Pictures – Page 126 – MagicShow.Tips

Making the best…

A couple of days ago I wrote about seeing an amazing act perform under horrible conditions (you can read it here). Yesterday I was performing at a festival and I got to be a good act performing with not so idea conditions. I’m not one to complain, as I’m honestly grateful for any gig and do my best to make it work.

The gig yesterday had a raised stage, which is good. Unfortunately the stage was only about 6 inches high, so it didn’t offer the same visual advantage as a 12 or 18 inch stage would have.

The ground that the audience sat on sloped downward away from the stage, so any advantage from the short stage was quickly lost. The picture was taken with my camera held at eye level from about the 8th row. You’ll notice that you can only see one performer on the stage, in reality there were six people! They were a Taiko Drum act, a they have some very large props, however you’ll also notice you can’t see them in the picture.

The stage also had to metal poles that block sight lines and a barricade in front of the stage. The metal pole and barricade are more psychological barriers for the audience. However there were four giant pillars in the middle of the audience blocking the sight lines, which were actual barriers.

How do you make this work?

There are some things you can’t control, like the big pillars or the sloping ground. The first thing I did was move the barrier from in front of the stage. Now there’s one less thing between me and the audience. Then I did a lot of my standing on the stool that I keep in my car for situations like this. It makes the show much more visible. These two things made a huge difference in how the show was received.

You can complain about situations, or you can do you best to make them the best they can be!

Amazing Package!

Unique acts are something that I always love seeing. They can be good, bad, or whatever, if it’s something I’ve never seen before, I’m in! Earlier this week I performed with the Marshall Shore the Hip Historian. He does an act based on Arizona’s history, and it’s run like a game show. His show has … Continue reading “Amazing Package!”

Unique acts are something that I always love seeing. They can be good, bad, or whatever, if it’s something I’ve never seen before, I’m in! Earlier this week I performed with the Marshall Shore the Hip Historian. He does an act based on Arizona’s history, and it’s run like a game show.
His show has amazing “curb appeal”. The look of the show looks fun and exciting.

Let’s start with his costume. He wears boots with the Arizona flag on them, and his jacket also has the Arizona flag on the back of it. He’s looks like a cool version of Colonel Sanders. One of his props is a chicken bucket with his face in place of the Colonel’s face.

His show is a game show where people try to be the first to correctly answer Arizona trivia. I think this is something that could be expanded into a much bigger show. He could use some video elements, and different types of games, not just head to head trivia. This is something that would play really well in a hipster bar or black box theater. I also think this is something that if he packaged it right, he could get a ton of bookings in middle and high schools!

The Whole World Isn’t a Stage…

Variety shows are a blast to perform in, and whenever possible I try to be in them. Earlier this week I was in a show in Phoenix and got to work with a physical comedian, a hula hooper, a sideshow clown and a historian! What I love about these shows is how diverse the range … Continue reading “The Whole World Isn’t a Stage…”

One thing that I’m hyper aware of is when you’re not performing on a raised stage. Anything that happens below the armpit disappears for people beyond the second row. I’m aware of this because years ago when I used to do cups and balls in my show I noticed everyone that wasn’t in front having trouble seeing.

In the variety show the majority of the hula hooper’s first set was done with her on the floor, or lower to the ground. Her act was good, but not visible to the whole audience. Sure, artistically doing stuff on the floor makes sense, however moving it up higher in general will make it play better and bigger! This is why juggler’s build larger crowds than a magician, and usually end on something high up like a unicycle.

Magic Crackers…

During the three hour drive from the airport to the hotel, I started thinking about the card trick using crackers. I think it’s going to be more than a “card trick” with crackers. It’s going to a magic trick with crackers. Here’s how I’m thinking it’s going to flow: Someone picks a cracker and signs … Continue reading “Magic Crackers…”

During the three hour drive from the airport to the hotel, I started thinking about the card trick using crackers. I think it’s going to be more than a “card trick” with crackers. It’s going to a magic trick with crackers.

Here’s how I’m thinking it’s going to flow:

Someone picks a cracker and signs it. The signed cracker is mixed with the other crackers into a bowl. The crackers are flung into the air, you reach out and grab a cracker in your fist! When you open your hand it’s just crumbs. An envelope is opened and inside is a cracker…with the wrong name on it. You put the cracker in your hand, and say you’ll make it disappear. You reach into your pocket for some “magic dust” which the audience thinks is the cracker you just put into your hand that you are crunching up. When you open your hand, the cracker is still there, but it’s now got the correct signature on it!

This routine above has a few twists and turns into it. I think if I started doing this, it would change a bit with doing it. The one huge downfall of t he routine would be how messy it is. This is easily fixed with a drop cloth.

Just Do It!

One thing that drives me nuts is when people talk about performing for money and they say, “I don’t leave the house for less that $XXX”. They are missing a ton of great chances to be in some cool shows with cool people.

Next week I’m performing at Valley Variety in Phoenix. When I originally got the gig I was going to be in the area, however now I’m basically flying in for it, so I’m doing it at a financial loss. I didn’t cancel the gig because it’s fun show with some acts that I’m interested in seeing.

There are a ton of amazing shows that people can perform in. Sure most of them don’t pay very much, but you get network with other great performers. Also typically you are doing an act, not a whole show, so it’s a great chance to work on new material.

