I finally got to see the physical copy of my fourth parade in the Linking Ring Magazine!
It’s got about a 10 magic tricks in it. I think I need to write at least one more parade for the Linking Ring so that I have an even five!
If you’re a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians check it out in the March 2024 issue!
-Louie
I’ve recently started posting on Tik Tok, and you can follow me there @LouieFoxx. When I post magic trick videos, I have some criteria. The trick has to have something original about it. I’m not just buying a trick like the card to watch trick and doing it.
@louiefoxx
What qualifies as original?
It could be in method, presentation, or prop. For example, I do a trick that was popular on instagram in 2020 where you make a pen float and pass a hoop over it. The original angle is that I’m doing it with a chicken wing. Then there’s some tricks that are 100% original like this one:
@louiefoxx Kitchen Magic with Louie Foxx! #magic #magictrick #egg #whiskey #magician #magicshow #fyp #foryourpage #kitchenmagician ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx
My goal is to use Tik Tok as an outlet for ideas that I have, and ones that I’ll probably never do in my show, but I think still has some sort of merit. My goal is to publish a trick every 2-3 days, which is a lot!
We’ll see how long I can keep it up.
-Louie
Having a gig where I’m doing 66 shows at all month is a great opportunity to work on new material. I’m still working on my idea for the Invisible Deck. It’s coming along. I’m now using Phoenix Large Index Cards. The bigger index makes it play a row or two further back.
One thing I’m realizing is that this trick is going to be limited to the size of room it can play. I’m going to need to figure out a way to scale the trick back up to either a Phoenix Parlour sized deck or a jumbo deck. It’s interesting how the process works, I had to shrink the trick to figure out why I need to enlarge it!
So why not just go back to using the Vernet 52 B’Wave?
The main reason is the routine I was doing required 3 jumbo decks and didn’t really have a routine for it. By changing the method, I ended up finding a presentational hook for the trick, which ultimately helps the routine. Yes, I could do my routine with the 52 B’Wave, but now that’d bump it up to travelling with four jumbo decks, and that’s a lot of weight in case for a card trick!
I think the method may end up being some sort of hybrid method, where the reveal deck is similar to the 52 B’Wave deck, but with different reveal cards, and reveal cards that aren’t gimmicked, so they can be shown more freely.
Another reason I’m playing with a different method is that there’s a sense of pride I have when I perform with original methods.
One of the types of shows I really like performing in are variety shows. Where I’m an act working with a lot of other acts of all different skills. I’m very fortunate that in Seattle we have the Moisture Festival. This is a variety arts festival that runs for about a month and brings in … Continue reading “Be Unusual…”
One of the types of shows I really like performing in are variety shows. Where I’m an act working with a lot of other acts of all different skills. I’m very fortunate that in Seattle we have the Moisture Festival. This is a variety arts festival that runs for about a month and brings in acts from around the world.
Here’s last night’s line up:
Frequently I’m asked by performers to “get them into the festival” as an act. I tell them they have to get themselves into the festival, I can’t do it for them. What I mean by that is that they need to go out and put the work in on their act.
Any producer of a variety show doesn’t want to deal with duplicate material. If you do standard stuff in the standard way, it’s hard for a producer to put you in an show with another act of the same skill.
Once you start having something unique, or at least unusual now it’s much easier to get into better variety shows. A couple times a year I write out my set list and next to each routine I put a “C”, a “U”, or an “O”. Here’s what they mean:
C: Common – so the trick is a common trick. An example of this would be Linking Rings
U: Unusual – The trick is less common. An example of this would be a trick you found buried in a book no one remembers. Unusual tricks can become common, so this designation may change.
O: Original – The trick is an original routine. A good example of this would be my marshmallow card trick.
The long term goal with this is to have a show that is all U’s and O’s. How you get there is by knowing where the C’s are and trying to eliminate them.
