Someone asked me about how the Flic Button works for controlling music. It’s pretty simple, the button has three things is can do which are triggered by a click, double click and press and hold. For me I use those as Play/Pause, Next Track, and Previous Track.
You can use multiple buttons, so I may use a second one for volume and up and down, but for now one is working.
For a simple and cheap audio device for smaller shows, I’m really liking the Flic Button!
-Louie
In my attempt to have all of my different shows as self contained units, I’m working on having separate sets of audio equipment for some of the shows. My kid show that I’m doing for summer camps has just gotten it’s own sound set up.
The only thing not dedicated to this show is the speaker. Here’s the gear list:
Last week I think I did my final virtual show…well at least the last one with all the technical bells and whistles. This was lower tech, I didn’t use my ATEM mini, or any production software, just Zoom and a stream deck.
This was a fun show because I did it with Roberto the Magnificent and Dennis Forel at an airBnB while we were performing at a different event.
It’s been a year since a did a virtual show and it’s not worth keeping up with how to run the technology if I’m only doing one virtual show a year. However it’s easy to use Zoom as a camera switcher, and simply play music in the room instead of playing it through a virtual cable on my computer. It’s not as slick as using production software, but doable.
-Louie
About a week ago I ran into a magician and said they had the best children’s show in town. Unfortunately I was unable to make it to their upcoming show, however when I looked up their show, it reminded me of how important it is to have a good short description of your show.
Here’s how their show was described on the event website:
It’s entirely possible that the performer sent them a better show description and that event went rogue and used something other than what was provided.
Personally I don’t think that one sentence description is going to put any butts in seats. I think there’s a lot of wasted space in that, specifically the “solid and fast moving” part. I don’t think that tells me about the show. I’m not sure what “solid” means to people outside of the industry. I think a better line would have been, “Dan’s magic show has amazing magic, and hilarious family friendly comedy“. I’m sure there’s something better than that.
-Louie
When I travel I try to do shows for senior groups. This is a great way to fill a day when I get into a city the day before a bigger contract. I recently did one, and when I arrived the lady at the desk told me to have a seat in the lobby and someone will be there to get me soon.
Personally I never sit down, especially if it’s out of view of the person at the desk. I always stand near the desk.
The reason for not sitting is simple, I frequently get “forgotten” about when I sit out of view. I don’t know why, I guess whoever is supposed to get me gets side tracked, or whatever. When I stand in view, it’s a constant reminder that I’m still waiting. Usually after a few minutes if I’m still there, the person at the desk will follow up with whoever is supposed to get me. When I’m out of view and sitting, there person at the desk won’t know you’re still there and after about 5 mins I have to ask again. That’s time that I could be setting up.
-Louie
PS if you’re interested in performing at Senior Centers and Retirement Communities, check out my book How To Perform For Seniors!
Last week I was in the Bay Area and swung by Misdirections Magic Shop to visit Joe. One of the things I picked up was ChronoForce Pro.
I haven’t put it on my phone yet, however I like the idea of using it to force the fractions of a second. I have an idea for it…I want to have a breath holding contest with person from the audience and ultimately the game tied down to the fraction of seconds. This would be revealed by a prediction that is revealed in stages.
I haven’t gotten to play with the app yet, so my opinion may change once I actually use it.
-Louie
Last week my wife and I had a tourist day in Seattle and part of it we went to see Ira Glass‘s talk called Seven Things I’ve Learned.
At the beginning of it he talks about the title and it’s really just a frame to write a talk around. That was interesting to hear him say that, because essentially that’s what every school assembly magician is doing when they put together a themed show.
At one point during the show, there was an interruption. Someone got up and started yelling that we shouldn’t be laughing when there were people dying in Sudan. I’m not going to call this person a heckler, because it wasn’t really related to what was happening onstage or the performer, it was someone shouting their message. It was unclear whether the person bought a ticket or somehow snuck in.
Ira handled this interruption in an amazing manner! The whole thing felt like it took 5 minutes, but in reality it was probably closer to 90 – 120 seconds. What Ira did was say that the guy is right, that people dying in Sudan was important and that it doesn’t get as much news coverage as it should. He was diffusing the situation. At one point people in the the audiences started booing the guy that interrupted, however Ira kinda shut that down. That’s the right tact, by encouraging the audience to boo, the guy would have gotten louder and louder. Towards the end of the interaction Ira said something like, “I agree with you, the media needs to do better…” and eventually the guy was escorted out.
Then to get the audience back, he did said “I’ve done stories about that…but didn’t feel it was appropriate for a saturday night crowd” and that got a laugh and tension started to leave the room. Then someone in the crowd yelled, “Welcome to Seattle” and Ira replied, “Thanks, so all of your shows have a guy yelling about Sudan…” this got a HUGE laugh and really got the rest of the tension out of the room.
That’s the thing with someone who is interrupting the show with an unrelated matter, no amount of heckler stoppers will do anything. Ira was right by diffusing the situation and not escalating it. Magicians are really bad about escalating their interactions with hecklers or interactions instead of deescalating it. It’s really the better choice in most scenarios, give it a try!
-Louie
Currently I do several shows for different venues or audiences. Each of these shows has its own case, however there are some props that I only have one of, so I need to move that prop from case to case. I’m in the process of building or acquiring the multiples of that prop.
While I was putting the remote controls into the Applause Please V2‘s that I’m building, I wired up a second alarm clock with a remote control.
I use this prop in my Incredible Idioms school assembly show and in my general kid show. By not having to move it from case to case, it saves me time and I don’t have to worry about it not being in the case!
If you do multiple shows, having a dedicated case and props really saves a lot of time as there’s no packing to do the show, just grab the case and go!
-Louie
In the French Quarter in New Orleans I ran into a street performer. He was doing standard stuff in a pretty standard way. It wasn’t bad, but for me it was just “meh”.
He closed with the cups and balls. If you look at the picture above, you can see the table top. The above picture was taken with the camera held above my head.
I also took a picture of with the camera at my eye level:
I was in the 3rd row and couldn’t see a thing. The busker had trouble building past the second row, and that’s because you couldn’t see what he was doing.
I know I write about this a lot on this blog, but most magicians would learn a lot about what’s visible if they saw a picture of their show from the audience’s eyeline.
Have a friend take a picture of your show and check out your audience’s sight lines, it’s eye opening!
-Louie
Every show that I do, I write out a set list. This helps me with packing, set up and general planning, like not having similar effects back to back in the show.
Here’s a recent set list for a 60 min corporate holiday show:
I also have notes as to who to thank during the show. By the end of the show, I’ll probably won’t remember the names of anyone helping me out without a note.
I’m always amazed when I work with people that don’t use set lists. But those are usually people who don’t really have a set show and just go up and “wing it” every time. Personally I know my show, but the are many different configurations of the show, I’m not always doing 60 mins for adults, the show length and audience make up changes.
-Louie
