Now and then I mess up the occasional trick. Maybe I lose the card in the deck. Perhaps an audience members spots a move. Yesterday, while working at a table, trick after trick went wrong. There was no one thing that really tripped me up, just a perfect storm of slight missteps that lead to an abject failure to succeed in producing a single effect.
Read MoreLet me recall a recent conversation with a magician friend of mine:
“Why do you keep promoting other magicians?”
“Er…”
Read MoreBeing a magician can lead to some tough choices. For example, I’ve just spent two and a half months working on a routine. It’s four to six minutes and has involved a lot of practice, thought, and hard work. I will probably be performing it for the first time tonight.
Read MoreFirst off, I’m sorry that this blog is a day late. The reason is because this weekend just gone I was at The Session magic convention. I could now write paragraph after paragraph about it, and I do intend to talk generally about magic conventions and hanging out with magicians in socially in a post coming in a few weeks, but let’s be honest; unless you’re a magician, you won’t care about a magic convention I went to, and if you are a magician you STILL WON’T CARE!
Read MoreThis is a relatively modern trick. First published in 1970, though it was based on an earlier trick called ‘Sympathetic Coins’ which still only came around at the beginning of the 20th century, it’s a wonderfully pure idea. Coins are laid out on a table, each one covered with a playing card and then, as the cards are lifted, it’s revealed that a coin has jumped places. Everything else within the illusion is a variation on that theme.
Read MoreIt’s year has seen a lot change in my life. Those possibly most remarkable and certainly most relevant to this blog are my change in direction and focus as a magician. I’ve moved from being almost exclusively a street magician to performing at close up and corporate gigs. I’ve created my own monthly magic showcase and have begun working with some of the best magicians in the country.
Read More“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.”
― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
For all the immaculate planning and preparation that goes into Christmas, it’s the moments of spontaneity that we remember.
Read MoreChristmas is just around the corner. All of the signs are there; constant toy adverts on the television, Tesco’s stocking Easter Eggs, and magicians are existing on Redbull and hope. It can be a confusing time for those of us within the magic fraternity.
Read MoreWhy do people like me perform?
I’m writing this blog on the tube. The reason I’m writing it on the tube rather than a comfy sofa with tea, crumpets, blankets, and probably a cat or two is because it’s snowing quite a bit. On weekends I often stay with my parents, which is normally lovely. However, Mama and Papa Regan live on a hill, which leads onto another hill, both of which are rather steep. Neither of these hills have seen a gritter for many, many years. Thus when snow happens, driving doesn’t.
Read MoreChristmas is around the corner so I thought this week I’d take a step away from my job and instead tackle a tricky subject that’s started coming up every year with more and more voracity.
Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
Read MoreThere is a certain kind of honesty you find in performing to drunk people. I’m not talking about completely off their trolley, sailing four sheets to the wind, no naked flames within 10 feet drunk, more the ‘I don’t care if this is rude, I’m going to tell you I don’t think this is any good’ drunk. When people aren’t shackled by the social norms of politeness it can be very thin ice.
Read MoreA common exchange at one of my gigs:
“Wow, how did you do that?”Read More
“He’s not going to tell you, that would be breaking the magician’s code.”
Me: Enigmatic smile as I leave, often tripping over and destroying all illusion that I have any mystery about me.