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Blair Marshall Inner circle Montreal, Canada 3660 Posts |
From Magicpedia, Chuck is 72....whoa!!! Can we say Energizer Bunny??
B
Visit My Facebook Fan Page At
www.Facebook.com/BlairMarshallMontrealMagician www.BlairMarshall.ca www.ShaZzamShow.com www.MontrealMagicien.com |
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DavidThomas Loyal user 240 Posts |
Huge misconception to think the box jumpers are doing all the work..
David Thomas
TheWorldofMagic.com |
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euroillusion Regular user 152 Posts |
It all boils down to audience's expectations and how the illusionist tries to look, move and present the material.
The older the performer gets, he must tweak his performance style, looks and material to fit his age and how the audience perceives him. If you are 70 years old and wear shredded jeans, "Affliction" T shirts and eye-liner and try to gyrate with 20 year old dancers, it is unlikely any audience will be comfortable watching you. Unless, it is a deliberate parody or a comedy act. Or "maybe", if you happen to have a well-known strong image from before and are trying to be nostalgic and are playing to an old fan base. Think Bill Nighy's character in Love Actually. But, if you are new to the game, going with an image, style and presentation that is not inline with one's age (regardless of what it may be), will likely fall flat. Jean Paul |
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MagicalMotivator Veteran user 310 Posts |
I'm 56 and still do illusions. And my style has changed to reflect my age. I always operate by the thought...
How old would you feel if you did not know how old you were? Rick |
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Blair Marshall Inner circle Montreal, Canada 3660 Posts |
Rick,
If I operated by that thought I might kill myself!! LOL Blair
Visit My Facebook Fan Page At
www.Facebook.com/BlairMarshallMontrealMagician www.BlairMarshall.ca www.ShaZzamShow.com www.MontrealMagicien.com |
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TaylorReed Special user Branson, MO 743 Posts |
If you are going to live your dream before you die.. No matter how old you are now..
You must get a job that pays big money.. Get a job that pays commision, Like car salesman, realestate agent or any job that is more than just an hourly wage.. That Suc-- if you plan on having a lot of toys in a magic show. You must get a plan and work it for around 5 years. Nothing happens overnight. Most magicians never stop and make a plan of how to accomplish this goal.. They just hope and pray for winning the lotto.... That is a bad plan.. Most magicians have a hard time feeding their families much less trying to build a full evening show. They say what is the difference between a magician and a large pizza? At least the pizza can feed a family.... LOLOLOL Don't worry or care about any other magician and any age.. Just make a plan and start doing it. Have a plan, know your plan and work that plan. Nothing comes for nothing, you must work you a-- off to live the dream.. A bad day job is never going to do it.. Quit now if you are serious about you life and go do something that is going to bring you real money. Anthony Robbins says if you don't have a passion for what you are doing then quit.. You will thank me later.. you must have a passion for what you do.. I'm talking about even the real job that pays commision.. IF you hate it, you will never make any money.. Use this new Commision job to learn how to become a better business man.. Business is very important in the world of magic. Some magicians think that a little angel of ferry is going to come down and help them some day.. That is not true.. It will never happen. no one cares about you, but you.. You are the only one that can make your dreams come true.. Thanks Taylor Reed Sorry to be so foward, but this is pretty much the real deal
www.taylorreed.com
www.usedmagicillusions.com taylor@taylorreed.com (979)482-0714 See: The Magic and Comedy of Taylor Reed, Live in Branson, Mo |
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Mark Boody Illusionist Inner circle 1366 Posts |
Taylor
Well said, and thank you! Mark
Only he who can see the invisible can do the impossible. Frank L. Gaines
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DavidThomas Loyal user 240 Posts |
We as magicians are so blessed with the ability to get work. As long as you have an act that can please an audience. As a producer of other types of entertainment, you can see my shows at http://www.showsinabox.com I work with dancers, actors, techs.
