a little faith

Life has just gotten a little more stressed. We had to evict our lodger. As a result our income has taken a dive. this income was just being used for savings, however we are saving for a wedding. SO now I really need to be gigging and earning. Most of  my life I've had little income but managed to live for little money. This now has to change as this path leads only to stagnation. So I have to spend a LITTLE money, work hard for MORE money, save some and invest some. TO this end I'm still buying the first years EMC lectures (already done) and paying for a spot at a wedding show on the 20th of January. \I'll also still be redecorating my studio and trying to remain positive and stress free. All stress and worrying about money will do now is emotionally clog me up, making me feel guilty when I do things related to magic (such as practise). I'm planing  on using this as a driving force to push on with the magic. Updates are more likely to follow as of next week ill be eat, sleep and living magic :)

impossible

Nick showed me a great new trick. It fulfils my need for effects that can be performed with a shuffled unprepared deck. it's called Impossible, and it's a pretty good description. Three piles of cards are made, 5 cards in each.  The participant takes one pile at random, cuts to a card. this half of their pile is put on any one of the remaining piles, then the second pile placed on top finally the remainder of their chosen pile placed on top. The chosen card is turned invisible, removed, rotated and kept away from the deck.  The cards are shown face up -several at a time- and the chosen card appears to have  vanished. The magician counts the cards down spelling the work IMPOSSIBLE (for a dyslexic this is the hardest part of the effect) on the "E" a card is shown face down, the magician names  the card and turns it over, it is the selected card.

I performed this in the wild last night. It was very well received by magicians and muggles alike. The scripting received some help from  friend, the beats and the structure were improved as the night went on. My handling was ok, but could be slicker. must remember people associate slickness of the hands with compitant and impressive magicians, and not just card sharps and jugglers like I do

Ideas can come from anywhere

I decided some time ago to stop buying kids magic sets/books/tricks. Initially I thought they may be a cheap way of learning some basics, however they were always substandard quality and as it turns out no more cheaper than buying a professional version. I have also started to realise that some "beginner" level books have a LOT of things I already know in. However it was a Beginner book, Mark Wilson's complete course in magic, that made me realize the importance of flourishes (in that they improve your over all level of slickness).
It was during a moment of possible arrogance of over sight that I paid no real attention to Michael Ammer's "Easy to perform card Miracles".  I didn't want to learn EASY things, I wanted to learn some of the things  that dazzled me at the magic club. Darren  did show me some things from it though, and so I thought I'd give it a go. If nothing else I figured it would be good  to cover the basics again. This set is amazing.  It doesn't just teach you effects with the slights required but also puts whole routines together., The teaching style is fantastic, for me personally it's perfect.  Already it has shown me an improvement to Big Deal. IN my version of the effect dealing from the bottom is explained and demonstrated slowly using four kings. Then I ask the participants to try and catch me out, they fail, and I reveal 4 ACES. cute yes, However it does mean everyone sees ONE ACE in their hand during the first round of dealing . Someone has commented on this (my boss who is a poker player). By replacing the aces with a royal flush the method becomes less obvious!. WHY didn't I think of that? This  shall be a valuable source of wisdom I think.
Other slights are tought , ones I've not heard of. I suspect they are little used in the wider magical arsenal, however may prove useful when devising my own effects.

It's good to Geek

Had a fun afternoon of magic geekery. Darren popped by and we talked briefly of our up coming show before a little day trip to a DIY store for some styling inspiration. Ultimately we settled down and went through Dave Forests 2wofaced DVD. We were keen to hone our close up acts whilst the lessons from the last gig were in our mind. I've wanted new material for a while and so has Darren, and whilst we're mainly in the market for "impromptu" card magic the 2wo faced DVD has been a source of great material in the past. Darren found a few effects he wants to work on before he hit on an amazing idea for my set. 2wo Faced has an effect called "Super Fly". IT's where a  fly drawn onto a card locates selected card. A crudely drawn character finding a card, sounds familiar? Whilst the method used is  entirely different to Wee Wee Mentalist it is in the same theme, hence why I have discarded it in the past. However I'm now working on a set of  other effects the wee wee mentalist can help me with, and as Darren pointed out I could just as easily draw the mentalist as a fly (after an initial experiment I think the mentalist is easier to draw).
 I have also sourced some impromptu effects. So my challenge is to learn "super Fly" by Friday for Electr[o]cracy and one impromptu effect.. This really does show though the benefit of just geeking out with friends as you never know  where the next  good idea will come form.

