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OK, this post is going to be far from "clear" as I do not have all of the information yet and because I am too excited to think clearly.

About a month ago, middle of October, I did some close up magic at a elementary school's October festival while giving away flyers...I only gave out about 3-4...I just called today getting "maybe" booked for a Christmas party from someone who saw my close up performances. They asked for price per hour and I said that it would cost $30-$40 as I'm only 13 as most know and I would have normally asked for $50 (they said that there would be a LOT of people) but I choked under the pressure and did not want to jinx my first performance.

They need to present this to the committe that they are in that she offered my services to so hopefully they meet weekly so in a week or two I will know!

Oh I'm so excited I can barely put it in words!

Of course though, I want as MUCH advice as you guys can give!

Time to browse through the tips and advice archives!

~David

Are you going to be on a stage or walking around?

I am pretty sure it is going to be walk around as that is what I performed when I was giving away the flyers and the only performance type they had seen me do. However I cannot be 100% sure but I said I would need at least 2 weeks notice so it should not be too big of a problem to put together a show in 58 hours (yes I counted how much free time I would have...).


Once again all advice is appreciated and I will try to contact the person in about 2 days to ask for more information if they have it with approximate numbers and whether it will be stage, walk around, or both.

Thanks,
~David

You're already hit upon the right line - look through the previous posts as there is such a lot already published.

Good luck

What tricks do you know?

Why not list them all and someone here may point out the strongest for you.
Also remeber the best way to beat nerves is do what you know best. I would recomend only doing one or two newish tricks as you won't have time to learn more AND be comfortable with them.
Have a couple of self worker backups that you don't intend to use at all during the performance then if you get nervous about your next trick you can use one to calm yourself down, build up confidence and then go back to what you planned to do originaly. It's amazing how one small trick like this can calm the nerves and allow you to cary on with what you intended.
plus if you muck up your last trick you have 'one more' to finish on a high.
Just having this option open will mean you will be more relaxed and so less likely to have to use it.

Slightly large good news/bad news post with some more info about everything in the end.


Good news:

I get to pick if it is a stage or close up performance and since I have not done many stage tricks in a few months and have been concentrating on card /impromptu/close up magic so the choice is quite obvious.

Bad news:
I still do not know how many people will be there.

Good news:
I will have a definite answer tomorrow from the committe if it is a yes or a no. I also found out the date will be December 9th.

Really bad news:
Murphey's Law, the worst that can happen will happen.

Here's the story...

I have wanted to go to New York to see ground 0 since I am only a state away and over 5 years after the fact I have still not been there once. My mom does not like to drive, and luckily, for the first time ever, a company is giving my mom's work a discount for a coach bus to New York. It was a $60 deposit. Well guess when the trip is....December 9th.

I will of course do the show if I am hired as it is my first one, but am slightly dissapointed...My mom said however that we can take the train to New York later this year if the weather permits and if I do the "research". Also, not only did this go from a paid show to a free show, but now I'm loosing money from it because I have to pay my mom back the deposit . There goes the deposit into my Mega Bertha fund .

Not that I am complaining...well I sort-of am...but I am really excited that I am probably going to be doing my first show ever! I am definately bringing a deck of cards with 3 doubles in my pockets, probably and ID, a brass hot rod (3 color changes), some cups and balls for the kids, if I can get the technique for mnemonics in 13 Steps down then I will do that, then a trick that I love from Mark Wilson's Complete Course where you "teach" the spectator a basic torn and restored napkin only to end it with "but if you drop one of the pieces you can always..." and I make the ripped up ball turn into a regular napkin. I also have a ton of other effects that are probably just not coming to mind right now. I have literally trunks full of tricks so I will probably not bother listing them all but I will list as many things as I can remember from the top of my head right now along with some books that I have (if someone has the books could they please sugjest an effect).

Books:

Mark Wilson's Complete Course
Art of Astonishment
13 Steps to Mentalism
A beginners book (I forget the name but most of the stuff in amature magic).
A 12 book + kit set from a Scholastic (U.S.'s school's book company) which covers most aspects of magic (it is also pretty useless).
Swami/Mantra
Psychological Subtelties (coming in a few weeks since it was not in stock when I ordered it from Hank Lee's website.

Tricks:

Mindbender
Stigmata
Box Monster
Cards...
Brass Hot Rod
Psychokinetic Time
Sinful
"Crystal" ball with the spectator's card in it.
Hummingbird Card
B2 Bomber (slightly broken but with correct handling unnoticiable)
Cups and Balls (big routine)
Mnmonics Routine
Paper Hat Tears
Traveling Strangers
Entourage
Airtight
STS
3 Card Monte
Liquid Metal

Probably a lot more that just are not coming to mind right now.

