What The Audience Saw:
“Man, so we all go down to the Olympics to watch the crowds and everything, and you’ll never guess what we saw!!! Jamie D. Grant- the world-famous Corporate Magician performing magic on the street! You know, the guy that does all those glorious gigs indoors and gets mailed a cheque at the end! Yeah, the guy that’s never done an outdoor show in his entire life, the one who’s never done the Cups and Balls before, and the one who had no idea about what he was doing. Lol, it was hilarious! How’d it go? Well, take a look here, if you haven’t already…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qRcvHC3Oeg
How It Went:
Lol, Whooooweee! Yessir! I got taken to school, lol. That said, it went awesome, I think. I can’t even begin to describe the excitement, fun, and coolness of the street- I might be hooked!
Okay, we have a lot to talk about- I’ll do a video wrap up for Part 3 (next week) but for this Part 2, I thought I’d give everyone a rundown on all the gear I used and the effects I chose.
MY GEAR:
Table: Tony Clark’s “Portable Table”. I had Tony make me a table that I would be able to pack up and take around, and this was the result. Absolutely awesome!
http://www.magicsax.com/page3/page18/page18.html
20’ Bright Blue Rope.
Table Servante (bag): From Frank Starsini at The Ambitious Card. I love this bag!
http://www.theambitiouscard.com/aitem.cfm?itemid=25
Cups: From Christian Jedinat.
http://www.jedinat-zaubershop.de/shop/show/show_pr/en/Professional-copper-und-nickel-cups-and-balls/~tplprodukt_1/~prid119.htm.
The Cups and Balls routine I used is a verbal variation of James Prince’s from his DVD “Menu for Miracles”.
http://www.murphysmagic.com/Product.aspx?id=43884
Balls: From Josh Riel via Frank at The Ambitious Card.
Final Loads: Tennis Balls.
Silk & TT.
Rope: for Richard Sanders Fiber Optics.
http://magicfriday.blogspot.com/2008/11/richard-sanders-fiber-optics.html
Deck of Bicycle Playing Cards.
Glass of Water.
Magic Wand: given to me by Eric Evans.
Precious Metal: by John Zander (fork to spoon).
http://magicfriday.blogspot.com/2008/11/precious-metal-by-john-zander.html
5 #19 Yellow Elastic Bands: for CMH.
http://magicfriday.blogspot.com/2008/11/cmh-crazy-mans-handcuffs-by-arthur.html
Eight Ball.
MY SET
This was my planned set but it got changed pretty quickly once I started…
1) TT to silk.
This played okay but I felt like it wasn’t holding attention very well. I would be able to attract a couple of people to my table no problem, but it wasn’t helping my build. I think it might have been because if you were walking by, and the silk was already in my fist, then there was nothing to “see”. It was just me with my hand out.
I changed it to:
CMH. I wasn’t sure if people would be able to see this very clearly, but they seemed to be able to. I’ve got fairly large hands, and I’ve done this enough times that I know many different ways to present it. It worked.
2) Card Trick: 3D Realization from Mark Southwork. http://magicfriday.blogspot.com/2009/04/3d-realization-by-mark-southworth-from.html
I do this trick for every Walk Around gig I do. It kills. I know that for a fact. On the street, however, it was a no go. People were probably too far away to see the appearance of the 8 Ball clearly?
I changed it to:
A random Pick A Card trick, and used it as an opener. As soon as someone came to my table, I would say, “Hey thanks for stopping by! Can you shuffle these for me?”…
3) Rope Trick: Fiber Optics.
Worked wonderfully. Another one taken from my Walk Around (and stage) set.
4) Glass of Water Appearance.
Same as Fiber Optics. I’ve been doing this for years and am well practiced at it. I actually don’t want to tip this at all, but I guess this is what Magic Friday is all about: It’s from Barrie Richardson’s “Theatre of the Mind”
5) Cups and Balls.
How long have I been a magician? And how many thousands of times have I performed that Chop Cup routine? Amazing that this was the first time in my life that I performed the actual Cups and Balls. Regardless, it went brilliantly, although I need to put some serious work into my final load timing reveals. If you look at the Youtube video, you’ll also see that, in my last set, I forgot to load one of the cups, lol. You can see me do a quick shuffle and then wipe my head, lol.
FINAL SET
1) Random card trick
2) CMH
3) Precious Metal
4) Fiber Optics
5) Cups and Balls
MY PREPARATION
So what did I do to prepare myself? I watched, and read, the following:
“Art Of Street Performing” DVDs from Cellini.
“Menu Of Miracles” DVDs from James Prince.
http://www.murphysmagic.com/Product.aspx?id=43884
“School Of Busking” DVDs from Mario Morris.
http://www.schoolofbusking.com/id4.html
“Street Magic And The Art Of War” Book from Eric Evans.
http://www.secretartofmagic.com/secret2.htm
“Street Cups” Dvd and book from Gazzo.
“To Lure With Spetacle” Book from Jimmy Talksalot.
http://www.leapinglizardsmagic.com/csspages/css_lure_with_spectacle.htm
“Tales From The Streets” DVDs from Kozmo.
http://www.kozmomagic.com/
The Difficulty:
Was busking difficult? Yes and no. There’s something so different about people paying you, at that very moment, and having them stay to do so. When I do Corporate gigs no one ever walks away from me. Where are they going to go, lol? Outside, however, they can go anywhere! And, if they leave, they get to keep their money, lol! So, yes, it was terrifying: What if no one stops? What if no one pays? These things can really play with you. However, one question that I never asked myself was, “What if I suck?” Because I don’t. I know that. And it was key to my survival. As long as you are able to remember that you’re good at what you do, and that people generally like you, then you’ll be good to go.
My Best Lines:
These are my best lines from the night. Busking is all about the lines, I found.
"Rogaine is expensive!”
~It’s always better to beat someone to the punch, and I came up with this on the spot. It ended up being my Hat Line.
"Foreigners with cash, please stop here!"
~I think this worked at the Olympics because all of the locals got to be “in” on the joke. I’m not too sure how this will work during the rest of the year though.
Angry Bob Rating:
Angry Bob would have had a field day. Thank ^#^#^ he wasn’t there, lol.
My Rating:
I give busking a 10/10. Here’s what I wrote somewhere else:
I personally think every Magician should busk for a time in their lives- absolutely. For me, there is nothing greater than the knowledge that you can go out onto the street anywhere in the world and suriive. Not by digging ditches, or painting fences, but by simply being you. A Magician.
The JDG Tip:
Bring friends!!!! Having friends with you will make your first time sooooo much better. When I made 1 dollar, it was hilarious! If I had been by myself, however, I probably would have started to cry.
Closing Thoughts:
There’s lots more to talk about and next week I’ll give a video wrap up of the whole experience. Thanks for reading!
Have a Great Week Everyone!
Jamie D. Grant
http://www.Professional-Magician.com
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment