Figure It Out…

It’s rare to get an indoor show at a fair, however that’s what I have this week. It’s great to not be out cooking in the sun, and having an audience that’s also not getting heat stroke. With all of the bonuses of being indoors, I’ve been struggling through my shows, and not quite sure … Continue reading “Figure It Out…”

It’s rare to get an indoor show at a fair, however that’s what I have this week. It’s great to not be out cooking in the sun, and having an audience that’s also not getting heat stroke. With all of the bonuses of being indoors, I’ve been struggling through my shows, and not quite sure why.


Then yesterday morning I was reviewing video of my show and to work on a routine and noticed something. In the video I couldn’t understand what what I was saying. What the mic on the camera (which is never crystal clear) was recording was a lot of echo. To confirm it wasn’t just the camera’s placement I put my small digital recorder in the audience and recorded my first show. The audio from the audience was also very hard to understand.


I narrowed it down to the sound guy blasting the music louder than my voice. And my voice he had very loud, so it just bounced around this and the audience couldn’t make out what I was saying. I asked him to lower my volume and recorded the next show. It sounded the exact same. My conclusion was that he didn’t lower the volume, or not very much.


Here’s how I fixed it. I did my show on the floor in front of the stage. Now I could control of the volume of the music because I was in front of the speakers and could hear how loud it was in the room. This is where running your music with a remote control is helpful. Also standing on the floor he couldn’t have my voice too loud because I’d feedback. So that fixed the problem of me being understood. It worked out great, and I have my first rockin’ show of the week.


The moral of the story is that if your show isn’t working, don’t just chalk it up bad audiences. Yes, something audiences are bad, however if you are struggling multiple shows, it’s probably something you are doing.

Unique Visuals…

One of the things that I try to do with my show is to give it unique visuals. I think I’m starting to really achieve that in my show. It’s a lot of work, and commitment, but in the long run it’s the way to go. When someone describes my show to another magician, I … Continue reading “Unique Visuals…”

One of the things that I try to do with my show is to give it unique visuals. I think I’m starting to really achieve that in my show. It’s a lot of work, and commitment, but in the long run it’s the way to go. When someone describes my show to another magician, I want the magician to know it’s me by the description.


Sure a card trick looks like a card trick, however there are some ways to make them look different. For example the Card Stab trick. In my main show I use a Rat Trap, this is a less common version of the trick. I also do a unique card stab using a dinosaur costume!

In my local market, if someone describes either of these version of the card stab to a magician, they will know it’s me. I wouldn’t say either is my “signature” trick, but both are associated with me locally.

What tricks are associated with you? Are they tricks that no one else can buy? That’s the goal with the dinosaur card stab, it’s something I created, you can’t buy it, it’s 100% mine.

Learn To Play With Others…

It’s rare that I work on the fair circuit with an act that I’ve at least never heard of, however this week that happened. They act is a superhero character, and while there’s a lot wrong with his show, the thing that bugs me the most is that he doesn’t know how to work with … Continue reading “Learn To Play With Others…”

It’s rare that I work on the fair circuit with an act that I’ve at least never heard of, however this week that happened. They act is a superhero character, and while there’s a lot wrong with his show, the thing that bugs me the most is that he doesn’t know how to work with other acts. being able to share a stage is a skill that will take you far in show biz.


When I arrived at the venue, I introduced myself to him and asked him how long his show was. He told me 45 minutes, and I mentioned that after his show we’ll need to turn the stage, as my show starts 15 mins after his ends. He said he had no gear to move off stage, and I’d have pretty much the full 15 mins to set up.


Well, that’s not what happened. His “crew” put away the front half of chairs. When I noticed this was happening, I mentioned that we need to get them back because I can’t crowd build without them there. They said no problem. This is the point when I realized this guy has never worked a fair, or with another act. The actual content of his show will be it’s own blog post, however I should mention that he didn’t need the space he cleared up by putting away half of the chairs.


His show ran way over his time…by way over, I mean he did 56 minutes and he was going to keep going until I told he girlfriend she needed to get him to wrap up.


This gave me 4 minutes to set up my show if it was going to start on time. Plus they still needed to put the chairs back. This guy burnt my set up time, and crowd build time. I had to start my show with zero audience because of him, normally even if I have 5 minutes to do a crowd build I can make something happen. However, I can’t do crowd building while they are putting out chairs and I’m setting my gear onto the stage.


