Pictures – Page 124 – MagicShow.Tips

Ten Card Deal…

I’m very luck that have places to “work out” routines, not a lot of magicians have that. Personally I prefer to work out stuff in a real show over an open mic. With an open mic typcially the audience isn’t invested in the show like they would normally be in a show that they paid a ticket to see.

Last night I hosted a show and as host, not the feature or headline act, I can play a bit more with new stuff. Currently I’m working on a stage version of the 10 Card Poker Deal. It ended well, but was a hot mess up until the ending.

In my stage poker deal, it uses jumbo cards and ends with a prediction. Somehow I wasn’t paying attention and ended up having the wrong prediction after the first deal. Luckily I know a lot of poker deal variations and was able to do a second deal and end up with the prediction that matched the one I had on the table.

This is where it’s important to know more than just the routine you do. Whenever possible I try to have a deeper knowledge of the concept or the trick. Knowing more that just what’s required for the routine bailed me out of the situation last night.

Magic From Non-Magicians…

There are tons of magicians that hate it when people show the magic tricks. Honestly I’m not sure why they’d dislike it. When you watch a trick you are encouraging someone that’s into magic on some level. You are also not being a jerk.

I understand that there’s a common magic trick that people show us and it’s a horrible trick and quite often the person fails to find the card because they don’t practice enough. However you never know when you are going to see something interesting.

Here’s a bartender that saw Chris Beason and I jamming magic tricks and offered to show us a trick:

While the trick was a math based trick, it was something I think I had read as a kid, but had never seen anyone do it. It was an interesting trick and while not the greatest trick in the world, it was worth watching 10 bad tricks to get to one that was fun!

One of the things that I don’t really do is perform as a character. What I mean by character is dressing up like a cowboy and being a “cowboy magician”. Some people perform as a popular movie character, or celebrity.

The main reason I don’t do this is that I can’t character act, and most magicians can’t either. Many think they can, without any acting training, and these are probably the same people that get upset when an actor learns a magic trick and people think that trick is amazing.

Doing a character is more that just a costume. For example here’s someone that performs “as Sponge Bob:

Unfortunately they don’t do a voice, they don’t do the trick that Sponge Bob would do. It’s a guy wearing a cheap outfit doing a normal show. This in my opinion is a cash grab, someone trying to make a buck and not giving a sh!t. I don’t know his life circumstance, maybe he really needs the money, but this is a very short sighted way to get it.

A better way would be to take some acting classes, learn whatever character you are going to be doing, select material that fits it. Here’s a good example of doing it right:

This performer is doing a Captain Jack Sparrow style character, however the costume is correct to the character. It’s not a halloween costume. Also look at the material selection, he’s using swords and it looks like a sword basket in the background. This is a show that makes sense with the character.

If you do a character, do it right. If you care, audiences will care.

Themed Show?

Yesterday I went to Luche Libre Taco Shop in San Diego, CA. This is a Mexican Wrestling themed restuarant. One thing is that they go all out with the theme. It’s not just a picture on the wall, it’s all the pictures on the wall, it’s the graffiitti in the bathroom, it’s the toys in … Continue reading “Themed Show?”

Another place I went a few days ago was Hodads in downtown San Diego. It’s also themed out. It’s a rocker/skater/surfer themed, that had a late 80’s feel to it. Once again it was 100% themed.

These were two of my favorite places we ate at this week. Why? Simple, they were fun. They did the theme right. You felt like you were a part of something.

This got me thinking about people who do themed shows. People use themed props, themed costume, or themed patter, however not many people use all three. Typically you’ll have someone that uses two themed things, but not all three.

I think you need to jump in and do a full on themed show if you are going to do one. This is something that really brings the audience into your world.

Cutting Up Jackpots…

One of the things that blows my mind is when I hear a magician say that they don’t hang out with other magicians or performers. You learn so much from other performers, more that that, there’s the sense of community. You aren’t alone out there doing you art, other people have the same struggles, and successes!

Yesterday there was a fun get together of variety performers. There’s nothing like getting a bunch of us together and swapping stories. In the carney world they call it “cutting up jackpots”. Hanging out with other performers is also good for your soul.

One of the things that makes it helpful is that I’m entering a new market and a lot of these people work this market, so hearing their stories of their experiences really helped me view my struggles in perspective.

Go hang out with other performers!

Three Ball Routine…

After playing some more with the Three Ball Routine, I started to write up a little routine. The routine changed from what I had written yesterday for an ending, however the ending that I wrote make more sense with the routine. I still like the egg idea from yesterday’s post, just not with this routine. … Continue reading “Three Ball Routine…”

Here’s the routine (so far):

“This trick uses three balls, that’s why there are 2 billion chinese. 3 balls, one for each year of high school I completed.

What I love about this trick is how pure of a magic trick it is, no fancy boxes, no dancing girls, no dignity. It’s 91% sleight of hand, 7% my gift of gab, and 2% old school “Magic”

This is probably the most international trick I do. These balls were made in factory in china, but I bought them in shop mexico and the trick is presented by me, who is from…my mother.

One…two…three.

That’s one, two…did you see the third one go? It hasn’t yet. And faster than you even begin to throw money onto the stage, there is it! Don’t reach for your wallet…the moment’s past.
Let’s do it again in spanish.

