About a week ago I attended a magic and hypnosis show and got injured by the hypnotist. You can read about it here. Last night I was a guest on on Hypno News Live and got to share my experience.
I really hope that my story highlights the need not only for you to have insurance, but to show some compassion for people you use onstage. The people you bring are stage are people and not props. If something goes wrong, don’t get defensive, show compassion. In my situation, while I’m going to live and be OK, if I wasn’t a performer who knows what it’s like out there, I’d probably be way less sympathetic and also come at this from an adversarial way.
It brings me soo much joy to see other people use the tricks that I’ve released. Here’s Todd Bogue’s promo video and my Straight Suit makes an appearance!
Todd does the Straight Suit better than anyone (including me) and I’m honored that he uses it in his show!
Also his promo video is a good example of how using high def video and clear audio makes him look super professional!
A few days ago I had an agent ask me if I could make them a new version of my promotional sizzle reel. They wanted a version without any text. For context here’s the previous version with text:
The previous have two kinds of text, it has title cards and captions. The agent wanted neither of those. Luckily I kept the video editor project saved, so it wasn’t a huge deal to go back and cut out the text. I think in a sizzle reel, the text is a good transition piece and adds some context to things. However if the client wants one without text, I’ll make them one!
Here’s the new version:
Ultimately the goal is to get work and if someone wants something specific to sell my show, I’ll gladly make it for them!
Awhile ago I made an ungimmicked spirit hand for someone in Arkansas. They then added the gimmick to the hand and decorated it so that it looks old and cool and here’s what it looks like:
I was chatting with the guy who gimmicked the hand and he’s willing to make more. If you’ve been wanting a gimmicked spirit hand, shoot me a note and we can get you pricing options for one!
I’m excited to release my first card trick in a long time, this is called Placeholder!
Effect: You show a deck of cards that’s in new deck order. A card is selected, but kept in place in the deck of cards, so the whole deck stays in order. Now the spectator spreads the cards and their card is now blank card in its place in the deck that’s in new deck order!
One of the the things that this routine solves when using a special deck is how to get that deck in play without. In this routine the deck of cards is in order and stays in order throughout the trick, so you can openly take out the deck and there’s a reason why it’s not used for everything else and that it’s in order and you need to keep it that way.
Right now I’m having an introductory sale on Placeholder. It will retail for $20, however now through May 31, 2024 you can get it for only $15 with USA shipping included!
One of my the routines that I’m working on is a Walnut to Glass routine. My starting point is Pete Biro’s Nutty Surprise. I’ve added a devils hank for one phase and a hat load for the finale.
Here’s a picture of the end of the routine on my normal table:
Working the routine on that table is hard because there’s not a lot of workable space due to the trim on the table. After working on it a few times, I remembered I had a larger table that I could use. And here’s what the end looks like on that table:
The second table is about the same width as the first one, but without the trim, it has more usable space. The second table is also deeper allowing more room once the hat is on the table.
The next challenge or decision I need to make for the routine is whether to use a bottomless glass for the routine, or just a regular glass. I like Mariano Goni‘s version of the bottomless glass in his trick Nut Waltz. I won’t be doing this close up with people on top of the cup, but still a little bit worried about people being able to see it. I guess it’s something I’m going to have to actually try for people and either have it pass or get busted.
The new addition to my library is Wayne Dobson’s Legacy. I’ve been a fan of Wayne’s ever since I saw him at the Desert Magic Seminar (It may have changed the name to the World Magic Summit at that point) in Las Vegas.
A while ago I got the book Wayne Dobson – The Definitive Collection. This was most of the stuff that Wayne had put out, plus a few interviews and unpublished things. It’s a great book, but then Wayne Dobson’s Legacy came out, so I figured I should get it.
I suspected when I ordered the new book was that the tricks included were going to be what was in the Definitive Collection book and based on a quick flip through the book, it appears that’s correct. There may be an additional bit here or there or a trick could be completely rewritten, but at a glance the material looks the same. I didn’t buy the book for the descriptions of the tricks, I got it for the biography which is book one of the set.
I’m only about 40 pages into the book so far and enjoying it, and if you’re a fan of Wayne’s I think you will too! If you’re just looking for the tricks, it looks like you can get Wayne Dobson – The Definitive Collection for about $25 as an ebook and I’d suggest you go that route. Either way, Wayne’s material is solid!
Last week I drove out to watch my buddy play guitar at a casino. There’s a lot that you can learn by watching people who perform things that aren’t magic. Joe plays guitar, but he also does an act with comedy songs. In this venue he does a mix of the two. He plays cover songs, and throws in a comedy song here and there.
It was a slow night in the casino restaurant that he was playing in. He easily could have phoned it in and played some ambient cover songs and got his check and everyone would be happy. That’s not what he did. He played with energy, talked to the crowd, did bits and played a couple of comedy songs. And over the course of the hour I watched him play, I saw him win over the tables that weren’t initially watching.
The huge take away is to never phone it in. That doesn’t mean necessarily doing your show as planned, as sometimes that’s not what the audience needs. However no matter what you do, give them 100%!
When I was at an industry tradeshow on Wednesday pitching my show, one of the things I did at my booth was my card routine. This is the meat of the close up magic that I perform. It’s basically a multiple revelation of a signed card. It ends with the signed card as a sticker.
People at trade shows will usually put these on their shirt of badge and wear them all day. They end up being a walking billboard for me. people will ask them about the sticker and they’ll talk about me. I think I originally got the idea for having something visual that sticks around long after the trick from Michael Close. He talked about it in his lecture 20ish years ago and I think did a thing with a bill that turned to a bunny and left that with people.
When I’m at a booking trade show, especially when I’m new to the market, my goal is to get people talking about me. My sticker card trick is a great way to do that!
One of my favorite ways to book gigs is through showcasing and trade shows. These are ways for me to meet people who book the shows in particular markets. On Wednesday I attended a trade show for librarians for a new geographic area for me. My summer this year is booked up, so I wasn’t there to book shows, but to meet people and start building those relationships that will lead to gigs in the summer of 2025.
All of the booths at this tradeshow were tables and had chairs behind them. The exhibitors were sitting in the chairs, or standing behind the tables. Since I’m basically unknown in the area I wanted to do a couple of things to stand out.
The first thing I did was push my booth back to the wall. That visually broke up the line of tables at my booth. Next I stood in front of my table, and that removed any physical barrier between me and the potential buyers. This allowed me to engage them and when I did close up magic for them, really let me showcase my personality better.
Having been involved with trade shows in other industries, I was prepared with a simple booth. I was amazed at how many exhibitors came up and asked to take pictures of my booth because of how professional it looked!
There are definitely better trade show booths out there, mine is OK.
There’s not much to it, the main elements are a banner and fitted table cloth. I’ve had both of those for a while and the total cost of both of them was probably less than $250. It may be a few bucks more now, but worth the investment as I use them all the time for all sorts of things, not just trade shows.
