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Another Day, Another Shell Game Move

A while ago I posted a picture of some newly acquired three shell games sets for my collection of them. Michael of Wack-O-Magic offered me a set of clear walnut shells he had made, but never figured out a use for. He sent me the only two sets he had made. This isn’t the first … Continue reading “Another Day, Another Shell Game Move”

Posted by Louie Foxx on Tuesday, February 19, 2019

This isn’t the first set of clear shells, I also have a set of La Maggiore Cristallina shells, which are beautiful! I never really used them much as they don’t fit into the routine that I do.

With Michael sending me two sets, one set went into the collection and the other set sat on my desk for me to play with. Here’s what I came up with:

Staring at the shells led me to some out of the box thinking that gave me another unique shell game move! I think Terry Seabrooke mentioned how he creates with a prop on an old VHS tape. He said, he puts the prop somewhere where he’ll see it all the time, a place where he’ll basically trip over it every day. That makes him think about the prop in short chunks all day.

I think Terry’s method is a good one, it makes you think about the prop, but you aren’t sitting at a desk having a staring contest with it. I know I’ve come up with many tricks simply using stuff that’s within eyesight of my desk.

Be Social…

One of the things that I think is important to do with magic is to be social. Hang out with other magicians, see what they are doing and learn from it. When I was starting out, there was no internet, so that’s how new tricks got around, someone learned it in another city and they … Continue reading “Be Social…”

Simply knowing what other magicians in your market are doing is HUGE. Personally, it let’s me know what tricks not to do in my show. It also let’s me know who someone is talking about if they saw a magician can can’t remember their name.

Close Up Music?

Recently I was talking to a magician who wanted to use music in a close up set. Lots of magicians have done this. It’s usually done in more formal close up or really a small parlor show and not in a roving magic context. For me one of the early example of this was Jean … Continue reading “Close Up Music?”

More recently this has gained popularity with Shin Lim’s performances on America’s Got Talent. One thing about Shin’s performance is that it’s really not a “Close Up” act, it’s a parlor act and I think a lot of magicians don’t realize that because it feels more intimate on TV. I’m not saying it can’t be done close up, but it’s bigger than most close up.

Back to using music in close up. One of the great things about close up is that you can quickly and easily connect with people, and with music you are staring out with a wall. It’s a “I’m the performer, you are the audience” scenario. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it does make it harder to connect.

Personally I prefer a “we’re in this together” vibe to my show. That is easier to accomplish by talking with people. However, that’s just me, and if we all did everything the same way, the world would be boring.

I’m pretty sure I’ve written about his before, and I’ll say it again, we live in an amazing time to be magicians. You can watch videos of old master magicians perform, or the new upcoming magicians on YouTube. You can stream a magic lecture from your favorite magician without leaving your couch.

While all of this is great, I also thing an important part of being a good magician is “jamming” with other magicians. Not just demonstrating tricks, but playing with magic. When you play and start “riffing” with tricks, some amazing stuff happens!

Go out to your local magic club, meet some people and start jamming, you never know when you’ll stumble upon the next big magic trick!

Sometimes You Need To Take the Long Road…

Magicians love to take short cuts and be lazy. Here’s an example, I’m doing a trick where loose rubber bands turn into a rubber band ball. The easy way would simply be to do a shuttle pass during a hand to hand transfer. However I had some conditions that I wanted for the trick: 1: The … Continue reading “Sometimes You Need To Take the Long Road…”

Magicians love to take short cuts and be lazy. Here’s an example, I’m doing a trick where loose rubber bands turn into a rubber band ball. The easy way would simply be to do a shuttle pass during a hand to hand transfer. However I had some conditions that I wanted for the trick:

1: The change had to feel like it was a visual change
2: I needed to end with my hands empty
3: The trick needed to be able to happen at anytime in my show
4: The ball had to be able to bounce

The first and second conditions made something simple like a shuttle pass not the solution for me.

Ending clean made things a bit more complicated. An early idea was to use a gimmicked rubber band ball that was similar to a Silk to Ball Gimmick. However making one that could bounce and not look strange is something I have yet to figure out.

Here’s what I ended up coming up with:

What I ended up doing from a “method” standpoint was a lot more complicated than a shuttle pass, but I think it fulfilled my artistic vision better than a shuttle pass would have.

