A huge night

Last night 's gig at the Minories was over all really good. We showed up a 5.30 and explained hat we would perform for between one and a half to two hours and would begin sometimes after 6pm We have learnt from other gigs that it is not a good ideas to begin too soon. People attending the event or venue need some time to feel settled and o greet friends before being interrupted by a magician. Also a gig  goes better when you  have a 'Critical mass' enabling you to leap from group to group and not just wait around for more people to arrive. We explained all this to the event organizer who was more than happy with our plans. We also agreed to try  stage magic later in the evening.

After 6 I launched into action approaching a couple of parents and their child, aged around 10. Wee Wee Mentalist proved a great ice breaker. the youngster then  trotted off leaving me to perform Cartomancy for the parents. Both effects went down very well. Wee wee Mentalists appeal is something I've often wondered about. I suppose we all like the appeal of something that looks magical, and the mentalist's mind going from blank to showing the chosen card does defy explanation for man y people. But it can't be dressed up as something  plausible but amazing event, its an obvious trick, which many magicians claim are not popular. Cartomancy again provided a strong reaction, I performed it around 5 times, each time provoking a strong response of astonishment. i will admit I began chickening out and did not perform Ambitious card. However Serial Killer provided a strong reaction (difficult to find a spot with enough light for people to see the blood splat on the card though).

  The other close effect of the night was Once Upon A Time by Guy Hollingworth. This story telling deck of cards uses simple slights to turn a a pumpkin into a carriage and rags into ball-gowns. The slights are easy, the hard part is remembering WHEN to do them. I performed this effect for 3 groups of children on an antique card table under a tree. The whole experience added to the feel of magic for the children watching, and they loved being able to turn the cards over to see the transformations.

The stage show was highly anticipated by the children. I planned three effects. A simple colour change silk trick where two children were placed back to back and one was shown a green and yellow scarf. I then turned away from the audience and walked to the other child and asked her the colour of the scarves which are now blue and red. I repeat, the children believing i changed the scarves colour whilst the audience thought i was just grabbing other scarves whilst my back was turned. finally i walked towards the audience and the scarves changed in front of their eyes.  Next I performed the crystal tube effect where silks knot themselves by being blown through a tube. These effectes were both very well received. HOWEVER my final effect bombed! I performed Big Deal using kids to cheat their dads at cards. A few things went wrong. One the cards were not big enough (even though they were jumbo cards). The lights behind us were too strong, also hindering the view. Finally blocking. Controlling the audience so they they did not obscure the view of the audience. MY good friend Darren is a superb director and playwright and actor. I asked him to watch the performance and he gave me these critiques, Very useful indeed. I think I'll avoid doing stage work without giving it a little  more time and giving Daren a chance to look the routine over. But a basic check list will include making sure lighting doesn't obscure the routine and that everyone can see what's going on. It seams as though street performance including working to a group comes natureally to me but stage craft needs work.

Luckily I was approached by a family who had seen my work before and wanted to see something new and special. h was just what I needed to stop me dwelling on the stage card trick not having any impact. It also let me indulge in Do and I Do and Out of this World. After this I felt buoyant enough to do some Ambitious Card work. I loved every second of it.

So over all. Stage work 2/3 . I need to work on stage craft, it cant be improvised  like my street magic and close up magic. Once Upon a Time is a fantastic kids effect and suitable for many occasions. Cartomancy is a powerful close up effect and stage work is a possibity for me, but I can't be complacent and need to work through it more with Darren. Finally my Ambitious Card is good, and i need more faith in myself. The rest of the night heped with that but Ill blog it later :)

Also, when working at an outdoor event maybe a classy looking lamp is a good idea :)

First Kids Party

A day after deciding that I wanted to go pro with the magic I received two offers of gigs. Both of these were for kids parties. Untrodden ground for me, whilst I have performed for kids at the festival children's parties are a different mater. When strolling around the festival I perform many sets of 5 minutes of magic to each small group of kids I come across. However at a kids party I have to perform for the entire length of the gig to he same group of kids.The party was for a 12 year old boy's birthday and his mother requested I turn up waistcoated and top hatted.  I decided to play it safe and offer my services for 40 minutes or so. My plan was to split the set into some gambling cheating tricks (teaching the group about the perils of gambling) and then my rapport and mentalism effects. I was then planing to close the show with Darren Gooding's fantastic Lazar card reveal that we used in Wivenhoe Funny Farm.


  I researched performing for children with David Kaye's "Seriously Silly". In this seminal work the worlds most successful children's magician explains how to perform to each age group. He warns that at 12 children are very confrontational and will often assume they know how a trick is done. EVEN WHEN THEY DON'T. I opened up with a quick colour change silk. My plan was to treat them as adults BUT to use a childrens effect to grab their attention first.  This effect uses no TT but they KNEW I had a TT just a very good near invisible one. Then one tried grabbing my hand to check. I let him knowing my hand was 'clean' and remembered the warning that all children will grab your props regardless of what their parents say. With this in mind I launched into my gambling routine linking Four Site, Big Deal and Aces High. This wen down very well. I then tried to use my rapport deck. However one lad  wanted to shuffle it, hence ruining the chance to use it for Out of this World. I had a choice,  be a meany and not letting him shuffle, and showing the deck was rigged, OR letting him and leaving the effects behind. I let him shuffle, deciding to switch tack and use other tricks such as Card In Hand. I continued holding court, keeping the boys interested and engaged. I finished with the lazer reveal rick. The  boys loved getting dressed up in the steampunk "safety  gear". The Mum took plenty of pics for their parents.


