magic – Page 14 – MagicShow.Tips

Inventing a Trick That’s Already Been Invented

I always try to keep up with the new magic that’s out and came across this trick: To me this guy was inspired by David Copperfield’s license plate trick, without the kicker of the appearing car. This is a more practical way of doing the trick for 99.9% of performers and a smart method. … Continue reading “Inventing a Trick That’s Already Been Invented”

I always try to keep up with the new magic that’s out and came across this trick:

To me this guy was inspired by David Copperfield’s license plate trick, without the kicker of the appearing car. This is a more practical way of doing the trick for 99.9% of performers and a smart method.

Whenever I see a marketed trick I try to think of ways I can make them unique to me. I do two things:

Think of a different method: A new method can lead to a trick that feels different to the audience.
Think of a new presentation: A completely different presentation will give you a unique feeling trick.

So what would I do with this trick (keep in mind this is trick is already a variation of an existing trick)?

Let’s start with method. Instead of using a flip chart, why not use the TOXIC force? Now you’ve eliminated the flip board and a visual, so the trick now won’t look like the trick above. Now you’ve got two tricks that simply just license plate predictions.

Next let’s get into presentations. The video doesn’t really have a presentation, and it’s been soo long since I’ve seen David Copperfield do his, that I don’t remember what his was, we have a pretty easy starting point. Since we’re using a calculator, you could talk about buying a car and how they talk about all the numbers.

Now that we’ve got a method and a presentation, there’s one last hurdle, getting a license plate that has only numbers and no letters. A google search showed me that all modern plates have both numbers and letters, so buying a used plate on ebay won’t work. However another search showed me that you can have custom “novelty” plates made!

Now we’ve got the routine, the props and method…we’ve got a brand new trick, one that’s unique!

Louie

Always Have a Trick in Your Pocket…

One thing that I often hear magicians say is that they never perform for people unless they are paid. That’s bunk. Personally I usually have a deck of cards in my pocket, not because I want to show people tricks, but it allows me to practice when I have unexpected downtime. Stuck in the … Continue reading “Always Have a Trick in Your Pocket…”

Stuck in the drive thru line at the bank…I can bang out a few practice false shuffles.

Recently I was picking my agent up at the airport in Billings, MT and her checked luggage as well as about 30 other people’s luggage were left behind in Seattle. That meant a long wait (over 2 hours!) to file their baggage claims.

She had taken my banner as “carry on” to the plane. So I popped up the banner and did a show for the people waiting!

It really made a difference in the people’s day! Also the trick that I’m doing in the above video was published in an issue of Vanish Magazine from a couple of months ago.

In addition to a deck of cards that’s usually in my pocket, I have an impromptu show that lives in my wallet. This show is short at about 15 mins, but it’s got a beginning, middle and end. This isn’t just a series of tricks, it’s a show. I highly recommend you have show you can do from you wallet. It doesn’t need to play for 500 people, but a good, solid 10-15 mins of close up. The book The Impromptu Mystifier is what got me to put this show together and in it the author gives a great frame work for how to structure the show.

I’m not saying you should force your magic on anyone, but you also never know when you’ll be in a position to perform.

Louie

Be Content Creator, Not a Content Consumer

Right now we live in a world that needs content. With YouTube, Facebook, etc the amount of content that gets consumed is amazing. Sure you can go on Instagram and do the snapchange and do alright, but that’s all it will be in just alright. We’ve all seen it… So the trick is to … Continue reading “Be Content Creator, Not a Content Consumer”

So the trick is to create content, how do you do that? One easy way is to create around topical things like news, or a holiday. For example the other day President Trump said the reason we’re having out of control wild fires is that we aren’t “raking the forest“. That was my starting point for this quick trick:

I have less than an hour into the trick, and most of the time was spent driving to the hardware store and back to make the appearing rake and then walking to and from the park to record this.

Here’s an example of some content I created based on a holiday a couple years ago:

It’s not hard to create this way. The downside is that when you do this stuff has a shelf life. Material based on the news is a few days to a few weeks. If you create content based on a holiday, you’ve got a week, but you can recycle it every year or every few years.

So go out and think of a trick!

Be Seen!

One of the hardest things when performing for a group in a banquet hall without a stage is being seen. Here’s a picture from a corporate gig I did recently. I sat down in a chair at the back to take this picture. Can you see the person up front talking? Look close, you can … Continue reading “Be Seen!”

One of the hardest things when performing for a group in a banquet hall without a stage is being seen. Here’s a picture from a corporate gig I did recently.

I sat down in a chair at the back to take this picture. Can you see the person up front talking? Look close, you can really only see them from about the shoulders up. What can we learn from this picture? If you magic is happening below shoulder level most of the audience cannot see it.

There are two ways to solve this visibility problem:

Hold all of your props above your head: The problem with this is it makes doing sleight of hand really difficult and looks strange.
Bring a your own stage: This is most obvious solution. However not always practical, especially when flying. So I travel with a folding stool. This fits in my suitcase and when I stand on it makes the show much more visible.

Next time you are at a show, even one with a stage, sit in the back and watch the act or speaker before you and see what you can see. You’ll be amazed at how little can be seen even with a stage!

Louie

Dusting Off Tricks

I’ve been fascinated by the Any Card at Any Number trick since I was a teenager. I’ve developed and published several methods of doing it. I was going through an old notebook and found this version that I was doing in the early 2000’s This version has a few interesting things going for it, … Continue reading “Dusting Off Tricks”

This version has a few interesting things going for it, like the imaginary deck premise and that’s it’s pretty easy to do. It also have a few things not going for it, like having to use the “magician’s choice” force for the suit selection, the deck can’t be handled by the spectator and it’s uses for another trick and very limited (but not impossible).

