Tricks – Page 61 – MagicShow.Tips

The Long Walk…

Last week the fair I was at had a very long walk from the audience to the stage. This made bringing someone up from the audience a bit of a speed bump in the show. The general format in my magic show is every other trick has someone from the audience onstage. Figuring out how to deal with the time that it takes to bring someone onstage was a challenge.

The first thing to fill the time was simply writing jokes to address the issue and fill the dead space. I wrote lines like, “The walk to the stage is longer than the line at the DMV“.

One of the emergency props that I have in my case is a thumb tip with a silk. I can do a solid 5 minute routine with that that’s full of laughs. That routine uses two people from the audience.

Obviously, bringing two people onstage wasn’t he solution to the long walk to the stage, but the silk was. I started simply vanish the silk while the person walked to the stage. It filled the dead space, but needed more. Then during my morning writing I came up with the idea of doing silk in balloon. That gave some sort of a payout to the vanishing silk. However, the breakthrough was the next day during my morning writing I had the idea of silk in selected balloon.

I had a line of balloons tied to string from my case to the microphone stand. The silk vanishes while they are coming onto the stage. Then a balloon is selected and when popped the silk appears inside that balloon.

What I ended up with is a routine for when there is a long walk to the stage (or any show), but not a solution to fill that time for existing routines that I do.

I’m not disappointed that I didn’t come up with a solution for the long walk, as a routine that fills the stage and packs very small is still a win!

-Louie

Make it Memorable!

When I do TV spots, I try do more than just a magic trick, I try to make it a moment that’s memorable. Sure you can do sponge balls and it’s fine, however I try to do things that are fun.

Here’s an example from a media spot a few weeks ago where I’m doing the Three Shell Game:

@louiefoxx News Reporter Hustled with Classic Con Game! #reporter #game #gambling #congame #cantwin #pushups #shellgame #hustle #newsreporter #louiefoxx #sleightofhand #payyourdebts #magic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

It’s not always possible to do more memorable or fun spots due to time, or other circumstances. However, when I get a chance to do a little bit of planning, I try to do something fun!

-Louie

Garbage Article on the Vanishing Cage

I’m a nerd when it comes to the vanishing birdcage and the other day I came across an article that was written to promote a magic kit website, so not intended for magicians. This article I’m guessing was written for SEO purposes. What struck me is that I’m 99% sure that this article was written by Chat GPT or something similar. It’s not written how anyone really writes.

Here’s the article:

Today, we delve into the realm of illusion again to explore a classic trick that has mesmerized audiences for decades — the Vanishing Bird Cage. Prepare to be amazed as we unravel the secrets behind this awe-inspiring illusion that never fails to leave spectators spellbound.

The vanishing bird cage magic trick is a masterful illusion that creates the illusion of a live bird disappearing in the blink of an eye and this trick has its roots in the rich history of magic, and its execution requires a combination of skill, precision, and showmanship. It has long been a favorite among both amateur and professional magicians alike.

A magician walks on stage, holding an ornate bird cage with a vibrant bird perched inside. Our cage is displayed to the audience, allowing everyone to see the bird inside. With a flick of the wrist or the utterance of a magical incantation, the bird and the cage appear to vanish into thin air, leaving spectators shocked and eager for an explanation.

While the Vanishing Bird Cage appears pure magic, it is a meticulously choreographed illusion. The cage itself is specially designed with hidden compartments and clever mechanisms. Or concealed elements allow the magician to manipulate the cage, giving the illusion that the bird has vanished.

Timing and misdirection play crucial roles in the success of the trick. The magician’s movements, gestures, and patter divert the audience’s attention from the cage itself, allowing them to precisely execute the necessary sleight of hand. The magician’s showmanship keeps the audience engaged and captivated throughout the trick.

Performing the vanishing bird cage trick requires significant practice and dedication and magicians spend hours perfecting their technique, ensuring their movements are seamless and natural. Mastery of the illusion requires understanding the cage’s mechanics and the ability to perform the trick smoothly without arousing suspicion.

The Vanishing Bird Cage trick is a testament to the power of magic to captivate and astonish audiences. Whether performed on stage or up close, this illusion has a timeless quality that continues to enthrall spectators of all ages. It serves as a reminder that magic is not merely about tricks but about creating moments of wonder and enchantment.

Conclusion:

The Vanishing Bird Cage trick is a classic illusion that has stood the test of time. Its allure lies in the combination of artistry, skill, and showmanship to execute it successfully.

The article is factually inaccurate. What’s interesting about the vanishing birdcage is there are a couple of styles of it, the handheld style and the bigger style that sits on a table. And I’m pretty sure the AI that wrote that article can’t tell the difference between the two.

