October 15, 2007
Here's what's in this edition of
Jheff's Marketplace of the Mind Newsletter
*** BETWEEN THE LINES - Michael Murray
*** SPORTS CARD STING - Jack Kent Tillar
*** REAL GHOST PRE-ORDER
*** PHENOMENON
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.
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.
*********
Mindvention 2007 is now history and it was another exciting
few days for the mentalism community. The good news is that
the convention line-up was great, the dealers' room had
great variety, and it appeared as though everyone had a good
time. Lecturers included Patrick Redford, Jack Tillar,
David Berglass, Eugene Burger, Sean Taylor, Guy Bavli, and
the always hilarious John Archer. Russ Johnson was
interviewed by Michael Weber and a taped exclusive of Marc
Paul interviewing David Berglass was presented. Also, Joe
Atmore presented his Dunning Radio Show recreation. The
dealers room had Mark Strivings, Patrick Redford, Lee Earle,
Bill Pearce, Guy Bavli, Rick Maue, Chris Taylor, Sean
Taylor, and myself.
The only bad news is that attendance was about two-thirds of
what it was last year. The reason is quite simple: Magic
Live. And, from what I was told, it affected LVMI, too.
There were also some complaints about the hotel, though that
had nothing to do with the convention itself. The program
was still strong and only the dealers and producers felt the
drop.
**** CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR'S REAL GHOST PRE-ORDER
One breakout hit at this year's con was Christopher Taylor's
Real Ghost. Chris sold out of all the units he had brought
with him. Normally, I don't like expensive electronic items
because they are unpredictable and not necessarily more
powerful than a strong routine using inexpensive props from
an office supply store. But this gizmo is something that I
really like.
So, I will be getting Real Ghost and I will be able to
provide a discount. The catch is that my supply will be
quite limited and it will be first come, first served. I
don't know how many I will be able to get, but I will do my
best to fill the order I do get for it. After my supply is
gone, it will be exclusively available from Christopher
Taylor. If you want one from me, then you will have to
order now. I'm not sure when they will arrive, but it will
be soon. So, don't wait.
http://www.marketplaceofthemind.com/real_ghost.html
**** PHENOMENON
Whether the show is good or bad, it will definitely put the
spotlight on mentalists. The good side, of course, is that
if your promotional material is out there then you can sell
yourself as one who does the same type of thrilling stuff
done on the show.
As to the show, there's lots of promotional material on the
NBC.com website. The show is hosted by Michael Vincent,
with experts Criss Angel and Uri Geller, and is a show
that's supposed to find the next great mentalist. The
contestants include Jan Bardi, Guy Bavli, Jim Callahan,
Angela Funovits, Wayne Hoffman, Jim Karol, Gerry
McCambridge, Eran Raven, Jason Scott and Ehud Segev. I'm
sure that you probably recognize a few of these performers.
Six episodes will begin to air Wednesday, Oct. 24. NBC.com
does have complete episodes of some of its current shows,
such as Bionic Woman and Heroes, and perhaps they'll have
this show up as well so that non-U.S. viewers can see it.
**** NEW ITEMS
New items that I'll be including in future newsletters
include Phill Smith's MITOX, Patrick Redford's TRIANGLE,
James Biss' WHITE TAGGER, Jason Polter's UFB, Allan
Zingg's ACTING NATURALLY - THE TIBETAN WISHING BOX, Gerard
Bakner's ESOTERIC, Andrew Gerard's MIND WAVES. Some of
these are already on the website, some may not be deemed as
not being added to the website, but I'll give you my
comments on all them in the next week or so. I also have
more than a dozen of Bob Cassidy's e-books to comment on
and I'll start getting to those this week, too.
**** PAST NEWSLETTERS NOW ON-LINE
Finally, I broke down and just decided to be plain lazy.
Instead of taking the time to re-format the newsletters and
make them all pretty looking for the blog, I decided I'd
rather spend the time on other more important things like,
oh, keeping the website up to date with the current
mentalism products and my comments. Right now, I'm only
posting the 2007 newsletters. Perhaps, in time, I'll put
more up.
So, there's a whole new section where you can see all the
past newsletters. If you subscribed and aren't receiving
them, either check to make sure that the newsletters aren't
being considered spam by your Internet provider, or
re-subscribe (which is the easiest).
***** MARKETPLACE MEMBERSHIP CLUB
The new issue of Jheff's Journal of the Mind spotlights
Mark Strivings, one of mentalism's most prolific creators
and most famous as the creator of the SUC case, which
pros use. To get this issue, 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 third and the most important of Enrique
Enriquez' Invisible series, INVISIBLE READINGS. This is
definitely an e-book that every mentalist should check out.
Also new to the section are Ron Martin's THE TAROT READER'S
NOTEBOOK, a must-have for Tarot readers; Craig Browning's
CRITTERS, an animal-themed collection of mentalism; 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
*********
MICHAEL MURRAY
BETWEEN THE LINES
JMOM Price: $27
Suggested Retail Price: $30
THE BLURB:
Magicbox is please to anounce the release of a revolutionary
new Mentalism routine. It has long been said that the
strongest effects are those which happen in the hands of the
spectator, what if the effect could take place in the
spectators mind? Between the Lines combines some
revolutionary thinking with a classic mentalism effect to
create one of the most powerful routines available to date!
