Bill Abbott Magic PRO-TIPS

The Cagematch : GPS vs. Google Maps vs. Real Old School Map

2012-01-25T12:28:00.000-08:00

Finding your way to a venue by automobile can be both stress inducing and potential career threatening. If you don't get there in enough time you could shorten your set up, sound check and prep time ultimately affecting your performance. More importantly you could damage your relationship with the client who is counting on you to entertain and impress their guests...and show up on time.

In my early years as a performer doing several gigs on a weekend I would pull out my trusty map book on the Friday night before and I would mark the destinations with post-it notes and stick the contracts in between the pages at the appropriate maps. Later on after the inter-webs became an accessible reality I started using Mapquest and would print out the maps the night before and staple the contract to them. Now with a GPS I have a new way of getting to a gig.

Each of these methods have their strengths. An old school map is a solid and reliable way of finding a location, but is a little weak on pinpointing an exact address as the street numbers are not printed in detail. The Mapquest/Google map print out is much more exact and can take you directly to a street or unit number but does not account for traffic and create alternative routes on the fly. And lastly the GPS is a real time location and direction finder that can instantly find alternative routes if you are stuck in traffic, but if you don't do your homework (or program the thing correctly!) it could take you on a longer route than necessary.

The best system?

All three.

I keep street maps of the major cities and towns where I might be traveling to here in Ontario, so I have a reliable physical reference handy to verify the GPS route and to get an overview of the route. The night before I travel I also print out a Mapquest or Google map of the journey to keep tabs on the GPS route and have an alternate in very off chance that my GPS unit completely dies on me (hasn't happened yet, but it could).

You may feel that this is overkill, but I don't want to take chances in getting to the gig in plenty of time to do everything I need to do to make the client and audiences experience the best I can.

A New Years Challenge

2011-12-28T14:13:00.000-08:00

I recently had the privilege (read : horror) of watching a recent performance of mine on video. My corporate manager attended one of my holiday shows and taped it with his flip camera from the back of the venue. As with many performers I really have a hard time watching myself on video. With every little tick, nuance and breath on video I only see the terrible, the amateurish and all the things that need improvement. This time was no different.

It dawned on me that sitting there as a hapless victim was going to go nowhere. So I stopped the clip and grabbed a pen and paper. Then I went back to beginning and as I watched I began to make a shopping list of everything I could improve. At the end of the 45 min. viewing I felt hopeful rather than depressed because of the list I had made and the mindset that I had. I went over the list with my wife and she added some things. And then I went over the list with my manager and he added some things. And now this list of improvements has become my New Years resolution. Everything on this list is stuff to work on. Goals to achieve. Scripting, blocking, stage movement, audience management, etc. All with the general goal of bringing the best I can deliver to my audiences in the year to come.

My challenge to you is to do the same. Nobody can make the list for you but I would recommend bringing a couple of people on board that you trust to view a video of your show and to give you honest objective and subjective feedback. And to help you make you and your the show the best it can be.

An Unforgettable Christmas Show

2011-11-30T23:24:00.000-08:00

Many years ago I was coerced into covering a gig for a magician who was double booked. It was a Christmas party for 300 children and their parents in the basement of a Catholic church. After I said yes, the magician then added that in addition to my regular show I would have to communicate with Santa "via satellite" (I later found out this meant pressing play on a VCR and pretending to speak and interact with a TV screen that featured one of the worst Santa impersonators I have ever seen) and would then "magically produce" the real Santa from a large box. The magician dropped the box off at the church the morning of the show and I arrived to find the box ready backstage along with a TV and VCR onstage plugged in and perched atop a four wheeled cart. A note stuck to the TV stated that Santa would be arriving 30 minutes prior to my performance to run through the illusion and to get into costume.

The kids and parents arrived, ate pizza, drank pop, inhaled Christmas treats and began to run incessantly around the large basement of the church. It was 20 minutes to showtime and Santa was nowhere to be seen. I checked backstage, in change rooms, washrooms, closets and Saint Nick was a no show. One of the parents corralled the children to sit on the floor in front of the stage and I made my entrance. The show had begun. And it went well. There is usually a tremendous amount of excitement and energy at Christmas parties that involve kids, mostly because they are anticipating the big man bringing the gifts. They know that after the magician the man in red suit will be there with the loot, so if you keep the show moving along they're more than happy to put up with 30 minutes of minor miracles.

Well I concluded the show with Chico The Mind Reading Monkey who stole the show as usual and after I put him away I then moved over to the cart with the VHS cassette ready to roll. I declared to the crowd that we would be contacting Santa via satellite to find out his location. I pressed play and some poorly created graphics gave us the faint impression that we were attempting to contact Santa using the TV screen and some (then) unknown technology. Well the over acting of a middle aged man in an ill-fitting Santa suit had some of the youngest kids convinced that Santa was very close and would be landing on the roof of the church at any moment. The screen went blank. This was the cue to produce Kris Kringle from the magic box.

