MagicShow.Tips – Page 153 – A daily blog about magic by Louie Foxx

Little Interuptions…

Over the weekend I performed at a church camp for kids that were probably 10-12 years old. When you take kids out of their normal routine, they push a lot of boundaries that they probably wouldn’t push if they were at home, school, or their normal church. They are figuring out the rules, and the way a kid figures out the rules is to figure out how far they can go.

When the preshow started I had one kid doing yelling out things. If they are going to do that, that’s the time do it, not once we hit the body of the show. Also my preshow has good tricks and one of the reasons it’s there is to get the kid who is yelling out things to shut up.

The kid who was yelling things wasn’t being “malicious”, he was being a kid that didn’t know the rules, or lacked attention at home and needed to find a way to get it. When I was younger I used to be very confrontational with these kids. It worked, but it’s not the person I am any more. Currently, simply ignoring it and doing strong magic, that tends to work in most instances.

See A Show!

I love going to see a magic shows, and recently I drove almost four hours (due to traffic) to see Jason Andrews and Neils Dunker perform in Hoquiam, WA. I’m really surprised more magicians don’t go out and support live magic shows. For $20 the show was an amazing deal! One of the things that … Continue reading “See A Show!”

One of the things that I liked was that they show was two performers who basically did their own solo stuff, however they did interact onstage. That’s the hardest part of two people touring together. You can do it as a two act show with an opener and a closer, or you can intertwine them a little bit.

Jason and Niels did a couple of bits where they both were on stage and that really gives a feeling of a show, and not two people doing their separate acts. There’s not a right or wrong way to do it. Stand up comedy and bands use the two separate act formula and it works. However in this show in a theater it made it “gel” a bit better.

It was a fun show, you should check it out if it’s in your town.

Make It Yourself…

One of the things that I try to do in my show is not to use props that other people use. It could be the same prop, but mine looks different. Usually the reason mine looks different is because I made it myself (or had it made for me). I read a long time ago in an SH Sharpe book on magic theory that when you make the prop the pride your have from making it will show in your performance and that’s something that’s stuck in my head.

Recently I searched for a set of large walnuts to make my own set for the three shell game. I finally found some in the Ukraine had them shipped to me. I altered one of them a little bit and made a mold of it, and then cast my own set of shell game shells in resin.

These shells are larger than most shells, but not too large. I’ve used them in a couple of gigs and they’re working out great. The next step is to learn to reduce the tiny air bubbles in them.

Staging Challenges

One of the biggest challenges performing a magic show that’s not in a formal theater is being seen. These challenges range from pillars in the room, not being on a raised stage, or lighting. Sometimes you can fix these problems and sometimes you can’t and just have to deal with them. Last night my challenge … Continue reading “Staging Challenges”

One of the biggest challenges performing a magic show that’s not in a formal theater is being seen. These challenges range from pillars in the room, not being on a raised stage, or lighting. Sometimes you can fix these problems and sometimes you can’t and just have to deal with them.

Last night my challenge was lighting. I was performing at a comedy night at a bar. Look a the pic below, the stage is on the left side and you can see the two speakers on each side of the stage.

The stage is in the darkest spot of the room. There’s no light there. Unfortunately there’s not much you can do about it because of how the room is. I can’t move the bar of the booths, the stage is pretty much in the only place it can be.

The next option is bringing in some light trees, sure, but then that brings up a new set of challenges, like blocking sight lines, taping down cords and where to put them. Also I refuse to travel with light trees. If I’m performing in the dark, that’s 100% the venue’s issue and one that’s not easily solved by me.

My solution was to do my show on the floor in front of the stage. There was a lot more light there. It’s not the ideal situation for my show, but the best for the circumstances I was given.

Production Value…

Over the last year or so I’ve been wanting to add more production value to my show. One of the ways is using video elements, the added bonus to using video elements is that using them takes up virtually no space in your case, but can play extremely big! The challenge is that it’s hard … Continue reading “Production Value…”

This is a remote system for music and video. I haven’t used it in a show (yet), but really like how it works at home. I’ll be trying it out at a live show soon.

The hidden bonus with Media Star Pro is that it comes with software to run music, and video with. This software was pretty easy to use, and my first attempt at running something “complex” is going to be for a workshop I’m teaching in about a week. It’s going to have still images and video in the presentation and I’ll be suing the Media Star Pro to run that. We’ll see if I still like it after that!