After the show I discovered I had worked for 1 hour and 40  minutes. The mum was thrilled with my performance and asked for business cards to hand out. So what was learnt. KISS Keep It Simple Stupid! I need to ensure the effects are 'tamper proof' and don't need so much stacking. Also that i have MORE than enough material and even though I don't need it and can wittle down what I plan o use, having the bank of effects means I can often get myself out of trouble. I have a good rapport with kids and they like the fact I don't take myself too serously and let myself be made fun of. And finally kids LOVE playing with props like my hat and goggles and they are often just as keen to show you a trick as you are to show them. I just hope everyone else has as much fun as me. According to their mum they did :)

A life totally kippered and then made good again

this last week and a half has been something of a , well, not trail of fire, nor an epiphany as such, more like some horrible soul destroying surgery that was needed to help you heal  and reach your true destiny.  As some may well know I'm not just a magican, I work at a fabric shop called Fabric8 as well as sewing for myself and others. I had hopped one day to become a full time professional tailor or fashion designer and do magic on the side. Or more likely be a part time tailor and part time magician. All this whilst being disabled. Last wek I performed some rather good close up on the second night of the Leopold Thorn event (I was ill on the first night)., The following Sunday my world collapsed. A customer came to my home very unsatisfied with some work I did. IT turns out I had over stretched the lining when I pressed the garment (when I was ill). I was devastated. We parted company as friends and I as cheerful as I could be (not very) when it was pointed out even when I make something fantastic I worry  and stress about it. Tailoring wasn't making me happy any more, what is more after 10 years of making things here and there, never too much as I was  limited by what I could earn I STILL hadn't reached a point where I could support myself on my dressmaking. I simply couldn't put in the hours needed as my back could not take the strain, the pain caused by this was making me depressed and stressed without realising it.  IT was then pointed out that when I perform  magic I "become Alive" and sparkle. and so I decided at that point (with help from some wonderful people) that it was tie to close the chapter of my life dedicated to tailoring an become a full time magician.

  It's odd that deciding to dedicate myself to magic left me a little depressed. I LOVE magic but didn't want to give up one something I spent a lot of my life working on. I'll still use the skills I've  acquired though, just not for making regular clothes for customers. As if to reward me for making a tough choice the universe seems to have rewarded me. The benefits agency are helping me with the business side of things and 2 people contacted  to book me within moments of each other (one from seeing me perform at the Leopold Thorn gig). A local events management company has booked me as well and a disability charity are interested in my work. SO full steam ahead I feel. Every now and then I have to tell myself  I'm doing the right thing, that I'm not some pie in the sky fool dreaming of show business. BUT I think this really is the next logical step for me, and thanks to the support I've received from some great people I'm sure this will work out for me. Normal  less self obsessed blogging will resume shortly :)

Jumping off a cliff...

I have a pretty bad habbit. Jumping off a cliff with a box of spare parts hopping to make an areoplane on the way down.  Last Thusday I attended Wivenhoe Funny Farm with my good freind Darren Gooding. We were hopping to pimp his Leopold Thorn Event.He devised a rather awesome trick.  A spectator picks a card. It's shuffled into the deck and a lazer  hits the deck. The cards are looked through the cards and all were unscathed bar the seleted card which is burnt. Much theatrre and pantoomine surounded the effect such as steam punk goggles and heavy safty gear. When darren explained the effect we both agreed a simple card force will surfice and the burnt card would be pre burned and hidden in the deck. However when we arived  at the venue Darren mentioned about the speator looking through the deck for the chosen card. Initally we thought of shuffling the orginal card to the back of the deck so the specator would come to the burnt card first. However this seamed risky. we'd have to remove the seleted card before the lazer hit the deck.  As it happened I was thinking earlier this week about how I need to include more palming in my slights. Unfortunatly I deided to work on palming AFTER the Leopold Thorn Lectures next week. I had READ of the tent palm and understood the theory but had not tried to perfom it. So on stage I performed my first ever tent palm. Fortunatly my generally increase in knowledge of off beats and misdiretion coupled with the fact my hands big enouygh to hide a small buss behind meant the effect worked flawlessly. The mechanics of the effect were siple enough buut Darren's performance sakills meant we reieved a sutibly enthusiastic resoponce. ANd the klady who chose trhe card did ask to keep the deck, so thank heavens we did ditch the hosen card :) I think the night shows that my lose up skills can translate onto  platform/stage magic quite well, ubt also how good acting and story  telling ois as much a a part of magic as slight of hand, if not more.

  Fortune favours the bold it  seems. On the subject of misdierection I'm in Holland. It's relevant stay witrh mre. Right after the Funny Farm I had to go home sleep for an hour and walk to a bus stop at 2 am to catch a bus to the airport. Now I was tired, so easily onfused. Much like a muggle I suppose. IT was dark outside and th bus took a different route to the airport trhat I normally took. My tired mind would opasionally be confused and then jump out when i THOUGHT I reconised a part of the journy. I felt a moment of comfort, and then back to the bewildewremnt of the new juorny in a semi trance state. It made me thoick of the syrthem of a magic effect. We show something familier, then do soimething strange and then familier befdore doing soemthing really starnge. Those momanets of normality in an effect right before doing somrthing strange throws the mind out, Just as Mine was thrown out of kilter on the journy to the airport. Someything to think about I feel.

 Right basck to my Holliday. Anyone know of good magic shops in Rotterdamn?