Rick Carruth Reviews Dan Turcotte’s Anywhere ? Anytime Close-Up Magic DVD.Inside MagicMagic News Updated Daily for the Professional Magician

Rick Carruth and Dan Turcotte are two of our favorite people on the web. They both love magic and love to promote its growth through patient instruction and outstanding presentations. How great was it then, when Mr. Carruth asked if we were interested in publishing Mr. Turcotte‘s new DVD, Anywhere ? Anytime Close-Up Magic? But wait, we thought, what if Mr. Carruth hates the DVD and trashes Mr. Turcotte‘s well-established abilities? We worry a lot; maybe too much. But we’re not going to give away the review.

Anywhere – Anytime Close-up Magic is Dan Turcotte‘s (www.YouDoMagic.com) latest effort in a long list of teaching videos and e-books. Unlike many DVD’s, which serve more as a reputation-builder for the magician, it was obvious after watching five minutes of Dan‘s DVD that his goal was to teach…

And teach he does…

Dan has created a virtual library of magic tricks and sleight of hand. This set includes three discs with one hour of unrehearsed restaurant performances, two hours of video instructions, and twenty-seven PDF format e-Books. Anywhere – Anytime does not leave a single point of approach and misdirection unexplained.

I’m a simple guy. In addition, I have serious problems reading a description and following directions. I need visual help and plenty of details. However, notice I…

And teach he does…

I’m a simple guy. In addition, I have serious problems reading a description and following directions. I need visual help and plenty of details. However, notice I said I was ‘simple’, not ‘dumb’… and you’d better be prepared to wow me if you want my money. Cheap productions, glitzy settings, poor sound and editing, are all problems with many self-produced DVD’s.

Absolutely not so with Anywhere – Anytime.

Aside from the material, which I’ll talk more about in a moment, the overall production, lighting, sound, and angles really impressed me. I was expecting the normal indifferent standards one often encounters with both live video and e-books.

Dan knew what I needed. His combination of live performances, instructional video, and e-books illustrated with crisp, clear photos approach each trick or sleight from every mental angle. So, it doesn’t matter whether you are visual, like me, or imaginary; you’re provided with the proper teaching aid to assure that you fully grasp the trick or technique.

Dan has field-tested the material taught in Anywhere – Anytime daily so it is relevant, intelligent, and topical. The Sleight of Hand DVD includes a variety of magic that both street performers and, in Dan‘s case, restaurant performers, use to garner the maximum reaction from laymen.

Watch steal, Finger Fazer, thumb tip magic, cups & balls, monte, rings on and off strings, five different rubber band effects (including crazy man’s handcuffs), coin vanishes, floating bill, and pen through dollar are part of the effects detailed in both video and digital e-books.

Magic is measured in millimeters. Whether you already know an effect Dan teaches is unimportant. I learned several new twists that made tricks more ‘do-able ‘ simply by observing his fingers or wrist position. This is probably the single strongest feature of Anywhere ? Anytime ?watching a working magician as he makes a living.

The Card Tricks DVD is a master course on sleights such as the classic pass and thumb sweep (my favorite), push-press card control, back palming, strike double lift, center steal, and top change. Just to mention a few. I was pleased that each sleight served a real purpose and helped develop a solid foundation of moves to perform many killer tricks. Again, everything is supported by fifteen e-books that detail everything you see on the instructional videos and live performances.

I’m not going to list all the close-up card magic tricks, but you do learn Dan’s versions of Card to Pocket, Ambitious Card, Card to Ceiling, Card-Toon auto reset, Invisible deck, Mind reading with cards, un-gimmicked rising card from deck, and Emergency finishes. Some tricks feature Dan performing in two or three different live settings, and it is interesting to see his interaction, patter, humor, approach, and performance under real world conditions.

Dan‘s an honest guy. And he doesn’t show you how to perform a trick and then promise you that you’ll be performing for your friends, family, or audience by dark. Some moves are fairly simple and others may require thirty minutes practice a day for two months before you are ready to go public. Not once are you promised a ‘pie in the sky’. And that’s just the way I want it.

I don’t want a DVD that makes me feel like a fool because I can’t perform a move Dan makes look so simple.

But, I do want DVD’s that offer me encouragement, inspiration, and visionary training methods to insure my success.

Thankfully, Dan Turcotte‘s Anywhere – Anytime Close-up Magic proves to be an entirely selfless effort aimed squarely at teaching others the ‘Fine Art of Magic’.

Visit Dan Turcotte‘s outstanding site, You Do Magic by clicking here.

Check out Rick Carruth‘s incredible home on the web, Street Magic, by clicking here.