MagicShow.Tips – Page 102 – A daily blog about magic by Louie Foxx

Writing a Joke in a Different Language

When I was stage hosting a couple of weeks ago, one of the things that I was asked to do was a contest for the sponsor on the mainstage at the event. One day’s entertainment was geared towards a Spanish speaking audience, and I don’t really speak Spanish, but wanted to try.

I had one of the people on the catering staff who was from Mexico help me translate the beginning of my script.

That’s the opening of the script, but then I needed to figure out how to transition into English. So we wrote a little joke:

That was a great little transition joke, and the first joke I’ve written in another language.

The lady helping write it also helped me with my pronunciation. I think people really appreciate when you make at attempt to communicate with them in their native language.

It was fun to do, and I’m glad I tried!

-Louie

Help the MC Help You!

A couple of weeks ago I was doing some stage hosting. My job was to announce bands and do some time between the bands. One of the bands had a very difficult name Etaoin Shrdlu.

This is intentionally a difficult name, as it’s not someone’s name or something in another language, but and old version of placeholder text, like Lorem Ipsum. I wasn’t given a phonetic pronunciation by the band before time. I had to guess, and found several different ways to pronounce it online.

Here’s tip, if you want your name to be pronounced correctly, go over it with the MC before the show…especially if it’s an intentionally difficult name!

-Louie

Vanishing Line

I really liked Ben Harris‘s book Bend it Like Geller! One little note is that my copy is missing a whole line!

There’s a spot for the line, however it looks like somehow it got deleted/removed during the printing process.

Vanishing Inc’s books recently have had some quality control issues like that. I think I’d care less if it was a self published book, and not something put out by one of the bigger magic companies. The JP Vallerino book also had some issues (http://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/hard-to-read/)

Aside from the missing line, Bend it Like Geller is still a fantastic book!

-Louie

Another Visit to the Magic Garage!

When I was in the Bay Area recently I swung by Magic Garage! It’s soo much fun and Will Chandler is a fantastic host! There are really two parts to the magic garage, there’s the theater and the bar area which is where everyone hangs out and there are two close up tables.

They do shows in the theater, but when I was there one of the magicians was working on their act for a TV appearance. We all watched and gave feedback.

Will has made the Magic Garage more than a hangout, but a valuable resource for magicians!

-Louie

The (W)hole Thing

An idea for a presentation of The (W)hole Thing by Daryl came up in my daily writing a bit ago. I managed to fill out the idea a bit and do some writing. While I was in the Bay Area, I had Joe and Misdirections Magic Shop order me a set of the cards in.

One thing I found interesting was that there’s no mention of Emerson and West in the ad copy for the trick. This is essentially Daryl’s routine for the original trick. I’m guessing this is a Murphy’s Magic copywriting thing, as Daryl was pretty good about crediting things.

Here’s Daryl doing the routine:

For the routine that I want to do, I will need to make some custom cards. For now I’m working out the muscle memory for the routine!

-Louie

The Vanishing Birdcage

Last week at the fair I was performing at, I decided to to carry my vanishing birdcage on my walk from the dressing room to the stage I was on. Whenever anyone asked me about it, I made it disappear!

@louiefoxx Taking my bird out for a walk between shows at the San Mateo County Fair! #sanmateocountyfair #countyfair #sanmateo @SanMateoCountyFair #magic #magician #birdtrick #louiefoxx #magictrick #parakeet ♬ Stolen Dance (Instrumental)

It was a fun thing to go to give fair goers a special moment…and something that made my daily commute to the stage a little more fun!

-Louie

Still Bending It Like Geller

I’m about halfway through Ben Harris‘s book Bend it Like Geller and it’s a fun read. I didn’t know a lot about David Berglas and Uri Gellar‘s meetings and eventual friendship. It’s a fun read, just for the history of spoon bending.

I really liked Richard Busch‘s essay and while I think I got what he was talking about, it might be worth a reread. The Busch Effect as he calls it, got me to add something presentational to my spoon/fork bending.

One of the cool things about performing at a fair while reading this book is that I have a lot of opportunities to play with the techniques and ideas in this book.

On a side note, it’s been years since I’ve really played around with spoon bending and since then, I’ve learned to do the strongman stunt of ripping a deck of cards in half. That has given me some good hand strength and putting the bends into the spoons/forks is way easier than I remember!

-Louie

Show Shopping…

When I fly to gigs there’s always a little bit of a shopping list of things that I need to get for my show.

It is inconvenient to have to try to find these things sometimes, however it’s better than packing them for travel. I can fly with all the thing above, as I only need the matchboxes, not the actual matches. However the boxes can sometimes trigger a search and I want to reduce that chances that someone will go through my gear.

The things like the paper plates and the wipes are just dead weight and nothing specialized. I’d rather simply buy them when I arrive than have them make my bags overweight.

One thing I don’t do is ask the booker to provide these and there’s a simple reason why I don’t. That’s because just because you ask for something specific doesn’t mean you’ll get exactly what you need. For example the bananas need to be yellow, so that they open easily. If they provide me a banana that’s too green it makes the trick not play as well as it’s a struggle to open it.

It adds a bit of time to my day, but for me totally worth it!

-Louie

The Moisture Festival Podcast – Louie Foxx

On this weeks episode due to a last minute cancellation of a guest, Moisture Festival cohost Louie Foxx steps in to be interviewed!

We learn about his beginnings performing on the street, how he got a robot onto America’s Got Talent and all of Louie’s varied skills. This is a great interview with on of the podcast’s hosts!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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How to Write an Introduction

Last week I was doing a stage hosting gig, and I’m amazed at how many acts don’t know the difference between an introduction and a bio. I was frequently handed introductions that were a half of page, or more!

Here’s an example of something I was handed to read:

I had to do some editing to the intro, and it was still a lot longer than it needed to be!

An introduction should be a few bullet points, the idea is to put a little bit of context into what people are about to see…not tell the whole story. You’re going to tell the full story onstage with whatever your act is.

A simple formula for writing an intro is three bullet points:

Where you’re from
Cool sounding accomplishment(s)
What you do

That is then followed by your name. It’s pretty simple. Sure there are reasons to do longer introductions, or more complex ones, however the majority of shows don’t need those.

Also giving tips on how to say uncommon names is super handy for the host/MC.

-Louie