FIRST GIG A SUCCESS

I performed my first "real" show for a local restaurant/bar last week and it was a complete success. I wrote the general manager of the establishment a week prior requesting if he had ever thought of offering table to table entertainment for his customers. When I called him last week to follow up on the letter, I offered him a free night of my services, so that he could see whether or not magic would be a good fit for his restaurant or not. He took me up on my offer and had me come out the very next evening. The restaurant was hosting a chamber of commerce banquet that evening, so not only was I able to work the typical tables of a restaurant, but I was also afforded the opportunity to experience working the buffet tables for the banquet. This worked out really great because of all the businesses represented. I made sure I had plenty of business cards beforehand. Everyone there asked me for mine. I may have worked for free that evening, but the advertising exposure was well worth it. I never once had to offer my card, it was asked for every time.

As a bonus, after working an hour and a half hopping tables in the restaurant, I moved over into the bar. Wow! How I loved the bar! It was so much fun. By the way, the restaurant had hired an Elvis impersonator that evening as well. I thought Elvis was nice (I suppose mostly because of respect from one entertainer to the next), but I don't think he went over too well with the customers. (Many of the customers kept asking me if I could make him disappear). Anyways, I had so much fun performing in the bar, that 4 hours had passed without even realizing it. It was in the bar that I had an opportunity to perform for the general manager as well. He was completely floored by the material that I performed for him. People were offering to buy me drinks all night long. Many of the customers were telling me that they had never seen magic like that before. They kept telling me how much fun they were having.

In between performances I would spend time chatting and socializing with the customers. We'd share backgrounds, war stories (some were true, most were not). We'd tell jokes, and share bar bets. Basically I was interacting with them just like I was one of them. Even though they knew I was working there, they accepted me as part of their groups.

Many of these customers were regulars. The bartenders told me, later in the evening, that most of these customers would normally only stay for an average of 30 minutes. That night most of them stayed until closing (4 hours for some) because they were enjoying themselves so much. The bartenders also told me that they usually only tipped an average of 50 cents to a dollar a drink, but that night they were dropping ones and fives in the tip jar like they were pennies. And because they were staying longer, they were of course drinking more. And this was a weeknight! The bartenders said that if the manager didn't hire me, that they would!

The staff would sporadically come from their work stations to see me perform as well. They were loving it! I was worried that this might anger the manager, but he was doing the same.

A few of the customers, throughout the night, had told me about how they had previous interest in magic, and even knew a few of their own effects, and now, because of my performances, were encouraged to show a little more interest again. On one occasion a customer in the bar requested a chance to perform a card trick that he knew. I allowed him, and when asked if I knew how he did it, I pretended not to know (much patronizing and acting was performed here).

Just before closing, one customer who had previous interest in magic and who was familiar with items such as the thumb tip and trick decks such as the invisible deck, had confided with me his respect for my professional skills with sleight of hand and not needing items such as these. This guy was there for nearly 3 hours, watching me perform, yet he never realized that I had been using my thumb tip and trick decks all night. I only had one regular deck on me, the other 3 decks consisted of a pop-eyed popper deck, an invisible deck, and Tarbell's devil deck. I even pretended, using the pop-eyed popper deck, to show this guy how easy it was for me to force a card on someone using a "regular" deck of cards. He was completely amazed and baffled, because in his mind, that was a regular deck of cards.

Yes, I perform many routines with regular cards without the use of gaffs, but come on, I'm not too proud to say that I don't take advantage of every tool that's available to me as a magician. The way I see it, whatever it takes to enhance and simplify an illusion, as long as it doesn't take away from the impact it has on your audience, use it! In my case, because of my audience management and my subtle use of deck switches between effects, I was very successful in achieving the appearance of using only a regular deck of cards (to those with the knowledge of gaffed cards). My non-concerned attitude towards the spectators, when allowing them to handle the gaffed cards at times, helped as well.

Well, to make a short story longer, I thoroughly enjoyed myself that night. The general manager called me the next day to thank me and said that no one on his staff could stop talking about the magic they experienced that night. I felt like I've made friends with everyone there already, which will make it much easier on me when I do start working there.

