Desert Island Tricks
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Desert Island Tricks
Stranded with a Stranger: Phill Evans
Phill Evans, a captivating magician with a flair for the enchanting and the eerie, shares his magical journey from discovering a Hocus Pocus set as a child to joining the illustrious Magic Circle. He takes us through his experiences at legendary magic haunts like Davenport's in London and acknowledges the support of fellow magicians John Carey, Peter Nardi, and Magic Mel. Phill's passion for family and stage magic, with a unique penchant for spooky elements, shines through as he reminisces about iconic tricks like "Stratosphere" and his creative storytelling prowess that leaves audiences spellbound. He offers a fascinating glimpse into his personal favourites, including the Tiny Psychic Plunger and the unforgettable White Star, reflecting a curious blend of charm and mystery.
Join us as Phill unveils his eclectic selection of tricks and routines, each imbued with his distinct presentation style. From the beguiling combination of Bag for Life and Chris Congreve's Coin to Impossible Location, to the chilling allure of Jamie Daws' The Forgotten, his choices promise a delightful exploration of the magical arts. Phill also surprises with unexpected mentions such as the book "Hiding the Elephant" by Jim Steinmeier and the enchanting Snowy the Rabbit, capturing the whimsical side of his performances. This episode is a celebration of Phill's magical journey, offering listeners a chance to experience the wonder and excitement he brings to the world of magic.
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk
Thank you for watching. Welcome to another episode of Stranded with a Stranger. This is our mid-episode episode, where you guys get to send in your list to us Now. If you want to be a part of one of these, then please send in your list to us Now. If you want to be a part of one of these, then please send in your list of eight tricks, one non-magic item and one book to sales at alakazamcouk. In the subject line please put my desert island tricks. That way it comes through to me and we can get one of these recorded for you. That being said, we do have another stranded stranger who has given us a great little bio. So today's guest is Phil Evans, and here's what Phil says.
Speaker 1:I've been interested in magic since receiving a Hocus Pocus magic set as a child. In particular, I remember a trick from the set involving three safety pins with colored beads, where the spectator would remove one of the safety pins and you could tell which colour bead they had without looking. I fooled a few people with this and enjoyed performing it. I used to love watching the magic shows on TV and can just about remember David Nixon. Of course there was also Paul Daniels, like many people, other interests took my attention as I grew up, but I remember running a youth event at our church where a band played and one of the musicians performed magic tricks between songs. I recognized some of the tricks as being more professional versions of the ones I had in my magic set. As I was involved in youth work at the time, I began using magic in the programs I ran. Later, I spent around five to six months working in London, where I would regularly pop into Davenport's and, occasionally, international Magic and lose myself in the props and effects on show. My imagination would run riot. There's nothing like visiting a brick and mortar magic shop. Paul Henry would demonstrate all kinds of tricks and relieve me of the extra expenses I received from working in London, plus a bit more on top.
Speaker 1:It was during this time that I got interested in close-up magic. I continued to perform magic occasionally, but the business of life meant that it took a backseat for a number of years. 2016 to 2018 were particularly difficult years for me, with life throwing a number of years. 2016 to 18 were particularly difficult years for me, with life throwing a number of curveballs. It was during this time that I discovered my love of magic again. Magic became my safe place where, for a while, I could escape and take my mind off the issues I was facing. It was during this time that I met some amazing magicians who, without knowing anything of my circumstances, showed kindness just because that's the type of people they are. It went a long way and meant so much at the time. Perhaps I could just mention John Carey and Peter Nardi, who befriended the struggling stranger that they are now stranded with. Well, things moved on, life moved on, things got better and magic stayed with me.
Speaker 1:Through magic I've made many new friends, including Rich Relish and Lord Harry from Cardiff Magic Society. Both have been great sources of encouragement in my magical journey. I'm now a member of the Magic Circle, with a big thanks to Andy Smith for all the help and advice, and, best of all, I'm a proud member of the Alaka fan. Perhaps I could give a final shout out to Magic Mel, a local magician that used to do gospel magic around my local churches and took me under his wing many years ago. I still love our magic catch-up chats.
