Assistant Appreciation

A hard thing I have to deal with in magic is not always being or feeling appreciated. It's a hard stereotype to always fight that only the guy can be the magician but it's the world we live in.

It gets me down hard somedays when even friends only want to address it as Brandon's show. I do a lot to try to prove we're equals. The assistant does so much in a show that people never even know about and granted I get it, it's because a lot of it is while we are literally in a box or backstage but what we do is important.

Photo by Katie Shuler

I had a journalist reach out to me recently and conduct an interview about how important magic assistants are and you guys my heart soared! The fact that a complete stranger who's never seen our show or anything was just genuinely interest in what goes into this job and how it does matter made me so happy. I hope I did us justice. It's hard to pour your heart out about something you're so passionate about into just a 30 minute phone call.

And to come to find out, he found me because of this blog which is super cool! I'm glad it seems to be making it out there on the internet as something about magic assistants!

Read The Article Here

I've been in this job for 8 years now and honestly it's pretty rare to get such cool opportunities like that for just the assistant. We've done tv spots, articles, and podcasts as performers together but other than this interview and my magic club lecture that's been about it. But hey if anyone ever wants to interview me for another podcast but just about assistants (GreenWolf and Bella I'm looking at you 😉) I'd totally be down for it!

Another happy assistant thing as of recent was this part of a review we received...

And then there’s Hannah who is not only beautiful, but participates in the show and does her own magic and is more than just a pretty face. Thank you for being such a good role model for my daughter and showing her that girls can do anything, even magic! Love seeing a woman take the lead in something that is usually considered a boys club. Way to go Hannah! Looking forward to seeing even more from you in the future.

This review right here made me cry. She left a long super positive review about how much of an impact we made on her and her family and she has no clue how much she impacted mine. I'm used to a lot of the reviews just talking about Brandon and sometimes having them be about the both of us but to read this was so refreshing. I mattered to someone. My role onstage does matter.

Since starting this post I actually was reached out to and interviewed for The Magic Assistant articles. I was super excited to be asked for this one because I used to print out all the articles and study them in my assistant binder and now to be included is just amazing!

I've been adding to this book for almost my whole magic career, it contains all my secrets!

I love getting to be apart of this community and though sometimes it feels like others try to knock us down, the assistants are always so strong and supportive of each other and I've made some friends that I hope will last a lifetime because of it!

Assistant Accessories

One of my least favorite things about magic is how few of resources and products there are for assistants versus magicians. Today we'll just focus on the products though.

I mean I get it, there's technically "more" magicians, even though some magicians literally have 6 assistants. And most magicians actually stay in magic longer, while sometimes assistants are just a fill in girl for a show and they don't do it again but there's a lot of us who are in this for the long haul. And we deserve cool things too!

Recently through a modeling gig I acquired this adorable hat from LD Bags & Gifts that I had personalized to say Box Jumper and it got me thinking we need a LOT more assistant accessories!

Chris Perello Photography

Invisible Threads has two cute things, their "Saw Girl Hoodie" which I've seen different variations of over the years, but this seems to be the only one still around and I love it, I just wish there were different color options. Red doesn't always look great with red hair unfortunately. And then they have "Magician's Assistant in Trunk" car window sign which I think is hysterical and we will definitely be getting one. Yes I know I know sometimes they have those pink female magician shirts but honestly it's not the same. I want assistant things.

https://shop.invisiblethreadsclothing.com

Artwork is always an easy route to go whenever you have a unique thing you're obsessed with and assistanting is no different. There's some cute paintings, cartoons, etc to find out there. My favorite possession is still my doll from Robyn Fabsits. She did a trio of assistants for a one time collection she put out, I wish I'd had the money for all three of them at the time, but I did atleast get the redhead!

Daytona Magic actually has some beautiful wood pieces that feature assistants. We were lucky enough to get the floating lady as a wedding gift but I'd love to collect them all someday!

https://www.daytonamagic.com/awards-gifts

One super fun assistant thing I haven't gotten yet is the adorable knife sharpener that pretty much every magician I know owns. It's called Sharp Act and is put out by Fred and Friends. Thus far I've only been able to really find it on Amazon and since it's Prime Day their website is pretty much broke so I guess I'll buy it another day. But so cute!

