It's Memorial Day today, in the United States at least. Among other things, that means kids are off school and most adults don't have work today. Grills will be lit, and gatherings will be had. In fact, we're scheduled to attend a pool party this afternoon and we've already pre-invited around 10 families back to our place for the after-party.
Oh boy...
Why is any of this noteworthy? Because all of these families are used to me, at one point or another, bringing out a deck of cards and entertaining the crowd for a few minutes!
Ah, but therein lies the problem. The old adage comes to mind:
A professional performs the same 10 tricks to hundreds of audiences, while the amateur performs hundreds of tricks for the same audience.
I've gotten away with performing the same trick multiple times for these folks, but that's only because I've performed them in smaller groups or with years in-between... and let's not also forgot to include sobriety levels in the calculation. However, it's time for new tricks tonight and I'm honestly getting stuck on what I should perform.
For the past week, I've been practicing Prism Plus by Joshua Jay. It's an amazing routine that is jam-packed with tricks and has a finale of a deck color change. In the tutorial himself, and maybe later in it he teaches it too, but he mentions that he ends the Prism Plus trick with Phantom Deck (also by Joshua Jay) -- if you're not familiar, the tldr is that every card turns clear. I feel like Prism Plus is already such a magic-packed trick and the ending is top-notch, I'm not sure if I need to add that "extra" level too. I own Phantom Deck, but I think I want to get a performance or two under my belt before branching out.
Unfortunately, Prism Plus's "deluxe" performance, the one that's jam-packed with magic, is a long routine with several tricks. I haven't practiced the full thing from beginning to end yet, so there's no way I'll be confident enough to perform that tonight.
I know I'll perform Double Cross by MagicSmith, which will be the first non-card trick I've performed for any of them. Ultra Lucky Coin is also going to be in my pocket, I've had huge success with that trick every time I've ever performed it!
But what else?!
I've been dying to perform Socks (by Michel Huot), but this won't be the right time. Then again, when is the right time for a trick like that?
Bringing things back to Prism Plus's deck color change idea, I've practiced John Guastaferro's trick Wonder Aces lately too. Not only is Wonder Aces a beautiful four-Ace production, but it has a surprise ending where the entire deck changes color -- including the Aces! Unlike Prism Plus, the new deck color is a single deck color, so I could actually use this one as an opener and use the "new deck" for the remainder.
Maybe that's what I'll do... how does this sound as a set for tonight:
- Open with Wonder Aces.
- Have the spectator select a card while I pull out a Sharpie and my lucky poker chip. They sign their selection, and I proceed with Ultra Lucky Coin.
- End with Double Cross, having switched out the Sharpies
These aren't the only tricks I'll have ready for tonight, I'll also be ready to perform LIT, and a handful of other regular card tricks, but I think that this is a decent set of tricks to perform together. It's a house party, where a lot of people will attend, so I don't think I can spontaneously hold all of their attention for too long -- and I don't want to try to. That's also why I'll bring both of the coins for Ultra Lucky Coin, in case I need to perform it again for a smaller group 😅
Then again, all of this is also dependent on someone prompting me to show a trick...