Now, I'd like to share with everyone here some of the effects that I performed that night; and share some of the responses that I got. Sorry to take up so much space here, but I just wanted to share some good news. I think people will get a little something from the rest of this stuff I'm going to talk about.

Now that I'm thinking about it, everything that I performed got a good reaction - either with laughter or complete amazement. I'm sure most of you have heard of, if not performed, most of the material that I'm going to mention. There's nothing new, at least not to magicians. But this stuff really worked well in my performances at the restaurant and in the bar afterwards. This stuff, over-all, killed 'em dead!

I probably really had too much stuff on me, but I managed it well. I suppose I am one of those lucky people who can manage many things at one time under stressful situations (such as first-time table hopping) - I think flying helicopters in the army helped me with this ability - but regardless of how well I manage my pockets, I would never want to look unprofessional with stuff bulging and poking out everywhere. So if you can manage many things at one time, that's great, but I think it's important to remember not to look like a geek (unless of course that's part of your character!) I was wearing nice slacks, a button down shirt with one pocket, and a sports coat (equipped with extra convenient pockets) - this provided plenty enough room for my props. I didn't have a close-up bag. Since it was my first time, I didn't know what the situation was going to be like. I think, once I start working on a regular basis, I'll keep a close-up bag in a safe office somewhere for those special items that I may want to bring along, just in case - (no pun intended). Otherwise, I'm sure I'll mostly just work out of my pockets. I think the magic appears more impromptu that way and it makes it easier for you to fit in with the crowd as well.

These are the items that I had in my possession: regular deck of cards, Mullica wallet, Himber wallet, John Kennedy's Mystery Box, 8 cards for brainwave, John Bannon's Twisted Sisters, pop-eyed popper deck, thumb-tip, Improved ITR, Invisible deck, Tarbell's devil deck, Color Monte, 2 D'Lites, 2 American half coins and 1 English half, folding quarter, and a squeeker. Like I said, I probably really had too much stuff! I totally broke the rules of having only a couple of routines and a couple extra effects for back-up. But I perform this stuff all the time for co-workers, friends, family, and 7-11 clerks; so I had no trouble confusing effects. Everything had been well rehearsed (very important). In the future I'll probably follow the rules and carry less, but I really wanted to make a big impact on this night. (Please don't misunderstand me. I'm really not saying that the rules are that you must not carry too much stuff. This is going to be different from performer to performer. I think this is just how most magicians I've talked to feel about it. For me, I think it will mainly depend on how I feel that day - and where the sun and the moon are positioned in relation to the stars).

I mainly used the regular deck of cards while table hopping in the restaurant. I would perform basically the same routine for each of the tables. The routine that I kept performing consisted of a signed card continuing to show up in different places, including the spectators own hands, under his drink (twice), in my wallet, and of course for the finale, in the Mystery box that had been held by the lovely lady the entire performance. It was a good routine because I could stop at any segment in the routine if for some reason I needed to, but I didn't need to. That Mystery box floored 'em every time. Thank you, Mr. Kennedy!

I would often walk by tables that I planned on performing for, working my D'Lites, and this would usually get a "Hey, look at that!", and of course this made it very easy for me to make my approach. I think I like this type of approach much better than, "how is everyone doing this evening." I still ask them how they're doing, but they've basically done everything except beg me over to their table (and to tell you the truth, later some people actually did!)

I performed 8 Card Brainwave (Nick Trost's version) and Red Hot Mama (ala Michael Ammar) for a few tables as well. These two effects work well together and really kill lay people, and they're so easy. They loved it! I'll tell you, I've performed 8 Card Brainwave for years, but until I started performing Nick Trost's version recently, I've always had people ask to look at the cards afterwards. But I have never had anyone question whether or not that their chosen card was the only odd colored card in the set, not since I've been using Nick's handling (very deceptive and convincing).

