Below is a transcript of the Interview for your reading pleasure. Thanks to William Goodwin for typing it up!
Lee Asher: Alright, I’m sitting here with one of my old friends. I met this guy in 1996. I think it was in the summer of 1996 he showed up at Caesar’s Magical Empire and that’s when we met. I’ve known this guy almost a dozen years now and, uh, no that’s ten years.
David Stone: Ten years, about yeah.
LA: Ten years. Seems like I’ve know you…
DS: Ten years, twelve days, four hours, and forty-five seconds now.
LA: Ladies and gentlemen, this is my friend all the way from France, this is David Stone.
DS: Hi. Hi everybody.
LA: David thanks so much for doing this interview.
DS: No problem. It’s my pleasure.
LA: No, it’s my pleasure.
DS: Nice to receive me for this tour.
LA: Yeah, we’re on the X-elent Series right now. This is, David is going through the Pacific Northwest lecturing in Portland, Seattle, Eugene, Victoria, Vancouver, and—yeah, I think that’s all the stops, right?
DS: Ah, we have done so many I can’t remember all. It’s one of my best tours.
LA: I want to talk about table hopping. I know that that’s your big subject. That was what the lecture focus was on.
DS: Yeah.
LA: I notice that in the lecture you taught a lot of magic. A lot of great, great magic. Commercial magic stuff that everyone was doing when we left. I saw people playing with things in the lobby. Or playing with things when, you know, we came out of the magic shop. So, you really inspired them, but what I saw were people leaning forward in their seats when you started talking about table hopping theory.
DS: The problem with table hopping theory is that you can’t really talk about that in your lecture because people come to see magic tricks. 90% of them want to see magic tricks and because its, they are a beginners most of the time. So, they want to learn new tricks and the rest—the 10% rest—of people want to hear about theory a little bit. But, uh, you can’t keep their attention in lectures. That’s why I try to talk a little bit about table hopping in my lecture and especially restaurant working and my specialty is how to get tips, you know. So, uh, I try to talk a little bit about it, but that’s why I’m writing a book right now and it’s in progress now. All I can’t say in lecture, all I can’t share with people because we don’t have the opportunity to, to say it when we perform lectures. I like writing that book and this will be released in French for this, uh, December, for Christmas.
LA: In two-thousand…, this coming Christmas?
DS: Yeah, this will be in French, uh, for this Christmas. It will be, uh, that one. And in English, I think it will be available in March 2006, or something. I don’t know. We have a lot of work. We got a… it’s all of my experience, ten years of experience and working in restaurants that is, uh, mixed in one book. So, and I have, I ask a lot of questions around me to all, a lot of table hoppers, magicians and I ask them to give me their tips, techniques, uh, to… what kind of tricks for example they use, uh, as their opening trick. You know the opening trick is one of the most important tricks in restaurant working. I think, um, most of the time I perform in restaurants and, ah, especially in trendy restaurants, in France, in south of France, in San Tropez. That means it’s just a choice—it’s not because I’m, I’m good magician or something else. It’s a choice because these kinds of restaurants don’t pay you, since they’re very famous, very trendy places with a lot of rich customers, famous people, movie stars. The restaurants take advantage of these images and tell you, “You want to work to perform here? O.K. I like your style, but I won’t pay you. If you want to get money, you get money by the tips, that’s all.” So every time you go there, you have to find a lot of new techniques not, to not be rejected by people, because a table that rejects you, it’s a table that won’t tip you.
LA: Right.
DS: So, um…
LA: That’s a hard, hard situation.
DS: Yeah, it’s a…especially in France, because, ah, we’re not tight, but it’s not in our mentality. To give a tip is really not in our mentality, so, ah, it could be even considered in a bad way, if you give some money to someone who don’t expect it. So, uh, I have to use a lot of lines in my patter that influence people and let them understand that I will appreciate very much a bloody banknote please!
LA: A big one. A big one! Right, that’s, that’s what I was saying, people were leaning forward when you were talking about that specifically. They were, oh, this is, this is something that no ones ever really talked about. This is what makes it almost worth it, you know, because not a lot of people in America work restaurants. It’s…some of them work for tips, but some of them work for a base salary and usually it’s not for a lot and it’s a lot of hours and, uh, so to hear that you can be able to get a tip in not a real manipulative way, but a very nice way and almost like they want to give you the tip and they feel good about it.
DS: That’s it.
LA: That’s, that’s…a good goal.
DS: Sure, because even if you, even if you get well paid in the restaurant, to get more money is not that bad…
LA: Right.
DS: …you know what I mean.
