Last night was definitely one of the stand out gigs of my career so far.
I received an E-mail about a month ago asking if I could perform for a birthday party with a steampunk theme at Severndroog Castle. I Initially assumed I got the gig because someone there had seem p me perform magic at a Steampunk event at Crossness pumping station. One of the event organizers at Crossness now works at Sevendroog so I also thought he could have recommended me as well, Turns out I was wrong, the birthday girl had researched steampunk performers and I cropped up. This by itself felt awesome, it's nice to know I'm becoming highly regarded in the community.
Whilst I've been fortunate to perform for birthdays and weddings I often find one or two things about each gig to make them novel. In this case as well as magic the lady requested one of my mad science demonstrations. I have never performed this to an adult audience before and I was intrigued at how it would be received. They LOVED it. much like a Tea and Sympathy event I was set up in a room and people were invited to come along and be part of a small show. I often worry about this, I used to feel like I was intruding on peoples time, that it is almost rude to ask them to actively seek me out. After many events however I must admit people love coming specifically for a small show and really feel (or should I say understand) that they are part of something special. Thanks to the interaction with people in this way I certainly feel like each show is unique and special.
On the subject of the science show...
I need to "steampunk up" my Flying wand
I need to create an obviously "McGyvered" electric motor robust enough to be a generator as well.
People are fascinated and shocked by the Iron extraction from Rice Crispies.
One other thing that made this event different was working with Dan. Dan is a superb juggler and staff performer who is also learning magic. He's a ridiculously fast learner and has a most charming presentation style. We have worked together before several times before. However previously we worked at events he got bookings for. This was his first time in "My World" working in a table environment for a birthday party where most people were acquainted and from a simuler background.
Before hand he had worked in a "festival environment" with lots of walk about performing with short stand up and walk around effects. Whilst I was performing "walk about" magic to meet and greet the guests he was juggling rings for groups of people before the weather made this impractical and he switched to magic as well. We did get an amazing whip performance in (he is a qualified whip master and it shows).
Up close I used Elastic band magic (tescoes elastic bands are rubbish, must get new ones)
Wee Wee Mentalist followed by "do as I do" and "ambitouse Card" "here then There and some Mind reading.
All of these went down very well and I received a lot of comments along the lines of being far better than other magicians seen else where. I also received a lot of comments stating hoe good Dan was at both juggling and magic. He has developed his own set and style that comp-liments my own very well. He's not a direct copy of me and puts his own spin on everything he does and people love it.
After the walk around intro we went into the science. After which we set up a second table and we each performed our own close up table set. I went for more "rapport" effect with groups of women, mind reading, cartomancy and other empathic effects. This then climaxed with "out of this world".
With gentlemen I slipped into my old gambling routines. I had forgotten how powerful these are! The "poker hand" trick were I ask questions to build a physiological profile of someone before arranging the cards in an order I feel they would choose resulting in them getting a full house in poker has a really powerful effect. Revealing that they had given me a Royal Flush in the process just ads to the fun. Dan performed his own material and he was getting the full range of positive reactions from the logical "you can't just have done that, that's amazing" and complimenting his intelligence and skill to the emotional gasps comments of how he made people feel they were seeing real magic.
So in summing up. Dan's performance style and abilities compliment mine and Darren's very well. I think he's an amazing addition to the team. He also really loved being part of "my world" and wants to perform more up close and intimate table magic.
Table magic and walk around magic are VERY different. There are the practical difference of what you can achieve with a surface to work on, but also it's the setting. The intimacy afforded by removing background noise and allowing people to focus on our little velvet covered world of secrets allows for a much stronger emotional involvement in our magic. I am very proud of the fact we can perform more or less anywhere and I have enjoyed the huge amount of festival work we have done lately, but I have missed close up table magic and it felt good to return to it.
Things learnt. Card magic can have it's own beauty and charm.
People love being taken out for their world and into our sphere of magic and the effects we produce in them will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
Dan is an amazing and charming performer in his own right and I think the three of us will be able to go on to do even greater things.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Free kids gig at the The Minories Galleries
Today was my first gig at the Minories for kids. The idea was to provide a free show and workshop to test to see if there would be a demand for more shows and classes in the summer. The understanding being if it's a hit we will get paid for the gigs in the summer.
I have learnt a few lessons about performing kids magic, mainly being
a) Keep an eye on the props, and make sure you can keep things that do not bare close inspection well out of reach.
b) Try to arrange things so you only need to make one trip to the car, two tops.
c) Make a lift of effects and then a check list for props, both to be packed and set up.
I made a rough running order and more or less stuck to it.
The introduction was weird, as they tend to be. With no stage to walk out onto you have to just be hanging around when people show up.
As we waited for people to show up I performed a little elastic band magic.
I opened with the coke bottle. I wanted something with crowd interaction and kids love sweets.
Reaction, The shock end had the crowd hyped.
I moved into diminishing milk (or red fluid in my case - reaction was amazed by some, others were moderately impressed
The mirror glass turning fluid to silk, kids found it fun, not so magical
Shrinking and transporting the silk. Spun it out for AGES using the hole in the change bag and getting kids to put their hands through the bag and acting freaked out by the monsters.
