An impossible answer ...

Jul 13, 2009
424
0
Edmonton, Canada
So i'm pretty sure everyone of us have gone through a time period where you are being asked to do something truly impossible ... I was performing my interpretation of Burn by d+M yesterday with a Voodoo/Supernatural theme with my own little twist at the end, everyone was blown away. And then they started asking me a series of question ... they asked:

1) Why i was wearing my "sun" necklace and if it had anything to do with the trick, they made me remove my necklace for the next trick ...
2) They asked me if i practice black magic and if i say anything "in my heart" while performing ...
3) They asked if i could change the water from the water fountain into Wine ...
4) And finally, if i could control their mind ...

I was like wtf is going on, and the worse part is, they were actually waiting for an answer. This was just yesterday, i've had similar experiences before that. I was wondering if you guyz had anything similar happened to you in your years of performing ? How do u respond to that ???
 
Jul 12, 2010
18
0
Sweden
1: I'm not sure wether or not it did have something to do with the trick, but if you actually can remove it it depends on the situation in my opinion:
As I see it there can be two different situations when doing close up, one where you're in control and one where you're pleasing the audiences demands. For example if you're showing your hands clean when they're not, if you have the control the audience watches and lets you show every part of your hand clean in your own pace, however if you're not they may start moving around to see every part of your hand quicker than you intend. Then you're not doing the effect as you wish, it's a race where you need to switch palm positions depending on how the audience acts.
Now most may say as a magician you must always be in control. I agree to a certain point, but as it's quite easy when you're doing stage, in a close up or street enviorment it can be quite hard to get that cntrol, especially performing for your friends or people one or two years older than you, where some tend to if not heckle you at least not play by your rules. This is however not all bad, since if you manage to actually win the aforementioned race the audience will be so much more certain that your hands really are clean, since they could look themselves to their satisfaction. When you then produce the stuffed beaver (or coin, depending on your personae) it has a greater impact.
So, if you are in control you should not need to satisfy their demands, but if you are not and are able to remove the necklace, then sure. It adds another level of honesty to the performance. It all depends on how you want to play it, I try to adjust depending on the person I'm performing for, making tricks like sinful a real b***h, but in some cases much stronger.

Granted, if you are a god and can do every single sleight without any tension or thought at all your performance would feel so clean there's never any need for the audience to suspect anything. I myself strive towards this, but meanwhile I have to have alternatives since this probably takes a lifetime.

2: I don't understand the whole question, but isn't "No" enough?
3: If you can, do it. Otherwise "No" (optional: toss in a joke about you not being jesus as long as your audience won't burn you for it.)
4: In my opinion either a perfect cue for a trick like Overkill or The hedonists make all the rules, OR if they're worried calm them down by taking the more scientific approach like explaining that you read body language, but aren't psychic or something like that.

I haven't gotten any like those, but I get the classic "Can you win in card games?" To which I respond "Yes" although I cant. (I can't cull or false deal, at the moment). And more often than not after doing control I get the "That can't be good for your body, stop doing it." from at least one person. Either I ignore it, but if it's someone I care about I tell them to relax, it's "just" an illusion. I admit I had to show my mother the method to calm her down.
 

Luis Vega

Elite Member
Mar 19, 2008
1,838
278
38
Leon, Guanajuato Mexico
luisvega.com.mx
I would have answer...

"Yes, I can but I wouldn´t recomend you to ask me to elaborate on this"

always remember...

"Reputations are not made by the things you can do...but by the things you supposedly do"
 
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