Tag: magic

Subway Stradivarious or Bucket Drummer

A few years ago the Washington Post did an “experiment” where they had a concert violinist play a Stradivarius for people in the subway  (You can read the article here).  This recently popped up again on my Facebook feed and and I have some thoughts on it.   Here’s the video: You can be the best … Continue reading “Subway Stradivarious or Bucket Drummer”

A few years ago the Washington Post did an “experiment” where they had a concert violinist play a Stradivarius for people in the subway  (You can read the article here).  This recently popped up again on my Facebook feed and and I have some thoughts on it.

 

Here’s the video:


You can be the best musician, play the best instrument, but that doesn’t mean you are the right person for the job.  Street performing is a skill, just like playing in a theater is a skill, and those skills don’t necessarily translate.   I bet the guys paying drums on a $2 bucket were making a lot more than him.

 

So why didn’t the violinist build a crowd?

 

Years ago I was told by Tom Frank that before picking a spot to busk, you look the people’s feet.  Are the fast or slow?  The violinist picked a commuter spot.  Not a good choice and any experienced busker probably wouldn’t line up for that pitch.

 

Look at the location, you really can’t build a crowd without completely blocking the foot traffic.  It’s essentially between two doors.  If someone wanted to stop and watch, it wouldn’t be comfortable. They’d have people walking in front of them, or into them.

 

They also picked doing it at “rush hour”…guess why they call it rush hour?  People are in a rush!  You’ll do better before or after rush hour when people have more time.

 

Based on a Q & A I read from the author of the article, that place normally doesn’t allow street performers, so they had to get special permission for it.  So the place didn’t have a street performing culture, which is another big factor.

 

Look at the successful street performers, where do they go?  Do they go where business commuters go, or do they go where tourists go?  Spoiler alert, they go where tourists or people not on business are.  Those  people have more time.  I’m very curious how well the violinist would have done if you put him in a place with a street performing culture?

 

Even if you gave him a good time at a good spot, he wouldn’t have done as well as the guy playing the bucket on his first time out.  He’s playing “ambient music” versus “interactive music”.  Ambient music people walk by, stop for a bit, toss a buck in the violin case and go about their day.  Interactive music would be he says hi people, has little “bits”, sees a guy wearing a band shirt, calls attention to it and  plays the hook from one of that bands songs.  It’s a different style of performing, you can’t do you “theater act” as is on the street and expect the same results.

 

I guess the takeaway from this is that if you are moving venues as a performer, you should expect a learning curve!

Louie

Another Presentation for the License Plate Prediction…

A couple of days ago I wrote about a post about the License Plate Prediction trick (you can read it here).  I was thinking about it some more and came up with another, probably better presentation.  The idea is that in high school you named your car.   You have a list of the top baby names … Continue reading “Another Presentation for the License Plate Prediction…”

A couple of days ago I wrote about a post about the License Plate Prediction trick (you can read it here).  I was thinking about it some more and came up with another, probably better presentation.  The idea is that in high school you named your car.   You have a list of the top baby names from the year you bought your car. You run scissors down the list and they saw stop whenever they want.  You cut the list at that point. They read the first name from where the list was cut and end up matching your license plate.

 

Mind reading magic trick

 

This would simply be the trick where you have the list of names printed upside down.  So when you cut the list, the name at the top where they think you cut it is actually the last name on your list.  That’s a simple and effective force for a trick like this that is list bases.

 

I think there’s tons of room for fun in this trick. “I named my car “Carl” and would tell my mom that carl and I are going out. It was month before she realized that Carl wasn’t real.”  

 

Now that I’ve got the hook and the method, it’s just a matter of writing the script and testing it out. 

 

Louie

Recommended Reading

Right now I’m reading John Carney’s book Magic By Design. It’s a book on theory of how to become a better magical performer.  One of the things he mentioned was writing down your “ideals” for your magic. Some guidelines as an artist of what you want for your magic / show.   Here’s some of … Continue reading “Recommended Reading”

Right now I’m reading John Carney’s book Magic By Design.

Magic by Design by John CarneyIt’s a book on theory of how to become a better magical performer.  One of the things he mentioned was writing down your “ideals” for your magic. Some guidelines as an artist of what you want for your magic / show.

 

Here’s some of mine:

  • The magic has to be good.  By that there can be no easy explanations of how things work.  
  • Every trick has to have a unique visual.  
  • I have to sweat.  I need to work on stage.
  • The audience has to feel like this “isn’t just another magic show”
  • The audience gets to know me during the show
  • The material has to “move the show forward”

 

I’m sure that I’ll come up with more, but this is just the quick list I’ve come up with.  There’s not much to it, however I’ve always said that creating with rules is so much easier than creating without rules!

 

I’m only a few pages into the book, but I highly recommend it!

 

Louie

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:

 

  1. Think of a different method:  A new method can lead to a trick that feels different to the audience.
  2. 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…”

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 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”

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 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.

Magic Show
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:

  1. Hold all of your props above your head:  The problem with this is it makes doing sleight of hand really difficult and looks strange.
  2. 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”

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, 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!”

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 street show PA just in case.

 

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:

Roland Street Cube EX

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!”

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 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:

  1. Build your table at an angle, so the front edge is lower than the back.
  2. Use video projection onto a screen.
  3. 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