Tomo Maeda Interview

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David Nethery
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Tomo Maeda Interview

Postby David Nethery » September 25th, 2008, 4:22 pm

Excellent interview with Tomo Maeda.

I really appreciated his views about magic on TV (bottom of pg 72, top of pg. 73)

Tomo: I try not to be on TV too much. I turn down 90 percent of the calls from TV stations.

Genii : Why ?

Tomo: I don't waste my performances. It's hard to explain ... in a Japanese antique market, if you see the same cup too many times, people get bored with it and it just sits on the shelf. No one buys it. If on the other hand, only a few people see the cup, then it's much more valuable. So, if I'm on TV every day, people see five tricks, five tricks, five tricks, five tricks, five tricks ...

[snip]

Tomo: It comes down to the fact that I want to control my image and my TV appearances. "Value" is more important than money. If I can control how often I appear on TV, by keeping that to a minimum, each TV appearance is worth more.


Wise words I believe. I think despite the good efforts of some of the best in the business, magic on TV often results in the diminishment of magic , compared to magic seen in a live venue. It is "valued" less.

I enjoyed the whole interview very much.

swamy
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Re: Tomo Maeda Interview

Postby swamy » September 26th, 2008, 3:05 am

A bit on the word "BORED" being used in the sentence :
"people get bored with it and it just"

Human beings tend to compare the present with the past knowingly or unknowingly. If they find any significant difference with respect to past then the present(what they are watching, seeing, etc) appeals to them otherwise not which we term it as "BORE".

It is important that the present must be perceived without being compared with the past. Though logical to the mind but difficult to internalise or realise it.

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Joe Pecore
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Re: Tomo Maeda Interview

Postby Joe Pecore » September 26th, 2008, 4:48 pm

Be sure to check out some clips of Tomo Maeda performing: http://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.php/Tomo_Maeda

raj k
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Re: Tomo Maeda Interview

Postby raj k » September 26th, 2008, 6:43 pm

Thanks for the wiki link. Looking forward to this issue, as I've not received mine yet.

A friend managed to purchase a dvd through Amazon Japan of Tomo Maeda's close up act. It's all in Japanese but the effects convey, and are very strong. Looking now, I'm unable to locate this dvd.

-rk

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Tomo Maeda Interview

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 26th, 2008, 8:15 pm

Nothing available now, but Tomo did tell me that some special of his was going to come out on DVD late this year or early next.
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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Tomo Maeda Interview

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 26th, 2008, 8:18 pm

Tomo Maeda deck:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Tomohiro-Maeda-Mode ... dZViewItem

Tomo Maeda Magic Watch from Casio: does a bunch of tricks and comes with a Tomo custom deck:
http://cgi.ebay.com/CASIO-MAEDA-MAGIC-W ... dZViewItem
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Richard Green
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Re: Tomo Maeda Interview

Postby Richard Green » October 3rd, 2008, 12:11 pm

Is it just me, or are we starting to see a trend back to the more genteel 'salon-style' of performing? It seems that with Steve Cohen and Eric DeCamps in NY, Tomo in Japan, and John Carney in CA as examples of this type show, there appears to be a growth of the more intimate, intelligent, and gentle performances.

It was around 2000-01 when I had the original idea for my show, "Victorian Secrets" which was exactly this type of presentation: "Hofzinser for the 21st Century!" I once thought my idea was 'novel and original': glad to see I was wrong!

Jonathan Townsend
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Re: Tomo Maeda Interview

Postby Jonathan Townsend » October 3rd, 2008, 12:16 pm

Isn't that called "parlor" in the older books and catalogs for a category between stage and pocket tricks?
Mundus vult decipi -per Caleb Carr's story Killing Time

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Tomo Maeda Interview

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 3rd, 2008, 12:25 pm

Yes, it's parlor magic, however that's not what Tomo does. He's a close-up magician. He can do parlor style magic (standup), but his work on TV and private parties is entirely close-up.
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Richard Green
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Re: Tomo Maeda Interview

Postby Richard Green » October 3rd, 2008, 3:07 pm

Jonathan, in the general sense, it is 'parlor magic'; what I'm referring to is the more fact that there seems to be 'maturity' about how they present their magic. The main one that stands out in my mind is Ricky Jay. I'll never forget the first time I saw him perform in the '70's. The presentation itself was silly, but it was done with such elegance and care that you took HIM seriously.

This is a good case of "I know in my heart what I'm trying to say, but it's hard to put into words what I'm feeling"...

Richard

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Donal Chayce
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Re: Tomo Maeda Interview

Postby Donal Chayce » October 4th, 2008, 1:00 pm

Joe Pecore wrote:Be sure to check out some clips of Tomo Maeda performing: http://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.php/Tomo_Maeda


Unfortunately, all of the clips at that link come up "no longer available" when I clicked on them. :(
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Chris Aguilar
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Re: Tomo Maeda Interview

Postby Chris Aguilar » October 4th, 2008, 1:24 pm

That's the danger of linking to third party videos. They can take the clip down anytime and you're stuck with busted links/unavailability. Linking to third party videos is Ok for a forum or a one off type of thing, but kind of dumb for a site that's supposed to be an ongoing resource.

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Magic Newswire
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Re: Tomo Maeda Interview

Postby Magic Newswire » October 4th, 2008, 2:19 pm

Try these:










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Re: Tomo Maeda Interview

Postby Magic Newswire » October 4th, 2008, 2:22 pm

Richard Green wrote:Is it just me, or are we starting to see a trend back to the more genteel 'salon-style' of performing? It seems that with Steve Cohen and Eric DeCamps in NY, Tomo in Japan, and John Carney in CA as examples of this type show, there appears to be a growth of the more intimate, intelligent, and gentle performances.

It was around 2000-01 when I had the original idea for my show, "Victorian Secrets" which was exactly this type of presentation: "Hofzinser for the 21st Century!" I once thought my idea was 'novel and original': glad to see I was wrong!


Steve Cohen for example...

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Re: Tomo Maeda Interview

Postby JonP » October 12th, 2008, 7:06 am

Magic Newswire wrote:Try these:














Nope - they're gone already.


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