Work for them is few and far between as they depend on the audition process to get work. Yes, some do make it big, but 99.9 percent of them don't. There is a reason they call them 'Starving Artists". We magicians and other variety artists have so many opportunities to make a great living doing what we love. I have friends that make six figures doing schools, fundraisers, birthday parties, ships ect. Taylor is correct, if you want to do what you love...then get a plan, (don't quit your day job yet) then starting getting your marketing plan in action, take gigs you may not want, but do a great job and make them into more gigs. Once again, have an act people like, be likeable and personable and follow up on leads!! If you want the big show, start small, invest in your business and in 5 to 10 years, who knows where you will be or what your show will be like.
David Thomas
TheWorldofMagic.com |
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Terry Holley Inner circle 1805 Posts |
Depends what you mean by "illusion show." Here's my take on the physical strain (not the physical appearance).
I was an associate of Andre' Kole from 1987-1996. As they say, "It ain't all glamour!" If you travel with a fairly large show as Andre' did, for the most part it's a different city every night. His 2-hour illusion show took 4 hours to set up and 1 1/2-2 hours to tear down. The road crew consisted of usually 3-4 males and 1-2 females. You need on stage assistants as well as tech people. Depending where you were the day before, you pull into town and a motel maybe 5 hours before a show and get settled for an hour. Then off to set up. You unload the truck with help from a crew that the host assembled. You then thank the crew and begin set up. During set up the host does a burger run. You eat during some down-time, change clothes if you are an on-stage assistant, and then "Showtime." During the illusions the assistants are tearing down the previous illusion and listening for a cue to come back on stage to continue/complete the present illusion. After the show you change into your work clothes and enlist help from the host crew again to tear down the staging and roll the crates out to the truck. Fitting all the illusions into the truck is like putting a puzzle together. It is about 11 PM and you are looking for a restaurant. Sometimes you go out for a bite to eat with your host. You roll into your hotel after midnight, hoping that you can sleep in the next morning. Of course that depends on how far you have to drive the next day (usually no more than 5 hours because of truck driver regulations for the week). If you have a longer drive you might drive a bit that night. I remember one tour that I was on when I was 43 years old. During load out I sat on one of the crates and thought, "We arent even half-way through this thing and I am dead tired!" It was the 10th day or so of the tour. Of course, if you are in a venue such as Vegas or Branson where people come to see you, it's a different ball game! As far as assistants and age go, that's another discussion! Terry
Co-author with illusionist Andre' Kole of "Astrology and Psychic Phenomena."
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TaylorReed Special user Branson, MO 743 Posts |
What I meant by that was do quit your day job, but go get a better day job..
I would never suggest someone quit the day job entirely until the magic has taken on wings.. But if someone is in a 9 to 5 job that is only paying a lousy hourly wage, then it would be a great idea to quit that job and find a job that pays per the hour plus commission. The harder you work the more you make.. That is the only way to be. Then with that type of job, your dreams truly can start to happen. You can start buying the gear that you want and putting it all together at a much faster pace than waiting a small life time for this timeless job to buy you stuff. It is also the short cut to going from where you are now in magic to where you want to be. I once had a small little contest between three or so magic friends.. Around 17 years ago. I told them that I would be the first one to have my own full evening show.. They said not a chance.. They were both already doing magic for a living on a small level.. At the time I was only building props for other people.. Well... I won... I was the first to do the full evening show.. By using these types of things as mentioned above.. I learned that the difference between a rich man and a poor man is this. The rich man is willing to do all the things that the poor man doesn't want to do.. SO if you were just a magician doing b day parties or wedding magician or even a specialty act.. you would be hard pressed to beat the guy that stops and goes and makes some real money for around 5 to 7 years. Another thing that I like about this test is this.. If you started making a ton of money in a commission type of job. You may find that that is happiness for you and magic could fade.. if that is the case, then maybe magic really wasn't all