Character

I haven’t posted a video for a while but I have been very busy immersing myself in culture outside of magic . I’ve indulged my love of Shakespeare. The Tempest ( 2010 Version, Helen Mirren is sublime) and watched Coriolanus . I also saw a stage production of Allo, Allo which was hilarious. Scroobius Pip was amazing in Leeds, ( A beat poet everyone should check out) .

 I am trying to work out how to incorporate more of me into my performances. I’m still none the wiser but I’m hoping by osmosis at least some of influences will come out in my magic!  I wonder how other magicians develop their persona ? Does your magical character reflect a side of your real life? Or it is just you ?  

Round Up - End of 2013

Well the year is coming to an end and what a year its been. I "came out" as a magician. Performed to more people than ever and successfully auditioned for a Magic Society.

Hopefully in the new year I'm going to expand on this. I'm concentrating on classic commercial effects. The idea of actually performing at parties has come up and I'm not completely sold on the idea yet.  I feel my repertoire needs fleshing out and refining before I look at more formal performances.

Things to look to in 2014? I'd love to give busking a go, would be a good way to get over performance nerves and get real world experience. I also have a written a Halloween/Seance show which I'd love to perform. If I can some brave souls along for the ride!!

I'd love to hear others highlights of 2013 and expectations for 2014.

Nerves!

Yesterday was the big day!  I had my audition for South Lincs Magical Society. This was the third meeting I had attended and needed to audition to become a full member.

My routine was a bizarre restored card but using my Mr Jack Puppet ( Voodoo puppet puncture - see last months video)  I had worked this for friends and family ( thanks +Kerri Saxby ) I knew the routine inside out mechanically and the script had a few gags, room for ad libs and generally worked.

My case was packed

From Sunday night the nerves started. What if it went wrong? what if they hated it? I get nervous performing for people I know. A room full of magicians really terrifies me. When I arrived I noticed one thing, It was busy!

It was was presidents night and the turn out was really good. Ted Lumby talked us through his Pirate themed childrens show. This was really funny and a great distraction.

Then all too quickly, It was time to perform. My hands shook, I felt sick and I forgot to breathe! I'm sure I heard a few giggles at some of my lines and a gasp when I pierced Mr Jack (my hand) with the needle. 

Then it was over. I really wish I had handled the pressure better. I missed a few lines and I wish I had taken time to breathe and trust in the material. Ultimately the routine worked and I was unanimously allowed to join  the Society. The group were really encouraging and friendly. I'm looking forward to learning so much from them conquering the nerves and performing more.

Thanks to South Lincs Magical Society for welcoming me in and a huge thanks again to +Kerri Saxby for being a great sounding board and generally encouraging me to push myself.

Breaking Through.

I'm back writing again!!

I had hit a bit of a wall with magic and it's taken a while to get back into it. I felt like I wasn't making much progress. I was struggling with certain technical aspects and just finding performing difficult in general .

Advice from places like magicbunny.co.uk has been invaluable and the breakthrough came from a number of avenues.

I needed to start performing! I now do at least one effect a week for guys at work. I've been using either very simple effects or effects I know really well. This leads onto the second thing which has inspired me.

I attended my first magical society meeting.I was a bit timid at first but I was welcomed in. I learned so much from listening to Ted Lumby. Much about my choice of effects rather than the techinical aspects themselves.

The next three weeks were spent scouring my arsenal for simple, easy to follow effects then practicing and most importantly making sure I performed them. Mark Masons Workers Diary and Lawrence Turners ILC are 2 which i love performing as they are baffling, and in the case of ILC hilarious and perfectly suit my character.

My short term goal is get a tight close up set of 5 effects ( not all cards!) and I feel like I'm getting close.

This has been a bit wordy so here is a Halloween effect I have recorded. Hope you enjoy it

Trick or Effect

Been very slack on blog post recently but this one in inspired by comments on Twitter. You can follow me there by the way my user name is Mick375.

Magicians use this term "effect" . Its almost become magicians term for Trick. I think it's used by some as they think trick is a dirty word which conjures up images of deceit and downright lies. Also those marketing effects use the term as its more elegant and also they can't really tell you what the trick is before you pony up the cash.

I was listening to Penn's Sunday school Pod cast this week and Teller gave a definition of magic as "re-creation of an impossible/improbable event" - (This is paraphrased , cant remember exactly) . This to me seems like the perfect definition of Effect.

Take for example The ambitious card routine. The effect is that the card even when placed in the centre of the deck under the fairest of conditions will be found at the top of the deck. The Trick is how that is accomplished.

When buying new products its worth bearing all this in mind I find. Sometimes you're buying into the trick even if you haven't considered what the Effect is. The trick is/should be invisible to spectators and the effect should suit your character.

This all seems a bit like semantics now I've typed this out but it does make me consider the importance of the words we use when performing. Once we've bought the trick we need to put that to the back of our minds and sell the effect to our audience.

Just for fun!

Picture the scene, It's late December. Times running out to get my video done in time for Christmas. Also the theme is cards; I haven’t rehearsed much card stuff. Then my phone dies!!

There is only one who could help me now. Michael Ammar

This is one of the first tricks I learned years ago and I thought I would dust it off for a laugh. Please excuse the video quality. recorded on an old camera.

So here goes and Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

November Video - Comfort Zone

So

I've been well slack and not blogged for a while, The theme for November was Comfort zone. I managed to rope my wife into being on camera for this one. What man hasn't dreamt of being able to read his wife's mind. Vickie was a great victim/helper. Hopefully I'll blog again shortly with Decembers video before the festive season descends upon us.

So please enjoy this months offering, comments welcome as always