close up magic – Page 40

Social Distance Magic

Well, in the span of two days the world has really changed, or at least the United States has. In a span of 48 hours we’ve have bans on events of over 100 people and entire states close their school districts for over a month! Many performers are complaining about this, instead moving forward and innovating.

Right now as a performer you don’t have control over attendance caps on events or the venue being able to sanitize it, so let’s look at something we can control, close up magic. Right now no one wants to touch anything. Everything is getting wiped down and people are constantly sanitizing. It’s gotta be a hard time for a close up magician. One of the advantages is that people can touch the props and the magic happens in their hands.

Currently having someone hold sponge balls isn’t socially acceptable, I’d argue it hasn’t been for a while as they are full of germs. Even if you wash them every night, they are gross by the time the second person holds them. Sponge balls are crutch for lazy close up performers. It’s easy for a beginner to get a reaction with them, and I’ll admit it’s a good trick. If you took it out of your close up set, would people like your act the same?

I’m looking at my close up show and thinking about what I can do without people touching anything. I don’t do sponge balls, or sponge anything, so that’s no problem. My ambitious card routine (technically a multiple revelation) needs one bit cut out of it, which is the card to mouth phase. This is a bit I started to get uncomfortable with a few years ago, and this is what I need to force me to take it out. My linking pins routine has two in the hands phases, however those are newer additions to the routine, and I can revert to the old routine which is almost as strong as the current one. The Three shell game, and cup and dice routine all can be done without people touching anything.

Look at your close up show, can you do it in our current climate of “social distancing”?

Using a Gimmick…

Yesterday I wrote a post about the Linking Pins. Today I’m going to write a bit about one of my favorite things about the routine. My routine uses a gimmick, but only for a small part of it. The rest of it uses ungimmicked pins, but by the time the gimmick is in play, I’ve totally negated the idea that I could be using what I’m using.

In the first three phases of the routine that don’t use the gimmick, they look just like I’m using the gimmick. Also they get the audience to check out the pins, when there’s nothing to find, so when they is something to find, no one is looking!

Here’s the final phase with the gimmick:

In the video you see how I put a lot of “tension” into what’s going to happen. The guy can see and feel them together. I’m building tension with that. Once they go through each other, he has to relax. That release of tension gives me a natural moment to get rid of the gimmick.

Linking Pins…

One of my favorite close up tricks to do is the Linking Safety Pins. What I like about it is that is uses an common object and the magic is direct and visual. Those two things save me a lot of time with the expository phases of the trick. I don’t really need to explain what they are, but I do. I also don’t need to explain what going to happen, because it’s obvious.

The other thing about my routine for the Linking Pins trick is that all of the props are handled by the audience and all but the first effect in the routine happens in their hands. This makes a simple trick a bit more hard hitting.

Sometimes when I’m out doing my routine, after the pins go through each other the first time, someone will say they are trick pins. I tell them they can keep them after I’m done. I have a pocket full of pins so leaving a set is no big deal. This 100% removes the idea that they are trick pins.

Put In Some Effort…

One of the challenges of performing that I struggle with are people that don’t speak much English. My stage show is a lot of verbal stuff, which can make it a challenge to get across when there’s a language barrier. The barrier is a bit easier to deal with when doing close up.

Last night I did a corporate holiday party for a company and most of their workers spoke Spanish and very little English. I speak very little Spanish, by very little, I know a handful of words. One thing I did was ask how to say things in Spanish, like how to say “Three of Diamonds”. I then tried, they it was a really made a connection because I was going to them. I took an interest in them.

I could have just mimed what I wanted them to do and it would have worked. However, the connection with the audience would have been way different. Make the effort to reach out to your audience instead of making them reach out to you.

How to Stand Out…

This week I’m at another conference where I’m showcasing. This week I’m doing close up magic. There are a lot of close up magicians at this conference, so how do I stand out? I have two ways, first is a unusual trick and there other is by making myself desirable to other magicians.

Everyone here does card and coin tricks, and probably some sort of cup and ball(s) type trick. What I do is add an additional trick that’s no one else will (probably) be doing. For me that’s usually the Linking Pins. It’s a trick where the right gimmicks haven’t been available in decades, so not many people do it.

The second thing I do is that I talk to other magicians. When bookers see other magicians seeking me out to talk to or to jam with, that shows them that I’m good and respected by other magicians. It also shows that I’m easy to get along with and that I can get along with other acts.