I scurried backstage to find the big magic box empty. I ran from change room, to closet to washroom to find no one. After a couple of minutes, panic set in. Three hundred kids had grown impatient and were chanting "Santa, Santa, Santa" in a unified chorus. I ran out into the parking lot and witnessed an overweight man struggling to squeeze into a red suit while seated in a small Toyota. I banged on the window and gestured for him to come quickly. He literally rolled out of the tiny car onto the pavement. I grabbed his arm and helped him up to his feet and introduced myself. He grunted and I took him through a backstage entrance into the darkness of the wings.

He started to walk out onto the stage when I grabbed his arm and told him that he had to get into the magic box. "What?!" he huffed. He clearly had not been informed. I explained that he was to be magically produced from the box that we were now standing beside in the darkened wings. At this point the kids were in hysterics. They were screaming, "We want Santa, We want Santa" with an intensity that had me concerned for our safety. "Okay what do I have to do?" heaved Santa. I quickly explained that he had to lie down inside the box and squeeze himself in as tightly as possible. I would tip the box over and a flap would hide his body from the eyes of the audience making the box seem empty. I would then give him a verbal cue to stand up and reveal himself. Simple. Somehow Santa squirreled himself into the box after some serious effort. I pushed the box on caster wheels out into the stage lights and the crowd went crazy. Kids were literally screaming themselves hoarse and a mosh pit of sorts had formed at the front of the stage. I clapped my hands a shouted into the mic, "Ladies and Gentleman, I know you have been patiently waiting for a very special guest!" Several kids were stomping in unison in front and many were being pulled back by their parents from climbing onto the stage. "Let me see if I can make him appear by magic!" I exclaimed. There was a sudden hush over the audience. I grabbed the top and sides of the large colourful box and began tip it over to show an "empty" interior. I'm not sure how I managed to screw up the illusion, but for some reason the extra wall or flap that was supposed to hide Father Christmas simply wasn't there. So as I tipped it over to display the vacant insides of the box all the audience saw was a panic-stricken, poorly attired Santa in a fetal position trying with all his might to look small. There was a moment where you could hear a pin drop while the audience was trying to compute the strange and terrible image they were witnessing compressed inside of a box decorated in circus paint. Suddenly a small boy in the front cried out, "It's Santa!" and all hell broke loose. Kids had broken free of the their parents arms and were taking the stage by force, I dropped the box back down and turned to face the throng head on. There was a muffled scream from inside the box and I realized that the bottom edge of the box had landed directly on Santa's ankle. I held a couple kids back and proceeded to lift the contraption off Santa's ankle and he gingerly pulled his foot back into the safety of the box. In an attempt to gain control I grabbed the mic from the stand and called out in desperation for the parents to, "Please help get the children back to their seats or Santa will not appear."

It took a few moments to clear the stage and regain a certain sense of calm, but it happened and I began to make some magical gestures over the box. I probably looked like the saddest magician in all the world at this moment. Everyone had already seen Santa in a crumpled form at the bottom of the box. And now I was pretending that they hadn't. That the illusion was still a reality for me. And it would take all of my magical movements and passes to conjure up Old Saint Nicholas from this empty magic box. Well after my charade of stupidity I finally called into the box in a loud stage whisper for my assistant to rise up. Well with some considerable strain our Santa rose to his feet. The audience burst into immediate applause and shouts. Now Santa didn't look good. He didn't even look passable by any child's standard of a regulation Santa Claus. But the journey had been a long and arduous one. And nobody seemed to care that Santa's beard had come loose and was dangling by a sagging white elastic hanging from his left ear. Or that the corner of a pillow was peeking out of the bottom of Santa's red suit. In fact Santa looked more like a man on the brink a heart attack, then the right jolly old elf we were hoping for. Nonetheless I offered my arm to help Santa out of the box and over to a large chair by the Christmas tree and mountain of gifts he would soon be passing out to the excited boys and girls.

Now I should have taken into account that the box was on wheels. And I should have considered the weakened ankle that only moments ago had been crushed by the large magic box. But I didn't. Just as Santa had placed one foot over the edge of the box and was at that crucial point of no return, the box went sailing backwards sending him flying face forward into a bellyflop flat onto the stage. He landed directly on his stomach. There was a moment of complete silence in the room and then a collective "oooooooohhhhhhhhh" from the adults. I stood frozen in time still pathetically holding Santa's hand. I dropped to one knee asking if he was okay. Nothing but rasping breaths were coming from the big man and I gathered that it would take a few minutes to him to resume composure after being completely winded by the fall. We all waited with baited breath. Finally Santa struggled to his knees and allowed me to help him the rest of way to his feet. He hobbled painfully leaning on me to his throne and some quick thinking parents began to announce the names of the children, one at a time, to come to the tree and receive their gift. The children took compassion and when they approached Santa they averted their gaze when they came to accept their handout. It was impossible not to feel the pain, the shame and the utter defeat in our Santa.

