Here’s a card revelation I found on a hard drive from a January 2024. I’m not sure how I did it.
Here’s what it looks like:
I guess I posted about it here:
https://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/card-production/
It’s kinda cool, I wonder why I stopped playing with it?
-Louie
The magic review site Magic Orthodoxy has a blog about getting started performing magic for people you don’t know. It’s called Talking to Strangers and I was a guest on it!
You can listen to my episode on Spotify at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7nX5NWXTQ2TmoX52uyPjhj
and you can watch it here:
Hope you learn something from my past experiences!
-Louie
A while ago, I made a set of natural shells and then made a silicone mold of them. I used that mold to make a bunch of resin shells for a shell game workshop. One of those resin shells recently got 3d scanned and I’ve started printing them!
These are a great beginner set or set to throw in your backpack to carry around and not beat up a nicer set.
You can find or more or order a set at:
https://www.magicshow.tips/shell-game/
-Louie
This is an idea I had a while ago, and 3d printed it:
This is a three phase mental magic type routine. I read someone’s mind, then they read my mind, then a magic trick happens. I took it to a magic meet up and here’s what the magicians think of it:
Billy McComb, in one of his books, mentions an easy way to create new routines is to combine two tricks. I think his example is a thumb tie and card to wallet. The block trick I came up with combines the Color Vision Block with a super old stage magic trick. I don’t think people are expecting the part that uses the old stage magic effect, and by the time that part is revealed, I’m way ahead of them. Also, people newer into magic may not recognize it as it’s not really used much anymore.
-Louie
The snake basket that I’ve been building is finally starting to take shape! I have a completely functional version of it! Here’s what it looks like:
I’m going to make a small change to the code. I’m going to add a three second delay after the button push for the action to take place. I want to be able to have some physical distance between my hands and body when the actions take place.
-Louie
Last week when I was performing at a comedy club, I had a drop during the Hoop and Cup. When it happened, a kid from the audience said something. Here’s what happened:
When someone says something in the show, I try to lean into it. It’s a real moment and something that makes that show unique. Many magicians would shut the kid down with a hack line like, “I checked, and you don’t have a speaking part in the show,” or whatever. Personally, I hate lines like that, and I think 99% of shows could benefit by embracing real, spontaneous things that happen. Yes, there are times you need to shut it down because it’s going now where, however, you usually should explore it first.
In my collection of old magic stuff, I had a pack of FAKO cards. This is a deck of gaffed cards and novelty cards.
The pack I had was just the cards without the booklet, so I’m not 100% positive as to what tricks the cards do. One of the cards has a big stop sign on it, and here’s what I’ve been doing with it:
It’s just a second deal until they say stop, and then a timing force for the second time. Every time I do it, the person has a great reaction when they see the card!
-Louie
My buddy Glen knows that I love old magic tricks. He brought one to show me in Reno, so here’s The Farmer’s Daughter:
It’s a great little packet trick with a story that’s consistent with the time it was created. Thanks Glen for sharing it with me!
-Louie
There are a lot of misconceptions about performing for seniors at retirement communities. One questionable piece of advice is to use big band music. That kind of music is the music that the parents of the people currently in retirement homes listened to. Simple math will show that if someone is 80 now, that means when they were in their 20s, music like the Rolling Stones was popular.
Here’s the music playing in the dining room at a senior gig. Ignore the piano, that’s a resident playing it at the other end of the room.
When the retirement community doesn’t play music from the resident’s childhood, that should tell you something. The community won’t play music they don’t like.
-Louie
PS You can get my book How To Perform For Seniors at:
https://www.magicshow.tips/how-to-perform-for-seniors-book/
There’s a great little card trick that I think is a George Sands thing and more recently popularized by David Williamson. You and the audience have four cards each. They follow along with you, turning cards over, and you always end up with all your cards facing the same way, and theirs don’t.
The instructions that I learned from said to give them the cards to do the last phase. The problem I had with this is that you’re handing them a packet that secretly has a card reversed. Most of the time, the spectator would expose that reversed card. My solution to this was for me to hold the cards in one hand and they perform the action. That keeps the cards squared, and the secretly reversed card a secret!
Here’s what it looks like:
This is a trick that isn’t part of my normal work, but it’s a fun thing you can do for a group that they all get to do. What I don’t like about it is that the spectator doesn’t “win” and I haven’t figured out a way to make that happen. In David Williamson’s version they do win and it’s great!
-Louie
