Entries from November 2008 ↓

Had a great time performing at the Lakewood Cultural Center last Saturday as a part of “Magic Beyond Belief III.” For the third year, the Mile High Magicians Society hosted a sold-out performance. I shared the bill with 6 other magicians, including friends, Rich Nakata and Mark Strivings.

The venue is perfect for magic with 316 seats, but steeply raked so that every seat has good sight lines, and everyone feels close to the action. Plus they have a top-notch technical team (thanks Tim, Johnathan, and Star!) and excellent sound and lighting.

I performed one of my workhorse routines in which a playing card is found using a very sharp knife. I’ve spent several years honing this routine to the point that it has become a reliable standby. And thankfully, it requires little more than a pack of playing card. Normally I wouldn’t do this routine for audiences over 200 without a video projection screen to ensure visibility, but knowing how intimate the space was I was confident this would play.

The routine went well and earned a great response for me and my volunteer. Initially, the mood of the audience was somewhat disjointed, but once I got them focused they were very responsive.

Playing for a large audience can be a lot like steering a big ship. When you guide a small boat (or a small audience) you can accelerate quickly and turn nimbly. But working for a big audience you have to think ahead to where you want the audience to be, and begin guiding them early. If you make the audience giddy with laughter, you can’t expect them to change immediately to a serious mood. You have to coax them along, being sensitive to where they are. The audience may not even be aware that you are laying the groundwork for a change of mood, but when you are ready to take them in a new direction, they will have been primed.

I received a key piece of wisdom (in advance of the performance) from my friend Bob Domeros who advised me not to try to pack too much magic into my 15 minute set. He felt that I’d be better able to convey my personality — and to connect to the audience — if I didn’t rush from one magic effect to the next. He was right. Life is good when you have someone who’s directorial advice you can rely on.

Did my mix & mingle magic for the Rocky Mountain Professional Convention Management Association last night. The board members were holding a retreat to plan for 2009, so after their long day of hard work, I was brought in to lighten the moody and reward the board for their efforts.

This was a fairly small group of people (about 25) so I wasn’t under pressure to race from group to group to see everyone before the evening was over. Instead I spent time visiting with people, finding out what they do, and making them feel welcome.

As far as the magic goes, for small groups like this, I start out by doing the same set of magic for each group. Later in the evening, I’ll see new people whom I haven’t entertained — but they’ll be visiting with people for whom I’ve already performed. At this point I can switch to my second set of magic, so that everyone in the group sees something new. Keep your powder dry, in other words.

In the past I’ve made my work more difficult by performing a hodge-podge of magic sets too early in the evening. Then when I’d come across a group with some people who hadn’t seen me work and some people who had, I wasn’t able to keep track of who had seen what.

That’s all I have time for today. I need to cut this short as I’ve got to get ready for a performance tonight.

The Chateaux at Fox Meadows celebrated their 10 year anniversary yesterday evening. The Chateaux is a beautiful venue for weddings and other events, and looks like a French country villa.

I was there at the request of Pat Bruno of A Music Plus. Pat has been very supportive of my work and really helped me get established in the industry, so I owe him a lot. A Music Plus is an entertainment company that provides DJs, Bands, and other entertainers.

I performed in the “Las Vegas Lounge” along with singers (like the incomparable Natalie Ottobrino) , bands, and an Elvis impersonator (who was conducting Vegas style weddings); I did a set from the stage (including the infamous “Jumping Knot of Kuala Lumpor”), and then did a little Mix & Mingle magic for the guests up close and one on one.

Upstairs they had more bands, dancers, a palm reader, hand-rolled cigars, ice sculptures, and delicious cakes by my friend Nancy of Nancy Best Cake Design.

I don’t know the official count, but would say about 300 people attended. The Chateaux and A Music Plus really pulled out all the stops for this one. It’s good to know people who know how to throw a great party.

Best Buy is opening a new store in Boulder, Colorado, and tonight was a special event for their preferred customers. Earlier this year, I had performed magic for after-hours event at a Best Buy in Broomfield, and the management brought be back for an encore performance at their new store.

This type of work requires a performer to be aware of what the management really needs. Yes, they want me to perform magic, they want me to astonish their guests, and they want me to turn their evening into a special event.

But the real reason we are all there is to sell merchandise.

