February 2025 – Page 2 – MagicShow.Tips

Original (?) Packet Trick

If you follow me on TikTok, you know I’m into vintage magic tricks and really into old packet tricks. I’ve wanted to come up with an original Emerson and West style packet trick with full story patter. I didn’t want to come up with a variation of something that already existed.

The other day I threw some cards into my backpack and with my time between gigs I came up with this:

@louiefoxx A Car Buying story with Cards! #cardtrick #carbuying #magic #magictrick #sedan #sportscar #carsalesman #story #magician ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

This is actually the second version of the story. The first version is more personal to me and my story, where the one above is more generic. I think this is fairly close to the Emerson and West style, it’s got all the mini effects and the pun/kicker ending.

The handling sequence just worked itself out. It was too easy, so I’m assuming someone has to have come up with it before, but it’s original to me.

This was a lot of fun to work out!
-Louie

Wireless HDMI

Thanksgiving was a few months ago, but I want to say that I’m thankful for this this thing to come into my life!

It’s a wireless HDMI system. This allows me to not have to run a cord from my camera onstage to where ever their HDMI input is. I’ve used it a lot since I got it and I just upgraded it. Before it had to be plugged into power, but I bought the batteries for it, so now I don’t need a power outlet. My video is pretty much 100% self contained now, I just have the output wires from the camera to the wireless HDMI. It’s soo much more mobile now and setting up so soo quick!

-Louie

Packet Tricks with Money by Larry West

Recently I’ve been playing with packet trick techniques using money instead of cards. I discovered this set of lecture notes by Larry West that has two trick using bills like cards for a packet trick style effect.

The two tricks is the lecture notes are very similar, in fact they are the same effect, but with different methods. One uses a gaffed bill and the other doesn’t. I think that one of the reasons that money packet trick magic isn’t really a thing is because to make any gaffed bills, like a one dollar bill with a ten on the backside might be crossing the line with what’s legal or not. Also the cost to put them out as you’d have to add the cost of the bills to the trick.

Anyway, here are the two money tricks from Larry West’s lecture notes:

@louiefoxx Cheating the con man! #magictrick #magic #money #conman #counting #math #magiciam #vintagemagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

@louiefoxx Hustling the Hustler! #magictrick #money #magic #moneymagic #hustle #con #vintagemagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

I’m not sure which version is better.

-Louie

The Moisture Festival Podcast – Rosemary Le

On this episode we welcome Rosemary Le. Rosemary discusses her upbringing and how her need for movement led her to ariel. We discuss her Ph.d, her life in academia and learn about her work with some pretty cutting edge experiments.

We throw some hard questions at her thoughts on learning and even throw some business proposals her way. She talks about her desire to take a break from the corporate world to explore the performing arts. A wonderful conversation with an extremely smart and talented person

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Applause Please 2: The Encore

Another batch of Applause Please 2: The Encore will be ready soon! This is the prop that I use for the object in light bulb effect. Traditionally this effect uses a lamp onstage, but I’ve changed that lamp to an applause sign!

I don’t have these in stock all the time as the outer applause box I don’t make, Phil over at Ackerly Builds currently makes them for me. That means that I get them in batches of about a dozen and those are then all gimmicked at the same time and offered for sale at the same time and usually sell out pretty quickly.

The current batch of Applause Please 2: The Encore can be preordered at:
https://www.magicshow.tips/applause-please-2-the-encore/
The estimated ship date is March 3rd, 2025.

-Louie

Working With Cool People!

One of the challenges working as a magician is that it can be a very solitary experience. You travel alone and frequently perform alone. The other night I got to work with Brian Ledbetter, who I’ve known for years. It was great to BS in the green room.

In my off seaon (not summer) I’m usually working by myself, so this was a nice change. Gigs with friends are the best and I look forward to them!

-Louie

Tinkertopia!!!

One of my favorite stores is in Tacoma, WA, it’s called Tinkertopia. It’s a reclaimed material store that resells this stuff for art.

They have soo much cool stuff, and I always find things that I can use as a part of a magic prop or for some other project.

One of the things that I found were some hinged plastic circles. You can see them on the counter in the above picture. They are 4 segments that are hinged to make circles. I’m thinking I’m going to use them for something similar to the hinged ruler figures that magicians used to do.

The challenge with a store like this is that once they sell out of something, you many never find it again. They had these hinged circles in three colors, so I bought two of each color for a total of six of them. I’m kinda regretting not buying them out of all of them, I have a strange feeling I’ll either need more for whatever idea I come up with, or I’ll fall in with whatever my idea is and want to make a backup and I won’t be able to find more.

Then there’s the possibility that I don’t come up with anything I like with them and end up throwing them away. That’s the gamble.

-Louie

Getting to the Gig in the Winter!

In Seattle when it snows, the whole city shuts down. It’s due to the hills and that Seattle doesn’t get much snow, so there’s a lot less infrastructure to deal with it. The other night I had a gig in downtown Seattle and there was snow in the forecast. This gig was for a national convention, which means most of the people attending were from out of town and staying at the hotel where the convention was being held. That meant if it snowed, the event was still going to happen.

For me, the solution was to get a hotel walking distance from the gig, that was if it snowed I would still be able to make it to the gig. Sure the room cost me money out of my pocket, but I looked at it as insurance to protect the much larger paycheck.

The gig went well and it didn’t snow, but I enjoyed the 6 minute walk to the venue!

When I was in my early 20’s and working a lot of comedy rooms on the road, we did whatever it took to make the gig happen. That’s when I started travelling with emergency things like a microphone, so the gig would happen no matter if the sound guy showed up or whatever.

Many magicians are cheap and wouldn’t invest in the room and then complain that they had to cancel the gig because they got snowed out. I’m not saying you should throw away money on unnecessary things, but I am saying sometimes the insurance is worth it!

-Louie

Am I a Roving Mentalist?

An upcoming roving gig I have wanted a mentalist, not a magician for their event. The agent who contacted me about it knows what I do in my show very well and asked if I could do it. My stage show has many mentalism things in it that just aren’t really presented as mentalism and my roving is the same.

I said “yes” to the gig, but need to reframe what I do a little bit to put it into the context the client wants. The material that I’m planning on taking out with me:

ACAAN – I published an old version of what I do in a linking ring from 15 or so years ago
Spoon/fork bending – I published this as The Perceptive Bend in Vanish Magazine around April 2019
Paint Swatch Matching – I published this as Pick Our Rooms Paint in Vanish Magazine in I think July 2024
Color Block Prediction – This uses a small block with different colors on it and it uses up to three different methods throughout the routine. One of the methods is original to me, the other two are based on marketed items.
Number prediction – This is basically Acidus Novus for the method and a follow up to the color block trick
Pet’s Name Divination – This is my routine using Peeked by Joel Dickinson. Peeked is a really clever effect/method to gain information on a card in the context of a divination type routine.

That’s the roving set and it’s way more material than I’ll need for two 45 minute sets for 400 people. I think that I’ll do two different sets for each time I’m out. That will solve the problem of people mixing with other groups and having seen something before.

-Louie

Mentalist: Uri Gator!

Never pass up an interesting photo! Last week I was doing roving magic at an event and they had an reptile attraction at it. In my roving set I was doing spoon bending and did it for the people running the reptile exhibit.

I had them put the spoon in the alligator’s foot like it was the mentalist and it ended up being a fun picture!

Stuff like this is good social media content, but also something that the event loved and they used the picture!

Always be on the lookout for things like this!

-Louie