I going to San Francisco this next week and I plan to make a home video of me doing street magic. I always send "video-letters" to my friends from out of state and I thought this would be an excellent way to share some magic with them. I already plan to do Chance Wolf's "Shattered", HotRod, Coin Matrix, Raven effects, and some effects with my ITR... any other ideas... Since it is only a homevideo, I thought it would be cool to do a large vanish at the end... I was thinking of vanishing Alcatraz from the shoreline facing the island... any ideas there? I am going to cover the veiw of the island with a San Fran- newspaper....after some words and so forth about the island, I will crumble the paper and the island will appear to have vanished...sound good? Does anyone have better ideas?

You can do some seriously cool street magic with thumb writters. I would include some of that.

I like the Alcatraz idea, how about doing it the other way round....

Hold up paper, make a rose appear (or whatever) then make something else small appear, then hold up paper again and make Alcatraz appear..?

If you have the Black Hole, I'd love to see you perform it on some people in the streets. The Alcatraz idea is nice. Hope to see it soon.

Definitely consider metal bending! It extends your identity from magician to psychic, and really adds versatility. If you get the right opportunity, maybe squeeze in a random Healed & Sealed performance with a can planted on the street.

Good Luck!
Angela

Hey Everyone, the trip to San Francisco was great! I ended up performing less than planned and really didn't get the best of footage of me vanishing "the Rock"; however, I did do some street magic... including: an ambitious card routine, hot rod, Chance Wolf's "Shattered", Coin Matrix to Shadow Coins, "Backflipped", and even changed a quarter into an engagement ring (via flash paper). My girlfriend; now fiance' (as of 11/01/04) was really suprised as she was incharge of the filming and was clueless when I asked her to hand over the camera to my bestfriend (who was also helping with camera work). You should have seen the look on her face when I lit the paper on fire and made the switch to the engagement ring.... She and I both believe this was a unique, magical memory!
Magically,
Bryan Gilles

Ooohhhh my goodness, that is so sweet!!! That was an awesome idea; I'm sure you took her breath away. You may not have gotten the best Alcatrez footage, but it sounds like you fit in some great material overall. Best of luck to you and your fiance'!!

Angela

That sounds like good video. if you get a chance, post it on a video hosting site so we all can see it.

Wow- this is an old post...

In retrospect, it's been a pretty good year (and a couple months). My wife and I are going to celebrate our first year of mariage by going back to San Francisco... As you read above, I preposed to her there... We had our honeymoon there...and now we are headed back for our first-year anniversary!!! We absolutely love that city!!!

Since the last trip, I feel I've matured quite a bit in my close-up magic abilities I plan to get a little more footage of performing on the street! This time around, I plan to take a little more magic with me. I'll definitly be doing "Healed and Sealed", spoon/fork bending, "Card Warp", "Coin Matrix", ring and string effects, and several card routines... I'd still like to attempt the Alcatraz Vanish; however, the weather is probably going to be overcast as foggy as it normally is this time of year... We'll have to wait and see...

Does anyone know if you are required to have permits to perform on the wharf? I'd love to draw a crowd a few times if possible...

Anyway, I really look forward to this second (we didn't do any filming whle we were on the honeymoon...) attempt to capture some great footage!!!

Bryan

Sounds great bryan. any chance of you putting some of the stuff on the net for us to see?

-Matt

Yah, I'll try to get it uploaded on Putfile so everyone can check it out...

That sounds great, glad I found this thread now! I want to make my own video, infact, I am half way through it for my college project, hypnosis and magic, but I want a private longer one, hehe. Do you know anything about the laws in the UK for filming with publib on the street?

Good luck with the trip.

Daz

Yes you need a permit and many areas require approval and if one of the areas that have performers you will be viewed as an intruder. Have fun.
Steve V

Any ideas on what it takes to get those permits?

Look up Misdirections Magic Shop in San Francisco and talk to Joe, he can give you all the info you need to keep out of trouble.
Steve V

Not doing any rope tricks?

Good luck this time around Bryan! I'm pulling for that Alcatrez vanish. Oh, and don't forget to encourage Stephanie to perform, as well! You know how big of a supporter I am for women in magic, haha.

Angela