In a box of old magic tricks that I came across, there was David Regal’s Off With His Head. This is a packet trick that is essentially B’wave, but with different beats and effects. B’wave is a prediction, with multiple things that prove you committed to the prediction. Off With His Head is a magic trick, where several different effects happen.
In Off With His Head, the effects are: 1: The back of the selected card changes color 2: The faces on the selected king disappear (cut out of the card)
I used this trick as my “trick of the day” at the fair I was performing at.
I wish this trick had a third beat to it, like B’wave does. I guess I could have the card appear face up, or have all the other cards blank. It would give a third beat; however, I’m not sure either would add to the trick.
I’m liking this packet trick and I’ll probably keep doing it until I wear out the cards.
The ad for the trick PADO came across my social media feed, and I have some thoughts on just the ad. I want to be clear, I didn’t buy this, these are just my impressions of the ad for the trick.
First of all, the cover for the ad when it was served to me has the palmed card flashing. Here’s the screenshot of the ad for PADO:
This is a very minor thing, and could have been an auto generated cover that the magic company had no real control over. Alright, here’s the actual demo:
Whenever I see a demo where the table is so black that you can’t tell where it ends and the magician’s black clothes start, this is a trick that uses black art. More than that, it’s also probably (I could be wrong) manipulated with a filter to make the black colors blacker. This is fair game for online content, but not in person performing. Once again, I would love to be wrong about this.
Why is it important to know if it’s black art?
If it is, you can’t do this trick “walkaround” without carrying a special surface to do it on. That severely limits where you can do it. You can’t do it on any tabletop. I guess the term “walkaround” can mean a lot of things, but it’s going to be difficult to do on a picnic table in the park on a sunny day.
Another issue I have is that the website says it’s for “beginners”; however, in the trailer there is a control and mercury fold. To accomplish those, the magician in the video drops his hands below the table, then there’s a camera cut. If they can’t do the sleight of hand deceptively in front of the camera for the demo, then it’s not beginner level (in my opinion).
Personally, I think this would be great for magic that’s filtered through a camera where you can be in control of lighting and the black balance, and not when you’re performing to a group of people in front of you. The magic company is selling something that technically could be done in those scenarios, but it probably won’t be something you can do 100% of the time in those scenarios.
What’s written above is my opinion without seeing the PADO gimmick- just my commentary and opinion on how this is being sold. I would love to be wrong, and I could do this on any surface…and it’s not a recreation of the Brent Braun and Andy Glass gimmick.
In my children’s show, I use a mouth coil as the end of my ball manipulation sequence. I use the mouth coil as a production coil, so I don’t use the double loop ones like the David Cressey Mouth Coils, but the ones that are just a coil of paper. The ones I’ve used for years (decades?) are the Bazar de Magia mouth coils.
Recently I noticed that Murphy’s Magic is now making them called Professional Mouth Coils. I was running low on the ones I normally use, so I decided to give the Murphy’s Magic ones a try.
The coils look the same when coiled up, there is a slight texture difference that I can see. The picture below shows both of them inside of the case:
The main difference is that the Murphy’s ones are made from thinner paper than the Bazar de Magia ones. The Murphy’s are also ten feet longer, but both coils are pretty much the same size.
For me, the uncoiling action of the Bazar de Magia mouth coils works better. When the ball turns into the coil in my routine, I start by pulling on the end one long pull, then let gravity do its thing as my other hand catches it. I don’t let it fall on the floor. The main reason is that if kids are sitting on the floor, anyone not in the front row won’t be able to see the coil as it piles up. I think the Murphy’s mouth coils, being a lighter paper, don’t pull themselves out of the coil as well as the Bazar de Magia ones, which makes my catching hand have to do a lot more pulling initially.
For me, and how I use the mouth coils, the Bazar de Magia ones are the winner! They work better as a production coil in my hand. The Murphy’s mouth coils still work fine, but if I have a choice, I’ll grab the Bazar de Magia ones. If you produce them from your mouth, you may be looking for different characteristics than I am.
-Louie PS: The first half of my ball routine is called Sankey’s Balls and in my lecture notes 2 pack. That part is my version of Balls In Net, which doesn’t use a net. The second half of my routine that uses the mouth coil is unpublished, but basically Percy Abbott’s Perpetual Balls with a couple of surprises thrown in.