Imagine handing a spectator a torn page from a random book,
you then ask them to imagine a fictitious scene in their
mind building it up piece by piece. The spectator is then
instructed to read the page, which has been in their
possession throughout. Imagine their reaction as it dawns on
them that the printed page accurately describes the scene
they had created in their mind moments earlier.
Best of all there are several extra subtleties hidden with
in the text! Could this be genuine mind reading, could this
be psychometry? To find out you will have to read Between
the Lines.
Comes complete with everything you need to perform this
amazing mentalism effect including an 18 page
photo-illustrated instruction booklet.
MY COMMENTS:
This is certainly one of the more intriguing premises I've
seen in quite some time. For those who are fans of Kenton
Knepper and psychological manipulation, this is right up
your alley. And, essentially, that's what's going on here.
You are subtly getting the participant to imagine a very
specific scene. Obviously, the script is everything. But
the performer must be "on his feet" to make tweaks depending
on the responses. The result though is a successfully and
devastatingly powerful routine.
I caution that the performer using this must be an
experienced performer with the confidence to be able to pull
this off. If you are a novice performer of mentalism
effects, I'd buy this for curiousity now, but not even
attempt it until after you've performed mentalism for a
reasonable amount of time. One has to be able to quickly
and confidently change directions without tipping this skill
to the audience/participants due to hesitation, gestures,
and other giveaway signs that experienced mentalists know to
avoid. Also, one has to be able to accurately read and
control participants to sell this and not make it come off
as a boring exercise in guessing.
I really am trying to stress that this is NOT for a
performer new to mentalism and I don't recommend it if this
describes you presently. If you are, and you get this,
don't try it right away. You'll get results that will not
be as successful as it could be. For experienced
mentalists, though, this is a wonderful new effect that has
lots of possibilities and is highly recommended. You get a
17 page 5.5" x 8.5" booklet with two copies of the yellowed
page that you hand to participants.
*********
JACK KENT TILLAR
SPORTS CARD STING
JMOM Price: $18
Suggested Retail Price: $20
THE BLURB:
Two packets of trading cards are thoroughly examined and
shuffled. One is freely chosen. Let's say it's football.
The spectator holds the pack behind his back and secretly
selects one card. He seals this unknown trading card in an
examined security letter envelope.
Now he hands out 8 or 10 baseball cards and has them sealed
in matching envelopes. The one sealed football card is
honestly mixed and lost among all the baseball envelopes.
* MIRACLE #1: The sealed cards are handed to the
performer, one at a time behind his back, and he correctly
divines the football envelope!
Good so far? Well, there's more . . .
* MIRACLE #2: The envelope is opened and the card
verified. Then the performer, who stands at some distance
and who never has touched the card, concentrates and
correctly names the unknown star player!!
NO Forces!
NO Duplicate Cards!
NO Magnets, Stooges or Pre-Show Work!
NO Special Envelopes!
NO Secret Marks!
NO “Special” Cards!
Different Every Time!
This comes complete with two-dozen genuine football and
baseball cards, AND a knock-out DOUBLE CLIMAX!
MY COMMENTS:
Admittedly, my comments are biased because I helped Jack
produce this, but this routine, based on an idea in his THE
ASSUMPTION SWINDLE, is definitely one stinger of an effect!
The blurb is accurate. All the props are ungimmicked and
nothing is forced. Everything can be examined at the end.
It truly looks like a miracle.
You do have to be wearing a coat of some sort, but not for
the reasons you may think. I'm sure it's possible to work
out a handling without a coat, but one is not included in
the booklet. Also, some may be concerned about the theme of
sports. If you don't like the sports card theme, use two
other types of card stacks. Please don't use playing cards,
though. I think you'll find the routine strong enough that
you'll want to apply to something else if the sports theme
doesn't fit your style.
Even though only ten or so cards are used in performance,
and you only get about a dozen of each, it is recommended
that you go out and get some additional cards so that you
have two good sized stacks to choose from. These cards are
totally ungimmicked and unprepared. In fact, this is one of
those effects that if you have to, you can do this impromptu
by grabbing stacks of old sports cards and some envelopes.
There is a little set-up work, but that takes a minute or
less.
Those who are Marketplace Members may recognize this from
the #0 issue featuring Jack Kent Tillar. However, a couple
of subtleties have been added that make this even better.
This is a diabolically strong effect, easy-to-do, and a
routine that every mentalist should be at least aware of.
It comes in a polybag with an eight-page, 5.5" by 8.5"
booklet, along with two dozen different sports cards.
You'll need to supply envelopes. Highly 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.
This e-mail is copyrighted by Jheff Poncher. No part of
this newsletter may be reprinted or distributed without
the express permission of the author.
You received this e-mail because you have subscribed. If
you wish to unsubscribe, then send me an e-mail at
Jheffsmind@aol.com and it will be done.
