So, as some of you know, this past weekend I travelled to Nebraska for my Step-Mom's Family Reunion. It was fun, but the best part of the trip was... performing magic. I got to perform four times throughout the trip, and I felt like I did a really good job. I'll go through the performances so you guys can revel in the awesomeness, but I'll save the one I'm concerned about for last. Here we go...
Performance Story Number 1
We were inside the auditorium thingy where we were having a reunion. I was performing for my Step-Grandpa (one of my biggest fans!), and a few other members of the family. I pattered about Blackjack, and dealt down two-twos. I split them into 4 Aces, and then "magically" produced the Four Jacks. At this point I looked up and there were now at least fifteen people surrounding me. I got a little bit nervous, but I kept going.
I asked if my Step-Grandpa would like to keep the Jacks or the Aces, and he said the Jacks, so I set them beside him, and kept the Aces for myself. One by one, the Aces switched out for the Jacks... each time a little more visually and better. But, at the climax of the effect, the Four Jacks then reverse the effect, and change back into the Four Aces, leaving the Jacks where they were at the start of the effect.
This effect got pretty darn good reactions, and I would have kept going... but the Polka Dancing had started, and seeing as how I was performing mostly for old people- I kinda sorta lost my crowd. Oh well. Still had fun.
Performance Story Number 2
This time, I was at my Step-Grandparents' house, at the kitchen table. I was asked to perform by my... Step-Great-Aunt, so I whipped out my handy dandy deck o' cards and went right into Five Speed... which I hadn't performed before. Just a funny story, the first time I had Dorothy (my Step-Great-Aunt) select a card, I turned around, and while she was showing it around she goes, "The Nine of Spades." Now, I just thought this was the normal thing where spectators think they're "tricking you" by saying out the wrong card... but she said the right card. :lol:
So, we had to have another card selected, memorized, lost, and shuffled into the deck (by Dorothy!). I about pooped my pants when she riffle shuffled the cards, though (people who own this effect will know why I almost had an accident). And yes, it was still my fault for allowing her to do it, but I had told her to shuffle Overhand, and then people were making fun of her because she wasn't a good shuffler, so she goes, "Well here, I'll just shuffle like this!" and begins the Riffle Shuffle. Oh well, it still turned out fine.
I went through the whole process of Five Speed, and got awesome reactions at the end, where the odd card appears where the Three of Spades should be. Pretty fun.
After that, I heard someone in the audience of like... 7 say that they really enjoyed my ACR (except the called it "The One Where I Signed The Card"), so I decided to give 'em a little treat and do it again. So I went on with my ACR, got pretty good reactions with it. I put the deck in my pocket and began to walk away, when I hear, "Can you do one more?"
So I take the cards back out, and begin Hungry Cannibals from Joshua Jay's "Session". One of my favorite effects of all time. I removed the Four Kings and set them on the table next to me. Next, I cut to two random cards to be our "victims". For those that don't know, the plot is basically the Four "Cannibal" Kings eat the two "Missionary Cards" or "Victims". So that happens, but this trick takes it a few steps further... two steps, to be exact.
The King of Diamonds slowly begins to "eat" the other cards, leaving a corner of each of the other three Kings blank, with bite marks. But to take it one step further, I take a big bite out of the cards, leaving a whole corner missing, with bite marks, then hand everything out for examination. As usual, this got good reactions.
Overall, I thought this was an awesomely fun performance, and I really enjoyed it.
Performance Story Number 3
For this one, we're back in the auditorium, and performing for my Step-Grandpa and a few other people that are around. This time, I perform The Biddle Trick, which went over pretty well. They responded well, and were talking about it for a good five minutes after I was done performing. This one's short, just because I didn't do much, and it didn't take very long.
Onwards to the good story!
Performance Story Number 4
So we're still at the auditorium, but this time it's about 10:00 PM, and we're outside (because of the blasting Polka music!). One of my Step-Mom's gajillion cousins requested a performance, so I started out with the Biddle Trick- one of my "go to" tricks when I'm asked to perform on the spot.
It went over well, but the spectator I was really performing for (there were about 6 other people there) didn't really react as well as I had hoped for. So I quickly got out the Two Black Aces and went into "Two Card Monte" with the "Memory Test" presentation. I really thought it was going to get awesome reactions... atleast from Kevin (the guy I was performing for).
I handed the deck to my Step-Grandma, and began to dramatically wave over the Aces in Kevin's hand. I can tell how excited you are. He turns them over, and is surprised to find Two Queens. He didn't react very much, so I went on to the revelation of the Two Black Aces face up in the deck I hadn't touched. He reacted, but not quite as well as I had hoped for.
Now, I put my cards away, and was talking to my Dad about something, when I heard some of the audience discussing my performance. I could tell a few of them really enjoyed it, but I heard Kevin say something that's been on my mind for a while now.
"I'll just go look it up on YouTube."
Now granted, I am the one who wrote an essay on "Blaming Your Spectators", and I'm going to sound like a huge hypocrite, but I don't think it was my performance that got this reaction. Maybe it was me performing, and the idea of a teenager performing brings the level of the art down... who knows.
But this statement really worried me, and I think all of us magicians... especially us younger ones, need to step it up a notch in our performances. I for one was shocked to hear this- as I had never gotten that reaction before. But I guess it happens to all of us eventually, and it's my personal goal to make my performances the best they've ever been, so I'll never have it happen again.
I hope you enjoyed my performance stories, and have some thoughts/discussion on the last one. Thanks for reading!
