Desert Island Tricks
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Desert Island Tricks
Steve Rowe
Renowned for his innovative tricks, we welcome the extraordinary Steve Rowe! Steve takes us behind the curtain of his Willy Wonka magical universe. From his unforgettable Murphy's Magic lecture to his best selling effect Lolli Hero, listeners gain exclusive insights into the mind of a magician who skilfully blends tradition with modern flair. Discover how Steve uses the fiery allure of his wallet routine to captivate audiences and express the very essence of magic.
The desert island list unfolds with a focus on the Six Card Dunbury trick by Gary Jones, a simple yet striking performance piece that captivates audiences with its interactive nature. We highlight how Steve personalises his magic and adapts tricks with different card types, making each performance a unique experience. As anticipation builds, we segue into a discussion about a clever trick perfect for couples, further showcasing the creativity and personalisation that magic demands. The episode also explores the inventive use of everyday objects, like coffee stirrers, and how they can transform into extraordinary props that connect with audiences on a personal level.
Listeners will be intrigued by our exploration of the preparation and creativity that go into magic performances, emphasising that even seemingly complex tricks are often simple to execute. We delve into the influence of cultural phenomena, like Marvel films, on magic and how these can enhance audience engagement. As Steve shares his process for preparing for gigs, we wrap up the episode by emphasising the magical impact of card reveals and the transformation of everyday items into unforgettable illusions. With a nod to magic theory and sweet surprises, this episode is a must-listen for anyone fascinated by the artistry and creativity of magic.
Steve’s Desert Island Tricks:
- Fire Wallet
- Lollipop Production
- Six Card Dunbree
- Wishbone
- Number 46
- Invisible Deck
- Extractor
- Lolli hero
Book. Maximum entertainment
Item. Lolly
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk
The Hello and welcome to another episode of Desert Island Tricks. We have another guest. He is eagerly running through his list right now, because he thought there were just six and then it ended up being 12 and now it's on eight. So I'm very excited to see what this list is Now.
Speaker 1:I've known about this guest for a really long time now, actually all the way back to his Murphy's Magic lecture, which was the first time that I met him in person, and to say that I fell in love with his magic is probably an understatement. I loved what he showed during his lecture. I have a huge collection of this man's tricks. He's very quirky. You'll probably be guessing some of his tricks as soon as you've seen his name. We were actually filming with him a couple of weeks ago for an upcoming release, and again, it's one of the tricks that I'm going to be using. I cannot see a world in which I don't put this into my set, because it's just a great routine. I'm going to stop talking him up too much. So today's guest is, of course, the wonderful Mr Steve Rowe. Hello, steve, hello.
Speaker 2:Thank you for that introduction. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm a big fan of yours as well. You know that he's. He's been told to say that though. That's, that's in the contract. Um, no, but it's true. I remember, seeing that was the first time, I think, I saw lolly hero um all the way back at murphy's, at the yeah, yeah, we recorded it down at alexand, didn't we um with mark?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, it's a long time ago, and you scared the bejesus out of me with one of your effects.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember that as well, sorry about that Anyway, but I think we can probably have a guess as to a couple of your tricks.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure if yeah, maybe. Yeah, it's an interesting concept, this isn't it?
Speaker 1:Did you find it difficult to whittle it down?
Speaker 2:I did. I did because, yeah, because there's certain things in there that I will perform all the time, and then there's certain things in there that I'll perform only a select amount of time. So you know, I've gone past the days of where I used to do the same effect, you know, over and over and over again at gigs, for instance, cardin, kit Kat by Kieran Johnson. I used to perform that probably 10 times a gig, but I only really do that once or twice a gig now. So I haven't put that in my list, which might be a surprise, but it's in the 12, not the 8.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it's almost like an honorable mention.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's an honorable mention. Definitely, because that is definitely one of my one, of one of I mean kieran's signature tricks, but one of the tricks that I do a lot of um, but there are other things. I thought what might be quite interesting with this is to almost, uh, explain the, the effects. I'm going to explain, almost build up my whole set. If I was to go to a gig and perform six tricks, I would do them in this order as well. It would be these tricks and I would do them in this order.
Speaker 1:Well, so it's almost going to be like we're sitting through a Steve Rose show.
Speaker 2:I guess so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I guess so, if you're going to do half an hour show for everybody, which obviously you're not going to, but yeah, great well, if this is your first time listening to the podcast, the idea is that we're about to maroon steve on his own desert island. When he's there, he's allowed to take eight tricks, one book and one non-magic item that he uses for magic particulars like who's there, how big is the island? That sort of stuff we really don't mind. The idea is that these are the tricks that if steve could only perform these tricks for the rest of his days, that's what he would go for. So, with that being said, let's jump into your list then, steve.