-A major high point
The crystal tube. How I WISH amber traffic likes meant "Slow Down" like in America, again a good reaction.
The colouring book - And the crowd goes wild:) IT's funny, some kids "know that one" and one did know the method. One girl insisted she knew it before hand but she still joined in with through colours!
What I learnt.
1) Kids love my magic
2) I have enough props and material to throw on a good show.
The workshop split between Darren and I worked very well as well :)
Today was my first gig at the Minories for kids. The idea was to provide a free show and workshop to test to see if there would be a demand for more shows and classes in the summer. The understanding being if it's a hit we will get paid for the gigs in the summer.
I have learnt a few lessons about performing kids magic, mainly being
a) Keep an eye on the props, and make sure you can keep things that do not bare close inspection well out of reach.
b) Try to arrange things so you only need to make one trip to the car, two tops.
c) Make a lift of effects and then a check list for props, both to be packed and set up.
I made a rough running order and more or less stuck to it.
The introduction was weird, as they tend to be. With no stage to walk out onto you have to just be hanging around when people show up.
As we waited for people to show up I performed a little elastic band magic.
I opened with the coke bottle. I wanted something with crowd interaction and kids love sweets.
Reaction, The shock end had the crowd hyped.
I moved into diminishing milk (or red fluid in my case - reaction was amazed by some, others were moderately impressed
The mirror glass turning fluid to silk, kids found it fun, not so magical
Shrinking and transporting the silk. Spun it out for AGES using the hole in the change bag and getting kids to put their hands through the bag and acting freaked out by the monsters.
-A major high point
The crystal tube. How I WISH amber traffic likes meant "Slow Down" like in America, again a good reaction.
The colouring book - And the crowd goes wild:) IT's funny, some kids "know that one" and one did know the method. One girl insisted she knew it before hand but she still joined in with through colours!
What I learnt.
1) Kids love my magic
2) I have enough props and material to throw on a good show.
The workshop split between Darren and I worked very well as well :)
Friday, April 3, 2015
First wedding of the year.
Yesterday saw my first Wedding gig in quite a while, was I nervous? A little, but only enough to make sure I was putting effort into my prep and planning. However while prepping I had a few thoughts.
1) Iron your outfit THE NIGHT BEFORE at the earliest. IT's a good chance to check waistcoats for damage and make repairs.
2) I really do need some clothes that are purely for performance that are kept ironed and bagged up. I have a selection of new steampunk and non steampunk fabrics so it may be time to make some "magic only" gear.
3) One joy of regular practise is it means you know well in advance of you're running low on anything and can stock up
4) double check if you need to take kids gear with you (although it's always handy to take some ropes, a hotshot colour change effect and "once upon a time" to these things.
5) I know a fair amount of card effects. counted up to 15 and only 3 of them used gaffs of any kind. More than enough material.
At the venue I made sure the manager saw my insurance (hey if you got it flaunt it) and found a place for my case. Becuase I was doing a steampunk event I had my little leather steampunk bag as well. The case was a security blanket of sorts just incase I needed a complete reload. I had my smaller bag full of reloads, cups and balls and spare decks, the case had a few things for magic that might be a little too serous/dark depending on the crowd( such as Cartomancy)
Effects that went down well were
Wee Wee Mentalist (ofcourse)
Twilight Angels (non doctor who version)
Ambitouse Card (however I needed to use one less rise for some groups, it was too long for them)
Here then There (got a lot of people talking!
Do as I Do (totally freaked a few people out)
Mind reading and invisible deck was a huge talking about
And talking point is an interesting point! I was being dragged from table to table to show people "that thing you just did!" and i'd over hear snippets of "how did he KNOW!"
Basically the whole night was an ego boost. As is normal with these events I had a few "hardcorse fans" who kept wanting more, so I switched into gambling routines, the poker hand trick worked REALLY well for that.
one thing i should have prepped. a time scale. The bride didn't' know that it's normal for a magician to start at 8 ish and then do at least 2 hours, sometimes more. I started at 5, so come 9 the night was young but i'd been perfoming for 4 hours. By this time though I noticed everyone had settled into groups and were happily chatting. My work was done. I pointed ut to the bride that from now on i'd just be interupting people. Thanks were heaped upon me. I was told that I made the event and everyone kept telling her what an awesome idea it was to have me. I was paid, and off I went, after thanking some of the hard core fans for their time, and thanking the staff of the venue ofcourse.
Overall, a fantastic night making me realise that magician is the right path for me!
1) Iron your outfit THE NIGHT BEFORE at the earliest. IT's a good chance to check waistcoats for damage and make repairs.
2) I really do need some clothes that are purely for performance that are kept ironed and bagged up. I have a selection of new steampunk and non steampunk fabrics so it may be time to make some "magic only" gear.
3) One joy of regular practise is it means you know well in advance of you're running low on anything and can stock up
4) double check if you need to take kids gear with you (although it's always handy to take some ropes, a hotshot colour change effect and "once upon a time" to these things.
5) I know a fair amount of card effects. counted up to 15 and only 3 of them used gaffs of any kind. More than enough material.
