Peter - that's too funny as I do the same thing - pull a giant strand of rope from a card box. I wasn't aware that Aldo did the gag. So much for my forthcoming DVD, "Rope From Card Box."

I've browsed through Card College but I haven't seen the DVDs yet. They're on my list!

"I love short notice shows...so long as I'm prepared"

That's one of the things this thread is about! It is AMAZING how prepared you are if you practice even 30 minutes a day. On the subject of taking a rope out of a card box, I have done a routine where you carefully peel an orange until you can squeeze a smaller apple into it. Once put back together, you can't tell. It is wild to start peeling the orange for specs, then start taking bites out of what can't be an orange. A great opener...

Good practicing, all...

Jim

That's brilliant, Jim. Where did that piece of sheer genius come from?

Andrew - the lucky coin can be found in Card College Vol 1, page 241. It is bold, but very nice!

Hudson

Andrew- My mates son is a really good actor and teaches the art at a private high school. He showed this to me as he knew I was into magic and it just fried my brain. He uses it in his classes and thought I could make use of it, especially since I billed myself as "Mandarin, the Orange Magician". I will have to ask him where he got it...

Jim,

That is great! Have you seen Shyrock's Ring in Walnut routine? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofkJ-UgMNRg It's definitely worth looking into. It is on my list of things I may invest in. If anyone has this, please indulge in your opinion of it.

I will have to try the apple in the Orange.

Andrew,

When Aldo and Rachel came through for their Farewell tour I picked up Gag Busters. There is some great stuff on there, including some rope gags, since that has been a theme here as of late. He is working on the sequal. It was fun watching Rachel roll her eyes at Aldo's crazy entics during the lecture. Plus it is only $10 and I have already incorporated three or four of the gags in my performances.

Great stuff!

Pete

Jim,

Lay off the "Tan in a Can" and you won't be known as the "Orange Magician". LOL

-Mary Mowder

Thanks for the references, everyone!

Hello everyone. I finally received my Carroll Baker, FO, and Daryl rope dvds.

We have been on the road all week, so I am looking forward to taking some time out over the next few days and looking through all of this info to pick out a good routine to start with. I decided to put the FO dvd on the shelf for now, and make a decision on it later.

I want to find routines that interact with my audience, and while I love a lot of cut rope routines I really want to avoid scissors for now. Maybe I will look at the cut rope routines later after I have mastered something solid without cutting. I am definitely interested in exploring a ring on rope routine along with a few others that was suggested in earlier posts.

Hopefully by Monday I will finally have a rope routine to begin my daily practice on.

I hope all of you on this thread have a wonderful weekend!

~Nanci

You too, Nanci- thankyou!

Thanks for the belly-laugh Mary! Being from Ohio, I just thought it could rocket me into position for Speaker of the House...

I spent about six hours working on a cups and balls routine with Dean Dill last night that I'm going to do for a birthday event at Robert DeNiro's sushi restaurant here in LA later this month. I had specific final loads in mind to tie things together and he helped me design a great routine (using only three balls, by the way!) Good stuff. I've also been working a lot on Bill Malone's version of the 21 Card Trick from his Malone Meets Marlo series. I'm trying to incorporate more routines from a regular deck, as the folks at my internship discovered I'm affiliated with the Magic Castle, so they've started asking me to do a few routines during our lunch meetings every week, and my Appearing Helicopter illusion won't fit in the elevator.

Off to Phoenix for the weekend - I'm planning to bring my props and do a few things for some family

Andrew, The gig sounds like fun and the Tutorial with Dean sounds like fun as well. Let us know how it turns out.

Jim, please don't become a Boehner (it requires tear duct surgery).

-Mary Mowder

I have finally received all of the books and dvds that all of you suggested and Matthew and I have been one by one going through them.

We have finally settled on a routine consisting of some Fiber Optics along with several of Daryl's routines.

We are working on a couple of knot tricks, along with a version of grandma's necklace, and a really cool ring on rope idea that we came up with while sifting through all of the material.

Daily practice starts tomorrow. Our goal is to have a really good entertaining rope routine completely ready by June. We think if we keep up with our daily 1 hour practice we might just pull it off.

