Looking for advice on a psychic routine

[Senex]

I have been offered a chance to do a psychic act over the May 1st weekend at a local Beltran Festival (this is a pagan festival). Given the loose way this huge outdoor festival is run I could be performing for 20 - 220 people. Part of the deal was I also perform a children's magic act for what I'm sure to be dozen's of children. My compensation is food and a tent space, so I can bail right now on this without guilt. I'm very removed from public performing but I'm fairly certain I can do the children's show without problem because I have done children's shows before (like 15 years ago).

I have never done a psychic show for a crowd. I have bent keys, silverware, had chosen cards appear on my arm in blood-like manner... -- but never have done a psychic routine for more than 10 friends who were drinking in a dark room and maybe smoking. It is unlikely I'll get a chance to practice in front of a crowd before the big day.

My first question is will I fail because it is impossible to perform a mentalism routine without real experience in front of a large and possibly hostile crowd? My second question concerns my routines. I purchased Banachek's PSI series 2 and 3. His first routine in PSI 2 was having 2 spectators come up on stage and he did a lie detector routine that really was simple to figure out for me because it involved logic and was foolproof. The crowd he did it for seemed to like it. I would never use it if I was doing my "ideal" routine but I'm tempted to open with it because it is foolproof with no sleights required and I will need to have something that will work right off the bat in case my knees are shaking (and they will be). My second routine is a brilliant Banachek "book" test that invloves a a spectator in the back choosing page, paragraph and up-down movement of the ring. I can do that with a library witchcraft book that I believe will really land with the audience. I know I will finish with an effect in Banachek PSI 3 where as audience member draws a black cat that I will slowly determine.

What do you think. Am I going to be humiliated and should say I can't make it? Are there any effects you would recommend for a first time performer in front of a crowd. If anyone is interested I will share the rest of my intended routine.

 

[NobbyNobbs]

i don't know much, if anything, about psychic routines, but if you're nervous about it, would it help to arrange to have a few shills in the audience on your side? It would help create a few more effects that are guaranteed to work.

 

[thaiboxerken]

My first question is will I fail because it is impossible to perform a mentalism routine without real experience in front of a large and possibly hostile crowd?

I don't think so. Many people may be hostile, but they are also credulous. Once you "prove" your powers to them with a couple of effects, they'll start to question their cynicism. Darren Brown convinced a room full of atheists that there is a god, after all. But, he had experience. If you fail, it'll be a learning experience. Try to keep your focus on the person or persons you are doing your effects for and don't worry about the rest. You'll be fine once you start and successfully do a couple of effects.

You could also try to disarm the audience with a few joke routines as well such as Mike Finney's "Pick an number between 1 and 1000" skit.

My second question concerns my routines.

If you're comfortable with doing "fail safe" routines to start, then do it. Try the risky stuff afterwards, and then.. when they are hooked, you can even make the simple stuff look that much more amazing. Like in magic, a simple lift of the cards can look absolutely amazing after a great effect using some palming.

What do you think. Am I going to be humiliated and should say I can't make it? Are there any effects you would recommend for a first time performer in front of a crowd. If anyone is interested I will share the rest of my intended routine.

If you really want to get good, you have to get out there and push your own limits. I think you should do it. If you want to become professional, such charity events could result in leads to other jobs and performances.

Please keep in mind that I've only been doing magic for about 2 months and am passing on advice given by professional magicians about how to improve and get better.

 

[Senex]

i don't know much, if anything, about psychic routines, but if you're nervous about it, would it help to arrange to have a few shills in the audience on your side? It would help create a few more effects that are guaranteed to work.

It shows you how naive I am that I never considered that. It's a fine idea that I don't have ethical issues with but it would not be practical. I can't bring a date to help because a woman who is helping to run this festival is very hot and is single and is the reason I'm considering performing (I never met her in person). None of my friends would be terribly interested in spending a day at a pagen festival just to help me out with a trick for no compensation (unless I called out a big favor which I'm not going to). No one is going to come with me.

 

[Senex]

I don't think so. Many people may be hostile, but they are also credulous. Once you "prove" your powers to them with a couple of effects, they'll start to question their cynicism. Darren Brown convinced a room full of atheists that there is a god, after all. But, he had experience. If you fail, it'll be a learning experience. Try to keep your focus on the person or persons you are doing your effects for and don't worry about the rest. You'll be fine once you start and successfully do a couple of effects.

Failing may be traumatic for me. Unless it rains I will be outside and 300 degree surrounded. I'll have more than one person to focus on.

If you really want to get good, you have to get out there and push your own limits. I think you should do it. If you want to become professional, such charity events could result in leads to other jobs and performances.

Just because I'm not payed doesn't mean the audience didn't pay over three figures to be there for the weekend. The woman that runs the event wants a children's magician to entertain the high paying adults' kids. Being given a potentially large audience for the psychic routine is my "payoff."

