Some Stages…

Sometimes you get to a gig and you realize you are going to work. When I got to this show to load in and saw the stage, I knew it was going to be a long run! Here’s the view of the stage from the front:

The stage is probably 12 feet wide and 16 feet deep. Then about 7 or 8 feet of the front of the stage is taken up by the speakers. Then the monitors make it impossible to play close to the edge of the stage for maximum visibility. The monitors will force me to play back, and the problem with that is that is the now the tall speakers become visual obstructions for people trying to watch the show if they aren’t seated in the center of the audience.

Now let’s flip the view around and look at the audience from the stage:

The audience is seated at round tables. That’s horrible for a show. You’ll notice that the chairs closest to the stage actually are facing away the from the stage. So the people with the best seats have their backs to me!

Some gigs I feel like my show is being set up to fail. My plan is to ask for more chairs to fill the front, then either ask for the speakers to be moved to the back of the stage, or do the show on the ground in front of the speakers. It’s going to piss off the sound guy, but it’s really the only option with what they’ve given me.

-Louie

Halloween Shows…

The next couple of days I’m performing shows that are at Halloween events. If you read my post from yesterday you know that I don’t do a “Halloween” show, but my normal show. As a performer I’ve notice that Halloween shows reliably have the worst audiences. Why are the audiences bad? The answer is simple, … Continue reading “Halloween Shows…”

The next couple of days I’m performing shows that are at Halloween events. If you read my post from yesterday you know that I don’t do a “Halloween” show, but my normal show. As a performer I’ve notice that Halloween shows reliably have the worst audiences.

Why are the audiences bad?

The answer is simple, they are wearing costumes.

When the audience is in costumes, they act strange. Some play their character, which if that’s the person you bring on stage that makes it hard for the audience to relate to them. Or in the case of kids (or drunk adults) if they are dressed as a wolf, they’ll just howl instead of talking.

Add that to costumes not being as comfortable as normal clothes and masks can limit vision and it makes the show hard to watch for the audience. Then you factor in that costumes can also make you hotter, or colder than normal. An uncomfortable audience isn’t a good audience.


I’ve got four of these shows over the next two days…yippee!

Go With The Flow

Recently I was performing a close up gig for a bunch of teenagers and a great group. When I finished they thought I as the best magician in the world (I’m not). What made me 200% more amazing than I normally am was that I wasn’t afraid to go off script. This was one of … Continue reading “Go With The Flow”

Recently I was performing a close up gig for a bunch of teenagers and a great group. When I finished they thought I as the best magician in the world (I’m not). What made me 200% more amazing than I normally am was that I wasn’t afraid to go off script.


This was one of the shows where everything that could go right, did! What I mean by that, is I do a “coin under watch” routine. I load the coin really early in the routine. It’s risky, as it has a lot of time to be discovered or fall out. Well, about halfway through the trick one of the kids says, “make it appear under his watch” and points to the guy who I had the loaded watch.


A miracle was about to happen.


When things like this pop up, I can’t get excited and immediately make it happen. I need to make it look difficult for me to do. I laughed it off telling the kid that it would be amazing, but I’m not that good. Got slightly deeper into the routine, and then made it appear under the guys watch. The kids when crazy!


The entire set I did for these kids, they would request things to happen that I already had set up. To them it must have felt like I could do anything, to me it felt like the audience was psychic!