Video – Page 10 – MagicShow.Tips

Media Spots and Magic

Not all media spots are rockstar spots. Here’s one that I did, and it was fine:

I should have cut out the multiple force and maybe just started with the card selected. I was very rushed for the trick, and while I think it played OK, it would have been better if I did it slower.

One thing I did do before we started was that I told the reporter that I was going to ask them to draw something on a card. I wanted them to think of something simple to draw so we didn’t waste time for them thinking of a card.

If you’ve never done a live, on location TV spot, they can be very challenging. You get a general idea of how much time you have, but that can quickly change and change during the media spot while you’re performing and you have no idea. Before live media spots, I always try to come up with a signal for the reporter to give me when I need to wrap it up. There’s usually a producer talking in their ear telling them how much time we have or don’t have left.

These live spots are fun, but also very challenging!

-Louie

Indian Magic Show

One thing that the internet has ruined is the regional styles of performing. When I was a kid, in the USA you would see different styles of performing on the east and west coasts or even different trends/styles within the same state.

Someone shared a video of a magician from India and the style is very different from what’s performed in the USA. For example there was a piece that I’m assuming was a patriotic piece that ended with an enemy impaled on a giant drill while flags were waived by the military.

You can watch full video here:

There are a couple of acts that potentially used without permission of the creators, so there’s that. It is great to see things that look different from what in the USA can be cookie cutter magic shows and magicians. For all I know, this is what a normal theater show looks like in India and it’s a cookie cutter show there.

-Louie

Magic DVD’s on the road

Sometimes before I go on the road I pick up a couple of magic DVD’s to watch. I have a USB connected DVD player, that I can use to watch these DVD’s on. The silver lining to DVD’s is that they are super cheap right now as everyone is getting rid of them.

This week I took the International Magic Presents: The Jim Cellini Lecture.

This summer I’m working on my street style show, so watching this DVD is helping me learn instead of just watching netflix in the hotel. I’m trying be a good steward of my down time.

-Louie

Something from the East by Haruhito Hirata

I came across the book Something from the East by Haruhito Hirata in a box of magic stuff that I had bought recently. There wasn’t a lot of stuff that I liked in the book, but one thing did catch my eye. There’s an oil and water trick in there that has a slightly different mixing procedure that most.

Here’s what it looks like as written:

@louiefoxx Card trick from Japan! #cardtrick #magic #japan #magictrick ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

I like the two columns of cards and then mixing them one at a time. I don’t like how much process and how confusing the whole routine is. I also don’t like that you can’t show the second packet at the end.

I tried to streamline the effect to make it less confusing and here’s what I initially came up with:

@louiefoxx Replying to @Voyager Jim ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

It’s not the best, but I think it’s better.

I do have two more versions that are inspired by Haruhito’s routine, and I’ll post about them later. These two version are very different in method, but keep the two columns of cards.

-Louie

Play-Duh

Hocus-Pocus in Fresno put out a prop called Play-Duh. This is a snake can that’s built into a Play-Doh style can. I wrote up the routine I’m doing with it here: https://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/play-duh/

I’m using the Play-Duh props in my library and summer camp shows. The fair I was performing at last week I did the routine for some kids between shows.

here’s what it looks like:

It’s just a solid, fun routine.

-Louie

Let Them Show You a Magic Trick!

Whenever someone finds out that I’m a magician and asks to show me a trick I always say yes. I’m amazed at the amount of magicians that hate being shown tricks. By saying “yes” I’m promoting someone’s enthusiasm (and my own) for magic.

The quality and variety of tricks that people show me are way better than a decade ago. I think YouTube has helped people learn more than just the 21 card trick.

By saying yes, I met a guy that could do a tabled faro shuffle with a beat up deck and he helped me learn to do it. The other day one I saw a coin trick that I’d never seen before and it was cool!

@louiefoxx Mad skill! #cointrick #juggling #coin #stunt ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

This is how tricks used to move around, person to person.

-Louie

My First Vanishing Birdcage

When I was a teenager I was given a La Galeria -The Gallery of Merlin vanishing birdcage that had a couple of broken bars. I used that for a long time and struggled through the broken bar occasionally snagging on my sleeve. Then about 12years ago I had someone fix the bars, and I used that cage until I got an Owen vanishing bird cage.

Recently one of the La Galeria -The Gallery of Merlin vanishing bird cages popped up for sale and I bought it!

The solder and rivets on the bars of this one appear to be in much better condition that the one I’ve have for 30+ years. I’m happy to add this to my collection and can’t wait for it to arrive!
-Louie
Click here to learn more about the vanishing birdcage!

Magician vs Parrot

With social media eating up content, I’m always looking for things that aren’t from my show to use. I personally don’t want to burn material from my show on social media. Recently when I was in Cartagena, Columbia there was a parrot at the port, so I did a trick for it:

@louiefoxx Magician vs Parrot! #magictrick #parrot #magic #parrotsoftiktok #cardtrick ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

It’s not the best trick in the world, but it was easy content to create and fun. More importantly, it’s not my act, so I’m not burning material.

Also, this parrot was kind of a card trick master. I put the shuffled deck down and he flipped over the four aces right away. I wish we had recorded that, but it wasn’t planned and caught us off guard!

Keep an eye out for fun moments that you can use for social media videos!

-Louie

Mike Bornstein’s Money Magic!

In the 1980’s and 1990’s Mike Bornstein had ads in magic magazines for his money magic. I found a set of his lecture notes and have been going through them. One of the tricks that I though was interesting was this torn and restored bill:

@louiefoxx The old hundred dollar magic trick! #magictrick #magic #magician #moneymagic #vintagemagictrick ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

While the method now is fairly standard for torn and restored things, what makes his interesting is the tearing sequence. It’s backwards from how most are done. I don’t know if that makes it better or worse, but different!

Finding unexpected things is one the fun thing about all these old lecture notes!

-Louie

Mike Giles!

Yesterday I posted about using the miracle pad by Mike Giles. In a funny little coincidence I was having breakfast with David Williamson and he brought up Michael Giles! I’m assuming Mike Giles and Michael Giles are the same person. That led me to looking him up, and it looks like he was primarily an illusionist.

Here’s a few video clips of him doing illusions:

It also looks like he had at least one close up magic release:

I always love it when something takes me down a rabbit hole of learning about a magician that I didn’t know anything about!

Sadly Michael Giles died a while ago.

-Louie