Video – Page 8 – MagicShow.Tips

Late Season Library Shows

Last week I did a run of library shows for an area where the kids were off school for conferences. Here’s my 50 minute show in 64 seconds:

@louiefoxx What a Magic Show at a library looks like! #magicshow #library #magician #wallawalla #LouieFoxx #magic #sizzlereel ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

My whole library shows (aside from the nest of boxes and speaker) fits inside of a “carry on” sized case. For me a pack small show is something that just happened, not a requirement. While it’s nice that the show fits in a small case, I don’t mind travelling with a larger one.

I’ve mentioned it before, but I think the key to a show that packs small is using props that give you show visual textures. The idea is to not have a show that looks like everything was selected because its flat or small. A couple of good example of things that I do that take up little space, but are visually large are the troublewit and the lasso. Both of them when I do the routine take up a lot of psychical space in the performing area.

If one of your goals is a suitcase show or a packs small show, try to avoid everything being a flat card. I’ve seen many suitcase shows where it looks like everything was selected because it was flat!

-Louie

Vintage Magic Trick: Blaisdell’s SKP

This vintage magic trick is Blaisdell’s S-K-P, and I can’t find any reference to it online. Here’s what it looks like:

@louiefoxx What were you thinking? #magictrick #rubberband #vintage #whatwereyouthinking #magic #rubberband #louiefoxx #vintagemagictrick ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The problem with the trick is there’s soo many props and soo much process to make a rubber band go through a shoelace. There had to be ring on string techniques that could accomplish the same effect in a much clearer manner. One of the challenges of the trick is the audience needs to understand how the line segments that the rubber band make work. If they don’t understand that, the trick will fall flat.

I will say the move that accomplishes the trick is kinda interesting, but not enough to put out a physical trick. I think this trick would be a good magazine item, but not a full release.

-Louie

Using the Camera Cover

Yesterday I posted about my simple camera shutter that I use to keep my camera from having TVs or projectors time out due to no signal when it’s not in use. In the video below you can see the projector in use at a comedy club gig:

@louiefoxx 68 minute magic show in 103 seconds! #comedymagic #magicshow #oklahomacity #OK #comedyclub #magician #bricktown @bricktowncomedyclub ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

All of the sound/tech people on the little tour of comedy clubs I just did were amazed at how simple of a solution the little 3d printed cover was!

I feel like I should mentioned that both times I’ve flown with the iphone with the camera cover in my backpack, TSA took it out for additional screening. I guess it looks strange on the Xray.

-Louie

Simple but Ugly

In using projection at my shows over the summer I learned that some projectors or TV’s will “time out” and turn off if they don’t think they’re getting a signal. The camera I use has a black out option that I used to use, until I learned that the black out can be interpreted as no signal and the TV or projector will go into sleep mode.

To solve this problem, I 3d printed a simple camera cover for my iphone and glued it on.

This is a very simple, low tech way to solve the problem. The camera is still sending a picture to the screen, so it won’t got into sleep mode.

For these shows I didn’t want to run the camera through my laptop and use my Media Star to control it. That’s way too much set up and gear for a library show.

-Louie

Vintage Magic Trick: Ronnay’s Twisting the Jokers

Today’s vintage magic trick is Twisting the Jokers by Ronnay. This trick is very much the vibe of the golden age of packet tricks. It’s a trick where the four cards turn over one at a time, then turn into a different value. During this time that plot was done a ton of different ways, and here’s Ronnay’s version:

@louiefoxx Vintage Magic Trick! Ronnay’s Twisring the Jokers #magictrick #joker #cardtrick #vintage #packettrick #louiefoxx #magiciansoftiktok ♬ 10 minutes, meditation, sleep, mindfulness, night(951759) – Gloveity

The provided patter is garbage, it feels like rip off of the standard Six Card Repeat patter. The problem with this trick’s patter is that it uses a lot of industry terms that make it feel really clunky.

From a technical standpoint this trick is fine and it logically flows, but with a modern trick like NFW which is easier to do and much cleaner, Twisting the Jokers is obsolete…but these types of tricks were steps on the ladder to get to tricks like NFW and they have their place.

– Louie

What Makes a “New” Trick?

This morning I was thinking about what makes a trick different from what has come before it. Especially if it’s derivative trick, build off of an existing effect. I think it was Greg Wilson in a interview said he had a three categories:
Effect – Method – Routine

For a trick to be new, it needs to have changed two of the three of these. I think that’s a good baseline, however things definitely can get murky. Let’s talk about David Roth’s Karate Coin trick. The effect is that you throw a coin in the air and as it falls, you stab your finger through it, leaving it impaled on your finger.

The original version used a coin that had a hole punched out in it. Then at some point Gary Oulette put out the New Karate Coin that hand a coin that hand the center that looked like someone had shot a bullet through it. This only changed the prop and very slightly, the method and routine are unchanged. I will say that this prop is an improvement on the original coin used in the Roth routine, which was simply a coin with hole in it. At the end of the original trick you end up with a coin that magically has no center. The New Karate Coin addresses this, but I’m not sure it makes it a new trick. I guess it’s more like a new prop for an existing trick?