The moral of the story is that when working with other acts you: Do your time

When you go over time, it really can effect the other shows. If the booker walks by at my start time and sees no audience, due to the other act running super long, it can effect whether I get booked back.

Finding the Right Gaff…

In my hotel room last night I made a ton of color changing card gaffs. I made them with latex and with elastic. I made them flip vertically and horizontally. Here’s what I learned, I prefer using the ones with the seam the goes across the length of the card. I also prefer them to … Continue reading “Finding the Right Gaff…”

In my hotel room last night I made a ton of color changing card gaffs. I made them with latex and with elastic. I made them flip vertically and horizontally. Here’s what I learned, I prefer using the ones with the seam the goes across the length of the card. I also prefer them to have the elastic thread, so basically I’m using the “Hondo” style gaffed card.

How to make gimmicked cards for magic tricks

I think trying a lot of different ways to make the gimmick will let you know for sure which is right for you. Sometimes what’s available to buy isn’t quite right for what you are doing. For example my hands prefer the gimmick to be latex and with the flap’s seam going across the short sideof the card. However how the gimmick is used an elastic thread gimmick with the seam running the long way visually looks better.


It’s important to know why you use a gimmick over another one or variation of it. If I stuck to what feels good in my hand, what actually looks better to the audience would be lost. In theory, it’s all for the audience!

On The Road…

This morning I’m at the airport heading to California for a week of shows. I packed my mobile gimmick making kit and am hoping to get some work in on a couple of gimmicks that I want to use for a more formal close up set. One of my goals this summer is to get … Continue reading “On The Road…”

This morning I’m at the airport heading to California for a week of shows. I packed my mobile gimmick making kit and am hoping to get some work in on a couple of gimmicks that I want to use for a more formal close up set. One of my goals this summer is to get some sort of a close up show in the works.


My mobile gimmick making kit consists of two zip lock bags with variety of items that can be used for making gaffed cards and general magic gimmicks. Here’s some of what’s in there:

  • Dental Dam
  • Elastic Thread
  • Rubber cement
  • Hobby knife
  • Cutting mat
  • Magnets
  • Double stick tape

That’s not a comprehensive list, but gives you an idea of what I travel with to make gimmicks while I’m on the road. Being able to make or repair gimmick while travelling has saved me a ton of headaches over the years!

More Thoughts On Shin Lim…

After having a day to think about the Shin Lim show I saw in Vancouver, I’ve got a few more thoughts. I’m still disappointed that the majority of the show wasn’t him, Colin Cloud (who did the majority of the show) is great and I think he’ll end up with his own big show out … Continue reading “More Thoughts On Shin Lim…”

After having a day to think about the Shin Lim show I saw in Vancouver, I’ve got a few more thoughts. I’m still disappointed that the majority of the show wasn’t him, Colin Cloud (who did the majority of the show) is great and I think he’ll end up with his own big show out of this. However I was buying a Shin Lim ticket, not a Colin Cloud ticket.


First of all, I think one of the amazing things that he did was do close up and actually perform for the camera! Previously magicians had simply done their act, and it just happened to be on camera. While a small shift, what Shin did was perform to the camera, not the audience or people sitting at the table. This makes it soo much more fun to watch.


Playing to the camera is a subtle shift, but will change how magic is done on projection. Just like how David Blaine changed how magic on TV is performed. Blaine turned the camera to the audience and made it about their reaction, this also made it more fun to watch.


Shin performing to the camera feels like he’s performing for you, not that you are watching a performance for other people. I like this, and something that I need to consider as I thing more about putting together a formal close up set.

Shin Lim’s Show…

It was a long day, I went to Canada and back to see Shin Lim’s show. This was the first stop of his tour. I’m going to be completely honest, the show was a bit of a let down. My ticket said “Shin Lim” but the show was Colin Cloud with Shin doing a few … Continue reading “Shin Lim’s Show…”

shin lim magic
pic from www.shinlimmagic.com

It was a long day, I went to Canada and back to see Shin Lim’s show. This was the first stop of his tour. I’m going to be completely honest, the show was a bit of a let down. My ticket said “Shin Lim” but the show was Colin Cloud with Shin doing a few things here and there. Colin is great, but it was sold to me as a Shin Lim show and I really wanted to see what a Shin Lim show was.