But we survived yet another Christmas and celebrated to best of our collective abilities.

One and all.

Check Check One Two

2011-09-08T21:41:00.000-07:00

I received a message from a performer named Peter this week, who asked me what my theory was behind using a corded microphone on a stand during my performances. I had to ask myself if I had a ‘theory’ at all and why it’s been something I’ve been doing for such a long time. So here are my thoughts.

In my performance experience I have used every type of microphone under the sun. Wired, wireless, lavaliere, headset, countryman, handheld and even (heaven forbid) those microphones permanently attached to the podium/lectern. If you have the luxury of performing in the same environment with a dedicated sound engineer on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, it stands to reason that you have the ability to pick and choose your microphone options. The reasons I always went back to a corded microphone on a stand over the years and why it’s all I use today for my everyday performances are listed below.

I never get feedback. Ever. I can walk into any banquet hall stick my cord into any P.A. system (and my cord has been in them all...whoa), and it will work.
There is never any cutting out, radio frequency interruptions or blackout moments.
I don’t have to find the “right” place to put the receiver. I never have to worry that I’m not on the right channel. And I don’t have to replace batteries. Ever.
I don’t look like Garth Brooks or Madonna circa 1996. I believe that those big wrap around headsets with the black muppet ball on the end is a HUGE eye sore and takes away from a TON of human interaction via the performer’s facial expressions.
I have incredible vocal control due to the distance I can have from the mic, I can deliver cues to my on stage volunteers without the audience hearing them and have more flexibility than a headset or lavaliere microphone. The depth of sound created by the mic I use is unparalleled with any cordless or headset mic currently available. Don’t believe me? Ask an informed sound engineer for their honest opinion.
The picture above is of my Shure 55SH Series II Mic replica of a vintage 1950’s microphone but with all of the modern “insides” that gives me great performance after great performance. It’s rugged die cast casing is designed to withstand rigorous use in any environment. And after about 11 years of use...it still looks fantastic. Beyond its performance, I bought it because it’s a prop unto itself. I can remove it from the stand and hold it in my hand for mobility and to interview onstage and offstage audience members.
I have performed a version of the cut and restored mic cord for several years (thanks to Wayne Dobson) using this mic, as there is a feature about it that makes the method a lot easier. I have also used it for the silk through mic stand effect in the past to great response. What a killer that is!
I have become incredibly comfortable in using a corded mic on a straight stick stand, to the point where to use something else would be uncomfortable at this point.
No cords go down my shirt, pants or get clipped to my belt, creating an obstacle for any potential steals or deposits.

I realize I may sound like I’m trying to convert performers to my practices and preferences in the ways of the microphone. I’m not. But I challenge you to think about how much anxiety is created from your sound system situation. Do you have a bullet proof no-fail microphone that works in most any environment? Are you comfortable with it? Is it flexible enough for your show and the routines you use?

If you answered yes to these last three questions you probably have all the info you need.

Take time. Give it time. Enjoy your time.

2011-08-03T15:50:00.000-07:00

Take time.

Give it time.

Enjoy your time.

Take time selecting effects to include in your show. To build a solid show it must have a foundation that is built around you, the audiences you perform for and the typical environments you perform in. This selection process takes time. Sometimes a lifetime.

After years of trial and error, work-shopping and multiple performances my show is still a constant work in progress. It can be frequently frustrating to invest time and energy into some routines or scripts only to find that the effect doesn't fit me or work for my audiences. A great show is never created overnight. Give it time.

The real secret to longevity, success and fulfillment as a performer is to enjoy the process. A very small percentage of our time is actually on stage in front of audiences. Most of it is spent trying to land the gig to get on that stage or putting in the time to make that 45 minutes the best it can be. Learn how to enjoy your time in all these things. This is what being a performer is all about.

Your Gas Stinks

2011-04-30T22:55:00.000-07:00

Okay calm down, don't have a complex.

Every ones gas stinks.

It always seems that when I'm on my way to a gig, I need to get gas (or petrol to our European friends, or diesel if you're like me). The problem is when the inevitable happens and gas/oil residue on the gas pump handle gets on our hands, the smell of gas doesn't come off. Believe me you can scrub your hands 'til they're raw in the service station restroom, that stench will NOT come off. If you're working close-up with your audience that night or simply shaking hands with a client, you could potentially be sending a negative 'odorous' vibe that could effect your first impression on them. This is something I have been doing recently that has circumvented the 'stinky gas hands' syndrome. Most service stations have paper towels at the pumps and if they do, try this easy fix...