At the venue I made sure the manager saw my insurance (hey if you got it flaunt it) and found a place for my case. Becuase I was doing a steampunk event I had my little leather steampunk bag as well. The case was a security blanket of sorts just incase I needed a complete reload. I had my smaller bag full of reloads, cups and balls and spare decks, the case had a few things for magic that might be a little too serous/dark depending on the crowd( such as Cartomancy)
Effects that went down well were
Wee Wee Mentalist (ofcourse)
Twilight Angels (non doctor who version)
Ambitouse Card (however I needed to use one less rise for some groups, it was too long for them)
Here then There (got a lot of people talking!
Do as I Do (totally freaked a few people out)
Mind reading and invisible deck was a huge talking about
And talking point is an interesting point! I was being dragged from table to table to show people "that thing you just did!" and i'd over hear snippets of "how did he KNOW!"
Basically the whole night was an ego boost. As is normal with these events I had a few "hardcorse fans" who kept wanting more, so I switched into gambling routines, the poker hand trick worked REALLY well for that.
one thing i should have prepped. a time scale. The bride didn't' know that it's normal for a magician to start at 8 ish and then do at least 2 hours, sometimes more. I started at 5, so come 9 the night was young but i'd been perfoming for 4 hours. By this time though I noticed everyone had settled into groups and were happily chatting. My work was done. I pointed ut to the bride that from now on i'd just be interupting people. Thanks were heaped upon me. I was told that I made the event and everyone kept telling her what an awesome idea it was to have me. I was paid, and off I went, after thanking some of the hard core fans for their time, and thanking the staff of the venue ofcourse.
Overall, a fantastic night making me realise that magician is the right path for me!
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Passport to Narnia
This weekend saw yet another fantastic Tea and Sympathy night in Colchester. As with all their nights this one was given a strong theme, and much like Alice in wonderland it was a theme I really wanted to do for a while, Narnia! I felt like I didn't prep enough for Alice in regards to magic, costuming and over all research so this time I started early. I read "The magicians nephew" and "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (a book I tend to read this time of year anyway). These helped give me a feel and mood for the night but not any ideas on effects to use. I had however visited Davenport and got "Snow Storm in China" an effect that generates a snow storm of paper and my classic snowball from TT effect. To be honest the other new thing I had was a simple table I made form a drum stand. This made a huge difference as you will see.
The format for this night was different from any other. Instead of me being on my own in a room or going up to groups I had my new high table in a room with other entertainments such as storytelling, pole swinging and a cybernetic enharnsed apple tree. Each guest was given a "passport to Narnia" which had to be stamped at each table. The "market" would be open for 1 hour only, thus I only really had to work for one hour instead of my normal 4 or so. Also it meant I would have an intense constant stream of people, s I would only have to do one or two effects each.
Before the market opened I went outside of the boat and performed the 2 snow based effects where they would cayuse less mess. People liked them but I felt my snowball for TT wasn't as slick as normal. I really think it will be worth spending a while working out the right ratio of water and snow effect, That said the Snow storm in China wowed one of the ladies who supports the event :)
I went with the classics and added the new effect "wilder" from "impromptu card magic" This effect shows 4 jokers turning into a selected card before turning into the "mates" of a different chosen card. Because I had my new table I had a surface to use "Imposible" on as well as just making the other effects run slicker. I was shocked at how strong a reaction I got from "card in hand" and "direct mind reading" I miss performing these effects.
I also had a new waistcoat for the evening. The combination of new waistcoat and new effect meant I didn't feel like I was coasting the event and actually made me feel more alive and vibrant and fresh for the evening. So I guess the motto is the more yopu put in, the more you get out :)
The format for this night was different from any other. Instead of me being on my own in a room or going up to groups I had my new high table in a room with other entertainments such as storytelling, pole swinging and a cybernetic enharnsed apple tree. Each guest was given a "passport to Narnia" which had to be stamped at each table. The "market" would be open for 1 hour only, thus I only really had to work for one hour instead of my normal 4 or so. Also it meant I would have an intense constant stream of people, s I would only have to do one or two effects each.
Before the market opened I went outside of the boat and performed the 2 snow based effects where they would cayuse less mess. People liked them but I felt my snowball for TT wasn't as slick as normal. I really think it will be worth spending a while working out the right ratio of water and snow effect, That said the Snow storm in China wowed one of the ladies who supports the event :)
I went with the classics and added the new effect "wilder" from "impromptu card magic" This effect shows 4 jokers turning into a selected card before turning into the "mates" of a different chosen card. Because I had my new table I had a surface to use "Imposible" on as well as just making the other effects run slicker. I was shocked at how strong a reaction I got from "card in hand" and "direct mind reading" I miss performing these effects.
I also had a new waistcoat for the evening. The combination of new waistcoat and new effect meant I didn't feel like I was coasting the event and actually made me feel more alive and vibrant and fresh for the evening. So I guess the motto is the more yopu put in, the more you get out :)
Friday, December 5, 2014
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 :)
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 :)
Sunday, May 4, 2014
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.
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.
Monday, November 4, 2013
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
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
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