So be unusual and be friendly!

Creative Slump…

The last few weeks I feel like I’ve been in a creative slump as far as generating new tricks goes. It’s not that I haven’t been creative, I’ve been working on existing tricks that are in my show, just not creating new tricks. There’s nothing wrong with this, it’s just that when I go out and do close up gigs, I feel like they are lacking something for me.

One of the things that I love about performing is doing new stuff. Exploring and taking risks. The last month in my close up work, I really haven’t been taking any risks, while the gigs are good, they aren’t as personally fulfilling as they could be.

Luckily I have some time off, so I’ll have some time to start creating some new stuff. With any luck I can have something new for my close up set!

Something Special…

When I do roving magic my main tool is a regular deck of cards. The reason for that is you can do a lot just a deck of cards. Also they are larger than a rubber band or a coin and when someone walks by they know that you are doing magic tricks.

When doing roving magic I also try to pack one other thing to perform that’s special. Something that’s fairly unique, so something that they wouldn’t see another magician typically do. Frequently this is the Linking Pins or something I’m working on that uses a unique prop. I save this for special groups that fun to work for.

Last night at a roving gig in addition to my normal card set, I did a trick with a nut and a bolt. Basically the nut and bolt unscrew while covered by a cup, then you repeat it. It’s a great trick and something that I love doing, but more importantly, it feels special. People really seem to dig the special trick, and can feel that it’s not something from your normal set.

Great Visit!

The other day I visited a magician friend who isn’t doing too well from health standpoint. I drove several hours each way to visit him. It really lifted his spirits, we had a good time jamming and laughing. If you know another magician that’s not doing well, pop by and visit them.

One of the things we chatted about was my silk and coathanger routine. This is something that I’ve been working on all summer and have hit a wall. The problem I’m having is that the trick gets stunned silence. Each phase adds to the stunned silence. The problem is getting a reaction out of it that’s not silence.

My friend who is known as a close up guy, but has amazing knowledge of stage magic gave me a great suggestion. He said the trick is lacking the release of tension. Instead of looking for a finale to the trick, blow it off with a laugh. Now I just need to figure out what that blow off it and to try it.

Old Style Magic…

I’m a huge supporter of magic clubs. They are very useful for learning magic, as well and giving a sense of community. I made a couple of comments about a few things being an “older style of magic“, unfortunately I don’t recall the specific things I referred to. We also had someone new to magic … Continue reading “Old Style Magic…”

I’m a huge supporter of magic clubs. They are very useful for learning magic, as well and giving a sense of community. I made a couple of comments about a few things being an “older style of magic“, unfortunately I don’t recall the specific things I referred to. We also had someone new to magic at the magic club and they asked what I meant by “older style of magic“.

Like anything people change the way they do things and there are trends that come and go. An example of this is card tricks. More modern card tricks have less work that is tabled, however that’s changing due to the popularity of close up acts for TV. Modern card tricks also tend to have a lot less procedure and higher payoffs than the card tricks in Tarbell.

Stylistically what people are doing is more in your face than it was 20 years ago. I’m not saying that it’s good or bad, but different. Being aware of the styles and trends will keep your magic feeling up to date and fresh.

Time To Wrap It Up…

Sometimes performing for some people can be a pain in the butt. I’m specifically thinking about a person (usually a kid) that thinks everything is a secret sleight of hand move, and feels the need to tell everyone. When they do this, it really breaks up the show and makes it a pain for everyone to watch.

Here’s an example:

I’m doing walk around magic and have a family stopped and ready for a magic trick. The kid excitedly points out that I’m hiding a deck of cards in my hand. I then tell the kid, “I’m not hiding, I’m going to do a card trick, and they are required to do a card trick”. The a moment later after someone has signed the card he tells every that he, “sees that”. I ask what he sees and he replies, “you put that in your pocket”. I ask what and he say he saw me sneak the marker into my pocket. He tells me the marker, I explain that it was no longer needed and I was putting it away. It continues like this until I leave.

I finished the card trick and wrapped it up and started to leave. When I did he mother told me, “they’re a rough crowd”. I wanted to tell them they weren’t a rough crowd, her child was simply an idiot, or an a-hole. I’m sure there was a larger issue at play with the kid, however it’s a teachable moment for the mother and child. She simply could have explained that’s he was interrupting the show and he needed to shut up

However she didn’t, and I finished the card trick and left.