MagicShow.Tips – Page 248 – A daily blog about magic by Louie Foxx

Be Unusual…

One of the types of shows I really like performing in are variety shows. Where I’m an act working with a lot of other acts of all different skills. I’m very fortunate that in Seattle we have the Moisture Festival. This is a variety arts festival that runs for about a month and brings in … Continue reading “Be Unusual…”

Frequently I’m asked by performers to “get them into the festival” as an act. I tell them they have to get themselves into the festival, I can’t do it for them. What I mean by that is that they need to go out and put the work in on their act.

Any producer of a variety show doesn’t want to deal with duplicate material. If you do standard stuff in the standard way, it’s hard for a producer to put you in an show with another act of the same skill.

Once you start having something unique, or at least unusual now it’s much easier to get into better variety shows. A couple times a year I write out my set list and next to each routine I put a “C”, a “U”, or an “O”. Here’s what they mean:

C: Common – so the trick is a common trick. An example of this would be Linking Rings

U: Unusual – The trick is less common. An example of this would be a trick you found buried in a book no one remembers. Unusual tricks can become common, so this designation may change.

O: Original – The trick is an original routine. A good example of this would be my marshmallow card trick.

The long term goal with this is to have a show that is all U’s and O’s. How you get there is by knowing where the C’s are and trying to eliminate them.

Use Everything…

Most magicians have drawers full of magic that they don’t use. Stuff they’ve bought and for whatever reason ends up in a drawer never to be seen again. I used to have that, however a couple years ago I decided I was going to actually use all of my props…at least a few times.

I’ll do the tricks from the “magic junk drawer” at about a dozen times. The goal is to learn what I can from the prop before throwing it away. Occasionally I’ve been surprised and something that I thought was junk became a keeper.

I think the reason a lot of good tricks end up in drawer is because the price to prop ratio is bad. What I mean by that is if you paid $50 and they gave you a blank card your mindset is that it was a rip off. The trick’s value when performed could be much higher!

However the majority of the tricks are simply bad tricks that someone either loved enough to sell…or was greedy enough to sell a bad idea. Bottom line is that if it doesn’t work for you after you’ve done it about ten times, don’t keep it!

One of the tricks I’ve always loved is the Haunted Deck. It’s an amazing trick, the first one I ever bought as a kid was horrible, half the deck was gimmicked, and you were attached to it, so it wasn’t the most practical version of the trick. It worked, but it could be better.

This is where innovating comes through, there’s are better ways to do the Haunted Deck, and it’s a good thing we didn’t stop at the version I bought as a kid. A similar version is the one popularized by Eugene Burger, which while similar in method, allowed you to use the deck after the trick. This is a huge leap in the method.

Then you have a version using Loops, which allows you to use a borrowed deck, but can be unreliable as the gimmick is fragile. A few years ago I discovered Haunted 2.0, which fit the bill for me. 100% reliable, allowed me to use the deck before and after the trick, it’s great and the version of the trick that I do. However last week at a magic session a friend of mine showed me an impromptu version. It’s at about the 37 second mark of this video:

I think this version looks amazing and the only reason I haven’t switched to it is that in Haunted 2.0 you don’t have to touch the deck, which is one of the strong points of that version.

If we stopped innovating with “good enough” the Haunted Deck would be a trick that I wouldn’t be doing now. So go out there and make good tricks better!

Change It Up!!!

Today I’m working on a prop that I love, but is a pain to build. I build a new one every now and then as it can take a beating on the road. What I don’t like about building a new one is that for part of it I take something and alter it to do what I want it to do.

It’s a pain to take apart something that’s not designed to be taken apart. Then it hit me, why not just 3d print the part? I’m amazed at the results, I get a better functioning trick because the part is designed to do what I want it to do, not altered to do what I want it to do.

A nice side effect is that the trick looks better because I’m making the part the size I want it to be, not what it is on the shelf.

I guess what I’m saying, is every now and then you need to look at your props and instead of maintaining them how you always have, you need think about how you can make them better!

There are tricks that I’ve wanted in my show because I like the idea of them. Many of these classic tricks are very briefly in the show as they don’t work with me and how I work. One of these tricks is the Three Ball Routine. I’ve put it in and taken it out of the show probably a dozen times.

Recently a company called The Hands of Magic put out a set of silicone balls for the trick. I just picked up a set, and while I haven’t used them in a show, they work great when I practice with them.

These balls are a bit different from the bouncy balls you’d get at the two store. They less dense and have a bit of give to them. This is helpful when you accidentally drop them, they don’t go as far as super balls.

These balls also have a nice gloss on them, that hopefully won’t wear off. The gloss will make them look a little bit bigger and will make them play a bit bigger than a matte ball.

So far I like these balls and would recommend them…now to find a spot in my show for them.

Phone Book in the Google World…

There’s a growing group of magicians that are anti-technology in their magic. The are against using thing that use electronics, and while I partially agree with them, I don’t completely agree. I agree that you need to have a base in sleight of hand, and be able to make the trick happen if the tech fails, but I disagree that you shouldn’t use tech.

