More Cool Magic Ideas
Good morning, magic buds. Been brainstorming material with my
son who turns 11 Sunday! He has a really keen wit about him and
one-liners fly out of his mouth all day long. Got thinking that
it would be really fun to develop either a segment or an entire
act around "magical impersonations". What would it be like if Mr.
Rogers or Clint Eastwood or Robert Deniro did magic? To me, this
opens the door to some very ludicrous and insane stuff.
Imagine having the Mr. Rogers music playing in the background as
you put on a red cardigan sweater, some loafers, and talk to the
adult audience as if they were children. "I knew you could". Then
segue-way into magic that is so opposite the nice guy archetype
like the razor blades. I think this could be so funny and also very
memorable.
Imagine spaghetti western music playing like the theme to "The Good,
The Bad, and The Ugly" playing. You bring up two "gringos" from the
audience and put Mexican hats and serapes on them. Make them pick
cards. Squint like Clint Eastwood while you try to find their
cards. When you get them wrong, you draw your gun and ask them,
"Did I get your card right, punk. Well, did I?"
The impersonations don't even need to be dead on. So long as you
get the line and facial mannerisms right. It's all in the staging
and props and acting, I think. Yeah, so this is a new direction I
am investigating.
OK, I have to ask: has anyone ever done a linking ring routine
with 3 key rings? Why? I'm blind and my hands sweat so I am
having a hard time finding the lock on my key ring. I figured by
switching to three key rings instead of one key ring and two
single rings, I can use any ring and either hand at any time to
link and unlink them. I think this could also blow magicians away
and fool spectators who are in the know. Now to find someone who
will sell me three matching key rings that I can afford.
I can't say enough good things about Powerball 60 and Diction.
My office mate brought some clients into the office on Monday, and
they commented on his Lego toys and my magic props. He introduced
me and they asked to see a trick. I did Powerball 60 and got booked
on the spot for a 30th birthday party in mid-July!
By the way GigSalad handled the formal inquiry and the service works
very well. I really recommend it. And best of all it's easy to
use and cheap. Check it out here:
http://www.gigsalad.com/r/225
Yeah, so Powerball 60 is so powerful it actually got me a gig.
So I carry it in my wallet and look for opportunities to perform
it everywhere. You'd be crazy not to carry it with you. It's
brilliant and the props are so common looking and innocent that
they pull people in. Everyone can relate to playing the lottery
at one time or another. You can pick it up at ellusionist:
http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=176260&u=68489&m=22312&urllink=&afftrack=
Diction is also a killer effect. It's effortless mentalism that
kills with a completely ungimmicked dictionary and a technique
for determining the selected words that can easily be applied to
other mentalism routines. In fact, after playing with Nathan
Kranzo's ingenious method, I was able to vastly simplify the
Dracula Book Test. Version 1 which I purchased cheaply a few
weeks ago requires a mnemonic and numeric code and frankly when
I'm performing I don't want to work that hard. So I adapted
Nathan's idea to Dracula and it works like a charm. I love it, I
love it, I love it. Check it out here:
http://kranzomagic.myshopify.com/collections/frontpage/products/diction-by-nathan-kranzo
I also recommend you check out his new effect: Instant
Everything. The videos are wild:
http://kranzomagic.myshopify.com/collections/frontpage/products/instant-everything
Lastly, I want to talk about the importance of understanding
body language. There's lots of stuff out there on
neurolinguistics and how to influence people by speech. But
understanding body language is probably even more important
because it provides non-verbal cues about what people are
thinking, feeling, and how they are perceiving you. I taught a
class in non-verbal communication for a while and have not really
found anything that touches upon it until now.
My friends over at Love Systems sell a lot of ebooks and DVDs
about seduction. They are pick-up artists who teach you how to
verbally and non-verbally seduce women. But their material is
excellent fodder for learning how to seduce an audience. Let's
face it -- our success as performers is not just focused on
fooling or entertaining. It's also about making them "want" you
-- to watch you, see you, look at you, get close to you, want to
be your friend, want to know you, and ultimately to hire you.
It's a sales job for sure but it's also a seduction. If you are
curious enough and have an open mind, check out their latest DVD
here:
http://www.lovesystems.com/pages/affiliate_link.php?f=/beyondwords&kbid=2600&m=253
Until next time,
Steven
P.S.: I'm now designing product images for magicians who sell
their own products. If you need a DVD or ebook image or even a
banner ad designed, please drop me a line. Images start at a low
$49.95.
son who turns 11 Sunday! He has a really keen wit about him and
one-liners fly out of his mouth all day long. Got thinking that
it would be really fun to develop either a segment or an entire
act around "magical impersonations". What would it be like if Mr.