This version I call the Imaginary Card at Any Number and will be published in an upcoming issue of Vanish Magazine. Hopefully someone will use the trick as a jumping off point for their version of the trick. For me the method for this trick had me work to eliminate the weaknesses and come up with a better versions. My current version doesn’t have the weaknesses of this trick.

Louie

I Saved the Show!

Last night I did a corporate gig that I wrote a post about packing for a couple of days ago (Click here to read the post). The gist of the post was that I had a feeling the venue for the gig that I was flying to wouldn’t have a PA, so I packed my … Continue reading “I Saved the Show!”

Much to my surprise the venue had a PA and a sound board! Then I plugged my audio into it and learned that the sound board didn’t work. The venue’s PA only had one XLR input and I need 3 channels. So I used my street show PA as a mixer and monitor:

Please take note that the jumble of wires on the floor is mostly the venue’s cords, not mine. I simply ran the audio out from my Roland Street Cube EX into the XLR input in the venue’s sound system and I was good to go!

One thing I’ve learned as a full time performer is your ability to be problem solver will make your very valuable to your clients. The booker of the event was in the room when I was trying to figure out why the sound board wasn’t working, and when had the audio up and running. She complimented me on my ability to find a solution.

So the moral of the story is be a problem solver!

Louie

Your Tricks Gotta Be Seen!

I’m frequently asked about why the Evaporation’s standard version is orange liquid. The reason for this is simple, it’s easy to be seen. Rarely will you have an orange background that you are performing in front of, so the color won’t disappear into whatever is behind you. Using things like cola, which is a … Continue reading “Your Tricks Gotta Be Seen!”

Using things like cola, which is a dark brown be hard to see with a dark background, or using milk in an elementary school gym against a white wall make seeing the trick difficult. That’s why I settled on Orange.

You need to think about this stuff with all of your magic. For example I love the idea of cups and balls, more specifically cup and ball(s). So a chop cup would fall in this category. My marketed trick Cee-Lo (Available from www.hocus-pocus.com) which uses 3 dice and a cup has some clever work on the final loads.

Here’s a video of Cee-Lo:
The problem is that the action happens on the table top, and if you are are a raised stage the audience is looking up at the bottom of the table and can’t see what’s happening.

There are a couple of solutions to this:

Build your table at an angle, so the front edge is lower than the back.
Use video projection onto a screen.
Create a routine where none of the action happens on a table top.

The first two are pretty simple solutions, however how practical they are will depend on the venues you perform in. The third one is the one that interests me. You are now walking into fairly uncharted waters. Aside from Ball and Cone, the only other cup and ball type trick that happens in the hands is Axel Hecklau’s Just a Cup.

Axel’s routine is great, but I want to come up with my own take on an in the hands cup and ball routine. So my starting point was a baseball cap, which hand a brim that I can hold on to and a large ball, that’s an inch and a half in diameter. All of the action now happens at chest level and it plays much larger due to the bigger props.

This routine is still in its early phases, hopefully it’ll work out. Once it’s closer to being finished, I’ll start sharing some video of it.

The point of this post is simple: Look at the tricks you do and think you about what the audience can actually see!

Louie

A Tale of Two Rooms

The last two nights I worked as an act in bar comedy shows. The two rooms couldn’t have been more different. One room was poorly laid out, had no light on the stage and a bad sound system. The other room had great sound, all of the audience was directly in front of me and … Continue reading “A Tale of Two Rooms”

I was the second it one, that had good light, sound and layout.

It’s all the little things that go into making the show easier for audience to watch. When a show is easy to watch, it’s soo much easier for the audience to enjoy. They don’t have to work to hear or see you. It can be tiring watching a show that you have to concentrate to enjoy.

So how to you fix a bad set up?

The first thing you’ll hear magicians on the internet say is “make your contract say ____”. Sure you can write that, but the reality of what you consider good sound and what the venue does can be two different things. One thing is you can try to get to the venue early and do your best to adjust what you can. That plus having a solid show and moving forward definately does help.

Is it the venue’s fault?

No.

Lots of times they don’t know better. They may be used to an acoustic guitar player in the corner doing ambient entertainment and not a show. You can educate them after, like mentioning they need speaker stands, or whatever to make it easier for the next show that comes in.

Hope that give you some perspective,

Louie

Red Evaporation

Lately I’ve been using the RED version of the Evaporation trick. Since I travel frequently I don’t always have the same access to juice that I’d have at home. For example when I travel my “orange juice” is actually Tang. For the red juice when I travel am am staying at a hotel that has … Continue reading “Red Evaporation”

Fill the bottle to the desired level with cranberry juice. This will work, however I prefer my juice a little darker, so I add a drop or two of coffee creamer and that will make the juice opaque.

Hope that helps!

Louie

More Evaporations!

We’re in the middle of the busy holiday performing season, however my distributer is almost out of Evaporations, so I’m fitting some manufacturing time into my busy schedule! I’m amazed that in just over a year I’ve sold over 1,200 of the Evaporation tricks…thank you to everyone that has purchased one! louie www.evaporationtrick.com

We’re in the middle of the busy holiday performing season, however my distributer is almost out of Evaporations, so I’m fitting some manufacturing time into my busy schedule!

I’m amazed that in just over a year I’ve sold over 1,200 of the Evaporation tricks…thank you to everyone that has purchased one!

louie
www.evaporationtrick.com