Free Comedy Seminar…

On February 27th I’ll be joining Nick Lewin and Fielding West to chat about comedy magic.

This is FREE to people who are on Nick Lewin’s mailing list. You can get on it at www.lewinenterprises.com

I’m very excited to this, if we do as half good of a job as Richard Lake and Nick Lewin did for their Making Virtual Shows Magic talk, it will be amazing!

A Magic Sophie’s Choice…

Well I just had a realization that kinda sucks. It just hit me that the Coins to Glass that I’ve been working on and my CeeLo trick are essentially the same trick. Three objects disappear one at a time and reappear under a cup. Sure, both routines had different textures, one the objects visually appear and the other has the two jumbo loads, but they are the same trick.

Now here’s the choice I have to make. Do I try to separate them within the show, or use one as an “A” Show and the other as a “B” show routine.

I’m thinking about trying to put some time between them. If you think about it, I’ve seen several jugglers essentially do the same routine with different props. They do balls, then rings, then clubs, but it’s the same format. Three, then four, then five and maybe seven. It’s really the same trick with a different prop.

Honestly, if they are 10-15 mins apart in the show, I don’t think anyone will notice. However, it’s probably good for me to do one or the other and not both. I can replace one or them with something else I’m working on.

Holy Grail of Props…

For years I’ve wanted a Himber Pail. I think it’s one of the coolest props. If you don’t know what it is, here’s a video:

I’ve missed them at auctions due to internet or time issues on multiple occasions. The prop has been just out of my reach for years. Recently Stevens Magic Emporium had some made and I jumped at the chance to get one.

Here’s the problem, I don’t know what I’m going to do with it. How am I going to frame it from a presentation stand point. I could just play some music and do it, but I think it needs more than that. Once I figure out the hook, everything else gets easier.

Hand Shadow Puppets!

Today I’m doing a workshop on Shadowgraphy for the KAX convention. Here’s my act condensed down to 10 seconds:

If shadowgraphy is something you’re thinking of learning, you can get the special cap I use on my flashlight along with a video of the workshop from KAX for $20. You can order them here:

http://www.magicshow.tips/shadowgraphy-light-cap/

Should You…

Not too long ago I was chatting with a magician who mentioned they were still doing in person shows. I’m not judging them on that, sometimes you’ve gotta do what you gotta do to pay the bills. They mentioned they were doing sponge balls at kids shows and the kids had no problems holding them in their hands, and this is what I have an issue with.

First of all, I’m betting they aren’t cleaning the sponge balls. That’s a problem, besides any COVID transmission, there’s tons of other germs on them…they’re sponge, germs love them.

Next, kids will hold anything you tell them to. You’re the adult, they’ll just do it in most instances. So kids being willing to hold them doesn’t really mean much.

Finally, just because you can…should you? Is the health risk worth it for a dopey magic trick?

Here’s how I see it, we’ve had over 10 months to figure out other magic we can do where people don’t hold a prop in their hands. Why are we still doing sponge balls? Don’t give me the, “they get a reaction“, because so does kicking someone in the nuts. Very few people have taken sponge balls beyond the effect and made it into something that moves the plot forward.

Let’s try to innovate and move forward and not live in the past.

Pedal to the Metal!

In an effort to streamline things for my virtual show, I picked up some foot pedals. Each pedal acts as a button that you can program to do a specific task.

The first thing I did was something that Richard Lake mentioned in the talk he did with Nick Lewin and made them up and down arrows. I then went through my show in OBS and made a scene for everything, so my show basically went straight down. It was a pain to do, but useful if I’m doing the show without a producer.

Normally I have a producer in the room running my OBS scenes, so I changed the foot pedals to activate a camera shot. So I have my general, tight, and close up that I can control with my feet. I’m really liking having the control of the cameras with my feet.

KAX this week

The KAX virtual convention starts tonight, and it’s not too late to register. They’ve got some great presenters and performers. On Friday I’ll be teaching a workshop on Shadowgraphy, swing by!

KAX is a conference for family performers of all sorts. Even if you’re not a family performer, you should check it out. There’s always things you can learn from other performers.

Bottle Vanish…

Last night I was cleaning out my phone and found a video of an idea. It’s an interesting idea, however one that I’d probably never use, but might be good for an instagram video.

I’d have to play with it a little bit more to get the ditch cleaned up…but honestly it doesn’t really fascinate me enough to put the time in for a 20 second video.

Even More Table Work…

I feel like I’ve put a lot of work into the table I’m using for virtual shows. I think it’s really made a difference in the flow of the show. It’s soo much more efficient use of space than how I was previously doing it.

Here’s one view of the shelf:

And here’s the shelf rotated 180 degrees:

The nice thing with having holders is that I can look down and immediately know if something isn’t there as it’s holder will be empty. There are two wild cards as far as set up goes, the rest of the props can stay set up all the time. Those are the Gypsy Yarn and the silk in apple/peach. Both of those routines I set up on the day of the show.

You’ll also notice some redundancies, like each trick that uses a pen has it’s own pen. This is because I don’t want to be searching around for a pen, and it makes sure I have a back up pen if one dries out.

The Moisture Festival Podcast – The Luminous Pariah

In this episode the multifaceted performer, Luminous Pariah, joins us in the studio. Lumi explains the art of Burlesque and how stories and comedy play an integral role in Burlesque. We learn about the transition Lumi made from a whale watching tour guide in Alaska to a world renowned burlesque entertainer.

The Luminous Pariah

Lumi also talks about getting involved in the Moisture Festival and how that led to being one of the producers for the Moisture Festival’s Burlesque Week. A great interview with a lot of laughs, great insights and a nice dose of awesomeness.