Last night I got home from another booking conference and saw some amazing acts!
One of the helpful things about going to these conferences and seeing all the other acts showcase is that you kinda know where you are in the pack. You can gauge whether you’re a top tier act, or whatever.
It’s also inspiring to see people do their best 15 minutes of material! I totally recommend checking one of these out if you get a chance, even if it’s just to watch acts!
-Louie
Last week I performed at a comedy club in Wisconsin. I reached out to my opener and offered to trade him something from where I live for something local to the him. He said yes, and here’s what we swapped:
I brought him a couple of bags of Tim’s Cascade chips which are a pacific northwest thing and they make strange flavors and he brought me a couple types of cheese curds from Wisconsin!
If you’re travelling and have a local opener, reach out to them and offer and exchange, it’s a fun ice breaker, but it also get’s you the good version of the local thing!
-Louie
I recently aquired a new vanishing birdcage!
There’s a couple of interesting things about this vanishing bird cage. The big thing is that the corners are upside down, the wires are on the inside of the cage and not on the outside.
The corners also feel longer than they need to be, and it turns out that’s a characteristics of YIMKA vanishing birdcages. All of the pictures of them that I’ve now seen have longer corners than most cages.
After a chat with Doug Edwards who is the Vanishing Birdcage guy, it appears that YIMKA made cages with the corners upside down and the standard way. YIMKA also stamped his cages, but not all of them. The cage I have is unstamped, but based on what I’ve learned, I’d say my new cage is probably a YIMKA!
One of the fun things for me is the detective work and figuring out what I’ve just bought!
-Louie
Since I make a Take Up Reel, I’ve become a pseudo expert about reels in general. One of the challenges with reel is that because they can be expensive, it’s hard to know if one is right for you. Today I’m going to show you how to make a simple locking reel. This reel isn’t something that I would use for a show, it has a big flaw, but it’s something you could use as a “proof of concept” to know if you should invest in a better quality locking reel.
Step one: Buy a reel that you can unscrew. This will typically be a “key reel” and not a “badge reel”.
Step two: unscrew it and take it apart.
Step three: Drill a hole in the cover of it and holes on the spindle that match up with the reel.
Step Four: Reassemble the reel.
Step Five: Bend a paperclip to make the “lock”
Step Six: Tape the paper clip in place
Step Seven: Put sponge under the paper clip
Step Eight: Test it!
The design flaw with this reel is the paper clip. Ideally you want a spring steel, however since this is a proof of concept reel, and not something you should use in a show the sponge under the paper clip will work.
There you go, it’s a locking reel that you can make for under about $15!
-Louie
When the travelling Oddities and Curiosities Expo was in town I popped by to check it out. I’ve performed at the expo in the past, and swung by to say hi to some friends.
It was great to see the Three Legged Dog Sideshow do their thing!
Magicians can learn a lot by watching sideshow acts. It’s a very similar build through routines. A magician has to show the box is empty before you can make something appear, and a sword swallower has to show the sword is real before they swallow it.
You really should check out the Oddities and Curiosities Expo when it’s passing through your town, you can learn a lot!
-Louie
Last week I went to a booking conference to work on filling up my summer schedule. One of the things that that happens besides a trade show where different acts have booths are showcases. The showcase is one of the best ways to schedule work as you can actually show potential bookers what you actually do!
This one had some awesome acts!
Depending on the rules where you’re showcasing, your showcase set can be between 10-20 minutes, with most being about 15 minutes.
My showcase at this conference was with my crank organ.
Honestly, I was super nervous. The organ is newer to me and I don’t know it inside and out like I do my show. With my magic show almost everything that could possibly go wrong has gone wrong. That means I know how to deal with problems if they occur in my magic show. With the organ I’m positive that there’s a lot that can go wrong that I haven’t encountered. And of course problems tend to appear when there’s a lot riding on that show. Luckily nothing went wrong and I had a good showcase set!
I personally think that going to showcases is one of the best ways to book work. You can book a lot of work in a short amount of time. Most industries have some sort of showcase.
-Louie
I hate the saying that “everything has been done before” when talking about creating magic tricks. A few years ago when Watch This, which is a card to watch came out that was sort of a “new” thing!
I just stumbled across this trick from 1910 that’s basically the same trick! It’s Card to Baby!
It’s basically the same thing, but instead of a watch, it’s a freaking baby!!!!
I guess there really isn’t anything new under the sun!
-Louie
A couple of weeks ago I popped by the Portland SAM magic club. It was their close up contest night! There were three contestants that all did card tricks, and all with very different styles!
Then after the contest we saw some magic by Gaeton from France and a demonstration of the Vampire Block Escape!
The Vampire Block Escape is a trick I’ve seen on shelves of magic shops, but had never seen any actually do the trick. This particular one was homemade and probably 60 years old!!! The trick looked great and while the style of prop isn’t modern, the trick is still great!
I’m a huge fan of magic clubs and if you aren’t popping into your local magic club, you should. Contribute to your local magic community.
-Louie
A while ago I bought a couple of vanishing birdcages and one of them turned out to be a vintage Owen vanishing birdcage. Unfortunately this cage had a bad corner joint.
I sent it up to my birdcage guy in Canada and he fixed the corner and gave it a quick polish and it looks fantastic and works great!
I’m glad I took a gamble on this cage, it’s a great addition to my collection and a good example of an older Owen vanishing birdcage!
-Louie
About a month ago I started selling The Bodega Coin tray. This is the classic multiplying coin tray magic prop, but with new clothes. It’s designed to look like the “need a penny” tray on the counter of a corner store.
The problem with the classic version is there’s really no reason to hold a handful of coins on an ornate wooden tray or a shiny chrome one.
Since I released it I’ve gotten a ton of cool feed back. Doc Dixon gave it a shout out in his newsletter
Doc’s newsletter is great with a lot of solid advice, you can subscribe here.
These are getting out there in the world, and it makes me happy!
I’m glad I put this magic prop out there into the world as soo many people who were aware of the Multiplying Coin Tray, but never did it are playing with it now!
-Louie
PS: You can get The Bodega Coin Tray here!
