Put the cards down...

[Sherlock]

Nice post, and to some extent listening to spectators and what they want to see isn't necessarily the way to go. For magic is a surprise, not saying it has to be, but when they expect something it loses that extra edge.

I find that performing with what you have around you is the best way to accomplish the magic feeling. I do perform cards, and it does astonish no doubt. However I walked into a Lumber place and did some performances later on in various places, but somebody I knew asked me to show them something. I had left my cards in the truck so I figured I was screwed.

I was at the cash register and asked for a 5 and a 1 real quick and she was nice. I did a very nice little bill switch and performed 5 and 1 transpo. Do you know how crazy that must have looked??? That lady must have been a down to home christian and I not only made her take the lords name in vain but curse a bit to.

Two random bills and I performed a little miracle, sometimes it's not necessarily doing card effects or coin tricks or anything like that. It's about performing with what's given or around you and if cards are then damn straight I'll be going for those first right now.

Today was a great day, 20+ performances with cards, wood, money, and rubberbands. I botched on one thing but I'll keep that to myself.

 

[Chaseman27]

after I have pulled half of the deck out of my mouth and the other half out of someone's behind with flames shooting out, Mike

Butt Blast by Mike Hankins.

Thought that was awesome, made me laugh.

Great discussion guys, I am making my way through the 20 pages.

All the best,
-Chase

 

[Austin Fields]

You didnt read my posts here well.
I never said one should stop using cards completely. Its stated quite clearly in my OP and some posts afterwards. If your already naturally inclined to other forms of magic then these messages of "put the cards down" are clearly not for you.

You're right, kind of took a stab at what the discussion was after reading the first and the last couple pages, but you're right.

my bad

~Beans

 

[Chris W]

Interesting stuff. I read through the entire thread and felt I can take a lot away from reading the posts. I think that threads like these make people think about themselves. If you strictly do card magic, no problem there. Keep it up. But it you do that, be original and awesome! If you feel the need to branch out, more props to you. I would agree that people can do shows for an hour based on card magic, but they are few and far between. If you can do that, you're the man/woman. But I wouldn't be able to and would never attempt to. I would much rather prefer a variety.

Again, the thread was not to bash cards but to simply further the art of magic in gereral. These are the type of threads that we need to have more of. They provoke thoughts and discussions. Its worthless if everyone agrees with the post and thats it. Having a banter back in forth and making one side see your point of view is what we need here. We will never be furthering ourselves if we just become complacent.

On a personal note, I would love to be more original. I do try to think of fun patter that I enjoy. One example being my threefly routine. My patter deals with 3 gazelles trying to get to a watering hole (aka my other hand). The gazelles use speed and distrations. I not saying its great but its better than saying "And watch as it goes to the other hand...."

All of your are original in one way or another.....show it

 

[Haunter]

On a personal note, I would love to be more original. I do try to think of fun patter that I enjoy. One example being my threefly routine. My patter deals with 3 gazelles trying to get to a watering hole (aka my other hand). The gazelles use speed and distrations. I not saying its great but its better than saying "And watch as it goes to the other hand...."

All of your are original in one way or another.....show it

You should get a blue marker and draw a little pond in your hand. That'd be silly but I'd like it. lol

Anyway, just do magic in the way that's most fulfilling for you.

 

[visualartist]

Anyway, just do magic in the way that's most fulfilling for you.

Just as fullfilling,of not more, for the spectators too

 

[Chris W]

This is starting to make me think of other threads where people were saying that magicians are selfish (I think steerpike stated this), which I agree. We all want to be entertaining but we get huge egos about it. We should want the spectators to have a great time and blow them away. That, in essence, is a huge goal of mine whether I meet it or not with each performance. The problem is, we are so wrapped up in ourselves, its not always possible for the spectators to have fun.

This brings me back to the point at hand by VA. The more random mediums that we use in our art, the more likely the specators will have a good time. Then and only then should we feel good about ourselves. If we bomb, we I certainly have, go back and figure out what went wrong.

That is when we did what we were suppose to do, not when we, as magicians, think we did.