If we didn’t use technology, then we wouldn’t have latex or plastic thumb tips, they’d still be made of metal. Technology makes magic grow, otherwise we’d still be doing the tricks out of Discoverie of Witchcraft.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/The_Discoverie_of_Witchcraft_%281651%29.jpg/220px-The_Discoverie_of_Witchcraft_%281651%29.jpg

While some of those methods are still valid, a lot of them are antiquated. That’s why embracing technology is a good thing. While you don’t have to use electronic methods, you don’t shouldn’t judge others who do.

Don’t Recycle…

A long time ago I had a friend give me some great advice. Do not recycle patter, jokes or bits used in a routine for use in a similar routine. An example is if I had two tricks that were too similar to be used in the same show, but are different tricks. An example would be a Benson Bowl and cups and balls, they are different tricks, but essentially the same trick.

It’s very easy to take a lot of your chop cup patter and use it in the cups and balls, or vice versa. Things like, a joke about the ball, or doing the bit where the cup is deeper on the inside than it is on the outside. Using these bits is a way to quickly build up the other routine.

The problem comes in where there are contracts where the booker wants two different shows. You cannot repeat a trick, or joke between the two shows. Now your A show and B show where you share jokes is useless. It would be better in the long run to create unique content for similar tricks.

Clean Up Your Act…

The last couple of weeks I’ve not had much work as far as show go. This is a good thing, as I do hundreds of shows a year, it’s nice to have some down time. One thing I’ve been doing with my free time is that I’m giving my props some repairs and updates.

One of the things that I noticed was how dirty my handkerchiefs get. I use a yellow one in the show and it was filthy. It tried washing it, and that barely made a difference. I then went to my back up and it was dirty! A quick trip to the magic shop to pick up a couple yellow silk handkerchiefs and that really cleaned up the look of the show!

Take a look at your props, what’s dirty? What can you replace, or touch up? These things slowly wear down, and you don’t notice it until things get pretty gross.

Solve Problems…

Today I’m working to fix a couple of small things on props in my show. In my show I do shadowgraphy, which is commonly known as hand shadow puppets. This is where you use your hands to make shapes on a wall or a screen. If you’ve never seen it, here’s some historical footage of … Continue reading “Solve Problems…”

One of the issues that I’m having with my screen rig is that the bottom isn’t fixed to the stand. Sometimes if the air conditioning turns on and hits it just right, it will start to pivot a little bit on the stand. While not a huge problem technically from the performers standpoint, as I can easily adjust, it can make it hard for some people in the audience to watch.

My goal today is to make some sort of clip or clips that will hold it in place. Realistically what’s going to happen is I’ll probably create some sort of clamp with magnets, then 3D print a clip to hold it in place. It’s the little things that make big differences in the show and how the audience perceives the show!

Can’t Stop the Hustle, But Maybe You Should…

Oh man, so recently in an Facebook group for magicians someone posted a news report about them with a streaming TV deal. The problem with post it in a magicians group was mainly that it really served no purpose for that group. It was a “Look at how great I am” sort of post, but … Continue reading “Can’t Stop the Hustle, But Maybe You Should…”

Oh man, so recently in an Facebook group for magicians someone posted a news report about them with a streaming TV deal. The problem with post it in a magicians group was mainly that it really served no purpose for that group. It was a “Look at how great I am” sort of post, but more that, in my opinion it’s all smoke and no fire.

I’ll let you watch it and decide for yourself:

So, do you think it’s relevant in a magicians group? I personally don’t and it’s someone trying to inflate their ego and I’m not a fan.

Here’s the nuts and bolts of this. In my opinion he hired someone to do a news report, as there’s no news company’s logo on the video. So far that’s fine, it’s a promo video. Second the news stories is that he’s “shopping” a show to the major streaming sites, which really isn’t news, but still in some sort of promo that’s fine. Next he tagged all three streaming services on it, which is unusual. I’m not an expert in pitching TV shows, but I’ve heard that once you get to the actual pitch, usually things go on lock down so no one swipes your idea. Once it’s out there, someone with a higher profile, more money or connections can steal your idea and get it made.

The big one is that he’s saying he has almost 40K views, which I’m sure he does. This is what he’s selling hard, that he has 40K views in the post. However personally I’d guess he bought those views. Here’s why I think this, the post only has 70 likes/hearts/etc and 5 comments. His rate of engagement is insanely low for having 40K legit views. With my high school math the rate of engagement from the video is something like 0.0018%! That’s not a good rate.

Maybe in May 2019 when this is on Netflix I’ll be eating my words, and I hope I do.

How is this relevant to being a magician? Pretty simple, if we are supposed to be good at the art of deception, at least think about what you are doing. Look at it from all angles. Don’t just buy views, buy likes and comments. Now look at your tricks from all angles, what do you need to cover? Is there a bad angle to that palm? Can you fix it?

Make your magic better than just “good enough”!