Thank you again for all of the wonderful suggestions! Wow, we could do nothing but ropes for rest of our lives if we did everything !

I will keep you updated on our progress now. Hopefully we will stay on target with it!

~Nanci

Just a quick update on the monkey fists

I ordered a set from Laurie, which came in a timely manner and look great. The adjustable feature was exactly what I needed - my cup has a very strong feature and it was difficult to activate without drawing attention. Now it works like a charm - thanks Laurie!

Hudson

PS - my wife thinks they look great too - and she is a very tough judge of magic props!

Looking forward to hearing what you come up with on the ropes, Nanci!

I had a magic-filled week. I met up with Brett (Saysold1 here on the Café) and we jammed for a bit during my trip out to Phoenix, and then performed for some of my family members there. My dad is still talking about the stuff that Brett did. Lots of fun out in the desert! Then tonight I did the gig at the sushi restaurant out here. I'm told the manager was asking the wait staff if they were expecting me to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Sadly, no. I did Dean's Box, some card stuff (including Anniversary Waltz which I haven't done in ages) and my cups and balls routine which got great reactions. It was fun seeing waiters and the sushi chefs look on at what I was doing - as soon as Dean's Box hit the table they were all watching. As it was a birthday event, I pulled it out wrapped in a beautiful velvet bag and presented it like a gift. In hindsight I should have had the birthday boy (well, man) open the bag but I'll keep that in mind for next time.

All in all, tons of fun!

So jealous of your Dean's Box- I just can't seem to bring myself to buying another apparatus- trying to get more into a busking mode. Some day, thouigh...

Just now I am working up for a couple of perfs in early April with a Titanic theme. I have White Star and several other magic/mentalism effects, plus have always been a Titanic infatuant so have ton of data and interesting stories, facts, etc. Right after that I must be ready for the Columbus Arts Fest first weekend in June. Will be doing more of a busker/con guy complete with small table, smart aleck retorts etc.

Have expanded back to 30 min a day (was "resting" at 20) and will go to 45 then one hour as I get closer to the dates. Whatchalldoin?

Jim

P.S. Mary- EVERYONE in Ohio cries. There is a spirited debate as to whether it is the economy or acid rain...

Hey all,

I'm still in my stage show acquisition mode. I continue to acquire the props or materials to build the props for my 10 minute stage performance for November. I actually may have the opportunity to compete with an 8 minute version prior to it, but still waiting for details on this. I have drawn up an outline for the show, acquired a majority of the props/materials, and have begun storyboarding part of the show. My plan is to get all of the parts of each routine assembled and then start practicing to fine-tune the choreography of each effect. My opener is to music, but everything else is via microphone.Once I have the layout of everything and all the props I will start a practice regiment.

Here is what I have lined up:

Routine #1 Gene Anderson's Torn & Restored Newspaper performed to Simon & Grafunkel's 59th Street Bridge Song with NAthan Kranzo's Instant Everything Lollipop and Kit Kat Production. (Have all materials but need to make up, develop choregraphy and practice, practice, & Practice!)

Routine #2 Joshua Jay's Earth Shoe's (Acquired)(May get cut if I have too much for the time.)

Routine #3 Wayne Rodgers Pinnochio's Nose with the following gags leading up to surprise ending.
a) Tony's Road Kill Surprise(Acquired)
b) Stool Sample (mine)(Acquired)
c) Colombini's News Brief(Acquired)(Need to finalize jokes to be read)
d) Colombini's Boomarang (Acquired)
e) Routine Climax (Have all materials, but under Construction)

Routine #4
Impossible Rope Escape (still figuring out method and what gags I want to incorporate)

That's what I've been up to! Break a Leg Jim and make sure you are King of the WORLDDDDDDDDDDDD!

Pete

Thanks, Pete. Your routines sound great! I really enjoy the challenge of putting together a show and the Titanic shows are going to be great fun. Good luck with your practice!

Jim

I too am a big Titanic fan. I always have been...the whole thing fascinates me.

I ordered a set of mini cups from RNT2 because I'm financially irresponsible...looking forward to continuing work on my strolling routine with the cups and balls! I may post a private video link at some point if I feel confident with the whole thing.