Step One: Grab a towel. (see photo)

Step Two: Wrap the towel around the gas pump handle before picking it up.

Step Three: Pump your gas and...voila! Your hand is protected from the evil residue and consequent odour of gas.

Free

2011-04-30T18:48:00.001-07:00

I was walking along the boardwalk near my home and came across this prose near the beach on a piece of bristol board. For some reason it struck a chord.

Copy, paste and share.

"If you do not compare, you can not judge.

If you do not judge, you can not criticize.

If you do not criticize, you can find compassion.

When you are compassionate, you can love yourself.

When you love yourself, you can open your heart to the world and be free."

Intawuk (The Unicyclist)

April 2010

Smell good, but not too much.

2011-02-18T16:31:00.000-08:00

When you're working up close at tables or cocktail receptions, it's always professional (as well as a good personal habit) to smell good. This includes both your breath and your body. To combat halitosis I developed a habit, when I was working on a weekly basis in several restaurants, to place a small handful of strong mints in a pocket. As the evening wore on I would pop a mint every so often and over the course of the night I maintained nice breath. It's now a habit that I continue for stand up and stage presentations because I am still interacting with clients and audience members before and after the show. The brand I currently buy is sugar-free Altoid Smalls. The one habit you don't want to develop is chewing gum to obtain fresh breath. If you chew gum when interacting with your client, my personal feeling is that you give off a unprofessional and an overall negative casual attitude toward your relationship with them. For obvious reasons this applies to chewing gum while performing as well.

Body odour from perspiration is another factor to contend with as a performer. Most of us sweat and some of us, at the very least, glisten from time to time. I have experienced two extremes as an audience member at more than one magic performance. There is the performer who overcompensates his fear of creating a stench by lathering himself up with enough cologne to kill a herd of rhinos at 20 paces. This is not a good alternative for body odour as many people deal with extreme allergies to perfumes, aftershave and cologne. I do not have allergies to perfumes but I do cringe and try to escape the overwhelming intoxication of someone who has overdone it.

At the other end of the spectrum there is the performer who is oblivious to his odour and perspires himself into a rank puddle on stage. Even from a distance this guy smells like a gym locker room full of aging wrestlers.

The main idea is not to be the guy who smells like he fell into a vat of Aqua Velva, or on the other hand smell like King Kong's crotch either.

Somewhere in between is the happy medium that your audiences will tolerate and appreciate.

2011-01-19T12:35:00.000-08:00

My 11 personal challenges for 2011.

1. CLEAN UP MY ACT : I have been hemming and hawing about adding a couple new pieces to my show for way too long. 2011 is the year they GO IN! As in NOW! As in the my NEXT PERFORMANCE!

2. SEEK CRITICISM : I want to grow as an artist this year. I want to take my performances to a different place this year. AND I want someone else's perspective. AND I'm willing to pay for it.

3. LEARNING TO SAY NO : I want to achieve and attain what's important to me this year. This means I will have to say no to a LOT more stuff, to get those things done. I'm prepared to do that.

4. KEEP A NOTEBOOK : A notebook. For notes. Close by. Always. And then re-read it, digest it and enact it.

5. LOOK FOR OUTSIDE INSPIRATION : I want to gain my motivations from OUTSIDE of the magic medium and community. Time to spread the wings and soar to another land.

6. BUILD YOUR REPERTOIRE : I want to add just two new things this year. That's it. But make them awesome.

7. SHARE : I'm teaching magic at my son's school this spring. I'm excited and a little nervous.

8. NO COMPROMISES : Stick to the vision and anything that pulls me away in other directions is to be shaken off, removed or put to rest. (humans and animals not included)

9. OBSERVE TRENDS - AND AVOID THEM : I've always found success and fulfillment in "different-ness". May that continue.

10. SWEAT : Stop ignoring and putting off the hard work that is necessary in becoming GREAT at something. You know what that 'something' is. (don't you Bill!)

11. BE A HERO : For me it's being a hero to my sons. That means more time together, more attention given and less selfish endeavours.

Please add your own challenges below...

The Expendables

2010-12-06T10:56:00.000-08:00

The average magic act has expendables coming out the wazoo. Things like mouth coils, flash paper, rope, cards, confetti, paper pads, fruit, hat tears, newspaper, sharpies, pens, pencils, (bent) cutlery, milk, paper cones, wax, lunch bags, snowstorms, etc. are all expendable items that take their toll on the environment and our pocket books.

In my attempt to 'go green' I have had to rethink the necessity of some of the expendables in my act. The recession has also been another factor in reconsidering the investment in things that will be inevitably be trashed after a single performance.