Finally An Answer…

Sometimes I get an idea that pops into my head, but is hard to try out. A while ago I had an idea for a trick that happens over video chat. The effect is that you mail someone a new deck of cards and a note for them to video chat you. You have them shuffle the deck of cards, they remove one card and you tell them what it is. This can be repeated multiple times, and they can keep the deck and examine it all they want.

The idea for this was sparked when I saw someone selling The Dream Deck by John Cornelius. I don’t think it’s a huge secret that is uses a deck that’s marked so that it can be read through a red filter.

The biggest problem with trying out this idea is that the style of marked deck is very expensive. For me it didn’t make financial sense to spend that much on an idea I’ll probably never do.

Then yesterday I was at the Magic Castle swap meet and someone had The Dream Deck for sale and I got it for cheap! I’m happy to report that you can read the marks over video chat…sort of. The whole trick hinges on the quality of the cameras and connection. You need a high resolution camera and connection that will give you a high def streaming image.

I’m glad I got an answer to my idea, and I’m pretty excited about it. I just ordered a marking kit to work on furthering this idea…

Building a Better Mouse Trap…

One of my current projects is a utility device for magic. I had a version that worked for me, then I sent out some to other magicians and am learning that not everyone works like I work. That means that I need tweaking the design further than how I’d do it.

That led me to a challenge this week. I hit a roadblock that I didn’t think I’d be able to overcome. I kept thinking about it, and it hit me yesterday while driving, “a mouse trap”! I needed a spring, and the spring in a mousetrap was almost exactly what I needed.

I bought a mousetrap took it apart and it worked perfectly! The next challenge was figuring out how to integrate that spring into the prop. I sat down at the computer and this is what I came up with:

The picture above was used in the first version of the big redesign. In less than 18 hours I’m on design number four and it’s all little things I’m tweaking to make it more efficient and elegant! We’ll see what today has in store for redesigning…

Character Mash Up…

Right now I’m reading the book Be More Funny by Christoper T. Magician. When it arrived, I was amazed at how thick of a book it is, most comedy magic books aren’t nearly this heavy. Currently I’m about a hundred pages into it and am liking it! One of the things he says in the … Continue reading “Character Mash Up…”

One of the things he says in the beginning is to find a character, you take two things and put them together. Essentially it’s magician plus something else, so basically a charcater mash up. Once you have that angle everything else starts to get easier.

This got me thinking a little bit about character and one thing that has grown in my performing persona is travelling. I talk a lot more about travelling, so what if my performing character was magician PLUS travel show host? I already talk about many of my adventures in my preshow, and it’s part of the hook in many of my routines, so why not dig deeper?

Travel is something I’m personally very passionate about…I love finding strange things in off the beaten path places. For example a couple weeks ago I was performing in Menlo, WA, and that town has a pioneer buried there under very interesting circumstances. That person is Willie Keil, also known as the “Pickled Pioneer“. Essentially his body was moved cross country in a coffin filled with wiskey to preserve it.

When I travel for shows, I always find things like this and am surprised at how many locals are unaware of it. In my shows try to write little jokes about them. After I told the story about Willie, the joke went:

“Do you know what they call a modern day person that crosses the country full of whiskey? A Delta Airline Pilot!”

It’s great that this book made me realize that this is something that my character on stage has grown into, and I’m going to explore it a little bit more and start seeing what turns up!

Get Them Invested…

For the last seven days I’ve been performing at a fair that’s about an hour from my house. That means I was able to drive to the fair instead of flying and that allowed me to bring some bigger props. One of the bigger things that I brought was my flea circus. The biggest challenge … Continue reading “Get Them Invested…”

The biggest challenge I have doing the flea circus as a roving act is there’s a portion of the crowd that I stop that only wants to know if there are real fleas. That’s it, and the second they learn they are real, they will walk. I personally don’t hold this against them, however I goal is to get them invested, so they don’t walk.

What I started doing last week was a much longer talk up to the first actual circus trick. In this talk up I do the Haunted Deck card trick, which is a “demonstration” of a flea training technique. There is no card picked, the flea simply moves the cards. During this talk up, the crowd builds, that anchors in people, so it’s harder for them to leave.

Another thing I’ve been doing is having the crowd say things. This gets them invested into the show, they’ve put energy into the show. Between the talk up and more participation they amount of people that walk once they realize there are no fleas is much less. I’m happy about that!

Unusual Magic…

One of the things that I’m always on the lookout for are quirks that I can exploit for a magic trick. Ideally small things that people don’t notice, or things that they accept and don’t think about. In this month’s Genii Magazine I have a magic trick and it’s based on something small that I … Continue reading “Unusual Magic…”

What happened was a long time ago I noticed that when you take a picture with your phone’s front facing camera, Instagram takes is as a mirror image. That means that any text will appear backwards in the picture. This is a small thing and everyone accepts it and no one thinks about it.

I love tricks that involve manipulating an image on someone else’s cellphone, and this quirk in Instagram is a great thing to exploit. I learned a long time ago that people don’t really look at specific things (other than themselves) in selfie style pictures. If you have something that looks right before the picture and is the same basic shape in the camera’s screen, their brain doesn’t really process it and fills it in with what they expect to see.

The basic principle for using someone else’s camera has three parts. First you show them the object and then switch it for a similar one. Second you take a picture of the switched object. Finally you switch the object back to the original one. To them, nothing has changed, you simply then do your magic and alter the picture. Now go out and do some phone magic!