Speaker 2:So what did you put in position one okay, um, position one is is one of the first things that I I use when I'm performing, and it's a fire wallet, a wallet that produces fire. I use it at every single gig, every group I go up to. It's one of the first things that I do. I do a little comedy piece with a lighter to begin with, but then I use the lighter to. One of Kieran Johnson's ideas was to not use the fire wallet as you get it, but to actually take a lighter and set fire to the wallet, as a magician would, and then you magically make the fire disappear again. I don't. I don't do the traditional where I close the wallet and the fire is then gone. I do something else. I kind of turn around the wallet. So my performance is basically I'm setting fire to the wallet and I explain to the audience that magic is all about perception, and what I perceive as being real magic and what they perceive as being real magic is slightly different. I know that the fire isn't real because from my perspective, there's nothing there, and, as I say that, I turn the wallet round and in turning the wallet round, the flame goes out. So that kind of explains. It explains, I mean, you know what it's like when you're at a gig. If you've got somebody setting fire to things, they're immediately, um, drawing attention and people are looking over. So that I love it for that, but I also love it for the story that I tell. That kind of sets them up for what is about to happen thereafter. So it's not. It's not an effect as such or a trick, but it's a thing that I use to kind of explain what magic is. But the whole thing is about storytelling.
Speaker 2:So I have a lighter and I say have you ever met a magician before? They have, or they haven't. I say, well, you must have seen a magic box before. And I show them a lighter and they kind of laugh and I say, well, when I was four years old, my grandfather showed me this and it was the first piece of magic I ever saw. And I light the lighter and I say a flame can appear. And then I close the lid, click my fingers and I say and now the flame is gone and it's kind of like a comedic piece. But it explains that when we're children, when we see magic for the first time, or we see something for the first time, it's magical. It's only when we get older, that we unlearn magic. So that explains what the lighter is. I then say that I'm going to show you how magic really works. I then light the wallet, turn it round, say from my perspective it's not really on fire, the flame isn't real, it's magical. And then I go into the next one on the list right.
Speaker 1:So don't give us any more information than that, because you've already just teased the. The second one, but yeah, that's a really great leader. I know lots of performers that use a fire wallet as an opening effect just to get attention from other tables in in situations as well. You've sort of teased it, so we might as well go straight into number two. So what did you put in your second position?
Speaker 2:uh, kieran johnson's lollipop production. If I, if I could only I mean if if I was to say I could only ever do one trick for the rest of my life, it would be that, not not one of my effects, it would be lollipop production. I think it's a beautiful piece. I first saw it on somebody else's social media years ago, before even meeting Kieran or knowing who Kieran was. I saw this guy. He had a lollipop and then he showed it to somebody and then he pulled it apart, it seemed, and it became two lollipops.
Speaker 2:Now that is obviously not the lollipop fire production, but it's kind of a follow-on from that and that kind of grabbed me. I thought, what is that? Because I didn't realise what he was doing. I thought he was actually making one lollipop into two, which was the first magical thing. But then along the way I got in touch with Kieran about his To the Max, which is his ice production, and on his Chaotic DVD, realised that he was the guy that was producing lollipops in Magic. He was the originator. I mean, that blew my mind because I was in touch with him and we were chatting away and to explain what it is. You have a piece of paper, you've got your lighter uh on fire on the table or somebody's holding it. You have a piece of paper that you scrunch up and then, when you light it, uh, out of the flash of flame a lollipop appears, and then you give the spectator the lollipop, which is a beautiful piece of magic. Any anything with flash production is is amazing yeah, it's a wonderful trick.
Speaker 1:I would presume most people have done it or done a version of it, especially if you do restaurants.
Speaker 2:Interestingly, you can tell the people that do it that haven't watched the DVD because they don't do it correctly. That's all I'm going to say. If you watch Kieran, do it. That is is the bible. That is the way to do it. I see so many people producing it either upside down, the wrong way around or whatever they're doing. I think, yeah, you've not watched the dvd.
Speaker 2:But what I love about the lodi production is it's kind of steered my my whole ethos on magic. Now really, um, to be able to, to do magic with an everyday object, an organic thing that people are familiar with, is is an incredible thing for a magician to be able to do. Because if, if we were real magic, that's exactly what we would do. We, we wouldn't get a pack of cards out, um. But also to then give that item away again adds another level. It's kind of a welcome to my world.
Speaker 2:Here's a little gift from me, but also it's not a proper such, if you know what I mean. I don't want to say too much for the general public, but it's an item that is a real item that you can give away and you're not precious about. You've got to have it back, is a real item that you can give away and you're not precious about, you've got to have it back. It's a yeah, and that whole ethos on on magic of being something that you share and that you give to them, I think is is what turned around things for me as a performer, definitely.
Speaker 1:And I mean you've had several tricks with lollipop since then. Obviously you've had lolly through. You had the uh, forgive me the name of it the um, the reveal on top of the lolly chubba the card, the card reveal.
Speaker 2:So super, super scooper that was the one?
Speaker 2:yeah, it's one with the card reveal on on top of the lollipop there was a lolly box which is still still very much in in kind of development. I've gone through about five different versions of that and that is where a spectator, you borrow a ring from a spectator, you vanish it and then you make from fire appear the lollipop and then give them the lollipop. When they shake the lollipop lollipop they can hear a rattle and inside the lollipop is their ring. Um, yeah, I mean I've tried all sorts of just reinventing existing magic, but with sweets and lollipops. Yeah, because I love that whole thing.
Speaker 1:Well, that's great, and it leads us nicely into a number three. So what did you put in your third position?