Live it!

When I was a kid I remember Michael Close in his lecture talking about how to get good patter ideas for your tricks. His advice was to go out and do stuff that’s not magic related. Living a life aside from magic will add depth to you onstage. Personally for me, I love magic and … Continue reading “Live it!”

When I was a kid I remember Michael Close in his lecture talking about how to get good patter ideas for your tricks. His advice was to go out and do stuff that’s not magic related. Living a life aside from magic will add depth to you onstage.

Personally for me, I love magic and it’s a huge part of my life and something that I’m very passionate about. However I do have a lot of other interests. Things like travel, urban exploring and leather craft. Having those interests gives my show depth.

Earlier this week the podcast that I co host did an interview with Carisa Hendrix where she talks about her life.

You can listen to it here:

http://oddandoffbeat.com/podcast/episode-93-carisa-hendrix-in-studio/

Got out and add to your life experience!

Keep Playing…

Another thing that I learned while I was in Nashville was about the beginnings of Elvis’s performing career. I don’t remember who wrote it (it was a band member, or agent) said that, “Elvis got on stage, jumped around and carried on, then the bass player would start carrying on, then the next guy. ” What they were doing onstage was playing around and having fun.

One of the bands I saw in Nashville was had four performers (only three are pictured) and only one of them was having fun onstage. In the band the bass player was having a blast, or at least he did a dang good job acting that he was having a ton of fun. His enthusiasm really carried across the audience.

When you are on stage, have fun and play around. Try something new, be whatever your version of silly is, and whatever your version of comedy is, don’t be so serious.

Have Fun…

Last weekend I went to Nashville and saw some live music at some of the bars in The District. One of the things that struck me was that there were a lot of good musicians, but not a lot of good performers. I guess it’s harder to be both. I think that one of the two comes more naturally than the other to most people.

What I noticed was that people onstage looked like they were working, not having fun. What you want in a show is someone that looks like they are having a blast. Yes, there are moments where you should look like you are working, but in most cases you should look like you want to be there.

The easiest way to look like you are having fun is to smile. That’s the most effective way to show an audience you like what you’re doing. Why do a lot of performers not smile? I’m guessing they don’t practice their show while smiling. Their faces default is the face they have when they practice. The simple solution is to practice smiling while you practice!

A Mentalism Idea…

Today I was thinking of the Seven Keys To Baldplate routine. It’s the trick where you have seven keys, and only one opens a lock, and somehow that’s the key selected (or only one not selected). There are tons of methods to this trick, but I think Stewart Judah’s is the best. In that method … Continue reading “A Mentalism Idea…”

Today I was thinking of the Seven Keys To Baldplate routine. It’s the trick where you have seven keys, and only one opens a lock, and somehow that’s the key selected (or only one not selected). There are tons of methods to this trick, but I think Stewart Judah’s is the best. In that method any key will work or won’t work in the lock.

Typically people lock things like a finger ring or money to the lock. The idea I had for the trick was to lock someone’s belt loop to a chain. The other end of that chain could be attached to me, a chair, or whatever. You could even have multiple locks with multiple people that are locked together. Every finds the key that opens their lock.

The idea of chaining someone to something is an interesting visual and I think would lend itself to some interesting situational comedy. I think having people on the end of the lock instead of a ring will make it play bigger. The next challenge would be coming up with a routine.

Finishing a Book…

After starting to read the book Principia by Harapn Ong about a year ago, I finally finished it. It’s a book that I’d read a bit of it, then put it down and pick it back up a month later. It’s a great book, and there are a couple things in it that I’ve used … Continue reading “Finishing a Book…”

After starting to read the book Principia by Harapn Ong about a year ago, I finally finished it. It’s a book that I’d read a bit of it, then put it down and pick it back up a month later. It’s a great book, and there are a couple things in it that I’ve used throughout the year.

Near the end of the book there are a couple of essay’s on the Trick That Cannot Be Explained. These are fantastic! There’s some great theory in them, not just on the card trick, but on tricks using multiple outs.

Also near the end, there’s a trick where the cards get mixed face up and face down. You find their selected card, and no the cards don’t all magically fix themselves. The cards not fixing themselves is what I think makes this trick great, and something that I think is going to go into my impromptu card magic toolbox.

If you do card magic, check out this book!