Pictures – Page 86 – MagicShow.Tips

Modern Kid Show…

Recently I was performing on the East Coast and had a great time watching John Swomley perform his show for a room full of kids and their families at an arts festival. What I really liked about the show is that it wasn’t based on “look don’t see” type of tricks, where the kids scream … Continue reading “Modern Kid Show…”

Recently I was performing on the East Coast and had a great time watching John Swomley perform his show for a room full of kids and their families at an arts festival.

What I really liked about the show is that it wasn’t based on “look don’t see” type of tricks, where the kids scream and get out of control. That’s one of the things that I don’t like about most kid shows, they are living in the 1980’s where screaming is considered a good reaction.

His show had the kids laughing, not screaming. All of the magic was good, and it makes me happy to see someone doing kids magic correctly! There’s an old saying for kids performers, “It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey.” What that means is how you get to the end of the trick is more important that the trick.

I totally disagree.

The trick has to be good. If the trick isn’t good, then the journey isn’t worth it. For example, if you drive to Disneyland, have a fun and exciting drive, pull into the parking lot, then turn around and go home without ever entering the parks, its’ a bad trip. Same with a kid show the trick has to be good. John’s tricks were good, and the journey was fun.

You may recognize John’s name, he makes a microphone holder called the Gim Crack:

This mic holder is awesome. Personally I don’t use a handheld mic often, but I always have a handheld mic nearby in case something goes wrong with my headset mic. I also always have a Gim-Crack within reach for when I have to use the handheld mic. It’s saved many shows! If you don’t have one, you need to have one in your case!

TLDR: Do a good kid show, and buy a Gim-Crack

Ideas Become Reality…

I’ve been keeping notebooks for idea for magic since I was a teenager. Most of the ideas from the early ones are horrible, but every now and then I’ll flip through them and find something interesting. About 10 years ago I had an idea for a trick, but it was missing something that would make it functional.

I was running at the gym and notice something triggered an “ah-ha moment” that made the idea work. When I got home, I created the two parts on my 3D printer and printed them up. Here’s one of them in the CAD Program:

And here’s the other one that’s printed out:

Now that I have these two pieces, I’ve assembled the trick and am happy to report that the trick works!

The sad news is that in the 10 years since I had the idea my performing style has changed a lot and this really doesn’t fit how I perform. However it’s been in my head for so long, I’m going to keep developing it at home and try to figure out a way to make it work.

TLDR: Always keep an eye out for solutions to a problem

Unusual Challenges…

If you are a professional performer, you will run it to all sorts of unanticipated challenge in your career. For 10 days this month I’m performing at the airport in Seattle. One of the unusual challenges is getting my props past security, and since I’m there to 10 days, being able to do any repairs … Continue reading “Unusual Challenges…”

If you are a professional performer, you will run it to all sorts of unanticipated challenge in your career. For 10 days this month I’m performing at the airport in Seattle.

One of the unusual challenges is getting my props past security, and since I’m there to 10 days, being able to do any repairs on the spot. The big challenge is that I can’t really bring tools or anything sharp past the security check points…and all of my props needed to be approved and cleared by security.

Once my gear goes past security, it lives there for the whole run. That means I can’t use any of the props for shows outside of the airport. That was an important consideration when pitching what material I was going to do. If my main show was stuck at the airport, I’d need a back up set of props to use. I do have a back up set of my main show (mostly), and it has come in handy many times.

Be ready and most importantly, be flexible with the challenges that come with performing in different venues!

I Practice With Good Tools…

A couple of nights ago I was hanging out with a couple of magicians and one of them asked if the rumor about Bicycle Cards that are sold are Costco was true. If you don’t know, the rumor is that the Bicycle Cards there are “seconds” and not as good as ones you’d buy elsewhere. … Continue reading “I Practice With Good Tools…”

I think that the cards at Costco are the same ones you’d get elsewhere. I also think that Bicycle’s standard card has become junk over the last 15 or so years. I use them, but I only use them at gigs because a deck of cards at a gig lasts me about an hour. After an hour the deck is missing so many cards it’s not usable.