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, number three. Let's have a look at my list. Some of these might be a surprise. Okay, so number three is a piece of card magic. So, number three is a piece of card magic and I showed you this when we met up a couple of weeks ago with Alakazam. I showed you this. It's called Six Card Dunbury and it's by Gary Jones and I believe it's on his and Lee Smith's Eye Candy DVDs Six Card Dunbury.
Speaker 2:It's an amazing piece of magic and the way it's performed, you you get the spectators to shuffle the cards as much as they want. It's all in their hands, which, again, I love this because you're giving them the pack of cards. You're saying I want you to shuffle the cards, you're not shuffling them, and you want them to choose six cards. And again, you're not spreading the cards out and getting them to choose six cards. They're spreading the cards out and they're getting their friends to choose. You know, if they've got four friends, one will choose to, one will choose one, one would choose to. So we get six cards selected. Again, this is all involving them in the whole piece of magic. Once they've got six cards selected, you get them to choose one specifically. And they haven't seen any of the cards at this point and you haven't seen any of the cards at this point.
Speaker 2:Once they've chosen one of the cards, you turn your back and then they show everybody. You then turn around and they place it back in the in the pack, in the rest of the five, you give them a shuffle and then you say you're going to show them every single card and just by the way that they react to their card, when they see it for the first time, you'll be able to tell them at the end which their card is. So you turn them over each time. It could be the four of clubs, it could be the six of hearts, it could be the four of diamonds or the queen of spades, and then at the end you say I think it's this one, the last one, and and you know it's not that one they they think wow, okay, we've got you, it's not that one. And they laugh and and then you ask them what the card was and they tell you what the card was, and then you turn it around and it is their card. They then look through the pack and their card has vanished. So they saw you put their card down into the pack in their hand and it's disappeared and you're not holding it now. That, for me, encompasses everything that you want in a piece of card.
Speaker 2:Magic Again, it involves them, which is unusual. Not many magicians will give the spectator the cards to shuffle and do whatever they want with. This piece allows you to do that. But also you've got that magician in trouble sort of plot which I love, and so many people when you do it they just think you're just an absolute master. But if you know the method, it's the simplest method going. It really is, which I showed you and yeah, I think you were surprised.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a great trick. When you showed it to us, we were in. I think we were having dinner. When you showed it to us, we were in. Uh, I think we were having dinner when you when you showed it to us and uh, yeah, it's such a streamlined effect but you're so far ahead of the spectator all the way along that when that final revelation comes up, your brain doesn't quite compute what's just happened well, they.
Speaker 2:They always suspect. When you turn your card over and it's their card, they always suspect that there's two of them which, if you think about it, they've shuffled them, they've selected the six. How on earth could there be two of them? I mean, that's impossible as it is. But then when they look at their cards and they realize that it's not in their hand and you put it in their hand, it blows their mind.
Speaker 2:So I love those little levels, the sort of interaction that you've got with the routine gary on the original dvd. I think he does it as like a bet. So I've developed the way that I do it. You know quite a bit from from what gary presents, which I think is important in magic, making it your own, and he does it as like a bet, sort of a. You know, I'm going to bet you 10 pounds that I can get your card, and obviously they're all excited that they're going to win some money when they realize that you've gone past it and then you, uh, you get your money back.
Speaker 2:You can do it with any playing card. So it can be. You can be at somebody's house and borrow their playing cards. You can. You can go to the shop. I've done it at the shops of the post office. The lady there, okay, she said, show me some magic, and I haven't got anything with me. I've bought playing cards from her counter and I've done that effect for her. And again, you're not necessarily saying I can do this with any cards, but it adds that little level of impossibility, I think one lovely thing about tricks like that is uh.
Speaker 1:So I work a lot in restaurants and a lot of the time in restaurants. Nowadays. Certainly I've noticed an increase in amount is you'll have kids that either have football cards or game cards Top Trump cards or even Uno cards. And it's a great thing to do with them, especially if you have a footballer where there's only one of each footballer that moment of it coming around, it's great just to pick up their cards and do a trick with their item.
Speaker 2:Exactly, you can do it with Uno cards as well. Yeah, there's lots of different ways you can do it.
Speaker 1:Well, that's a great, great choice, and it leads us, lovely, into your number fourth position. So what did you put in your fourth spot?
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is interesting because I'm going to share it, but I'm reluctant to because I think it's gone under the radar. And you're talking about couples, so magic for couples I do like yourself, I do a lot of restaurant magic and you're going to have the tables there where there's just a couple there and this piece of magic for them is incredible. I think it's gone under the radar because a lot of magicians struggle with the justification of it, which I don't worry about at all, and it's called wishbone by um bro gilbert and, uh, paul harris. The way that it works it's um, you have two coffee stirrer sticks. You know that. You get in all coffee shops, mcdonald's, that kind of thing. You show the two coffee stirrer sticks and you put them into an X and you get one spectator to put their initials on the bottom of one of the sticks and the other spectator to put their initials on the bottom of the other stick and the other spectator to put their initials on the bottom of the other stick. You then snap them both and you put the remaining pieces in their hand and then I get the both spectators to sort of put one hand over the top of the other, so they're holding it.
