I was doing the possessed band and everything was going well as always.
It all went bad so fast, I can't say for sure what went wrong.
The spectator must have grabbed the rubber band faster than I anticipated,
My release was late and I was snagged with the rubber band in her hand.
She responded by saying oh weird I feel something like a spider web on my hand.
I just said that's weird let me see that and took the rubber band. I said nothing odd hear just a rubber band, it must have felt odd against your skin.
She then said do it again. So I know she didn't see anything and she didn't figure it out, but it sure wasn't good.

While not a complete bust, I still felt sick to my stomach. This is the first time something like this has happened to me. I must say my confidence is a little shaken.

That'll happen unless you learn to control your audiences. Stay out of grasp and stay one (or more) steps ahead of them at all times.

Well...welcome to the world of public performance. Even the best made plans (or effects) don't work out sometimes.

Best thing is to learn from it, shake it off and get back out there again! When something doesn't work right...oh well...things happen. Just laugh it off, try not to do it again, and have some fun.

Practice, practice and keep practicing those effects you perform in public. Everything gets better.

Hang in there. Mark.

The more magic you do the more chances you'll have to be caught out... just learn what you can from it. It will happen again at some point with something though - and it's okay. Take everything as a learning experience.

Neil

Welcome to the land of murphy's law. In magic Murphy seems to apply double. Why many say the difference between a pro and an amateur is how they handle a flub. We all flub, it's gonna happen. The more experience you get the better you are able to handle it, plus the audience (unless they are all magicians) seldom see half the flubs out there simply because they don't know what they are looking at in the first place.

This is one of many reasons I like to incorporate tricks in which I seem to mess up but then the audience finds out that I've really been one step ahead of them the whole time.

Once they have seen what they thought was you messing up, then when they see you REALLY mess up, they're likely to think it's part of the act and it makes recovery a little easier (sometimes).

We spent an entire SAM meeting one night discussing "outs". This is invaluable, as we all need them every now and then! If you have a few "outs" in mind, you can sometimes
recover and your spectator will not even know you have had a problem.

This usually comes with time and practice and experience. Just don't allow yourself to give up.

Thanks for all the advice.
I feel much better now. My first gut reaction to this effect(possessed band) was that it was to risky to perform. I gave it a try and pulled it of several times. Once it worked out so well I forgot just how risky the move is. I think from now on I will have to follow my gut reaction to consider if the effect is to risky. This effect requires very close interaction with the spectator. If the spectator fails to follow your instruction you don't have much time to make an emergency release.

Good Post! I fell many people probably think getting caught is a bad thing. If you go through performance after performance and everything is peachy you may get sloppy after awhile or maybe not. But if you do get caught then you know what you need to work on which is a great thing to know! Like my grandfather always said the trick is 10% and everything else is you! Audience participation is just as important which I think needs practice just like anything else. Good Luck!
Peace
J