Impromptu Sit Down Magic?

[anth0ny]

hey guys,
i was wondering if you guys could suggest some strong sit down, (like living room Type) magic that is impromptu. I guess street magic but sitting down. I want some strong ones that require no setup or i could setup easily in front of them. Tricks that could be used when put on the spot, mainly card magic.

Thanks.
O, and i was wondering if the brick of cards sold at sams club or kostco are good, i heard that they are like bad runoffs, misprinted in some ways.

 

[MagicSanj]

Some effects off the top of my head are:

-Invisible Palm (Wayne Houchin's version)
-Shuffling Lesson (Chad Long)
-Search and Destroy (Aaron Fisher)
-Paul's Bill Comes Due (Paul Curry)
-Alpha Move Pop Out (Derek Dingle)
-The Visitor (Larry Jennings)

I may add more if they come to me

All the bikes I have bought (in brick form) at Costco have been in perfect condition.

Hope this helps

-Sanj

 

[joshrobarts]

recapped
sloppy shuffle triumph
Arc de triumph
Biddle
I dont know the name of the trick but its a version of Ricky Jay's routine on free choice

I'll second Invisible Palm and Shuffling Lesson

any ace assembly,
Card under Glass
Gambling Demonstrations
Election
3 card monte

its really not hard to find dozens or hundreds of ideas

 

[SKSleighofHand]

Colour Change
Sloppy Shuffle Triumph
Commercial Aces (Syd Segal)
Collectors Editions (Syd Segal)
The Omen (Aaron Fisher)
The Logical Lession (Syd Segal)
Do As I Do (Royal Road to Card Magic)
Cards Across (Bill Malone)

You could end this routine by Reset.

You could also perform gambling demonstration

 

[KeoSilver]

I would suggest the usual card tricks,
Cut and restored rope
Professors nightmare
3 fly
Flying Silver
Coin bend
an entire bunch of loops

 

[Chicken]

Aha. I wonder what the suggestions are when the requirements are "I'm not prepared to do anything and I have no cards, no money, and no props. I don't live in the forest, and walking into a shop and buying a pack of cards is not an option." Narrows the options down a bit, doesn't it?

 

[joshrobarts]

Aha. I wonder what the suggestions are when the requirements are "I'm not prepared to do anything and I have no cards, no money, and no props. I don't live in the forest, and walking into a shop and buying a pack of cards is not an option." Narrows the options down a bit, doesn't it?

i cant still think of at least 5 tricks i could do on the spot and 4 of them are entirely appropriate and not likely to get me slapped or land me in lock up again

 

[visualartist]

Aha. I wonder what the suggestions are when the requirements are "I'm not prepared to do anything and I have no cards, no money, and no props. I don't live in the forest, and walking into a shop and buying a pack of cards is not an option." Narrows the options down a bit, doesn't it?

Admittedly if you are going to perform you wouldnt be caught in this situation.
But it is something ive stressed to people to put themselves in to spark a few brain cells to do something else other than the usual rubber band,cards,cards,cards,cards,and cards.
To further your pursuit,the question now is,where am I?

 

[KeoSilver]

Aha. I wonder what the suggestions are when the requirements are "I'm not prepared to do anything and I have no cards, no money, and no props. I don't live in the forest, and walking into a shop and buying a pack of cards is not an option." Narrows the options down a bit, doesn't it?

Chicken I quite enjoyed this, I feel that if you are going to be a true performer you had better be a very well rounded one. I do not understand why people stick to just cards if they are going to perform at all.

Admittedly if you are going to perform you wouldnt be caught in this situation.
But it is something ive stressed to people to put themselves in to spark a few brain cells to do something else other than the usual rubber band,cards,cards,cards,cards,and cards.
To further your pursuit,the question now is,where am I?

What if you are going to perform and you loose all of these items? What would you do then?

I state again you have to be a well rounded performer, personally I spent two years on cold reading and can get away with some miraculous effects without any objects other then my own voice.

I restate again in order to be successful street performer you have to be well rounded.

 

[Randy]

OK I am going to mention two names that the people here SHOULD look up.

Richard Webster and John Riggs aka John Saint Germain.

Learn Palm reading and all the items you need will be there for you. Unless you deal with people who don't have hands.. Then you're a freak show.

I'd say Cold Reading is a bit hard to do unless you have an Oracle to help with it. (Palm Reading, Tarot Cards, Leaf Reading.)

Tho there is a very good E-Book on Cold reading or Tarot Card reading by Enrique Enriquez.

 

[Randy]

Chicken I quite enjoyed this, I feel that if you are going to be a true performer you had better be a very well rounded one. I do not understand why people stick to just cards if they are going to perform at all.

Well they like cards because they are cheap and easy to understand. The other thing is that cards, coin, sponges or anything sleight of hand is pretty easy to practice with at home.

 

[KeoSilver]

Well they like cards because they are cheap and easy to understand. The other thing is that cards, coin, sponges or anything sleight of hand is pretty easy to practice with at home.

Not knocking on you Mr. Randy just this general community,

A quarter is less then a deck of cards. I feel that many of the self proclaimed street performers don't have enough experience with other props. Cards are great but if you are doing a 30-60 minute shindig, spectators will and I am saying this from experience get bored with your material. If you have 30- 60 minutes of card material good for you not my point.

