You might be surprised what you find if you look. The fact that you haven't seen them doesn't mean too much. I lived in London and the in the first year I was there I only ran into one restaurant magician (in the wild).

It is possible, I have been gone a while. But it is also in a town of 30,000 in the least populated state in the US. So I really wouldn't be surprised either way. Heck Scotland north of Inverness has a higher population density than Wyoming. One way or the other, pricing is a bit of a conundrum.

This is a great subject. I'm a pro in a city with over 125 magicians. Most are hobbyists, some of them part time and as many as twenty full time. We all get along, because we know where we all fit. Well most of us. The key statement in the blog was "The best professionals love it when a passionate amateur shows up." Passionate to me means, dedicate and that means reasonable good!

When the rank amateur shows up and offer same services for far less and doesn't provide, well it hurts everyone in our local community. I don't go after the low shows, nor do I go after the highest paid. I go for the ones best suited for my skill set and ability to entertain. Every year I get better, ask more, get more and move up the ladder. I even pass the older shows to those starting out now as my way of saying thanks for not quoting and killing a big gig that maybe neither of us should approach.

I even find that some of the hobbyists have better technical skills than I have because I spend too many hours performing and not practising. I'll out gun them every-time in entertainment and pleasing the client, but they can fool me often with a new move or idea. I love to hang out and share with everyone of every level. We all have one thing in common, we love magic.

DR

As an amateur, I've been pleasantly surprised how friendly most pros have been when I've approached them after their shows. I'll usually pay them a (true) compliment, such as, "That was the smoothest 'miser's dream' routine I've ever seen." Or, it's tough to put a personal spin on "The Vanishing Bandana," but you did a great job.

More often than not, they reply with a thank you, handshake, and then some magic shop talk. They likley assume I'm an amateur because the pro-circuit is pretty tight and they all know each other. But they see the common interest and are usually more than eager to talk about it. I have never once gotten the vibe, "You're a lowly amateur. Stay off my turf!"

I have to slightly disagree with the article. In the state of Florida, there is a law prohibiting private homeowners to grow their own oranges. This is to prevent diseases and fungus to spread to the orchards of the 'professionals'. Since the average homeowner isn't able to properly protect their trees, they're forbidden to grow them.

To compare this to magic, if 'amateurs' wouldn't affect the 'professionals' at all, then there wouldn't be a problem. But like was mentioned earlier, this isn't always the case. Often, people aren't exposed to 'real' magic. Their entire understanding of our art is biased because they've only seen bad performances, thus making them less reluctant to see a good performance (after all, they can't know before they see it that it'll be good). If the 'amateur' gives a bad performance, it may ruin the spectators outlook on magic for the rest of their lives.

However, if an amateur would respect the art and give magic a good name, then I don't think it would harm professionals. On the contrary, it might even help, since magic as a whole becomes more respected. And don't forget, just about everyone has to be an amateur at some point