What if some group was begging you to do something and you did not bring one of your tricks. Then what?

Cry.

Ambitious Card, and, I had the "same mother".

Robert Blake and I, "agree"!

We don't CARRY TRICKS! We PERFORM TRICKS. We MAY CARRY A "GENERIC PROP". (A thimble, a coin, etc.)

We PERFORM a TRICK, to CREATE A MAGICAL EFFECT, and ENTERTAIN someone.

I just noticed that the OP started a "similar" thread, with the same question, under "MAGIC AT A MOMENTS NOTICE"
AT 11:07 AM ON THE SAME DAY AS THIS ONE, WHICH WAS STARTED AT 9:15, JUNE 8.

Mary,
I'm glad you included "(alone)" in your post. I do the same thing.
When I attended my first convention, there were 100s of magicians milling about in the lobby. They were socializing, jamming and having a great time. What caught my eye was this guy in his 40s or 50s. He was sitting on the floor "alone" with his back against the wall practicing his card control.
It;s really no big deal but at the time I was thinking, "please don't turn into that guy".

He may have been trying to "get" something new he'd just learned before it slipped away. There is so much stimulus at a Convention it can take some concentration to remember some complicated bits.

O.K. I've probably been that "guy" . LOL

-Mary Mowder

Nothing wrong with "that guy". He or she has a hobby they love. Most people should be so lucky. I say good for them!

You're probably right. It just seemed strange to me. This was my first convention. I go to SAM meetings regularly and everyone there is social and outgoing.
This was the first time I saw this .

Hi,

I remember once, I was on my way to a paid gig. My magic bag with EVERYTHING in it was stolen. Cards, the lot. So I was faced with doing a corporate gig with NOTHING!

Luckily, it was a one hour mingle session. I did watch steals, coin tricks, mind games, physical stuff. It was one of the BEST shows I ever did. Amazing what you can do if you
are forced to improvise.

Yup! (I should say, "Ja"!

Tarbell didn't tell one how to steal a wrist watch! (Well, in HIS day, REAL MEN didn't wear "ladies bracelet watches"! Real men carried pocket watches!!! hee hee)

BUT, from "Tarbell", I learned PRINCIPLES. I learned that, "It aint WHAT ya do, it's HOW ya do it"! I learned, too, that "magic" is 5% sleight of hand skills, 5% perceptual illusion, 5% esoteric principles of science, AND, 85% PSYCHOLOGY!

--When I realized THAT, I began to also realize, that I had become a magician!

Having learned PRINCIPLES, I could apply them to an almost infinite number of generic props!

When I was doing a lot of hospitality suite work in Chicago, years ago, I carried the "act" in my pockets.

A TT, and a book of matches, two "silks" for knot stuff, a few coins, a rope & 4" ring, and, occasionally 2 safety pins. I got "time" with the G..W. Hunter Impossible Knot"! None of that "stuff" needed reset!

OCCASIONALLY!!! I even carried a deck of cards! (I usually just did a quick routine with the various fancy shuffles.) --When everyone had a cigarette, a cocktail or an hor d'oeuvre, in their hands, it was somewhat awkward to ask them to "pick a card"! (I bet you didn't think that I could even spell "hor d'oeuvre"!)

I always have "Cool Cash" in my wallet.

I also carry a "Quantum Bender 3" with me as well.

I'll occasionally carry a few rubber bands for "Crazy Man's Handcuffs" etc.

Business cards, are always with me, so sometimes use them for a mentalism piece or an ambitious card routine. Always have my JOL EZ wallet there too, so the business card will end up there! Finally, I always carry my R2R effect (two borrowed rings change places) in my pocket. Plus of course, my iPhone has WikiTest on it!!!

Wikitest is sick and its on your phone which requires nothing more to carry!

I always have a Zig-Zag illusion in the back of my truck...one should never limit their magic to just close-up effects when performing for random spectators.

Since I'm nearly always carrying cards, two gaffes to be ready for AW, with one of them being useful for all sorts of other stuff, and the other not exactly useless, (you can use a DF in a modified Triumph that ends with the selection face down in a face up deck, for example) is just sort of a given. I split my own, so I tend to have at least the DB with most decks anyway, and I'm just adding a DF for AW.

I generally always carry Ignition, a dime and a penny for a Strike change effect, maybe if I know I'll be somewhere with a group of people, Extreme Burn, Two dollar window, a few elastics and 5 Twoonie coins and a Loonie for some coin tricks.

I always have my JOL wallet with me so all I need to do is borrow a coin etc and I have a miracle

With me at all times are Triad Coins and extreme burn. As well as business cards for some mentalism routines.

In my answer, I am double minded. Yes, you can do good effects impromptu, but you can more easily do miracles with a little preparation. So I choose to carry things which are not suspicious but involve prep, so that the miracles can flow. Yes, I can do improv. tricks, but I think that for the most part, miracles take a little more time, in preparation. Not that it is impossible to do an impromptu miracle, but my 30 years of experience in magic teach me that miracles involve, for me, a little bit of preparation. Coins are good, especially with a deceptive gimmick. Bills fly below the radar, .... even prepared ones...... and thumb t's, if adapted and used in radical ways, can make almost anything..... miraculous.But cheers to you if you can do impromptu miracles. I can too, but more often choose to prepare .... SECRETLY ... FOR brain blowing miracles.