Nuts And Bolts
Do you have any books on your “magic shelf” (ok, mine is a bookcase) which you picked up in a fit of pique or sudden inspiration, only to find that the majority of the stuff in it is just… not… you? When I made the initial splash into the magic business I bought up stuff [...]
As a part-time pro, I need to get out to perform at faires, perform, and then get back in time for my “day job”. For me, that means flying a lot. Fortunately, Southwest Airlines and I have an understanding – I pack everything I can into two bags and keep them under 50 lbs each, [...]
I’m rather proud of the Hammer Trick (aka the “Card Mallet”) because, in a way, it’s the first trick I’ve really put together “from scratch”, with an end result, a starting point, and then filling in the blanks as we go. I knew I wanted to do something with the mallet -it’s a great prop [...]
Continue reading about Evolution of a bit – The Hammer Trick
… last month I debuted a new trick at the local Society of American Magicians chapter (59 – Portland) as part of their Entertaining Card Trick Competition. Shockingly… I won. … so what did you do? For many years I’ve been enamored of a bit known as the ‘card sword’ – a randomly selected card [...]
Continue reading about Evolution of a trick – The Card Mallet
…. moving away from Cheap Magic, let’s look at cheapness uh, frugality in Faire… Bring most of your food and beverages with you – Yes, it meas you’re hauling more stuff onto site, but even bread, cheese and summer sausage bought “off site” will cost maybe 30% of what you’re going to pay for it [...]
… If you’re going to be performing at Faires which offer compensation, you’re going to have to confront the “how much should I ask to be paid” question. The best guideline I can give is to determine your Cost Plus Profit rate. In this case, Cost is what it costs you to perform – this [...]
I’ve been thinking about how much stuff I tote around when I work Faires – I’ve mentioned before that I’m a great believer in infrastructure – but when it comes down to it, there is an ABM – an Absolute Bare Minimum – that I’d want to pack in and out. If you’re starting to [...]
I’ve talked about the “Do Three Things” exercise with various props and apparatus earlier, and it’s made me think about “monomaniacal” sets – magic acts where everything involves one particular thing in random variations. The most common type of Monomaniacal Set is a card act. Simply put: here’s a deck of cards, now I will [...]
Continue reading about The Joy and Terror of Monomaniacal Sets
I caught a replay of the “Batman Tech” special on the History Channel last night, and it got me to thinking. Batman has a utility belt, a compact set of useful items he carries with him when he is in costume. RenFaire people have their own version of that utility belt, in the form of [...]
Just a rumination here… Trees and magic have gone together for centuries. The first magic wand was probably a piece of a branch. The same can be said of a wizard staff The “ring on stick” trick continues to be one of the classics of magic, and can be done close up and on stage [...]