After a Bicycle deck is broken in, I don’t think they handle well. So personally I buy higher quality cards for my own non-show use. I find that I practice more frequently using better decks of cards. Here’s the current deck I’m using:

I know that 90% of the “higher quality” cards are printed at the USPCC, however I’m pretty sure they are not printed on the standard stock. Having better tools that last longer gets me to practice more. I’m learning moves I’ll never use, but it sure is fun!

Be Self Sustaining…

I love tricks that have unusual visuals. Here’s one of my favorite “novelty” card tricks that I do: The problem with it is the recent batch of gimmicks that have come in have had a very short lifespan compared to the ones I was using a year or two ago. I bought a bunch … Continue reading “Be Self Sustaining…”

I love tricks that have unusual visuals. Here’s one of my favorite “novelty” card tricks that I do:

The problem with it is the recent batch of gimmicks that have come in have had a very short lifespan compared to the ones I was using a year or two ago. I bought a bunch of them over a year ago and down to my last one. I have a feeling that the glue that was used had degraded over time and that’s why they gimmicks aren’t lasting as long.

Luckily I know how to make this style of gimmicked card. I started playing with them when I was a teenager when I got the book Gaffed to the Hilt. If you’ve never made your own gaff cards, the DVD Gimmicked by Andost is a great resource.

I have some time today and am going to make up some of the cards for the hole punch trick. The main reason I’m making instead of buying is simple, I have one left and they’ve been lasting me 1-2 shows, I won’t have time to order more and have them by when I’d need them.

Making my own makes me be able to operate without being a slave to shipping times. I’d still rather order them than make them myself, however that’s not an option if I want to do the trick at my gig today and tomorrow.

The moral of the story is that if you are going to have a prop that you use a lot of, have a back up, or if it’s like this card that has a limited life buy a bunch of back ups. Better yet learn to make and repair them!

Louie

Ambitious Card…

A couple weeks I performed at Wonderground in Las Vegas. This is a monthly magic/variety show put on by Jeff McBride. It’s a very fun show and if you get the chance, I highly recommend doing it! The one thing that stresses me out about this show is the close up, I’m fine with … Continue reading “Ambitious Card…”

A couple weeks I performed at Wonderground in Las Vegas. This is a monthly magic/variety show put on by Jeff McBride. It’s a very fun show and if you get the chance, I highly recommend doing it!

The one thing that stresses me out about this show is the close up, I’m fine with the stage show. It stresses me out because there aren’t a lot of original plots in my close up set, sure I have my own twists on things, but at it’s core it’s Ambitious Card.

About a week before I performed at Wondgeround I was visiting with Nick Lewin and we chatted about the close up stressing me out.

My concern was that the Ambitious Card was too common of a trick for the audience there. Not all of the audience there are magicians, however they are magic fans, so they’ve seen it. Nick commented that it’s the “greatest card trick” and I agree…that’s why it’s so common. The plot is simple and when done right it’s impossible!

I ended up doing a trick where someone feeds me marshmallows. It played well!

Personally I think there is one trick when done correctly that might be better than the Ambitious Card, and that is Any Card at Any Number. It’s got a simple plot:

Name a card, name a number, count down to that number and the card is there.

The problem with ACAAN is that is gets mucked up when people try to make it easier. They limit selections or use convoluted processes to make the trick work. Also what I think most of people who do this for a non-magician audience misses is repeating it. You need to do it twice.

So that’s my thoughts on the best and close second for card tricks.

Play Around…

When I’m out performing mingling magic (aka roving close up) I frequently throw something into my pocket that’s not part of my normal set. It could be a full trick, gimmick, prop, or whatever. A couple of nights ago I put a pair of blank dice in my pocket. Years ago I published a … Continue reading “Play Around…”

When I’m out performing mingling magic (aka roving close up) I frequently throw something into my pocket that’s not part of my normal set. It could be a full trick, gimmick, prop, or whatever.

