Card Routine - Open Mic Night

[aznofspades]

I'm performing at an Open Mic Night. It's a parlor-like setting. I get 15 minutes to do whatever I want so I'm thinking of doing a card trick where they pick a card and then

Hand to Mouth

Ambitious Card:

2 Standard Rises
Color Change Rise
Pop Up Move

Card to Pocket
twice

Deck Vanish except for their card

Hand out their card.

And possibly then, reproducing the deck and doing an Invisible Deck Routine.

Any advice?
I'm thinking my routine might be too long but I'm not sure.

 

[Sinful07]

Too long. perform a mentalist effect. Expand your patter.

Even simply forcing a card and then revealing it via a sealed envelope handed to a spectator before the actual performance. (or hanging from the ceiling or something.) would hit hard.

Stop thinking about moves- Focus on the effect.

 

[{041109}]

Mentalism. Mess with their heads, it works better on a large scale than card magic ever will. Hand to Mouth is risky as well.

{041109}

 

[aznofspades]

The show is tomorrow. I can't get a new trick down by then.

Why is it too long? 15 minutes is plenty of time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpzu...6633760E&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=18

Bill Malone's ACR almost directly parallels mine (purely coincidence). I have the extra phase of hand to mouth. And his only takes 2 minutes and it's 2 minutes of pure magic. I think I'll try adapting his speed though cuz I've tried performing it at a slower pace and it isn't as effective.

But I will definitely milk the Invisible Deck and take my time with that one.

THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK!!

 

[Deechristopher]

The only thing I'd say is think about why card to mouth works and why that may make it difficult to perform in a parlour style environment.

You'll be able to over come it with a bit of effort, but things like that are worth thinking about.

D.

 

[Twozwozer]

The only thing I'd say is think about why card to mouth works and why that may make it difficult to perform in a parlour style environment.

You'll be able to over come it with a bit of effort, but things like that are worth thinking about.

D.

I agree with Dee. But if you are going to do Card to Mouth, why do it at the start? Why not put it second from last in your ACR? That seems to make more sense IMO

Cheers, Tom

 

[Randomwrath]

I agree with Dee. But if you are going to do Card to Mouth, why do it at the start? Why not put it second from last in your ACR? That seems to make more sense IMO

Cheers, Tom

Quoted for truth. After that, I think a standard rise would be a bit of an anticlimax. You're thinking of it in terms of sleights, not dramatic build-up. Also why vanish the deck, only to reproduce it? Kind of ruins the impact. Rather than people going away and saying 'he vanished the deck,' they're more likely to overlook that bit. I think it needs a bit of thought, personally. Sorry if I sound harsh, but you can definitely do better.

 

[kevin]

I feel like there will be too many people for card effects. I'm going to perform for my open mike night and I'm going to do only like 1 mentalism effect, so if it's tomorrow, I don't know. maybe a simple force then bring it up a lot.

kevin

 

[True2Coins]

Please don't doa color change for the one phase lol. Even in a parlor setting it is VERY difficult to see the magic happen.

 

[aznofspades]

Dee Christopher and Twowoozer: Hand to Mouth, I think could work. If presented sorta like, Paperballs Overhead? That Bob Marley quote, "you can fool all of the people sometimes, you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." would apply. Kinda showing that I'm not trying to fool them cuz I'm mean just sorta as a funny icebreaker.

Randomwrath: I think it builds up. Because the Hand to Mouth it's a flourishy complicated move, where a standard rise is simple and clean. They don't think you just fooled them cuz they were looking the wrong way at the right moment. Just the other side of the coin.

The deck vanish is to transition. I got it off of Bill Malone's DVD where he says "The deck goes and I go to" but then he reproduces sorta as an encore. I'll be looking at the audience, if they look like they want more and would cooperate with the Invisible Deck then I'll go with it. Jay Sankey said something in Extremely Ambitious of making sure that you treat each phase like it's your last phase. So that they don't think you're rushing thru it and try to get ahead of you. I will respect the magic moment and won't perform at the clip that Bill Malone does, but I will keep building.

I think the Invisible Deck is a nice climax. Because I'm giving the deck out to them to shuffle. ACR could possibly be explained with sleight of hand, so I want to close with something hands off.

Kevin: Are you suggesting maybe doing, just an Invisible Deck Routine. Because I'm not sure if I want to open with that because they're more likely to suspect the cards if it's the first trick. I need some sorta opener and I think this "Card Flurry" would set the tone right.

True2Coins: Good point. I'll try to rethink it.

