Last night was a gig, a slightly different gig than normal. This time there were THREE of us. Each with a different way of presenting magic. The gig was another wedding party (this one also based some time AFTER the wedding). Before hand i was quite calm, pretty confident. This confidence faded a little before hand when I realised that I's had plenty of PRACTISE but no real REHEARSAL. The difference being practise will involve running through individual slights or effects whilst rehearsal links them all together for a short routine. I always like the idea of free styling, however having a basic form from which to deviate would have been useful. As a result i was over laden with decks of cards, and felt concerned about constantly switching decks. Everything went down very well including the first outing of "Super Fly". The main lessons of the night involved not having to rely on many many decks and controlling the audience. A girl asked for a repeat of the Wee Wee Mentalist. Now as it happens I had set the deck up to enable me to do as such, and so I did. This was a mistake, there would have been more magic if I went into SuperFly instead, but using the motive of the stick man mentalist. I realised this and so when asked again later on by a chap who witnessed me performing the effect on a girl in his group I changed tack. He was a Challenger, of this there is no doubt. I handed him the deck to shuffle and examine, Then he selected a card and I went into Ambitious Card. Everyone was blown away, himself included. I had performed an entirely different effect than he wanted, but one that two him was more impressive and cemented the idea that the first effect was very cleaver and not just a simple self working gimmick.
Over the past few weeks i've focused on very simple flourishes, including a simple Drag Fan. This was time well spent, being able to offer participants a card from an elegant fan made me feel better and show a touch of professionalism to the people involved.
The sewing work is STILL going on, the grand make over of the studio, and my life, has yet to take place. posts will be updated when they are though
