For a magician we spend so much time alone working to develop a certain sleight of hand move that remains invisible. Then you study how you will present your piece of magic. You begin to perform and slowly tweak little things here and there. Your aim is to share an experience with your audience that will give them an emotion. That emotion could range from excitement, awe, wonderment, thoughtfulness, a blank stare of unbelief...it's hard to say sometimes how people will respond to seeing something totally baffling that they cannot explain.
I have performed in many different venues for many different kinds of people. Some small intimate groups and other times for groups of 300 or more. In light of that, I have to say there is nothing like the experience I am about to share with you. There are few things in a performers work that can match the thrill of this happening.
I'm working close-up magic at the Ryan's restaurant in Mishawaka, IN. It's Friday night and I'm walking from table to table sharing my magic with the customers. I notice a group of 20 young guys, possibly high school boys. Come to find out, they were in town from Minnesota. They were a football league visiting Notre Dame.
Just approaching the table within seconds, I started getting a feel of their "space". I was on guard, they seemed a little louder then other groups that have come in in the past. I politely stepped to the front of the table. Because of the noise issue I spoke to the guys who were the closest to me. Surprisingly the word that there was a magician in their presence spread like wild-fire. Everyone stopped what they were doing and positioned themselves to see the show, whether that was on the floor, beside me, or standing on a chair to see above the huddled group.
I smiled and looked at everyone...such anticipation....anticipation. I should stop and say something about this. Again I'm writing this from a performers perspective. When you perform frequently, you run into many people that will watch your magic, but you can tell either they just don't care WHAT your doing, they've got too much on their mind, or maybe they are easily distracted. Either way, YOU CAN FEEL IT. And that effects HOW you relate to your audience. A performance IS a give-and-take with those chosen people at that specific time. So I can literally FEEL the excitement in the air.
I want to fast forward to the ending
I end with a trick which magicians will be familiar with called "Card-To-Wallet". I do a sleight of hand version. I use Eugene Burger's presentation and a Kaps wallet sans the fire. The premise to the trick is that I can predict what card a helper will take out of the deck. The helper takes the card out, signs it, and places it back into the deck. I bring out my wallet and tell them my prediction is in the zippered compartment that I placed there two days ago. I then ask for the name of the card, I look at the prediction myself. After a pause, I tell everyone that this did not turn out like I expected. I look down at the table...there is an awkward silence...then I look directly at the helper and say "not ONLY does this match your card...I believe this IS YOUR CARD". So now their signed card that they just saw being placed in the deck it NOW coming out this zippered compartment in my wallet. Now to explain on a 2-D format does not give what happened next justice. To tangibly feel this rumbling that escalated into a mammoth roar of approval from the audience will leave you electrified. All 21 guys with a powerful team spirit roar just went ballistic. I stood there as the noise blew through me like a monsoon. I stand there trying to hold my composure. I'm smiling looking right at the guy. After the cheers begin to die down, I take the card, sign it, thank them for their time and walk away.
Where is a camera when you need it.
Now another quick story.
Prior to this happening, I'm standing in the back of the restaurant beside of the prep team sipping on my favorite orange juice drink. A waiter comes in and says that I'm requested at a table. I look straight at the guy, take a deep breath and throw my drink as hard as I can against the wall...it splatters and goes everywhere! I grab the guy by the hair, shove his face in the mashed potatoes, and yell to the top of my lungs "WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO ME ON MY BREAK!!!!" Everyone scrambles to get cloth napkins to wipe the orange stain off of my tailored suit apologizing for the waiters rudeness. Someone quickly delivers me another drink and I continue my break.
OK...maybe it didn't happen... EXACTLY like that.
Let's start again...
The waiter says that I have been requested. I take one more sip of my juicy orange drink and briskly walk to the table. I am met by a a boy around 11 or 12, he is sitting in the left corner of the table. His mom is directly across from him and what I believe may have been the boys older sister-maybe in her early twenties-she is sitting on the left close to me. I introduce myself and mention about them being in the middle of their meal and that I could come back when they are done. The attractive young lady spoke up and said very emphatically "No, I want to see this right now". Now that statement took me by surprise. She then said that she doesn't believe in magic, but her brother had been going on and on about the magic he and his mom saw last week. Immediately I thought, "Oh know...this is going to be tough". I looked at her and said, "Don't worry, I don't believe in magic either." For me personally I like saying this. Contrary to what some people may expect, I am not there to PROVE or CHALLENGE people that I can do magic. I'm there to share, how's that...that's a nice word...share. So I hope this statement diffuses concepts people may have held in their own psyche about me trying to show off or PROVE something.
So she smiles at that statement, pushes her meal to the side and waits...yes...here it comes...waits in...anticipation. I see it all over her! But again, with the way she started the conversation, I don't really know how she is going to respond to the magic. I decided just to go for it and -in a performers terms- hit her right between the eyes. So I did a trick that I read in John Carney's book called 'wired'. It's a great trick and it fit me perfectly as soon as I read it. So I've been doing it for several weeks now. To share with those who are unfamiliar with this magical piece, I bring out a piece of paper stabled together, I talk about having a dream and a number, I get the person to name any number between 1 and 100. They do, I give them the paper, they open it up, and inside they read aloud the corresponding number. This effect worked. It shook her up. I thought I saw her eyes get watery...maybe not. Then I performed something her brother said she had to see. The trick was my version of David Roth's coins across. After this, she literally just stares at me. I look at her and smile. There is silence...then she says, "what are you doing...how are you doing this", and she says it with such sincerity now, not as a reflex to the trick, but a sincere heart felt perplexed question.
So I end with a card trick that I have tailored to my liking. The basic story is that she sees a card that she did not pick, I get her to place her hand right on top of that card. Then I go through the whole deck face down until I THINK I have found her card. I tell her the cards are going to switch. She has her hand on the indifferent card and I have my hand on the card I THINK is hers. After a little magic, I turn my card over, I'm holding her indifferent card, she turns her card over, she is holding my card which happens to be HER SELECTION. She then voiced her belief in magic and that I was for real. Why is it either one extreme or the other. What she wanted to believe I left up to her. But I knew this, she seemed DEEPLY entertained and mystified. I was happy.
Oh...the feeling, well I should say the KNOWING of walking away from an audience that has been moved emotionally. It is such a great feeling. I hope you as a magician get to feel and experience what I felt tonight and prior nights to this. It doesn't always happen, but oh when it does, it's so memorable. And I would think that this experience close-up would be so much better then stage, but maybe not. On stage I've had applause and shouts of approval but nothing as powerful as these stories just mentioned.
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