Question your expendables:

1. Can this thing be reused?

2. Can this expendable be replaced with a reusable?

3. Do I need to continue to perform this effect/routine?

Be honest and ask yourself if you want add anything to your act that has an expendable involved? Is it cost effective? Is it good to the world we share? Is it sending a good message to our audiences and clients?

Consider the expendables.

Pimp Your Ride

2010-11-23T10:56:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, a large portion of society judges an individuals personal and professional worth by the vehicle they drive - arrive in. And that includes your clients. Even if your car is 25 years old, (and not a 'classic' by any standards) the bare minimum you should do is take it through a car wash, trash the fast food wrappers and coffee cups at the gas station and vacuum it out when you get a chance. You'll feel better, you'll look better arriving at the gig and you'll give the impression (or the illusion!) that you're a pro and in control of yourself. If your ride is at the ass end of embarrassing due to rust, decay or downright butt-ugliness; take a cab, hire a car service, or park a block away and walk.

Usually all it takes to pimp your ride is to clean it.

Get on that.

Who are you listening to?

2010-09-17T09:07:00.000-07:00

When it comes to advice about magic...everyone has some. With online forums, chat rooms, social networks, youtube, etc. We are bombarded with information on how to look, how to talk, how to script, how to advance our technique, how to structure our show, what tricks to buy, which tricks suck, what works, what doesn't and why "every magician" should do this, purchase that or avoid this and jump on that.

When it comes to the magic that you perform, the magic that you add to your show and the things you keep in the show and take away from the show, there should be only two voices you listen to above any others.

You and your audience.

It's easy to take advice from anonymous and virtually anonymous 'experts' online. The hard thing to do is to take a routine/effect that we've put some thought into and then put it into a performance and see if it works. After that performance you have to listen to your gut, your heart, your instinct and be brutally honest. Does it work for your personality? Does it work with the flow and/or theme of the show? Is the reset, pre-show, prep time and effort to pull it off worth it? And then...you have to listen to the audience. What was the general audience response (weak applause, laughter, silence, etc.) and was it a response you wanted, were expecting and does it motivate you to continue to polish and perfect the routine? Did you get some honest feedback from people after the show regarding the effect? Are you still motivated after that feedback?

Obviously you need put together your own criteria to analyze audience response and your own feelings about the routine etc. Just remember that the loudest voices dictating your decisions about your show and the routines in that show are YOU and your AUDIENCE.

Stop The Insanity!

2010-09-07T06:15:00.000-07:00

You've just picked up your suit from the cleaners, put it on, packed the car and are on the way to your gig. You pop in to Starbucks for that Grande decaf and settle back into your car ready to face the hour long drive to the venue. About half way into your journey, your notice your cup is leaking around the lid...and for the love of all that's good and pure, there is now a nice large Rorschach coffee stain on your newly pressed dress shirt!

Okay, I'm not going to tell you how to get the stain out. Just Google that. I am going to share with you my hard earned knowledge of how I have been preventing this scenario over the past couple of years (and several leaks and spills later).

Step One:

Buy your hot drink of choice (see photo).

Step Two:

Add stuff to your drink and stir (see photo).

Step Three:

Looking down on the top of the cup, locate where the cup is 'joined' together. See the black arrow pointing at the 'join' in the photo.

Step Four:

Now place the lid opening 1 centimetre (about 1/2 inch my American friends!) to the right of that 'join' and firmly press the lid on the cup. The black arrow shows approximately where that should go in the two photos above (side and top views).

Step Five:

Now take a napkin and lay it flat on a table.

Step Six:

Fold the napkin in half.

Step Seven:

Now wrap the folded napkin around the side of the cup, close to the lid and centred at the cup opening.

Step Eight:

Enjoy your drink. The lid placement shown should cover most leaks and the added napkin 'safeguard' will catch the rest.

Final Thought:

Before I get comments about being environmentally unfriendly, let me say that the best way to prevent a leaking and spilling cup, is to invest in a non-disposable, re-useable, ecologically mature, travel mug with a good tight lid that is easy to drink from. But you already new that.

The Secret

2010-08-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

There is nothing that makes the road to being a better performer easier. Nothing you can buy. No lecture you can attend. No workshop. No tactics, gimmicks or a slicker promo package. There is really only one way to better yourself as a performer, develop your onstage persona and learn how to connect with an audience. And that is...just work. I wish I could hold a convention where aspiring performers would come so I could have the one and only lecture where I would reveal the secret to being the best you can be. The lecture would have one powerpoint slide that would say JUST WORK, and then I would send everybody home. Everybody wants to know if there is a secret formula to get around all the work involved in developing an act, being a better performer, etc. There is none. Just work.