Please keep in mind that I've only been doing magic for about 2 months and am passing on advice given by professional magicians about how to improve and get better.

If I do this you might not want to read the feedback. I might be torched on some huge wicker alter at the end of the weekend. That isn't always a potential outcome of your gig.

 

[thaiboxerken]

Oh, I think the most that can happen is that you'll be humiliated. It's a risk all entertainers take.

If you fail a few effects, just let it slide and keep going. The ones you succeed at might cause many to forget the failures.

 

[Azrael 5]

The easiest(well I think so)and most powerful would be a reveal of personal info via a center tear.Their first love,first pet whatever;throw in some basic cold reading and voila a miracle!

The easiest effects have the biggest impact.

 

[JPK]

Good afternoon Senex.
The Banachek effects you mention are both very good. I would certainly try to practice those with some friends as much as possible before your show. I wouldn't consider "The Ring of Truth" bullet proof. Banacheck makes it look very easy but he has lots of years of experience. You need to be very clear in your instruction to your two helpers. You also need to be prepared for when they don't follow your instructions. There are ways help your chances as well with certain types of rings as well. If you don't know what I mean just PM me.
The effect using the ring to choose a word in the book, is probably a little safer actually then the Ring of Truth. You are far more in control.
I am not a pro magician by any means. When I was 10 or so I was ver interested in magic and took some lessons. I also did some kids birhtday parties and stuff. I wasn't very good. Had great props and tech. but couldn't act. About seven years ago I realized I was too focused on work and needed a hobby. I choose to go back to magic. I've been studying the history of magic( a very confusing and fun thing to do) I'm now more interested in mentalism and psychic stuff. I've been working on a seance for 2 years now and it still needs work. I do practice bit's and pieces of it on differant people from time to time. Less is more. Always remember that as a psychic, failure is a plus. Just be prepared for it.
JPK

 

[Brown]

Get yourself a swami gimmick. Magicians pooh-pooh them, but they are largely unknown in public and can make a big splash.

A certain performer (whom I will not name, except to say it was not Banachek) used a swami gimmick made with an erasable board marker. As a result, he could use a small erasable board, and his writing could be seen from a stage. He did not need anyone on the stage as a "proxy spectator" to read what had been written (a weakness of many swami gimmick effects, in my judgment), but instead could show everyone in the audience what had been written. The trick was highly effective.

By the way, if I were to do the Banachek "ring" effect, I wouldn't use a ring. I'd use something more pedestrian. Something cheaper, something easy to make on the road, something more innocent, something that can be easily pocketed or switched or destroyed later, something that can allow the spectator almost unlimited freedom, something easier to manipulate than a ring....

Richard Osterlind has some very good videos on mentalism (e.g. "Easy to Master Mental Miracles"), more than enough for a modest show. And if I may say so, Osterlind's videos are better than Banachek's in many respects, and also offer more opportunity to customize the performance to your own taste. Some of the effects require considerable work or practice, but some are devilishly simple and highly effective.

Although many of Osterlind's miracles are presented small-scale, some of them can be scaled up for a stage performance. Osterlind's presentation of "El Numero," for example, uses small envelopes. But with a bit of practice and care, one could use large envelopes that could easily be seen from a stage.

 

[Senex]

The easiest(well I think so)and most powerful would be a reveal of personal info via a center tear.Their first love,first pet whatever;throw in some basic cold reading and voila a miracle!

The easiest effects have the biggest impact.

Maybe, I've done center tear effect for small crowds, but larger crowds need more juice in their entertainment.
JPK:

Good afternoon Senex.
The Banachek effects you mention are both very good. I would certainly try to practice those with some friends as much as possible before your show. I wouldn't consider "The Ring of Truth" bullet proof. Banacheck makes it look very easy but he has lots of years of experience. You need to be very clear in your instruction to your two helpers. You also need to be prepared for when they don't follow your instructions. There are ways help your chances as well with certain types of rings as well. If you don't know what I mean just PM me.

Thanks for not rattling my confidence in my sure fire opener Consider receiving a PM on making audience failure work. Banachek makes it clear you must explain what you mean well, but he doesn't provide another trick using those two (if they bungled your trick) dummies.
Brown:

A certain performer (whom I will not name, except to say it was not Banachek) used a swami gimmick made with an erasable board marker. As a result, he could use a small erasable board, and his writing could be seen from a stage. He did not need anyone on the stage as a "proxy spectator" to read what had been written (a weakness of many swami gimmick effects, in my judgment), but instead could show everyone in the audience what had been written. The trick was highly effective.

I am unable to picture what you are saying. I am prepared to use a small pencil at one point in my routine that will be used on a business sized card by a spectator at some point.

