talkmagic.co.uk

Hello all, I'm looking to do a psychedelic magic routine, ie lots of bright coloured and trippy effects. I'm thinking more modern psychedelica than hippy stuff. Could anyone please suggest some props that would be appropriate for this theme.

couldn't find anything on a web search, and am hoping that something that fits these requirements actually exists other than the rainbow deck, which should suit my purposes well

I have no idea what your experience level is and what you are already familiar with but I would think that D'Lites would be at the top of the list.

.robb. wrote:I have no idea what your experience level is and what you are already familiar with but I would think that D'Lites would be at the top of the list.

i just checked these out, these look perfect for integrating into a wider routine. thanks.

My experience level is good with cards and coins, have worked through most of the recommended books over the past year and a half and have decided to develop my own personal style

any other suggestions?

Not exactly what you're looking for, but maybe you could do a revelation of a prediction which is invisible until shined on by blacklight.

Well, could go wrong though, as with a lense and a light, everything can be projected onto a screen. So people might suspect you of just projecting the thing which would be adverse.

From your description I am imagining a loud rave (that's what they are called in the USA anyway) like party that's generally dark except for the bright neon lights that go whirling about. If that's the venue then you will want effects that are 100% visual, no patter and quick to the punch.

Since you are familiar with at least the basic coin sleights, perhaps you can use the bulk of what you know and apply them to spongeballs? Cover the spongeballs with a UV light coatings. Combine them with the D'Lites, even use the D'Lites as a TT to load a couple of the spongeballs, and go nuts.

An idea that could either completely knock 'em dead or completely fail are UV coated ropes. I can only imagine what a routine like Fiber Optics would look like in such a setting.

The downside to the UV is that they will constantly be illuminated. Could be a problem if the gaps between the fingers of your "empty" hand are glowing.

.robb. wrote:The downside to the UV is that they will constantly be illuminated. Could be a problem if the gaps between the fingers of your "empty" hand are glowing.

In the setting described this can be both, a total nightmare or an advantage I think. Imagine painting only one side of a coin with UV reflectant solution, it vanishes instantly in the semi dark. However some of the sleights may not work, where the coin is tossed around and turns uncontrolably.

I like the .robb's idea with the ropes, I think that makes it very visual as they're quite big.

and maybe research what psychedelia and lsd and leary did before you dismiss it...rave is only a very watered down version...go to the source..

lots of bright coloured and trippy effects

Props painted with DayGlo paint and enhanced with a UV light ought to provide some of that, I've seen linking rings done that way and it's streets away from the classic chromium rings even though it's the same effect.

Something colourful could be the rubiks cube trick (i cant remember the name of it, the one where it is solved by magic), or Gregory Wilsons Foreign Affair which has some nice colour changes.

For a glowing type effect I rember seeing Pete Firman doing a version of the Dancing Cane in a nightclub with a long glow stick, which was quite effective.

jim

The group "Fighting Gravity" performed on America's Got Talent and will likely have a Las Vegas show in the near future. They may be of inspiration.

Here's a clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puLZe-IKbnY

Unfortunatley I have no ideas.. sort of.
May I ask why?

This was something which I looked into a while ago- probably because I was into Bill Hicks at the time and because the mysticism of it all interested me and I wrote a mentalism routine about it, theres not much to the effect, its mostly words. But I didn't perform it in the end

The history of psychedelics is very interesting. And funny if you remember that it was the CIA who accidentally released LSD to the public because they were experimenting with it (For example, on the 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest' Author when he was a student) and testing it on foreign nationals before speeches and so on. They even put out some propaganda in the US at one point showing some soldiers who could not fight whilst they were on acid, which surley seems like more of an advert than anything. But anyway, the CIA wanted to see if they could bomb their enemies with LSD and incapacitate them. Unfortunatley it never worked. Then the youth got hold of it, it became correlated to subversive behaviour and was criminalised.

A brilliant book on the experience is Aldous Huxley's 'Doors to Perception'. Huxley actually nearly came up with the word 'Psychedelics'- I believe he wanted to call it 'phanerothyme' or something but his friend sent him a letter which said something similar to 'Burn in Hell or soar angelic, take a drop of psychedelic' because he looked up in the dicionary 'psyche-' (mind) and 'delia' which I am guessing might mean delerium or some sort.

Anyway, whats LSD?

The obvious thing is a Black Art act. Perfectly trippy.

If I remember, I think it was the team of Humphrey and Osmond who coined the term, "Psychedelic," which I believe means mind (psyche) reflecting (delic). They ran a lab in Canada at the time.

I'm not really 100% sure what you're after here but any sort of manipulation done with strobey, trippy lighting and the right music might work. I'm thinking card manipulations or silks here.

so basically, rave equals sticking a bit of day-glo onto normal magic props and doing the same...

whereas if you research the history of what psychedelia was/is - you'll get something faaaaaaaar more interesting...

huxley was friends with milton erikson as an example...