Salvage Your Soul

2010-03-31T21:01:00.000-07:00

You've just walked offstage and you feel like garbage. Your spidey sense is acting up and telling you that the crowd didn't buy into you, your magic, and were waiting for you to leave the stage about 44 minutes ago so they could get on with their lives. The one routine that usually kills, even fell flat with this bunch of suits. And that new piece you'd been dying to try, carefully book-ended in the middle of your time-tested veteran effects...what were you thinking!? The euphoria and adrenalin that usually accompanies the walk to your car has been replaced with complete emotional and physical exhaustion. Humiliation too, maybe? It was that crowd. Could they have been more comatose? Cardiac defibrillation couldn't have aroused these humorless zombies. And didn't anyone read your tech rider? Not only were you forced to perform on the smallest platform riser known to human civilization, but did they have to find the one Churchill stood on when he delivered his 'Never Give In' speech. Every time you stood in the middle of it, you were doing the Michael Jackson 'lean' from Smooth Criminal. The moment you KNEW you sucked though, was when you had to walk past everyone after the show. You could tell most of them wouldn't look you in the eye. And the people that did say, "great show" and "nice job" and "thanks a lot" were really thinking, "he must have a real job, this can't be all he does."

So.

What do you do after a bad show? I blame myself. I blame the venue. I blame the audience. I blame the organizer. I blame my choice of material. I blame the material. I could have. I should have. They could have. They should have. etc. etc.

But, once that human knee-jerk reaction has fizzled and you're on your way home, what do you do? For the past while, I have attempted to compartmentalize the negative experience as best I can, and look at the show as objectively as I can. We can never connect with every audience we perform for. It's not only impossible, it's not conducive to growth. Growth as a performer and artist. The growth of your act and your routines. And growth as a human adult in this world.

It is a conscious choice to use this experience to wallow in self-pity, or use it to improve.

Let's imagine that we want to make the right choice. It's healthy to go back over all of the things we blamed, while the wounds are still fresh, and see if any of the negative aspects could be turned into positives in a future performance or engagement. What possible conditions or deliberate actions could have been changed to make a better connection with THAT audience.

If the staging, lighting, sound or other technical aspects contributed to the problem how can we ensure that we don't have to live through the issue in future shows. Does your technical rider

need to be changed (or created?) so that your clients are given ample information and time to prepare the venue for your show? Do you need to get there earlier to make sure everything is ready and set?

If it was a routine line-up problem, where did the dilemma stem from? Were there too many pieces? Were there too few? Was it the order of the pieces that could be rearranged for the better? Is there something that needs to be cut from the show?

The hardest question to ask (and answer honestly) is why you felt you didn't connect with your audience? Maybe it was your treatment of an audience volunteer that threw off the show. You might not of connected with the audience due to nervousness and as a result you rushed your lines and routines. Maybe you arrived too late to prepare for your performance, before you took the stage. It's possible that something in your personal life altered your attitude towards this audience (even on a subconscious level) and subsequently tainted your performance. Sometimes it IS the audience. There are circumstances that can be beyond your control. Acknowledging that will also help in the growth process.

The strange and terrible beauty of live performance is that it lives and breathes and is not something that can be completely bottled, organized and sold. Every show is different. Every audience is different. Every routine will play and be received differently from performance to performance. Every venue offers up new challenges and hurdles. And it is for these reasons that it is such a wonderful and terrifying experience all at once. Every time.

How we handle and process the seemingly negative experiences for us, as performers, can change the way we reflect upon the less than desirable performances. Are we acknowledging our weaknesses? Are we changing what we have the power to change? Are we accepting the things that we have no power to change? Are we growing?

Until next time, think nice thoughts.

Sincerely,

Bill

Disney Inspirations

2010-02-28T09:23:00.000-08:00

I am currently wearing a sweatshirt, winter vest and long pants on our family vacation in Kissimee Florida. It is like a Canadian spring here weather-wise, but there is hope that the heat will appear on Monday. Our frost-bitten fingers and toes are crossed.

My first trip to the Magic Kingdom was when I was 26 with a group of buddies after a week partying in Daytona. Since that first visit I have tried to return as often as possible to gain inspiration, direction and motivation for my own creative projects and schemes. There is something about Walt's world that helps me to re-focus and puts me in the right (childlike?) frame of mind to unlock my creativity. Oh, and the kids seem to be enjoying themselves as well.

I thought I would share two things that inspired me this week in the hope that it might inspire you as well. One thing came from a quote that I saw displayed on a wall in the one of the parks. It's from Walt Disney himself and is ridiculously simple, direct and practical.

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."