P.S. The method for this will be in an upcoming issue of Vanish Magazine

The Value of a Magic Jam…

Last night I put together an impromptu meet up for magicians and it was a lot of fun. There are a lot of magicians I know that say that they “don’t hang out with magicians“. If you choose to do that, that’s fine, and usually the reason they say they don’t is something stupid like … Continue reading “The Value of a Magic Jam…”

Last night I put together an impromptu meet up for magicians and it was a lot of fun. There are a lot of magicians I know that say that they “don’t hang out with magicians“. If you choose to do that, that’s fine, and usually the reason they say they don’t is something stupid like not wanting their material stolen. I’ve found that 90% of the people who are worried about their material being stolen, are the people who really shouldn’t worry about it.

When you get together with other magicians there is a lot of learning that can happen. It’s the “jamming” aspect of it that’s the greatest value. You see someone do something and you play off of it. Will the majority of stuff that comes out of these every see a real audience? Probably not. Flexing your creative muscles will help you out!

Here’s some video from last night:

Some interesting things happened, and most of all you are building a community of magicians!

Sit or Stand?

Last night I went to my local magic club and during the part where people perform tricks I noticed that some people sat and other people stood. This is a small thing, but an important thing when it comes to actually doing the trick.

If you are sitting when you do the trick, but practice standing, you’ll have a hard time as the range of movements in your arms is limited by the table top. If you practice sitting and perform standing, you upper body will now slouch.

Going from sitting to standing I think it an easier transition to do. However I recommend practicing to perform standing. Here’s why, you are more visible standing, and it’s more versatile. When you aren’t bound by a spot to sit, you can choose where you are going to do your magic trick.

I guess the main advantage sitting gives you is lapping, where if you are going to do that then YES sit. However if you do a more formal show, you should consider a more formal approach and do it standing. A great example of this is Shin Lim’s act:

Everything that would have been done sitting 20 years he’s doing standing and it really plays a lot better.

TLDR: Perform standing, unless you have a very good reason why to do it sitting.

Learning Cardistry…

Many older magicians look down their noses at cardistry because it’s “not a trick”. It’s not really a trick, it’s a type of object manipulation, like contact juggling. Honestly there’s nothing wrong with being able to do a fancy cut or two. In the early days of cardistry I learned to do some fancy cuts, … Continue reading “Learning Cardistry…”

Many older magicians look down their noses at cardistry because it’s “not a trick”. It’s not really a trick, it’s a type of object manipulation, like contact juggling. Honestly there’s nothing wrong with being able to do a fancy cut or two. In the early days of cardistry I learned to do some fancy cuts, but haven’t learned to do any new cuts in 15+ years.

I don’t want to become a dinosaur with my skills, so I’m learning a couple of cuts. Here’s the tutorial for the cuts I’m working on:

Why do I think it’s important to know a couple of fancy cuts? Simple, when I talk to young magicians after shows, they all do them. I want to show them that I do have “modern” skill. The next generation of magicians will all know how to do these.

I think as a magician you need to keep up with the kids and don’t let your skills atrophy.

Your Own Versions…

Many years ago I read that Steve Fearson wanted to create his version of classic magic illusions. A quick Google Search and I managed to find the quote: “About 10 years ago I took it upon myself to reinvent 3 of magic’s greatest stage illusions, adapting them so that they could be performed in a … Continue reading “Your Own Versions…”

Many years ago I read that Steve Fearson wanted to create his version of classic magic illusions. A quick Google Search and I managed to find the quote:

“About 10 years ago I took it upon myself to reinvent 3 of magic’s greatest stage illusions, adapting them so that they could be performed in a close up situation. The three illusions were the levitation of a person, the sawing in half illusion and the vanish.”
– Steve Fearson

That’s a quote that stuck with me for some reason. I’ve worked to create my version of tricks that I like. By my version, it’s a reworking of the trick, not simply a different sequence of events. I’ve marketed several of these tricks and am working on a patent for one of them.

I’m writing up my version of the “floating dollar trick”. My main issue with the classic version of the trick, is that if the gimmick breaks, you are toast, the trick doesn’t work…and the gimmick is super fragile. My version has multiple redundant gimmicks. Here’s a demo of it:

I think me not being happy with things how they are, has led me to some interesting solutions to fixing what I don’t like about many magic tricks. In fact some days that’s my creative exercise, taking tricks I don’t like and trying to make a version of them that I do like.

The moral of this post is to customize your magic to fit you and what you need from your gimmicks!