Louie – Page 244 – MagicShow.Tips

Magic Clubs…

Tonight is my local magic club’s monthly meeting, and I’ll be there. In the USA club attendance is down for pretty much any type of club, not just magic. I think the internet and all of it’s groups have created a sense of community, without ever actually meeting someone.

For me as a kid learning magic, my local magic club helped me out a lot…mostly. It gave me a place to see people who were better than me, and learn from them. I know, you can do it on the internet, however I don’t think the same. Maybe from a technical level, but not a human level.

Magic clubs in retrospect also have given me a lot of bad advice…but so does learning from the internet. I think that’s part of the learning process, learning that some people love to tell you how to do it, when they don’t know. You need to realize who they are and unfortunately you don’t really realize it until you grow beyond them.

Personally I try to go to the magic club because I love magic. I also try to give back to a system that helped me a lot!

From an Idea to a Physical Trick in Under 18 Hours

Last week I was hanging out with some magicians and while we were jamming we stumbled upon an idea. What we were doing with this idea at the restaurant wasn’t very sophisticated, but we got the general idea down.

The next morning I got up and made a quick 3D model of what we wanted the trick to look like. I printed it, and it wasn’t quite right. I banged out a Version 2 and it still needed a little bit of tweaking. Within 18 hours of having the idea, and me sleeping about half of that time, I had an ideal working model!

In their current form, they look like a Tenyo Magic product and the next step will be to have them made in metal.

Being able to produce these in a physical form tells me a lot about the idea and how it will actually work. Versus it basically dying in a notebook. Knowing how to use a 3D printer is a game changer for magicians!

Close Up Music?

Recently I was talking to a magician who wanted to use music in a close up set. Lots of magicians have done this. It’s usually done in more formal close up or really a small parlor show and not in a roving magic context. For me one of the early example of this was Jean … Continue reading “Close Up Music?”

More recently this has gained popularity with Shin Lim’s performances on America’s Got Talent. One thing about Shin’s performance is that it’s really not a “Close Up” act, it’s a parlor act and I think a lot of magicians don’t realize that because it feels more intimate on TV. I’m not saying it can’t be done close up, but it’s bigger than most close up.

Back to using music in close up. One of the great things about close up is that you can quickly and easily connect with people, and with music you are staring out with a wall. It’s a “I’m the performer, you are the audience” scenario. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it does make it harder to connect.

Personally I prefer a “we’re in this together” vibe to my show. That is easier to accomplish by talking with people. However, that’s just me, and if we all did everything the same way, the world would be boring.

I’m pretty sure I’ve written about his before, and I’ll say it again, we live in an amazing time to be magicians. You can watch videos of old master magicians perform, or the new upcoming magicians on YouTube. You can stream a magic lecture from your favorite magician without leaving your couch.

While all of this is great, I also thing an important part of being a good magician is “jamming” with other magicians. Not just demonstrating tricks, but playing with magic. When you play and start “riffing” with tricks, some amazing stuff happens!

Go out to your local magic club, meet some people and start jamming, you never know when you’ll stumble upon the next big magic trick!

Yesterday I had a guy come up to me after a show and tell me how much he loved magic. This is great! He was telling me about how he loves watching magic on TV, and how sleight of hand is his favorite to watch, he especially loved Shin Lim on America’s Got Talent.

Then things got a bit interesting. He told me how he loved David Blaine, and remembers actually seeing him do street magic in Seattle. He told me about how he saw him levitate four feet off the ground and reach his arm through a window of a store!

The only problem is that I’m betting he didn’t actually see that. Those were things that happened on the TV show, not in real life. The way the guy told me, I believe that he remembers seeing those things happen. He very well may have run into David Blaine in Seattle who showed him a couple of tricks, but not reaching through a window.

It’s great that a magician connected with this guy and put amazing memories into his head. We all do this on some level, audiences memories tend to forget things, or remember them wrong over time. Many magicians use this to their advantages. Look into what you currently do and see what you can do to make the memory even more amazing than the real thing!

Go With The Flow

Recently I was performing a close up gig for a bunch of teenagers and a great group. When I finished they thought I as the best magician in the world (I’m not). What made me 200% more amazing than I normally am was that I wasn’t afraid to go off script.

