Well Fellas, Im one tired dude. I just returned from 3 gigs today ( 2 balloon sculpting - 4 1/2 hours total + 2 hours of strolling magic ) = 6 1/2 hours of work in 3 different locations
My feet are hurting man! Ha Ha. Wore a suit and tie all day.
Those of you who are balloon twisters know that any time you do a balloon gig that has a time limit, you might as well throw that out the window because it is a NEVER ENDING line with cranky kids demanding certain creatures that you may or may not know how to make. Today's most insane request was a "multi-color ferris wheel"...needless to say with a mile of people long I told the kids sorry that I didn't have time and he had to choose something a bit easier. Ha Ha.
Things to consider when balloon sculpting at major events:
1.) Have a small tent to work under = it sprinkled rain all day today at the balloon gigs
2.) Have a table or a roped off area that keeps the children back from you and your materials (pumps, trash bag, balloons, scissors, etc.
3.) When you see that you only have 10-15 minutes left...go hand the last kid in line a balloon and tell him that you will make him something extra special if he tells everyone who tries to get behind him that he was told he is the end of the line and that is why he is holding the big yellow balloon. (It sounds mean but it does work and stops you from staying an hour past your work time.)
4.) Some people use Menus / picture boards to speed up the line so the kids know what they can choose from.
At the magic strolling gig today I had a lot of fun! My goal today was to use effects that I have used many times before but I was going to purposely go up to people who looked like the were too "cool" for magic or audiences that looked a bit rough.
My sets included:
Set A: mismade bill, CMH followed by rubber band through a ring and Alan Wong's Star Gazer, Danny Archer's Eye Exam
packet trick
Set B: Jeff Prace's "Where Time Stands Still, Free Will, and a Peak Wallet
I didn't have to load up because I would be walking the streets where there were literally thousands of people. Probably could have used the same set the whole time and nobody would have known the difference except a few teens who followed me around.
Annoying things from today:
I hate it when someone who already saw an effect, comes up to you when you are performing for another group and yells, "Show em the one where the rubber band turns into the Star" Kinda kills the mood and then I can't perform that one.
Was asked to levitate 2X today out in the middle of the road completely surrounded on ALL sides. Um....pretty sure I couldn't pull that off.
Was handed a spectator's quarter and was told to bite a chunk off like David Blaine...needless to say I didn't have my bite out coin on me because I haven't fixed it yet. Ha Ha.
Teenage girl is in the middle of an effect and continues to try and pay attention to me and text on her phone. I thought this was just down right rude..finished the effect and walked away a bit angry. Have a little respect people. It would be different if I was some ugly dude who had never performed magic but I was doing great stuff and she could have cared less. Oh well.
Nice reactions Today:
1.) Went up to a group of Big African Americans who were probably in their 30's. Looked to be in a gang. I walked straight up to their group and asked them if they had ever seen close up magic before. Guy looks at me and says, "You mean you gonna do some David Blain ****?" I said, "Yeah...I am". He goes, "Where's your camera crew?" I just laughed it off and then proceeded to fry them with CMH, rubber band through ring (Ed Ellis's Twistration) and then Alan Wong's Star Gazer.
The one dude was filming on his cell phone and flipped out...another one started cussing profusely and took off down the side walk going nuts....It was probably the best reactions I've had yet and here I thought these guys were going to be some tough customers. I was completely wrong. Don't judge someone based on their appearance. Had I had a camera crew it would have been perfect promo real stuff.
2.) I go up to a group of about 12 teenage "goth" type kids and blew them away with Prace's "Where time stand still" and then a mismade bill. The big alpha male dude of the group was so impressed, his reactions were making the rest of kids go nuts as well. He actually hugged me (kind of awkward) and said, "Dude...I've never seen anything like this! You are insane. I love you man...
What I found great was that again, this could have been a rough crowd but because I went straight to the alpha male of the group and showed him a good time, everyone else in the group thought "magic is cool" too and it just snow balled.
I loved every minute of it.
Many people laughed, smiled, and just simply freaked out today. It really made me feel good to know that I was doing this and creating great experiences for them.
