Smoothini on AGT

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Brad Henderson
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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby Brad Henderson » June 20th, 2014, 5:47 pm

you seem to be the only person who heard him billed as a bar magician. The phrase he and the judges repeated most often was ghetto Houdini.

so is walking up to a group and doing a bunch if tricks really fast in rapid succession the way bar magic is being done now?

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Brad Jeffers
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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby Brad Jeffers » June 21st, 2014, 4:45 am

Brad Henderson wrote:you seem to be the only person who heard him billed as a bar magician.

The title of the clip is "Smoothini : Bar Magician Flies Through Amazing Tricks"

HOWIE
You are a magician then?
SMOOTHINI
Yes sir, a bar magician to be exact.
HOWIE
A bar magician ... well this is a big bar here.
SMOOTHINI
Now the thing about bar magic as opposed to regular magic is the fact that I don't use big props ...

so is walking up to a group and doing a bunch if tricks really fast in rapid succession the way bar magic is being done now?


Maybe so, maybe not.

The point is that Smoothini was able to perform his magic standing in front of a small group of people who were seated (each with a drink in front of them), with a long narrow table separating the performer from the spectators and affording a working surface, when needed.

An almost perfect simulation of the working conditions faced by all bar magicians, no matter what the pace at which they perform.

Brad Henderson
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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby Brad Henderson » June 21st, 2014, 2:55 pm

it is telling that only one poster commented or noticed the bar magic label - every one else heard a far more memorable line. I watched it on TV and I thought the premise of no props had more to do with his alternative background rather than the venue in which he worked - but that was just my take away.

re dynamic. what you say is also true of restaurant magic, more so as the magician approaches and enters their space and not the other way around.

his style, to me, seemed more representative of the modern street hit and run style than any bar magician I have seen before.

but this type of discussion is very much "insider" thinking. interesting for us, but truly inconsequential in the big picture.

don't take that as an insult. We ARE insiders and there is nothing wrong with exploring these ideas.

having said that I think It will be hard to sell bar magic as a million dollar Vegas act (a standard the judges reference regularly as the contest progresses), and ghetto Houdini is much more interesting and memorable than the generic "where/what" label of bar magician.

Brian Hebert
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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby Brian Hebert » June 21st, 2014, 6:08 pm

Could you explain what you mean by, "his alternative background"?

Brad Henderson
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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby Brad Henderson » June 21st, 2014, 8:33 pm

that was me trying to make sense after driving for 19 hours.

meaning his non traditional "I couldn't afford magic props like other magicians" background, ostensibly resulting from his self proclaimed ghetto upbringing. he has of course stated here that he does many types of shows and has lots of experience, so I was trying to restrict my comment not to any reality but the story line presented, the differentiation he made between himself and other magicians. Alternative was meant to convey the differentiation he has made between him and others. ie different from the alleged status quo

as you can tell, I have yet still to recover from the trip.

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Brad Jeffers
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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby Brad Jeffers » August 21st, 2014, 7:42 pm

Smoothini advances to the semifinals.
To continue further, he will need something better than this somewhat lackluster performance.

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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby Rick Ruhl » August 21st, 2014, 8:05 pm

Dont know, that take on Kaps Flash Cash was pretty cool.

baabaablacksheep
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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby baabaablacksheep » August 21st, 2014, 8:11 pm

I was surprised he got voted through. The performance was not that good for a few reasons in my opinion. He only performed to two of the judges this time and the other judges could not see what he was doing. Even on TV it was very hard to see what he was doing, Howard Stern said the "blocking" was not done properly. With the $100 bill trick with the moving seal, he struggled, and you could see the second seal before the first was removed without looking too hard (starting at the 3:20 mark on the above link). The appearance of the goldfish was not connected to anything else and seemed very out of place.

I was very surprised the pair of magicians the week before got through as well. I was not impressed with their routine.

I guess the one thing that is encouraging with all of this is that Magic seems to be on the rise and people want to see more even if the performances were not as good as they could have been.

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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby I.M. Magician » August 21st, 2014, 8:36 pm

Once again, he just quickly did a bunch of tricks. He said that his performance was an act of genius. :lol:

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby Richard Kaufman » August 21st, 2014, 9:13 pm

That would be Pat Page's "Flash Cash."
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baabaablacksheep
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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby baabaablacksheep » August 21st, 2014, 10:56 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:That would be Pat Page's "Flash Cash."


Could he have done it with Money Shock?

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Travis
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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby Travis » August 21st, 2014, 11:33 pm

I have to go with the others that this was not a strong performance for a whole host of reasons that are all quite clear.

The 'version' of Pat Page's trick (it has it's roots there, but is far inferior) is something that was released by Justin Miller through Paul Harris Presents a couple of years ago, called First Hand. I played around with the effect some and, while, yes, it can be quite amazing to a spectator when the bills change in their hand, I feel it sacrifices too much to serve that end. That's just me. It did flash on camera, and that was another issue I had with the method, but in live performance, the natural misdirection is so strong it's not a concern. Not so, on camera.

The bill changing denominations just looked dodgy all around to my eyes. Too much mugging the bill; it all felt very suspicious.

The Daniel Garcia bit wherein the Federal seal is moved (which takes its cue from Paul Harris's Counterfeit Spectator) didn't go well at all, really. There was clearly trouble moving the seal (properly prepped, this shouldn't occur). He had to literally peel it up and move it. Also, the preparation to make it's former space empty didn't look like it was done well (could've been backlight shining through the bill, though).
It's a cool trick to do for people, leaving them with a permanently altered object. The key, though, is that it's an apparently borrowed bill. I think it loses any real impact if the bill isn't borrowed.
Some of the ditching throughout also felt obvious, but perhaps not to a layman. Not sure.

Incidentally, Harris's Counterfeit Spectator is a more fun, playful effect in which the magician transforms the signature of the Secretary of Treasury into the spectator's signature.

Brad Henderson
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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby Brad Henderson » August 22nd, 2014, 3:11 am

trick trick trick trick trick. no structure. no development.

cannot maintain a long form presentation.

trick trick trick trick trick

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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby MJLauck » August 22nd, 2014, 9:13 pm

I am a friend of his, so feel free to take this with a grain of salt.

I've seen his live show, he holds a crowd for about 75 minutes without a single prop larger than a wine glass (unless you count the DJ) and then goes around and performs table to table. He throws a party and everyone is invited. That's his thing and it works.
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Brad Henderson
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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby Brad Henderson » August 22nd, 2014, 9:45 pm

I've seen his videos featuring discomforting audience member interactions while performing Michael Fiinny's routines.

his agt material demonstrations no understanding of structure.

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Brad Jeffers
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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby Brad Jeffers » September 3rd, 2014, 11:33 pm

Smoothini has left the building.
The judges felt his act played to small and voted to advance this guy instead.

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baabaablacksheep
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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby baabaablacksheep » September 4th, 2014, 12:54 am

That stinks, Smoothini was great on Tuesday. I want to go back and watch again what he did he fooled me the first time. They probably did not want 4 Magic acts in the final 12. Too bad.

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Dustin Stinett
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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby Dustin Stinett » September 4th, 2014, 5:20 am

The dog, or the guy? (In other words, who is with who it that act? I do like the dog.)

It is too bad because what I saw was Smoothini's best work in the "competition." It had the very structure that Brad H. has been talking about.

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Re: Smoothini on AGT

Postby MJLauck » September 4th, 2014, 10:15 am

In all fairness, that guy had the dog and a puppy.
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