woah, almost 2 months without an update. I've taken on more work at "the day job" which has required my undivided attention. That said whilst I've not spent much time working on new material or even practicing, I've been gigging like mad. Most of these gigs have been free or nearly free but it's all flight time.
I've performed at a garden party for a village fete, a home school group again, a kids party n the countryside, as a warm up/promoter for Darren's epoch making "cabinet of Leopold Thorn", a Steampunk Birthday party among other gigs.
Tonight was another Tea and Sympathy gig. The theme was "Mexican Wrestling and Day of the Dead". I decided to decorate the room leading to the magic chamber again, this time using a LOT of U.V. I've wanted to experiment with UV a lot and thought this would be a perfect excuse to try it. Mexican day of the dead involves brightly coloured "candy Skulls" and I wanted something that really "pinged". Also a lot of Spanish and Lati9n American art involves bright florescent colors. The surreal and ethereal game "psyconaughts" involved a Spanishy/Mexican level that used these bright colours and a totally black background to depict an artists dream. I wanted to create a dream. As with other gigs I set up a projector and a sound track. I used my wealth of obscure knowledge to pick a film that fitted both the day of the dead theme and Mexican wrestling. The sound track was a Mexican techno band. The room was flooded with UV and candy skull pictures were ut on the walls. Darren had the genoiuse idea of taping florescent card to show the door way. This was a safety feature but also added to the "door to an other worlds " effect. HE even added glowing foot steps. I also set up a bubble machine complete with UV bubbles.The over all effecdt was sureal and dreamy. IT was just as I imagined, and I was very happy with how quick we set things up.
As with other gigs where I didn't have time to learn much new material I panic bought magic. "Worry Dolls of Doom" and a self foldng bank note. The worry dolls of doom is a lil fidly, but packed a nice punch. However I destroyed part of the prop by accident. THe self folding bill had an ok reaction, I think I need to build suspense into it more. I performed
Wee weementalist and twilight angels (but not as much as normal)
Out of this world
IMPOSSIBLE
Direct mind reading (with invisible deck follow up)
Serieal Killer
SPike through arm
Ambitouse card.
Over all i was very happy. I had NO dead responses at all. I also had 2 moments of "enchantment" ALllthe above effects worked well and different groups of participants reacted more strongly to some points than others. At the end of the evening a young lady asked if I could put the spike through HER arm. Everyone seemed very shocked and impressed with the result. IT turned a very good night into an excellent night
I spent a lot of time and money preping for this gig and got paid very little. However all the equipment I bought were things I wanted for along time. I now have a bubble machine, a UV bulb, UV reactive paints for prop making. MY folding bank note broke and I had to go through my dvd;'s to find out how to fix it. I thought I could have MADE my own note and saved some money, however it was usefull working with a purchased one first to get a feel of the prop. Also going through the videos reminded me how much I like Brad Christopher. IT's inspired me to make some props and start learning new magic.
So summing up on the financial aspect of the night I'm reminded of Stan Alan's talk at the Essential Magic conference..."what did LAnce Burton get from winning FISM, nothing! what did he get from preparing for FISM, EVERYTHING!" thIS GIG...
Got my creative juices flowing again,
taught me some basic UV principles (including things to watch out for such as "magic/invisible tape GLOWING under UV)
An investment in non magic party props (bubble machine, paints etc)
Confidence in my painting
confidence in my ability to hold an audience
SO well worth the time and money
Things to think about.
Learn to use a basic editing program to blend movies and music and to edit movie scenes
Find tapes that glow in different colours for the door ways etc
UV is fun, learn some UV magic
I still get a littlen urvouse at the start of a gig. I need to realize people think my magic is WORTH seeking out. Next gig tell the DJ to announce the magic is on and to send people up
find better storage soloutions for props and prop building equipment, it's worth the investment.
and I LOVE MAGIC
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)