July 7, 2007
Here's what's in this edition of
Jheff's Marketplace of the Mind Newsletter
*** MAURICE FOGEL: IN SEARCH OF THE SENSATIONAL
by Richard Mark and Christopher Woodward
*** BOOK OF HAUNTED MAGICK by Rick Maue
*** AUTOMATIC SHIPPING CHARGES NOW WORKING (?)
To make a purchase of any item in the JMOM newsletter,
please go to http://www.MarketplaceoftheMind.com
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this, you may respond to this e-mail.
To make sure you've not been missing any newsletters, check
out my blog, which is accessible from the main page. All of
the recent past newsletters are archived there.
*********
How can I resist sending out a newsletter on the day that's
supposed to be the luckiest in the entire century -
07-07-07! So I'd figure let's get even luckier and make
sure this newsletter features good stuff! And I can't think
of anything better than to spotlight what will probably turn
out to be the best mentalism book of 2007. I just finished
this book and it's truly remarkable -- a must-have, for
sure. I've found a few routines and plenty of tips that I
will definitely be adding to my repertoire. Anyhow, more on
the book below.
Also, Rick Maue's BOOK OF HAUNTED MAGICK is available again
through me. It was never really out of print. Rick had
them available, but my distributor had "discontinued" them
for quite awhile. And, speaking of Rick, he's featured on
the new Talk About Tricks 3 DVD set. However, he's the only
mentalist in the set, and so I probably will not catalog
this item. I will though, probably offer this item for a
limited time (maybe 30 days?!?) for those who are
interested.
I did get Marc Oberon's Digital Deception and David
Eldridge's Jules Gems just recently. But let's not talk
about those (or Marc Oberon's other releases which I need to
officially release comments on) in this very lucky issue of
the newsletter.
*** AUTOMATIC SHIPPING CHARGES . . . 4,367th TRY!
Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating on how many times I've
tried to get this set up. But, for now, I'm going to
try it and see what happens. Again.
As those who've ordered from me know, the shopping cart
service I use has not been accurate. This means that the
shipping and handling have had to be added by me after the
order has been made. Paypal users had to be billed
separately for this charge.
Now, my shopping cart service has assured me that
everything's ok and to try it again. Unfortunately, data
for many of the products had to be updated. That's mostly
done. And now things seem to be working.
So let's try this out: All U.S. based orders will be
shipped by Priority Mail. All non U.S. orders will be
shipped by air mail. Since I manually input credit card
info, if you pay by credit card (NOT Paypal), then I reserve
the right to change the shipping and handling price if I can
get it to you in the same amount of time and for less money.
For non-U.S. customers, if the shipping charges exceed $40,
use the Flat Rate Priority Mail option (about $40, and not
available in all countries).
Hopefully, (I'm knocking on wood really hard now), this will
work. I will say that not all the products' data is updated
and so there may be some shipping prices that are out of
line. If so, I'll definitely spot it and it'll be worked
out.
*** TWO NEW E-BOOKS
This is just a heads-up that next weekend will see the
general release of two new e-books. Both are currently
being offered to specific customers on a pre-sale basis
right now. One of these books is the third in Enrique
Enriquez's marvelous Invisible readings series and it's
called . . . Invisible Readings. First, it was Invisible
Gems, then Invisible Tarot. Now, it's Invisible Readings as
he tackles how to give accurate readings which can be
considered cold readings. It's a brilliant piece of work
that makes cold readings incredibly easy to do for anyone.
More on this later, of course.
The second e-book is by Jack Kent Tillar. Details are
below.
*** HOLLYWOOD MAGIC SQUARES
The 2nd volume of "From the Private Files of Jack Kent
Tillar" will be released next weekend. Jack has
tackled the flaws in most magic square methods and come up
with a brilliant solution.
Hollywood Magic Squares, a 24-page downloadable e-book,
takes a classic, yet complicated, method for accomplishing
the magic squares and applies some simple, subtle, and
sensational touches to make it a powerful new method for
this popular effect.
It will be officially added to my website next weekend.
Incidentally, if you purchased Volume 1, the Memory Pill
Act, and you haven't received the special pre-sale notice
for this e-book, e-mail me for the info.
*** SUMMER SPOTLIGHT: MENTAL ACTS
Here's a new feature that will call attention to products
that I feel shouldn't be overlooked by the working
mentalist. The following products are or can be complete
mental acts by themselves.
