Hello everyone!
As a lurker on this forum, this thread was a huge inspiration to me. I'm saddened to see that it's been a little while since it's been in active use. I'll throw my practice scheme into the ring, and I guess we'll see where that takes us.

1. Adam

2. Cohesiveness through running cards and pulling packets with the Overhand Shuffle

3. 15 minutes

4. 5 days a week

5. September 30

Hope everyone is doing well!
Adam

Welcome to our group Mada257,

I'm glad to hear that Jim's brainchild was inspiring you even before you joined.
May as well through a jog shuffle into your mix. It is very handy and you're in the right position for it.

Hudson, thanks for the feedback on "The Stupid Bean Trick," Tom has expressed an interest in that and that's good info. Don't you just love "Ring & Rope"?

Pete, glad you're feeling better.
Yea, I've been doing Library Shows in our system off and on since 1980. At first it was with Tom but in the last 20 on my own as well.
By the way, it turns out that I am getting more shows from the Showcase well after that year. It seems that many of the Library Systems have already booked their programs for the year before seeing the Showcase so they keep notes for the next year.

You will love Birthday Parties. I include a lot of things that entertain the whole family.
Dress cool. I did one with 30 people packed in the kitchen and entry area today (Game on in the living room, they all ended up watching by the end). It made the juggling more of a challenge LOL.
When your Magic draws a whole family together and leaves them with a shared feeling of wonder, you really do feel like a million bucks. (And you get paid, YEA!)
Ring & Ribbon is going gang busters although I am only doing a couple of effects per set. Any more would be wasted. The only problem is that when I have a mixed Stand-Up and Close-Up gig, I have to drop "Ring & Rope" from my Stand-Up set. Oh well.

Andrew, I am also wondering if your pleurisy has cleared up.

-Mary Mowder

Welcome Adam! I'm sure you will enjoy the interaction here as I have.

Mary - I now close with Stupid Bean and it always leaves them speechless. An amazing trick - I use Br Paul's scrip (what there is of it!) with a few minor changes. I do enjoy rig and rope. Suspicion is always on the ring, which I now always hand out before I start (didn't do that initially).

Susan G Komen show went well. It was for walkers and family of the 3-day. Nice show for nice people.

Hope all are well!

Hudson

Thank you for the welcome Mary and Hudson!

Mary- The goal is to throw in the jog shuffle as well. However, if the shuffle doesn't come along as quickly, I'm hoping that a continuous flow between running and packets will satisfy me for a little while longer.

To any of you- I am combining resources on the overhand shuffle to hopefully reach a level of mastery at some point. Currently, I have been comparing from Royal Road, Card College, Expert at the Card Table, and the first episode of Pathways to Mastery by Aaron Fisher. Do any of you have any more gems that I've overlooked? Even some personal lessons you've learned would be appreciated.

Hope all is well
Adam

Adam - I'm a big fan of Card College because it stays with the same system throughout. You never learn how to handle the cards early in the material and then have to unlearn later for more advanced skills. I have many resources for card magic and always go back to CC to work out the technique.
Hudson

Hudson-thanks very much for the affirmation on the resources that I have. Makes me sleep a little easier on what I'm learning.

Hope all is well with the rest of you. As for myself, the first week of practice has been up and down. I ended up practicing close to 45 minutes two days in a row which surprised me. However, the long trek up to Washington and all the surprises that have come with it have pushed cards to the side for the time being. Looking forward to getting back on the train.

Adam

Adam, At least you are more aware of the frequency and duration of your practice.

I had a Close-Up gig on Friday, it went really well (but tight quarters between tables). I love the few Close-Up shows I get.

I've been having some great session lately. Ring and Ribbon, Charming Chinese Challenge and Ninja Rings mostly.

I doubt I'll ever really use the Charming… because it is very similar to the Ring and Ribbon but it does give me insights into the Ring and Ribbon and it makes for an interesting change.

Starting tonight I'll be working on my 10 min presentation for our club's Public Show in October.

I think I'll be doing Professor's Nightmare, Juggling and Jokes, Cut and Restored Balloon and 20th Century Silks. I'll have to cut down my usual Juggling routine but It's needed an edit it for quite a while. This will force me to face it.

Happy practice all.

-Mary Mowder

Well, is this the place for apologizing for falling down on the job? Yes, or no, I am really red in the face over having drifted from this thread. No excuses.

Adam, thanks for finding this thread and joining our efforts. So many people do nothing, go nowhere, because they feel they don't have the time to practice, rehearse, study, etc. I have been amazed at what regular and consistent attention can do for almost any endeavor- even if it is not much time but often. Good luck!

Hudson- *** fine hat! And, I am a hat man myself...

Mary- good to hear from you. How is it going with Prof Nightmare? I used to do this a lot, but started to find specs who were familiar with it. Evidently, someone exposed it. I now have a routine that is about half Tabary and half Sanders, with some of my own thrown in. I may return to PN though, as I have always liked it.

Currently gearing up for Halloween, my fav time of the year for crazy magic...

Have fun all!

Jim

P,N. is going great.

I did it tonight in a 10 min set as part of our Club's annual Stage Show and it was great fun.

Nice to see you Jim.

-Mary Mowder

I'm starting "The Cross of India" a 6 coin coins across that is good for a beginner in coins.

It is on the table which is not my favorite sort of Magic but since I have few coin effects and I like the effect I'm going to learn it. We'll see how much play it gets with the table constraints.
I used to do a coin Matrix (won my first contest with Matrix and JC wagner's Super Closer) They were both Table effects but I never do them now.
I'm thinking of building the effects for and "On the Table" Close-Up Show.