I used the squeeker in the restaurant and in the bar. I think it's a great gag, and I can't believe how hard people laugh when I use it. It's great! If you don't have one, get one. You can make anything squeek (kid's noses, inanimate objects, water in the ears, etc.) The possibilities are limited only to your imagination. It was a great gag to use during the dead-time while someone was shuffling the cards. It often caught people off-guard and scared them a bit, but always got a good laugh. In the bar, with the right group of people, I used it to check my private parts and they literally fell off their stools! This is one item that I'll never leave home without.

I was glad that I had Color Monte on me. I think many people associate magicians (who perform with cards) with 3 card monte. It had been quite a while since I had practiced my old 3 card monte routine with regular cards, so when someone commented and asked me if I knew how, I was happy to oblige them with Color Monte. I was thinking, that out of that bar full of people, someone must have seen Color Monte performed somewhere. But as old as this effect is, I had a fresh audience. When I turned over that third card in the finale, there were chairs and tables pushed aside everywhere and people yelling, "NO WAY!!!" (and a few other superlatives that I'll spare you). I think this is another item that I probably won't ever leave home without.

John Bannon's "Twisted Sisters" was another good effect that went over well with everyone. I have kept the routine basically the same, but my patter is much different from that given with the instructions. I think it's important for you, when purchasing an effect or learning a routine from a book, to not just copy the patter that's provided just because it's convenient. If you come up with your own patter, with your own words, it will come across much more naturally to the spectator, and the overall performance will be much more enjoyable because you're being yourself - even if you're lying through your teeth! I think it's alright to use other people's patter at times, if it fits your style and it really makes sense for that effect, but it's nice to take other people's ideas and get creative with it to make your own special magic, that only you can present. I use my Himber wallet with Twisted Sisters. I've got the two sets of cards in one side, and then I've got two jokers (red and blue) in the other side. Even before I pull out my wallet I start pattering about what illusions really are. I'll use real world examples that everyone can associate with, and this draws the spectators in because they can really relate and understand where you're coming from. I then ask them if they've ever been hypnotized. This usually catches them off guard and even gets a few comments & laughs. No matter what they say, I again give them a real world example that they all can relate to - I tell them about the hypnotic state that everyone has experienced when driving an automobile down a familiar route, and then you realize you've been driving for miles, making turns and stopping, without ever really noticing your surroundings - you feel like you just woke up from a trance - you didn't even realize that you were being hypnotized - you may have even been heading to work on a Saturday when your intentions were to go to the supermarket. I tell them that this is what I'm going to do to them, and I'll use these cards to demonstrate (as I pull out my wallet and open the side with the sets and perform the basic routine). After revealing the queens and their different colored backs, I'll place them into the open wallet (positioned exactly the way the two jokers are positioned on the other side face down, not hidden, but in view) and then I close it. As in the normal routine, I then reveal the other cards as jokers. While the spectators' eyes are growing to the size of silver dollars, I casually re-open the wallet (joker side), and remind them that I'm only presenting them with an illusion. I then remind them about the fact that I said I was going to hypnotize them without them realizing it. I tell them that performing magic is really easy when you have the ability to hypnotize people. I tell them that they really could have imagined any cards (as I slowly remove the two face-down jokers from the wallet). "When you're hypnotized, you can be made to see anything really," (as I turn the two jokers face-up) "these cards were never really the queens at all." Jaws drop everywhere! Superlatives are flying left & right! Because of the timing and the little bit of delay (after you open the joker side of the wallet and before you flip the jokers face-up), the spectators don't even realize that you even closed the wallet at all. They remember you just placing the cards aside in the wallet, and now I quote what I heard a spectator telling someone else later that evening, "We were watching the two cards the entire time! They just instantly changed into jokers!" Instead of a Himber wallet, you can use the "Switcheroo" gimmick, which is out on the market, to accomplish this same effect. The only negative thing about this effect in a walk-around situation is that it's not an automatic reset - although the reset only takes seconds.

