A monthly contest entry..August 2012 Kansas City Ring

Well it play time at the magic table.

A few coins...the Olympics on the Tele...My words/patter are in " ".

"A classic of magic"
Holding up index finger in left and right hand.
Hands never touch...The left hand has two fingers held up...the right hand none.
"A Classic of MAGIC"
"An american classic, Michael Phelps"
Produce silver coin with right hand
Roll coin across the fingers
Coin changes to Chinese
"Michael doesn't fear the Chinese or Ryan Lochte"
Coin changes to English
"He is in London to win Gold"
"He only needs two more medals to go down in history"
English Penny multiplies to two coins.
"English pennies are fairly rare..(Pause)..and extremely worthless..unless you buy them in a magic shop"
Two English Pennies on the table. One is picked up and put in the left hand which closes
The other is displayed in the palm up wide open right hand
"One more to go, can he do it?"
Right hand closes...Clink sound of coins
"Yes he can"
as the right hand opens to show two coins..(none in the left hand)
"Some folks are really going British these days"(said with bad British accent"
One of the English pennies is placed in the left hand
Right hand palm down over left hand which is palm up.
"Me I still prefer America"
Slowly American pennies rain down out of the left hand..

Harmonica comes out "God bless America" ..and the first line of America the Beautiful is played.
Pause look up at the audience..."You know the rest"...
Bow...and "Thanks"

Of course you can change the coins, story and song....to match your country....

Oh what fun it is to play.

Thinking back I think a few reasons went into the positive response of my efforts in Ring 129's monthly event.
1. It was topical
2. It truely was fresh..(no need to act)
3. The moves used to create it are the foundation of other things I have done for years
4. The routine's theme was fresh. (reminds me of my friend Dales theme years ago on CSI, which won him first prize as the MOY close up in KC)
Thinking back I think a few reasons went into the positive response.
1. It was topical. The theme was the Olympics
2. It truely was fresh..(no need to act as it was the 2nd time shown to anyone)
3. The moves used to create it are the foundation of other things I have done for years
4. A few jokes I told during the routine related to watching the Olympics. Things you can't make up..mostly coming from my 91 year old Father in Law..who lives with Annie and me.

A follow up addition...

a. one of the American pennies is picked up from the table and rolled on the fingers
b. it is tossed in the air. (only one hand is used in this part
c. the coin comes down as an English penny
d. the english penny is tossed up and caught
e. hand is turned over and the American penny is at the finger tips
f. no sign of the American penny..(it really is gone from both hands.
g. this second part and the first are done standing up....

I went from dry patter and killer magic, to concentrating on humor and connections with the audience. These days I try to use easy magic, killer sleights at times all with humor and that connection with my audiences.

Harris
still 2 old to know it all