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MAGIC!!!
It’s our goal at MOTH to help all of you, our MOTH members, become the coolest guys you can be – that’s why we recruited one of the coolest guys we’ve ever met, Magic Mike – to teach you some tricks to impress your friends. Mike is a master of magic, juggling, and comedy. He’s also quite adept at making things disappear, like my watch right off my wrist!
Before we get to the tricks, we sat down and got a little 4-1-1 from our resident trickster:
MOTH FILES: Magic Mike
Name: Magic Mike
Hometown: New Orleans, LA
Primary Specialty: Entertainment- Magic/Juggling/Comedy/fencing
Secondary Specialty: Grading Cheese & limbo Contest
When asked how he gained such unique skills and abilities, Michael claims to have been bitten by a wizard at the age of five and then raised by a pack of Cajuns. This molded him early on into an exceptional comedian/magician. It was then he knew he would never be cut out for a regular job. Of course, his mother claims it was more of a combination of a magic kit from Santa and serious case of attention deficit disorder.
Magic Mike invited MOTH to his home for this interview, an historic and somewhat spooky old home in the New Orleans French Quarter. His den; an eclectic mix of technology and instruments of magic resembles what I’d imagine the Bat Cave would look like if the Joker moved in. ..
We settle in for the interview…..
MOTH: Okay Magic Mike, was it Wizards or Santa that introduced you to magic?
MAGIC MIKE: When I was five years old I received a magic kit from Santa. I started doing all the tricks for the other kids in the neighborhood.
MOTH: So were you a natural born entertainer?
MAGIC MIKE: It took some learning and a lot of practice. I mastered magic with the support of my family and friends. When I was 8 years old my parents took me to a clown workshop at McDonalds, then when I was 9 years old they took me to a juggling workshop at the local library. When I was 11 years old I got a book about magic at the school book fair; but the tricks were hard and so I gave up magic for awhile.
MOTH: How’d you get back into it?
MAGIC MIKE: When I was 13 I met a 15 year old kid at school who was known for performing tricks. - he inspired me and taught me a lot of tricks.
MOTH: Did you go back and finish the book?
MAGIC MIKE: Yes. Pretty soon I was performing my first show at the local bookstore. I was scared to death, but I made $25!
MOTH: Has Magic helped you in tough social situations?
MAGIC MIKE: Of course. The first time was in the 4th grade. This girl came over and I impressed her with an optical illusion magic trick using two rainbows made out of cardboard. She actually thought it was cool. That’s one of the advantages of magic. There is no better ice breaker than to take an everyday-object and do something amazing with it. You perform a trick and even the most stand-offish people turn into giddy little kids – and that’s where the magic is.
MOTH: And now you’re going to share your talent with our MOTH members. Thanks Mike!
MAGIC MIKE: Sure. By the way is this your watch?
MOTH: I can’t believe you got it again!
MIKES INTRO TO MAGIC
Before you read on, you all must take the Magicians Oath:
“I promise to never reveal the secret of any illusion to a non-magician, without first swearing them to the Magician's Oath. I promise never to perform any illusion for any non-magician, without first practicing the effect until I can perform it well enough to maintain the illusion of magic. I promise I will always guard against exposing the secrets of magic. I make this promise seriously, realizing that in violating it, I am not only violating my word of honor, but I am violating the trust and rights of all other magicians who, by the very nature of their form of entertainment, are entitled to the preservation of the secrets of magic.”
WANT TO BECOME A MAGICIAN?
- Over the next few months I will provide MOTH and MOTHBoys.com with pictures and short videos to teach you some simple tricks you can learn to impress your friends. You can learn some more complex tricks by downloading instructional videos from my website : (link coming in October ‘07)
- Join the International Brotherhood of Magicians ( magician.org) They have a magazine call “linking rings” and local clubs called “rings” in your hometown that you can join.
- Check out your local resources, like the library. Read books on Magic. Watching videos makes it easier to learn, but by learning from a book you’ll be forced to develop your own unique style. Once you’ve developed a unique style you can work the videos into your routine.
- With magic performing the trick requires you to follow a series of logical steps – so when I teach you a trick and you copy off of me – then we both look the same doing it, which is boring to the audience. Try to come up with a unique presentation so that your trick looks different than mine and different from the other guys reading this.
- Have confidence in yourself. Pick out what kind of magic tricks you like and put together a routine.
- Learn the Magician terms provided in the accompanying articles:
RULES OF MAGIC
1. Never reveal the secret to the trick.
2. Never perform the same trick twice for the same audience.
3. Never perform before an audience until you’ve perfected the trick. To perfect the trick practice in front of a mirror or videotape yourself. You need to see yourself performing the trick from the audience’s perspective. That way you know you aren’t revealing the trick to them during your presentation.
MAGIC MIKE’s TRICKS:
“No better ice breaker than to take an everyday-object and do something amazing with it. You perform a trick and even the most stand-offish people turn into giddy little kids – and that’s where the magic is.”
(Tricks coming soon)
Keep reading MOTH for more magic tricks, juggling, and comedy in the future!
MAGIC WORDS
Close Up Magic – also known as “Pocket Magic” Magic tricks where the audience is up close to the magician and usually involving small everyday items like playing cards, coins, or scarves. This is the kind of magic that’s great to perform for your friends.
Prestidigitation – a form of “sleight of hand” The skillful quick movement of your fingers during the execution of a trick. This is what allows the magician to make things appear to disappear. It’s also how Magic Mike manages to steal our watches.
Patter – The storyline or “small talk” that a magician uses to entertain and distract his audience during the execution of the trick or gag. You should try to develop your own original patter when performing magic tricks to your friends, this way even if they’ve seen the trick before it will seem new and unique.
Palming – A form of “Sleight of Hand” The act of hiding something in your hand
Sleight of Hand – Techniques including Prestidigitation and Palming in which the skillful manipulation of small objects is used to perform the trick.
Misdirection: distracting the audience from seeing the manipulation of the object by drawing their attention to something else.
Vanish: The magician makes something disappear.
Production: The magician produces something from nothing – like pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
Transformation: The magician makes a known object appear to change – like a wand to a bouquet of flowers.
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