Tres Bolas. Uno…Dos…Tres
Uno…Dos… .Y No Trace
Let’s try it in chinese. Ee…Ar…San. San goes into the pocket.
Ee..ar…and San.
One more time…Ee..Ar …and sam goes into the pocket. This trick has literally taken around the world…to pull flags out of fist and name countries”

I like the ending with the flags of the nations because it fits with the theme of the routine. Also the flags should play pretty big, and move the action up towards my face. The patter isn’t finished yet, and I need to come up with one more language to do the final count instead of repeating Chinese. I think there’s something in this routine…

Second Thought…

One of the books I brought with me to read while I’m performing on this cruise ship is Seven Thoughts by Sungwon Kim. This is all card magic, and I brought it to give me something to do, and two work on. The second trick is called Swing Cut Aces. Basically you swing cut a … Continue reading “Second Thought…”

When I first tried it, it looked like garbage, I wasn’t even sure how the trick looked “magical”. I kept plugging away and doing it over and over and finally it’s starting to look intentional, not like I accidentally cut to a face up ace. Mechanically, it’s not too difficult, but it needs to be done smoothly.

The key to this was to keep going, and not give up on it until it got smooth(ish). I think if I was on land I would have bailed on this before it got smooth, however at sea I’ve got a ton of time. I’m glad I did put in the time for this. It’s not something that I’ll use in my main card set, but it’s another tool I’ve added to my toolbox of sleight of hand moves with a deck of cards.

Now this has me thinking about all the moves that I’ve read in books that only tried a dozen times and dismissed them a junk. I think that deciding to “learn” a new move or not is a balance. It’s a mix of how much time you, and how useful the move may be in the future.

Old Tyme Music…

Over a decade ago I wrote a book about performing in “senior market”. These are shows at retirement homes, assisted living communities, etc. I don’t really perform in this market anymore, however I am in a couple of Facebook groups for people who do. I’m constantly amazed at how much bad advice is given. The … Continue reading “Old Tyme Music…”

I’m constantly amazed at how much bad advice is given. The one that drives me nuts is when someone will ask what kind of tricks to do for these shows and someone says to use music like Glenn Miller’s In The Mood.or music from the 1940s or 1950s.

Whenever I hear that advice I want to tell them to do the math. Glenn Miller put that song out in 1939, which makes that song 80 years old…but for that song to be relevant in your life, like the music you would have listened to in your teens, you’d be 95-100 years old.

That age range is within the demographic for the senior show, HOWEVER it’s a small slice of the demographic. The average lifespan in the USA is just shy of 80 years old. That means your market for these shows is about 70-95.

Let’s redo the math. It’s currently 2019, we’ll subtract 80 years for the age of the people at the senior gig, that gives us the year 1939. However were going to add 17 years to put the music when they people where in high school and we get 1956. That math means if you want to reach people purely on a musical level, your need to use music that was released in 1956 or later.

A quick Google search and it appears Elvis was king at that point. Remember that year is the bottom rung of the ladder, and we’d be assuming they never listened to music past their 17th birthday. If you fast forward a decade to when these people were 27 years old, you get the Beach Boys, Neil Diamond, the Rolling Stones. Jump forward another decade to when they were 37 and now you’re into Disco.

My point is if you assume senior’s are only into the music that was popular when they were young, you haven’t thought this through. How old are you? Do you only listen to music from when you were 17 years old?

P.S. You can get my book at www.perform4seniors.com

Be Unusual…

One of the types of shows I really like performing in are variety shows. Where I’m an act working with a lot of other acts of all different skills. I’m very fortunate that in Seattle we have the Moisture Festival. This is a variety arts festival that runs for about a month and brings in … Continue reading “Be Unusual…”

Frequently I’m asked by performers to “get them into the festival” as an act. I tell them they have to get themselves into the festival, I can’t do it for them. What I mean by that is that they need to go out and put the work in on their act.

Any producer of a variety show doesn’t want to deal with duplicate material. If you do standard stuff in the standard way, it’s hard for a producer to put you in an show with another act of the same skill.

Once you start having something unique, or at least unusual now it’s much easier to get into better variety shows. A couple times a year I write out my set list and next to each routine I put a “C”, a “U”, or an “O”. Here’s what they mean:

C: Common – so the trick is a common trick. An example of this would be Linking Rings

U: Unusual – The trick is less common. An example of this would be a trick you found buried in a book no one remembers. Unusual tricks can become common, so this designation may change.

O: Original – The trick is an original routine. A good example of this would be my marshmallow card trick.

The long term goal with this is to have a show that is all U’s and O’s. How you get there is by knowing where the C’s are and trying to eliminate them.

There are tricks that I’ve wanted in my show because I like the idea of them. Many of these classic tricks are very briefly in the show as they don’t work with me and how I work. One of these tricks is the Three Ball Routine. I’ve put it in and taken it out of the show probably a dozen times.

Recently a company called The Hands of Magic put out a set of silicone balls for the trick. I just picked up a set, and while I haven’t used them in a show, they work great when I practice with them.

These balls are a bit different from the bouncy balls you’d get at the two store. They less dense and have a bit of give to them. This is helpful when you accidentally drop them, they don’t go as far as super balls.

These balls also have a nice gloss on them, that hopefully won’t wear off. The gloss will make them look a little bit bigger and will make them play a bit bigger than a matte ball.

So far I like these balls and would recommend them…now to find a spot in my show for them.