I had a blast being a guest on Nick Lewin’s talk about what happens when you props don’t show up when you do when travelling. If you’re not on Nick’s mailing list where you can get notified of his talks, you need to be on his email list.
you can sign up on his website here: http://www.lewinenterprises.com/join-our-vip-mailing-list.html
Here’s my segment from the talk:
Hope you learn something from my experiences!
-Louie
Well, I’m back to my ProMystic Color Match set. This one is honestly the best solution for the trick in my opinion.
I like that I can simply switch on the receiver and it’s ready to go. I can quickly test that the receiver is one and working during my routine by lifting one of the pens while I talk and replacing it into the cup. Also I think the cup is a better display for the pens onstage than them sitting on a flat surface.
The other thing that I like is that I don’t need to use a reset button like on the Murphy’s Magic Anverdi Color Match set. I think that button and the pens timing out is a solution to a problem (for me) that doesn’t need solving. If someone changes their mind, you simply get a new signal. Getting the signal if someone uses a pen a second time is very helpful. It lets you know something is wrong and instead of giving you no signal, it gives you some information to work with. Personally, I’d rather have a little bit of info, than none.
So my conclusion is that the Murphy’s Magic Anverdi Color Match set works fine, just not for how I do my show, and I’m sticking to the ProMystic set.
-Louie
In this episode of the Moisture Festival Podcast we welcome in comedian, writer, actor and stunt performer Alex Bistrevsky.
Over Zoom we learn about how Alex got approached at a Starbucks to be a circus performer and how he turned that interaction into a career. We learn about his move to LA and how his contract with himself fueled him to work his butt off. A really great interview with a performer who does a little bit of everything.
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I still believe in magic clubs and that they are a great way to learn magic and build community. Last night I brought some of the performers (Bri Crabtree, Dennis Forel and Mickey O’Conner) from the fair to the Fresno Magic Club.
Dennis Forel did some amazing stunts with a balloons, which is always my favorite!
And Micky O’Conner did a great bit with a jumbo coin
And we saw some great magic from the club members as well
I highly recommend looking up magic clubs when you travel! It’s also always nice to see what tricks and styles are popular in different areas.
-Louie
Something I try to do in my show is have my show visually different from most other magic shows. Right now I’m closing my show with my Straight Suit comedy escape routine. The headline band at the fair was Midland and they were at my show yesterday.
Doing an unconventional show like mine is a much harder way to go than simply taking a standard path with standard tricks like most magician. However I feel taking a nontraditional road is worth the extra effort.
Thanks Midland for checking out the show!
-Louie
In the spirit of fairness to Murphy’s Magic Anverdi Color Match, and not just being old and stud I tried using it at all of my shows yesterday and I kept hitting hurdles and having to default to my “out” for when the gimmicks fail for every show.
The problems I’m having is that the with the pens in the cup, I don’t get enough movement from them to trigger the thumper from their initial grab of the pen. I’ve played with different sensitivities, however that also presents a new challenge. In my show I need to move the easel that has the paper and pens and that triggers the pens. The Murphy’s Magic set does have a reset button, which is great, except that I keep the thumper in my sock and can’t push the button. Unfortunately due to what I wear, I don’t have a lot of options of where to put the thumper where I can reach the reset button.
I also tried having the pens on my table, but how my table is configured there isn’t a lot of space, and moving the table triggers the thumpers. Sure I could keep the pens in the off position, move the table, then put them in the on position, however I don’t have that much real estate on my table for two spaces for the pens.
I’m not saying that the Murphy’s Magic Color Match set is bad, it just doesn’t work for how I perform. I’ll probably keep the set around for a bit and try to figure out how t make them work for me (as a back up set), or find a use for them and if I don’t I’ll get tired of them kicking around my office and sell them.
-Louie
Not too long ago I wrote about simply having a description of your show on a schedule being more effective at putting butts in seats than your name. Here’s the daily sign on the stage that I’m performing at for a 12 day contract:
My show’s name is the only one that has any description of what it is. It’s the only one where if someone sees the sign, they are going to go out of their way to see (if they want to see a magic show). The other two acts with no description probably won’t make it on people’s mental schedules.
Sure having just your name is great for your ego, but it doesn’t help with crowds. I’d rather have “magic show” than “Louie Foxx”.
The name that I gave my show is, “Louie Foxx’s One Man Side Show“, however usually either Louie Foxx or One Man Side Show made it on the sign. It was my agent’s idea to call the show The Magic of Louie Foxx for the fair/festival industry. It’s really made a difference in my starting crowds!
-Louie
I figure I should try the Murphy’s Magic Color Match sets in a show…since I own them. I don’t like the markers that the set comes with, so I had to pull out the gimmicks and put them into a new set of pens.
On a side note, on the Murphy’s Magic Color Match Video, they mention removing the gimmicks, but then don’t talk about it…at least not that I watched. I will say I didn’t watch the whole video, the routines don’t interest me right now, so it could be buried in those instructions. It’s not listed (that I saw) on the table of contents.
I’ll give them a try later today and we’ll see how it turns out…
-Louie
Currently I’m on the first half of a twelve day contract in Fresno, CA. I used to do Promystic’s Color Match in my show a while ago and I’m recently cycling it back into the show. At the beginning of the run I had one of the pens start to do strange things, so I ordered a replacement part for it…but that doesn’t help me for the rest of my current contract.
Luckily, Hocus Pocus is only 5 minutes from where I’m performing, so a quick trip there and I picked up one of Murphy’s Magic’s Anverdi Color Match sets.
I honestly don’t think that the Color Match that Muprhy’s Magic sells is Anverdi’s…especially when at the beginning of the video they show how it’s different. It’s Murphy’s way of justifying something that may be an ethical dilemma.
I do like how the Murphy’s Magic set has an auto cycle off for the signals. That’s handy in 91% of instances, however in that remaining 9% it makes it harder on you as the performer. Yes, they do have a work around, but it’s not really practical for me. Method wise, I guess it’s solid, I’ve only practiced it, because somehow my Promystic gimmick that was acting funky, magically started work fine once I bought the Murphy’s Magic set.
While a few bucks more, I still prefer the Promystic Color Match set, I think it more solidly built. I also like that I can easily have two thumpers operate at the same time, where I don’t recall them mentioning that using two was possible with the Murphy’s Magic set.
I think I’m going to keep using my Promystic set as long as I can, as I prefer how it works. It could just be me being old and stuck in my ways…
-Louie
A couple of weeks ago I picked up Presti Cup by Edouard Boulanger. Here’s the trailer for it:
What I like about it is a lot of the action happens off the table. He method is interesting and the wand could be replaced by something like an Enigma Gimmick. I do think that the wand makes the moves more deceptive, however I don’t use a want in any show other than my children’s show. So if this is something I end up doing, I’ll need to figure out how to justify the wand, or how to eliminate it.
I think with an Enigma Gimmick this routine would end up similar to Axel Hecklau’s Just a Cup, which is a great routine. I do like that the ball is physically larger than a die.
We’ll see what I can come up with…
-Louie