DOUBLE COINCIDENCE -- This three-phase book test is one of
the most powerful book test routines I've seen. Though one
book is prepared, it's the routine that is strong, not the
props. The first phase involves picking up images from a
selected passage; the second, the performer draws the
thought-of word; and the third phase involves an impossible
prediction of a freely chosen word.
http://www.marketplaceofthemind.com/Double_Coincidence.html
CRUISE CONTROL -- This routine involves many elements of a
cruise being freely chosen and all of them being predicted
by the performer at the routine's finish. I've always gotten
great response from this routine and feel that this is one
of Larry Becker & Lee Earle's most underrated creations. If
you do a travel themed set, you certainly want to check this
out. Heck, I'd recommend it just for the special traveler's
cheques which are ingenious.
http://www.marketplaceofthemind.com/Cruise_Control.html
QUESTA -- A professional Q & A routine that blends a trio of
principles together so that anyone "in the know" wouldn't be
able to backtrack. This is not a routine that is
recommended for mentalists with little experience, but they
can certainly purchase this and know what to work on and
towards.
http://www.marketplaceofthemind.com/Questa.html
***** MARKETPLACE MEMBERSHIP CLUB
The latest issue of Jheff's Journal of the Mind spotlights
Maurice Fogel, the subject of the new book by Christopher
Woodward and Richard Mark entitled Maurice Fogel: In Search
of the Sensational. To get it, you need to buy a membership
in the Marketplace of the Mind. For the $37 cost you get a
subscription to the 2007 issues of Jheff's Journal of the
Mind, an all-new e-zine for mentalists, and an additional
5% discount off merchandise from the Marketplace of the
Mind. There will also be specials and other stuff
throughout the year. Check out the preview edition
of the Bonus #0 issue featuring Jack Kent Tillar. Go to
the website and click on the banner at the top. Or use
the link below.
Check it out here:
www.marketplaceofthemind.com/jmmc.html
***** THE FRIENDS OF THE MARKETPLACE
Don't forget to check out the new Friends of the Marketplace
section. This is for those creators who are producing
wonderful products that I don't carry. This is because, to
save overhead, I order as needed from my distributor, and
these creators aren't mass distributing it. If you'd like
me to review your product and help you sell it, then you'll
find details about the Friends of the Marketplace program on
the website. There's a button on the left hand side for you
to click on.
I've just added the Craig Browning's CRITTERS, which is good
old fashioned mentalism fun with the theme of animals.
Also new to the section are Ron Martin's THE TAROT READER'S
NOTEBOOK, a must-have for Tarot readers; Alan Strydom's
PALMISTRY QUICKIES, a must-have for palm readers; Loren
Tindall's beautiful new THE DELPHI PORTAL, which is a
must-have prop for anyone who is a reader; and Gene
Nielsen's THE MAGICK YEARS, a jam-packed e-book filled with
over 70 professional and varied routines.
Remember, I don't make a dime on this stuff. I do this
because I think the stuff is very good and worth it.
http://www.jheff.com/friendsofthemarketplace.html
Until next time. -- Jheff
*********
CHRIS WOODWARD AND RICHARD MARK
MAURICE FOGEL: IN SEARCH OF THE SENSATIONAL
JMOM Price: $65
Suggested Retail Price: $72
THE BLURB:
When magicians caught a bullet in their teeth...
He caught six!
When magicians did spook shows...
His ghosts were nude!
When magicians did rope tricks...
He put a noose around his neck and jumped!
When magicians predicted a chosen number...
He predicted which of six rifles should be
aimed at his forehead!
He was Maurice Fogel, the twentieth century's most audacious
mentalist and one of its greatest showmen. His feats of mind
reading captured headlines around the world--when he wasn't
predicting them. He dared death, he read minds and he became
a legend in his own time.
Here is a taste of a typical Fogel performance:
Six volunteer marksmen were invited on stage to operate six
legitimate, loaded and fully functioning rifles. One man
chose a rifle at random and fired at a saucer, shattering it
to smithereens. The discharged rifle was set with the five
still-loaded ones in a rotating rack and the rack spun until
no one could know which was the empty weapon. Each marksman
was assigned a random number and took a random rifle from
the rack. Fogel next revealed a predicted number that had
been in full view and isolated from the start. The marksmen
were all told to aim at saucers over Fogel's head--but the
man assigned the predicted number was to aim directly at
Fogel's forehead. Then, on his command they all fired!
To some he was a mental wonder; to others, an enigma. For
years he strode the stages of the world, reading minds and
using his strange powers to defy death. Maurice Fogel: In
Search of the Sensational is the chronicle of the life of a
master mentalist whose like has never been seen. He baffled
the world and his peers. He defied death for years on a near
nightly basis. He created an extraordinary body of
professional mentalism that has remained among the most
coveted material in the field. This book contains that
material, along with the advice, experience and stories of a
lifetime of professional performance by one of the world's
most acclaimed mentalists.
Maurice Fogel: In Search of the Sensational is the story of
an amazing life and the mental secrets of an amazing man--
The Amazing Fogel
Written and collected by Chris Woodward, an award-winning
magician and Fogel's son-in-law, in collaboration with
mentalist and Fogel confidant Richard Mark, here at last is
the definitive work on Maurice Fogel, the man and his
secrets.
