New stand-up/walkaround gig! Help!

[ArmanMagic]

Hey Guys,

Sorry I have not made many posts on the forums lately, I've been doing a lot of work for school and finals and I just got finished with it and I thought I would talk about some good news! My town is starting this program where they will assign young entertainer to businesses in the downtown area and they can promote themselves in the business. I was able to be picked and now I'm performing magic on every friday in June.

So anyway I'm super pumped for this new gig and I just need help on a couple of things. So basically how this first gig is going to work is that they will place me in this outdoor plaza for 2 hours and I can set up a table and then perform a 20 minute show. Then what I can do is perform close-up magic at the table if anybody would like to see any. Now I've never perform in this Street performer type of environment where I have a place set-up to perform so I was wondering if you guys have any tips on how to do this effectively.

 

[Steerpike]

So you accepted a gig in a setting that you have no experience in and you don't even have your material ready? I'm not even going to bother asking why at this point. Given the context you described, there's no way to back out and be able to save face.

Okay... What are you asking for specifically? Help with the 20-minute show or help with the close-up stuff at the table?

 

[ArmanMagic]

Okay... What are you asking for specifically? Help with the 20-minute show or help with the close-up stuff at the table?

I'm asking how should I approach people? I have my material and the 20 minute show but I just would like some tips on how to build up the crowd since it's going to be on the street and people will just be passing by.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Study buskers. Kozmo has a good DVD set called Tales From The Street.

Keep in mind that you may be tossing most of your current show once you start using it. Busking performances need a somewhat specific style of basic. You need to be able to hold attention, and you need to be entertaining for people who walk up halfway through the show.

 

[Randy]

You need to also be very modular as well. Similiar to a Restaurant performer but instead of having the routine/set reset right when you are done with one table. It needs to be able to be reset like right away, and it would be a good idea if it didn't take up much pocket space.

I would say that while this does sound like a fun thing, you kind of set yourself up for a major fall by not even planning what you are going to do. And yes, Kozmo has a really good DVD set on busking. Also, maybe find out if you can do bill to lemon with people's money. (though, I think Kozmo has a routine on the DVD that does that too.)

 

[Steerpike]

I'm asking how should I approach people? I have my material and the 20 minute show but I just would like some tips on how to build up the crowd since it's going to be on the street and people will just be passing by.

Oh dear. Christopher is right, you should be studying actual buskers. Real street magic is nothing like most people think it is. It's more akin to parlor magic.

I don't have enough information to say more than that. You've told me a whole lot of nothing so far. I cannot tailor any information to you because you've given me nothing specific to work with.

 

[Ibimania]

So you are having a stage-err-table fright? If you have time, Get Paul Harriss' True astonishments. It has a lot of self working gimmicks and you will be on auto pilot most of your show that way.

As for building a crowd, i once got the largest crowd in my talent show exhibition by having one of the teachers cooperate with me. what he did was he bet that i couldnt pull a thread from my eye. and he did it loud enough, and suddenly everyone in the hall started walking towards the table. i stalled the performance enough for a great crowd to gather.

What you can do is, pick one trick you are most comfortable performing and use similar method to gain a large audience. another method would be, bring a camera and film yourself perform, people will get curious. by camera i mean a filming camera...rent one

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

This thread is confusing.

Ok. So what you're saying is you get a 20-minute set where you're "The Show". Then afterwards, people can still come up to the table and see more? Is that right?

That's a strange set up, if that's the case.

Or do you mean you'll do the show, then do magic table-side for the patrons of the Plaza?

Please clarify.

Also, I just went back and notices that this is for June. Which is this month. You're talking about a gig in 2 days, aren't you?

 

[Randy]

The idea of the "20 min show, then do more table magic" doesn't sound like such a smart idea. Because they are putting you at a major disadvantage and it seems to go completely against the idea of busking (which is what it appears you will be doing.). Even if you say you are not busking or they say you are not busking. You are still busking, because any type of magic like this out in a public place like this is typically called busking. Their idea of setting you up for 2 hours and thinking that "some nice magic tricks" might work, also sounds like they have no idea what they are trying to accomplish.

