I came to a sudden realization that mingling with a dinner crowd is totally different from a night club setting. I perform at a very nice lounge with DJs, which is perfect for walk-around.
So last night after the dinner crowd there were HUGE amounts of people all hammered and dancing to the increasingly louder music, so loud that I couldn't even talk to people without yelling.

I think that closeup REQUIRES a certain charm with words. Without it, there's really no connection.
Especially Nite-clubs where everyone is on the prowl shooting tequila, it's hard to connect without talking. With a restaurant type of setting, people are relaxed, waiting for food, and you are the entertainer...they know it. I mean really, have you ever been to a nite club with everyone relaxed...No...the energy is higher, and to connect with that would mean to scream at the top of your lungs and dance around like a monkey.

I love doing restaurant gigs, but Nite clubs are were I draw the line.

Thats rather common sense, to think they were anythig alike is nieve.

Naive*

Don't worry, I don't think anyone took Dave's post with a grain of salt.

Yeah for the spelling police... must make you feel a lot better about yourself to be able to correct one word in my post. Here I'll mispel another word for you to correct, and boost your self confidence.

Don’t bother adding anything or even talk about the actual topic at hand.

I get it, ya'll dont like my posting style, thats too bad. Get over it.

I have to agree with David. It is common sense that a night club and a restaurant are very different.

Also, there was another flaw in the original posters statement. One does not have to have a certain charm with words. One does not even have to speak in order to make close-up magic work. You can successfully present magic with out ever speaking. I have done this over and over again. I have performed close-up magic to deaf people, and I have performed close-up at parties and clubs where it is a waste to even try to talk. Yet, I can still present it successfully because magic transcends language.

Right on David I think at some point in time we all cry over that overreactive guy who takes magic forums too seriously. They condesend others without offering real advice to anyone and speak as if they are the hottest girl on the block. It's almost as if they think that it's not how well you do something, it's how long you do it for.

But on that note people have to experience things first hand before they call it common sense. Every great performer has had his ups and downs, thats what it takes. From my experience, clubs and parties are great for performing, just not OVERCROWDED clubs where every square inch of the room is either a dance floor or bathroom.
Falling blood, when I said close-up magic requires you speak with a charm, I assume you speak with your body language, movements and eyes too. Unless your a robot.

You never said speak, you said a certain charm with words. Body language does not equal words at all. So what you said is moot in this case.


Also, you do not have to experience something for you to know that it is common sense. The definition of common sense makes it clear that you do not have to experience something to know that it is common sense.

At the end of the day, when you use words you speak with your body.

Anyways what your telling everyone is that when you first practiced the art of magic, you were the best around and never experimented with different working environments. There is a major distinction between restaurants and night clubs, and to tailor your effects and patter for each performance goes a long way. Sure, before you actually work these environments you intuitivly know the conditions are gonna be different...but to actually experience is something every performer needs to go through to get every nuance and feel for their art

First, look up the definition of common sense. You are arguing something very different.

Second, just admit that you flubbed on words. Simply, you are not trying to state that what you said in the first place wasn't really what you said. It doesn't work. Accept the fault, and go on.

I "flubbed" Whatever man at the end of the day life goes on. Anyone with common sense will know what I meant

I work for a restaurant that converts to a night club after 10pm. It is different, but not impossible to perform in a club setting.

If you are hired for the club, your magic must be more visual, preferably effects that translate with no words at all. I've performed ambitious card, coins across to jumbo transposition, twisting the aces, signed bill to wallet with great results. Adding flash paper is nice also. When I hold up a pen and point, they know what to do with it even when a little tipsy.

Also you will notice that at most clubs, the bar is at the opposite end of the dance floor ( unless its a dive ). This is so the bartender can talk and build repore. Another good idea is have the DJ announce your show behind the bar. If you are there for 2 hours you will be doing magic the entire time to those that come to the bar, but you can also have a knock out 20min set planned near the end of the night.

Paul Vigil works at a club called King Ink, here in Vegas every Friday and Saturday nights. It's loud, dark, and intense, but he pulls it off beautifully. Then again, he's Paul Vigil and we're not.

It just takes a slight retouching of your material and your mindset. The people, especially in a club, aren't there to see magic. They're, almost exclusively, there to get drunk and/or meet members of the opposite sex for "extra curricular activities".

Lol come to Dallas. When it's slow, the bartender wants you to p*ss off (unless you're a hot girl). When it's busy (after 10pm) you're lucky to get his attention. Normally you'll wait 10 minutes just to get a drink.

Rapport isn't that big of a deal with any bartenders. The rapport is inherent in the fact that they can get you the alcohol that you want and you can give them the money they need. Really, and this is especially true if you're a guy, they don't want anything from you other than your money. If it's a female bartender, she'll talk and warm up to you, but that's because she's a hired gun that's given a job because she's better at getting your money. It's the way the business works.