So far those are my favorite assistant products I've found, I hope there are more out there but...

Leave a comment, send me link, what are your favorite assistant products? 

I'd love to compile a list of all the cool assistant accessories out there!

Looking forward to hearing from you guys to find new things to spend my money on!

A New Season

Yesterday, Tuesday morning I woke up around 10:15 and that was simply magical. Wanna know why? Because the past couple of months on Tuesdays at that time I'd be doing last minute preps/stress before Pure Magic started. Guys, 10:30 doesn't seem that early in the morning but let me tell you, it is!

We've done lots of early shows over the years with libraries and private performances but those weren't ever illusion shows. And usually when we did those "briefcase shows" we would go to bed early the night before.

In case you haven't heard, we're now doing The Carolina Opry shows 3-4 nights a week on top of our Pure Magic and Thunder & Light performances and we're loving it! But getting home late from a show to get up super early to do a magic show has been making it complicated. Luckily though the 10:30 AM shows are done at the moment until September. We actually have a few weeks off from Pure Magic and Thunder & Light right now until those kick in as afternoon shows so that's awesome.

Photo by Jordan Watkins

We've decided to take this time off to work on some new material. We're actually getting a new illusion this coming Monday and we're super excited about it! It will actually be thrown in a lot quicker than we normally put in a new illusion because we're planning to put it in Thunder & Light where we'll be redoing all of our material in that show before it starts back again next month.

This year's Pure Magic was a really new show for us. We had some brand new illusions to premiere and some illusions and effects that haven't been on the big stage yet but had plenty of testing time from smaller shows. And I'm sure most of you have gathered by now we're pretty secretive when it comes to new illusions, even after they have been testing a little bit. But if you do want to see stuff first, usually my personal Instagram is the first place it's posted so always be on the lookout there! @mrswagstermagic

Photo by Jordan Watkins

That was the first place we posted photos of our newer illusion routines for this year such as broom suspension (which has definitely become a new show favorite) our new regular season version of twister (we'd only done Christmas before) and our newest illusion which has been interlude.

Photo by Katie Shuler

Every time we get a new illusion I gain so much respect for my fellow peers in magic. Interlude literally kicked our butts when we got it a couple of months ago. The bruises and pain I experienced from it was like nothing I'd ever done before. But it has turned out to be hands down one of my favorites in our show and I wouldn't trade those rehearsals for anything. Now it doesn't bruise me anymore it just likes to rip my tights or like a few weeks ago it literally tried to eat my shoe.

It's been our edgiest routine yet, which definitely made it scary to perform for the first time. We are in the bible belt after all and people are very vocal these days if something offends them but thus far it's been all positive response *knocks on wood desk in front of me* But we tried to make it a part of our love story in the course of the show we currently have running and I think it's coming across that way.

Photo by Katie Shuler

With that being said about new illusions, this newest one we get next week will be the first time we've gotten an illusion before we've really prepared for it. We usually find a song, pick the illusion to go with it and then choreograph the illusion long before we get it. This time we're going a little backwards. We have no idea on the music and regardless of what Brandon is trying to tell everyone his current selections are horrible and I won't make you guys suffer like that haha. I'm interested to see how well this goes considering it's premiere is June 28th. So the stress begins! Other than that for our break we'll just be getting ready some other new pieces for that show as well. We're doing my first instant appearance and we can't wait to see the reactions that will receive.

Also we're getting a little more footage later this week from this season and we'll officially be working on the new promo for Pure Magic that will have clips of all our new pieces we can share with you guys! Here's last year's in case you guys missed it...

Pure Magic Promo

While you're on our Youtube channel check out some of latest Behind The Scenes videos, we've been sharing some fun stuff lately! We had a super cool gig last week we shared on there!

And if you haven't seen it on my facebook, I did a photoshoot with the amazing Nateographer again and he captured this incredible shot that I'm planning to work into the top and logo of this blog. Thanks Nate for such an awesome photo!

Photo by Nateographer

So there you have it, current life of The Wagsters. Looking forward to keeping you guys updated on all our new stuff and sharing it soon!