My advice is learn to write. If you’re trying to publish something for SEO purposes, you could do a better job and put more keywords into the article.

-Louie

Anverdi Color Match…UGH!

Well, I had the Anverdi Color Match fail at every show yesterday, and one show all five of the pens didn’t work! The show where they didn’t work, I got a constant 5 buzz on the receiver. I’m lucky that I have an out for this trick that I can use as the method and can instantly switch to my out as the main method in an instant.

That really saved my butt!!!

That also inspired me to actually put the second set of transmitters into one set of pens.

In my hotel room right now they are working at about the same time. As is, they don’t trigger at the exact same time, like a promystic set does, they’re a little bit off. I think I need to designate a primary receiver and if I’m not happy with what that is sending me or need to verify it, then I pay attention to the second one.

We’ll see how this works…

-Louie

Using Time Wisely!

When I’m out performing at fairs in the summer, I can have a lot of down time in between shows. I try to be productive during those times. Last week I bought a ton of clocks and spent some time between shows gimmicking them!

I ended up being a photo opp for all the other performers as it looked like I had a little sweat shop going!

Using that bonus time I have during the day frees me up later in the day to do other things!

-Louie

Getting Better With Anverdi Color Match

Well, it looks like a few things are starting to come together with using the Anverdi Color Match! The last few days I’ve had 100% success rate with all the pens giving me a signal.

One of the things that I have changed is what I tell the person from the audience to get them to exaggerate their initial motion with the pen. I tell the to, “Take a pen, hold it up and show it to the audience“. That seems to get them to make a larger motion that’s more reliably triggering the pen.

I do need to rewatch the instructional video, I seem to remember seeing something about the receiver being able to tell you if a pen is low on batteries. I could be remembering wrong, but hope that’s a feature that exists!

-Louie

Always Talk After the Show

Whenever possible I try to chat with people after the show. There are some performers who disappear when they finish, and sometimes you have to do that because of time or whatever. As a general rule, I will chat with anyone after the show.

In the past I’ve met an old lady who was at the theater that Blackstone Sr had to evacuate because there was a fire next door. I’ve met numerous famous magician’s families and once I met an old gambler who taught me the basics of the tabled faro shuffle!

Last week I ran into Gene Haaheim, who is an old school pitchman!

I’d run into Gene before, about two years ago in California. We had a great time chatting about pitching Svengali decks!

Always chat after the show!

-Louie

Anverdi Success Rate…

The Anverdi Color Match set is something I’m still trying to make work. I’m still at about 70% failure rate, where at least one pen doesn’t send a signal. This isn’t the end of the world, as I can still figure out what they colored where, but definitely not the ideal situation.

There seems to be no consistency as to when color fails. If it was only one color failing, that’s not a huge deal as I can make an educated guess. Right now I can’t, as it seems pretty random.

In an attempt to make this work, I bought a second Anverdi Color Match set. The idea will be to put two sets of the gimmicks into each pen. I probably can’t use the pens that come with the set, however I bought a refill pen set to see if I can alter the ink cartridge a little bit to make room for a second gimmick.

Having some redundancy will give me some piece of mind…if it works!

-Louie

Vanishing Bird Cage on the News

Here’s one of the short media spots that I recently did. For the short spot, I decided to do the vanishing bird cage.

@louiefoxx Parakeet Trick on the News! #birdtricks #parakeet #birdcage #magictrick #kgw8 #magician #washingtoncountyfair #bigfairfun #louiefoxx #disappear #drewcarney ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The nice thing about this trick is that it’s really visual, and doesn’t require really any explanation. For something like a pick a card type trick, there’s a lot of explanation and process that needs to happen before the magic. With these news spots, they say you have a minute or whatever, but in reality you may have a lot less!

-Louie

Doing Media

Frequently I have to perform for news or morning shows to promote my shows at public gigs. They can be challenging. The last fair I was at they had me do two morning news shows at the same time! I didn’t know about the second one until I got on site at 6am!

One of the things that makes these challenging is that you don’t know how much material you’re doing until you’re there. I ended up doing 3 three minute bits and 4 one minute bits. While that doesn’t sound like a lot of material, it all had to be different and something that I could wrap up at any point due to time.

The thing with doing media that’s not is a studio is that you don’t know how you’re doing timewise. A bit could run long…or a producer could cut your bit short and you don’t know until you’re cut short in the middle of the routine!

When I do media, I like to do the routine for the host off camera so they know what’s going to happen. That way they know whether they need to cue me to wrap up, or if I’m already close to the end. That little bit of pre-planning makes a huge difference!

-Louie