Ho Ho Ho,

Tonnight I had the honour of filling in for a certain large gentleman in a red suit.
WHAT a night. The idea of a magician playing Father Christmas really makes sense when you're entertaining children from an infants AND junior school. The younger kids get to see Santa, while the older kids who may be self concious about being seen as childish can tell themselves (and parents) they are just there for the magic tricks.
I got the gig because one person on the PTA is a fellow performer, and another did an amazing job on my wedding flowers. (it pays to be outgoing and chatty it seems) The fee wasn't going to be something to retire on, and from that I had to buy props and consumables. I had a long think about what in my repertoire (and in things I wanted to learn) would work in a santa setting.

I was told I'd be playing to groups of about 12, me in a grotto formed from a gazebo and amazingly well decorated, and the children standing under an awning. I would only have 4 or 5 minutes with each group. This is a double edged sword, on one hand i wouldn't need much material, but then i also  would have less chance to use different  types of effects so there would be "something for everyone" there. Also i wouldn't have time to use my engaging personality (I hate saying that as it makes me feel arrogant, but I have to admit when I  perform close up people like me).

It felt strange being just a performer and not having to deal with the organizing and advertising, I'm not, in fact I felt quit guilty when i saw the amount of work  everyone else had put in, they did a fantastic job. The grotto was amazing and the presents for the children were all sorted and wrapped. I was very impressed by thier energy and their skill.

Watching santa films for inspiration I looked for common themes. As a child we left the big guy brandy, but apparently milk is the order of the day. Going through the lift of effects I came up with diminishing milk. IT's visual and easy to understand. The plot i used was how  Santa can magically reduce milk so he could drink the millions of glasses left out for him.


 Another magician had the amazing idea of using a change bag disguised as a Santa hat and coloured beads to show how santa chose good boys and girls. A lot of coloured or silver beads were to be put into the bag and ONE gold one, then the child would put their hand in the bag and get the gold one every time. I wanted to add my own spin on this and thought of using gold and silver bells (bells being a strong symbol in the movie "Polar Express". In the film a child is given a bell by Santa, this then go time thinking about GIVING the bells away. That would prove to expense as I was expecting 200 children. the mental path however led me to chocolate coins, our local shop supplied them in gold and silver, 50p a bag (which has 10 coins in) £10 of gold coins and a few silver coin bags and I was all set. I got a 99p santa hat with the intention of stripping off the fir and pom pom, to sew onto a red change bag, however in typical Dean luck the  hat fit perfectly over the bag and just needed a little tacking.

All the children were shown a pile of silver coins go into the hat and one  or two gold coins, they were told to take a coin out, hold it and not to look at it, then it was revealed they ALL had gold coins. Many kids looked straight away, but when i told then to take a coin and hold it over their hearts without looking at it, they all  obeys. An interesting bit of crowd handling and I need to think more about why this worked and how to use it in future. Everyone loved this effect, although one girl was tieried she'd get a silver coin :)

Over all the night went amazing well, mainly due to the effective team work in play. THe head master was thrilled and told me after wards that some of the "hard " kids decided they wanted to visit the  grotto after all :)
I  made a point of telling him how well the kids behaved and how effective his team is. THey all really were. Even the older kids took part and didn't blab of chalange santa :)
THe only thing i'd do different?  A better beard :)

wow, 6 monthes!

Okay so why have I been absent for so long? Many reasons really, I have been gigging a fair bit in this time, mainly for Tea and Sympathy and for True Love Tours as warm up, crowd wrangler and light desk guy. But lots have been happening in my life, some great some not so great.
Very early in the year I was diagnosed with cancer. I then spent some 3 months waiting to find out how bad it was and what the treatment would be. Luckily the answer is not a al and none for a while. 
However now it turns out I have some damage to the kidneys so the merry go round of testing and appointments continues.
On the more awesome side of things, I've gotten married. The wedding was amazing, everything went very well. The stag was also amazing  and I was offered  some fantastic advice by Simon Drake.

Magic wise I literally struggle to recall all the gigs of the last 6 months.  Last night wasw a most epic close up party more of this in a moment.

I need a plan to improve not only what I already do but to learn more and to stay motivated.
SO a list of achivemnts...

Now Tax Registered. I can advertise, apply for professional work etc and know all this is taken care of.

I am now in Equity. This means I also have insurance.

I'm an apprentice to the Magic Circle.  This gives me access to some fantastic books, as well as mentors, and every issue of the Magic Circler digitally. To a lover of the history of magic this is something that's amazing.

So the PLAN!

Plan, Do Review. Sunday's I'll review my week in magic. Thus Sunday is BLOG day.