Speaker 2:You talk about a moment of magic that they've had in their past and I want it to travel down. I normally use their wedding hand, their left hand, and I want the love, the love that I normally use their wedding hand, their left hand, and I want the love that they feel for each other. They're staring each other's eyes. They're going to remember this moment. I click my fingers and then, as they slowly lift their hands up, the two pieces that they've signed with their initial have now fused into one single piece. Into one single piece. And remember, this is wood. This is a cocktail, sorry, a coffee stirrer, and it's wooden and it's fused into one solid piece of wood with no glues, no, no, nothing. There's nothing to see.
Speaker 1:It's incredible yeah, it's one of those, like earlier on, you mentioned about giving things away. It's one of those impossible object effects which you mentioned about giving things away. It's one of those impossible object effects which are always really. I think it's quite important to give things away at gigs, personally, whether it's a bent fork or an impossible object, and keep them as a constant reminder of who we are and what we've done. Then those sorts of tangible things that they can explain and people can see straight away.
Speaker 2:A bent coin is a wonderful thing to give away and I put those in one of my little folding wallets and there's wishbone Anything that's very unusual. So the torn part of a playing card, if you've done that, and obviously the 21st century phantom. So things like you say, things that they're going to look at when they get home or with their friends and they can explain what happened in the magic because they've got this little item. But again, I love it because it gets them involved, it's completely in their hands and it's an organic piece of magic. Everyone's seen coffee stirrers before and I think sometimes magicians overlook these things because they think, well, I'm not going to walk around a gig with coffee stirrers in my pocket. That's just a bit odd. But magicians walk around with sponge balls, which is super odd. But magicians walk around with sponge balls, which is super odd.
Speaker 2:What I do? I just say are you a couple? How long have you known each other? I presume you've. You know you go out for drinks together. You ever been to a coffee shop together? Do you drink coffee? Yeah, sure, I've got a couple of things here two coffee stirrers which you've probably seen in most coffee shops. That's it. That's my storyline and my justification. So I found out a little bit about them by asking them and I've introduced this.
Speaker 2:This regular item which you know, becomes a piece of magic. The reason I was reluctant to bring that in is because I don't want alakazam to sell out of them. Uh yeah, I think it's a fair point. I've got about six boxes here at the moment but I go through, probably on a restaurant gig. I'll go through about eight of them on a restaurant gig and then I'll always have them on me at any gig. That I do because if you've got that time when there's a couple together, it's lovely. If you've got a mother and a daughter, or a father and a daughter, because if you've got that time when there's a couple together, it's lovely. If you've got a mother and a daughter, or father and a daughter, or if you've got siblings, anything where there could potentially be a connection to two people, it's a really lovely piece and it's not card trick, yeah, great and again really easy to perform and even looking at your list.
Speaker 1:Now, that's another different effect. There's just another moment there which is different yeah, yeah exactly, yeah. So that brings us to number five. What's in your fifth position number?
Speaker 2:46 and I you're not in your head because we've recorded it last week or a couple of weeks ago. Um, yeah, number 46 is is something that I'm very proud of. It's something that I have developed over the last 10 years maybe even longer and only just releasing it to magicians. It's something completely I think it's completely different to what they'd expect me to come up with, because they'd probably expect me to come up with a toy, an object, a thing. This is more about a routine, a structuring routine that can be used in cabaret, can be used in stage and parlor, and you can use the the end result in close-up as well. So, yeah, that's uh, I thought I'd drop that in there, because I do that a lot and probably not many people know about it yeah, it's a great trick now.
Speaker 1:So normally we ask guests to synopsize and Steve has just done that. But I will cut that out of the edit because we do want it to be a surprise, but without giving too much away of the routine. It really is that step up from close up to parlor. It is the perfect routine for that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah, it's one of those things that gets the audience involved and it's all scripted for you and the end result is a magical thing, which you can do in close up if you want to do just the end result which shows how much you've developed it and seeing it from that point to this fully fleshed out routine that you know it's got some funny moments in it.
Speaker 1:It's got some great clever thinking in terms of the way it's been routined. There's that killer payoff which, yeah, like the way you've done it, the backtrack from the audience is near on impossible. There's no way to backtrack. It feels so impossible.
Speaker 2:I felt that I mean there's so many out there, aren't there where you know the cartoon possible location, and I didn't really want to, although I was lecturing it and showing people and they loved it. Um, I didn't really want to release it properly until I kind of developed the whole routining of it, because I think this takes it on to another level where you can perform it parlor, cabaret and stage, you know, to big audiences.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a great trick. Like I said, we can't say too much about it, and I was hoping that you'd put it on here, because it is a fantastic trick and it's going to seem like it's us teasing it. It's not. It's genuinely a superb trick and it's going to seem like it's us teasing it. It's not. It's genuinely a superb trick and you can see how much you've worked it from from when you were performing it last week. It's a great one. I cannot wait to start performing it. I don't actually have it at the moment, but hopefully I will do soon.
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Speaker 1:But it does bring us on to number six. So what did you put in your sixth spot?