440 pages in elegant hardcover with book ribbon.
MY COMMENTS:
Let's cut right to the chase. If you know who Maurice Fogel
is, then you know you have to have this book. If you don't
know who Maurice Fogel is, then that's an even greater
reason to add this book immediately in your library. Okay,
here's some more info.
For those who don't know Maurice Fogel, it could be said
that he was the Houdini of mentalism. Though he certainly
used innovative variations of effects by Annemann and other
classic performers, as well as being credited with mentalism
gimmicks such as the transparent change bag, Fogel was best
known for incredible showmanship and ingenious publicity
stunts, much like Houdini. He is regarded as England's
first performing mentalist and was incredibly popular around
the time of World War II. Many who saw Fogel say he was
better than Houdini, Dunninger, Keller, and most of the rest
of the famous magicians of the time. Besides his mentalism
routines, he also performed sensational stunts, such as the
Bullet Catch trick.
For those who know who Maurice Fogel is, you'll be pleased
to know that this book contains over fifty effects and
routines, a thorough biography (much of which is
autobiographical), a facsimile of the rare Fogelism booklet,
a large amount of eyewitness accounts of Fogel's work, and
dozens of photos and illustrations. It's a gorgeous book
that is "440 pages in elegant hardcover with book ribbon,"
as the ad proclaims. Basically, it's structured like a
biography which covers his entire career, with sections on
his stint in the U.S., his bullet-catching shows, his ghost
shows, and his gallows routine.
I can certainly name some effects that I really liked, but
you'll find your own. And there is a plethora of anecdotes
about Fogel. My favorite is how Maurice Fogel, desperately
needing money, agreed to do two shows at the same time and
how he solved the dilemma. This is not a technique that I'd
recommend one do regularly, but aside from being humorous,
it was quite effective.
There is no doubt that, so far, this is the must-have book
for 2007. If you have this already, you probably are saying
to yourself that I've underrated the book, which may be so.
If you don't have this already, . . . well, what are
waiting for? Get it!
*********
RICK MAUE
BOOK OF HAUNTED MAGICK
JMOM Price: $31
Suggested Retail Price: $35
THE BLURB:
This book contains a total of fifty items,including
routines, utility moves, & essays. Many of the items can be
used for intimate close-up performances or for larger stage
shows. Regardless of what type of audience that you perform
for, you will find material in "The Book Of Haunted Magick"
that you can add to your working repertoire right away.
Here are a few Examples:
Intersection - A direct prediction that requires no forcing
or sleight-of-hand, and it certainly "packs flat and plays
big."
Truth Of The Relic - The performer is able to determine who
possesses a specific item, without the use of gimmicks,
peeks, or sleight-of-hand
Drawn Together - A strong test of telepathy that involves a
number of audience members.
Beads Of Destiny - A magical Tarot reading that provides a
keepsake for the participant.
Dyadic Thoughts - A test with ESP symbols that demonstrates
telepathy & clairvoyance.
Beyond The Witching Hour - The hands of a timepiece move
with the aid of the spirits.
Numerology - Two participants unlock the future for
themselves & the performer.
CSR - A deceptive utility move with Tarot Cards, ESP cards,
or a standard deck.
Terasabos - A strong non-gimmicked, non-sleight
demonstration of apparent psychic abilities.
Also included is a special section that features photos &
routines from our dark attraction,The Haunted Chamber.
Each routine can be modified to fit almost any performance
style including mentalism, Haunted Magick, or standard
magic. There is truly something for everyone in "The Book
Of Haunted Magick"
Pages 188 - Spiral Bound
MY COMMENTS:
This has long been unavailable from me, although not out of
print. You could easily obtain them from Rick Maue. When
it was available, it was a true bestseller and, since it's
been unavailable, I've gotten about a dozen requests a year
for it.
There's obviously a reason people still search this out.
This is a 188 page, comb-bound book that is packed with a
variety of innovative material. As the blurb says, these
routines can be used for mentalism, Haunted Magick, or
standard magic. Rick Maue was a hit at Mindvention 2006.
At the time of this writing, he is soon to be featured in a
major DVD set hosted by Joshua Jay and will have his own
multi-disc set released later in the year.
Sure, not every effect will be your cup of tea. But, like
the best and most innovative creators, it's the discussions
of the details that make it invaluable reading. And Rick
certainly provides plenty of that. His effect, Terasabos,
became a classic and this book includes that routine, which
many feel is worth the price of the book. This is definitely
recommended.
*********
To make a purchase of any item in the JMOM newsletter,
please go to http://www.MarketplaceoftheMind.com
and use the shopping cart. If you're unable to do
this, you may respond to this e-mail.
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