you thought it was. For me, I made soooooooo much more money for around 6 years than I have ever made in magic even to this day.. but once I had the show and all the props up to the standards that I wanted... I quit that job.. and it has been magic for 10 years straight on a bigger level than ever for me.. I'm sure if I would have stuck with the realestate business, I may have become a millionaire. But at the end of the day, I love magic.. I believe that if you work hard and love what you do and never give up, it is all possible. Now I'm coming closer to making the kind of money that I once made. But now it is with my passion job.. I hope that this is a motivator for some of the up and comers that want to make stuff happen at faster speeds than normal.. Taylor
www.taylorreed.com
www.usedmagicillusions.com taylor@taylorreed.com (979)482-0714 See: The Magic and Comedy of Taylor Reed, Live in Branson, Mo |
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DavidThomas Loyal user 240 Posts |
Taylors' points are valid and well said
David Thomas
TheWorldofMagic.com |
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Sorcerer Loyal user 289 Posts |
Love this thread
The experiences Terry Holley has shared from his touring with Andre Kole are as real as life for many travelling illusionists "It ain't all glamour!" What a true!! most people who speak of illusionist as "door openers" or assistants as "box jumpers", don't know how hard can be a show. That's something only a big love for magic can make you resist that. Also TaylorReed's advices are really valuables, that's the way most illusionists we were not rich, have managed to assemble a complete show. When I was younger I worked in pay per hours jobs till you drop, there were years in which I didn't knew what were holiday or just to relax for a weekend. Sometimes you listen, especially to close up workers: "I wish I had such illusions, if I had them I would be a great magician". And you don't say anything but secretly think: "you could have what I own, but didn't wanted to make the effort to have it" Many people think it's just a question of luck, that's partially true, you need pinch of luck to succeed, but overall: hard work, hard work, hard work and never rest. |
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TaylorReed Special user Branson, MO 743 Posts |
They say that the harder you work, the luckier you become.. Overnight success is when preparation meets opportunity.
Opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. Thomas A. Edison TR
www.taylorreed.com
www.usedmagicillusions.com taylor@taylorreed.com (979)482-0714 See: The Magic and Comedy of Taylor Reed, Live in Branson, Mo |
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Steven True Special user Bonney Lake,WA 765 Posts |
Unless you are Justin Beeber then no one is an over night success. Hootie and the blowfish, the rock group were called overnight starts. They palyed together for like 12 years before that overnight thing happened. I can't speak from experience but I am sure that it takes years to get the right mioxture of magic to make it big in a big show. I am now reading "The Last Greatest Magician" by Steinmeyer. It took Howard Thurston years to get to were he ended up. It took years to even get any real recognition for him. Houdini worked for years before he finally started doing the escape act that took him to legendary status. We have to work hard and not give up. Wether it is a full evening show or just doing kids shows. It all take so much work that so many people just give up. I know where I want my act to go but weather I get there is a different story. I do hope I can work it out. I will say that I am glad I am not trying to do a full evening show, it looks and sounds like, from here, a whole lot more work then I could put in at my age.
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Steven True Special user Bonney Lake,WA 765 Posts |
Unless you are Justin Beeber then no one is an over night success. Hootie and the blowfish, the rock group were called overnight starts. They palyed together for like 12 years before that overnight thing happened. I can't speak from experience but I am sure that it takes years to get the right mioxture of magic to make it big in a big show. I am now reading "The Last Greatest Magician" by Steinmeyer. It took Howard Thurston years to get to were he ended up. It took years to even get any real recognition for him. Houdini worked for years before he finally started doing the escape act that took him to legendary status. We have to work hard and not give up. Wether it is a full evening show or just doing kids shows. It all take so much work that so many people just give up. I know where I want my act to go but weather I get there is a different story. I do hope I can work it out. I will say that I am glad I am not trying to do a full evening show, it looks and sounds like, from here, a whole lot more work then I could put in at my age.
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