It's rolling around again, so I was just wondering what you guys had in mind for effects to perform during a restaurant set. My (minimal) research turned up a few things, but seems they'd be better suited for Halloween.

Any ideas?

It's funny. The first night I ever performed in a restaurant was Friday the 13th. (My "auditioning" night.)
The actual performances in the restaurant went great, but more things could not have gone wrong before getting there.

I just got all ready, all dressed, (this was after school) and I was trying to get to the car in a hurry. I decided I would use the front door because I had my suitcase, and didn't want to run all the way downstairs. Went out the front door, (which we usually don't use) and ran into the BIGGEST spider web.
Well, as you could guess, I HATE spiders, as many of us do, and freaked out. My brothers friends where playing on the street, and just laughed at me as I frantically tried to get the huge spider web, complete with spider, off me.

Ok, so finally we get to the car. We hit the road, and traffic. (There is NEVER traffic down here.)
But, luckily we were early, and had time to spare.
We get to the restaurant, (about 15 minutes early) and ask to see Todd. (The owner, and guy who hired me.)
The very attracting hostess (who I now know quite well) looked at us kinda weird, "Your the entertainer?"
Well, she then informed us that Todd was not in that evening because his car broke down! (The only reason I was there was to show him what I could do to his restaurant to enhance the customers dinning experience.)

Ok, so I'm thinking, "Now what? Should I continue if there's no owner?"
Well, it was okay with them, so I continued.
I knew I had to impress so word would get around to the owner.

A lot of the staff watched me, and a lot of the customers left comment cards. So word definatley got to Todd. And I was hired.

Tough start, but I work there to this day, and the comment cards keep pouring in. And whenever I can't make it in, the staff informs me when I get back how many people came in and were disapointed to see I was not there.
I have met many new friends, and there are many new regulars who come in to see me.

Man, I love this job. I think this is the only job in the world where you can get 30 cheerleaders packed 360 degrees around you, so you can't even move, in a waiting area. And then giving hugs, taking pictures, and asking for autographs.
THIS, is the life...

The day is believed to be of bad luck by many and lucky for some others.
Learning about the day may give you some ideas you can incorporate into conversation or/and effects.

One idea would be to do effects where you seem to fail. Then mention that it happened because it's the 13th. Then correct the problem.
The suits of a deck are in sets of 13. Maybe mention that in your conversation.
Have any ideas for 13 cards or other items?
It may also be a good time to do a Tarot or ESP card trick.

Another idea is to mention the old TV show where there were cursed and haunted objects and artifacts.
Haunted Key, Glorpy or Solid Ghost, Haunted Deck, Gypsy Curse, Acrobatic Matches, Gypsy Thread, etc.

Not much to say about the movie of the that name.

Have fun.

I say get a tarot and spend the night forcing the death card on everyone.

Now THAT is wickedly funny!

John

Haha, brilliant. Yes, yes...I'm glad I thought of it.

Although I posted something similar under the "dangerous" trick post, I think David Parr's A Game of Life or Death would be good here, too!

I like that idea. It's also easy to incorporate something like that into an already existing routine. Nice.

Thanks!
Steve

LMAO...hahahahahahahaha!!!

An idea I had with this would be to have a card selected, signed, lost, etc...then go into the "magician in trouble" plot, blaming Friday the 13th. After all is said and done, the selected card is found to have a black cat on its back.

If you don't have loops that would be good. Moving items (if you want to say ghost are) and you can do a Haunted deck and let the deck be examined. Like someone said Haunted Key. The Watch Crystal could be a spooky effect.

I've done something like this for Hallowe'en. Make your own colour monte kicker card that simply says "Friday the 13th" and close the routine with "but it wasn't my lucky day".


John

Good news! I've a dental appointment for the 13th! Odd... it is the only day they had openings all day.