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My best advice, before you have "gigs coming up", is having an idea what you're doing before you put yourself out there doing gigs.

I was thinking the same. If this is the case, and you are REALLY asking this question, what the he77 have you sold yourself as?
I can "blow people's minds" with half a sheet of A4 and a pair of scissors, IF the timing is right, IF it's the correct audience, IF the situation is right. Other times I may need to perform more complex moves, like a DL
As Alec says, the car depends on the driver.
Bruce

Lord Freddie wrote:My best advice, before you have "gigs coming up", is having an idea what you're doing before you put yourself out there doing gigs.

Haha, When I posted this thread I was looking for something special, but now I have learnt that I can use techniques and gimmicks from different effects and combine them to make some pretty cool stuff, I am extremely ready for gigs.

Many of the "classics" of magic, to be found in older textbooks like Tarbell and (here comes another plug) Hugard's Modern Magic Manual, are so old that they haven't been performed in years and will be completely unfamiliar to modern audiences. They will blow minds. Just don't use the original patter...

Don't buy tricks, buy books.

Barry

magicofthemind wrote:Don't buy tricks, buy books.

Barry

And don't perform tricks, perform magic.

A_n_t wrote:

magicofthemind wrote:Don't buy tricks, buy books.

Barry

And don't perform tricks, perform magic.

Precisely so. And that's a lesson you'll learn from the classic books.

Not sure if someone else touched on this, but learning standard, book tricks gives you the option of performing a bit if someone hands you a deck of cards at a party and asks you to do something. A lot of the packet tricks, gimmicks and the like really ARE mind blowing tricks when presented well... but sticking to them leaves you in the position of having to flat out refuse to have some fun if put on the spot.

I have no problem at all with gimmick effects as the important point is gimmick EFFECTS and not GIMMICK effects... but having non-gimmick effects is worth every minute of extra effort. Add "...no he used MY cards!" to the after-show talk among spectators for a powerful memory.

book some lessons with a local magician or member of your local society . Sorry to sound harsh but otherwise youre just another wannabee that thinks they can just come along buy some stuff from ebay or dellusionist or magic fakers and take work from real workers. lets face it there are enough so called pros out there who, having spent a hundred quid or so, go out for say 50 quid for a two hour show and basically let everyone , the booker, the audiences, other magicians and themselves, DOWN !
how have you got gigs coming up if you do not have material ????????
i could understand if say as a close up worker you suddenly find one of your clients wanting cabaret and youre looking for advice how to adapt so to speak , but to come onto boards asking for people to basically set you up in opposition is niaive tothe point of being insulting.
al

I find this a little confusing too... I'm learning magic, have been for about 6 months now and one or two of the things I've been practising are just about ready to start showing to the general public. That said I'm still polishing the patter, timing routines and presentation.

I've often wondered, if I could squeeze out a 10-20 minute set whether I could get a professional gig table hopping or something, but have no idea how I would go about getting into such work.

How can you have secured a gig before even learning any effects? How did you do it? There are skilled, polished, well presented magicians out there who simply cannot find work. Rather than asking us for tricks, you should be sharing your marketing secrets!

-Stacy

You defo should be able to blow them away with these:

Coin From Ear,
Chinese Sticks,
Hoppity Hoppity Rabbits.

What you really need Smidge is Not so much Tricks that will Blow Peoples' Minds BUT
PRESENTATIONS & a PERFORMING PERSONALITY that will blow people's minds.

Very little that the Greats perform is difficult
But
It is HOW they do it
and
WHO they are

that makes them Great
Allen Tipton
For heavens sake read Maximum Entertanment by Ken Weber to set yopu on the right road

you could try 1CR

Lawrence wrote:you could try 1CR

And here as well

Yes an excuse for a cheeky plug. http://www.walkaboutmagic.com/magicians-only.php" target="_blank

Lee Smith wrote:

Lawrence wrote:you could try 1CR

And here as well

Yes an excuse for a cheeky plug. http://www.walkaboutmagic.com/magicians-only.php" target="_blank" target="_blank

Tricks that will blow peoples minds: Strike and iPhone10 by Lee Smith

Seriously!

You can have a career in magic just by watching Lee's stuff.

perhaps the originator of the post might be so kind as to provide us with a little background,, age, time in magic, performance experience sort of thing, at least that way we can offer serious advice rather than risk the chance of arming someone to potentially do a lot of damage to workers.

alex

The4thCircle wrote:I find this a little confusing too... I'm learning magic, have been for about 6 months now and one or two of the things I've been practising are just about ready to start showing to the general public. That said I'm still polishing the patter, timing routines and presentation.

I've often wondered, if I could squeeze out a 10-20 minute set whether I could get a professional gig table hopping or something, but have no idea how I would go about getting into such work.

How can you have secured a gig before even learning any effects? How did you do it? There are skilled, polished, well presented magicians out there who simply cannot find work. Rather than asking us for tricks, you should be sharing your marketing secrets!

-Stacy

A good salesman can get a gig, magic or no magic, unfortunatly that has nothing to do with it. Which is why if you find a good promotor for yourself you will have a leg up.

The problem with getting yourself booked without any real knowledge of magic, or a routine or any of the other things you need to pull off something like that is not the first booking. It is the second that will be the problem. If you book a gig and have nothing to back your booking then you will not get a second.

Don't worry judging by the comments and question of the original poster (and that is all I have to judge by) is that he is not ready for a magic gig, unless sitting in the audience. And if he does get one, he won't get many more. Unless there is more to the story then he is letting on.