In the past I really haven’t used YouTube, however I’ve started using that platform to post videos of vintage magic tricks and some other magic!
If you’re on YouTube, give me a follow at:
https://www.youtube.com/@LouieFoxx
-Louie
Film Can Refurbishing
The film cans that I use for my Film Can Dice Force aren’t made anymore. They still make film cans, but the ones currently made don’t work for the gimmick. I have to source mine on the “used film can market”.
The last batch that I got were super beat up and I had to refurbish(?) them. The can on the left is what they look like when I got them:
The middle can is after I gave them a wipe down, and the can on the right is after I buffed them with my Dremel! The amount of labor that goes into making the Film Can Dice Forces is way too much for what I charge for them!
-Louie
Magic Poster Museum in Everett, WA
There’s a restaurant in Everett, WA that has a magic poster mini museum! Here’s a quick tour of it at Shawn O’Donnells!
Here’s a close up of a few of the pics:
If you’re in the Everett, WA area, swing by and check it out! Also, Shawn (the owner) is a magician, so you’re supporting magic!
-Louie
Close Up Pads as a Disposable Item
Close up pads used to last me for years, now not so much. The difference is that I use them frequently for roving magic, not just practicing at home. That means they have to look clean or at least not gross.
Between replacing these for my close up/roving magic and my stage magic show’s consumables, my show generates a lot of trash. I wish it was less, but that’s how it is.
I’m really liking the economy close up pads. They’re not the best, but for an item that I replace sometimes after a single gig, I’m willing to compromise for the price. Also they’re slightly lighter than the nice close up magic pads, so that’s handy if I’m flying to a gig.
If you use a close up pad in your work, really look at it closely and see how clean it is. Sometimes comparing it next to a new one will show you how beat up your old one really is!
-Louie
Vanishing Birdcages – Don’t Buy The Hype!
Vanishing Birdcages from India have been popping up on eBay with way too high prices and descriptions. Here’s the image on one that recently popped up:
Let’s take a closer look at what those instructions say:
There’s so much wrong with that ad copy!
1: That cage isn’t a “Lindhorst Style”
2: That cage hasn’t been used thousands of times
3: Gene Anderson has never really been associated with the vanishing birdcage trick
4: Highly unlikely that this cage belonged to Gene Anderson
5: How has it been used by Gene thousands of times, if it’s “never used”
Then the red flag is the $110 price point, those cages are less than $50 new and still being made and easily available!
If you’re looking to buy a vanishing birdcage and aren’t sure if it’s a good one, feel free to contact me and I can give you my opinion on the one you’re thinking of.
-Louie
Giant Haunted Key!
This was in the hall of a performing arts center that I was doing a show at:
My first thought is the world’s largest Haunted Key!
Turns out it works!!!!!!
-Louie
The Moisture Festival Podcast – Oroki
On this episode, we welcome Oroki. We discuss the many aspects of Oroki’s performance life. We learn how it started on a date to an aerial class and how that led to producing theatrical shows all over Seattle.
We dive into Oroki’s background in dance, choreography, and a little parkour. A great conversation with a fantastic performer.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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Strait Jacket Escape Routine
I was driving home the other day, and I was thinking about the strait jacket escape. In the past I’ve done the Strait Jacket Escape with 50 Feet of Chain. Many routines are done against a clock but I like the idea of doing it against someone else doing something (completing a task). It sets up a head to head sort of challenge. My buddies Scotty Walsh and Steve The Pretty Good both did that in their routines.
The routine I was thinking about would be:
- There’s a box or container of some sort that has a lock in it.
- $100 is put into the container and locked.
- The key is mixed with other non-working keys.
- I’m put into the strait jacket.
- I have to get out before someone from the audience find the correct key and opens the box.
- I get out when there it one key left.
- The final key that they didn’t try opens the box, and I get to keep the $100
- I offer them a 2nd place prize, which is another box with a lock.
- They pick any key they already tried and it opens that box, inside is $5 that they can keep!
I think it reads a bit more convoluted than it flows, or how I think it will flow.
I need to go out and try it out and start figuring out if it works or doesn’t.
-Louie
PS: There’s an essay in one of my older lecture notes about how I created my comedy escape The Straight Suit.
Knife Swallowing Magic Trick
Recently, I was on a quick vacation to Chicago, and one of the things we did was go on a Pizza Tour. At our last stop on the tour, we were sitting at a table with a family that had a kid who was probably six years old. This was a great moment for sneaking in a magic trick. The family didn’t know I was a magician, so it would be a surprise.
What trick did I do?
Since I didn’t have anything on me, I did an impromptu trick where it looked like I swallowed a knife. I learned at a Tony Clark lecture when I was a teenager at Bob Goodsell’s West Coast Wizards Magic Camp in the early 1990’s. It’s a great trick and if you don’t know it, it’s worth learning!
I asked the kid how he liked his pizza, then I said that I loved it so much I wanted to eat the knife (that I cut it with), and then I did! I played it for real and that’s one of those moments of pure wonder that I created!
As a magician, you should be able to do something at any moment, sometimes it’s an improvised trick and sometimes it’s a planned trick that you carry with you. Also, just because you CAN do a trick and any time, it doesn’t me you have to!
Moments like that are great and perfect for impromptu magic!
-Louie
Have Fun Onstage!
One of the things that I see a lot in magic shows is a performer who doesn’t look like they’re having a good time. I get that there are some characters where this makes sense; however, I frequently see it in comedy magic. You absolutely should look like you’re having fun if you’re a standard comedy magician.
The other night I saw The Return of Jackie and Judy, which is a Ramones cover band that’s made up of Fred Armisen and most of the band Sleater-Kinney. One of the things about this show was everyone onstage looked like they were having a blast!
When you’re onstage, in most cases, you should look like you’re having fun! It shouldn’t look like a chore; even doing openly difficult things can look fun, or at least like you enjoy what you’re doing.
A few years ago I wrote a blog post about The Secret to Likability, which is worth a read.
-Louie