Whenever I’m performing at a multi-day event with other variety acts, I try to put together a workshop night. This is where performers try something new, talk about an idea, or do some troubleshooting about a problem. Then we all brainstorm ideas or solutions for them!
These are a great way to get thinking that’s outside your normal box. It’s even better when you have acts that aren’t all magicians, or whatever you are. Everyone brings a different experience and backstory which will give you ideas that you may not have thought of.
Sometimes there are stages that are more challenging to work than other stages. This stage and audience configuration is a good example of that.
First, let’s tackle the obvious: there’s a walkway between the benches and the bleachers. Unfortunately, that’s just how it is, and there’s not really anything you can do about that.
The bigger issue is getting on and off stage; it’s a high stage, so a lot of stairs, and the stairs are off to the side. It’s good that they are on the side; if they were on the front of the stage, the handrails would be a visual distraction. It just takes a lot of time for me or someone from the audience to get on and off stage.
I have a spot in the show, right after my introduction, where I need to hand something to someone in the audience. That’s dead time while I walk on and off stage.
Here’s what I did:
Opening bit, then walk into the audience to give the thing to someone in the audience.
2nd trick happens on the floor in front of the stage.
After the second trick, I bring someone from the audience to the stage with me for the third trick.
For the fourth trick, it happens on the floor in front of the stage. This trick needs access to people so they can hold things at different points.
When the fourth trick is done, I bring someone from the audience back to the stage with me and send them back to their seat when the fifth trick is done.
The final trick happens with me solo onstage.
There are a lot of ways to deal with the “long walk to the stage“, however for this situation, moving my show between the floor and stage worked great; it reduced the dead time a lot. This makes the show feel tighter!
A few weeks ago I got this cool coin box set when I bought a box of vintage magic tricks.
This is a really cool and rare coin box set. I can’t find any reference to it online, aside from a couple of old sites that offered only the instructions.
There’s not one main effect, but several that you can do and a lot of cool moves to switch the boxes!
When a magic prop breaks, what is your plan? I’m not talking about if it breaks during a show, but while you’re on the road traveling. Recently, I got to a gig and was setting up, and the prop wasn’t working. It’s an electronic prop, and if you’ve read this blog, you know that I try to use analog methods whenever possible. However, there are times when an electronic prop is the best way to do it. I’ve planned what to do if they fail during the show.
At the show recently, I was setting up and noticed that I had left my Inception unit on, so it needed to be charged. After charging it, I got this screen:
That’s not good. That’s where my backup plan kicks in. I have a Blackbox Magic Mental Voice in my case. This is my emergency backup unit, as my routine is an 8 minute chunk of my show, so a large part of the show.
I’ve had the Inception since it came out; I was part of the preorder, so I’ve had this for a long time! I sent it back for a repair once because I managed to crack the screen. I have a feeling that it may be time to buy a new unit. This one has served me well for YEARS! I’ve contacted ProMystic’s customer support, so we’ll see what my options are for repair. They do a good job supporting their product after the sale, unlike many magic companies!
One of the things that I try to do when creating magic routines is to think about what they look like. This is important when you perform at places like state and county fairs, where you have a transient audience. Having strong visual hooks that will stop someone that’s walking by is important in that market.
Here’s an example of a visual hook, it’s part of my Body Language Book Test which is in my 2025 PCAM Lecture notes.
In the routine, a guy ends up hitting me in the belly with a tube. It’s a great bit, but more importantly, the routine is visually interesting virtually the whole time!
Three Easy Way To Adding Visual Appeal To Magic Routines
Here are three common, and easy ways to add visuals to magic routines: 1: Props – If you have an interesting prop, that is obviously visually interesting, and of course, the bigger the better! People need to see it from a distance, or they won’t stop. 2: People – More people onstage can create drama. You’ve changed your show from monologue to dialogue. 3: Action – Having motion onstage makes people stop to watch. A bad dance troupe will having an easier time getting a crowd than an amazing stand up comedian.
Ultimately, most things will use more than one of the things above to draw attention.
Also keep in mind that not every single routine needs to be a giant thing, for texture in your show, you should vary things. A great example is Franz Harary in one of his MEGA illusion shows also does silk to egg.
Travelling with show props is a challenge, it’s even more stressful when they’re fragile!
I’m heading out for a gig with my Vintage Organ, and normally, when I fly to the gig, I ship it there, so it travels independently of me. However I have a gig coming up where shipping it ahead isn’t an option, so I have to fly with it.
The first step in flying with anything unusual is to call the airline. Since it’s technically a musical instrument, there are some exceptions to some rules that could apply. After chatting with the airline, none did. I did learn the parameters of what oversize is and the limits to that. This case fits the definition of oversize without exceeding it to a size that I wouldn’t be able to take. I also learned that I needed to put a fragile sticker on each of the six sides of the case.
The other thing that I did was a suggestion from the person at the airline that I talked to. That was put in step by step instructions on how to unpack and repack it if they need to take it out of the foam to screen it.
The other thing that I’ve asked about and haven’t gotten a clear answer about is whether I can be present when it’s screened. I’ve seen that you can request it for a musical instrument, but it’s not guaranteed and not an option at every airport. I won’t know until the day of. I’m writing this post from the airport I’ll be flying out with the case in a couple of weeks, and couldn’t get a clear answer.
One of the things that I do to work on my show is record them. Nothing fancy, just a camera in the back of the room. I have a bad habit of almost forgetting to take my camera, so what I do is put a note in my case that simply says “camera now”.
When I’m packing up and I get to the note, I stop everything and go grab the camera. It’s a simple little thing that has saved me forgetting my camera many, many times!
Not too long ago, I wrote a blog post about how I now consider close-up mats to be a disposable item. I just opened this close up mat and the first group I performed for put two marker dots onto the mat!
Well, instead of getting a week or two out of the close up mat, I got 5 minutes. After that group, I ran back to my gear and opened another brand new close up mat.
The nice thing about close up mats is that traveling with two of them isn’t really a big deal. I probably wouldn’t travel with three; I think two is reasonable. If the second one gets stained, I’ll just have to commit to using that one for the rest of the event.
On Monday I popped by Magic Monday in Seattle. This monthly magic show has been running for over twenty years! The show is currently run by Jim Earnshaw, and it usually features 3-5 magicians each month. Then in August, they do magic show that’s all young magicians performing.
This week it was Jim Earnshaw, Sven “The World’s Tallest Magician”, Monty Reed, Me and Master Payne.
This is a fun show to do because it’s a fun hangout…and because it’s a fun crowd! Here’s a table of magicians in the back watching the show:
Then after the show we go downstairs to pub and hang out.
Whenever I’m in Seattle and this show is happening, I always pop by!
On my trip to the Bay Area a couple weeks ago, I ended up picking up a great vintage magic prop! It was Buried Treasure Bean Box by Arturo. Here’s what the original ads looked like:
And here’s what mine looks like:
This is a prop that I do plan to use in my show. I have an idea for it, so when the opportunity to buy it popped up, I jumped on it!
I really like the idea of the item being buried in beans (or whatever). The problem with this is visually it’s hard for an audience to see what’s going on because you have to see the beans from the top. With a camera, this would work great!