Speaker 1:So here's the list. I'm primarily a family magician with a performing interest in parlor and stage. I enjoy learning close up, but less so performing. Finally, I love a bit of spooky magic. It may be a very eclectic list. Wow, it sounds like it's going to be a really eclectic list. What a great introduction. And yeah, paul Henry from Davenport. I always remember him showing me loads of great tricks in Davenport's. And those of you that have never had the opportunity to visit a brick and mortar magic shop, please, please do Just. Wherever you are in the world, seek one out. If you're on holiday, see if they have one local to you. Go check them out, because they are wonderful, wonderful places.
Speaker 1:So I'm really interested to see what Phil's list is going to be. But before we begin, he's given us some honorable mentions that maybe will give us some insight into what his full list is going to be. So here are his honorable mentions Evolution by Paul Gordon, a brilliant colorful little packet trick where cards with pictures of caterpillars magically go into a cocoon and then appear as butterflies. Little Door by Roddy McGee Brilliant fun effect. And Card Warp. I use the Michael Amar version from Easy to Master Card Miracles, volume 2. So we've got a packet trick, we've got Card Warp and we've got a packet trick. We've got card warp and we've got little door. Not sure if that gives us many clues into what the list is going to be, but let's get stuck into Phil's list. So in the first position, phil has put stratosphere, an easy to follow illusion, where three balls red, yellow and green are placed into a tube just wide enough to contain the balls, yet the balls change order. It also has a kicker ending.
Speaker 1:I love telling stories, and this trick allows me to perform magic as I tell a story. I have a couple of stories, but my favourite is about three children putting their special baubles on their Christmas tree. This is the trick that attracts most comments from adults at my family shows, so much so that I've started to add it to my cabaret show, and it's going down a storm. Wow, what a great idea. I love the idea of the baubles and the Christmas tree. Yeah, that gives absolute reason to having those because they yeah, they look like giant baubles. What a great idea.
Speaker 1:And it does bring us to number two, the extractor in particular. Before you play devil's advocate, hey, my card to nail routine, where a freely selected and signed card is placed back in the box by the spectator, the box is placed in an envelope and the envelope is sealed with a nail on account. The envelope is ripped from the nail to reveal the signed card pinned onto the nail. This gets amazing reactions. The extractor makes everything so clean, plenty of business to be had in the presentation, and it can be performed, stage, parlor and close up Yep, great. I love the idea of the prediction being nailed and then the envelope being torn around it and seeing the card. Now that's an excellent, excellent idea, very dramatic. That would be a great way to upscale it to parlor and stage. Yeah, excellent, excellent idea.
Speaker 1:And that leads us to number three, which is get smarty. I love the item to impossible location plot and this ticks all the boxes for me. It's easy to do pretty much fail, safe uses, valuable personal item with minimal risk. The list could go on. I love get smarty absolutely, and I started performing get smarty maybe four months ago now at my local restaurant and it gets phenomenal reactions. If you're a fan of bill tube type routines and there's been some phenomenal ones over the years uh, nick ironhorn had a great one with pens um, and you know, it's just a phenomenal trick and mark's version of it. I think he has another version as well as get smarty with another type of container for sweets, but it it's a phenomenal, phenomenal trick. I highly recommend it.
Speaker 1:So that brings us to number four, which is Coin Unique. Coin Unique was one of the first GAF coins I brought and I've always loved it. It's often used in a very basic way, but I think that with a little imagination it can be a real powerhouse. I combine this with part of Alakazam's confusing coins for my birds of a feather routine. An old English penny is dropped into a coin purse with an American half dollar. The purse is given to the spectator. I hold an English half crown in my hand and ask the spectator to shake the purse Chris Congreve idea. The penny is now seen with the half crown in my hand and when the spectator opens the purse it seemed to have vanished, with only the half dollar left in the purse. Wow, what a great idea for a routine. Like a transpo of coins, but in their hands. Yeah, great, great choice. Coin unique is always going to be a popular choice. It's such a clever gimmick and I'm sure that all of us remember first seeing that gimmick and how amazed we were by it. So, yeah, great choice.
