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Hi guys just started this thread please participate

I thought it would be an idea to share what performances we have next, what we will be doing etc.

My next show is going to be a cabaret /stage style show, i have put a lot of practice and time into this one and hope it will go well, expected audience is normally atleast 200 and if it goes great i would have the oppurtunituy to perform there on a regular, they are also going to be spending thousands on advertiement for themselves but will have me as the hightlight in the paper

so thats me booked and very busy, what about you guys lets share our success and skills


Jags

Well my next show is tonight, in about an hour and three quarters. I'm doing a trial set at a restaurant looking at hiring me on a regular basis.

Should be fun, I'll let you know how it goes.

will,

how did it go mate?


Jags

I'm just about to meet with the owner of the Restaurant to discuss last night and the possibility of performing regularly there, so if you give me an hour or so I'll give you a full run down of last night and this morning

excellent mate all the best, hope it goes well


Jags

Ok, I've just got back from an interview with the owner of a chain of restaurants up here. We were discussing the possibility of him hiring me on a regular basis to perform in one of his restaurants. This is a result of me walking in on Monday, dressed in my suit, with my "portfolio" under my arm and asking him whether he had ever considered having a magician in his restaurant before. He was really receptive and seemed quite eager to "try me out" (not like that!). We arranged that I would come back on Thursday (yesterday) to perform a trial evening.

I arrived last night at about 6.50pm for a 7.00pm start. I would be performing for two hours and moving from table to table (table hopping). Last night I was performing my Table Hopping Card Routines. These are a mix of the following effects:

My Ambitious Card Routine
Faster than a speeding ace (Dr Daley's Last Trick): Two red aces visually change places with two black aces held in the spectators hands.
I Thought of a Hot dog: A spectator's card disappears from between her hands and reappears face up in the middle of the deck.
Poker Tells: A demonstration of how to read people's poker tells.
Hot Shot Estimation: A selected card is buried in the deck, the spectator estimates how far down it is and then it shoots out into the performers hand.

5 tricks in all, usually routined into groups of three e.g. ACR, Ace Trick, Hot Dog Trick.

The performance went very well and besides a particularly odd comment (see the Spectator Quotes thread ) I would consider it a big success.

The most important thing that I learnt last night was that I was introducing myself in completely the wrong way. My opening line is usually

"Good evening, would you mind if I join you for a few moments? My name's Will and I'm the magician tonight. Have you seen much magic before..."

After one lady replied to my request to join them with "What, are you some kind of pervert or something?" I realised that most people were thinking exactly the same thing when I asked to join them, they just didn't have the nerve to say it (would you!?). Luckily, once she knew who I was and what I was doing there we laughed about it and in some ways it helped my performance but from a personal point of view it was like a slap in the face. I've been using that opening line ever since I started performing and that realisation was not a nice feeling. From that moment on, I walked to a table and rearranged my opening line.

"Hello, my name's Will and I'm the magician tonight. Would you mind if I join you for a few moments? Have you seen much magic before..."

That simple rewording reassured the clients immediately and still accomplished everything I want in an opening line.

So besides that, the evening went really well and at the end of the night, I arranged with the owner to meet him this morning to discuss last night and possible future engagements.

We met at 10 o'clock and immediately he spoke of the comments he'd recieved from customers last night. I was pleased that he'd gotten feedback, and glad to hear that it was all positive. We discussed rates and I offered him a reduced rate from my regular rate, seeing as I would be there regularly. As expected he bartered and offered me a slightly less rate with a meal afterwards aswell. I was more than pleased to accept (the food there is delicious!) and we shook hands on it.

After this we discussed how I would be paid. I requested my fee in a sealed envelope at the begining of the night in exchange for a reciept. We then talked about when I would be able to work and agreed on several dates in the near future. After struggling for months to set up a residency up here I'm really excited to finally have somewhere that I'm performing on a regular basis and hopefully this will be the begining of a long, healthy relationship.

Thanks for reading, I hope it wasn't to boring.

That was a pleasure to read Will...congratulations....

mate thats great and congrats

hope you do get residenecy there, sounds real good, and of course your opening line

i love it when peolpe say they dont like magic but then when you start showing them things they get involved and love it the only thing they then say is "how the hell did you do that"

its great


Jags

Hope it goes well

There's a chance I may be able to do some stage stuff as part of a local theatrical evening...I'm going to try and get a slot in that. I've had some stage experience but I lean more towards close-up...I really like planning shows though. Not sure what I'll do yet but it's a while away. I'd like to do some of my own effects. I've got a neat mentalism one I created a while ago now I could use.

Hopefully I'll be allowed a slot.