-Walt Disney

To be honest there are several things on my mental project 'shelf' that are waiting to be brought to life, realized and frankly exorcised from my brain! I have been talking about them, pre-planning their birth and fantasizing about what they could be without doing anything to make them a reality. Now is the time. No more procrastinating. No more talking. It's time to begin doing.

My other inspiration came from a documentary about the creation of Disney World entitled Magic Kingdom - Imagineering the Magic. It's a DVD I picked up at one of the parks and watched on my laptop in my room last night. It was during one of the interviews with Tony Baxter who is currently the Senior Vice President of Creative Development with Walt Disney Imagineering, that I heard something that struck a chord. He was talking about the numerous ideas, concepts and projects that had never seen the light of day for a variety of reasons. Whether it was a ride, an audio-animatronic, a original song composition, etc. He said that every good idea never dies. Eventually they put every workable thing to work somewhere at sometime.

For the past three years (wow!) Richard Sanders and I have been working together on magic projects and tools for magicians to use. Check it out here: http://automaticmystery.com/

The thing that hit home about Baxter's interview was that Rich and I have come up with literally dozens and dozens of great ideas. In and of themselves they are not yet worthy of any project, routine or product BUT they will continue to exist in the back of our minds, written in notebooks, on audio files recorded on an iPhone, in email exchanges, etc. What I have learned is that some ideas can only be 'worked' for a limited amount of time before the excitement and motivation behind the idea eventually dies. It's what you do as a creator at this point that can either make or break the creative energy. You can soldier on and continue to hash it out until you have something that may look like something half decent OR you can shelve it (mentally or physically) and come back to it when the time is right. It is the latter action that I have learned in the past year, to be the best way to put ideas to work and to save your sanity (and partnership!). If you beat an idea into submission, after losing your excitement for it, you lose the joy of the creative process and subsequently the idea will not be as great as it could have been. By putting it aside for a time the idea is allowed to distill and grow on it's own. At the right time (something that is felt rather than decided) the idea will come to fruition on it's own and present itself ready. Sounds like a zen thing. And I think it kind of is.

Anyways, I have to get out of the room and get on some rides. I hope something inspires you.

Until next time, think GREAT thoughts.

Sincerely,

Bill

February PRO-TIP for Customize Your Smart Ass

2010-02-01T13:55:00.000-08:00

February's Bill Abbott Magic PRO-TIP is a full routine using Customize Your Smart Ass found here on my website.

INTRODUCTION

I first started to use a customizable Smart Ass deck shortly after I had created the original Smart Ass deck. I wanted a large scale stage prediction that didn't have the limitations that many of the marketed and published versions currently available, seem to have. I wanted something portable, fairly inexpensive, reusable, and with a finale that played to an audience of 3,000, if needed. That's when I put together the All-Inclusive Vacation Prediction, which is one of the several routines detailed in the Customize Your Smart Ass booklet that comes with the deck. The AIVP has the decided advantage of being truly predicted in advance, with no double-writing, carbon impressions or a difficult to read finale. Although I will not tip the method(s) here, anyone with some background in magic and mentalism should be able to piece it together. The complete version is in the Customize Your Smart Ass booklet found here.

THE ROUTINE

At the end of your show you explain that due to an incredible sales year at company XYZ (insert client’s company name here), the upper management has agreed to arrange for an all-expenses paid vacation for everyone to anywhere in the world. They have left the choice up to us to choose the destination, time of departure and the form of transportation to the destination. You take off your watch and ask a volunteer in the front row to stand up and show them that you want them to wind your watch changing the time with each turn of the stem. To make this a random procedure ask them to do this while the watch face is face down in their hand.

While they are doing this you ask anyone to call out vacation destinations. As they do, you pull out a pad of paper and begin to write down each destination per piece of paper, folding them twice and dropping them one at a time onto an empty table or chair. Once you have 10-12 names you ask a volunteer to join you on stage. You ask them to select any slip of paper from the random ones on the table/chair and to pocket it. Once this is done you invite them to take a seat on a chair beside you.

You remove a pack of blank backed cards that have various forms of transportation on one side of them. MOPED, STREETCAR, KAYAK, ON FOOT, SNOWMOBILE, DOG SLED, ONE HORSE OPEN SLEIGH, etc. are some of the options. You hand them the pack and proceed with the 'Smart Ass' elimination procedure concluding with a final selection which you tell your participant to pocket along with the destination. Finally you tell your ‘watch winding’ assistant to stop his winding and to push the stem of the watch in, turn the watch over and call out the random time. You write the time on a large black/ white board, thank the volunteer and take back your watch.

