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lylaster Regular user Atlanta 197 Posts |
Been into magic for about a year. I was approached a few weeks ago about having a magic booth at a festival at my college Ga Tech. Here's the effects the audience gave the best reactions. In no order because they were all good.
Coin Vanish->Revolution->Sinful My patter was that I can make a quarter disappear and appear anywhere I want it to. Did a standard vanish and make it behind a girl's ear. Then I used that quarter to do revolution, and made it appear under a coke can. After that I said I'll make the quarter disappear and appear inside the can. The reactions were crazy. Ambitious Card Lepaul's Bluff Pass->Spectator Insert -> My version of Jim Ellis loading move -> Marlo Tilt with the card face up/ revealing with erdnase -> Braue pop up move. Someone said the Erdnase reveal / pop up move was the first time they believe it's "magic" and not "tricks" Hundy 50 I changed 1's into 10's. Reactions were good but I know they would've been better if I could afford higher demonations. Silk Vanish / Cigarette Vanish I performed the Silk Vanish 4 times. I'm just gonna say one too many laymen already know the secret so I don't think I'm gonna use it anymore for large audiences, BUT the same ppl that knew the method behind Silk Vanish didn't associate it with the cigarette. I think I got better reactions from the lit cigarette because I started pretending I was etting burned when it was going in. 2 Card Monte I did the normal Blaine version as opposed to the BTP one. Reactions were good. My suggestion is to use a Red card and a Black card, then change them into jokers. When you use the same color like Ace of Heart/Diamonds, people get confused. It's a lot easier with just red/black card. This is the trick that's always followed by "Do it again!" Stigmata Stigmata was just released and I did the first version since it was the only one I'm comfortable with. The first version is where you have their card on your wrist. I think the reactions weren't THAT good because after doing tricks like Invisible deck, they thought I knew the card already and drew it on my hand. I think the 2nd version which I'm working on right now will definately be better. I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with the 3rd version. Things I observed: - I always perform for friends so their expectations are a lot higher whenever I have a new trick. When I do it for people that have no idea what to expect, their reactions were 10x better. - I didn't have any hecklers bother me which was good. It's toughw hen doing it for friends because they always wanna "see the card" or examine everything before and after. Anyways I really enjoyed my first performance. After doing a trick people would go and grab their friends and bring them to my booth. The card tricks were more intimate like 2-3 people, while the bigger ones like Hundy 500 and Sinful brought in 20-30 ppl crowds. |
Kent Wong Inner circle Edmonton, Alberta, Canada 2458 Posts |
Congratulations! That adrenaline rush of performing will be in your blood forever.
Kent
"Believing is Seeing"
<BR>______________________ <BR> <BR>www.kentwongmagic.com |
DoomPenguin New user 50 Posts |
Impressive lineup of tricks. Makes me wish I could've saw it.
Thanks for the tip for the 2 card monte =) Dan
A broken clock tells the right time twice a day.
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h_A_Z Special user Ireland/Msia 701 Posts |
Good man! Keep up the good work!
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Shaunus New user 18 Posts |
Hi Lylaster,
Your post is useful to me because I just performed for an audience of strangers for the first time in about a year. I have two questions: what is stigmata and what is hundy fifty. Just let me know what the audience sees. I have been doing magic for 13 years and have performed on and off for strangers. Most of my performances, like yours, have been for family, friends, and familiar faces. I perhaps have 10 shows for strangers under my belt. Today was interesting. Let me tell you about it. The perfromances were of CMH, Card to Pocket (from Stars of Magic), the Morey Mini Chop Cup, and like you, Two Card Monte Blane Style. Let me tell you how each went. CMH. This was my opener initially. I would do the penetration twice, then break and restore the band, then penetrate with them holding the band, sometimes vanish one of the bands, and usually finish by shooting one of the bands up my nose. Depending on the audience's attention span I would do less or more of the routine. It was great when people would examine the elastic bands afterwards. The best reaction was "wow that was great." Card to Pocket. I usually tried to force the card but failed each time (classic force.) I used the turn over pass to control the card. Once when I showed the card "not on the top" a person caught my double, so that is something to work on. I made a big show of the card travelling up my arm, across my shoulder, down my other arm, and then being thrown invisibly into the deck. People seemed to really enjoy this. When I pulled their card out of my pocket for the first time it was great. The repeat (I love that I can repeat it) was pandemonium. The best reaction was when a middle aged man asked me to do it again. When I asked what his card was, he lied, and I said, "you mean it wasn't the queen of spades," while showing him the queen. He said something profane and bowed down to me. It was great! The Mori Mini Chop Cup This became my opener because it had the strongest reaction. I let an audience member lift the cup to reveal the final load. I think that was important for bringing the illusion into their control. One of the best responses was from a child who said, "I really don't understand how that is possible" after seeing it twice. He also said, one the second viewing, just before the final load, "oh this is the best part, everybody watch this!" I love the enthusiasm. Two Card Monte This one went well too. I liked your suggestion about doing it with two different coloured cards to avoid confusion. That was a great tip and I think I will use it. Thanks. This one never fails to have a good response. When the audience turns over their hands, it leads to open mouths. Conclusions My facial expressions were a very important part of the presentation going well. Without having a real expressiveness I don't think that the response would have been as good. My set up was a table with a sign that said, "FREE MAGIC." In one hour I had about ten to twelve audiences at the local park. Some were adults and some were children. I think I will do it again. Good to meet you Lylaster and hopefully we will chat again. Shaun A. Luttin... (P.S. does anyone have any tips about how to change your username?) |
Stimpy New user 20 Posts |
Lylaster: Thanks for your post. Very impressive. Is it normal that one can do such a huge number of tricks only after one year of practice? I guess a lot of this stuff is not easy to perform and setting up a good routine may also take some time.
I wish I could have seen you perform.
Practice doesn´t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect...
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lylaster Regular user Atlanta 197 Posts |
I don't think it's normal to be doing these kind of tricks with my level of experience. How I differ though from most beginners is I don't spread myself too thin. I realized that as a magician, I'll perform only a limited amount of material and what I did was research what were the hardest hitting effects. I watched magic demo's and read review upon reviews. Then I got the effects I wanted to perform and practiced them over and over. I only took time to master the sleights that matter most like Strike double-lift, a false shuffle, etc. I just think the mistake that a lot of beginners make is they start learning one sleight/trick, and give up on it when they see a cooler one. It's becomes a never ending cycle. I just choose to focus on my favorites and work on them. I have maybe 10-15 tricks in my arsenal, but I've never shown anyone all of them. Why try to master everything when you don't have to? Anyways thanks for the reply!
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John Bowlin Special user Maryland 827 Posts |
Good advice lylaster, much better to be master of a few than just doer of many.
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