An excellent result, Will. You're an inspiration to some of us. No offence, but those effects you performed are by no means complicated, and I'm sure they are effects that you can virtually do with your eyes shut. There is no reason, absolutely no reason that we can't all be out there, doing this ourselves. All it takes is a bit of bottle to make the first approach.

Good luck with it all, Will.

I'll do it myself one day...

...maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon...

No offence, but those effects you performed are by no means complicated

No offence ( ) but this is something Hobbyist magicians have a hard time getting their head around. You're magic does not have to be complicated or finger busting to be effective. I'll say that again, but in a slightly different way; simple magic can be strong magic.

But don't get me wrong, just because you're not busting your gut trying to do a strike second deal for the 23rd Table that evening, it doesn't mean that you can take it easy and just go through the motions of a Twenty One Card Trick.

Like I said, simple magic can be strong magic. It all depends on you. You are what makes the magic worth watching, you are what gets the reaction and you are the person being paid to come back again and again to perform.

It all depends on you.

This is a message to all of the copy-cat-30-second-MTV-magicians out there; stop trying to be Criss Angel, David Blaine or me and be yourself. Perform as you, in your own style in a way that makes you feel happy and unique. Then try as hard as you can (literally) to make your audience feel happy and unique as well. Drop your egos grab a deck of cards, a handful of coins or heaven forbid a sponge ball or two and make somebody feel special by showing them something that shatter's their perception of reality. This is what magic is all about.

Magic is not about being cool. Let's face it we are all geeks who sit in our rooms trying to turn over two cards at the same time so they look like one. How ridiculous is that!? If you're focus is on how cool you look doing magic you will never get past the fascination with method and I hate to say it but you are missing out on 99.9% of what magic is, and along with it you're missing out on all of the joy you can get by making somebody else smile for a few minutes.

Rant over

No offence ( ) but this is something Hobbyist magicians have a hard time getting their head around. You're magic does not have to be complicated or finger busting to be effective

I think Zack was actually agreeing with that exact sentiment when he posted his message. It is certainly a truism of magic. One that many would do well to learn.

I’ll agree with you on your first couple of points Will ... I think simple magic is very effective .. people in general don’t want to see a trick they cannot follow, if you have 6 piles of 4 cards laid out on the table separated into suits and then placed in the correct order blah blah blah people become very tired.

Keep is sharp, keep it simple, keep it clean and keep it relaxed ...

One thing I will disagree with though is the bit about magic not being cool ... I think its quite largely about being cool ... impressing people is what we as magicians gain from the art... With the traditional style of magician i.e. you man in a tux is on his way out of fashion the new breed of Blain's, Dan Garcia's, Criss Angel’s, magic is cooler than ever.

Think about the new image of magic, its all focused around cool .. from the way people dress, to the short, snappy, high-impact magic they perform… hit and run tactics!

Agreed that wanting to be cool isn’t the way to get into magic, but i think it is one of the perks of that job as it were.

Rob

Good work Will

bananafish wrote:

No offence ( ) but this is something Hobbyist magicians have a hard time getting their head around. You're magic does not have to be complicated or finger busting to be effective

I think Zack was actually agreeing with that exact sentiment when he posted his message. It is certainly a truism of magic. One that many would do well to learn.

Sorry that comment was meant to be tongue in cheek (hence the wink). I aggree with Zack's aggreement .

Rob, I'm not trying to be controversial, but you got the wrong end of the stick.

I actually said:

Magic is not about being cool. Not that magic isn't cool. Magic is definately cool but I was saying that "being cool" must not be your focus, as you later said aswell.

However, I wholeheartedly disaggree with you saying that "your man in a tux is on his way out". All of these succesful magicians who wear t-shirts and jeans, and perform "hit and run" magic do so because it fits their environment. The problem is it has spawned a generation of magicians who think that they can download a trick and be just as cool as Criss Angel or david Blaine. This simply isn't the case. Both of those individuals have spent many years perfecting their magic and then applying it to an environment where they feel happy and unique. If you don't believe me and think they too are part of the MTV generation, read Blaine's book.

However, pretty much every other succesful magician who has made a name for himself has done so by creating an image they feel comfortable with, whether that be in tux, flowing robes or t-shirt and jeans.

Think about the new image of magic, its all focused around cool

No it isn't. It is focused around cool magic; magic that ordinary people on the street can relate to, magicians that ordinary people on the street can relate to. That is what magic has always been about.

Also, when I was talking about simple magic I was actually refering to simple from a magician's perspective. But you're right that we should avoid complex effects such as deal twenty one cards into this pile, then ten into this one, 3 onto the first one, split the second one into two piles and shuffle the remainding cards; look you're card is the 15th card down from the top. But that's another issue.[/quote]