Instruct your on stage volunteer to remove the mystery destination slip and transportation card from their pocket and call both out while you write them on the board below the departure time. Take back the card and slip and ask the volunteer to take their seat. You ask the event organizer to come on stage and to bring ‘the package’. They come to the stage bringing a long mailing tube. Ask them to verify that they received this package two weeks before the performance and have not opened or tampered with it in anyway. Ask them to open it and remove the contents. Inside there are is a large scroll of paper. You ask them to take one free end while you let it unroll from the ‘scroll’. Slowly the departure time, form of transportation and exact destination is revealed in a banner that boldly proclaims a 100% accurate prediction that eventually fills the entire stage.

AFTERTHOUGHTS

You do not have to mail out the prediction ahead of time, but it does lend itself to a more dramatic and suspenseful conclusion. I have had a professionally printed banner printed on vinyl that, when unrolled, opens to a whopping 25 feet across and 3 feet wide. This fits into a mailing tube which I seal and mail to the client previous to the event with the instruction to bring it to the show. You could do this cost-effectively using your own printer, or simply take a roll of paper and write out your prediction with a large marker.

Have Fun!

Until next time, think nice thoughts.

Sincerely,

Bill

Mind Control Remastered PRO-TIP

2010-01-11T16:11:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first Bill Abbott Magic PRO-TIP featuring Mind Control Re-Mastered found here on my website.

INTRODUCTION

Mind Control is an effect that I created based on a dealer item entitled Hypnotic Choice. The original product featured 3 cards with coloured 'hypno' circles on them, a coloured pencil/pen and a coin envelope to hold the cards in. The spectator would select one of the coloured cards (either red, blue or yellow) and you (the mastermind performer!) would show them that you had predicted their choice by showing an indelible prediction that was in-play from the beginning.

I liked the effect but not the props that came with the routine. I wanted something that seemed random, impromptu and spontaneous. I also wanted this to be something I could perform at a house party, client meeting or in an unplanned performance moment. I also wanted to expand the potential or possibilities to something more incredible than a 1 in 3 outcome. My solution to this was/is Mind Control.

Three things I always find I have with me 24-7 are:

1. My set of keys 2. My business cards. 3. A pen.

With this in mind I knew that if I utilized these items that were always with me, I always had the ability to perform the effect, anywhere. These are natural items found in the 'real world' and not props found in a magic shop and therefore would not excite suspicion.

Mind Control also adds to the mystery by adding to the number of objects in play (6, 10 or 20) and in addition almost all of the props that are added to the mix are borrowed, random objects.

With the props supplied in the Mind Control set (pen, key chain and business card) you have the ability to perform a powerful piece of mentalism at anytime and anywhere

MIND CONTROL ROUTINE

One (of the many) featured routines on the instructional DVD is one that I most often perform at house parties. It's a great ice breaker before starting a more formal show because it involves people and their personal belongings in an immediate way. Essentially, several objects are borrowed from the audience and laid out in a row on a coffee table or even the floor. I usually use 6 objects but you can use up to 20 or more if you like. I select someone from the group that I think has good intuitive skills and ask them to narrow down the choice of objects by calling out 'odd' or 'even'. Whatever they say, I ask whether they want to eliminate the odds or keep them. Based on their answer we do exactly as they command, so we are now down to three objects.

At this point I pick up small pad/business card/scrap piece of paper and write down the three objects left on the table and hand the paper and pen to the participant. I distance myself from the spectator and ask that they mentally select one of the three objects. Once they verify this, I ask that they put an 'X' beside the object they have mentally selected. While they are doing this I turn away. Now with my back to them I ask them if they have just selected ____________ (a particular object on the list of three). They agree that they have in fact selected that very object! You then reveal that you have had an indelible prediction in play from the very beginning that clearly predicted the object they would choose!

THE PRO-TIP

The ability to name the thought-of object before you reveal your prediction is something I have been performing for the past two years and something I have only divulged in a small handful of lecture appearances. It is a simple method, but the impact of it only drives home the idea that you truly predicted their actions and thoughts. What is it? Pencil reading. If your sphincter just tightened, loosen up and read on! In making a list of the remaining three objects on the pad/paper/card, you are actually forcing your participant to place his/her 'X' in a specific place. See photo below.

By placing a box beside each object and spacing them down the page, it is VERY easy to tell which object they place the 'X' beside especially from a distance. By noting the location of their hand and the pen on the paper, you can now easily deduce which object they are thinking of. The timing of this is crucial to the success. As soon the participant has put the pen to the paper to make his/her 'X' I immediately turn and face the opposite direction, wait a beat and ask, "Have you done that?" The distinct impression is that you had your back turned WHILE they were placing their 'X' on the paper. Now, with your back still turned, you simply ask if they were thinking of the object that you now KNOW they placed their 'X' beside, and of course they were answer, "Yes!" You then go on to reveal the indelible prediction that is featured in the Mind Control routine provided.

Until next time, think nice thoughts.

Sincerely,

Bill