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, so I've got a couple of card tricks now. This one is one which I think. I think everybody starts performing it when they're starting out. Then they get all caught up in fancy handlings and moves and and leave it behind and then they grow up and realize how impactful it is and simple to the audience and it's the most complete, simple piece of card magic that you could possibly imagine. And that's the invisible debt. And I think I certainly I don't know if everybody's guilty of this, but certainly I was and I've seen other people are guilty of big performance for a couple of years and then they don't perform it, they stop, and then they go back to it and go Christ, you know what that was like.
Speaker 2:That is an amazing piece of magic. There's nothing more simple than asking the spectator. You, you have a box of playing cards. You ask a spectator to name any playing card and they can change their mind as much as they want until they're happy. And then, when you take the cards out of the box and show them the cards, there's only one card that is faced down and it's their card. And that simplicity of magic. I think again, as magicians we tend to overcomplicate things. We tend to look for the Holy Grail elsewhere, but from a spectator point of view, name a card. It's the only one turned over. That's it, isn't it?
Speaker 1:it's one of the ones that it's gotta be maybe top 20 at the moment, um, from just the amount of people that perform it. But you're absolutely right, I think. Um, there's this. There's this funny thing that magicians do now, when we see a trick that comes out, and I think creators and dealers are just as guilty of it being a negative as everyone else is and that's in that they say you know no R&S, this trick has no R&S. Like it's a really negative, bad thing.
Speaker 2:Like it's a problem yeah.
Speaker 1:Why is any method a problem? Yeah, absolutely not. It's not a method. Uh, it's not a problem at all. It's a superb method. It's absolutely excellent. Yeah, but as as a group of people, we seem to keep putting a negative on it, whereas you know that really is one of the best magic tricks and we've spoken about it loads of times on the podcast that it's. It's one of those ones that's been around for so long that really the public, it should be in the public domain in the same way that a thumbtip is, but it's just not. It's not there. We all perform it daily at weddings and christmas parties at the moment, and restaurants. People don't know what, what that method is.
Speaker 2:It's a superb method yeah, absolutely, and yeah, I think the problem with with magicians is that they they want it to fool them because they think if it fools them, it will fool the public. So they want a method that they didn't expect. I think we have to remember that we are separate from the general public and we are performing to them. They don't expect anything. So any, any, any. If it's the right method for the effect, it doesn't. It doesn't matter what the method is. I'd rather tell magicians the methods of everything that I do and I, you know, I have in the past told them, you know, quite openly shared everything that I do, because it's not about that, it's about the end result and the performance.
Speaker 1:Well, that's a lovely lead-in to the tail end of your eight tricks. So we're on number seven. What did you put in the seventh position?
Speaker 2:Okay, another card trick Extractor. Trick extractor I like. I, I don't know how popular it is um, I've got four at the moment. Um, I, I build them in different decks. If I'm doing a corporate gig and I'm using one of their packs of cards, I'll build it into that. Um, I take a blank one with me to gigs just in case that's the scenario. It's such a great tool.
Speaker 2:The way that I perform it is that the spectator chooses any card, and what I do with this is maybe slightly different. I say I want you to choose a playing card, but I don't want you to choose one like this and I spread the cards all face down. I say because then you wouldn't see what it is and it doesn't mean anything to you. So if I turn them over and I spread them out and you choose one, I'm going to see it and that's not very magical. So what I want you to do, I want you to think of a playing card in your mind and don't tell anybody, and then go through the pack of cards and take out that playing card for me. So they take out whatever card they're thinking of, they put it face down on the table. I then get them to sign it. Once they've signed it, I don't let them show anybody. And then they start I've got the pack of cards in the box and they put it back into the box. But I say stop there three-quarters of the way through and then I show the audience what the card is. So everybody's now in on that card. It goes away in the box.
Speaker 2:We talk, we talk about what their favorite memories are and things like that, and I and I eventually narrow it down to what I think their playing card is and it happens to match my favorite playing card. So let's say they chose the six of spades. I say I can't believe. Did you really choose my favorite playing chose the six of spades.
Speaker 2:I can't believe, did you really choose my favorite playing card, the six of spades? And that that blows them away. They think that it's all over. And I say well, I need to prove to you that my favorite playing card is the six of spades if I just show you what's inside my wallet. And I take out my wallet and in my wallet there's a zipper compartment. In the zipper compartment there's an envelope or another folded wallet and I take that out and I give it to them and I say just take a look, there's a six of spades inside there. They open it up and it's a six of spades. They can't believe it. And then, when they turn it over, and it's the one that they signed, it's job done.
Speaker 1:Great yeah, another great great choice. But Job done Great yeah, another great great choice. But what I'm liking is that you're picking your card tricks so that they all feel completely different, so earlier on you said, well, we've got a few card tricks coming up, but you've gone for completely different feeling card tricks all the way through.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So there's the kind of magician in trouble plot with the six card dumbery. There's the, the torn corner idea. There's the yeah, exactly that. And the selection. But that's what I think keeps everything alive, doesn't it so simple the, the extractive. You think about how simple that actually is. They chose a card in their mind. You, you read their mind and it happened to be the same one as theirs. They put it back in a box and it was away, and now it's in your wallet. I mean, there's so many levels in there. They just blow the spectators' minds. And from a magician perspective, I am not a card slinger. I'm not into lots of fancy card moves. I can do lots of basics, but I don't rely on them. Well, I rely on the basics, but I don't. I don't feel like I've got to learn all these different things, and when you've got a thing like the extractor, you can do seemingly impossible things very simply. It's so, it's so easy to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a great, great choice. Great choice. Earlier on you said is it a popular one?