The $100 bill switch was another favorite among the bar flies (no disrespect intended here). Just make sure you're not standing too close to the person who you borrowed the dollar bill from. They may want to have their money back right at that moment. This is where spectator management is crucial, especially if you're like me and can't really afford to give out a hundred dollar bill every time you perform this effect. I always stand just out of reach when performing this one. They usually always want you to stop at that point and let them have the $100 bill (especially if they're a fun group). I use the excuse that I'm feeling lucky and I would like to try and change it into a $1000 bill and then that spectator can buy us all drinks for the next few weeks (or days depending on who you're drinking with - I have a few friends that have gills). Of course, my luck runs out and the $1 bill is returned to the spectator - or I'll move into the floating bill with my trusty ITR. Again, the ITR is another tool that you must use good spectator control and management with. When I made that dollar bill float, and then walked away from it, someone tried to walk over to it, but I quickly put some slack into the thread and caused the bill to drop a bit towards the floor. I said, "Wait! The magic is being weakened. Step back." (I know, it sounds geeky, but at least my secret wasn't blown, and I didn't have to go to the bathroom to fix my ITR). I then walked towards the bill and it, of course, jumped right back into my hands so I could return it to it's rightful owner. I did this about 3 times that night, and only once did a spectator try to touch the floating bill. For minutes after this effect, people were standing around the spot where I made the bill float, trying to figure out what was holding it up. It was great! Once again, superlatives filled the air.

In between some of the routines, I performed a little bit of coin magic for some of the people in the bar. A few vanishes and a nice transposition routine. I then noticed an empty bottle that hadn't been picked up yet on one of the tables that I was performing for. I asked someone to look at it to make sure it was empty. When they handed me the bottle, I asked for a quarter. As they were digging for a quarter I secretly placed my folding quarter in the neck of the bottle. I told one of the guys to hold his hand out, palm down, and then I placed the bottle neck in his hand and told him to hold it up like that. You know the rest. After that effect, that bottle passed through every person's hands in the bar, twice! Everyone was looking through the mouth of the bottle in disbelief. That quarter was actually inside that bottle! I believe that it was at this point in the night that I actually had people start to offer me money to show them how to do some of the things that I do. I don't think I have ever heard so many superlatives as I did as that bottle was being passed around - and I used to be in the army! I then popped the coin out of the bottle and switched it for the real one as I placed both the bottle and the coin onto the table. I lost a couple of spectators at that point, because all they wanted to do for the rest of the night was to figure out how to get that coin back in the bottle.

