Beloved magician, Master Payne, joins Matt and Louie in the Moisture Festival Podcast studio. Payne talks about performing at renaissance festivals, balancing his magic career with a regular job and how he came to be called “one of the best children’s entertainers” by the esteemed Magic Castle.
They also discuss his time performing with the Jim Rose Circus and how fun it is to perform at the Moisture Festival.
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Another day, another change to my wheel. This is a subtle change, but I added colors to the wheel.
There’s a very good reason for this, I’ve figured out a way to force a color on the front and an object on the back. I can now do a prediction that will have three reveals with the wheel, the only variable would be the number, which would be the first selection. Once the first number is made, I can pull the prediction from an index and I’m set! It’ll take a lot of the heat off of the switch, as it happens at the very beginning of the routine!
A myth I spend a lot of time trying to educate people who ask about virtual shows is that to do them, I simply turn on my laptop and go. There’s soo much more that goes into it. One of the things is your background. Sounds simple, but it’s not.
Recently I was watching a Zoom magic show and this guy didn’t put much thought into what was behind him. He’s got an interesting picture of a lady behind him. She kinda stole the show.
I’m not saying the picture is inappropriate, but if what is behind you is more interesting than you, you’ve got a problem. Unfortunately we’re trying to connect to people on a human level through Zoom. Whatever is behind you is a window to your world.
If any objects are visible, you really need to think it through. I used more of my attention trying to figure out the performer’s relationship to the girl in the picture than on his performance. Was she his wife, pen pal, someone he admires? Is that a pic from 20 years ago, or last week? Is she still alive? Are they still together?
Make your background intentional. If you have things visible, remember it’s a window into who you really are.
Months ago I was texting with one of the groups I brainstorm with and I brought up the idea for this gag. You say, “You’ve been a great group, you know, I’m going to give you a free pitcher of beer!” You then reach into your wallet and remove a card with a picture of beer!
The play is on the picture/pitcher words that can sound similar. This would be a gag card similar to the Pride and Joy or the picture of my two kids.
When I have them printed, I also did a set with and empty pitcher. The idea is that I can also use the Out To Lunch principle and make the full pitcher become empty. I’m not sure if I’ll ever use it that way, however I was trying to be forward thinking. It’s much easier to have them both made at the same time, than having to go back and recreate it to make the empty pitcher.
About a week ago I had a post about the game wheel that I bought at a thrift store. I’m going to be using it with Haim Goldenburg’s Wheel of Mind force. The picture on left is what it looked like in the thrift store and the picture on the right is after I cleaned it up.
The problem with the white wheel is that while it is dry erase, it’s still very hard to clean. Also the white isn’t the best on camera. Learning that, I resurfaced the wheel and coated it with chalk board paint. Here’s what the front and back look like now:
It plays on camera much better this way and it’s easier to change the items on the back. Now I just need to figure out what I’m going to force in the show!
Magicians are the worst at giving advice for beginner magicians. Recently in a Facebook group a magician was asking for recommendations for beginner magic books. The majority of people that suggested The Amateur Magician’s Handbook.
This book is garbage for a beginners magic book by modern standards. Sure it started a lot of magicians, but I think it also turned off more people who were interested in magic. Compared to modern magic books (pretty much anything after Mark Wilson’s Complete Course In Magic book) it’s hard to learn from.
The main reason I think it’s still in print is because it’s got a great title.
I still love the book, and it definitely helped form who I am as a magician, but it’s not a great beginners book. It may be by 1950 standards, but not by modern standards.
It’s been a while since I just spent a good chunk of the day practicing for fun, not for something that’s intended to be in the show. Way back at the beginning of February I had an idea for a coin trick. I played with it a bit back in August, you can read the post and watch a practice video here.
Here’s what the routine looked like yesterday:
It looks way better than the video from August. Honestly I haven’t put too much time into it between February and August and between August and yesterday. It was fun to really spend the day trying to work out the sequence and make it happen!
When the COVID pandemic hit, a buddy and I built a studio in his garage. Unfortunately he just bought a house in another state and is moving, so I’m working on my at home studio. Part of that is customizing props, one of the things that I’m working on is a table. For virtual shows I like a high table, something that’s just below armpit level. That makes it easier to frame my face.
The table I’m currently using has a pretty small table top. The base it’s on is pretty slim, which means I can’t put a very bit table top on it without it getting wobbly. In my shed I have some old speaker stands that are very heavy duty compared to a typical magic table’s base. These will allow me to move the table up high and still be sturdy.
I designed and printed out a flange:
It pressure fits onto the speaker stand.
It’s attached to the table top by eight screws.
It’s very sturdy! I was amazed, there’s no wobbly in the table. I may try to put a larger tabletop onto a speaker stand to give myself some more performing space!
It’s interesting the little magic fads that pop up on Instagram or other social media. Usually it’s a trick that’s cheap or easy to make, that’s really visually and easy to do. One that was going around recently was a floating pen by Rodrigo Romano:
It’s looks good, but it’s much inferior version of The NEW Incredible Floating Pen by Patrick Snowden and Kyle Elder. Their version can actually be done easily in the real world, where Romano’s version is basically for video.
Seeing all of these people float pens on their social media makes me wonder why you’d want to do that?
What I mean, is why would you also float a pen and not something else?
There are plenty of other pen like objects you could make something else float. I made up a version of the trick using a chicken wing and a dish of ranch dressing:
The two props make sense together, unlike a pen and a folded up playing card. For me, I think this is better social media content than floating a pen like everyone else. It visually it looks a lot different. The chicken wing and dish look like a different trick than the floating pen. Also for me, where my “brand” is doing less common things, it fits what I do much better!
How can you take the more “standard” tricks you do and make them visually different?
Something that still bugs me are performers that are still using facemasks in their shows as if they are topical. They really aren’t, it’s lazy creativity. I’ve written about this before (you can read it here), and my thoughts haven’t changed.
Not too long ago I figured out what the problem with 99 % of the mask tricks are:
By simply doing the trick, you are defeating the purpose of the prop. That’s the flaw in all of these tricks. The rare exception is something like a color changing mask. If someone came up with a trick where you didn’t take the mask off for the trick, that would make it make sense.
Keeping the mask on really limits what you can do. That condition pretty much leaves you with a color change, with out doing some actual thinking. Here’s some ideas that I don’t have a method for:
All of the above tricks keep a mask on your face. However you still have a problem to face, it’s a used hygiene product you are using. Doing a trick with a tissue from the box uses a clean hygiene product. Doing a trick with a tissue you just blew your nose on is a used hygiene product. That’s something else to consider, technically once you touch or take it off with your bare hands, you are supposed to wash your hands.
How do you solve this?
I don’t know the answer, but then I also really don’t want to do a trick with a facemask, so you’ll have to figure that out for yourself if you want to do a trick with a face mask!