Speaker 1:yeah, we get it a fair amount of times on the podcast really right, okay, yeah yeah, um, in fact, I the day of recording this one, we had a stranded with a stranger which is our other version of this podcast and it was a chap called phil evans and he said on his one he has a lovely moment where he has the card lost into the deck and then he has a sealed envelope and he seals it with a nail through it and then a little bit later, he tears the envelope open and, of course, inside is just the pierced card on the nail, which is a lovely, lovely moment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that is lovely.
Speaker 2:So yeah, what does he nail it?
Speaker 1:to. I don't know, I've got no idea. Maybe a spectator Depends. If he has that, one bad spectator, we'll see. But yeah, no, that's a great, great choice, and it does bring us into your eighth position. So what? For me it would have to be lolly hero. Yeah, it is lolly hero yeah, thank goodness for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I kind of peaked at lolly hero, haven't I? This is, this is one of the problems I've got as a, as a creator and an inventor. Um, I don't think it gets much better than that. To be honest with you. Uh, something I came up with a long, again, a long, a long, long time ago, loving the idea behind Lollipop Productions for Kieran Johnson and making you know lollipops magical. So what I loved about the Lollipop Production, obviously, is the thing that it's an organic piece and this, although you can't give it away, it's still an organic piece of magic.
Speaker 2:And again, you wouldn't give it away because it's been in your mouth and nobody asks for it, which, again, when I first released this, people were saying, well, what do you do? How do you hand it to the spectator? And I said, well, nobody in their right mind wants to have a lollipop that's been in your mouth. So, to explain Lolly Hero, you ask a spectator if they've got a favorite superhero in mind, and sometimes they may say batman or superman or spider-man. You take out a lollipop and, um, you take the, the wrapper and you pretend it's a cape, like a superhero. You put the lollipop in your mouth and you chew the lollipop, and when you reveal what you've chewed, it's the figurehead of the superhero that they've, they've named. And again, what a different piece of magic, a mind-blowing piece of magic. Uh, that is it. I have so much fun with it it's one that I I mean.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you've not listened to all of these podcasts, but it comes up a decent amount on the podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 1:And it's just one of those effects that you know. It sort of just went everywhere very, very quickly. It's been on pretty much every major TV show, magic show at some point.
Speaker 1:It's in so many people's work in repertoire because it's so different, it's so memorable, it's weird, weird let's all be entirely honest, it's just a strange concept, but there's so many photos that I definitely have from gigs of just people leaning in almost like squinting with uh, there's a mixture of like squinting to work out what it is, and then everyone else is just absolute amazement what they've caught up with good facial expressions, don't you?
Speaker 2:in photographs definitely, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I've got lots of videos of you know, grown men, sort of 50, 60 year old men. It's shouting and screaming and swearing and more often than not they're named iron man. I don't know if there's a thing in that, but yeah, it's a great piece and yeah, it's something completely unusual, isn't it? No one's ever seen it before.
Speaker 1:And what was really interesting was when the films come out. When the Marvel films come out, depending on what one's about, I would always have more people mention that film. So if the spider-man films were around, I would generally have pretty much everyone saying spider-man around that time. Um. So it's really good if you need to force something, uh, just to see what's on at the cinema yeah, exactly exactly.
Speaker 2:It's a completely free choice or it's a force of whatever you want to do. But again, what I love about it and you probably realize in almost everything that I've spoken about every effect it's really easy to perform, like the actual workings. The method in everything that I'm talking about is easy to do, which frees up your performance. And it frees up you being able to relax and not get stressed, because when I started out I was stressed about doing this wrong and that wrong and I kind of you go into your shell when you're in that kind of a mode as a performer. But if you can relax and rely completely on the simplicity of the method or the workings or whatever it might be, that allows you to grow as a performer like really fast yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And I think it's quite evident with the routines that you I would say, not just this list, just in general, seeing your back catalogogue of creations then you always focus on the concept or the idea first and foremost, and then the method is almost secondary to that. And even 46, again, without giving too much away, one might presume that the method for that is quite difficult and maybe out of most people's remit, but the way that you've done it it's so simple. Like literally a, a teenager just getting into magic could do that trick straight away. But then, yeah, a full-time working professional who's been in the game for years will absolutely kill with that. So it's always about the concept as opposed to the method, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah. Yeah, because I think it's important to be able to to be relaxed when you're performing, because that's when you really come out of your shell. If you're just stressed about things going wrong or you've got a gimmick that might break or whatever it might be, you know it's. It's not good. It's not good for a performer, and a lot of the work is normally done at home as well with my stuff, so by the time you get to your gig, it's all done yeah, so what is your setup like before you go to a gig?
Speaker 1:then do you just prepare everything ready to go?
