Google your magician!

If you are looking online for a close up magician it must be an absolute nightmare. Every one you come across seems to have some amazing references on their website, has worked for numerous top companies and celebrities and if you believe their publicity, is the best magician since Paul Daniels/Derren Brown (delete according to preference).

I see “full time performers” who I know have other jobs, “international acts” who count their summer package holidays as foreign engagements and “award-winning magicians” who as far as I am aware, are referring to the fact they have a 100m swimming certificate.
When taking a look at other magicians’ websites, I have to remember to avoid any hot drinks incase I end up choking and scolding myself when I when I read some of their more outlandish claims. So how do you know who is pulling the wool over your eyes and deceiving you into thinking they will be first class at, well, deceiving you?

If you are looking online for a close up magician to hire for your event: I urge you to check up on the person you are dealing with. If they are performing and working as much as they say they are, there will be plenty of mention of them online. If you search for “Rob James” you’ll find lots of talk about someone with a similar name in Coronation Street and also my namesake who appeared in Canadian Idol a few years ago (which explained why I started getting 500+ visits to my website a day!) But, other than that, you’ll find a fair few mentions of me on external websites which hopefully should lend credence to what I have chosen to publish about myself and my act on this site. To save you a bit of time, here are a few websites that reference having seen me perform or hired me as the close up magician for their event.

“Extraordinary magician Rob James, who you may remember from the Haywood Pavilion party a couple of years back, was so good people were still telling me about what they had seen weeks after the event!”
www.countyhall.org
I have performed at several events in London for the County Hall Residents’ Association.

“Proper ‘close up’ magician Rob James wandered about, confounding small groups with his sleight of hand. I’d hired them because I wanted things to be happening all through the evening”
www.dailymail.co.uk
Author and journalist Bel Mooney has hired me for both her 60th birthday party and her daughter’s wedding, which she references in this article.

“What an absolutely fantastic night we had. Rob James and Gary Brown were amazing. They are both extremely talented magicians as well as being really nice guys. They completely amazed me and many others with their slight of hand. I will definitely be booking them both again in the very near future.”
www.langfordproductions.co.uk
Langford Productions are the most respected talent agency in the South West.

“Next, it was off to the spanish hall again for the Magical close up championships… In my opinion Rob James was the best (in the competition) by far”
www.myspace.com
This is the blog of another magician referring to my performance in a contest at the world’s biggest magic convention held annually in Blackpool.