Video – Page 23 – MagicShow.Tips

Obedient Walnut

A few months ago I found some Obedient Walnut tricks in a bin of junk magic at a magic shop. This is a version of a classic trick where you have an object with a string running through it, in this case it’s a plastic walnut. As the walnut slides down the string, it stops whenever you want it to.

Honestly, from a magic perspective, it’s not really a good trick, it’s pretty obvious how it works. I did pick up three of them out of the junk bin as I had an idea for a routine with them. The routine is an interesting idea, but still a bad trick.

I did it once, it confirmed it’s not the best idea or trick and now I can throw away the Obedient Walnuts.

-Louie

Steven’s Magic Emporium

A couple of weeks ago I was travelling from Nebraska to Arizona and drove a few hours out of my way to visit Steven’s Magic Emporium in Wichita, KS. I’ve gotten their catalog since I was a teenager and attended several of their Desert Magic Seminar conventions in Las Vegas as a teenager.

I think with my visit to Steven’s Magic Emporium I’ve hit all the major magic shops in the USA. I guess the only one that I haven’t been to is Daytona Magic, but I’ve worked their convention, so I feel like that counts.

Unfortunately when I was there, there weren’t any “magicians” working, so I had to tell them what I was looking for. That’s fine, however chatting and then having the person working the counter say, “have you seen…” is very helpful!

I did pick up Craig Petty’s Apparition. When I was in Grand Island, NE, Nate Myers showed it to me and it was similar to something I was working on. I also picked up a couple of other things, like some Hypno Heat for an idea I have.

This is a pretty cool coin transposition using a silver dollar and a Chinese coin. There’s a lot that can be done with the coin set, and I’m excited to start playing with it!

-Louie

Roving Close Up Magic

In my roving magic shows in Arizona, my set was essentially two parts. The first part coin magic, which is about one third of the close up set. The second part is my card set which in the remaining two thirds of it.

Here’s a little highlight reel of my close up roving magic set:

@louiefoxx Close Up Magic at the Yavapai County Fair! #closeupmagic #cardtrick #cointrick #magician #sleightofhand #louiefoxx #yavapaicountyfair #prescott #arizona ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

Sometimes I will another part to this, and that is the shell game. I don’t do the shell game for every group as it really needs to be the right group for it to play how I want it to play.

Also, I’m really digging Craig Petty’s Apparition coin set! One thing with it is I’m trying to use the purse less. Right now the coin set I’m doing with it has four parts and only the first two use the purse. I’ll probably write a bit more about what I’m doing with the Apparition coin set and why I’m doing it the way I am.

-Louie

Three Phase Card Routine

I’ve been working on a thing that I used to do, which is a three phase card revelation. The premise is that I’m going to find their card three times. The first uses two hands, the second uses one hand and third uses no hands.

It begins with the Piet Forton Pop Out, then Daryl’s Hotshot Cut and the final revelation is Haunted 2.0. When I did this previously I was having trouble with the transition between the last two phases. Essentially there was a strange moment after the hot shot cut where I had to find the gimmicked card for the Haunted 2.0. I hit on the solution, which was for me to use the Hot Shot Cut to throw the card to the person. Them catching the card, or it landing in their lap gives me the few seconds I need to find the gimmick.

Here’s the three phase routine that was recorded by someone by this family:

That was recorded at the end of the life of the Haunted 2.0 gimmick and it needed to rebuilt, so it didn’t have as much action in it as I’d like, however the seemed to like it!

Also in the video is the first half of my main card set.

-Louie

Vanishing Birdcage with Sleeves Rolled Up

Today I was playing with doing the vanishing birdcage with my sleeves rolled up like Tommy Wonder.

I’m using my Take Up Reel, but I’m not using a double action pull like Tommy Wonder used. The double action pull would reduce arm movement a little bit, however I have a lot of stuff happening on my back and I’m worried that adding another line and the bulk associated with that would be asking for trouble!

