"As the Crow Flies" ebook by Raymonde Crowe
Suggested Retail USD$20.00
Available direct from Scott Guinn
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

The hardest part of working restaurants -- and every strolling situation, I think -- is finding material which really works in that venue. Face it: restaurant work has a whole set of demands that dictate what the performer can and cannot do. Wary patrons of all ages, noisy surroundings, start-and-stop requirements... it can be a fairly complicated affair to find a trick which works well, let alone works so well it's almost scary.

In Raymonde Crow's book, "As The Crow Flies", you'll find 17 of them.

And Crow doesn't play favorites: there's coin tricks, card tricks, sponge tricks, tricks with candy... you name it, it's probably here. Some are impromptu, some require a little work, some require gimmicks of one kind or the other, but all of them are good pieces of magic for those that work in arguably the toughest of venues. Crow stays true to this venue and keeps the effects workable: these are all routines which are performed standing with automatic or very slight resets required.

Around all the magic, though, is Crow's quirky sense of humor and good eye for what makes audiences happy. His presentations are engaging and audience involvement is high. This all makes for very, very good magic.

Take, for example, one of my favorites from the book: "Dead Kennedys". This is the classic "Gadabout Coins" plot, but twisted a la Crow. He throws a common gimmick into the mix, making the routine more deceptive, and creates a presentation for it that, well, Crow probably says it best: "...In the wrong circumstances, this trick is in extremely poor taste. In the right circumstances, this trick is in extremely poor taste, but it gets laughs."

"The Mother-in-Law Who Would Not Die" is another one I'll be doing. The effect is familiar -- it's an ambitious card plot with a card-to-pocket climax. But Crow throws an hysterical story line at it and makes the effect completely entertaining. More than that, Crow took pains to add a series of high-powered moves into this which leaves the spectator always seeing the signed card going into the deck. Mechanically, technically, and presentationally, it's a great routine.

Those are just my immediate favorites -- others will probably grow on me as I continue to read "As The Crow Flies" and wallow around in the material a bit. And there's a lot to dive into. Crow also has a very slick torn and restored card routine, a card transposition with two hole-punched cards and a movable hole, a very nice multi-phase ring and ribbon routine (with a Ring-Flite ending which is safe for those of us with a nervous disposition), a three-coin matrix with reverse that I'm slowly falling in love with, and a great deal more.

Crow also gets huge bonus points for doing something I dearly love: taking the mystery over what to do when. You see, Crow has taken all the material here he does in his work and broken it down into actual performance sets. In other words, if you're walking up to a table with four adults, you'd perform what Crow identifies as "Adult Set #1", which consists of three effects tailored specifically for that type of table. That audience been there before? No worries; you'd just perform "Adult Set #2". Long tables get the "Long Table Set", families with children get to see the "Family Set", etc.

Why is this so slick? Simple. You can either mimic Crow's thinking about his performance sets or see how he has each effect follow the other for a specific audience type. As someone who has seen restaurant workers perform floating bills for every single table they approached and the Scotch and Soda for every single table they approached, Crow's presentation of his material here might have the less experienced following his logic if not his form.

Throw in Crow's wonderful takes on working in restaurants, and this book is a must-have for anyone who is thinking about table-hopping for a living or who does it but is looking for more quality material or wanting to see how other folks do the job.

"As The Crow Flies" is a great work, thoroughly enjoyable, and worth every penny.

"As The Crow Flies" ebook by Raymonde Crow
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

Material: 9
The material here is very good, especially for those concentrating on strolling and restaurant work. Crow's offerings are definitely real-world: minimal resets, entertaining magic in small packages, you name it. Big pluses for the break down of the effects into table sets and for his discussions on restaurant work.

Quality: 9
Crow's writing style is as open and fun as it is clear and concise. You'll have no problems learning these tricks.

Illustrations: 10
Loads and loads of small black and white photos, all perfectly placed and reproduced, make learning any of the material oh-so-simple.

Presentation: 9
As any presentation reflects the personality of the creator, the presentations here reflect Crow's style. Sometimes corny, sometimes hysterical, they are all entertaining as they stand but serve as a great starting point for your own presentational style,


Shane