As new people came into the bar, some of the regulars would approach them and say, "you've got to see what this guy is doing. It's wild!" - This is of course the PG version of what was actually said. These spectators were actually recruiting more spectators. They'd ask me to show them the same card tricks that I had shown them earlier. Of course, I wasn't going to repeat the same tricks for the same people, so I said I'd do something better than what they saw earlier. This is when I pulled out my devil deck and invisible deck. If you own these two decks, and you haven't done this before, you're going to want to. If you don't own these two decks, then you're going to want to go out and get them after you hear this effect (I'm sure most of you at least own the Invisible deck). People who own these two decks will be able to figure out the working from my description of the effect: The magician places two decks on the table, asks the spectator to choose one, tells the spectator to take the deck that he has chosen and shuffle the cards, the magician then turns away and has the spectator fan all the cards towards himself and tells him to simply pick one card out from anywhere in the deck, remember it, and then is directed to place it in his pocket and then close the fan and place the cards back on the table. The magician then turns around and picks up the deck of cards, without fanning them open, and simply places the cards back into its case. The magician then starts to try and read the spectator's mind, to try and identify the name of the card, but has no luck. A few other things are revealed, but not the name of the chosen card (you can have fun with this part). The magician then gives up, and says that this other deck, the one that was not chosen and set aside, is sympathetic to it's brother deck. When any of the cards from its brother deck are missing, as a sign of respect, that very same card in its deck is reversed. After a few words of disbelief from the audience, the magician picks up the cased deck and removes the cards, fans them towards the audience so that they can see that there really is one card reversed, face down in the deck. The magician has a spectator remove the card without looking at it yet. The magician then tells the spectator with the card in his pocket to remove it, and for the first time, reveal it to everyone, including the magician. The magician asks the other spectator, who is holding the card from the sympathetic deck, to turn it over. To everyone's amazement, it's the exact match of the selected card! Wow! I didn't think it was going to take that much writing to describe this effect. Sorry. But that's exactly what happens. When I first thought of using these two decks together like this, I didn't realize what kind of reaction I was going to get. The effect this routine has on the layperson is powerful! They don't know what to say. And amazing enough, I have never had anyone ask to look at the cards afterwards. I think it's because of the straight-forwardness of the entire routine. The first strength of this routine is something that is taken for granted, I believe, in other routines - and that's the simple use of the magician's force of one of the decks. When I have performed this in the past, I have had more people ask me, "what if I would have chosen the other deck?", more than anything else. This completely puzzles them, yet it's so simple. The second strength is that the spectator gets to honestly shuffle the cards, and while the magician's back is turned (you really don't know what card is chosen until later), a card is freely chosen from anywhere in the deck and placed in their pocket, and the deck is squared and placed back on the table before the magician ever turns around. If you wanted, you could even have the cards shuffled again, after the selection is made - though this is not necessary. Another strength is the fact that the cards are not fanned open at all as they're being placed back into its case, which prevents the magician from maybe viewing all the cards to see which one is missing - an impossibility in itself with the little amount of time that you have between picking up the deck and placing it into its case. But in this short period of time, the magician actually does discover the exact card that was selected (the Devil deck is great). There is no fishing for answers. It's all acting from this point forward. Since most of you are familiar with the Invisible deck, I don't have to tell you about the rest of the strengths in this routine. You know the kind of reactions you get when you fan that deck open and there's only one card reversed. You can obviously use these two decks for many many other effects, so it's not like you're carrying around two decks for just one effect. (It's funny. This is the only routine that didn't arouse any superlatives. Every time that I've performed this, people are literally speechless - even in the bar!)

I only have two more effects that I want to share with you. I came up with this next effect while I was sitting around with all my toys, trying to be creative. I wanted something that everyone would really enjoy, and that could be played up really well, and most importantly, would force people to never ever forget me! I was messing around with my Pop-eyed Popper deck when the idea hit me. It's rare that I come up with something that's a hit without a little re-working. I tried this out on a couple of people the very next day - not a lot of practice required for this one - and the excitement level went through the roof! Now, I'm not going to claim this as my own. I'm sure there are probably other versions out there in print which are very similar to mine. (If anyone knows of any, please let me know. I am interested in seeing how others work this routine). I like mine, because, well…, it's just simple. It works great. It's very deceptive and convincing. And everyone enjoys it. I hope you give it a try on someone, and you'll enjoy it too. I call it Spectator Telepathy (I probably need to get a little more creative with the name).

Anyways, here's the effect: The magician selects a volunteer and then has the volunteer select another person to help out. The magician shows the audience a deck of cards as he starts talking about telepathy, and how some people just don't realize that they have these sort of powers - yada…yada…yada. He shows the volunteer the faces of the cards as well and states that even she doesn't know which card she will select yet. He then fans the cards face down and asks the volunteer to place her finger on any one of the cards. When she does, he asks the volunteer to take a look at the card, but not to let anyone in the room see it, not even the magician, and then return it to the deck. The magician cleanly places the cards back into its case and puts them away. He then asks the volunteer to try her best to start sending the name of the card to the helper that she chose earlier, using only her thoughts, and staring right into his eyes. He asks the helper if he can tell what card she's sending yet. The helper says "no". To make it easier on the volunteer, the magician tells her to simply send the color of the card to her helper. After a bit of concentration, the helper reluctantly says "black". The magician asks the volunteer if he is correct and she states that he is. The magician now asks the volunteer to send the suit. After a bit more of concentration, the helper hesitantly says "club". Once again, the volunteer states that he is correct. The magician now asks the volunteer to send whether it's a number or a court card. After a little more concentration, the helper says "it's a number". The volunteer says, "Oh my god! This is really working!" (these are some of the actual words from people who I've tried this on.) The magician tries his best to keep the volunteer calm, stating that it's very important to focus. The magician then asks the volunteer to send whether it's an even number or an odd number. After a little bit of more focused concentration, the helper confidently exclaims, "Even!" The magician asks the volunteer if this is correct and she excitedly states that he is. The magician recaps the situation, "We know it's an even number, and we know it's a club. Now for the final thought, I want you to send the number to his mind." With what appears to be the last bit of psychic energy he can muster, the helper exclaims loudly, "it's an 8! It must be the 8 of clubs!" The volunteer is jumping up and down yelling, "Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!" The entire audience is going wild and has completely lost it at this point!

