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Jeff Stone - Penguin Live

Jeff Stone

Penguin Magic

(Based on 1 review)

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Jeff Stone - Penguin Live Today!

"Jeff Stone has quietly published a series of excellent magic books that are well-worth your time and money. His latest one, 793.8, is all that again, but raised to another level. His deepest interest is to help you tap into the magic in your magic — those moments of deep, true astonishment. Between Jeff’s thoughtful essays and excellent routines, you will find yourself inspired to create more magical magic. Highly recommended." - Lawrence Hass, Associate Dean of McBride’s Magic & Mystery School

"Jeff Stone's 793.8 asks us to discover where the magic is in our methods, effects, presentations, and in our lives." - Robert E. Neale

"I'm an enormous fan of the philosophical perspectives flowing through this book [793.8], but make no mistake, these pages also document many powerful, clever, commercial magic effects. Among my favorites are 'Leaving Decks', 'Martika', and the extremely intimate 'Ode to Charlie.'"- Jay Sankey

"793.8 is one of the freshest and most powerful books about presentation for magicians that I have read in a very long time. Your thoughts on connecting with an audience are so powerful that they literally woke me up to being a better performer. Thank you so much for this fantastic work." - Richard Sanders

"Jeff Stone is always creating and sharing his creative and original ideas that make us think out our magic in new ways. Particularly powerful are his effects with natural objects in close up situations." - Paul Draper

"I've been a big Jeff Stone fan for a while now. Not only is he a good friend, he creates powerful, direct and -most of all- commercial close-up magic. I also really respect Jeff as a teacher. He really knows what he's talking about. 'GEMSTONES' is the perfect opportunity to get to know Jeff and learn how his very clever mind ticks!" - Jay Sankey

"You've opened the door to a world of presentations that are precisely the type of ego massage audiences, particularly female spectators, eat up. It is perfect for the type of party atmosphere generally worked by tarot readers, face painters, balloon modelers and magicians. Properly marketed, a clever magician could use the material in Spectral Chill - Tarot Below Zero to double his/her value to a party planner and therefore his/her price." - Wesley James

What will he teach?
S.S. Vanish A bare handed utility vanish that allows you to vanish just about anything you can fit in your closed fist. This portion of the lecture is my opener and it covers several different applications for the vanish.

Visa 2.0 This is mentalism routine that fits into a small card wallet and has a fun presentation where the spectators help you remember what item you recently purchased.

Frixion A whole segment on Frixion pen magic. I’ll perform one effect and then discuss/perform multiple ideas/effects possible with the pen. The effect I perform is one where a drawing of a petri dish is shown. It contains “bacteria” from an old deck of cards. When the bacteria is cooked (i.e. a flame is applied to the drawing), the bacteria forms into a selected card.

Ace Re-Revisited Portable book test based on (and use with permission) Larry Becker’s dictionary book test. The presentation is centered around the power of the written word.

I Need a Hero A stand up mentalism routine involving 6 or 7 people where they take on the role of superheroes and battle it out. The winner is predicted in advance.

Triptych 3 Card revelation where the spectator “learns how to be a magician.”

Who is he?
In a nutshell, Jeff Stone is: Magician, Programmer, Rubik’s Cuber.

He became interested in magic as little kid (5 or 6 years old) and has been obsessed with it pretty much his whole life.

He spent years as a children's show magician and also spent years performing close-up and stand-up magic. He also served in the U.S. Navy on board a fast attack submarine where he spent countless hours practicing and performing.

Jeff also published a free monthly magazine for 8 years with many contributions from various magicians such as Eugene Burger, Max Maven, Paul Harris, Jay Sankey, David Acer and more. www.StoneColdMagicMagazine.com

He retired the magazine and has been focusing on writing again. Mostly, these days, Jeff spends time reviewing magic. He spends over 40 hours per week on magic reviews and is the owner of the two largest magic review sites in the world. www.MagicReviewed.com and www.MyLovelyAssistant.com

Jeff has a few web clients whose websites (or applications) he's built and maintains. Probably the most notable one is Jay Sankey’s www.InsideDeception.com. He built the site/system and maintains the code along with most of the customer service and tech support.

