Oscar Munoz Interview

I hope everybody had a good Easter and your rabbits are well rested. For some time now I have been playing around with various card magic effects using something other than playing cards. I have created and designed a lot of different routines which will be released to the magic fraternity over time. Steve Hocevar, a busy corproate and family magician from Vancouver Canada has been using my Comedy Five Card Repeat for some time and suggested I make up a version with something other than playing cards. I sat on this idea for some time and finally, with Steve's permission I made up a set using large Rabbit cards. These will be available in a limited run from Hocus-Pocus. The effect is ideal for family entertainers, children's performers, birthday party magicians and even adult type shows. They are almost 3 times the size of a normal playing card making it ideal for stage magicians as well. For those of you who want a trick that is really easy to perform but looks like you have put in years of practice this is for you! It's easy to do and fun to perform allowing you to rely on your own personality. Comes complete with all the necessary hand made cards and a set of instructions for my handling and routine.



I had an email from Raymond Crowe this week. I reviewed his amazing DVD last week called The Naked Zombie. If you want to see him perform it on youtube then visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O1D-uktSH0
Watching this you know you are seeing a true artist at work. I would easily say it's the best version of zombie I have ever seen. Raymond was nice enough to discuss with me various routine ideas for my Charlie Chaplin Act as I can easily see Chaplin doing something along these lines.
If you haven't seen Raymond perform his hand shadow puppet routine then you HAVE to visit this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW-3KwXpkkM
Due to his performance on youtube and having over six hundred thousand hits he was invited to perform on David Letterman.
Raymond also has a book out on hand shadows which you can purchase at Hocus-Pocus.




Oscar Munoz Interview



Oscar is a well known name to many of you from his many appearances at magic conventions around the world. I had a the pleasure of touring Canada with Oscar a few years back and he always brought the house down. Not only was he at home on stage but at the private functions that were held for us he would blow people away with his incredible close-up skills. He is one of magic's all round performers.

Oscar Munoz, award winning illusionist and humorist, has spell-bound audiences with his multifacetted talents. Throughout the United States, Korea, Japan, and Mexico, Oscar has presented his special brand of comedy magic to the delight of adults and children of all ages. Renowned motivational speaker, with over fifteen years of experience, uses his brand of magic as a vehicle to transport students of all grade levels to a world of wonderment and empowerment. Oscar performs more than 480 presentations annually and is known throughout Texas as a leading specialist in the field of motivational presentations.

Each 45 minute program is designed to educate, motivate and activate the power within. At the end of each magical presentation the students will leave knowing that they can harness that power within and they are the masters of their dreams, their goals, and their future.

1999, IBM "Gold Cups" winner (1st place)
November 1997, 1st place, both parlor & stage competitions, TAOM
1992, Closeup competition, Texas Association of Magicians
Texas Top Magician Award

2002 SAM Awards:
Close-up
Chairperson's Award for highest score
Jim Zee Award for Close-Up Magic

Paul - I notice that no matter what type of magic you perform, whether it be close-up, children's or stage, you bring a sense of theater to every style of performance. What are some of the elements you think about when putting together a show?

Oscar - I think of my surroundings/conditions, who my audience will be, how large is my audience, how long I have to perform (whether I stick with that time or not, I am not promising), if performing with other magicians, what have they done or are doing?

Paul - I spent years growing up trying to find out who I was on stage. I did it all from trying to be Copperfield, Harry Anderson etc. until I finally realised what works for me. What advice would you give to a magician who hasn't yet found their own persona on stage or style?

Oscar -Take theatre classes anywhere you can. Incorporate your favorite kind of music? What kind of movies do you like? What is your favorite color? Ask your friends who they think you are, are you funny, suave, scary....

Paul - You are such an all round performer from doing school shows, amazing close-up to stage illusions. What is your favourite type of magic to perform?

Oscar - Anywhere there are people, I just love to perform. I would love to have my own theater so that people could come to me. Not to have to schlep the magic around would be ideal.