Mid Term
Get fitter, thinner magicians are more attractive, and I felt much better when I was on my old "oh my god I got cancer" nutrition and exercise plan. I slipped off it before my last appointment as I needed to see if this healthy living plan was affecting the results of  blood work. 

Work on some great effects I've purchased but not MADE time to look at properly

Ninja +
Nut Dropper
Horizen
Invisible

Read Tarbell.

Goals for this week.
Read a 2 Magic Circulars and 2 old Genii 
Practice Rain bow Connection for 30 minutes a day.
Spent 30 minutes a day on one of the above effects.

Read 2 chapters of Tarbell.

I have to work for 4  hours a day for my "day job". However much needs to be done there so I'll be working 6 hours a day.   However I start at 7 am,  so from 1pm until 5 pm I can work on my magic. I keep saying I need to treat magic as a job and work regular hours, lets see if I can.

Charity gig in Maidstone

See below about how I got the gig and why I did it.
THe venue was a bar. I knew I had little table space and there would music. SO effects that NEED a table were out, such as Cartomancy. I stackes twwo decks with the classic Twilight Angels and Wee Wee Mentalist double act. I had a free form deck for other effects. EVERYTHING went down AMAZINGLY well. Angles and mentalist were talked about by EVERYONE. Ambitouse card wowed people, as did Card in Hand.. TO open with I didn't use Wee Wee like normall. Instead i used a hankie vanish or elestic band tricks. THese again amazed  everyone.
things to think about.
My magic IS impressive and people seam to like interactng with me
my relaxed conversational style works well .
I need more effects where I can work in "mime" for whent here are plenty of load music.
my small selection of fluorishes are handy to have in reserve for a certian kind of participant (normally y oung men
Elastic band magic is great "non card" magic. Must learn more.
i missed an opituinity to perform a stage effect due to lack of sutible material. I need to look more at the work of John Archer and other stage performes who work with few props so I can grab these optuinities in futre

JMANY people did a whole load at screaming in disbilove, ACTUal screamming. THIs is good

Blog the first. Charity and imagination

I may have said before "If i was getting paid the proper rate I'd be doing well for this number of gigs"> Many people have told me to be wary of performing too often for free. I must confess my self esteem takes a hit when I find out I'm working for free whilst other people at a charity event are being paid. Such it was about tonight's gig, Even though no pressure was applied and I accepted the commission freely I felt a bit of a mug for agreeing to drive for almost 2 hours to the gig, a charity and fund raising gig for people I don't know. I agreed as I was asked by someone who helped raise money for a friend of mine, I thought it only fair I help his friends. I realised I was building up a resentment, which was unfair, he did nothing wrong, he just asked for some help.  So I decidede to see this gig as I initally thought of it, a stepping stone to Festive Fun. As a kid early November was the start of Christmas, it's when my surgeries tended to be, so it was the end of the winter term and the start of reading at home by the fire with hot chcolate. In resent years I left getting festivly minded too late, not having time to prepare a Christmas event and getting stressed. So I set off in the car, lictendin to "A Christmas Carol".
In the first part Marly's ghost talks about how the human spirit must go forth amongst it's fellow mans'  if not in life then in death. The whole section goes on to talk about charitable actions. I felt a lot better about doing this gig.  And what a gig it was. I'll post again about what went down BUT actions were amazing, expenses paid, journey  enjoyable, the p[participants fantastic. A real boost to my confidence as well as a few possible gigs.

And now a little about imagination.  As I left the venue it was raining, HARD. I had parked in a multi story car park, on the roof and relaised I'd have to walk up the sections reserved for cars as all the doors and stairs were shut. THe darkness, the weather and walking somewhere where you normally wouldn't work fired my imagination.  I started thinking of film noir detective thrillers, and then urban fantasies. The roof was littered with HUGE air intakes and had a strange industrial almost sci fi feel to it. In the darkness it felt more like a space station, and then something from "London Below" from Never Where.  I had to hop over barriers and run up and down service ramps to find a pay station (there were none, I made my escape by eventually using the "help" button on the wall. I should have been worried, or at least peeved off by the driving rain, the wind and the fear of being stuck there for a night. But instead I was elated, I felt like i Was having an adventure, all be it in my own mind. Maybe that';s the etheral moment I crave to create. Adventures of the impossible in the minds of my participants, even if it's for the meerest flicker of a second

contemplative

Since the last post I've had two gigs, and secured a good lead on a booking in December. Both gigs were very good, ranking highly among the past gigs in fact. My mood is slightly subdued by the tremendous physical pain I'm in though. Part of my wants to curl into a ball and hide, another part wishes I had an enemy to see to fight. The enemy within is always the hardest to defeat though. At times like this it's easy for me to remember failure and to forget the times  I've made a difference in the world. Maybe now would be a good time to write about the last two gigs, trapped between the high and the low of my emotions.