Performance Story Number 1
We were inside the auditorium thingy where we were having a reunion. I was performing for my Step-Grandpa (one of my biggest fans!), and a few other members of the family. I pattered about Blackjack, and dealt down two-twos. I split them into 4 Aces, and then "magically" produced the Four Jacks. At this point I looked up and there were now at least fifteen people surrounding me. I got a little bit nervous, but I kept going.
I asked if my Step-Grandpa would like to keep the Jacks or the Aces, and he said the Jacks, so I set them beside him, and kept the Aces for myself. One by one, the Aces switched out for the Jacks... each time a little more visually and better. But, at the climax of the effect, the Four Jacks then reverse the effect, and change back into the Four Aces, leaving the Jacks where they were at the start of the effect.
This effect got pretty darn good reactions, and I would have kept going... but the Polka Dancing had started, and seeing as how I was performing mostly for old people- I kinda sorta lost my crowd. Oh well. Still had fun.
Performance Story Number 2
This time, I was at my Step-Grandparents' house, at the kitchen table. I was asked to perform by my... Step-Great-Aunt, so I whipped out my handy dandy deck o' cards and went right into Five Speed... which I hadn't performed before. Just a funny story, the first time I had Dorothy (my Step-Great-Aunt) select a card, I turned around, and while she was showing it around she goes, "The Nine of Spades." Now, I just thought this was the normal thing where spectators think they're "tricking you" by saying out the wrong card... but she said the right card. :lol:
So, we had to have another card selected, memorized, lost, and shuffled into the deck (by Dorothy!). I about pooped my pants when she riffle shuffled the cards, though (people who own this effect will know why I almost had an accident). And yes, it was still my fault for allowing her to do it, but I had told her to shuffle Overhand, and then people were making fun of her because she wasn't a good shuffler, so she goes, "Well here, I'll just shuffle like this!" and begins the Riffle Shuffle. Oh well, it still turned out fine.
I went through the whole process of Five Speed, and got awesome reactions at the end, where the odd card appears where the Three of Spades should be. Pretty fun.
After that, I heard someone in the audience of like... 7 say that they really enjoyed my ACR (except the called it "The One Where I Signed The Card"), so I decided to give 'em a little treat and do it again. So I went on with my ACR, got pretty good reactions with it. I put the deck in my pocket and began to walk away, when I hear, "Can you do one more?"
So I take the cards back out, and begin Hungry Cannibals from Joshua Jay's "Session". One of my favorite effects of all time. I removed the Four Kings and set them on the table next to me. Next, I cut to two random cards to be our "victims". For those that don't know, the plot is basically the Four "Cannibal" Kings eat the two "Missionary Cards" or "Victims". So that happens, but this trick takes it a few steps further... two steps, to be exact.
The King of Diamonds slowly begins to "eat" the other cards, leaving a corner of each of the other three Kings blank, with bite marks. But to take it one step further, I take a big bite out of the cards, leaving a whole corner missing, with bite marks, then hand everything out for examination. As usual, this got good reactions.
Overall, I thought this was an awesomely fun performance, and I really enjoyed it.
Performance Story Number 3
For this one, we're back in the auditorium, and performing for my Step-Grandpa and a few other people that are around. This time, I perform The Biddle Trick, which went over pretty well. They responded well, and were talking about it for a good five minutes after I was done performing. This one's short, just because I didn't do much, and it didn't take very long.
Onwards to the good story!
Performance Story Number 4
So we're still at the auditorium, but this time it's about 10:00 PM, and we're outside (because of the blasting Polka music!). One of my Step-Mom's gajillion cousins requested a performance, so I started out with the Biddle Trick- one of my "go to" tricks when I'm asked to perform on the spot.
It went over well, but the spectator I was really performing for (there were about 6 other people there) didn't really react as well as I had hoped for. So I quickly got out the Two Black Aces and went into "Two Card Monte" with the "Memory Test" presentation. I really thought it was going to get awesome reactions... atleast from Kevin (the guy I was performing for).
I handed the deck to my Step-Grandma, and began to dramatically wave over the Aces in Kevin's hand. I can tell how excited you are. He turns them over, and is surprised to find Two Queens. He didn't react very much, so I went on to the revelation of the Two Black Aces face up in the deck I hadn't touched. He reacted, but not quite as well as I had hoped for.
Now, I put my cards away, and was talking to my Dad about something, when I heard some of the audience discussing my performance. I could tell a few of them really enjoyed it, but I heard Kevin say something that's been on my mind for a while now.
"I'll just go look it up on YouTube."
Now granted, I am the one who wrote an essay on "Blaming Your Spectators", and I'm going to sound like a huge hypocrite, but I don't think it was my performance that got this reaction. Maybe it was me performing, and the idea of a teenager performing brings the level of the art down... who knows.
But this statement really worried me, and I think all of us magicians... especially us younger ones, need to step it up a notch in our performances. I for one was shocked to hear this- as I had never gotten that reaction before. But I guess it happens to all of us eventually, and it's my personal goal to make my performances the best they've ever been, so I'll never have it happen again.
I hope you enjoyed my performance stories, and have some thoughts/discussion on the last one. Thanks for reading!
. That should be the most important thing. Think about it. Even if you only made one person happy, or gave them something to remember, they will remember it forever. From now on everytime someone mentions David Blaine or some magician they saw the other day, they will think of you. That is one hell of a power to bestow upon others. 