PLEASE!! KEEP COMMENTING, YOUR CRITICISMS HELP ME DECONSTRUCT MY ROUTINE AND LOGIC IT OUT TO MYSELF.

THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!

 

[Shakutau]

Yo Brother, long time no speak. How things?

This looks like a fun performance to watch and study, just for the knowledge of a possible new approach. And stuff like that. Besides the final two optional stages of producing the deck and going onto an Invisible deck routine, i think the phases that you are doing before that should take a large chunk of time. I've learnt that if you milk people's reactions, it builds up better reactions for later, its like planting a suggestion, within planting a suggestion. I've been trying that for the past 3 days where i've been street performing, and every time i finish my first effect i start to see a horde of dudes closing in. But thats different to what situation you are up against, but concept can still be used.

Hmm. If you think you cant take away the reproducing deck thing, maybe you could use a different colored deck instead? If i was doing what you was doing, and i vanished the deck, i wouldnt want to break that realm i sent my spectators into by taking out the deck again. I would really want my spectators to feel i vanished my deck, and its really gone. Instead, i would introduce a different colored deck, and continue with that.

An ACR can have a magical feel to it. If you are determined to do the routine you set for yourself then, make it lean no so towards the 'sleight of hand' feel.

 

[Sir FansAlot]

I think your original routine sounds fine. After all, making changes one day before the show doesn't sound very responsible.

 

[Vinsanity]

well, I just recently performed at an open mic night, and I put together some coin tricks, card tricks, and rope tricks, and you could do something like that I guess. One thing I would like to say is a good closer to do could be the twisting arm illusion. Or "Crossed" as it is called on David Stone's dvd.

 

[turgon]

Hi all,

Ok I've been doing open mic nights for the last 2 months, twice a week in two very different venues and quite simply standard card tricks won't cut it. Open mic's aren't easy as people aren't there to see you and as such so you have to make them WANT to see you and as a magician you're already at a disadvantage. Many people consider magic for children so you have to overcome that in the first 30 seconds or quite simply you've lost them. People will often quite happily heckle you so be prepared for that as well. Personally, I do mentalism on stage and then close up when the opportunity arises. People can not see the card rising to the top so will not give a damn if it does or doesn't. Believe me, you're' best off simply forcing a card and revealing it in a cold reading style manner then a complex slight of hand peace. Also opening with a sucker trick like card to mouth or paper balls over the head is not the best idea. It just makes you look like a dick for mocking someone who's been good enough to help you out and there's a fairly good chance your audience will dislike you for it. They want to be entertained not fooled. There's also the added danger of if your assistant has had to much to drink they might just clout you for making a fool of them. Not likely but definitely a possibility.

Sorry if this comes across as preaching and disjointed but I don't want it to go horribly wrong for you and you feel as if that they aren't worth doing because when they go well they really really are

 

[aznofspades]

Ok so I performed tonight. It was a fairly small local venue. Maybe 10 people showed up. I did the ACR for the manager and stopped at the Pop Up Move. His reaction was great and I realized that I could stop. Probably like 3 minutes top. Just enough time so that the next performer could get set up.

Very simple, hit hard, and I made a friend.

I didn't use the Bob Marley quote, but to explain, It's me trying to show that magic isn't just about fooling people. I'm saying that I know I can't fool everyone, every single time, so I try to be entertaining and get them to like me as a person so if I mess up, they won't care.

I went with my musician friend and whenever he screws up a note or his voice cracks, he makes a joke out of it and everyone laughs together because he's a nice guy.

Hand to Mouth wasn't performed as a Sucker Trick, I made the analogy to Paper Balls Overhead that the audience members that saw how I did it just had a sneaky little smile to themselves. But I think my misdirection on that trick worked pretty well.

I'm a teenager and the Open Mic Night was at a local coffeeshop, sorry if that was unclear.

I agree, it was definitely worth doing.

Vinsanity and Turgon, I'd like to hear more of your feedback!

 

[turgon]

Thanks for the reply aznofspadesv glad to here it went well
OK first point, you've got the right attitude in that you want people to like you as a person rather then just be just impressed at what you do. This'll help immensely when it comes to developing your act as so much of stage magic is your personality coming across. You have to get people to invest in you emotionally in order to care about your magic.
Thanks for the clarification on the venue, and if you don't mind how big is the performance space and what age bracket are you audience?

 

[aznofspades]

Hm. Mostly teens like me.

And my friends did a show there as a band and the placed was filled up and there was about 50 total people.

Check this thread if you want to help:

http://forums.theory11.com/showthread.php?t=17788&highlight=parlor