A couple of nights ago I put a pair of blank dice in my pocket. Years ago I published a trick with blank dice in the Linking Ring Magazine. Basically the gist of it was someone selected a card. They rolled the blank dice, told you the number they rolled, and you dealt down the number they rolled. The selected card was at the number. This is based on an Eddie Fields trick that uses a name.

Here’s video from the first table I did it at the other night…it’s been years since I did the trick:

After I did the trick in the video above, I realized it needed another phase. For the next phase I added this trick that’s part of my normal card set, but using the “rolled” numbers instead of any number:

Now I’ve got a little routine…but it needed an ending. So I’m ending it with a third phase where they shuffle the cards, roll again and deal down to that number. This time the card is not there. It’s folded up in my wallet.

I like that in this routine, each time the card is found it’s in a different state. First it’s face down, next it’s face up and finally it’s folded up. By the end of the night it went from OK to pretty good!

So the moral of the story is don’t be afraid to play around!

Louie

Not Everything Has To Make Money…

One thing that drives me nuts is when performers in online groups say things like, “I won’t get out of bed for less that $500…”. That’s fine, you can have a price that you won’t work for less than, however you are missing out on a lot of opportunities. What I mean by “opportunities” … Continue reading “Not Everything Has To Make Money…”

What I mean by “opportunities” is chances to perform in cool shows that have a lot more value than a paycheck. Here’s an example, last year and this year I’m performing at the Southern Sideshow Hootenanny in New Orleans. This is a festival of sideshow performers and variety acts from around the world.

All of the acts are getting paid the same, and many of their rates are thousands of dollars for a single show…yet they are working for a fraction of their normal rate.

Why?

Easy, this is part of something bigger than a one off paycheck. They are building their brand within their industry AND networking. I’ve made a lot of great connections with people at festivals like this which have yielded more money than I would have made if I got my normal fee for that show.

Then for me the greatest value is to work with great acts! There’s an old saying, “you are the sum of the 4 people you are around the most”. What that means is if you hang out with people that aren’t good performers, you’re going to have a hard time getting good. However if you hang out with people that are amazing performers, it will elevate you and push you to be better.

These festivals are great chances to meet and become friends with amazing artists! Go out and apply to a festival and up your game as a performer!

Louie

Go See Shows!

One thing that’s important to me is to support magic, and variety performers. Whether it’s a local or nationally touring show, I always try to go out and watch. I do this for a couple of reasons, first of all when I was a kid it was a pain to go see shows. I had to hop a bus and travel all day to see a show at a library, or sneak into a casino to see an act. Now it’s much easier, but that struggle to see shows when I was younger placed value on these shows.

Another reason is to support the performing scene. When I go to shows it does it in several ways. First my ticket helps support the performer. Secondly and more importantly the other performers (especially newer performers) see me at these and we can chat and it builds some community.

It can be hard when you are a newer magician to get into the “circles” of people that have more experience. When I go to these shows I get to chat with them one on one. Now I’m not saying chatting with me is a big deal (it’s not, trust me), but for someone just starting out it give me a chance to get to know them.

The other night Penn & Teller were in town performing. My family went out and we hung out with a lot of the local performers, it was a great night and a lot of fun. Not just the show, but the fellowship with the other performers.

Louie

The Stroller Test

I was at a showcase last week for performers trying to get booked. I watched all of the magicians showcase (that I was aware of) and while I had a crappy showcase spot, I pulled a bigger crowd then all of the ones that I saw. Why? They all had long presentations, where … Continue reading “The Stroller Test”

Why?

They all had long presentations, where mine while they can be long, have jokes in them. In addition to that what I selected to use in my showcase all had big unique visuals. This comes down to what I call the “stroller test”.

How the stroller test works is you have to imagine mom pushing a stroller down the walkway with a kid or two. Would she stop at your show. You have say 50 feet to catch her attention and get her to sit down. If she’s travelling at around 1 foot a second, you’ve got about a minute to catch her attention.

If you are standing up there talking about poetry for five minutes before the trick happens, you aren’t going to grab her. If you are standing up there talking and have a joke every 45 seconds, you have a much better chance of getting her attention. If you have a joke every 45 seconds AND an interesting visual you will have an even better chance of getting her attention.