Bennie90: Everybody knows that you invent/create lots of new effects. Do you think that old effects should be "removed" and use new effects.

Lets get two examples cups and balls and linking rings.

Would you use this effects if you had a gig or do you consider these "too old"?

Do you think that linking rings for example are today too old and too ordinary an effect? Is it time to put pause for these? Or maybe you could invent some new idea to linking rings!

When you create so much new effects are you trying to "delete" old effects.

Jay Sankey: I have no interest or intention of "deleting classics." Classics become classics for good reason: they appeal to a lot of people for a long time. On the other hand, I do feel that some magic classics (such as the traditional large set of 4 or 5 linking rings) do seem "out-of-date." However, the true litmus test for any effect, old or new, is the degree to which the individual perform can EXPRESS HIS OR HER UNIQUE SELF THROUGH THE EFFECT. I personally have a tough time relating to the idea of standing in front of a large group of people clanging metal rings together for 3 or 4 minutes. To me, it seems like an empty, self-absorbed, woefully repetitive presentation of a mere puzzle. It is also a magic cliche (even among laypeople) so audiences will be primed to dismiss it rather than be open to what beauty or mystery even an inspired performer might bring to it. When I create, I have nothing else in mind but following and honoring the effect as it unfolds in my mind and "live explorations" (performances.) I'm not thinking about deleting older effects or echoing them or anything else. I'm just following the beautiful butterfly floating in front of me just out of reach. Thanks for the intriguing question!

John Doe: My wife is sick of magic. I use her to practice on so she knows almost as much as me. We have 2 kids who aren't yet old enough to really be into it.

My dad knows a few tricks, kind of what we have referred to here as "uncle magic", pennies from ears etc and he loves to watch me perform.

I notice you are due a new addition to your family (good luck with that), How does your family react to what you do?

How old is Mason?

Jay Sankey: I have to admit, I hardly EVER show magic to my wife or friends. Over the years I've shown them enough stuff that, even though they are still very keen to see stuff and support me, they are actually far from ideal spectators. They know a lot more than real laypeople (and can even spot a Double Lift) but they know so much less than a few of my magic buddies! As a result, their responses/input lack the same level of understanding or knowledge as real magicians. For me, the best people to show my stuff to (new effects and old) are 100% pure laypeople or magicians with real "street chops."

Tubz: I've heard it mentioned a number of times that you make detailed notes about all your effects. Could you give us some more information about this process and why you do it, rather than just referring back the source material?

Jay Sankey: I'm forever filling notebooks with ideas for both magic and mentalist effects. Then, usually 2 or 3 times a year, I slowly go through whatever stack of notebooks has accumulated in the last few months and I "bring them all together" and sometimes even cross index them. Ideas overlap and echo and harmonize with each other, but all the while they are wrestling with each other to crystallize into more developed routines. Then when I find myself staring at another batch of fully developed IDEAS, I slowly begin including them into performance sets and polishing them from there. Some ideas die from the first performance and even as I begin to head into the effect I feel that they are "all wrong." Far more often, I'll workshop an effect in front of real people and in just a handful of performances I will have dramatically SIMPLIFIED the handling or effect. Live performance inspires simplification like nothing else! Then I continue to perform the newly simplified handlings on a regular basis and polish them from there. It is often during this period that the key scripting is developed. Then finally there is the rarest of beasts. The effect that springs from the notebook fully formed. I only come across a handful of these every year and interestingly the vast majority of the time these effects come to me in a flash (excuse the pun!) rather than being develop over time. I've only recently begun keeping my notebooks rather than throwing them out after I've transferred all the information onto computer. Along with a storm of chicken scratches that only I can read, my notebooks are filled with a lot of thumbnail drawings because I tend to see magic and even mentalism is strongly visual terms. Thanks for asking!

Aommaster: My question relates to the trick "In a Flash". The thing is... many people get suspicious after the coin has burned a perfect hole in the deck. Some people may not really think about it, but, as you surely know, some others will.

What should I do to my deck to solve this problem? And are there any tips that you would 'reveal' to us to making the trick much more effective?

Jay Sankey: Yes, you are right, some people do get a bit suspicious when they see the PERFECTLY ROUND hold in the pack. This is precisely why I recently re-released the effect with a MISHAPENED hold punched through the cards (and an instructional DVD with a ton of bonus material included different handlings and applications.) The older pack with the perfect hole still blows plenty of people away, but I find that now -with the off-center and far from perfectly circular hole- EVERYONE "buys into the effect" even more!

Spaced: I own series of magic tutorial DVD's and out of the lot of them my favorite is 45 with Jay Sankey (I have said this before, I'm not just sucking up) Anyway I really like the way you give the student a chance to use many if not all of these effects in their own routine without strict guidelines, I especially like the "pack of cards and elastic band switch top card effect," (slightly long winded title but I can't remember what number it is).

My question...Imagine you where an impartial magician and you had to recommend one of your DVD's over the others, which one would it be and why?

Jay Sankey: Before recommending any of my DVDs, I'd first have to know the experience and interest of the magician. If it was someone who has only been in magic for a little while, I would suggest FRONT ROW SANKEY and 22 BLOWS TO THE HEAD. Both of these projects have some extremely "easy-to-do" stuff on them along with some more challenging stuff. They also reflect very different approaches to performing and FRS features a lot of live footage of me gigging for real people which I think would be very valuable to a newcomer. I also think some of my separately marketed effects might be an even better suggestion for a complete beginner. KILLER KEY, ASTRAL PROJECTION and PREDICTION IMPOSSIBLE are all dead easy, but still completely baffling. Perfect tools to gain confidence. For an intermediate magician, I'd strongly suggest EARPLUGS and GREATEST HITS. The first is a very well-rounded exploration of sleight-of-hand and the second offers up an incredible variety of material. As for an advanced performer, I'd recommend REVOLUTIONARY COIN + REVOLUTIONARY CARD. Plenty to keep them busy for a long time. Hope that answers your question! Thanks.