This was one of the shows where everything that could go right, did! What I mean by that, is I do a “coin under watch” routine. I load the coin really early in the routine. It’s risky, as it has a lot of time to be discovered or fall out. Well, about halfway through the trick one of the kids says, “make it appear under his watch” and points to the guy who I had the loaded watch.

A miracle was about to happen.

When things like this pop up, I can’t get excited and immediately make it happen. I need to make it look difficult for me to do. I laughed it off telling the kid that it would be amazing, but I’m not that good. Got slightly deeper into the routine, and then made it appear under the guys watch. The kids when crazy!

The entire set I did for these kids, they would request things to happen that I already had set up. To them it must have felt like I could do anything, to me it felt like the audience was psychic!

Small But Mighty…

Yesterday I did a gig that was for only about 15 people, so it was a large close up show or a small platform show. One of the things with shows like this, is that it often lacks the formal feeling of a formal show. People can get chatty with you and I tend to be a little less formal with them.

With this many people, it’s easy to connect with them, and for them to connect with each other. I can spend a bit more time with someone if something interesting is happening. I’m still doing my show, but I feel it’s easier to play a lot more.

When performing for a bigger group, playing can be more difficult if it’s verbal. The audience can’t hear the person, so you either need to mic them or repeat what they are saying. I’m all for playing, however sometimes, it’s just not as practical as thers.

Getting It Out Of Your System…

There are ton of magic tricks, or ideas that have been in my head for years. I haven’t done them, or built them because I know they won’t fit my performing style, or because I don’t have a method that’s any good. Every now and then I try to make these tricks happen at least once to get them out of my brain.

One trick that had been in my head forever was doing a Multiplying Billiard Ball routine. Eventually I put together a routine and did it on a tour of over 90 shows. By the end of the tour the routine was really good, however I also decided that I don’t want to do that trick in my main show.

Then there are times when I begrudgingly put together a routine simply to get an idea out of my head and I end up liking the trick. A good example is my version of the “tossed out deck”. I hate the trick, however ended up coming up with a good routine and method that’s staying in my show.

If you have an idea, make it a reality, even if it’s a bad one. It will make you a better magician and performer…or at least clear up room in your brain for a new idea!

Creative Side Hustle

One way to keep creativity fresh is to be creative in more than just the field that’s your job. Lots of magicians in addition to magic also do things like painting, photography, or music. Having another outlet for your creativity allows you to continually flex your creative muscle. One of the creative things that I … Continue reading “Creative Side Hustle”

One way to keep creativity fresh is to be creative in more than just the field that’s your job. Lots of magicians in addition to magic also do things like painting, photography, or music. Having another outlet for your creativity allows you to continually flex your creative muscle.

One of the creative things that I do is run a podcast called The Odd and Offbeat Podcast. In this podcast a buddy and I talk about strange news stories and joke about them.

The fun thing about this podcast is that it’s a weekly podcast, so I have to keep up on reading the news and writing jokes about things that I read. It also keep me sharper with my ad libs as we riff on each other’s jokes.

If you don’t already have a creative hobby, go out and find one!

Desired Reactions…

Recently I worked with an act at a family show that didn’t really have a clue as to how to perform for kids. His idea of a good routine for kids involves them screaming. By screaming, I mean that he told them to scream as loud as they could. It was basically 7 minutes of kids yelling and rolling on the ground. Luckily his act was after mine, so I didn’t have to deal with the aftermath.

The screaming didn’t have any theatrical purpose, other than to make kids scream. There was no reason, like it made the magic happen, it was basically, “hey kids scream and do it whenever you want”. It really gives mixed messages to the kids in the audience for how to behave for the next act.

Some people may defend the performers, saying something like, “if the kids had fun, that’s all that matters”, but that’s wrong. It’s wrong thinking because it there were more than just kids in the audience. There were adults and the adults weren’t happy with it. Essentially the performer rolled back the clock on all of the audience training that this particular audience had gotten over the years. It hurts the venue in the long run, I wouldn’t take my kid back to that.

TLDR: Mindless yelling isn’t a desired reaction from kids.