Because with busking it's more than just "Nice magic tricks". You HAVE to be able to gather a crowd, and HAVE to have an act that is extremely flexible and modular. From your post, it doesn't sound like you have any of that.. Not to mention the short notice they gave you (unless I am wrong, it appears like they just brought this up out of nowhere.).

I would still recommend Kozmo's DVD set, but I don't think that is really going to help at this moment in time. If you had more time maybe a few months or so, then maybe you'd be able to hit the ground running. But this just sounds like you're going to run into too many problem's.

 

[JButterfield]

they will place me in this outdoor plaza for 2 hours and I can set up a table and then perform a 20 minute show. Then what I can do is perform close-up magic at the table if anybody would like to see any. Now I've never perform in this Street performer type of environment where I have a place set-up to perform so I was wondering if you guys have any tips on how to do this effectively.

You shouldn't have taken the gig if you weren't ready for it. You run the risk of doing it poorly, making yourself (and by extension, all of us) look bad.

This is busking. There are a ton of resources specific to that and if time permits, you should read up on them. Kozmo's Tales from the Street, The Art of Krowd Keeping by Gazzo, Jimmy Talksalot's To Lure With Spectacle, and Cellini's The Royal Touch off the top of my head.

The real secret of busking is a tight show with no dead air. Dead spots are where people leave.

At Busker Central (http://www.buskercentral.com) they have a couple of clips from Jim Cellini that you may find helpful.

 

[RickEverhart]

Am I right in thinking that you are doing a 20 minute set...."parlour" style and then you are going to go table hop or stroll in the plaza / restaurant or you are just going to continue doing magic at "your" table and people can stay or go?

 

[Randy]

Am I right in thinking that you are doing a 20 minute set...."parlour" style and then you are going to go table hop or stroll in the plaza / restaurant or you are just going to continue doing magic at "your" table and people can stay or go?

See that still sounds like a terrible idea to me. While I could see a 20 min parlor set on a stage.. From what I gathered from his post is that it's set up in a plaza (a place that wasn't meant for stage or close up magic.). Therefor, it just sounds weird that they would have him set up for 2 hours and then have people come by his table to perform again for them. Specially if he is doing a busking like scenario. Which this whole things sounds like.

 

[RickEverhart]

I cannot say I have ever worked a gig like this. Hmmmm....interesting to say the least. Now, I have done strolling through out a venue for an hour, then taken a half hour break to go set up my stage / parlour show, peform said show, tear down, and then go work some more strolling. But to me this sounds like you are just standing at your own set up table for 2 hours, trying to do a 20 minute show but then doing close up on your same table without breaks. Seems odd to me. Maybe I am misunderstanding this.

 

[Randy]

I cannot say I have ever worked a gig like this. Hmmmm....interesting to say the least. Now, I have done strolling through out a venue for an hour, then taken a half hour break to go set up my stage / parlour show, peform said show, tear down, and then go work some more strolling. But to me this sounds like you are just standing at your own set up table for 2 hours, trying to do a 20 minute show but then doing close up on your same table without breaks. Seems odd to me. Maybe I am misunderstanding this.

It also sounds like they JUST now threw this on him (Unless they told him months ago and he's just now asking for advice..). But it does sound like he is just going to be doing a 20 min set at a table, then after that he'll be performing at said for 2 hours (ouch) and hoping that after the 20 min show that people will come to his table to see more..

Which is going to cause some major problems, because it doesn't sound like he has 2 hours worth of material and sense he isn't strolling (which you can just repeat the same 1-3 routine's per each group.). He is going to get burned out extremely fast and I think the audience is going to get burned out really fast too.

If anything this will be a massive learning experience in the art of saying "No" to people when he isn't prepared for the gig.