I don't believe I have time or funds to throw myself into the Osterlind camp now. Say a prayer

 

[Brown]

I am unable to picture what you are saying. I am prepared to use a small pencil at one point in my routine that will be used on a business sized card by a spectator at some point.

A traditional gimmick uses a pencil. That's okay, but nothing written in pencil can be seen from the stage (unless you got bags o' cash to afford a video system, which is an unlikely proposition). Some gimmicks use a ballpoint pen. I've even seen them using chalk, which has both good and bad points. The good is that chalk writing can be seen from a stage. The bad is that you have to be careful of noise.

But this one performer had a gimmick made from a marker. Its writing could be seen from a stage and noise was not a problem. Whether he got it from a dealer or made it himself, I do not know.

I am trying not to give away secrets here, and this is why I am deliberately being vague about the nature of a swami gimmick or how it is used. As for tricks and effects that take advantage of the gimmick, well, there are hundreds of them, and they are limited only by your imagination. Suffice it to say that the swami gimmick--pencil, pen or whatever--ought to be in every mentalist's bag of tricks, trite though it may be.

 

[Brown]

There are some good non-video sources of psychic material, but you have to do a lot of "filtering." In other words, ninety percent of the stuff (at least) will not be suitable for you, so you have to sift through a lot of stuff to find something you can actually use and that will fit your style.

Ted Annemann's books are good. Martin Gardner has quite a few books and columns that discuss psychic effects. Certain run-of-the-mill card tricks can be passed off as mentalism.

And you can always try the old standbys:

Get someone from the audience and ask: Quickly, name a wild beast.

A lion.

Name any vegetable.

A carrot.

Name a European capital.

Paris.

If the audience member gives the expected answer, it's a hit. Take your bow. But even if you miss, you can turn to the audience and say something like...

Aaaah, but some of you out in the audience were thinking of Paris, weren't you?? I knew I was getting that impression from some of you!

... and then move on as if to say "That wasn't really the trick, anyway; it was just a warm-up experiment."

 

[deBergerac]

You got a lot of good advice in this thread so far.

One important thing if you are performing in front of a lot of people is to make it visible. As an example, if you do a picture duplication use a big pad and draw a picture that can be seen clearly by everyone. As Brown all ready said if you do a Swami gimmick effect (with a traditional gimmick) you need a spectator on stage to let the audience know that you were correct. If people cannot see what is happening or cannot understand (not understand the method but the effect) they will lose interest.

If you are unable to have friends as stooges you can use two other options, pre-show work or instant stooges. If the crowed will disperse after the show this can work very well, if most of the people will see each other on a regular basis I would not recommend the later and recommend caution with the former. But in both cases instructions are very important, so that the person on stage do not start to think of a completely random card.
Btw are you comfortable with using cards in a “psychic” show? Many card tricks can be given a psychic flavour.

And in regard to failures Andy Nyman has a great story on his DVD about how he could not find the right envelope, makes a guess, get it wrong, and the audience is blown away. A failure will prove to some that what you are doing is not tricks.

Regarding the El Numero effect I think that there is only one envelope involved and then five cards, but Brown is right that it can be made to play big.

Oh, and speak slowly and relax.

 

[Brown]

Regarding the El Numero effect I think that there is only one envelope involved and then five cards, but Brown is right that it can be made to play big.

If memory serves, you're right. There is only one envelope that the audience knows about. Depending upon how you construct the simple prop, however, you might use several envelopes. Also, you might include more than five numbers to make the prediction seem even more unlikely. The principle can be expanded to, say, eight or ten numbers, although going beyond ten might adversely affect pacing of the presentation.

Another source, one mentioned with some frequency on this forum, is Mark Wilson's Cyclopedia of Magic. Wilson's "Three-Way Test" can be modified to play big. I stress, modified; I would never perform the effect exactly as written up in Wilson's book unless it were being done impromptu and the only prop I had at hand was a pad of paper. For a stage presentation, you'd need to jazz it up a bit. Fortunately, jazzing it up is easy, as is modifying it to fit your style.

Wilson recommends a one-out-of-three selection for his third prediction, and uses a magician's choice to guide it. There are many more ways to obtain a force of a much larger number of objects. (Example: pull out a Svengali deck and riffle it, saying "Say 'stop' at any time. Here? Or do you want me to continue?")

The other predictions (Wilson suggests amount of change in pocket and item on a table) can be anything: a thought-of world city or president; or the last three digits of a serial number on currency in someone's pocket or purse. Although it is not absolutely necessary to do so, at least one of these predictions should be tied to a verifiable tangible object physically present in the performance; but the other can be merely "thought of."

Wilson describes using little slips of paper for the predictions. But it is not too difficult to see how to concoct ways of using large sheets of paper in their place, which would be easier to read from the stage.