As for ideas coming from different places. Flourishes!. Initially I wanted to avoid them. I was going to be mainly a mentalist when I set out in magic, and hence not wanting to appear that any effects were down to slight of hand. However I'm mainly becoming a 'Card Guy' and According to research by Richard Wiseman a few flourishes can increase the impact and sense of magic in a participant. Reluctantly I started researching some simple flourishes. Mark Willsons opus "Complete Course in Magic" makes a compelling point. BY practising flourishes you will increase your handling ability of cards, hence making slights easier to pull off and giving a more polished performance. All this even if you never perform the flourishes. So time to practise.

new additions to a gig

Had another very positive gig last night. It was a close up gig at a garden party and was quite different from other gigs. To begin with I had a different close up partner with me. Initially this was going to be a group outing of four magicians. My regular partner, a chap I've not gigged with before and Darren, who I have performed stage work with, both comedy and magic. Due to other commitments only Darren and I went to the gig. Before hand Darren had the idea of working through the "The Four Card Trick" together in tandem. He suggested this could be a good opener. I liked the idea of us introducing ourselves to the party en mass, and then splitting  up and managing different groups of people. This worked beautifully. I found people engaged with the close up magic much more readily. This idea wouldn't have been feasible in all the gigs I have done in the past, we were fortunate that everyone was assembled in one spot. However if circumstances allow I think this opener can add greatly to the magic.

On my first set I flubbed "Wee Wee Mentalist", and effect I had picked up instantly and had never failed. This was upsetting but I bounced back instantly. It just goes to show how important practise and rehearsals are. Rehearsals cover what you do if things  go wrong. I SHOULD have used the Invisible Deck to show how I'm a better mentalist than the stick man. 

I found myself falling back on  Wee Wee Mentalist and Ambitious Card an awful lot. I had to make a concerted effort to use Here then There, Do as I do, Serial Killer (which went down AMAZINGLY well I might add) Also did  Mind Reading and Invisible Deck. I was prepped for Cartomancy but there was too much noise and no available space to perform it. I also didn't have enough table space for Out Of This World.

At the  last gig I decided I needed more quick fancy effects that I could perform with a regular shuffled deck, such as Ambitious Card and Card in Hand. IN that case it was because I was dealing with people who were the worse for alcohol. This time I think I could have done with these effects due to noise and space considerations. There exists a DVD of such effects, however I shall consult my arcane Library First.

Despite all these things the gig went very well indeed. We had very positive feedback and left feeling rather jolly. I did not have my normal pre gig terror, I was worried this was over confidence however I think it's more confidence and experience. However I need to prep my props for the gig a few days in advance, not the day before as this time I had to spend the day before the gig and the morning of the gig day itself looking after my girlfriend.  But overall a fantastic night

que the montage music

I've been studying the Book Of Magic Bullocks hard lately. This book  has no real effects BUT does have some killer slights. Without a doubt it#'s the best guide to performing "The Pass" I've red. It recommends building up muscles in your hands with certain exercises. it also recommends training montage music from Rocky (it actually helps). As fun as it is knowing I'm working towards one of the 'Big Boy' slights I am itching for new  effects to add to my repertoire to stop it feeling stale (well stale to me at least). I think I'll be settling down with Tom Stone's Vortex again., IT has some lovely new effects however these too are  in the  the 'Big Boy' league.  It's always nice to learn a new slight whilst learning a new effect, however  THIS effect uses misdirection. Now you can practice the double lift or the Erdinase easily enough, you KNOW when the participant can see or not see the slight so you know when it's good enough, BUT how to you practise mis -direction?

Awesome gig!

Last night my partner and I were engaged to entertain a wedding party. IT was for me a little more 'real' than other gigs. With the exception of one kids party  just about all my gigs came from a friend, or a friend of a fiend. We got this gig because a lady saw me running through a few effects at a local nightclub, she was so impressed she sought me out

.The event was an interesting  blend. Before 9 there would be children present. the little ones would then be packed off to bed. We were initially engaged to perform from 9 until 11 however I offered a bit of time -for free- before 9 so the kids could see some magic. This was not a wholly selfless action.

1) It gave me even more experience in performing for a younger group of people.

2) It gave me a chance to advertise myself as a children's magician in front of the parents.

3) It's much easier to go up to a group of kids and introduce yourself a s a magician and perform than a group of adults. however once the ice was broken it is easier to go up to the grown ups. 