 

[ArmanMagic]

Alright let me clarify. The whole program is promote local shops and business in the Plaza by using performers of any entertainment to attract the audience. My gig is on June 14 and June 21. Basically what is happening is that I'm going to be performing close-up magic near the shops in the plaza to promote them from 5-7. I have effects that I'm going to perform the only problem is attracting the audience. I don't understand what steerpike is talking about when he says I'm completely unprepared because I'm not completely unprepared.

 

[Steerpike]

I don't understand what steerpike is talking about when he says I'm completely unprepared because I'm not completely unprepared.

That wasn't technically what I said. But since you brought it up, I'm thinking it now.

So... break this down. You perform from 5-7. PM, I assume? Do you do 20 minute platform show first and then nothing but parlor magic at the table for the next hour and 40 minutes? Or do you perform the platform show twice or thrice? Do you even have a platform on which to do the show or are you anchored to the table the whole time so the only difference is that one routine is way longer than the others? You need to be a lot more specific. I'm not actually telepathic, I only pretend to be on stage. I can't give you any specific advice until you give me more details. What is your plan? If any? How exactly do you plan to allot your time in those two hours? What are you doing in what order? What is the business you are trying to draw attention to? How do you draw attention to them and not just yourself? Is anything you're doing in any way relevant to what that business is selling?

And this is happening on the 14th? These questions would have been a lot more useful last week. Or better yet, last month. Do not tell me that you are prepared, okay? You have a gig in three days and you still have no idea how you're going to flag down an audience. I don't even know what material you're using, nor do I know how it relates to the business you're supposed to be promoting and getting answers to my questions is like pulling teeth. That is not exactly a hallmark of professionalism.

 

[ArmanMagic]

I'm going to do a 20 minute "show" which is just a thing that attracts them. I'll perform extra magic for maybe 20 minutes for the crowd that wants to see more or just coming by then I'll do the 20 minute show again then the extra then 20 min show then extra and so on. It will basically be alternating between two sets for the next two hours. People will just be stopping by not sitting outside. They are just putting me by a table near the store at the plaza and just letting me do my thing. The person who put this up for me is also a magician so I'm sure he knew what he was doing suggesting me to do a show then close-up magic. They literally told me the first week of June so yeah that might have been a problem.

I'm going to be performing two different sets of magic that will have around 5-6 tricks. The first one will be something like this:
Card Transpo
Pepsi Trick
Invisible deck
Insurance Policy
Fraid Knot

Making a "rainbow" appear and changing it into a sponge bunny and then sponge bunny routine.
ACR
Card Transpo
Invisible Deck
Rope Routine

Now of course these are very easy to manipulate so I can perform more or less.

 

[Steerpike]

And what is the store that you will be trying to draw people to? Or is that another one of those details that was unfortunately omitted when you accepted the gig?

As for the routines... I'm not seeing how any of these things flow into each other. Honestly, you could chew up ten minutes on a cups and balls routine if you pace yourself right. It's a classic for a reason.

Now here's another question. This plaza they set you up in. Are there other performers? And more importantly, are there vendors selling wares from carts?

 

[ArmanMagic]

There is a restaurant nearby the plaza and there are two fountains around me in the plaza. I was thinking of doing a cups and balls routine because it will be easy to chew up time with. There are no performers with me. Just me. And if there are they are at different stores in different parts of the area not the plaza.

 

[Randy]

For a guy who supposedly knows what he is doing, he sure has no idea of what he really wants. Specially seeing as he just threw this on you at the last min. I have heard of last min gigs, but usually those tend to work out because the performer already has an established set/routine to perform. You just seem to be making up effects and hoping for the best.

The other thing with this is that it sounds like you are going to run out of material in the span of maybe 45 min. Which isn't a good thing for somebody doing a stationary show. Also it sounds like you are going to be doing a trade show type deal. Where your presentations are less about audience interaction and more about constantly talking about whatever products they want you to talk about.