A couple of weeks ago I performed in a show at the All American Magic Theater in Portland OR. It’s a fun little theater in a magic shop inside of a mall.
It’s always fun to perform in a variety show! One of the challenges for me since I’m used to doing 45-70 mins is doing a shorter 15 min set. A 15 min set is structured very differently than a longer full show. As an act, your opener is less of a “warm up” and you kinda need to get right into the act.
It’s fun to flex that different show length muscle! -Louie
I just finished up making a batch of Remote Control Chattering Teeth. There were two reasons for this batch, the first is that I was out and needed more in stock. The second reason, which to me is the more important reason, I wanted to make a new version of them. I made a batch of six sets of Remote Control Chattering Teeth: Four normal and two experimental!
The thing I’m going to start to test is having them run by an ankle/magnetic switch, instead of a traditional push button remote control.
I’ve already learned a huge lesson when making these teeth. The magnet switches that I had on hand were cased in glass and they broke fairly easily while assembling them. I just ordered a batch of plastic cased magnet switched and will give them a try and see if they work as well as the glass ones!
I’ll be using these in my family/kid shows in December to see how they hold up. If they work well, I’ll probably offer these as an option.
Powell’s Books legendary bookstore in Portland Oregon. They have a huge selection of new and more importantly used books. You never know what you’ll find there. I frequently pop in and take a peek at their magic section.
There are a ton of legit magic books there, from Card College, to Max Maven’s PRISM! Since these are used books selling on the normal used book market, there are some deals to be had!
For me the greatest thing was in the shelf there was a magic coloring book!
This was being sold as a magic book, there was not context for it and no instructions. I wonder how many people picked it up and and were confused by it…or possibly amazed if they flipped though it and it was blank. Then wondered why it was blank, and flipped again and it had pictures!
If you visit the Portland OR area, visiting Powell’s books is worth a stop!
Last week I visited the Society of American Magicians Assembly #59 in Portland, OR. I love magic clubs, and it’s time for me to formally join this one. I’m currently not a member of the national Society of American Magicians, so I need to do that before I can be a member of the local assembly.
I think that of the barriers to entry with magic clubs is having to join the national and the local magic club. It looks like national SAM dues are $65 and the local club is $35, so it’s $100 to get involved. That’s a lot of money for someone who is just starting out in magic. However I do understand why the money is needed, and there is value to the $100. If someone starting in magic actually read the magazines and went to the meetings there’s more than $100 in value.
After the magic club meeting, a few of us went down the street for a beer to keep magic jamming!
I’m a HUGE supporter of magic clubs as they helped me a lot growing up and I want to help them succeed. You should support your local magic club!
With all of the specialty decks and different cuts or finishes on cards that are available to magicians now, what’s your favorite deck of cards?
For me, the best will always be a deck of Bicycle playing cards from the Cincinnati factory! You can’t beat them, they’re the best! Unfortunately they moved to Kentucky in 2009, so it’s been 15 years since these were made. You can still find them, and I actively seek them out when I travel.
What I love about the Cincinnati made cards is that they last a lot longer than the current cards. A deck of the current Bicycle cards will last me about an hour, where the older stock will last me days!
I’ve quietly amassed a large box of them. If they’re still sealed, then 98% of the time they’re perfect! Occasionally a sealed box will have some sort of moisture issue, but that’s rare.
I never pay more than $3 a box when I find them in out there in the wild (aka a junk shop). You can find these decks on ebay for about $5 a deck plus shipping, which I think is way to much.
If you find a deck, buy them and you’ll remember why these cards were soo great!
Over on TikTok I post vintage magic tricks and a recent one that I did was Nick Trost’s Gemini Cards. Also, if you’re not following me over there please do, I’m at: https://www.tiktok.com/@louiefoxx
Gemini Cards is an Out of This World style of card trick. Here’s what it looks like:
The trick is great, and a fooler. I was trying to think of what it could be done with that aren’t playing cards. Here are some ideas:
Cards with pictures of: -Red/Black socks -Cats and dogs
However I don’t want to use things that are pictures drawn on playing cards. So other objects that are “card like” in their natural state.
Here are some ideas: -paint swatches -number flash cards: evens and odds match each other -photographs (maybe of my dog and cat) -postcards: I have custom made “postcards from home” that I use for a torn and restored postcard routine. I could use those and postcards from exotic places.
I think that the Gemini Cards definitely has potential, just not sure how to use it!
When I was at the a booking conference last week, I took a coupe of pictures of a music duo that was playing. The guy in the center was playing way too far forward, and was in the dark.
In the picture it looks better than it did in person, in person he was totally in the dark! You can see the difference in the next picture when he took a few steps backwards.
Being in the “hot” area makes a huge difference. Many years ago comedian Jim Wiggins (RIP) gave me a talk about making sure that I was in the light and how much of a difference it makes. I do my best to try to stay in the light, and it always helps if there’s an act before you that you can watch were they’re lit and where they’re in the dark!
One of the classic magic tricks is making a person float. Aside from doing it as a stage illusion, there’s no practical way to do it for smaller shows that’s as good. Like anything you have to make tradeoffs when you change the method. In this case the method includes the stage.
One of the popular ones looks like this:
I’ve written about this before, but the picture above recently passed through my Instagram feed. I think one of the things that I don’t like about it wrapping up the person in the cloth. It just doesn’t look right. Look at the area circled in red below:
Is there a solution to keeping the cloth uniform below the floating person?
Maybe if the cloth with just draped over the person, and left dangling?
Nathan Burton has a decent solution and leaves the board in view:
I like this a little bit better, it’s like he’s making the board float with someone on it. That could lead to a presentation idea with the line, “your seat bottom wil act as a floatation device“. That could be a fun comedy angle for a levitation.
I don’t know the solution to a practical levitation that’s done with the audience closer. And like I mentioned earlier, there are always trade offs when you make a stage illusion smaller and add an untrained assistant from the audience.
Sometimes there are magic tricks where the instructions are the least effective way to do the trick. Then you realize they are dumbed down to make them easy to do. One trick is The MisMade Card by Daryl.
Here’s how the trick looks when done how the instructions say:
I did make one change, there’s a discrepancy in the instructions. You can’t do the trick as written. When you tear a card into 4 pieces, you cannot make it form the same pattern as the final mismade cards. The two backs visible will have the borders on the inside. I added a switch of the quarters that show backs.
However the whole, put the card in a sleeve, then wrap it in paper is soo much process and weakens the trick. A better method would be to tear the card in quarters, do the JC Wagner torn and restored card switch and unfold it show the card is restored. It’s a much more direct trick AND you can actually do it.
I do understand why making the trick easy makes it a lot more marketable as a lot of people don’t want to learn a sleight of hand move to do a trick. One of the things I do whenever I get a new trick and start to learn it, is try to figure out a more direct way to do it!
