Loved the last few post.
Another long Dr. Laugh post

This summer been teaming up with a friend who sings and plays guitar

Intros
Song
Nigel
Duet
Spring Fox
Duet
Harmonica Medleys
Grandpa Charlie
Duet

Duets included - Swing Low Sweet Chariot, goodnight Irene
Going to Kansas City , Hobo Lulabye( Guthrie )
Harmonica- Oh Shenandoah ,amazing Grace, over the
Rainbow

We closed with Mickey Mouse Club

Song choices were base on things our audience would know And sing
The last note of Shenandoah is the first note of Over the Rainbow.

Love and prayers

I see you have decided to forgo magic for singing and playing a guitar; I'm very happy it worked out for you in God's glory.

I would like to address one comment made earlier for anyone else reading this thread and contemplating performing in nursing homes;

DO NOT USE FIRE IN ANY MANNER!!!

Many audience members will have oxygen tanks attached to wheelchairs and any spark will result in a killer ending to the show and not in a good way.

Good luck with future shows

Actually, I will be introducing some magic effects finally in the near future.
But I can assure you I will NOT be using any fire!

Harris: I'm doing research to learn great old melodies back from the days when music was music . Tunes like "Stella By Starlight", "Embraceable You", "Sentimental Journey", "Ebbtide", "the shadow of your smile," "unforgettable," "moon river", " three coins in the fountain," " the look of love," " beautiful dreamer," " anniversary song," " all the way," " I left my heart in San Francisco," " getting to know you," "harbor lights," "unchained melody," " love is blue," " body and soul,"wonderland by night," "high noon" (do not forsake me), "I could have danced all night," "the way we were," "I've grown accustomed to her face," "theme from
Dr. Zhivago," "my foolish heart," "stardust," "never on Sunday," "yesterday," "never on Sunday," "Misty," "it's only a paper moon,"etc, etc

Not only do I feel the folks in the homes will like these kinds of tunes, but I myself think those were the days of great and REAL music. Years and years before rap came along and stole any vestiges of culture we actually had in this country.
 

You just ask before the show if anyone will have oxygen tanks. I used fire many times and never had any issues and there was plenty of distance from me to the audience. I don't do fire tricks every show though but I have them with me if I need them and if there are no tanks in the audience then you can still do them then. But usually I only do a small candle trick, light a lighter or match, or use a small piece of flash paper nothing ever big. But it can be easily left out if it makes you nervous. Most I have seen do not have tanks though just a few once in awhile. I also did match to rose many times never anything big though. But a lot of kids tricks work great you just change the presentation and how you speak.

Sirbrad, you did not mention if you were in an assisted living facility, or a nursing home.

If you're performing in a nursing home and not an assisted living facility, it usually means sick people, if there are sick people, there will be oxygen administered somewhere.

Is it that important to use fire and take a chance of an explosion to make the show more glamorous?

I would not take that chance and I caution other magicians to also avoid performing with any type of fire in a nursing home

Good point

Assisted living is a lot different.

Both deserve our best.

Sometimes a less responsive audience member will surprise us by
A. Singing
B. name the artist it name of a song
C. Crack a joke
D. Talk with us after
E. Each enjoys at their own level

Love and prayers

I do all types, more assisted living and retirement homes but I did many nursing homes as well. But you can ask about it in the beginning as well. I change my routines up often but never had any issues with fire in 34 years. But like I said I don't always use fire either but if the conditions permit I will. I am sure many years ago some had tanks when I was younger and did not know to ask but nothing ever "went up" I am still here. But if there is any dout leave it out. It is not that hard though to check if tanks are present and to ask the staff.

If you're fire effect is several yards away from the tanks, can they still go up?

I doubt it but to be 100% safe I would not try it. The tank would most likely need to be under extreme heat and close to the fire. Some eldery cook with tanks on and never have a problem, I know a few who do so or sit by a fireplace. But when I did parlor many years ago I remember some tanks but I was about 12-15 feet away from the nearest person and usually no one with tanks in the front row that I can remember. I rarely see tanks as I do a lot of assisted living but with nursing homesit seems those with tanks are not present as much as the ones who don't have them.

Now if I do walk around from room to room I do not use fire close-up. But for parlor I was always fine. But as I said I never had a huge flame just a quick small one usually and no tank anywhere near me. I never lit flame up close near one though as I don't really want to find out the range. I love when my shows go out with a "bang" but that would be a little ridiculous. But I believe that if there is "risk" then yeah it is not worth it.