I scored major points by getting one boy so excited by the magic he put down his PSP! once it was out of his hands and he was engaged with the magic, along with the other kids. As a result he then carried on playing with the other kids when I moved onto the grown ups.  I can understand why some magicians fear performing for kids though, even if they are naturally adept with them.  The reason is public perception. My first effect was my now classic silk shrinking, vanishing transport to sock. One of the mum's looked  STUNNED she actually said "WOW, that's' actually really good".  I suddenly realised she expected the children's magic to be 'low grade' or '2nd class magic' . It seams there is a stigma with children's magic. Parents expect to work out how the magic is performed, feel a little smug and only be paying the magicians at a kids party to work as a kind of crowd control, not doing anything they themselves could not do. This idea  was confirmed when one of the parents later remarked on a close up piece I performed "you really are very good, i just thought you were for the kids".

On to the grown ups. I began with two receptive looking ladies and pulled out me "Rapport" Deck. As with other large events I had a few differently stacked decks.

Rapport Deck (a Red for rapport backed bicycle deck in my Right for rapport pocket)

this was stacked for...

Here then There

Direct Mind Reading

Do as I Do

Out of this World

I had in my Right trouser pocket  an Invisible Deck and Cartomancy to allow  me to increase the spiritual mind reading effects

On my left side  in Blue Backed bicycles. the Gambling effects

Four site

Big Deal

Aces High

and fully prepared to break out Ambitious Card as an example of advanced card control (and how people can cheat at poker.)

So back to the nice ladies. They loved the introduction of the Wee Wee Mentalist (in a card clip normally in my hand to serve as an ice breaker. Here than there received an amazing reaction (and went on to all night. Direct minding, FAILED! the stack seamed to screw up (this happened TWICE) so now I'm going to have to runt through the stack a few times to see what happened. Luckily I managed to save some face by getting a second bit of mind reading right, and the invisible deck (only JUST realised I could have gone ah h just kidding here's your selected card, HOWEVER that would have been making ME look good not them, in retrospect I think I did the right thing). The band then kicked off. NOT TO SELF. Bands play louder than the disco. I polity offered to return at a less noisy time and left the table.

Next two LADS of the YOUNGER variety. they cockily wanted to see "Some Magic then". They seemed friendly but slightly confrontational. I broke into FOUR SIGHT. They Loved it. They loved my story that goes with the effect as well. They seemed slightly the worse for ware so instead of going into the more long winded Big Deal I switched to Wee Wee Mentalist. Again they loved the effect  but I didn't want to take up their time, I felt that they were happy with what they had seen, and would have been polite and watched more, but they were also itching to get to the casino. Performing further would have been performing for ME and not THEM, I offered to return later and let them go, glad that I cut the routine short and left on a g high. When I first got into performing I would have wanted to exhaust everything in one go, OR if I felt I should leave before finishing my planned routine I would have felt like a failure , like they didn't wan to see my work. Now I understand more, they were happy with  what they had seen no doubt, but there are other demands on people attention, and so it's best to be happy  that they enjoyed themselves and you had not upset them, or cause them to patronise me.

Outside away from the music I sat down and a younger guy sat opposite me. I opened with "I don't mean to be rude but are you ever so slightly stoned". he FREAKED out. he wanted to know how I could tell. This was actually just a gut reaction, I felt pretty sure he was, and if he were not he would not take offence to the question. I then explained there were effects I can perform on him because he was now in a more receptive state thanks to his naughty behaviour. I melted the poor guys mind, he kept  coming back for more though.

Over all the night went amazingly well. I had one drunk annoying guy who was easily dealt with. Everyone had  told the host how fantastic me and my partner were. One shock was how rarely  I used the gambling deck. Even though there was a pretend casino in place (and hence I thought a perfect opportunity to do some gambling magic) most people seemed to be more up for the mentalist style of magic. Must learn more mentalist effects. Card in hand and Here  then There freaked people out just as much as more complicated effects, although The  Ambitious card is the king of slight of hand showing off.  So the best laid plans of magicians can go awry yes, BUT  with confidence and a good few quick effects and a pliable supple mindset  you can adjust to the needs of the event swiftly

Thoughts;

Wish I had more info on the couple we were dealing with. I'll have to work harder  at that next time

My parter made a point when people thanked him for the magic to say "thank the host for inviting us" this helped immensely, I must do this too.

Need more shorter effects for when people are drunk and can't concentrate.

Practice is so worth it, staying well practised means less stress and worry before a gig, just enjoyment.

More proof I'm good with people in these situation. Even if I always think of myself as an unlikeable  clumsy buffoon, no-one else seems to have noticed.

Learning new effects me not be  vital, but it gives me more confidence and more freedom to adjust my plans on the fly.