Colin opened the show and carried it. Shin has a long way to go to carry a whole theater show by himself. Shin’s opening trick was the “love card trick” that Penn and Teller do, which is a good trick, but not an opener. The worst part was we got halfway through it and they Shin said that he “messed up the math” and told us to throw the cards on the floor. The family next to me was confused. At the end of the show, he also referenced messing up this trick. By that point in the show, we had forgotten about that, and he didn’t need to bring it back up.


Unfortunately every routine that Shin did had something that didn’t work. sometimes it was just a card peeking out that we shouldn’t see, to the Love Card Trick that just didn’t work at all. It was interesting leaving the theater, people were talking about how underwhelmed they were, and that his stuff looked better on TV.


Here’s my takeaway, if your name is on the ticket, you should be on the stage the most. And that simply putting a camera on close up magic doesn’t make it engaging for the audience. There still needs to be more. That’s why Colin Cloud stole the show. I have a ticket to the show for six months from now when it’s in Seattle and I’m excited to see the show, and hopefully what an awesome show in that time it’s grown to!


If You Build It, They Will Come…

There’s a place in McMinnville Oregon that I’ve always wanted to visit called the Evergreen Air and Space Museum. Every time I’ve driven by it, it’s either closed, or I don’t have time to stop. It’s in a town about an hour from Portland, kinda in the middle of nowhere. This is a huge museum … Continue reading “If You Build It, They Will Come…”

There’s a place in McMinnville Oregon that I’ve always wanted to visit called the Evergreen Air and Space Museum. Every time I’ve driven by it, it’s either closed, or I don’t have time to stop. It’s in a town about an hour from Portland, kinda in the middle of nowhere.

Evergreen Air and Space Museum

This is a huge museum with water park and people come from all over to visit. Why to do they travel so far to look at airplanes, or go down a water slide? Simple, they have a couple of pretty unique offerings. The museum has the Spruce Goose, which is the largest wood plane ever constructed. In addition to the Spruce Goose, the water park has a 747 that’s been converted to a water slide!


How does this relate to a magic show? Simple, if you create a product that people can’t get else where, they will come to you. This is more than just a unique personality, every air museum has a personality, this one has the SPRUCE GOOSE and that’s the only place in the world you can get that. What unique offering does your show have where you are the only place an audience can get it?

Gaffed Cards…

One of the things that I want to play with this summer are gaffed cards. More specifically, I want to use flap cards to do some changes. I’ve got a few ideas for what I want to do with the flap cards. Ideally I want to put together a close up set that’s 5 mins … Continue reading “Gaffed Cards…”

One of the things that I want to play with this summer are gaffed cards. More specifically, I want to use flap cards to do some changes. I’ve got a few ideas for what I want to do with the flap cards. Ideally I want to put together a close up set that’s 5 mins that can be projected onto a screen.


This is one of the places where a flap card will shine, because people can’t reach for the cards, and it allows you to more easily ditch things. The formal close up allows you to do some fun magic that’s highly visual…and doesn’t require a lot of space in the luggage.


Last night I was playing with more traditional “dental dam” flaps. They work great, however they have seams in them that the more modern “Hondo” style flap cards don’t have. Hondo has really solved a lot of problems with the dental dam flap cards. However, the Hondo flap cards do have their own disadvantage, and that’s that you can potentially see the elastic as it’s on the outside of the card.


All in all, I think both gimmicks have a place where one is better than the other. Now to figure out what I want to do in my card set….

Redemption!

After having a horrible show two days ago, I crushed my show yesterday. There were some huge differences in the two. The big one was that the show I did horrible at I was an act, where the show I did great at I was the whole show. That’s a huge difference in situation. Having … Continue reading “Redemption!”

After having a horrible show two days ago, I crushed my show yesterday. There were some huge differences in the two. The big one was that the show I did horrible at I was an act, where the show I did great at I was the whole show. That’s a huge difference in situation.


Having a bit more control of the flow of things leading up to the new material is really helpful. In the show yesterday, I did my standard opening jokes, however magic wise it was all new. It played well, and having a fresh audience on my terms was great.


I feel a lot better about the new material. It’s still got a long way to go, but having a good show has brought me new confidence in it!