The other day my wife said I should try wearing vests when I perform. I happened to have one from a suit, so I gave it a try at a show:
I’m not totally sold on the idea of wearing a vest when I perform. I think I need something that’s a bit fancier (?) than this one, or one that visually pops a bit more. I think the outfit I tried makes me look like a waiter. Maybe I should add some piping that’s a different color?
Whether or not I continue down the vest path, the important thing is that I tried something new…
On this episode of the Moisture Festival Podcast we welcome in poet Peter Paul Van Camp. Peter tells us about how he got inspired to start writing poetry and how his desire to share it with people led him to move to Canada.
We discuss his love for birds, his short lived tv show and hear some great stories from 50 years in the entertainment industry. A great conversation with one of the more unique acts at the Moisture Festival.
A couple of days I was doing my morning writing and my brain had stalled out and was really having a hard time, then I noticed a cardboard tube on the table. This is a small tube that is in the center of the bags for our dog’s poop.
I’ve spent a couple of days brainstorming ideas with the tube, here’s my favorite:
I like it, the thing I want to change is instead of a wooden dowel inside, I think I want to use a metal rod. Using a metal rod will help with the switch as I can use a magnet as a hold out.
When I was performing at the fair last week and had to deal with a sound system that only had one line in, I managed to make it work. I ended up using the Zoom recorder that I use for podcasts as the mixer. That’s a decent emergency solution, but I’d rather not have that expensive recorder cooking in the sun all day.
I ordered this little audio mixer and it seems to work well so far at home.
It’s not much bigger than two decks of cards and can run off of USB power. It’s got four channels, which is one more than I need. I haven’t tried it in a live show yet, so I don’t know how well it will work in the real world, but I’m hoping it’s a good solution!
I was going through my list of ideas to record for Tik Tok and one of them was going to the park and recording my Tennis Ball to Confetti. That trick wasn’t a priority, until I noticed that today is National Play Tennis Day. Obviously that make the trick a perfect fit for the day!
Years ago Charlie Frye put out a little gimmick that let you spin a poker chip on your finger tip called Frye’s Chips. Here’s the video of it:
It’s a clever little gimmick that does exactly what’s in the video. I always thought it’d be cool to do it with a coin and not a poker chip. However I think the reason he did it with a poker chip is that it’s easier to gimmick a poker chip than a coin.
The idea has been in my head and a couple months ago I was at Hocus-Pocus digging around in some junk magic bins and found the card and coin for the trick Esoteric Kennedy.
Here’s the demo of Esoteric Kennedy:
The coin from that trick should work for the Frye’s Chips trick. Now I need to make the other half of the gimmick to see if it will actually spin on my finger!
In playing with the Esoteric Kennedy props, I thought that the trick really should be done with a dollar bill, as the coin and card really aren’t connected. I moved the gimmick from the card to a dollar bill:
It looks OK on a video, but I’m going to be 100% honest, the trick isn’t good for actual performance…whether it’s the original version with the card, or my version with the bill. The problem with the trick is that everything is gimmicked and nothing can be examined. You could switch out all of the props, do a Bobo Switch for the coin and top change for the card, but is all that work worth the trick?
On this episode we welcome in via zoom the one and only Skilldini (aka Tim Wright). Tim discusses how he stumbled into working at a magic manufacturer, the skills he learned while working with them and how that led to a lifetime of funny stories.
We learn about his time making safety videos for fork lifts and he even gives us a little glimpse into some of his tricks (and safety demo’s.) A fun conversation that will make you laugh.
Yesterday I finished up a batch of Remote Controlled Chattering Teeth! These are on their way out to Hocus-Pocus and you can order them there (I currently don’t have any in stock)!
These are a ton of fun in kid/family shows! The next batch that I’ll be starting next week are all spoken for and I’ve ordered parts for another batch, which will be ready to ship the first week of December (would arrive in time for Christmas…hint, hint).
On this episode of the podcast we welcome in (from Germany) the hilarious Tom Murphy.
We learn about how being a gymnast led to being an acrobatic skier and how the combination of those two led him into physical comedy. Tom tells us about his unlikely friendship with Patrick Dempsey and how that led to a role in one of Matt’s favorite movies. A fun interview across international borders with a moisture festival is great. You are going to love it.
A long time ago I wrote an idea in a notebook, and it’s something I’ll never do, but even those ideas are important to write down. It needs a gimmick that I don’t have and have fallen out of fashion. A few weeks ago I was digging through the bins of broken and incomplete magic at Hocus-Pocus and found the needed gimmick to make the gimmick for my idea!
Here’s the trick (my idea is at the end):
I don’t think anyone has really used a match pull for a reproduction of the match after the vanish in a thumb tip. Usually they are used simply for the production of a lit match, then used to light flash paper/string in a stage manipulation act.
Unfortunately I think this trick is 50 years too late as magic with matches is really out of fashion with there being virtually no venues that allow smoking and with fire getting more and more difficult to insure. Had I thought of this in the 1970’s I would have a sure fire hit!