 

[JonWhite]

I think I'd be tempted to throw in a simple one-ahead mind reading with numerous audience members to get them all involved, various questions/objects/etc divined, and using a card force for the last/first question prediction.

Also, I'm not sure if it would be useful in too big a crowd but I've recently picked up the "Beyond ESP 2" zener cards which are devilishly cleverly/simply marked and could make even Uri Geller look psychic. Recommended.

 

[Brown]

I think I'd be tempted to throw in a simple one-ahead mind reading with numerous audience members to get them all involved, various questions/objects/etc divined, and using a card force for the last/first question prediction.

I agree. (Indeed, that is what Mark Wilson's "Three-Way Test" basically is.) But JonWhite's idea here of getting several audience members involved is a good one. In other words, you can expand the principle beyond a "Three-Way Test" and make it a "Five-Way Test" if you like.

Have the first spectator think of a famous movie star. It can be any movie star: one that everybody knows, like Tom Hanks or Meryl Streep, or one less well known, like Jean Seberg or Martin Balsam. Get your vibes, and write a prediction. Set the prediction aside, explain that you've committed yourself to that prediction, and ask the spectator to disclose it. Tell him to remember it when you come back to him later.

Ask a second spectator to pull any bill with a serial number on it from his/her wallet or purse. Have the spectator concentrate on the last three digits.

Give the third spectator a dictionary. After establishing that it is what it appears to be, have the spectator insert his finger anywhere at random in the dictionary, open the dictionary at that point and note any word where the book was opened.

Ask a fourth spectator to concentrate on any world city.

Ask a fifth spectator to say "stop" as you riffle through some playing cards, and remember the card where he stopped.

Needless to say, such a version of the effect, involving five spectators, will take up more time and will seem to be a much bigger (and more difficult) effect.

Of course, I'm leaving out some of the mechanics, but anyone familiar with the principle can fill in these details with no difficulty.

You can add little touches to the effect to increase its deceptive power. When making one of the predictions, write something, then cross it out, and without letting the audience see what you wrote in the first place, let the audience see you cross it out, saying something like, "No, I don't think that's quite right. Your mind is wandering a bit, isn't it? Please focus your mind so that I can get a clear impression." Of course, when your prediction is shown to be correct, the crossed out prediction is right next to the correct prediction. You can even point out your "error," that originally you thought one thing, but after asking the spectator to focus, you got another impression.

The real secret to the trick--and to many mental effects--is having the nerve, the brass, the boldness, the confidence to perform it.

 

[zombiebex]

I've been trying to sharpen up my psychic medium skills meself. Refreshing myself with tarot cards, doing a lot of people watching, practicing my observation skills.

I see you're recommending a lot of books I should look into... I read that Houdini wrote a book on mentalists and spirit mediums once...

A bit of digging on Amazon uncovered:
Practical Mental Magic by Annemann
13 Steps to Mentalism by Corinda
Shttp://www.amazon.com/Self-Working-...3335214?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175695571&sr=8-7elf-Working Mental Magic by Karl Fulves (reviewers call it more of a kiddie book)

Any other recommendations?

 

[Senex]

I appreciate all the input. I'm about to decide to bail or not. If I don't bail I will perform at the local senior center this week. I have a teaching degree under my belt and I taught middle school one year. I have performed a one ahead method method for entertainment purposes for middle school children. I left teaching because I had 5 classes of 30+ inner-city students per class and I was in over my head. Figure out what 2 minutes a child on top of a lesson plan works out to in real time per day. I'm not lazy but I'm not superman. Some teachers do it and do a wonderful job. Most do a poorer job than I would do if I stayed at that job. I was good with discipline but felt I couldn't read all their homework I assigned. However, I did do some magic/phychic tricks and I always told them there was no such thing as magic.

The reason I brought that up is because this performing job is also a job I'm over my head in. I was not only asked back but expected to teach again year two. You do what you can do.

 

[Garrette]

Practical Mental Magic by Annemann

Excellent book

13 Steps to Mentalism

by Corinda

A necessity if you are serious about mentalism.

Self-Working Mental Magic

by Karl Fulves (reviewers call it more of a kiddie book)

Don't underestimate the value of basic effects. Most of the professional stuff isn't as difficult as you would think, and peppering one or two self-working effects in the routine can be not only confidence building but just as astounding as the other stuff.

I have Fulves' book. It's not expensive, and it's worth it.

Any other recommendations?

There are several excellent books and effects you could buy. If you start with these three books you will have limited your expenditures while gaining a respectable library from which, if you wanted, you could create an entire act.

So my only recommendation is general: Use these books to dip your toe in and develop your style. Once you have that you will know what types of effects will suit you and can make informed decisions on further purchases.

 

[Azrael 5]

Housini wrote a couple of books on mediums etc.
A magician among the spirits and Miracle mongers and their methods,I believe.