Pictures – Page 20 – MagicShow.Tips

The Stand Up Chop Cup

In the October issue of Vanish Magazine I’m teaching the Stand Up Chop Cup routine that I’ve been doing this summer. I wrote about this routine a little bit ago, it was created with rules.

Those rules were pretty simple:

1: No table: I don’t work behind a table, and didn’t want to add one just for a chop cup. Also, when on a raised stage, it can created a visibility issue for people seated on the floor below you.

2: No openly going to the pockets (or case): I think that if you constantly go to your pockets or prop case, it’s not hard for the audience to backtrack where the large production item came from. Sure they may not know how you got it there, but they know where it came from.

3: No one from the audience onstage: The chop cup really doesn’t need a spectator onstage…especially if their only job is to let you use their hands as a table. It’s a lot of dead time to bring someone on and off stage, and most chop cup routines don’t justify that.

Oh, I guess I should mention that this is a platform/stage routine and not a close up routine. I wanted to be able to do this as a solo piece onstage and the reason that I created it was there wasn’t anything that fit all three of those rules.

If this is something that appeals to you, check out the October 2025 issue of Vanish Magazine!

-Louie

Portland Society of American Magicians Meeting

Last week, I was able to attend the Society of American Magicians meeting in Portland, OR. It was their Most Entertaining Card Trick contest night.

It started with John doing a prediction that played like an invisible deck, but was a very different method!

Michael did a version of Fly Cards, where cards with pictures of flies moved around and ended with the pictures of the flies being smashed.

Vinod did a routine where the cards were shuffled by a spectator and they colors ended up separating into piles of red and black cards.

Jin did a do as I do routine where at the end he and a spectator both selected the same card!

Mel is a card trick with 3 piles of cards where a selected card jumped from pile to pile!

And the final contestant Larry did a trick where aces turned to jokers and back to aces!

The winner by popular vote was Jin!

It was fun to see all the different styles of performing card tricks!

-Louie

Being Forced to Slow Down…

One of my bad habits is that I talk too fast. I do this on and off stage, but I’m really trying to correct it onstage. A while ago I started a run of shows with a cold. This was a longer run of 10 days and I was already there when I noticed I was getting sick. I did my best to not socialize off stage with the other acts and switched the show to one that really has no contact with the audience.

One thing I immediately noticed was that I slowed my rate of speech a lot. I’m guessing this was due to my breathing being different with a cold. I also noticed that all the jokes were hitting harder. I was giving people just a little bit more time to process the set ups and punchlines.

I need to keep up talking slower, but when it’s my natural way of speaking it’s a challenge. I’m working hard on keeping it slow…

-Louie

Travelling with your Magic Show

When I travel with my magic show, I put colorful zip ties on my show case. The reason is that when I pick up my cases at baggage claim, if my zip ties aren’t on the case, then I know I need to check them.

Recently I flew and when I got my bags my zip ties had been replaced and inside my case was the TSA letter.

This tells me that when I get to the hotel I need to do inventory on my show to make sure that everything made it back into the case.

In the past I’ve had my checked baggage screened by TSA and the forgot to put my two table tops back into my case! It was an ordeal tracking them down and getting them back.

Knowing something is missing before I start setting up the show is a huge help!

-Louie

Perform at the Moisture Festival in Seattle!

The Moisture Festival is of the largest variety arts festivals in the world and happens in Seattle, WA. They just opened applications to perform at the festival.

The festival runs 4 weeks and performers are typically booked for one week. Each show has about 10 acts and the festival is looking for acts that run about 3-8 minutes long, so not full shows. If you’ve got a great act, you can submit to perform at the festival here: https://airtable.com/appmcVuHJRPUIvGo7/shrtXsES3kpQhJKAt

If you want more information or to see who has performed in the past visit:
https://moisturefestival.org/

-Louie

Handheld Microphone in Magic Shows

Over the summer I found myself gravitating towards a handheld microphone in my shows. Using one gives you a lot more power onstage. Also it’s a nice prop to gesture with.

I can do a lot of my show with one hand, and I need to work on using the mic stand. The challenge with the mic stand is being locked to one place with a thing in front of you. It makes moves like Sylvester Pitch or tricks that use magnets challenging.

For my show I’ve been using Nick Lewin’s Ultimate Microphone holder. I have a ton of these, and were used for emergency situations if my headset mic didn’t work, or I couldn’t plug into the venue’s system. This is an easy way to hang a mic around your neck to allow you to work hands free. While a mic dangling isn’t the best way to get audio, it’s better than no audio.

I just ordered a handheld microphone that’s compatible with my Sennheiser receiver.

-Louie

AI still sucks

A few weeks ago I was on Facebook sharing a post about an event I was performing at. At the bottom of the post was a little prewritten question for Facebook’s AI. The question was “Is Louie Foxx a professional magician?”

Here’s what the answer was:

I find it very interesting that Facebook’s AI couldn’t find any info about me as my Facebook page has my public show schedule on it weekly!

Then the logic of me performing “Magic tricks and comedy” suggests that I’m a local performer doesn’t make any sense. This just another reason why I think AI isn’t quite ready for real life.

-Louie

Vanishing Bird Cage in Real Life!

One of the criticism’s of the Vanishing Bird Cage is that it doesn’t look like any bird cage that exists in the real world. Here’s a bird cage I found at a junk shop:

That’s pretty much what the size and shape of a modern vanishing bird cage. So they do exist in the world!

-Louie

Sharing Offstage Space With Other Acts

A few weeks ago I did a post about working with acts that don’t know or understand backstage etiquette. You can read that post here. In that post I made a graphic about 3 rules to sharing an offstage space with other acts. Well I made that graphic into a reality. I had some cards printed!

These are a great way to passively inform people of how to behave around other people’s gear! If you run into me, I will usually have some one me, if you’d like one, just ask and if I have any, I’ll gladly give you one (or more).

It’s really our job to educate people who don’t know.

-Louie

Snake Basket Magic Trick

I’ve wanted to make a snake basket for a long time. I think it’s from when I was a kid seeing Rich Block demo the Collector’s Workshop Kyber Kobra at a magic convention. This is one of the tricks I could never afford when I was a kid, and I honestly don’t think it’s something I could justify buying now when I can afford it.

As I’m learning to use Arduino, one of the projects that I want to make is a snake basket. I made a post about it here: https://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/making-a-snake-basket/

Well, I wrote some code and made a layout and it works on an Arduino simulator!

The next step is actually building it, but I’m on the road for another week, so it’ll be at least that long before I can work on it. I have a feeling the moving it from the simulator to a real, physical thing will have some unforeseen challenges!

-Louie