Paul - Are there any good resources or places to go where magicians can improve their 'theatrical' side of magic?

Oscar - Colleges, Universities, Community theaters are all great places to start. Many of these hold open auditions, summer workshops, evening activities, etc. Getting involved and being on stage, even backstage, will help build that respect for theater every magician should have. Learning the workings of the theater, the tech crew, the terminology, will help develop those well-rounded skills.

Thank you Oscar so much for sharing some of your views with the readers.


Romhany's Tricks of the week

Nailed It - John Sheets



Wow - this is even better than it looks on youtube. I am a fan of key bending, coin bending and nail bending routines. This is the rolls royce of nail bending routines. Anybody that wants a solid piece of real world nail bending this is the routine for you.
A large steel nail measuring 6 inches long and 1/4 of an inch thick is examined by a spectator. The performer then holds the nail at its center by the tips of the forefinger and thumb. The performer concentrates, and the nail begins to soften, then bend to almost 90 degrees!

This is shown from all angles, it really is bent! Concentrating again , the nail slowly begins to straighten back up, once straight, it is then immediately handed out for examination. No switches! The examined nail is the one that bends and straightens! The speed, angle, and start-stop action of the bend is under the control of the performer at all times. No reset. No pulls, No magnets, No chemicals, No heating or cooling. No covers, and no sleeves or jacket needed.

This device is an absolute beauty! The nail is micro machined from high quality stainless steel.

This set includes the precision stainless steel gaffed nail, plus, as an added bonus, a matching extra un-gaffed straight nail, and a matching un-gaffed bent nail, both also made of stainless steel. The set also includes an instructional DVD.

Nailed It by John T. Sheets will be an asset to the act of any professional performer, magician, metal bender, or psychic entertainer.



Twister by Jay Sankey




What can one say about Jay. He is probably the most creative magician on the planet. I had the pleasure of meeting Jay when I was in New Zealand many years ago and he gave one heck of an amazing lecture. His material is always amazing and well thought out. This is a key bending routine that is based on a spoon bending routine Jay came up with over 10 years ago and it's fantastic. This is certainly great value for anybody wanting to add a key bending routine to their act.

This is the perfect companion effect with our best-seller KILLER KEY because they both feature the exact same style of key!

This very magical key bend effect is super practical, great on angles, extremely easy and crazy visual!

Based on a spoon bending routine Jay created over ten years ago, Twister is a key bend "with a difference." Unlike most key bend handlings, with Twister the just-examined key stays in full-view before, after and even DURING the eerie bend!

The audience actually gets to SEE the key bend without any cover and then you can immediately hand it right out, no switching! You can even have the key initialed by a spectator and STILL do the incredible bend!

Even crazier, A SPECTATOR can actually take hold of the head of the key and TWIST IT it a full 90-degrees! And again, you can hand it right out.

Twister comes complete with a specially machined gimmick and an exciting full-length instructional DVD featuring several different handlings including:
The Two-Handed Twist
The Nail Twist
Mike Skutt's Presentation
The One Hand Switch
The Spectator Twist
You'll even learn several ways to UNTWIST the key!
Also, because TWISTER features the same design of key as our best-selling KILLER KEY effect, the two make for an outstanding combination!

"At a recent magic lecture Jay FRIED everyone in room with his TWISTER handling with the initialed key. It's a real fooler." -- Michael G.

Tear Down by Andrew Mayne





Here is something every magician is going to want to own. How many times have you wished you could do a torn and restored paper routine impromptu .. this is for you! I predict this will be one of Andrew's top selling items. At the price it is more than worth it.

Tear Down is Andrew Mayne's brand new totally impromptu (we mean totally impromptu!) newspaper tear based on Jim Steinmeyer’s Incessant Newspaper (with his permission).

You want this. Trust us. Once you learn it you’ll be a newspaper tearing fiend. You can do it anytime, anywhere with any newspaper. No duplicates, no gimmicks, no tape, blah, blah blah.

You tear up a signed newspaper. Restore it. Then hand it back to the audience. Everything can be inspected.