This is really more of a gag than a magic trick, but I've convinced more people with this trick than any other that they really may have psychic powers. There are several ways of accomplishing this effect, but I like mine. All you need is a Pop-eyed Popper deck, and an extra card (preferably a jumbo card) that matches the force card in the Popper deck.

Ask for a volunteer, and then have the volunteer select someone else as the helper. This will help in convincing the volunteer later that you didn't just prearrange this whole thing with someone. As you may have guessed already, I'm prompting the helper with the identity of the selected card. No pre-show work necessary here. And I have never had any helper, or anyone from the audience, give me away while performing this effect. They feel privileged to be a part of the secret. Besides, they are enjoying the volunteer's reactions too much to want to mess it up.

I like using the Popper deck because the force is so easy and very convincing. I show the cards to the audience because I really want them to think that it's a normal deck with all different cards. As I show them the faces, I just say that I'm going to have the volunteer select one of these cards, but we don't know which one yet. This is convincing enough for them. At this point they don't know what's going to happen yet. Although they are in on the gag later, after it's all over with, they still don't know how I knew which card the volunteer was going to select (so it's still really a magic trick to them).

I then fan the cards facing the volunteer stating that even she doesn't know which card she will select yet. Once again, this reinforces the supposed fairness of the selection. I then turn the fan face down and I ask her to stick out one finger. They usually stick out their first finger - (this is an example of a subtle way of finding out what kind of spectators you're dealing with). I thank them for choosing that finger and not one of the others, (I think I got this line from Larry Becker, not for sure, but it always gets a good laugh). I then have her place her finger on the back of any card she wants. I then slowly push that card towards her and I tell her to peek at it without letting anyone see it, and then I have her return it to the same location, and I close up the deck without any funny moves and I place it back in it's case. I have the selection done this way because I don't want her just to pull out any card - if she did, she would accidentally take two cards (one of which is the force card), and you don't want that. This method ensures that the volunteer will select the force card every time and still looks very clean. I don't push the card towards her until she is sure of her selection.

After the deck has been cased and put away, I then tell the volunteer to relax. (There is so much stuff you can do with this routine as far as playing it up; but I'll keep it to the bare minimums for our reader's sake). I have her look into the eyes of the volunteer she chose earlier. I have her try to send her thought to her helper. (Like I said, you can really play this up with the right crowd). You ask the helper if he's getting anything. Since I haven't prompted the helper yet, he isn't going to say he got anything - unless of course either one of them truly is psychic and he immediately names the card, in which case, you can still take the credit for it! (This has never happened… yet).

I then pretend to make it easier on the volunteer by telling her to just send the color of the selected card's suit. (I emphasize suit, because if you don't, you'll actually get someone who will try and send the color of the back of the card). It's at this moment, while the volunteer is staring into the helper's eyes, that I slip out the duplicate card and hold it over the shoulder of the volunteer, so the helper can clearly see it. There are other ways of making it obvious to the helper the name of the selected card, but you just work with the situation you're in, i.e. where everyone is seated or standing. After I'm sure the helper saw the card, I hide it again because I want the volunteer to see me as much as possible in her peripheral view, to further assure her that I'm not doing anything sneaky. The volunteer will either call out the color, or you can ask if he has received the thought yet, and he will then name the correct color. The volunteer will be a bit happy, but will most likely blow it off as just a little luck. But with each new revelation, getting closer to the true identity of her selected card, the excitement level grows dramatically. And with the growing excitement level of the volunteer, the excitement level of the helper and the rest of the audience grows as well. I am always so surprised at the acting skills displayed by every helper that I've performed this with. You'll be amazed, and you will have a hard time trying not to laugh because of the drama that your helpers will put into this effect.