Purchasing (maybe):

NFW
Just Imagine

Stage:
Linking Rings
Airborne
Change Bag
Breakaway Wand
PB&J Illusion
Magic Coloring Book
Appearing Flower to Silk
Not sure what this is called...3 balls are put into a tube in a certain order, covered, and the order changes, happens over and over, red ball is put into a "joker" box and turns into a silk.
A lot more which are not coming to mind + a few of the tricks from the "close up" section which I also would like to perform on stage.

Tricks from books:

A few random tricks which I like and perform a lot from the books mentioned, I will not post them all, just a few.

Not sure what this is called...Word is written onto a piece of paper, it is ripped up and burned, I tell what the word is.
Cros-Twist
The torn and restored trick mentioned above
Crude version of 2 card Monte
Lots more considering the volume of each and every one of the books I own.

DVD's:
Showoff with Cards
Heckler
Generation Extreme
Liquid Metal
Other instructional DVD's to go with my tricks.

Hope that gives a slight idea of what I own and I own a lot more but those are the only things I can think of at the top of my head at this hour.

Thanks everyone in advance for your advice,
~David

I still have not had the time to go through everything but I now have all of the information.


4:30-6...CONFIRMED .

I'll be getting paid $65 for the hour and a half, but that does not really matter as I am finally getting where I have wanted to be in magic; getting noticed at only 13. I'll be getting some cheap business cards made ($20 for 1,000) so I'll have something to give away.

Ages 5+ So I hope that will help you help me .

I could really use some help when it comes to what effect I should use for the ages 5-7 because even some of my most basic effects might not be enderstandable for the younger ones.

*Happy Dance*

Off to practice,
~David

For little kids, a simple colour change, like the ego change always amazes them. And the card on the celing never fails to blow them away. Try to learn an elastic band effect called crazy man's handcuffs. It is a killer touch on any close up performance. Be sure to talk a lot to the people who you are performing to. Make jokes! Have a good time! Use what you've learned in 13 Steps. Mentalism is very powerful magic, possibly the most powerful. Good luck, and if you need help with any effect or the performance, send me a P.M.

I will try to read as much, if not all, of 13 Steps this weekend, but since I have to perfect all of the routines I am planning on performing, I am not sure I will have the time. If you know from the top of your head (I am not asking for extensive research, just a push in the right direction so please do not go searching through every page in 13 Steps) what would be the order I should read the chapters in when sorted by order of importance since I dought I could read the whole thing, process it, learn it, read a bit from Art of Astonishment, and perfect my routines by the 9nth. Also, to whoever has Art of Astonishment, what would, in your personal opinions, be the best 3-5 effects in it for me to choose from for kids ages 5-15 and then one or two for adults?

I will most definately take you up on your PM offer sometime this week, it's greatly appreciated.

Mccabe, I was planning on doing something like this for the kids...

Some silk magic with an appearing penny...a few palms and dissapearances followed by the classic "Where did it go?...Oh! There it is! It was behind your ear the whole time!". Maybe with a quick, pointless, rope trick as an escape, however, I highly dought a 5-8 year old could catch me; although, life is full of surprises.

For families with adults and kids (when they are sitting together at a table) a medium length Cups and Balls routine, followed by some money magic and a B2 Bomber (I'm assuming that the little kids would freak out if I ruined a full dollar ) ending with maybe a few card tricks for the adults and maybe an ID.

For just adults, depending if they are male, female, or both (or just depending on how intoxicated they are ) Stigmata, ID, Random Card tricks, 3 or 2 card monte, a little bit of this and a little bit of that depending on what I have on me since I will have different tricks on me at different times.

Tricks that will be on me as back ups.

Strange Travellers (sorry for calling it Travelling Strangers before)
Entourage
Brass Hot Rod
Once again, some random easy tricks that I always have.
And an effect that I think I created, but considering how simple it is, I would not be surprised if it has been done for hundreds of years and I have just never heard of it...anyway,

Effect:
Spectator selects a card from the deck, the deck is shuffled and the magician shows what he thinks was the spectator's card, the magician is told that he was wrong and the magician bluffs noticiably saying he knew that and was just testing the spectator. The magician then shyly asks the spectator to take their card out so the magician can repeat the trick...the spectator cannot find their card...The spectator is asked to name a number between <x> and <x>...a book is taken from an audience member if present, or the magician takes out his book, he casts a spell onto the book saying that it can now catch their card's spirit and trap it within the confinds of the book. The magician tries catching the spirit, grabs it, and throws it into the book trapping it there. The magician states he tried to get it into the page number told by the spectator, the book is opened, and either on the exact page, or extremely close, their card is found inside the book, the magician has not touched the book once throughout the performance.

