Today I was on my online publishers website and found that they are selling a penny bend similar to my own. In fact it uses the EXACT same method as mine. I will let you in on a little secret to make a penny bendable all you need to do is submerge it into a hot flame until it gets white hot and allow it to cool. If you use vermiculite to cool it slower, it becomes easier to bend. The process is called annealing.
My dear friend James Chenug taught me this method back in 2002 when we were working with David Blaine in Manhattan. James learned UK pennies can be annealed because of their high copper content. I found that pre 1982 pennies can be annealed because they are still copper. James and I were working on a huge publicity stunt where we could swap in annealed penny for change and cause a mass penny bending in the audience. It fell through due to logistics.
I decided to publish the method. It did quite well amongst magicians. Then an unethical bastard named Steve Pellegrino decided he would release the same method. He claimed to have different handling for the bend. Thats great Steve but revealing someones published method is unethical in magic communities. True annealing is an open method, however so is spoon bending using your hands. If I were to give away banacheks, chad sanborn, or Morgan Strebblers I would be as big of a thief as he is. Even if the handling was slightly different.
When ever possible I get credit for any moves I use. I used a version of acidus novus that Jay Marshall had taught me before he died. He said he learned it from the originator. As such when ever I reference that move I credit Jay for the knowledge.
If magic methods are freely given away, then I shall do the same.... You do not become rich off of magic secrets, so I will charge nothing for my Xaviers Box which uses a similar method as Steve Pellegrinos Open Billet Box. If you are a magician and would like to learn Steves method, please email me. I will send you a free manuscript on magic I am giving away. I figure if you wont ask for credit steve neither will I.
This Xavier Open Billet Box will be the first of every book that I rewrite of Steves until he pulls his penny bend from the market. This took me an hour to write and I included AMAZING routines and I even added a feature which makes it unique and my own production. So even though steve pellegrino is a scum bag, I will continue to change steves ideas 20% and add new routines to them for free to you my magician fans.
So the decline of shows is sad. I work as a mentalist and magician at various corporate events through out the year. The problem is that 80% of my work comes in december and january when corporate events are at their highest.