Speaker 2:yeah, so. So if I've got a couple of gigs at a weekend, I'll spend maybe a wednesday or thursday preparing various suites and items. Um, I know that I'm going to perform, if I'm performing like a brick pastel card reveal, I know that I'll do that four times in a gig. So I'll get eight of those ready for the weekend. Um, yeah, and and so on. Yeah, so, lolly hero, I've got lots of those ready because I've got two different methods for that. You know which. You know which you know of, and you know one is a little bit more work than the other and one is more repeatable than the other. So I have sort of both versions ready to go. Yeah, so I kind of spend a day getting myself ready for the gigs ahead, and by a day, you know, it might be a couple of hours, it might be an hour, depending on what's happening or what I've got left over, because sometimes I come back with two of the fruit pastel reveals and I just reuse them.
Speaker 1:So does that mean that we would have any honourable mentions? So, after your list, is there anything that didn't quite make the list?
Speaker 2:There's loads that didn't quite make the list, but as we're talking about card reveals, should we, can we add that in? Okay, so, card reveals. So, um, when the spectator chooses a card, and you take a pack of fruit, pastels, or a pack of um love, hearts or a lollipop, and with a magical gesture, a move or a snap of your fingers, the wording on that brand changes to the actual card that they've chosen. And also, if you've got a, um, a sharpie, you can wave a sharpie and it can reveal the card that's chosen. Again, from a simplicity point of view, and what the spectator sees as being magic, it blows them away that they chose a card and what? What you've then done is reveal their card on something.
Speaker 2:Now, two of the things that I mentioned earlier are really strong. So three of the things that I mentioned earlier are really strong for a card reveal, and it happens to me so often. So, to put it into context, I do walk around with about 13 different card reveals on me. I've got a one in four hit. That's quite, that's quite good odds.
Speaker 2:So when a spectator is doing six card Dunbury, they don't't know that. I know what their card is and I only know what their card is halfway through the the routine. So if their card matches one of my card reveals, I can quite easily take out a fruit pastels, shake it and show their card and do it that way. The same for invisible deck, the same for the extractor. All of those allow me to know what their card is before I reveal what it is so often. I've done invisible deck and they've named six of clubs. I've taken out my sharpie and I've waved it and shown them the six of clubs on my sharpie and I've built a layer in there because I'm prepared, basically, yeah, that's really smart.
Speaker 1:One in four as well. Wow, that's good you would be.
Speaker 2:You'd be amazed how often. Well, not necessarily because I've got 13 on me, but you would be amazed how often people name or they choose specific types of playing cards. Um, seemingly at random, and, and you know so I, I, I always let the spectator so again, all of, if you think about all of my routines that we're talking about, the spectator is choosing the card, whether it be naming the card, thinking about the card, taking the card out of the deck, shuffling the deck, and it being a random card. I'm very rarely spreading the cards out and getting them to take one, if that makes sense without revealing too much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we get it, we get it, wink, we get it yeah.
Speaker 2:But there may be a gig where it never happens. But I'm not bothered Because if I'm prepared when that moment does happen, it's incredible. It happened to me on the radio, which was amazing. I did a radio interview maybe a month ago and the invisible deck was out and they chose two people. So people wrote in to choose playing cards and they chose two people. One was the Ace of Clubs and one was the Six of Hearts. The Six of Hearts. I took my sharpie out, I waved it. It became the Six of Hearts.
Speaker 2:I then went through the deck. The Six of Hearts was upside down and then the presenter said well, what about the Ace of Clubs? I snapped my fingers. When I pulled out the deck again, the Ace of Clubs was the top card. I mean, there's nowhere they can go from that. There was so much going on and if you think about that, everything was so simple. It wasn't complicated at all. But I was prepared, I was sitting there and I know exactly where everything is and what I'm doing and I'm just prepared for that moment and I'm not afraid to steer a routine to a stronger reveal and forget about the routine, if that makes sense. So so, so sometimes if I'm doing the invisible deck and haven't got long and they've named the card and I take out fruit pastels and wave it. I don't even get the cards out, I just put the cards back in my pocket. Done like trick is done.
Speaker 1:They don't know what's coming yeah, that's great, absolutely excellent, and uh, I wonder how many people out there now are gonna start picking up um sharpie reveals and fruit pastel reveals just for that. But it does lead us onto your two curveball items. So obviously we've given you eight items before this, but now you only get one each of these. So you get one book and one non-magic item that you use for magic. Oh right, yeah, okay. So what are you going to put in your book position, steve?
Speaker 2:I'm not very good at reading magic books that teach you how to do tricks. I get bored by it, no matter how exciting the thing is. Um, I, I drift off, uh, and though, I've got I mean I don't know if you can see, but yeah, I've got hundreds of books here. You know paul harris, art of astonishment, the standard books. So paul daniel's adult Magic, the Art of Close-Up Magic, lewis Ganson Strong Magic, darwin Ortiz. I'm not into books that teach you how to do a magic trick. What I've found that I have a passion for is theory building, character entertainment, that kind of thing. Very difficult to narrow some books down. Could I mention just a couple? So Pete McCabe's Scripting Magic is definitely a book that everybody needs to get. Have you heard of Stanislavski?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I did a drama degree so we had to learn about Stanislavski.