 

[Randy]

Not knocking on you Mr. Randy just this general community,

A quarter is less then a deck of cards. I feel that many of the self proclaimed street performers don't have enough experience with other props. Cards are great but if you are doing a 30-60 minute shindig, spectators will and I am saying this from experience get bored with your material. If you have 30- 60 minutes of card material good for you not my point.

Which is why I suggested Palm reading. Easy to do (once you have an understanding of it.) and totally impromtu. Plus nobody gets tired of having a stranger tell them things about themselves, plus this goes with what Steerpike said as in "Whats in it for me?". With Palm reading you can also help them and entertain them at the same time. Win/win situation.

Not to mention it's an incredibly easy way to get potential clients interested in you.

 

[visualartist]

What if you are going to perform and you loose all of these items? What would you do then?

I state again you have to be a well rounded performer, personally I spent two years on cold reading and can get away with some miraculous effects without any objects other then my own voice.

I restate again in order to be successful street performer you have to be well rounded.

Ive been the one stressing that since before you were here.
To your question,if im going to perform and I 'lose' my props.(my ice box,loops,bent coin,LIFE set-up,and a few other items) then I cant perform can I? At a gig,its just not possible. If I however were performing on my own time and for people outside I evaluate my situation and take notice of my surroundings. I actually propose this challenge on myself constantly,purposely,to perform a miracle. My most succesful or my favorite was when I created LIFE which I would hold soil in my hand,pour water on it(or not) hold my hands up to the sun and a small flower is seen to grow slowly.
And especially for street performers,being well rounded is a must.
You cant coast on card tricks if you want to be a "street magician".

Sheesh randy is all you do is name dropping?
I dont recommend you use mentalism as a last option for not having cards or any other prop on you. Makes it sound like a throw a way trick. Which any mental trick,cold reading,etc isnt. Mentalism requires more acting skills than a magic trick.Which many magicians here lack. Its not one of those things like "oh well if I dont have my cards ill do some coin stuff or read their mind"

 

[Randy]

And what's wrong with name dropping? I am just giving you advice given to me by a lot of the top guys. I said Palm reading because it doesn't require acting or anything. It's a very easy thing to get into and to understand. But sense you and everybody else wants to buy a ton of props and things for 70-80 bucks a pop. Go right ahead, be my guest.

But if you are still interested, you can the Palm Reading books on Amazon for around 9-10 bucks.

 

[visualartist]

And what's wrong with name dropping? I am just giving you advice given to me by a lot of the top guys. I said Palm reading because it doesn't require acting or anything. It's a very easy thing to get into and to understand. But sense you and everybody else wants to buy a ton of props and things for 70-80 bucks a pop. Go right ahead, be my guest.

But if you are still interested, you can the Palm Reading books on Amazon for around 9-10 bucks.

Gimmicks and props that can allow you to do ANYTHING with a bit of brain power cost less than 15 dollars. And christ,none of the effects that I myself have created that are organic use gimmicks.
So you would read a palm with absolutely no drama or sense of mystery?
Not even show an effort in the performance? Magic is theater,when will you acknowledge that?

 

[Randy]

Gimmicks and props that can allow you to do ANYTHING with a bit of brain power cost less than 15 dollars. And christ,none of the effects that I myself have created that are organic use gimmicks.
So you would read a palm with absolutely no drama or sense of mystery?
Not even show an effort in the performance? Magic is theater,when will you acknowledge that?

It's not about you. It's about them, THAT'S what makes Palm Reading magical. You are not being mysterious or performing. You are telling them about their past. The other person is the in the spot light.

Also.. Palm reading isn't magic, it's magical in itself.

I've already acknowledged "Magic is Theater." which is true, if you are in the spot light.

 

[Deechristopher]

I think it really does take the right kind of person to pull of a good reading. I've seen ALOT of readings done either for me or someone else and for the majority of people on these boards it just wouldn't work, not at the stage they're at now.

Realistically, if a 12 year old began a reading, it just wouldn't be taken seriously, it'd have to be an incredibly powerful and moving piece to work at all - It'd take a real focus and talent to do that.

I agree with Randy that readings are fantastic to be able to do at a moments notice, seeing Docc Hilford doing his thing a few months back was great as he is THE king of readings!

I don't agree however with "It doesn't require acting or anything." as it requires a lot more character and flow than a visual magic trick would take to pull off. It's ALL in the words and the way they are delivered, there isn't a physical action to build off.

In saying all of that, I really do think that readings would work great in those situations, if you can pull it off effectively.

I did a gig very similar, a small gathering in the living room of the client and it was very relaxed. I'd say that the highlight of the evening was a blindfold routine.

I sat in between the host and hostess with the coffee table in front of me, I had her blindfold me after the blindfold was checked.

I then asked one of the guests to silently take 3 items from anywhere in the room and place them on the table. One by one they we held over my head by a different person for each item and I 'picked' up on features, materials and each time revealed the item, the final item I seemed to miss on a few aspects, which DID relate to the item only making the climax stronger.

It was relaxed, involving, engaging and powerful. That's the kind of performance that suits me in that environment, is it right for you?

D.

 

[visualartist]

It's not about you. It's about them, THAT'S what makes Palm Reading magical. You are not being mysterious or performing. You are telling them about their past. The other person is the in the spot light.

Also.. Palm reading isn't magic, it's magical in itself.

I've already acknowledged "Magic is Theater." which is true, if you are in the spot light.

Sheesh your dense. im tired of explaining to you.
Listen to dee,though he's too nice about it though.

 

[praetoritevong]

Buy a book.