That's just something my wandering mind came up with during Social Studies class...

I will also have all the knowledge of every impromptu trick I can remember on the spot so I think I am covered.

So, that's what I am planning on getting done during the party, maybe some mnemonics if I can get that down pretty well before the 5th so I will be able to get some live practice of it in before actually doing it there. All advice and critisism is appreciated, no matter how harsh. Also, even though this question is a bit off topic, does the effect I mentioned exist?

Thanks everyone for your help and time for actually reading this whole post and my other "slightly" long ones.

~David

With little kids, stage magic is great. You should try your big cups and balls routine because that can probably keep their attention.

Best of luck David! Let us know how it went.

I was thinking about doing a 30 minute stage routine followed by an hour of stage but the more I thought about it, the worse it sounded. I have not done stage (practicing) in a few months where-as the last few months I HAVE been practicing close-up. I will take your advice though and see just how much material it would take to make a 5 minute cups and balls routine for the kids.

I will however bring a trunk with my stage magic materials just incase not as many people show up as she said would and I go through the whole crowd in an hour. Also, my good friend's dad used to be a magician and even though my friend is pretty much always grounded, maybe I will be able to borrow an effect or two for the night. I am also going to bring my D'Lites and pray that it will be dark enough for them not to be seen because of the huge contrast between my t***b and my t***b**p.

Too tired to really post a lot...One last question on top of the others in the post above Johntheblob's, would it be unethical for me to borrow some effects from a friend magician for a night?

Sorry if this post sounded a bit "loopy" I have not been able to get enough sleep in over a week. I cannot seem to concentrate on my homework because I cannot think about much other than magic or talkmagic making me stall my homework...making me do it at 12:30 at night...and making me only get 5 hours of sleep surviving on the naps I take when I get home...Gatta love being a kid...

I'll stop blurting out pointless and off-topic things now,
~David

would it be unethical for me to borrow some effects from a friend magician for a night?

Don't worry about it - if you give them back afterwards it's not like you're stealing anything, nobody will lose out and the kids will have that much more fun. I can't see it's any different from borrowing someone's guitar or drums etc for the night. Hope you have a good gig and tell us all about it afterwards!

How about a spong ball routine for the younger kids, at this age they will follow your instructions,
Do you know how to make a spong ball appear in their hands? it blows them away as the magic happens to them.
I follow this with a very simple counting sponge ball routine and at the end they all vanish, which naturaly ends the trick. (routine lasts 2 minutes) Great for stage and table hopping after. PM me if you use sponge balls and I'll let you know how to do it, if you don't know already of course.

David R. wrote:I will try to read as much, if not all, of 13 Steps this weekend, but since I have to perfect all of the routines I am planning on performing, I am not sure I will have the time. If you know from the top of your head (I am not asking for extensive research, just a push in the right direction so please do not go searching through every page in 13 Steps) what would be the order I should read the chapters in when sorted by order of importance since I dought I could read the whole thing, process it, learn it, read a bit from Art of Astonishment, and perfect my routines by the 9nth. Also, to whoever has Art of Astonishment, what would, in your personal opinions, be the best 3-5 effects in it for me to choose from for kids ages 5-15 and then one or two for adults?

When it comes to 13 Steps - you're right, you won't really have time. You MAY, if your really work at it, be able to pick up some Sound Reading (pp.38 - 42); Try Step Three for the Amazing Memory Test, which didn't take me that long to learn and is a real crowd-pleaser and something that little bit different and you may also want to look over Step Ten Card Tricks. It will take work, but I reckon those are the most doable ones if you are going to try and get some material from the book in such a short space of time.

With Art of Astonishment, flicking through my copy now, Improv. Nightshades, Apple, Earth Shoes are things which would play well to children as well as some of the card material... It's really hard to say, especially when it comes to adults - there is so much great material it really does come down to personal preference, what you can get down in that amounts of time etc. etc.

Best of luck!

Kids, they like really flashy stuff, colourful things.

Things that are fast and sharp and straight to the point, they don't want a really confusing long routine.

Something that maybe involves them, or something they can hold and feel special.

And maybe things they can relate to, like a colouring book. Do you have the colouring book, that white, riffle through, then has pictures, riffle one last time, then is in colour? I forgot what its called, but that I think kids will like.

Oo, top it off with a wand? Kids love the wands heh.

Good Luck!

K