One of the questions I get asked about the Snake Wand Surprise V2 is how long does it take to load it. Here’s me loading it slowly, and talking through the loading process:
That took less than 3 minutes to do slowly and as you can see, it’s not very hard to do. Normally, I do it in about 2 minutes.
-Louie
Today is the final day for the $5 off presale of the 3rd edition of my book How To Perform For Seniors. When I got the two boxes of books from the printer, I had a fun surprise when I opened one of them!
The presale on the book ends at the end of the day today. Get your order in now, and it’ll ship tomorrow!
-Louie
Get the book at: https://www.magicshow.tips/product/16716/
There’s a new sequence I’m playing with for my stage show. This is close up magic with projection. This whole sequence is done solo, with just me onstage. Here’s what’s going on:
1: Stand Up Chop Cup: This is the chop cup routine from my 2025 PCAM Lecture Notes. This routine doesn’t use a table and is done solo onstage with no projection. It ends with the production of a tennis ball.
2: Shuffle Routine: I move to the table, with the close up camera on it. A deck of cards is introduced and shown in new deck order. It’s shuffled a few times and is spread out to show it’s back in new deck order. This is repeated a second time.
3: That Way More: This is a modified version of my horizontal Ambitious Card routine. I’ve published parts of this routine in Vanish Magazine.
4: Card in Tennis Ball: The ending of the sequence is the selected and marked card comes out of the tennis ball that as produced at the beginning of the sequence!
What I like about the sequence is that it ends with a callback to the tennis ball that was produced at the beginning of the sequence.
-Louie
There’s only a couple more days left for the presale of the 3rd Edition of How To Perform for Seniors book. The third edition updates all the info in the previous two editions and includes new information, like using video projection in your show.
This book is normally $35, however if you order before October 12th, 2026 you’ll save $5!
You can place your order here:
https://www.magicshow.tips/product/16716/
The estimated ship date is October 13th.
-Louie
On the way to a gig the other day, I stopped at the new location for the All American Magic Theater in the Pioneer Place Mall. Gaddy is working behind the counter, and he does a great job demoing and is very knowledgeable.
The magic shop has a big variety of magic tricks, from the latest releases, to vintage magic. Portland it lucky to have a well stocked magic shop!
-Louie
When I see a magician perform an old trick and really wow an audience, it really makes me happy. By old trick, I don’t mean an overdone trick, but a trick everyone has had, but no one actually does. Recently, I worked with Michael Mesmer and in his early show he does the Prayer Vase magic trick.
This is a trick most magicians had when they were kids and haven’t thought about since. Michael has a great routine with it, and it really connects with an audience!
Sometimes the easiest way to create something that feels new is to look to the past!
-Louie
A little over a decade ago, I released my Snake Wand Surprise. If you don’t know what it is, it’s a comedy magic wand that has a big surprise ending! Here’s what the routine looks like:
After over a dozen years of using it in my shows, there’s really not much about it that I didn’t like. The main thing I didn’t like was how bulky it was. I try to be a one trip from the car to load in and one trip to load out. The larger wand didn’t fit into a case, and it was awkward to move around.
Here’s a comparison between the original and the new one:
The smaller size takes up less space and will fit in more varieties of cases, but still oversized enough to get a reaction when you bring it out! The other thing that the smaller diameter wand does is reduce jams, there’s less room inside for the snakes to get stuck!
You can get the Snake Wand Surprise V2 at:
https://www.magicshow.tips/product/snake-wand-surprise/
-Louie
Last week, at the fair where I was performing, it rained one morning. The sun came out right before my show, so my show was going to happen. The only problem was that all of my seating was wet. No one will sit on a seat that’s wet and has a pool of water. So I tracked down a rag and wiped down the chairs!
Wiping down chairs isn’t my job, but it’s something that needed to happen for my show to happen. Sometimes doing something like wiping down chairs makes the difference between no audience and getting a big audience (which is what I had that show!).
There are times to not be helpful, sometimes there are union rules or the task could get your costume or hands stained. Wiping water off a chair wasn’t a big deal, so I did it.
-Louie
The third edition of my book How to Perform for Seniors has been sent to the printer!
This was originally written in 2005, then updated with a second edition in 2011. When the first two editions came out, hardly any of the activity directors had work emails, and the fax machine was still commonly used!
This third edition of the How To Perform for Seniors has updated information. There’s more about contacting these facilities by email, as well as things like using video projection in your show!
The estimated ship date is October 13th, 2026. If you want to preorder the book, it’s on sale for $30 now until October 12th, or whenever the books arrive from the printer, whichever is first!
Get it at: https://www.magicshow.tips/product/16716/
-Louie
A couple of weeks ago, I picked up an old card fountain. This one was non-working without the remote control.
I opened it up and it had some older guts, I’m guessing from the stamp on the base of it, it’s from 2004.
My original plan was to just replace the electronics with a more modern remote control unit. Once I got it apart, I started thinking that maybe I should build it into a more complex unit, like integrating it into a snake basket or something like that.
-Louie
