seth howard – MagicShow.Tips

Always Ask Who They Know!

When I travel I try to pop into the local magic shop and support them. When I was in Astoria, OR recently I swung by The Magic Shop and More and hung out with the owner Seth.

While I was there a couple of people walked in and one guy mentions that when he was a kid his neighbor’s dad was a magician. If you perform for the public, you will frequently hear people tell you that they have relative or a connection to a magician. I always ask who the magician is, and many times they will respond with something like, “they’re from a small town, you’ve never heard of them…“. I would say a lot of the time I have heard of them and most of the time I know or have met that person.

When I asked the guy who the magician was, he said BRUCE CERVON! That was a fun surprise and we got to hear a couple stories about Bruce. You never know who you’ll meet and who they know!

Also while I was there, I picked up the Max Malini book. When you visit a magic shop, support them with a meaningful purchase, not just a deck of cards for three bucks.

-Louie

Support Magic Shops!

When I’m out and about I try to support brick and mortar magic shops. There aren’t that many left and when I’m travelling they can be very helpful when I need to replace a prop or get some strange supply like rough stick.

Last week I visited Market Magic Shop and picked up a hoodie!

Then a couple of days later I was in Astoria Oregon and visited The Magic Shop and More and hung out with Seth Howard.

While I was there I picked up an old, thick stock jumbo invisible deck! I really want it for the thick cards, it doesn’t really matter that it’s roughed on one side as I’m not going to use it for the invisible deck trick.

If we want these magic shops to continue to exist, we need to support them by buying from them. Not just a deck of cards, but actually shopping and making more meaningful purchases.

-Louie

Astoria, OR Magic Shop

A few ago I was in Astoria, OR performing and that small town has a magic shop! It’s called The Magic Shop & More run by Seth Howard.

The Magic Shop and More
Seth Howard magician

It’s a great shop, it’s mostly geared as a “pitch” shop, which makes sense as there’s not really a magic population. That said, he still has things of interest to a more experienced magician and Seth is very knowledgeable. He and also order things in for you to pick up if you know you’ll be in town.

It turns out I was familiar with Seth’s trick Howard’s Hustle and was recently thinking about it, so it was good to chat with him about it. Howard’s Hustle is a two card monte routine that has an ending and begins and ends with showing both sides of the cards. It’s really clever and I have an idea for using the general idea for what Seth’s doing in the trick for a very different routine.

If you’re passing through Astoria, OR you should swing by and say hi. His shop is in the tourist area, so you’ll probably walk by anyway.

-Louie