Big Crouds

[Evan Young]

I was looking at the pictures on Jim's web page, esp the ones of the huge crouds at busker festivals and such. It gave me good dreams.
Just so you know, I'm gonna bitch for a while.
I'm performing at this street festival in my home town every thursday night in sept, lots of people show up. But the city refuses to pedestrianise any of the streets or let me perform in either of the two locations that would actually acomodate a circle show, they just found a sort of fat section on the sidewalk. The decendents of Sam Walton (the wal-mart guy) live in my home town, Columbia Mo. Their pollitical ($) influence really puts a damper on any improvement to downtown that might make it more competitive with the mall or any of their other evil buisnesses. So my croud tends to flow out into the busy (and really f'n noisy) street. There is angled in parking on the street, so everybody starts sitting on the hoods of the cars and leaning on them from all sides. It makes me really nervous about car alarms, liability issues, and saftey. I'm gonna try and have the city block off a couple spots in front of me the next couple of week so that there is more standing space. The people next to me have a huge display about the wildlife rehabilitation center they have, and it's too tall to put up where they are suposed to be b/c it would block a store's display window, so they put it on my space..... It sucks. O yea, they don't pay me the $30 dollars they pay all the crapy amature novelty bands they book. I thought everybody did it for tips.
I miss having space on the pearl street mall in boulder.
--Evan

[Steven Ragatz]

Evan,

Why don't you take your adversity and change it into an opportunity to develop some new material that works "in the small"? If you get some of those routines in your kit bag, then no place will be closed to you!

Steven Ragatz

[Evan Young]

Good point Steven.
A smaller and shorter show would work better for this particular event in general, as I'm sure it would in a lot of places. I'll start trying to write one. I've been trying to go bigger all summer so that I wouldn't look so bad trying to follow Dexter Trip and the other jugglers, but it's a whole different situation now.
thanks--Evan

[scot]

Ethan,
The great thing about crouds is you can stare at them and imagine things they resemble. See: asian clouds

Evan, Talk to the person that put you there. If they can't do anything, follow the ladder of authority. Go to a copy shop get flyers made up telling your delema. Give them to your spectators. If the organizers get complaints from 50 people, they will want to solve the problem so that they can work on important things.

scot

[Evan Young]

Yea, I'm working on the situation. I asked if I could block off a couple parking spots, and they told me that the city wouldn't them to do it, but if I did it myself they wouldn't kick me out of the festival. She also said that she saw my croud size last week, and said, "it was nice". Mabey this will help her understand that I could make better use of the space they book the square dancing club at.
I'm trying real hard not to get an ego and be a dick head about it all. They have this event in June too, and I got some complaints at that one b/c I kept taunting the Jazz lab across the street for being too loud. but hey, I don't know how anybody even heard me taunting them, I could barley hear myself. At anyrate, I got the rep as the asshole. I think they still like me, but it probably didn't help when I told them that I was going to be too busy to do a promo appearance on the local news for them, and then they saw me doing nothing instead. I really thought I was going to be busy, it was just too hot for anybody to stop for a juggling show.

O while I'm typing. The twilight festival audience can be very sensitive in the really anoying bible belt way, but they also like it when I'm raunchy some times (like winking at a cute girl). It's a real trick trying to read the general political oreintation of each show.
And the home town hecklers! You know how hard it is to resist laying into one the "L.D." kids you recognize from high school when he won't shut the fuck up! I bit my toung and didn't bash him, it would have been too easy, instead I let him kill all my hat lines.

[Steven Ragatz]

[quote]Go to a copy shop get flyers made up telling your delema. Give them to your spectators. If the organizers get complaints from 50 people, they will want to solve the problem so that they can work on important things.<hr></blockquote>

Of course, this technique will probably just prompt the promoter to solve the problem by getting rid of street performing all together.

I don't think that a "fight the system" approach is going to net you anything but a boot to the backside. Remember, unless it is called "Evanfest '02", it isn't your event, it's theirs. You're an invited guest just like the customers, and promoters expect you to behave appropriately. If you are unable to present your craft in that particular venue, then you don't need them and they don't need you, so simply move on.

But please, don't get into the mindset of forcing your "right" to perform on any event. If you respect the event organizer's needs, they are far more likely to respect yours. If you don't, it will do far more harm in the long run than the handful of hats you'd collect before your court date would warrant.

Steven Ragatz