I went to see "The Phantom of the Opera" yesterday.
I'm not an opera fan. I am a fan of horror, though, and I'm appreciative of a good tragedy. And, that's what "Phantom" is - an operatic, horror, tragedy (two out of three ain't bad).
That, coupled with the fact that it was me mum who bought the tickets for my birthday who took me to see it (yep, I'm a momma's boy; the youngest of three...The baby as it were). I was pretty much locked into it.
Now, I don't get out much. I live a fairly simple life...I'm either at work, or I'm at home. Keep in mind, magic IS work.
The show was excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I couldn't understand what they were singing half the time, but the acting made up for that and I could complete it in context. I could understand in that way.
The staging and sets were phenominal. Any glitches that may have occurred (because that is not abnormal) I didn't notice in the least. The special staging effects were extraordinary, also. When a boat goes across the stage, candle and fog worked together to make the appearance of waves going over the stage - seriously, it was extraordinary.
Near the end, when the phantom vanishes, he sits in a big, wooden chair - almost thrown like. He pulls his cloak up over himself, covering himself completely...You know: unless there was another magician in the audience, then I alone knew the vanish that was coming. It was beautiful. Even knowing, I never saw a thing, other than a man covering up and fully vanishing. Well done. Beautiful.
But, anyway, this is off topic...Until now.
While I was dressing for the show, earlier in the evening, I set myself up to do most any kind of magic, at the drop of the hat. It is the damndest thing, but, I get recognized in public, sometimes. I find that wierd, but I do like to be prepared just in case.
From the props that I was carrying, I could have put on an entire 45 minute show. Honestly, I was carrying enough to cover 45 minutes. Now, that would have been jazz and I would have been looking for other items easily found or borrowed (borrowed items can be powerful when used at the right time), but I could have done a 45 minute set. Honestly.
What was I carrying?
Okay, before I get into that, let me tell you:
I was wearing a sports coat, a waistcoat, a pocket (button down) shirt with tie and a pair of trousers (of course I was wearing trousers - I'm not Scottish). Altogether, I had 15 pockets with which to play with/load up.
I carried a pocket hank, in my sports jacket's outter, breast pocket. I think a pocket hank looks good, showing out in the sports jacket's pocket (or any jacket, for that matter). My brown shirt matched the coat, my black pants matched the waistcoat and my tie brought both colors together, so I went with a basic white, cotton hank...I got class, man!
I carried 4 soft, Barber halves in my left waistcoat pocket.
I carried a pen in my sports coat's pen pocket.
I carried a deck of cards in my waistcoat's right, inner pocket (red, thistle back, Bicycles).
I carried a Z-fold wallet with an 8 card brainwave, a "Bee" set of two jokers and an ace (three card monte) and some business cards. Oh, and my money was in there, too.
That's it. And that's 45 minutes worth of magic, with those items, in one way or another, which can be put together and routined or, like I say above, "jazzed." It is important to note that I'd only get, about, 10 minutes out of the deck of cards themselves. I'm not much on card magic, but what I do with them is pretty good (and that's enough for me).
I guess I'm just trying to reiterate that ultimate war cry in magic:
Pack small, play big.
The point that I'm trying to make is that I didn't need an ID, a pull, a myriad of gaffed coins and cards, The Raven, The Bat, a TT, gaffed shoes for some kind of levitation along with 2 stone of other equipment. I didn't need the latest from Penguin or Ellusionist on my person...Just a hank, four coins, a deck of cards, a pen and two (shall we call them?) packet tricks, which were in the wallet that I was carrying.
Most of those items are utility items - the hank has uses outside of magic, doesn't it? Spill a bit of your drink? Well, I got a hank. The pen has obvious uses as does the wallet. The deck of cards and the coins were the only "magic" items that I had on my person.
Oh, and I had a pack of matches, which can get me 8 - 10 minutes of working material. Again, a utility item.
Let's just use a possible routine that I may go into, if the spirit moves me:
Taking out a coin, it is old and worn. It is visually compelling and of interest. False transfer and retrieve the pen ("A Novel Vanish and Reproduction" [Bobo]) and before actually showing the coin gone, do "behind the ear" with the pen. Vanish the coin and hand the pen to a spec - ask them to remove the cap.
Whilst they remove the cap, retrieve the coin. Take the cap and knock the coin out from inside of it (see? that's where it went!). Do a few coin through hand maneuvers, to show that the coin penetrates through the hand (see Bobo and Kort), then go into a coin through hank (which introduces the hank). Now the coin can be vanished with the hank and you can go into a routine using just the hank, or push the pen through the hank (being a magician, you carry a magic hank, don't you?).
Or, you can simply replace the hank and go into your own happy version of "Re-capped" (G. Wilson).
I mean, there is so much magic to be found in those few, normal, ungaffed items that I sometimes wonder how the magic industry keeps getting us to buy the latest and greatest.
Just some thoughts...Oh, and go see "The Phantom of the Opera" if you have not done so.
Mike.
!
I'd love the full monty in my family (or rather half now) tartan (Sutherland for anyone that's interested) ...I do get a few comments about it (dashing...etc.) of course I had the usual you're wearing a skirt from some drunken numpty he backed down when I got out my skean dhu! 