LA: Absolutely.
DS: And, when I perform, most of the time people are very happy to give me something. They get…they got the impression to thank me for something I’ve done for them and the fear is that I’ve, I’ve spent seven, ten minutes to their table and that I, I tried to share with them, uh, what, what I love—magic. I try in a few time to show them, uh, a different aspect of, uh, what magic is. Unfortunately, uh, table hopping is, has nothing to do with close-up magic.
LA: Right.
DS: That’s what I explain in the book. Uh, table hopping or strolling magic conditions, uh, have nothing to do with the kind of magic you might perform for your friends. You have to use close-up magic and magic tricks. But, table hopping is much more than that. And, by the same way, not that good magic. I mean, you have to choose visual tricks, very visual tricks, very, all the, all of the tricks mustn’t use a table surface. Uh, they should be very commercial. Uh, that means a lot of very, very good tricks can’t be done in this kind of situation. So, you have to make a choice. I consider that the most important in professional situations is adaptation. If you’re a magician and you, you perform in a tuxedo and you go to work in a pizzeria with a tuxedo, you’re over. Know what I mean?
LA: Right.
DS: You’re adaptation is what I think the most important. That’s what I try to explain to people and that the most important… not only how to adapt yourself to the place you’re going to perform, but also to the people you’re going to perform for. And, the tricks that you’re going to use, maybe they won’t be your favorite tricks, but they will be what a spectator expects from a magician.
LA: Right.
DS: Because, I consider that, if you have only five minutes to show a part of your act, you can’t show them the best things. You have to show them what could give them the feeling to, to go further. You know what I mean?
LA: Sure.
DS: It’s the same thing as if you go in a very beautiful, very good restaurant and someone tell you “O.K. you have ten minutes to eat what you want.” You can’t really appreciate it. So, but if you go in this restaurant and the guy give you one, two, three little pieces of the kind of food he can propose, you would taste it a little bit and maybe one day you will come back to see him. My magic is about the same. I try to let them taste a little bit of what I can do, but I can’t show them the best magic. It’s not possible. That’s why restaurant magic is just the opportunity for me. To meet people then they book me at home for their private parties. And, at that moment, if I get time, I show them really good magic that will…not only commercial magic.
LA: Right, so you’re basically harvesting people from the restaurant to become new clientele for parties.
DS: Yes. That, that’s my goal. I, I don’t work in restaurant only for the tip in my mind. The tip is just my motivation on the spot. What’s going to make me happy to go to another table. But, my main goal in my head is I’m going to work tonight. I want to find a gig. That’s my goal. I don’t want to leave that bloody place without getting a gig. And then I try to find… I will find him. Maybe in the toilet, I don’t know. I will find my client somewhere. So, I show him, I show magic tricks, give my card, my business card—as many as possible—take out many as possible business cards also because I want to call people later to tell him, uh, “Hello, I was very happy to meet you, uh, at this restaurant and you told me you have a party maybe on the 26th, uh, or 27th, I want to make sure about the date if, in case of you want to book me. You know, that’s my main goal because private parties pay much more.
LA: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Now, I know you said you work in San Tropez; you live in San Tropez some of the year.
DS: Both, yeah. Paris and San Tropez.
LA: Now, that’s some heavy clientele. Like, tell me some of the famous people that you’ve worked for.
DS: Uh, U2 Bono. I work for Bono, the U2 singer every year for his daughter’s birthday. Uh, Bruce Willis. Uh…
LA: wow, Bruce Willis. The whole family?
DS: Uh, no, no, no, no. I haven’t seen his daughters. No, he was alone with friends. Uh, uh, Maradona (Diego). You know, the football player. I know, you know I can’t really…when you ask me these questions, it’s not easy for me because every day I meet new people and movie stars every day. It’s not one time, so I’m, I’m thinking about the last one maybe I met. But, uh, in this kind of place you have every day a star, or at least two or three. It could be, uh, uh, uh, a sports driver star, a racer, it’s all different.
LA: All, all different walks of life, but famous walks of life.
DS: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but actually, uh, the famous people are not the most generous ones.
LA: No. Who, who usually are the most generous ones?
DS: Uh, normally it’s, uh, the Arabic people, you know, and big, big table with, uh, um, people who work in petrol, gas.
LA: Yeah.
DS: You know? And then you have, uh, weapon sellers, drug dealers, and you have, uh, boat manufacturers.
LA: Yeah.
DS: And the fourth, the people who pay the best, the fourth one, and then after you get, uh, the stars and sport athletes.
LA: Yeah.