Speaker 1:And it leads us to number five, which is needle through balloon. Back to family magic, and this has been in my set for a long time. The amount of business, drama and fun you can get out of this is unreal. I usually build it up as the most dangerous trick in the world, then explain I'm going to push a pin into a balloon, then I produce a huge pin. A couple of lessons learned through this many performances are always get spectators to check the balloon. As many know the sellotape trick. I always get them to check specifically for tape. I always end by explaining that I use special balloons that can't break and go to prove the point by sticking the pin into the balloon a second time, which of course causes the balloon to burst, accompanied by a shock reaction from myself. Just a side note. Obviously, check about loud noises and bursting balloons, especially if you're aware that there are some children with special needs present.
Speaker 1:Great, I know lots of people that do the needle through balloon. I know Dave loosely opens and closes his stage set with a very clever callback and it always gets great, great reactions. Especially you know, like you said, for family shows, how much more pack small plays big do you need? You know a needle in a balloon and you can present this to a whole stage. I can imagine it's quite a good compare piece as well. A great great middle effect. So yeah, great, great choice.
Speaker 1:And it brings us to number six, the tiny psychic plunger my go to for family walk around magic. The spectator chooses a card and places it back into the deck. The tiny plunger is placed on the spectator's forehead for it to read their mind. The plunger is then used to cut to the spectator's card Literally no end of fun. I always make a point of asking the parent if I can place the plunger on the child's forehead, not because I think they're likely to say no, but because it adds so much to the comic effect. It can be repeated over and over again. In fact it's better repeated. The only problem is that every child will want to try it. Please can I also have an honourable mention? Of course you can forris congreve's gun trick.
Speaker 1:Although a different trick, it has many of the same qualities as tiny psychic plunger. It's a real faller for grown-ups. I performed this at a pub garden party in the summer and the response from one of the parents was that's impressive. Chris taught this on his commercial killers for academy. Both great choices there. Tiny plunger is just a phenomenal. Phenomenal trick, another one that you know the first time. I think all magicians saw it. We thought it was so clever, really quirky, completely different to anything that's out there before. And you're right. Having that moment of the plunger on the forehead is just a wonderfully comical moment. And that does bring us onto the tail end of your eight tricks.
Speaker 1:Number seven bag for life. Once again I'm combining two tricks into one routine and these two work so well together. Bag for life is a brilliant effect where a coin literally passes through a small plastic bag. I then ask the spectator to check the bag for holes there are none and return the bag to me. The spectator signs the coin. I then use Chris Congreve's coin to impossible location, as taught on commercial killers, to about one hour in. It's a really strong little routine that's really easy to do and gives loads of opportunities for fun and bits of business. You know what I think? We've had Bag for Life a few times now on all of the podcasts and it's just such a great routine. It just goes to show how commercial of a routine it really is. And you know Chris Congreve, all of his stuff is. You know the word commercial comes to mind. It's always really relatable for an audience, it's always kind of interesting with a quirky twist, and combining both of those effects together is really smart, a really great little routine, and it does bring us to your last item. Now let's do the game that we normally do. Can anyone guess what kind of trick Phil has put in his last position? Or it might be a bit of a curveball. This may be his curveball item. So in number eight we have White Star, as mentioned.
