Street Magician - Covent Garden

[BlahBlah]

Hey guys and gals,

Just a quick intro... if anyone actually reads here anymore

I'm a street performer who is out at Magic Corner in Covent Garden on an irregular basis.

I've been performing irregularly for about a year now and must admit that my shows have been improving in leaps and bounds more recently. So glad about that!

Jim Cellini reckons there are three skills to street performing:
1. Attract a crowd,
2. Make 'em stay,
3. Make 'em pay.

Well, I don't seem to have a problem with attracting and edge. I had been having issues with keeping them and this obviously affected my hats.

My edge seems to be growing larger, I'm consistantly holding my edge and my hats are growing.

YAY!

My challenge has been holding the attention of my audiences since I've chosen to do most of my act non-verbally a la Jeff Sheridan.

During my finale I do talk which seems to be working well for me now as I seem to draw even larger crowds during the finale and folks who only catch the tail end of my show seem compelled to tip.

Thing is I want to go from a door-way show to a circle show and increase my hats.

Basically I want my act to be a heck of a lot more commercial so that I can support myself 100% by doing say two or three shows a day as opposed to a gazillion shows a day and tiring myself out for the next two days.

So the key is commerspamspamspamspamspamspamm whilst maintaining a degree of artistic integrity.

I am soooo tempted to throw in a bunch of stock lines or even revert to doing Gazzo's Cups and Balls... because it works.

Thank God I haven't done that yet... I fear I might get stuck doing the same old same old.

Ideas, suggestions, resources, etc most welcome.

Cheers,
J

[nick nickolas]

street magic forum

Hello J,
Want some answers and discussions re street magic go to this forum

http://www.buskerscafe.com/forums/index.php

cheers Nick

[BlahBlah]

Cheers for that Nick!

I've just registered there, awaiting confirmation email.

Nick, you're a legend amongst the Covent Garden magicians. Highly respected.

Any ideas when you'll be popping over to London for a visit?

Several years ago I used to stay at your flat in Hackney... when Keeno and Graham were taking care of the place. I recall these HUGE tennis balls lying around in the spare room.

I had no idea what they were for until I saw your act online about a year or so ago.

Kickarse stuff!

[Butterfly Man]

silence is golden

Every pitch is differrent ... each crowd as well.

Attracting a large audience is done by focusing towards the back of the crowd ... it's more of an energy thing, it does not involve yelling.

Strawberry is a good example, Rob Torres as well ... both have very strong silent shows and can generate huge crowds.

Silence is a powerful tool ...

One suggestion ... set up a trick early on in the act where money is involved and try to make a running gag out of it ... asking for money can be funny too.