Ronjo Magic Store

Hello friends,

Time is short and it is extremely difficult to think of things to tell you about on a daily basis. For the time being at least, the Ronjo Blog will be posted once a week (which day is still unclear). Or if something earth shattering comes up, I’ll make more than one post. So when you do visit our Blog, please make sure you didn’t miss one or more postings just in case I had something of value to talk to you about.

Have a look at Joker Lam’s Parasol Anywhere DVD and the Seven Parasol Box Set.

Many years ago I had the privilege of seeing Fukai do his umbrella act. It is just one of those things you can never forget. Beautiful, stunning stage work. Ronjo’s was even fortunate enough to have a few mini umbrella sets available for our clients. Those lucky few who were able to get a set for themselves, probably did not fare to well because these umbrellas ere very small production items and either no instructions were supplied or they were in Japanese, I forget. Sadly, we lost contact with Fukai and Parasol Magic was lost in our neck of the woods for a couple of decades.

Joker Lam has let the cat out of the bag by tipping the real work here. Never before has this information been available outside of a select few. Now anyone can master the essential techniques, timing, props & sleights to do an amazing act that is rarely seen today.

We hope you all have a great weekend.

Talk to you soon.

Pete

Hello friends,

Famed magician Paul Harris. Writer of so very many books, star of several fine VHS taps.

This man was huge in the magic world in the late 1970s & early 80s.

Then he vanished.

He made a small come back in the early to mid 90s and disappeared again..

His many books have been refined and combined into 3 large hard bound books.
The Art of Astonishment vols 1,2 & 3.

His videos are being re-released on DVD.

Around 2003, he released a couple of products to the magic community but we didn’t hear too much from him.

In the past few months, Paul Harris is everywhere. Releasing a slew of effects. And I mean a slew. The only thing is that he did not create most of these effects. Mr. Harris has become a name brand. He is releasing his as well as other people’s property, giving credit to the creator of course but plastering his name over it. As well he should, he owns them now.

Harris selects the items he deems worthwhile. And so far, I think he has done a very good job in items he is putting his name on.

But just so you know, It is Paul Harris Presents and not created by Paul Harris. And interesting side note, most of the items that he did not create he had his hand in refining them.

Many of the new Harris Line were to be aired on David Blaine’s Drowned Alive Special. But because the shows producers were more interested in live coverage on Blaine in a fish bowl instead of magic lots of filmed segments were cut from the show as it was airing.

For a list of the many Harris items we carry, just search Paul Harris on our website.

Some of his company’s releases may not show up under a search of his name. Things like Phoneomenon & Incredible Shrinking Finger come to mind. There be may be more.

Have a nice weekend.

Thanks for reading,

Pete

Hello friends,

I can remember a time not so long ago where almost everybody with any magic experience, would only purchase a Card Trick if we could supply them with Bicycle Brand Playing Cards in the traditional Rider Back.

Of course we would happily give them what they wanted when we were able to.

On more than one occasion, we only had certain effects made from Aviator or Fox Lake cards.

See Karate Cards, a great effect but it is only made with Aviators at this time. (Funny story, there was a magic show several years back at The State University Of New York Staller Center. Many top names were performing that day. We were one of the vendors there. Some of the performers were in the lobby signing autographs. Jade was one of them. I was performing this effect for the local gift buyers. I was wearing the headband. Jade mistakenly thought the the Ronjo booth was a Japanese take out stand and that I was a Sushi Chef. )

But I am getting off track. Back to the cards. Magician’s would say, if they weren’t Bic’s the spectators would think that they were using trick decks. I would say, “How do lay people know that there is such a thing as a trick deck”? Unless you as the performer would say something like, “‘I have an ordinary deck of cards here.”They should even consider it a possibility. I would politely explain that they are thinking like magicians and that if you were in a persons home and they knew you did magic and asked you to do something. And if you asked them for a deck of cards, if you were lucky enough to get a deck, be prepared to see a deck 5 years old, warped, wrapped in a rubber band, with black edges, in one of a wide variety of brands. Ask them if they knew what brand it was and most would be clueless to tell you. I would argue that only magician’s and die hard card players would know.

Anyway, that said. To this day we still carry a ridiculous amount of brands of cards. Hoyle, Maverick, Arrco, Kem, Copag, A Plus, Hoyle Casino, Steamboat, Bee, Gemaco, Congress, Aviator, Steamboat, Streamline, Tally-Ho,Various with Back Designs & Colors, Bridge Sized, Poker Sized, Regular Index, Super Index & Lo-Vision Decks.

Many of these decks are on our website, some of them are only available in our showroom.

All are good sellers, so what gives? Why did magician’s only want Bicycles? And now every card they can get there hands on?

I don’t know why it happened but it happened when Ellusionist released the Black Tiger Deck. No offense to you Novelty deck lovers, but all of a sudden, the brand didn’t matter anymore and while they are NOT trick decks, they sure look like one. People were soon focusing on the cool cards rather than the performer.

Black Tigers are great sellers for us. Since there release, too many crazy cards have been put on the market. Ellusionist made Black & Red Tigers, Viper Decks in assorted colors & back designs, and Ghost Decks.

We were able to obtain, Bicycle League Cards, made in the states and exported for European sales only, rampart and sold as imports.