Rogers or Clint Eastwood or Robert Deniro did magic? To me, this
opens the door to some very ludicrous and insane stuff.
Imagine having the Mr. Rogers music playing in the background as
you put on a red cardigan sweater, some loafers, and talk to the
adult audience as if they were children. "I knew you could". Then
segue-way into magic that is so opposite the nice guy archetype
like the razor blades. I think this could be so funny and also very
memorable.
Imagine spaghetti western music playing like the theme to "The Good,
The Bad, and The Ugly" playing. You bring up two "gringos" from the
audience and put Mexican hats and serapes on them. Make them pick
cards. Squint like Clint Eastwood while you try to find their
cards. When you get them wrong, you draw your gun and ask them,
"Did I get your card right, punk. Well, did I?"
The impersonations don't even need to be dead on. So long as you
get the line and facial mannerisms right. It's all in the staging
and props and acting, I think. Yeah, so this is a new direction I
am investigating.
OK, I have to ask: has anyone ever done a linking ring routine
with 3 key rings? Why? I'm blind and my hands sweat so I am
having a hard time finding the lock on my key ring. I figured by
switching to three key rings instead of one key ring and two
single rings, I can use any ring and either hand at any time to
link and unlink them. I think this could also blow magicians away
and fool spectators who are in the know. Now to find someone who
will sell me three matching key rings that I can afford.
I can't say enough good things about Powerball 60 and Diction.
My office mate brought some clients into the office on Monday, and
they commented on his Lego toys and my magic props. He introduced
me and they asked to see a trick. I did Powerball 60 and got booked
on the spot for a 30th birthday party in mid-July!
By the way GigSalad handled the formal inquiry and the service works
very well. I really recommend it. And best of all it's easy to
use and cheap. Check it out here:
http://www.gigsalad.com/r/225
Yeah, so Powerball 60 is so powerful it actually got me a gig.
So I carry it in my wallet and look for opportunities to perform
it everywhere. You'd be crazy not to carry it with you. It's
brilliant and the props are so common looking and innocent that
they pull people in. Everyone can relate to playing the lottery
at one time or another. You can pick it up at ellusionist:
http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=176260&u=68489&m=22312&urllink=&afftrack=
Diction is also a killer effect. It's effortless mentalism that
kills with a completely ungimmicked dictionary and a technique
for determining the selected words that can easily be applied to
other mentalism routines. In fact, after playing with Nathan
Kranzo's ingenious method, I was able to vastly simplify the
Dracula Book Test. Version 1 which I purchased cheaply a few
weeks ago requires a mnemonic and numeric code and frankly when
I'm performing I don't want to work that hard. So I adapted
Nathan's idea to Dracula and it works like a charm. I love it, I
love it, I love it. Check it out here:
http://kranzomagic.myshopify.com/collections/frontpage/products/diction-by-nathan-kranzo
I also recommend you check out his new effect: Instant
Everything. The videos are wild:
http://kranzomagic.myshopify.com/collections/frontpage/products/instant-everything
Lastly, I want to talk about the importance of understanding
body language. There's lots of stuff out there on
neurolinguistics and how to influence people by speech. But
understanding body language is probably even more important
because it provides non-verbal cues about what people are
thinking, feeling, and how they are perceiving you. I taught a
class in non-verbal communication for a while and have not really
found anything that touches upon it until now.
My friends over at Love Systems sell a lot of ebooks and DVDs
about seduction. They are pick-up artists who teach you how to
verbally and non-verbally seduce women. But their material is
excellent fodder for learning how to seduce an audience. Let's
face it -- our success as performers is not just focused on
fooling or entertaining. It's also about making them "want" you
-- to watch you, see you, look at you, get close to you, want to
be your friend, want to know you, and ultimately to hire you.
It's a sales job for sure but it's also a seduction. If you are
curious enough and have an open mind, check out their latest DVD
here:
http://www.lovesystems.com/pages/affiliate_link.php?f=/beyondwords&kbid=2600&m=253
Until next time,
Steven
P.S.: I'm now designing product images for magicians who sell
their own products. If you need a DVD or ebook image or even a
banner ad designed, please drop me a line. Images start at a low
$49.95.
posted by Steven at
8:06 AM