DS: Know what I mean? But, I don’t mind about who I’m going to work for. I work for very, very some time for very important…
LA: Right.
DS: Political people. Very important. So, they, they, they, they ask me to be there at 5 p.m., they send a helicopter for you. You go to Cannes or to Monte Carlo. You work and, for an hour and a half, then you go back to the helicopter and you go back to, to Cannes, or to San Tropez. It’s a, it’s a crazy world, a little bit, when you come from where I’m coming from. My parents had no money, nothing. So when you arrive there for the very first time, you’re “Wow. I can’t believe it. It’s not a world. It’s a planet.”
LA: Where are you originally from?
DS: I’m from north of France. My Dad is a postman and my Mom doesn’t work, so, uh, I was in the country in the north of France. A little bit lost, but seven hundred people in the village. So, there were more cows than people. And, uh, then, uh.
LA: You went to university?
DS: Yeah. Um, after…I, I discovered magic when I was, uh, seventeen, eighteen at my last class of high school. And then when I got my, uh, baccalaureate, I don’t know how you say, my diploma, I went to university to do philosophy studies for four years to get a master in philosophy, um, political. And I took advantage of the four years to learn magic. I mean, I wasn’t at the university anymore. Only for the exams, you know. I spent all my time doing magic, doing magic, doing magic. Maybe, I don’t know, I was crazy. When you’re young, you don’t, you don’t care, sixteen, seventeen hours a day. Then I was falling asleep with a deck of cards and waking up with coins. Uh, doing only that. Ah, at the same time, just when I started magic, I started to work in restaurants. Maybe, three months after. Right now. So, I was bad. But, I didn’t mind. I was, uh, I was naïve. Uh, so nothing was scaring me. When you, that’s one of the advantage when you start, when you’re a beginner. You don’t really know how bad you are, because you’re never really bad. But, ten years after, when you look back, you say, “Oh, my God. What bloody tricks have I done? ” It’s impossible. How bad to be like that. But, it’s, it’s just, uh, you’re, since you’re beginner, you don’t mind, you go to, you go to the restaurant, you say you’re happy. Eh, you work, and it works, and after years and years, you get more experienced. So, I really think that when you want to start magic as a professional, you have to do it now. Don’t mind about what all the other people could say. Never… you know, if you listen too much to the other people, you, you, you will finish to look like them.
LA: Sure.
DS: So, I, uh, I try to do that, and the most important when you begin, you don’t know, you go, you do, you do your work, and you feel much more comfortable. Nothing scares you because you don’t know. So, you learn quickly. And I think that to be a professional magician is one of my, uh, one of the best thing that happens to me. Uh, I know I feel so free. I’m traveling all around the world. I’ve been, uh, I think I, I did a tour around the world twice. I’ve met a lot of different peoples. I wake up when I want. I go to bed when I want. I have no, no boss, except when I’m booked for a show, but, uh, uh, I try to increase that, uh, that freedom by, uh, developing my, uh, uh, my job and not only doing magic in restaurants. I also do lectures. I, I produce videos. Uh, I own a very big website in France. That is the, the, the second one in France and that would/should be next year the first one on magic, its magiczoom.com. It will be available in English next year. And, uh, I tried to, to expand my, my work in order to not to stay only a magician because when I would be fifty, fifty-five, I know myself and I know that I will be tired to go to work in restaurants. So, I will prefer, I think when I will be fifty-five to be invited to a big party, you know, doing ten magic tricks and get two thousand dollars and say, “Bye.” That’s what I want. So, uh…
LA: How old are you right now?
DS: I’m thirty-three.
LA: Thirty-three. So I figure you have some time before…
DS: Yeah.
LA: …to learn the ten tricks.
DS: I hope so, I think so.
LA: So, let’s wait. Let’s talk about the internet. You talked about Magiczoom.com.
DS: Yeah.
LA: And, you talked about it being the second largest website in France. The first one being…
DS: Virtual Magie. Virtualmagie.com
LA: Virtual Magie. OK. Tell me more about Magiczoom. I want to hear more about Magiczoom instead of Virtualmagie.
DS: Uh, Magiczoom is, uh, before everything, it is just a community. A community to about 2,500 people talking all together. And, uh, it’s, uh, every day, you have a different news. Like a newspaper. It’s daily.
LA: So it’s a newspaper for magicians?
DS: It’s a newspaper for magicians.
LA: Headlines for magicians.
DS: So you have, uh, I, especially in French now, but soon in English, you have everything about, uh, magic. It could be lectures, events, competitions. You have everything in the country that magiczoom is. And, at the same time, you have, uh, a different information every day. And, also and most important one, you have the biggest search engine site in magic. We’re finishing it now. It’s like Google technology, but exclusively adapted to magic.