They are having so much fun with this, they want it to go on all night long; so they'll carry it out as long as they can. The audience will be laughing and the helper may be laughing too, but the volunteer won't know why. She won't even suspect why. She'll actually start laughing too, because it's so unreal, yet it's really happening. She'll assume that everyone is laughing for the same reason.

With each revelation, while the volunteer is staring into the helper's eyes, I'll secretly show the duplicate card, unless I have a really good feeling that the helper has memorized the card. I only do this, because of the excitement level, it would be very easy for the helper to accidentally forget the actual number. (It could happen - it's better to be safe than sorry). I don't have to explain the rest to you. You can use my description of the effect - which was written, what feels to be about, 20 pages ago - to figure out the rest of the routine. The spectators do all the work with this effect.

After the effect, I secretly remind the volunteer's friends that the longer they keep this secret from her, the more fun they can have with her later. And this is true. There is this one manager here at work, who really has a level head on her shoulders, who, to this day, still believes that she actually sent that card - via brainwaves - to another fellow employee. She has even gone out of her way to tell some of the senior management about it. I don't really have the heart to break it to her, and neither does anyone else who was in on the gag. They still have good laughs about it because she brings it up now and then.

Just a little something extra: This really adds to the entertainment value for the audience, and it really is a convincer to the volunteer that I wasn't doing any "funny business".

After it's all over, and the volunteer is wiggin' out; I pretend to cop a disbelief attitude myself and I usually say something like, "I bet that wasn't really the card you selected was it? You're probably just agreeing with everything! You two probably planned this ahead of time. Is this something that you two do to every magician?!" Of course, the audience is only laughing harder because, now, the volunteer is trying to convince me that "no, that's really the card that I chose! It really was!!" This is why, when I have the spectator select the card, I tell her not to show anyone else in the room and then return it to the deck. In her mind, she really can't prove to anyone that the card that she chose was the same revealed by her helper. So, now she is going out of her way to try and make people believe her, which helps misdirect her from what really happened, and helps to convince her that she just may have telepathic abilities. But most of all, this just helps the audience laugh even harder!

I decided to share this routine with everyone here, and go into great detail about it because this is absolutely my favorite routine to perform. Not because it completely fools everyone, because it doesn't. You're not going to hear too many superlatives from the audience with this one. It's just that it's the most fun to perform, both for me and for the spectators. Whoever ends up being selected as the helper becomes your friend for life. Every time that I've performed this, the helper treats me like I'm his hero. They think it was the coolest thing you could ever do for them. It's really a great routine to loosen up the crowd. I will perform this routine everywhere I go - until everyone has seen it of course. I love it! And if you try it out on a few people, you'll love it too. Trust me.

Well, I'm down to my last bit of stuff that I would like to share with everyone. Thank you for your patience so far. And now… to let you in on my secret method of lifting someone's watch. A couple of years ago, I purchased a book called "The Complete Course in Pickpocketing" by Pierre Jacques (which is actually a very good book on the subject, with excellent pictures for illustration). But I didn't learn the following method in that book. As most would know, it takes tons of practice, maybe years of getting caught, before one perfects this kind of stuff. I never really spent the time it takes to get away with lifting someone's watch, without them knowing about it. I just accepted the fact that I would probably never be one of those cool magicians who does this sort of thing. I had always accepted this... until last week. Please don't be mad at me for the simplicity of this, but it works!