I'm going to learn it with quarters which seem common enough now-a-days.

15 min a day, 5 days a week. This is very conservative once I get going.
As usual, I expect that the handling will be much easier than performing it in an entertaining manner.

What have yinz been up to?

Prep. for Holiday Shows?

-Mary Mowder

Mary,
Have you lived in Pittsburgh? (Yinz!). We lived there for four years and couldn't understand the language for three!

Just back from a Halloween show - great fun. Introduced a few new routines that went over well - color change silk (Duane Laflin sucker) using 12" silks and a simplex. Tried using 18" and a palmo for a while and could just never get comfortable with the palmo. Always felt like it would fall off - love the simplex! Watching a young girl's mouth drop open and eyes practically explode tell me this is a keeper!

Closed with Banana Bandana. Know this is old news, but my first time. Now I will close kids shows with this one and adults with Stupid Bean (thanks Jim!).

Next up is continuous production of silver dollars. Played around with this a bit over the past few years, but have decided to focus on it. The other day, did a short 3 or 4 coin production on a neighbor and he about fell over. Now to perfect it! 10 minutes a day. 7 days a week till Thanksgiving .

Everyone else?

Hudson

Hi Hudson,

No, I never lived in Pittsburgh. I saw the word and it described my meaning. I could have said y'all or you'uns just as easily.

I have not been practicing the Cross of India as I'd hoped. A few weak sessions of just 15 mins but no inspiration.
Still working with Ring and Ribbon and loving it.

I'm really thinking about my Holiday show and how to book some more Strolling Close-Up.
I love Family Shows but I gotta get some Close-Up Gigs.
Companies are just not having a Christmas Party like they used to.

-Mary Mowder

Mary - we lived in Pittsburgh from 94-98 and both our kids went back for college and stayed. We visit often.... Funny story's about Yinz, best told over a drink, but summary is: my wife was looking forward to meeting Yinz, because s/he was doing so much work to make her job easier!

Continuing to work on my continuous production, but weather is a real problem in Minneapolis. Cold hands and palming don't go together well!

Have been working on my website (inspired by Mary's question over in Tricky Buisness). Got some great advice from a local contact on website optimizing. In execution mode now, and will continue to add to it over the next several months. Biggest need - quality video and photos!

Hudson

Jim - I too have drifted, more so from the Café than from magic - so I get it!
Been working a ton on a new series for ABC Family but I'm performing somewhat frequently at the Castle, thought nothing new. I'm just enjoying using the material that I've polished!

Nice to see you Andrew.

I never hurts to be working.
Let us know when your project comes out.

I don't seem to want "Cross of India" enough to work on it.
On the other hand, I have been working on the Charming Chinese Challenge as an adjunct to my Ring and Ribbon work. That is going great.

Sunday I'll get a crack at a real audience for Close-Up but I'll need the Ring and Rope for a Head of the Table effect so that precludes Ring and Ribbon. D'oh!

I better get a few more Close-Up gigs this Christmas or I may burst. LOL

-Mary Mowder

Hello all!

Great to hear from all of you-you have inspired me to get back in the practice mode. For awhile, I have devoted my practice time to music practice, which was fun, but I have decided that the music irritates people a lot more than magic practice. Plus, there is much more music competition than magic. I really think many people are more fascinated by good magic than music- probably because there seems to be music everywhere you turn.

So, I need to decide what to start working on. I have chosen the Relentless ring and string routine, coins across and torn. All use little in the way of apparatus and the props are easy to have with me most wherever I am. I am going for 30 min. a day, four days a week.

Hudson, I wonder if your continuous coins is anything like Bill Malone's continuous sponge balls. I have used that a lot and it really is very well received.

Andrew, I agree doing polished material is much fun. Plus, if you are polished on some things that use every day items or that you can carry in your pocket, you are always ready. Once was, I rather disdained impromptu magic, but it is noteworthy how often it is asked, and then I feel like I missed an opportunity when I have nothing ready. And I will not "try" anything I am not totally ready to perform.

Mary, I would love to see your PN routine. I got called out twice in one year with that and sort of put it away- but always loved it. I do a lot of rope but not PN anymore. Perhaps its time to bring it back out...

Hope Adam is still with us. Take care you guys!!

Jim

Jim,
I believe my continuous production is similar to Malone's ( and others') sponge ball work. Three key skills - thumb pa@m, finger pa@m, and lots of acting! Timing and acting; I also escalate adding additional coins, ending with eight silver dollars - four in each hand. Challenge for me now is the weather. Minneapolis ... So cold it is difficult to do coin work in the winter. I also tend to get sloppy after even only a few minutes of practice, so I've been doing a lot more of the key slight three or four times, several times a day.

I also made a significant rewrite to Red McGinty. It is shorter now; story is much tighter / makes more sense; not sure if the close is as powerful. I will video it to share with you at some point.

Visiting kids, grand kids for Thanksgicing now. Will be performing some at a party this weekend, not a full show ( didn't bring everything with me) but will do a few things, including the continuous production. (If it's not too cold!)

Hudson

Hudson-

I gotta try coins instead of sponge balls. I can imagine how much harder it will be, but the continuous production is very strong and worth the try. Thanks for giving me a great idea! With the sponge balls, I do a switch to a different color which really works well. Not quite as spectacular as adding coins, but I decided I needed to make use of the fact that I was going to the pocket anyway.

Going to addd continuous production to my practice time- thanks!

Jim

Jim - PM on the way.

Hudson

Got it! Much thanks, for a number of reasons...