Oh Boy You've Got Neighbors’d

In case if you wonder where the title comes from, I took a photo of David Neighbors and posted on my Instagram story, then my friend Mike Brewer replied to my story and said, "Oh no you got neighbors’d!" I immediately knew that I had to steal it as the title for what I was writing, so thanks Mike!

The master and the young punk. This photo was taken by Cosmo Solano, and yes, I totally just took this from his Facebook post.

I had my first meeting with the Coinjurer, David Neighbors at the Rocky Mountain Session this year. The day before RMS started, I saw his amazing work at a table in the hotel lobby and I knew right away that I have to sit next to him and see if I can talk to him. 

David is a true master. I was drawn to his work by his visual sleight of hand with coins, cards and other small objects. I found David's work can be really deceptive and appealing to the imagination. I was lucky enough to sit down with the master to have some small sessions while I was there for RMS. I was watching David's magic, listening to his stories, and taking notes.

I won't be able to share all the notes on David's magic. After all, just a short blog article won't do justice to David's beautiful work and thinking on magic. You will have to see him in person, or get his published tapes and books to understand what I am talking about.

But I've received some wisdom, and I hope this can be beneficial to someone else out there and not just me:

- "As you cause a coin vanish or any other magic effect, try to fantasize how it goes in your head. You have to convince yourself so you will look much more convincing to your audience."

- "Add a little bit of grace into your gestures when the effect happens. Just in case, Even if your effect fails to appeal to the audience's imagination, at least your movements are elegant and graceful to watch."

- "Don't just move your hands, move your WHOLE BODY along with your hands."

- "A lot of people know the how(method), but they don't understand the when(timing). Knowing the right when(timing) to do the right how (method) is important."

- "There are limits for using purely sleight of hand or using purely gaff(gimmicks).  Use a little bit of sleight of hand, but mix it with some gaff(gimmick) if it's possible. Take advantage of both sides to cancel out the method, then you will have something that is truly impossible like real magic."

I hope this can be helpful to you. As usual, Leave a comment below and let me know what you think :)