Because of the method, it's not always going to fool everyone like it would if you really learned how to do this the typical way. But I think, for the effort, you'll be very pleased with the results and reactions. I discovered this on accident last week, and I've purposely and successfully done it 3 more times since then. All I do is this: I get ready to perform Shinkoh's "Twisting Arm" illusion. But every time I do this, I always remove my watch, because it can really cause a lot of pain during the performance of this illusion. I have always set it off to the side and I have always suggested to the spectator that he do the same. Well, last week, when performing this illusion, I had placed my watch on a table that just so happened to be a convenient table for the spectator to lay his watch as well. Everyone is moving in and focusing on us - all attention is away from the watches. I perform the "Twisting Arm" illusion - using Meir Yedid's two-and-a-half turn technique - and this completely blows people away!

They're all laughing and really getting loud. They even start trying it themselves. And they're usually harassing the spectator in some form or fashion. It's during this time, that I quietly pick-up my watch, as well as the spectator's, unnoticed. I casually pocket my watch and place the spectator's on my wrist. With all the excitement, no one notices anything. I then quickly - during their antics - offer to show them something else, and I try to have the spectator, whose watch I am now wearing, be the volunteer for the next effect. He's so baffled at this point, and looking forward to the next effect - really trying to catch me somehow - that he completely forgets about the watch that he just took off earlier. The effect that I go into next will always be something completely different, yet it's not the time to reveal his watch yet. I went into a "Vernon Triumph" followed with a Bannon "Play it Straight" Triumph routine just to keep his mind off of his watch. I then perform a few more quick things for a couple of other people in the same group, just to get everyone's mind off that little detail - the fact that we both took our watches off earlier.

I then will offer to show one last item to the group. I'll say "watch". They'll watch. I say it again, "watch." They're still watching. I say it a few times before I reveal whose watch I'm wearing. I want everyone's eyes on me. They have no idea where I'm heading with this. But when I ask the spectator - the owner of the watch that I'm wearing - to tell me what time my watch says, I usually hear a loud, "Hey! That's my watch!!!" - of course with a few superlatives thrown in there as well.

Like I said, I've only done this 4 times, and it has worked each time. No one ever says, "hey, you must have taken his watch when you did that twisting arm thing." Yeah, they might think of it later, but most likely, the only person that will recall how you really did it will be the owner of the watch. With all the effects that you performed for them, the rest of the audience won't remember that moment you both took off your watches. Because of all the entertainment you brought to everyone, they'll just think that you're one of those cool magicians who can lift people's watches. And you are!!!

Well, I better stop for now. I hope no one gets upset about the length of these posts. To summarize, I didn't just want to tell people about effects that I perform successfully. I wanted fellow IBM'ers to get more out of my article than that. I wanted to offer information about effects that others could really see as a review of effects - tested live, in the real world, with real reactions.

There are many people out there who aren't sure what really works well in the restaurant / bar setting. I wanted to give a few examples of what worked well for me. This material, is by far, only a fraction of the material in my repertoire. But I chose this material for my first performance in a restaurant / bar for a reason - because I knew it was strong and I knew it would be effective.

There are also people out there who are thinking about purchasing a new book, video, or effect. With my descriptions of how I presented the material, this may aid someone in their decision whether or not to buy a particular item.

I also tried to offer a little of my own philosophy and psychology on successfully performing magic as a truly entertaining art. I also wanted to ignite a few sparks of creativity in a few people. I think people will look at my performing style, or my handling of certain effects, and come up with something new and innovative that they would have otherwise never thought of.

And finally, I wanted to encourage those people who are thinking about taking that first step into some real work with the public - as if working for friends and family isn't real work! Even though I might be - what some people call - a weekend warrior (part-time professional); I still love this art of ours with a passion, and my only desire is to see magic move forward as an art that everyone can enjoy - regardless of which side of the wand they may be on.

I want to thank everyone here at Ring 2100 who has posted advice and information on restaurant and bar performing. I have learned much from this forum. I also want to thank Simon Lovell, Jim Sisti, Tommy Wonder, Jim Pace and Jerry MacGregor for their books and publications on this type of magic. I have learned so much from them, that would have otherwise taken a lifetime of experience to learn.

I wish everyone only the best in every performance! (What's going on here? It sounds like I'm saying good-bye or taking off or something. I'll see ya'll later!)

Best Regards, James