatever he said was good and take any of his advice
http://www.penguinmagic.com/discuss/viewtopic.php?p=307656&highlight=#307656

lack of skill

yea hi wish they had put classic force on born to perform(btp) it would have taken what liek 1 extra minute. i feel like that dvd kinda holds back and suckers u into buing more stuff
http://www.penguinmagic.com/discuss/viewtopic.php?p=307099&highlight=#307099

lack of understanding

i hate the raven becasue i don't wear the right type of shirts
http://www.penguinmagic.com/discuss/viewtopic.php?p=305406&highlight=#305406

and finally, lack of common sense

i can never get rid of the odd colored cards at the end they always see. And how is it even possible to ditch when you do the trick while sitting? any pointers would be great.
http://www.penguinmagic.com/discuss/viewtopic.php?p=305092&highlight=#305092

now, if you want him trying out for jobs when he isn't ready, encourage him to get the job. If you want to increase the resistance people have when paying real wages to a magician, encourage him to get the job. If you want to lower the overall standard of professional magic, encourage him to get the job.

if you are sensible, you will encourage him...to practice

To answer the last first. It was not in any way "vague" sarcasm. it was intended to be real sarcasm.

Now for the other parts. His question was:


Which says "I am ready to be a performer!!!! Now help me get a job!!"
As Freiburgflyer pointed out he has a history on these forums. You have not been on long enough to see that history and that is why I pointed out your lack of forum experience.

As I wrote in anothr post, once you go on stage (term meaning performing as a professional) you are representing our ART of MAGIC, you are representing each and every one of us as magicians, from Houdini, to everybody on this board. We can not have kids that are like "Uncle Joe" that pulls a dime out of your ear when you were 5. We need MAGICIANS to represent us.

A poor performance not only gets him fired, but when you go to that manager (or better yet when you go to a manager that was in training when he screwed up and remembers what happened 2 or 3 years ago) and try to get a job as a magi. The reply is "We tried that and our policy is NO ENTERTAINERS." What really puts a coat of frost on the old place where you don't want frost is when some kid who screwed up at one restaurant closes the whole chain to entertainers. It happened here in Cincinnati. O'Charly's in this region will not use magicians or balloon twisters because some 15 y.o. kid didn't know how to handle a situation.

Yes, I call a space a "#&^#*)$ shovel" but I want our art to grow and prosper and bring in people that will have a love and respect for magic and audiences.

Peter