That changed again, since all of these cards are made by the United States Playing Card Company and obviously they saw immense sales, they decided to test a few decks of their own. So one could go to any store and by their Black Deck. So I guess trick looking cards no more.

We have a handful online. But because you people are eating it up and not stopping, we are getting more, much more. Very soon. USPCC makes their own Bicycle Black Back Normal Face, Black & White Deck New Black & White Back with original faces, Black & Silver Deck, Pastel Decks with reverse image faces in Pink, Blue & Green. They Make Green backed, regular faces, they make clear plastic cards in a variety of colors. They make reproductions of western cards. They are making reproductions of their own earlier brands with different back designs and some with other face designs. We are working on getting these all on line soon, but for now you’ll have to come into our store to pick them up.

Next Came The Split Spades Decks by David Blaine. Then Criss Angel Cards.

USPCC now also makes cards designed by Magic Makers. Magic Makers has their own Black Deck. As well as The Yellow Deck & The Red Deck. These are black & white, red & white and yellow and white back Bic cards boxes of the same colors. The card stock on the faces are red, yellow & black respectively. The normal red pips are black and the black pips are white (except in the yellow deck, the pips are the appropriate color). The court cards are multi colored in black, red, white & yellow. These decks are all in stock.

Actually there are even more, (Pink & Purple Bics), (Gold & Silver Backed Bic Box Sets, very rare printed for a Card Collecting Convention in 1986), (Bic Tactical Field Decks in Green Back or Black Back, U.S. Military only) & (Bicycle Elephant Decks, printed for I believe rain forest relief). Good luck finding these.

I could go on and on and on but I think that I am writing more than you care to read about and I am getting tired and aware I am rambling and incoherent by now.

Happy collecting you crazy people. Soon there will be no more colors of the rainbow left, so you’ll have to find all the Budweiser, Coca Cola, Playboy, Elvis & Harley Davidson Cards.

Thanks for reading.
Pete

Hello friends,

It was great to see Mindfreak on Criss Angel’s take on the Metamorphosis.

This illusion is really what I would call his signature piece.

I have seen him perform it live on a few occasions. In his early days as a working pro, Criss used Flash Powder similar to what you saw last night instead of the typical curtain. Later he used ceiling mounted Fire extinguishers. The extinguishers were shocking and noisy but they made too much fog and while the change was fast, you really couldn’t tell it was as fast as it really was.

Make sure you check out Super Natural. That presentation is real performance art.

There is no question in my mind, he is the best in the world at it.

Last night on Mindfreak, we got to see an early clip circa 1980 of Criss at age 14 doing the Sub Trunk. Our friend Bob Infantino was assisting Angel him in this clip.

Bob Infantio is a working New York Magician and Juggler and Grand Prize winner of America’s Funniest Home Videos for his Spinning Plate Routine. He does a great original bit while juggling 9 tennis balls that must be seen to really appreciate.

Bob worked in in our showroom for about a year but it was too much like work for him. So Bob now only occasionally performs and teaches Magic & Juggling Lessons for us.

We’ll take to you tomorrow.

Thanks for reading,
Pete

Hello friends,

Since we have started this blog, we have only received a couple of comments. In order for us to keep going every day, please at let us know if you are reading it.

relevant comments will be posted by my to be viewed on this blog by anyone lurking.

For this blog, if you don’t have anything of interest to share with us a simple, posting of one word, Yes will suffice. Obviously, yes will not be posted on the blog but it will be enough for us to keep going daily.

I’ll ask a few simple questions, maybe it will ignite a spark in you and I’ll post your comments here. I’ll even post my own simple answers to this little survey.

How did you get started in magic or mentalism? Got a magic set when I was 3. Can’t remember if this was my first introduction to magic. But it is my first magic memory. Bob McAllister of Wonderama & Mark Wilson’s Magic Circus are other early memories (They may have been my first exposes).

Are you a pro or a hobbyist? A pro entertainer, no. Hobby guy alot more than that.

What type of audiences do you mainly perform for? Adults, close up.

What type of audience do you not like performing for? Children are too noisy & crazy. There is not enough personal satisfaction for me working for youngsters. Plus they are hard to please (at least for me).

Do you prefer to learn from books, videos, lessons or props? Why? Everything. I try still after all this time to pick up any knowledge that interests me. When I started, I liked props better. The gimmicks were & still are fun. But nothing beats pure magic. Things with ordinary objects and you can just go off all day. Hands on instruction would be my personal favorite though. Who are your inspirations, in magic or mentalism? Tom Mullica, David Williamson, Chuck Fayne.

Have you crafted a character for yourself? What type? Comical, easy going.

What are a couple of your favorite effects? Why? Scotch & Soda. It was one of my first pro effects. I still use it. Special place in my heart. Hot Rod. Great pocket trick. The jewels are intriguing to women. Its fun.

What are a couple of your least favorite effects? Why? Caffeine Rush (see my past blog entitled, Ronjo’s Saves). Chinese Sticks & Change Bag. When I was very young, I just saw through the methods and had a problem thinking it would fool anyone. However I have grown to like both them I appreciate what the audience gets out of them. But I was spoiled young and never saw the magic in these.

Thanks for reading!

Until tomorrow,
Pete