Thanks for reading all of this if you have made it this far. Next Gig = Bus Tour Gig
My feet are hurting man! Ha Ha. Wore a suit and tie all day.
Those of you who are balloon twisters know that any time you do a balloon gig that has a time limit, you might as well throw that out the window because it is a NEVER ENDING line with cranky kids demanding certain creatures that you may or may not know how to make. Today's most insane request was a "multi-color ferris wheel"...needless to say with a mile of people long I told the kids sorry that I didn't have time and he had to choose something a bit easier. Ha Ha.
Things to consider when balloon sculpting at major events:
1.) Have a small tent to work under = it sprinkled rain all day today at the balloon gigs
2.) Have a table or a roped off area that keeps the children back from you and your materials (pumps, trash bag, balloons, scissors, etc.
3.) When you see that you only have 10-15 minutes left...go hand the last kid in line a balloon and tell him that you will make him something extra special if he tells everyone who tries to get behind him that he was told he is the end of the line and that is why he is holding the big yellow balloon. (It sounds mean but it does work and stops you from staying an hour past your work time.)
4.) Some people use Menus / picture boards to speed up the line so the kids know what they can choose from.
At the magic strolling gig today I had a lot of fun! My goal today was to use effects that I have used many times before but I was going to purposely go up to people who looked like the were too "cool" for magic or audiences that looked a bit rough.
My sets included:
Set A: mismade bill, CMH followed by rubber band through a ring and Alan Wong's Star Gazer, Danny Archer's Eye Exam
packet trick
Set B: Jeff Prace's "Where Time Stands Still, Free Will, and a Peak Wallet
I didn't have to load up because I would be walking the streets where there were literally thousands of people. Probably could have used the same set the whole time and nobody would have known the difference except a few teens who followed me around.
Annoying things from today:
I hate it when someone who already saw an effect, comes up to you when you are performing for another group and yells, "Show em the one where the rubber band turns into the Star" Kinda kills the mood and then I can't perform that one.
Was asked to levitate 2X today out in the middle of the road completely surrounded on ALL sides. Um....pretty sure I couldn't pull that off.
Was handed a spectator's quarter and was told to bite a chunk off like David Blaine...needless to say I didn't have my bite out coin on me because I haven't fixed it yet. Ha Ha.
Teenage girl is in the middle of an effect and continues to try and pay attention to me and text on her phone. I thought this was just down right rude..finished the effect and walked away a bit angry. Have a little respect people. It would be different if I was some ugly dude who had never performed magic but I was doing great stuff and she could have cared less. Oh well.
Nice reactions Today:
1.) Went up to a group of Big African Americans who were probably in their 30's. Looked to be in a gang. I walked straight up to their group and asked them if they had ever seen close up magic before. Guy looks at me and says, "You mean you gonna do some David Blain ****?" I said, "Yeah...I am". He goes, "Where's your camera crew?" I just laughed it off and then proceeded to fry them with CMH, rubber band through ring (Ed Ellis's Twistration) and then Alan Wong's Star Gazer.
The one dude was filming on his cell phone and flipped out...another one started cussing profusely and took off down the side walk going nuts....It was probably the best reactions I've had yet and here I thought these guys were going to be some tough customers. I was completely wrong. Don't judge someone based on their appearance. Had I had a camera crew it would have been perfect promo real stuff.
2.) I go up to a group of about 12 teenage "goth" type kids and blew them away with Prace's "Where time stand still" and then a mismade bill. The big alpha male dude of the group was so impressed, his reactions were making the rest of kids go nuts as well. He actually hugged me (kind of awkward) and said, "Dude...I've never seen anything like this! You are insane. I love you man...
What I found great was that again, this could have been a rough crowd but because I went straight to the alpha male of the group and showed him a good time, everyone else in the group thought "magic is cool" too and it just snow balled.
I loved every minute of it.
Many people laughed, smiled, and just simply freaked out today. It really made me feel good to know that I was doing this and creating great experiences for them.
Thanks for reading all of this if you have made it this far. Next Gig = Bus Tour Gig
