June 2025 – MagicShow.Tips

Don’t Do It!

Oh man, I remember when you had to have an OK act to get work. Here’s a post from a comedian group:

Apparently all you need to get a gig is a speaker and a car! Notice the listing also has not mention of pay for the spot on the show OR the use of the PA. It does mention that they are looking for a host, so typically that’s 15 minutes. That means the comic who does the gig gets minimal stage time AND has to be the sound tech!

Gigs like these unless they are paying a market rate are a horrible idea. I get showing up for stage time. If you’re starting out, stage time is worth more than the paycheck, but if you’re providing sound, you should be getting paid for that. You’re not going to bet a better sound tech by loading in gear for a comedy show. That’s very bare bones audio set up and if you own sound equipment, you can already do that.

Say no to gigs like this.

-Louie

Starcle Idea…

I’m sure I’m not the first person to think of this idea. The idea is using the Starcle paper tear where you put a single tear into a folded up piece of paper and you get a circle and a star. My idea is to use a deck of ESP cards and force the circle and star and use the paper tear as the reveal.

OK, I just did a quick Google search and it appears that Eric Mead and Doc Eason published that trick 10 months after Harlan published Starcle, so the idea was pretty much immediately thought of!

I’m using the Starcle paper tear in my library show and the idea is to get a little bit more time out of the routine. I have a jumbo ESP deck kicking around the house, so I’m going to go for that prop. I’m not sure what the premise will be for it as right now the routine is a story about someone that I know. It’ll have to change, but not exactly sure how I’ll frame it.

-Louie

Sound Booth

There are a lot of things that can take focus away from a show. One of them is having stuff happening behind the performer. Recently I worked an event that’s really well run and attended, however there’s one small thing that I’d change about the event. The sound booth is set up BEHIND the performing area and there is no backwall on the stage.

That means the sound guys are clearly visible behind the performer.

Even the most engaging show for the audience isn’t the best show to watch from behind. That leaves a situation where the sound guys are behind the stage, but essentially in the performing area. They don’t necessarily look like they’re into the show, sure they’re working, so they shouldn’t be dancing, but it’s just not a good look in pictures.

If you are setting up an event or have the a voice in the set up, move the sound booth to the side of the stage, not behind it!

-Louie

It’s Got the Mustache!

I’m always hunting for vintage magic tricks and recently came across this Gilbert Mysto Magic Set!

The bad news was that it was incomplete and in pretty rough shape.

It was missing a lot of the contents, but it had the mustache!

While the mustache isn’t rare, it’s a frequently missing piece to these kits. This one priced at $199.95 is about double what a complete Gilbert Mysto Magic Set should cost! I didn’t buy this one, but there’s a lot of old magic out there, you just gotta hunt!

-Louie

Magic DVD’s on the road

Sometimes before I go on the road I pick up a couple of magic DVD’s to watch. I have a USB connected DVD player, that I can use to watch these DVD’s on. The silver lining to DVD’s is that they are super cheap right now as everyone is getting rid of them.

This week I took the International Magic Presents: The Jim Cellini Lecture.

This summer I’m working on my street style show, so watching this DVD is helping me learn instead of just watching netflix in the hotel. I’m trying be a good steward of my down time.

-Louie

Unusual Vanishing Bird Cage

Here’s a new addition to my vanishing bird cage collection!

This one has the ends of the large bars pointed instead of square. In theory that is going to hang up less than having the ends square.

This is something that I have thought about, but never did to any of my cages. First of all, not all the corners would need to be pointed, just the ones that are on the leading side of the cage. Next, I think that IF this one did hang up on your sleeve, it would really hang up and wedge the sleeve into it making any possible continued yank up your sleeve much harder.

This is a fun cage variation to add to my collection!

-Louie

Evidence of a magic trick

One trick I’m not a big fan of is bill to orange/lemon/etc. It’s a overdone trick and usually it’s not a surprise to the audience when the bill is in the fruit. A notable exception to this is Nick Lewin’s Lemon Aid routine.

I do a routine that uses a dollar bill, but the dollar isn’t the focus of the trick. It felt like it had a loose end at the finish of the trick. One day I had the idea to make the bill come out of an orange at the end of the trick. What I like about this routine is that the bill doesn’t disappear, so it’s not obvious it’s in the orange immediately when the orange comes into the play.

Then I had to deal with how to give the wet dollar to the person. I found some Evidence bags, and wrote a gag with them.

Now at the end of the routine when I give the signed dollar to the person, I put it in the bag and let them keep it! It’s a fun way to deal with the wet sticky dollar and gets me a couple of laughs!

-Louie

Dynamite In a Small Package by Doc Dixon

A month of so ago I picked up the book Dynamite In a Small Package by Doc Dixon. It’s lived in my backpack since I bought it and I’ve finally read it. It’s a quick read and a GREAT book!

The book covers five card tricks with a regular deck of cards. Each of the card tricks has a different flavor and are distinctly different tricks. The big thing for this is that each of the tricks was designed for the stage and plays bigger than you average card trick.

The book has a script for the tricks, and Doc does a good job of not only teaching the WHY, but how to apply his thinking to other tricks. I’m a fan of Doc’s stuff, the guy is a worker and has been for years and it shows in his marketed magic stuff.

For $35, this book is a great part of your emergency plan for when the airline loses your luggage!

-Louie

The Magic Shop and More!

Last week I was doing a show in Astoria, OR. Whenever I’m in that area I swing by and visit Seth who owns the shop.

It’s really a pitch shop that sells magic tricks to tourists, however they really well stocked with a lot of magic that’s for non-beginners.

When I was there I picked up a Rainbow Deck and a copy of the reprint of the book Mind Myth & Magick by TA Waters. This book when it first came out in the mid 1990’s sold for $60. When I was a teenager working in the magic shop, we had a couple of copies of this book and they took probably a decade to sell. This book wasn’t a hot item at the time. While it is a giant book, $60 was about double what a magic book sold for at that time. Then over the next few decades this book became harder to find with copies selling for over $300! This reprint at $99.95 is a great deal!

The only thing that I don’t like about the book is that I’m taking it on the road with me, and it’s the size of a phone book and I’ll be lugging it around the country in my backpack!

-Louie

Lucky Penny!

After long wait, I finally got some custom made gimmicks for my penny to keychain trick.

These were worth the wait and way better than what I had been using for the trick. Having been in magic and creating magic for a while, I’ve got a network of magic builders that I can reach out to for custom projects.

I had a few of these made, as the cost to make one is pretty high, but getting a dozen isn’t much more. I’m hoping to write up instructions for these and have a few of them for sale soon!

-Louie