Now, let’s get to another version of the trick which is Doug Bennett’s Lickity Split. The effect and method are the same, the prop has changed. Here’s what it looks like:

@louiefoxx Heads or tails? #coin #halfdollar #coinmagic #cointrick #magic #magician #louiefoxx #licketysplit #dougbennett #headsortails ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

Is this a new trick because they coin has been impaled sideways, or an new prop for an existing trick?

Honestly I don’t know the answer, I think Doug’s version is very slightly a different trick than Gary’s version. It’s very slight, like you would add a word or two to the description, but don’t think it makes it a new trick.

All of that said, I personally think that both of the versions of the Karate Coin are improvements over the original and have merit, I’m just not sure how to categorize them.

-Louie

L or D: Life or Death by Peter Kamp and Magic Dream – Review

The other day I got an email for the trick L or D: Life or Death by Peter Kamp and Magic Dream from Stevens Magic Emporium. This is a mentalism effect where you have five tokens have a “heads” and a “tails” side. In this case they are themed with “life” and “death”. They are turned over by the spectator, so that you don’t know what’s token has which side up and then one is covered. You tell them which side is face up on the token that is covered.

The description of the trick, immediately told me this was a themed version of Sam Dalal’s MentaColor (this trick is probably not original to him). Here’s Sam’s much older version of the trick:

@louiefoxx Why would anyone do this Magic Trick? #magictrick #mentalism #mindreading #headsortails #guess #5050 #louiefoxx #vintage #samdalal #vintagemagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

As I say in the video, this is a method that’s looking for the trick. It’s a lot of process and props for what is essentially a 50/50 guess. Sure you can repeat it to prove you get it right every time, but it’s still a lot of process each time.

Honestly, I think that the “life or death” presentation angle of the trick is an improvement over Sam’s colors, and a bit easier on the performer when you get to the end because you don’t have to remember the pairs of colors. However in the end it doesn’t fix the fundamental problem with the trick, which is that it’s a lot of props to do a “heads or tails” revelation.

-Louie

Mike Gallo’s The Ball and Vase

When I was a teenager I came across a copy of Michael Skinner’s Intimate Magic book. In it he teaches his legendary Ball and Vase routine. Basically it’s uses the basic ball and vase trick that comes in most beginners magic kits and turns it into a solid magic routine.

Then there’s Mike Gallo’s The Ball and Vase routine, which I think I’ve encountered decades ago, but never really did. I recently found the set for the trick with instructions and learned it.

Here’s what it looks like:

@louiefoxx You wont believe how cool something so simple can be! #simple #cool #magictrick #ball #what #magic #magician #louiefoxx #michaelskinner #mikegallo #easymagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

This trick is fun to do, and I think it’s better than the original Skinner version of the trick. With it having no gimmicks aside from an extra ball, it’s really practical. The only problem for me is that it doesn’t quite fit my close up performing style. also it requires a table, and all of my close up had to be able to be done without a table. Sometimes the non-tabled version of the stuff I do will lack a phase or uses the audience’s hands as a makeshift table. Unfortunately, neither of these is an option for that.

-Louie

Look It Up!

This summer teenagers have been saying, “That’s soo sigma” or just “Sigma” when I perform close up magic for them. I had a feeling that “sigma” meant cool, based on the context it was used in. However, to be sure, I did a Google search to figure it out.

Nothing in life has made me feel older than researching slang on the Today Show’s website!

That confirmed what I thought, and now I can use it correctly. While I think that when a older magician uses kid slang it feels like they are trying to pander to the kids and never seems cool.

In my close up I now say, “that’s soo sigma” but I do it in a way where I’m almost making fun of saying it. Very tongue in cheek, and not using it like it’s something I would normally say.

It’s important to keep an eye or ear out for these trends that kids do and figure out how you can use them to your advantage. For example, there’s the trend of kids asking you to “do a backflip”. I came up with two version of this trick to do when they ask:

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

The other version and the one that I use is published in Vanish Magazine about a year ago.

Simply knowing how to respond to these things will put you ahead of the game!

-Louie

Packet Trick in Spanish

Earlier this summer I started doing a packet trick in Spanish. The trick is Emerson and West’s Gourmet Mouse. What I like about this trick is that it’s very simple and I can do it for kids. The plot is easy to follow, you have three cards. One has a picture of a mouse, one cheese and one a slice of cheesecake. The cheese ends up disappearing and the mouse ends up changing to a picture of a cat (that ate the mouse).

The trick is pretty simple to speak in Spanish and that’s helping me connect with audiences that I’ve struggled with in the past due to language barriers.

Here’s what the trick looks like:

@louiefoxx Help me learn spanish! #spanish #learnspanish #helpme #magictrick #rat #gato #cat #cheese #cardtrick #louiefoxx #learnalanguage ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

To learn Spanish, I’m using DuoLingo and asking for help from people I work with who speak Spanish. I’m getting better, nowhere near conversational, but getting better.

-Louie