The first gig was a  charity event for "Missing People". It was effectively Bar Magic, dealing with people in a loud noisy environment. This called for short punchy effects initially, with the hope of doing something more drawn out later on.   The now most used trio of effects were brought out, Wee Wee Mentalist, Twilight Angels and Ambitious Card. These as ever packed a HUGE punch. Some  participants were a little the worse for wear and I had to deal with a  certain amount of Semi Drunkenness. A mixture of a friendly demeanour combined with physical size did help keep people form becoming aggressive.

  The last but one table involved a group of about 6 young people (around 19 years old).  I opened with Wee wee and Twilight Angels, they were hooked. I went on to "out of this World", direct mind reading, Invisible deck, Serial Killer as well as one handed card tricks. They wanted thier friends to see the first two, luckily I packed a duplicate stack deck:)

The last table had four people, 3 girls one boy. I targeted each with an effect I thought they'd like. The loud girl got wee wee, a quiet girl got Twilight Angels, the boy got Ambitious card   the final girl recived a card in hand, but signed.
Over all a great night, and the organizeres were thrilled with my work.

Not even a week later I was in Southend working a birthday party in a restaurant. The restaurant was AMAZING. Shabby Chic mixed with a sense of surreal theatre. I felt instantly at home. I was perfoming with "H" who was working with mainly mentalist retuines. I began with the classic openers, but when we s at down I started to channel more of Derren Brown's "absolute Magic" and less of "Darwin Ortiz Strong Magic". I used my personality, I engaged in conversation. Luckily I'm genuinely interested in people, I love hearing tier stories, and their opinions, it's not something I have to fake. I would briong conversationa round to star signs, and then tarrot, and then break out Cartomancy. I was unlucky every time! the effect has two possible outcomes, one more magical than the other, BUT even though I was disapointed the particpants were blown away!

Befaore the gig I knew I wanted to perfom ina  relaxed casual manor, buikding tention, working in an almost impromptu style. This I managed. After  A while, inbetween courses I built uop effect upon effect, layering Dierect Mind reading, Invisible deck, Cartomancy, out of this world as well as  working out a chosoen card from reading somone pulse.

I left feeling like a wizard. IT built my confidence no end.

I'm now working more on "ninja rings". more of this later.
Over all in love with magic, confident of my abiltites. JUst wish my leg didn't hburt.

money can't buy happiness...

Money can't buy happiness, but it can by enthusiasm. Well not money, but new material does help make you enthusiastic. I've just returned from Wivenhoe Comedy Club where I often perform close up magic before the main acts. Today I used this time to test drive "White Star" a trick lent to me from a friend.The effect floored everyon e. It's bassed on the Titanic. People chose pictures of people at random, and one will have chosen all survivors whilst the other will chose people who died. The method is staggeringly simple. IT does however require  showmanship to sell the effect. Judging by the strong lead for a gig I'd say it worked. it felt good working with new material again. Looking at my bookcase I have a lot of material I can be learning so maybe I really do need a challenge. Maybe one week one new effect (from my existing library, not bought)

 is it better to learn lots of material, or focus on a little and get it perfect? I think you can do both, learn new but don't ignore the old. Methods learnt in the new material may compliment existing skills to help you perform older material better. As with all things this is a balance act, and the only way to get the balance right is to experiment.

A life less organized.

Over all things are great. Since the last blog I've performed for Haleworth Library, Colchester Invasion and a private party with kids and adults. I've also gone back to visit MEMS for the first time since I hurt my foot (which I've also had fixed up since the last blog, simple quick operation, I'll need follow up work but nothing major). Mems welcomed me back with open arms being one of the hand full who show up to an AGM has that effect). I told them about not getting into the Circle, and explained that not getting in didn't bother me, but being treated the way I was by the Examination Sectary did. Every agreed the behaviour was shocking. This made me feel a lot better, I think sometimes we just need an outsider to say "yes you'r right that sucks".

So what next?  A new set of Cup and Balls, and then major study. I want to spend at least an hour a day on my audition. Well more a case of study for the sake of improving my magic, but now  have a clear aim. MEMS will also be holding more tutorial evenings, with a  challenge cup to aim for. Incentives and a structured learning system, hopefully this will help push  my magic skills and improve them.
SO things I want to do?

New non card magic:
Spounge Balls
Cups & Balls
Rope Magic

Card- More quick impromptu effects

I've got the learning materials for all of this already. Now I just need to focus and crack on.