I hate to turn the thread away from the original posters theme; but a further explanation is in necessary for safety of anyone reading the posts.

It's not the actual tank you worry about; it's the excess oxygen that escapes from the nebulizer also known as the tube that loops around the patients ears and is inserted into the patients nose; the escaping excess oxygen from the tube floating in the room is the danger; 100% oxygen in the atmosphere of the room can cause a flash fire from a fire trick regardless of a small size candle flame; the flame will feed back to the source causing the big bang that will end the show.

I'm pretty familiar with the oxygen set-up. My deceased wife had to be chained to one for years.

Yeah it is possible but like I said I never had it happen back when I did not know to look for tanks. But I know I used fire back then many times and I know some were on oyxyen as I remmeber them but there was no fire or anything close to it. It kinda sounds like one of those Mythbusters things where they try it and can't get anything to happen in reality but the potential risk is still there. Kinda like when harassed a skunk but it would not spray not matter what, yet people assume that if you look at them wrong you will be sprayed instantly. Is it plausible? Maybe. Is it likely to happen? Probably not but every situation is different, how much oxygen, fire, how far away etc. I bet a lot of magicicans have and never heard of any disasters like that. But it is a big world.

However as I stated if you see tanks than avoid it. But there is no need to rule out fire if no one in the room has tanks. As I said if there is a risk it is no worth it even if that risk is unlikely. But I actually speak from experience. So apparently no oxygen was in the air near me as I threw a flash paper flame also that went out very fast of course. But like I said check first or just don't fire stuff.

Some stuff on the net regarding oxygen and fire, although I am no expert on the subject and as I said if in doubt leave it out as the risk it not worth it.

"Oxygen is not flammable, therefore the tank will not blow up. A fire requires three things in order to exist. It needs fuel, the material your going to burn. In this case a cigarette. It also requires oxygen. When the fuel burns the oxygen is converted to CO2. The third thing is heat release. The burning fuel must release heat. Our atmosphere contains 21% oxygen. If you burn a cigarette in 100% oxygen it will burn 6 times faster."

"You'd be surprised how close a cigarette can get to an oxygen tank before anything happens. I know from personal experience. I am a volunteer firefighter and one night we were all hanging around the station and one of the guys decided to show us a neat trick with a cigarette and an oxygen tank. he got the O2 tank off the engine and he attached a tube to it. he lit up a cigarette and inserted it into the oxygen tube. he turned the tank on and the only thing that happened was the cigarette burned down wicked quick and it gave off some sparks and stuff. nothing blue up. oxygen is an oxidizer and is not explosive. I doubt that anything serious will happen if your mom lights up a cig with oxygen on. the only thing is she should take the mask off her face first (or take the cannula out of her nose) depending on what kind of oxygen tank you have. it would probably be a good idea to turn off the oxygen tank before sparking the lighter or match. no need to create unnecessary dangers. like I said, I doubt anything would blow up, but you should be cautious anyway."

I may not have been 100% clear in my last post; I didn't think I would have to explain it in detail. Basically, If you have a material that's not combustible in normal conditions like window curtains, or a patients clothing, it will become extremely combustible in high-oxygen conditions, It still take a little spark to get it to burn and cause damage to property and people; so I agree with you don't use fire in a nursing home; it was my first point and still is my point.

In fact, if you asked beforehand, In todays world, I'd be very surprised if you received permission to use any type of fire in a nursing home; assisted living facilities maybe....

I think if you just mention the word "fire"' to the nursing home people when getting booked, they will freak.

Well I used fire in both many times back in the day though I did not ask but like I said I did not always use fire either and if I did it was very briefly, small, and pretty far away from the audience even if no one had any tanks. The last few years I have not used fire as much only to maybe light a small ball of flash paper but I also do not do as many retirement homes as I used to but still do them once in awhile. But I probably would not make torches appear and run out in the audience waving them. I did so many of each that I do not remember which ones were which or whoch ones used fire when I did use it. I will have to keep that in mind when I do another nursing home and I do assisted living homes more often as they tend to be more alert. But I still do nursing homes so they can enjoy the show also whether they can or are able to express it or not.

Doug;

In my opinion, if you just mention the word "fire"' to the nursing home people when getting booked, the booking will come to a screeching halt.

That's what I was saying. I just said iit in a different way than you did.

So basically, fire tricks are anathema in nursing homes.

It would not come to a screeching halt they would be glad that you asked actually and if it was an issue they would simply tell you whether or not you could use it.