Along with all of that, Jeff has been obsessed with the Rubik’s Cube since he was a kid back in the 80’s. His average solve time is about 33 seconds and his best time is 24.56 seconds!

Reviews

Stuart Philip

Official Reviewer

Jan 06, 2017

Jeff Stone starts off his jammed packed lecture with two tricks. First, the vanishing thumb tip and Visa 2.0. He explains the method to vanish the thumb tip and applies it to other uses including switching and ditching since you likely will not be revealing a thumb tip so you can vanish it. He suggests several other ideas and the method has tremendous potential as long as you dress in a certain way (no T-shirts allowed).

Jeff then explains Visa 2.0 where he has 6 cards, each with a different product and number (one through six) written on it. The spectator picks any single number from Stone’s Visa card account number and then it turn out that the product that the number corresponds to is the item that Stone bought. He then shows proof i.e. like a receipt to prove that the spectator was accurate. Included with the purchase is a download to customize your own receipt. He performed this trick with a homemade set of cards which can easily be made at home. This trick could be marketed and sold with professionally made cards... hint, hint. He properly credits Joe Diamond and Dan Harlan with inspiration and predecessor versions of this good trick.

Stone then performs and teaches tricks that use a FriXion pen. If you have not seen it, Stone has a masterclass DVD on tricks with the FriXion pen called Stone FriXion Fire. He first performs Bacteria, which is an impressive way to reveal a chosen card with a lighter. Basically, a card is selected from a “contaminated” deck of cards and then a picture of a petri dish, with hundreds of dots in it is heated up with a lighter and the selected card appears in the midst of the “bacteria.” For those who have not seen tricks with the FriXion pen, it is truly impressive. He then teaches a secret about laminating the paper that contains the card reveal. He teaches CSI to demonstrate another FriXion effect and shows his forcing envelope. Jeff teaches some cool FriXion ideas using flash paper, a clock prediction effect and others. He has a discussion about the multitude of options that you can come up with which will no doubt inspire you to buy a FriXion pen!

Jeff then busts into a few stunning and worthwhile card tricks; Jacked Up, The Coolest Ace Trick in the World, Ace Bandage, The Target Card, Triptych and Headache. Each trick is explained in detail, with the various choice moves, and there is no doubt that something in the set will be something you will use. Stone also teaches how to construct and use his utility device, the Prometheus box, to vanish a torn card that is fairly placed inside a card box. It is a do it yourself killer.

Then, Dan Harlan plays Stone’s show to a packed audience from the prior evening. Stone starts off with a few magic-light tricks which is really his own blend of Stone humor. Jeff then displays his ninja quick Rubik cube skills and solves a cube that is mixed by the audience in 41 seconds. Although that it is not a magic trick it is amazing to watch.

He explains his philosophy about performing, use of self-deprecating humor, being goofy and the message that he wants to send to his audience… have fun!

The lecture then cuts to Stone’s performance of I Need A Hero from his live performance. I Need a Hero is a funny routine in which 7 spectators are called up on stage and each holds a random envelope with the name of a super hero inside after a spectator shuffled the envelopes. After a series of eliminations, two spectators are left standing. After the final elimination takes place, one spectator is standing, her super hero is revealed and it matches a prediction with laughs.

Stone moves onto a book test and performs the Mother of All Book Tests (MOABT) for demonstration only. He does not teach it, but then discusses and tips a book test that he performs with a dictionary that requires simple do it yourself preparation and is very strong.

Then Stone cuts to his live performance and shows his act closer, John Bannon’s 10 card poker game and discusses what happens when you choose the wrong volunteers. It is a demonstration of patience and discipline with semi intoxicated participants that were a bit to chatty whose alcohol induced dementia convinced them that were funny… not. Stone explains the method and then has a chat with Dan Harlan.

Stone discussed some of his memorable moments from past performances, his focus on astonishment and how he started in magic and how he creates. For me, as a magic reviewer on Jeff’s www.mylovelyassistant.com, I enjoyed the portion of his interview with Dan Harlan when he discusses reviewing magic!

This is a great lecture that gives you a solid three and a half hours of magic by a funny entertainer and creative thinker. Jeff teaches a ton of cool magic and shares insight he has acquired after years of practicing our art. Highly recommended.
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