magic show tips – Page 4

More Bar Magic in Reno

I made it to the White Rabbit Theater for a third time last week to check out close up magic by Phoenix Phenomenal in the bar. I went down with Mickey O and Bri to watch the show.

Phoenix does some great magic, and as a younger person doing 4 close up shows a night at the bar will get him a ton of real world flight time under his belt!

That’s one of the keys to performing, stage time. In comedy they say “Stage time is more precious that gold”. In magic, many people don’t see the value in stage time, and more advice you hear is “charge a lot of money” versus “get on stage and get good”.

Oh, I’m not saying Phoenix was bad, so please don’t read it that way. He’s great, he’s just younger. He doesn’t have the miles on him that someone who’s been doing it longer has. I wish I had a nightly bar gig when I was his age, I would have gotten way better sooner!

-Louie

What’s Wrong With Magicians?

A magician posted these pictures of himself performing as a Chinese person.

Here’s my response to the picture, which I replied to in a private magician’s group, and not on his public, personal FB page:

I really dislike that magicians still think this is an acceptable way to perform. Performing in “yellow face” has a long history in magic and one that needs to end.

Here’s Jack Chanin (I think, and if I’m wrong, let me know) performing in Yellowface (yellowmask?):

These “characters” are outdated stereotypes. Part of the history of yellowface was to portray the Chinese as monsters and to give them frightening physical features. The long mustaches and fingernails, the bright yellow skin color were to make Chinese people look less human.

Why would any performer who knew its history want to continue doing that?

In my opinion, it’s lazy creativity. In both pictures above, the performer is using the Chinese sticks prop; however, that trick isn’t from China! Instead of putting the energy into creating a unique routine, the performer does something that they’ve seen done before. The thinking is that if someone else has done it, then that’s the way to do it.

I’ve personally walked out of several shows when a performer did stereotype material. There is an exception to this, does the performer have a point of view with what they are doing. Is it social commentary, relating an actual experience, or something like that? In all of the exceptions to this that I have seen, the person never put on a costume.

The moral of the story is don’t do stuff like this.

-Louie

Portland Magic Jam!

In a couple of months, the Portland Magic Jam is happening. I’m not able to go to many magic conventions due to my performing schedule, but this one I’m currently available for! I just registered for it!

They’ve got a great mix of performers/lecturers for this convention. If you’re in the Portland OR area, or looking for a reason to visit, this is a convention worth checking out!

Details at: www.portlandmagicjam.com

See ya there (unless work comes in)!

-Louie

Music and Senior Gigs

There are a lot of misconceptions about performing for seniors at retirement communities. One questionable piece of advice is to use big band music. That kind of music is the music that the parents of the people currently in retirement homes listened to. Simple math will show that if someone is 80 now, that means when they were in their 20s, music like the Rolling Stones was popular.

Here’s the music playing in the dining room at a senior gig. Ignore the piano, that’s a resident playing it at the other end of the room.

When the retirement community doesn’t play music from the resident’s childhood, that should tell you something. The community won’t play music they don’t like.

-Louie
PS You can get my book How To Perform For Seniors at:
https://www.magicshow.tips/how-to-perform-for-seniors-book/

Vintage Magic Props

A little while ago I picked up a magic box with props from the 1960s. Here’s what was in it:

One of the interesting things was the Joseph Silk Gun:

Here’s a video of one of them in action:

The Joseph Silk Gun isn’t something that I’d use in a show, but it’s a very cool prop!

-Louie

The Louie Foxx Magic Lecture

In January, I have two magic lectures: one was last week, and the other is in just over a week. I usually don’t do many of these, as my performing schedule is busiest during the summer, when the magic conventions happen.

I had a blast at the one last week for the Portland Society of Magicians. Here’s a peek at what the 90 minute lecture looks like in 60 seconds:

If your local magic club would like a lecture, feel free to contact me and we can try to make it happen!

-Louie
PS: you can get the lecture notes here:
http://www.magicshow.tips/lecture-notes-2025/

Another Vanishing Bottle Idea

Here’s another idea for the Vanishing Bottle.

Effect: You show a bottle and tell a story about a friend paying you back for a beer. You say, “he paid me back with venmo, but as a joke he said it was for an eggplant.” You put the beer bottle into a paper bag. You snap your fingers and bring out an egg plant! You then crumple the bag and toss it over your shoulder to show it’s empty.

That’s it. It’s a simple plot with an easy presentation hook. It is also a non-standard routine for the vanishing bottle.

-Louie

Coke Bottle Routine Idea

The other day I was thinking about the modern routine with a latex coke bottle where you put the empty bottle into a bag and it comes out full. That’s a great quick flash trick, however what if I wanted to give it a bit more meat.

Here’s the routine:

You have a paper bag on your table.

You reach in and remove a full bottle of Coke. The full bottle of Coke goes back into the bag.

You then hold up an imaginary glass, and grab the bag from the bottom. You tip the bag as you pretend to pour from the bag into the imaginary glass. The bag ends up upside down while you pretend to pout pour the last drop.

The bag is turned right side up and you put the imaginary glass into it.

You then reach into the bag and remove a now empty coke bottle!

Then for the kicker you remove a full glass of coke!

The bag is crumpled and tossed over your shoulder as you hold the glass up and cheers the audience!

The working is super easy. Latex bottle, empty bottle, and a production glass. You should be able to work it out from there.

-Louie

Louie Foxx Magic Lecture!

Saturday night, I did my magic lecture for the Portland Society of Magicians. This was the same lecture that I did for the PCAM magic convention a few months ago.

This lecture is mostly platform/stage material, however there is a lot of stuff of use to close up performers. In the lecture I talk about how I create original magic, and ways to make magic your own. It’s always fun to share my “art” with other magicians!

-Louie
PS You an get the lecture notes at: https://www.magicshow.tips/lecture-notes-2025/

More Snake Basket Work

The more I work on this snake basket, the more I want to simplify the wiring in it. The previous versions had an LED to indicate that it was on. I eliminated that using the ESP32’s built in LED, so that took out some wires. Here’s the current wiring:

One thing I have that’s redundant is that each action is triggered by a button press. The first version just had a single button that started all of the actions that would be timed. I didn’t like this as it makes me a slave to the preprogrammed timing. To give me more freedom, I added a second remote control button, and both buttons trigger each action. I could eliminate the wired button, however, I can see a situation where it could come in handy, like if the remote unexpectedly ran out of batteries.

The next tweak will be in the code, and that will be adding some delays after the button press. That will get my hands away from the remote control or the wired button when the action takes place.

I think this is coming along nicely, and I’ve learned a lot about using microprocessors!

-Louie