Halloween Trick!

I’ve always said that creating tricks based on holidays is one of the easiest ways to generate content. Here’s an interactive Halloween magic trick you can do at home, just print out the pdf below and follow the instructions

Enjoy!
-Louie

Shell Game Phase

I frequently have people ask me about why I like Leo Smetser’s Three Shell Game set. I like it because it’s the shells are heavy, and I prefer the bowl shape. Another thing is that it all fits together into a nice container that fits neatly in my pocket.

I just started doing a phase that’s unique to this shell set. This set has rubber O rings on the top of them, and I use those for a phase:

With Leo’s set, you can do soo much more than with just a regular set. I really dig this set, sure it’s probably not everyone’s flavor, but I’m a fan!
-Louie

Splitting Image!

One of my favorite every day carry magic trick is my Splitting Image mismade bill routine. It fits in my wallet and takes up the space of two one dollar bills. Aside from that it just needs a borrowed cellphone with a camera. It’s a great routine that’s easy to do at a moments notice.

Here’s what it looks like:

It looks like Hocus-Pocus has them on sale right now for $32, which is a great deal! If you’re interested in getting my Splitting Image trick, order from them now, I don’t know how long the sale will last!

https://www.hocus-pocus.com/magicshop/index.cfm?cat_choice=0434

I personally have none in stock and don’t know when I’ll be able to make more, so get it from Hocus-Pocus while they still have some!

-Louie

Magic at Junk Shops…

One of the things that I do when I have long travel days by car is go for walks to break up the driving. Sometimes I’ll walk through antique malls to get my steps in, and look for things that I can use.

On a recent trip I had a couple of nice finds. I found a deck of old stock Bicycle 8082 Jumbo Cards for $15!

bicycle 8082 jumbo playing cards

Then in a different state on the same trip I found two decks of sealed old stock Cincinnati made Bicycle 808 Rider Back cards for $3.80 a deck!

Old stock bicycle playing cards

Then there’s some other magic stuff I didn’t buy, like a signed Marshall Brodien magic kit and an incomplete vintage magic kit

For me walking through junk shops is a great way to stretch my legs and sometimes you find some gems!
-Louie

Vanishing Birdcage Addition

Here’s another idea I’ve always wanted to try with the Vanishing Birdcage:

While I was at FISM I picked up a smoke device. These have come a long way since the late 1990’s when I became aware of them. This particular unit has a timer, so it you hit a button and it delays however long you set it, then it emits smoke for as long as you program into it. It’s pretty cool. The big addition to these is a fan that propels the smoke, and that’s the thing that I think was missing from a lot of the previous attempts at a smoke device.

I know that in the video above, my timing is off a little bit. It’s not a big deal as this isn’t something that I intend to ever do again, I was just curious what it would look like.

I do think it looks really cool, however having the take up reel and smoke device on one arm is a lot of stuff strapped to you and because of that I’ll never do it. I could be missing out…
-Louie

Out of Town Order Notice

This blog will still be updated everyday, so keep reading below this notice!

This is just a heads up, I’ll be out of the country from October 26, 2022 to November 18th, 2022. If you place an order during that time, nothing will ship or start being made until I return on the 11/18.

If you need something sooner, you can order most of my products at www.Hocus-Pocus.com and they usually have most of my stuff in stock!

This blog will still be updated everyday, so keep reading below this notice!

-Louie

Going Rogue…

One thing I believe in is that when everyone is good, it’s better for everyone who performs in an industry. I was at a conference last week and there’s not a lot of content for the performers who want to get better. A buddy and I came up with the idea of a problem solving session. It wasn’t on the official program or even endorsed by the conference, so I had some flyers made and we distributed them and made it a word of mouth thing.

We had a great turnout, my picture below is about half of the room:

What was really cool is that a lot of the people who book entertainment showed up. They were able to hear what our challenges were, and able to have a dialogue with use about how to solve them!

There are some people who have asked me why I’m helping my competition, and the answer is simple:

We’re all on the same team.

I don’t look at anyone as competition. Not because I’m better than anyone, we’re all on one big team. When people hire good entertainment that’s easy to work with, they want to hire entertainment more and that’s more work everyone!

-Louie

Old Promo…

Another day of me perpetually cleaning the office. I found a box of old promo that I thought I threw away a couple of years ago!

magic show promo flyers and postcards

I kept one of each piece of promo and tossed the box. The promo has no value, I don’t look like the person in the picture, some of the info on the postcards is old and the overall style isn’t modern.

In the future, I’ll probably do a lot more short run prints of things, as it’s not very expensive to print 50 or a 100 of a one sheet flyer. Back when I had these printed, you really needed to print 500 or 1,000 of them. That’s why soo many comics had headshots that were 20 years old, they had to print 1,000 of them!

Life’s too short for boxes of old promo that you’ll never use again. Recycle it and be free!!
-Louie

Video Introduction

I just wrapped up showcasing at a booking conference. Usually at these the MC isn’t the best, so a couple years ago my agent started having her acts use video intros which play right after the MC intros the act.

Here’s mine:

It really does a lot more to set the tone and energy for the showcase. I’m really glad I started using a video introduction!

-Louie

Marketing Your Show…

One thing that always surprises me the fear that magicians have about spending money on things that will help sell their show. I get most of my work through booking conferences. I needed to make a new banner for one of the agents that I work for, so while I was doing that, I also made a generic one for me.

These were made in a rush, and they’re good enough. If I had more time I would make a couple of changes, but the more important thing is that I have the one the agent requested by the date they needed it!