LA: Wow.
DS: That means that if you write ‘table’ in magiczoom search engine, it won’t sell you table on ebay. It will, it will find connections with table hopping, table magic. Know what I mean?
LA: Yes.
DS: So, uh, it’s very…Everything will be as stronger, as quick as Google, but only in magic.
LA: That’s great.
DS: Oh, yeah. It has been a lot of work. One year and a half of work on this search engine and…
LA: And these have been all your ideas to make it…
DS: No, no, no, no. I’m not clever enough. This, I wanted that, but the difference between what you want and what technology can do, is very different. So, I had to surround me with, uh, very important people in the, in the technology pool in France, especially http://mappy.com. Uh, the first website in French, it’s above Google for French people. It’s a, it’s a map website, you know.
LA: Yeah.
DS: It’s, uh, I think it’s 600,000 connections a day.
LA: Wow.
DS: Only in France. So, with magic it’s crazy. And I’m very lucky because, um, the number two of this company loves magic, so we make it much easier.
LA: Wow.
DS: That’s one of the, of the power of our job.
LA: Right.
DS: Magic allows you to come in places you should never expect. It’s incredible. I met…I’ve been very friendly with movie stars, with a lot of people, or because they’re son is doing magic and called me, then I met all the family. You know, it’s really…magic is like a key when you do it well. And, it’s cool, because you can try a lot of doors and sometimes one will open and Wow, my God, twelve beautiful naked girls. “Are you waiting for David Stone?” “Yeah.” “I’m not alone. I’m sorry, I’m with Lee. You don’t mind? Let’s go.”
LA: I like your style, David Stone. I like your style.
DS: I’m a nice boy.
LA: David, any final thoughts?
DS: If the future of magic is somewhere, it’s without a doubt on the ‘net. And, uh, also in the way of thinking, video and DVD programs, because I really think that, uh, a lot of DVDs and videos are coming out on the market now. A lot of… Every day, you have a new video that the guy shot himself inside, in his kitchen you know, with…
LA: Wait, wait, wait. I shot a video in my kitchen. (Cooking with Lee Asher 1995).
DS: Yeah, I know. I know. That’s why I’m saying… No, man, you know, we… you know what I mean. We’re working on trying to make to improve things to make, uh, things much better after. So, I spent $37,000 on my two next programs, you know what I mean?
LA: Wow.
DS: So, I haven’t… I don’t have to do that. I can make video with $2,000.
LA: Right.
DS: And I will sell as many videos. But what I want to do is to try to get the money I’m going to earn with these videos and to spend it in all in the program in order to make people watch my two next DVD’s, Table Hopping Secrets. He said, “Wow. The guy, the guy has worked a lot. He find a lot of, he tried to find a lot of different tricks. He, he’s talking about theory. They, lot of sketches, gags, explanations are beautiful, the sound is perfect, the image is good, you know. Um, I think that I will hope that, uh, uh, people realize the efforts that some people, like you or others, are making to try to make good videos, good DVDs. Because it’s very important to, I think, to sell something that the customer will be happy to have and will thank you for a long time. Know what, know what I mean?
LA: Sure, absolutely.
DS: And, um, uh, if I wanted to earn money like that, I will have done my $2,000 video, and here we are. But, people want believe like that. But, trust me, with Table Hopping Secrets 1 & 2, they will notice me much more because they will feel that I’m not taking advantage of their dollar. I’m sharing my experience with them. And I’m sure that this difference can be, will make the difference.
LA: Awesome. Well, thank you for sharing the experience with me and with the listeners right now. Uh, for more information on David Stone, go to magiczoom.com. That’s http://www.magiczoom.com. Say that again in French. It sounds cool…
DS: http://www.magiczoom.com (in a French accent)
LA: That’s where you can find the new book. The new book should be coming out, you said…
DS: Yeah, it will be released, uh, in French, as I told you, at Christmas. But, um, I think if you want to find David Stone, you can write ‘David Stone’ on Google and you find my old website.
LA: You’re top stop in Google, huh?
DS: Yeah, you write ‘David Stone’ and ‘Poof” and I’m on top.
LA: Welcome to the Top Spot Google Club, my friend. (Lee and David shake hands.)
DS: Thank you very much. Thank you to receive me. And the books and the videos will be Table Hopping Secrets.
LA: Great. Thank you so much, David. It was great.
DS: Thanks to you. God Bless America.
LA: Take care.
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