Speaker 1:I love a bit of spooky magic. There's so many to choose from, but I've gone for this one for its spooky presentation with a fantastic hook linking to the Titanic. In this effect, the spectator is able to look at photos of people who were on that fateful journey and discern whether they survived or not. I've done some work on the props and have my own handling. Some work on the props and have my own handling. I've also brought a genuine period brooch and spectacles to assist the storytelling. I believe this trick is out of print, but I would love to see Alakazam version with upgraded props and handling. Please could I have another honorable mention of course you can for Jamie Dawes effect. No, this isn't a probe to get Jamie to read out my list. My honorable mention goes to the Forgotten. This is a lesser known extra effect that comes free in one of Jamie's other releases.
Speaker 1:I love the premise of the story and have played around with the presentation. I've added a few bits and pieces, with the latest being frozen in time to lock the actual time of the spookiness time chosen by the spectator. Great choices, both of them superb. Yeah, white Star is just a great routine. If you haven't seen it, do go seek it out. It was an effect that I saw many years ago now and it's sort of an out-of-this-world style effect and it's certainly inspired some of the work that I've produced as well. And thank you very much for the forgotten. Yeah, it's one that sort of got hidden because it's sort of the b-side to a main trick, which was he's not here. But it's a wonderful trick and I love your idea of adding frozen in time what. Just just a great idea, really, really nice idea. And it does bring us to your two curveball items, which is your book and your item. Phil says so many to choose from, but I've gone with hiding the elephant by jim steinmeier.
Speaker 1:I'm fascinated by stories from the golden age of magic. The characters, plots, skullduggery, creativity skills and romance of those times fuel my imagination. How I would have loved to experience a performance by one of the greats in the Egyptian Hall. Ah, absolutely, phil. The name of the venue alone conjures up all kinds of exciting mysteries. Jim Steinmeier is not only a font of knowledge but a brilliant storyteller. Honorable mention to Jim Steinmeier's the Glorious Deception telling the story of Chung Ling Su. Yeah, do you know what? I did some research for something a little while ago into the Egyptian Hall, and it would have been such a wonderful place to visit. It's such a shame that we don't really have anything like that in London anymore. Well, certainly not to that grandeur, you know. It would have been so wonderful to go in there, and I always think about the first time people would have seen magic at a place like that, and how grand it would have been. Yeah, great. So let's go to your item, phil. Honorable mention to my antique suitcases that I use to hold my equipment.
Speaker 1:However, my pick has to go to Snowy the Rabbit. Snowy is a Tenyo magic rabbit that I brought at Davenport's many years ago. I use him to perform a couple of magic tricks, but really he's there for the cuteness factor. From very young children to grown-ups, snowy is always a massive hit. I use him in my family shows, telling the children he's a naughty rabbit that plays tricks on me, which becomes a running gag throughout the show All my magician in trouble effects plus If anything really goes wrong. It's a great get-out. He's super cute, which creates a fun tension to him. Being so naughty. Wow, what a great, interesting uh choice. We I think we've had rocky raccoon before, but we've not had a rabbit yet a naughty rabbit.
Speaker 1:So what a great list, phil. A great little mix there of close-up and parlor slash stage things. Your idea of the the nail with the extractor is such a great idea. Of course, you started off with stratosphere, with the baubles, so I can see that you like putting your own unique story twist on effects as well, which really must make them so unique to you. So a great, great list. Thank you so much, phil, for taking the time to write that out. And of course, phil, you are a stranger, no more. We know everything we need to know about you. Now, once again, if you want to have one of your lists read out, please send in your list to sales at alakazamcouk, please send in your list of eight tricks, of course, a little bio and why you chose those effects. So thank you all for listening.
Speaker 1:Don't forget we are back this friday with our next episode of the main podcast. Now, believe it or not, we're nearly approaching the end of the first season, which is an entire year of these podcasts, which has been incredible. The feedback, the response, the viewership has been phenomenal. But, as always, if you are on a podcast platform, please do leave a little review for this, because it helps us go up the ranks massively. If you're on YouTube, please leave a comment, share your favorite episode with other people and make sure you send in your list so that we can get more of these recorded. With that being said said, have a great week, everyone, and we'll see you back here on friday when I perform at gigs, I look at effects that tick these three boxes.
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