Speaker 2:Wow, you're the only person ever that I've ever sent. You know Stanislavski, and they go yes, wow, seriously, okay. So I've got two books here, which you will know Building a Character yeah, and the Act of Papers. Act of Prepares sorry, yeah, and Act of Prepares yeah. Actor papers actor prepares sorry, yeah, and actor prepares, yeah, so. So they're two books that I picked up, um really cheap on amazon, like three or four quid. They're just fascinating, so, but they're not the books that. These are just extra books. Um, the book that I would choose to take with me is um ken weber's maximum entertainment, which I think is the holy grail, the bible of every performer. Um, if you haven't got it, I think it's something that you definitely need to put on your christmas list if you've never read it. It's. It's so thorough and in depth about everything that a performer would want to know about, from what to wear to what to say. You know everything is in there. So, yeah, maximum entertainment, ken weber. I'll take that with me yeah, great choice.
Speaker 1:And, uh, even your, uh, your other choices there were great as well. Yeah, so it's interesting, we do. I think there are different kinds of performers. Some performers learn tricks and enjoy the tricks, but not the theory. Some enjoy more the theory, but not the tricks, and some magicians just don't really learn very well from books, and I don't think that there's any right or wrong way to any of this at all. It's just how you learn best. But, yeah, maximum Entertainment a great, great choice, and Scripting Magic that you mentioned before as well is also a great choice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think these were so. These types of books were, I kind of realised, although I got the other books as well. You know you should get this, you should get that, and I got them and I kind of opened them up and have some lovely pictures which draw attention to me, the wording around, everything else. It kind of it felt when you've got a magic trick book it feels like it's too direct in what you're doing, whereas when you read books about entertainment and scripting it feels like you're open to interpretation and you can make.
Speaker 1:You can make whatever you. You feel yourself um become you, if you know what I mean. Yeah, it's a superb book. It's a really, really good choice and, again, it's one that we've had quite a few times on oh good, yeah, yeah but it does bring us to your non-magic item. So what did you put in that position?
Speaker 2:well, I'm on a desert island. I, I'm hungry, aren't I it's got to be a lollipop, hasn't it?
Speaker 2:I think we were all prepared, we were all braced for a sweet related item. It would have to be the lollipop, because, as well as the flash production, the thing that that brings to magic in my performance, and also where that spurred me on to kind of create these weird and wonderful other magic effects like Lolli Thru, like the Lolli Box, lolli Hero and the card reveals, I think the Lollipop for me. I don't know where I would be now if I hadn't firstly seen the guy online doing that with the lollipops, where he splits it in two, and then discovering kieran. I'm not sure where I would be.
Speaker 2:I, when I started out, I used I used to put on an american accent when I performed and people would say, why are you talking like a weirdo? Because that's what they were like on the dvd. So I think once I once I learned I could be myself and and that was through meeting kieran, really, um, that kind of moved me on in magic and helped me enjoy it a lot more, helped me grow a lot more, helped me understand the audience and what magic is for people and for myself. Yeah, so I think, yeah, lollipop. Without the Lollipop I don't know where I would be.
Speaker 1:Well, it's a great list. We've gone all the way from Firewallet to the Lollipop production, six, car Dunbury, we've got Wishbone, no invisible deck extractor, lolly hero with maximum entertainment and a lollipop in your last two items.
Speaker 2:What a great eclectic list thank you, yeah, well, if you do a gig with me, you expect everything there is. I do everything there all the time I am a worker. It's not just a list of you know. These are the things that I love. These are the things that I love because I perform them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're great, and if anyone, wants to find out more about you, steve. Where can they go? Well, my performing website is steverowmagiccouk. I also do have an online shop. Am I allowed to say that there? Yeah, Okay, thegimmickkingcom. You can see a lot of my effects on there. Um, and message me on facebook or instagram. Very happy to to for people to reach out and chat.
Speaker 2:You know I'm always approachable yeah, please do, and uh, do you lecture, still steve I I'm not not lecturing, but I'm not lecturing at the minute, the reason being so. I had a good run of probably five years of lecturing all over the uk um of my weird and wonderful inventions and creations, and I feel the next lecture sort of tour or set that I do will be more about character development, scripting, all that kind of thing, because I think that's that's something that is missing in magic lectures. So I'm still developing that and working on that. So maybe next year, the year after, I'm not sure, um, but the more that I grow, the more that I understand and the more that I want to share that, whereas before it was, you know, I was learning lots of different methods and things and making things and wanted to share all of that and and, yeah, so I will be lecturing in the future and, of course, they have number 46 to look out for, which should be coming out next year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no. That's really exciting because again that kind of transitions hopefully people's perception of me from the gimmick maker, the toy maker, to a performer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it does that in droves as well. It's just great. It's such a wonderful trick and I know everyone's going to love it. Well, thank you again, steve. Thank you for giving us your time.
Speaker 2:Thank you. No, it's been a pleasure. Yeah, it went too quickly and I've got a massive list, so next time you do it, we'll have to have a steve rowe part two, and thank you all for listening.
Speaker 1:Of course we'll be back next week with stranded with a stranger. If you want to be part of one of them, send in your list of eight tricks, one book and one non-magic item to sales at alexandercouk in the subject line. Please put my desert island tricks that way it comes through to me, me. But with that being said, we'll see you next week with another episode of stranded with a stranger and, of course, desert island tricks.
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