Honestly, I’m fine doing the vanishing birdcage with my sleeves down, it was fun to play with it today to see if I could!

-Louie

Nebraska Magic Jam!

Last week when I was performing in Grand Island, Nebraska I met up with Nate Myers who is magician who lives there. We met up at the Perkins, and while I love jamming with magicians I prefer doing it at bars over restaurants. The main reason is that bars have a more casual feel and it’s less intrusive if someone has an idea they want to try on someone. Walking up to and chatting with random people is more common in a bar than in a restaurant.

That said, I’ll take jamming in a restaurant over not jamming any day!

As we were leaving the waitress asked to show her a magic trick. I grabbed 4 pennies out of the “need an penny” dish and did a quick trick:

@louiefoxx Coin Trick at the Perkins! #cointick #perkins #sleightofhand #coinmagic #magic #louiefoxx #grandisland #nebraska #magician #penny #coinsacross ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

I learned this trick as a kid from the Klutz Book of Magic. It’s a great impromptu coins across that can be done with pretty much any for small items that look the same. If you don’t know the trick, it’s totally worth tracking down that book and learning it, it’s a great trick to have in your brain for an impromptu situation.

-Louie

Another Back Flip!

Recently I had a kid ask me to do a back flip during the show. This is a trend and I finally had someone ask me to do it. After it happened I came up with this trick:

@louiefoxx Do a Back Flip! #doabackflip #backflipchallenge #backflip #louiefoxx #magic #magictrick, #surpriseending #old #magician #cardtrick ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

I think I came up with a better idea than that. Here’s me showing the idea to the sound guy on my stage before a show:

This idea gets the laugh, shows that I’ve been asked this before, so their request isn’t original and then closes the conversation with the NO.

Now that I have a plan, I’m betting I don’t get asked to do a backflip ever again.

-Louie

Do a Back Flip

My friends that do roving acts like stilt walkers or unicycle have mentioned to me that kids the last year or so ask them to “do a back flip“. I think this is a Tik Tok thing, but I’m not positive. They’ve tried to come up with something witty to say, but really there’s no where to go with that and it’s something completely unrelated to what they do.

It’s never happened to me…until last week. I wanted to come up with something to do, so here’s what I came up with:

@louiefoxx Do a Back Flip! #doabackflip #backflipchallenge #backflip #louiefoxx #magic #magictrick, #surpriseending #old #magician #cardtrick ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

Here’s the problem, by rewarding them saying that, it could simple open the door to them yelling more in the show. Also, I should be clear that I don’t consider a kid asking me to do a back flip a heckle. It’s really not malicious, they’re having fun…but it’s still an interruption in the show and I don’t want to encourage that.

Since I made that card, I haven’t had someone ask me to do a back flip, so I don’t know how it plays, or if it encourages interruptions. The nice thing is that it doesn’t take up any space, so it’s not a big deal to have with me during the show.

If I ever get to use it, I’ll report back on what happens…

-Louie

Al Koran’s 5 Star Miracle Prediction

I’ve been working on a routine that I call “choices”, this is essentially a card prediction. This has had many different versions and methods, with the first version simply using an invisible deck for the reveal. It’s had many different reveals from the selected card in a wallet, to it being the only red backed card in a blue backed, blank faced deck.

The trick was just OK, the final reveal was lacking something…or had too much. Then a while ago Nick Lewin put out the 6 Star Miracle Prediction, which is his version of Al Koran’s 5 Star Miracle Prediction. I’m a HUGE Nick Lewin fan, and get everything he puts out. I honestly didn’t think I’d use the trick, however it ended up being the solution for the Choices routine.

The ending where I’m just holding two cards gives a great picture and ends with me in an applause position. The nice thing is the whole thing fits inside a jumbo card case, so it packs relatively small. This trick is intended for stage shows, so I have no desire to use a regular pack…however it could be downsized to that size and play well on a stage.

I’m not sure if this is the final version of this trick, but it feel pretty close!

-Louie