If I build a large crowd and hold them spellbound with a 30 minute performance I’ll look like a superstar, but if those customers leave without buying anything, then Best Buy has wasted their money hiring me.

So with that in mind, tonight I keep the magic short. I thank the customers for coming, remind them of the special discounts (one day only!), and encourage them to look around (lots of cool things at great prices!).

If I see that they are on a mission to buy, I skip the magic all together and lead them directly to a sales rep or to the product they were looking for. Once they’ve found what they are looking for, I may do some magic for them on their way out.

The best people to perform for in this environment were those who I call the tag-alongs. These are people who aren’t there to buy anything, but are there, instead, to accompany someone who is buying. Sometimes this is a friend waiting for his or her friend to buy a TV or game console. Or it may be a spouse waiting for his or her spouse to decide which computer to buy. These people are great to perform for because they have nothing else to do and because I can entertain them without interfering with the sales reps.

After tonight’s performance, they asked me back for their official grand opening, so tomorrow I’ll have a busy evening with Best Buy and the Chateaux at Fox Meadows back to back.

Well, it’s not often that you get to do magic for a 90-year old’s birthday party, but that’s what I did yesterday. Straight from the airport (returning from Las Vegas), I headed over to the Governor’s Mansion for Will’s 90th Birthday party.

For the past month Denverites have seen billboards and other advertisements causing them to ask, “Who is Will?”

Well, at yesterday’s party, Mayor Hickenlooper officially revealed that Will is — in fact — Good Will Industries of Denver. And that for the last 90 years Good Will has been helping at-risk youth, and disabled and disadvantaged adults in the Denver community to achieve self-sufficiency through work.

The event featured local celebrities, donors, and people who have benefited from the work done by Good Will.

What made the magic work so well for this event was that, Alison (the event planner who booked me) took the time to give me the background on the event and on her organization so that I could prepare magic specifically tailored for the occasion. I love working with event planners who take the time to ensure that all aspects of their event work together and complement each other. In this case, I was able to create a card trick in which a playing card magically transformed into a birthday card (for Will), and I was able to create another piece of magic that allowed me to talk about the great things that Good Will has done for Denver over the last 90 years.

Event planners who just hire a magician to do generic magic are missing a great opportunity. If you have a theme or message, make sure it’s reinforced and supported by everyone who contributes to your event.

Returned today from my bi-annual trip to Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is, of course, the magic capitol of the world these days, so it’s the place to be if you want to meet other magicians and see what’s new in the industry.

I got to see Jeff McBride‘s show, Magic at the Edge, at the Palace Station. Jeff is a seasoned performer and I never fail to learn something new from watching how he manages his audience. I have come to believe that there is no BIG secret to explain how a performer establishes rapport with his or her audience and builds trust and connection. Instead a connection is made (or unmade) through a thousand little details: how you enter, the timber of your voice, the placement of your feet, how you gaze out at the audience, the gestures of you hands. If you do a thousand little things well the audience begins to feel that they can trust you to entertain them. If you do even a handful of things poorly, you will lose their confidence and lose your audience. Jeff attends to the details.

Afterward I went to Jeff’s magic nightclub the Wonderground and got some great ideas on how to perform in those difficult venues where the music is loud and the lighting is low. With the new low-voltage LEDs, it has become even easier to bring your own light source to close-up performance. If you perform visual magic, poor lighting will rob your magic of its impact. Your audience needs to see clearly in order for the magic to register. Like the stage actor, the close-up magician needs to be sensitive to the available light. I also saw some nice stage manipulation routines (performed silently) adapted for close-up that would be invaluable for those times when the band (or DJ) is so loud, you can’t talk to your audience.

I was pleased to meet a very inventive magician from Washington D.C. named David London (like the bridge). David is one of the few people I know who is thinking about what it means to be magical — rather than just thinking about how to do magic. He creates theatrical worlds in which his magic can take flight, and where his whimsical characters can come to life. If magic has any future, I trust that David will be in the avant-garde.

Magician & Performance Artist, David London

In addition I found time to meet and/or reconnect with some online brethren like Marco Fide (Italy), Nakul Shenoy (India), John Crippen (Mexico), and Alan Franzenberg (Modesto, CA).

Together we learned and shared enough thoughts and ideas to last me another six months (at which time I’ll have to plan another working vacation to Las Vegas).