Your job, when you’re a performer

Your job as a performer is to go out and audition. That’s your job. Any gigs you get as a result of doing your job are an added bonus.

 

I really wish I could remember the gentleman’s name who told me that back in August, because that has been a mantra for me ever since.  When you’re an itinerant performer, your job is to go out and make contacts and demonstrate your skills and abilities.  Any gigs you get as a result of that… that’s a bonus.

For your modern performer, this includes posting videos, emailing producers, scanning craigslist and other job sites, and on and on and on.  Oh, and making a list of local events and flat out “cold calling” (or in this case, cold emailing). That is how I got my latest gigs, both Scarborough Faire and the King William Fair (one of the more well-thought-of street festivals in San Antonio’s Fiesta week) came from me just firing off a carefully worded email to the entertainment director and directing them to the clips I have on my web site.

Keep auditioning – the gigs do happen…

So There I Was : Magician VS DJ

I worked a corporate banquet gig in December – it was a lot of fun, but it brought to my attention the fact that sometimes, even in the best, most professional environment, your working magician runs into issues from the least expected sources.

A DJ was hired for the banquet – playing music during the meal and dance music afterward, and so forth.  I came out to do my show, and everything was moving along nicely until..

There’s a point where I have two volunteers on stage with me to examine the rope I use for the Mongolian Pop Knot – when I shoo’ed them away, the DJ brought up the theme from “The Price is Right”. Ok, that was amusing. I was suprised, but played off it and gave the DJ the universal “Ok bring it down now” hand gesture (hand up, palm facing DJ, fingers spread – bring hand down and close fingers). Thankfully, he got the cue.

So I’m ticking along with my show, and he brings up another sound clip. “Baby Got Back”.

?!?

Ok, I React In An Amusing Manner, stopping dead in my speil, and give the “Ok bring it down now” gesture. The audience laughs.

The DJ apparently took this as permission to just start throwing random sound clips at me. I fielded them, played off them, and completed my set. No harm, no foul.

(My wife had an observation: “Did you notice he didn’t start throwing sound clips at you until you had the audience’s full attention? I think he wasn’t happy that you had their focus…”)

Amusingly, people thought we had scripted all that out. The audience thought I had planned every sound interruption, every take, every gesture…. I’ve been doing this show for ten years, out at fairs and festivals where there are interruptions from every direction at random intervals.  I knew  I could handle this without turning around and bawling the DJ out in front of everyone. I’m a professional. And the audience never knew that the guy was being antagonistic or “helping” in the manner of an Obnoxious Volunteer.

… I’d say I won that round.

What do we do in the down time?

I have a couple little gigs this month – both of which happen at company parties – and after the chaos and amusement of SeaWorld in October I have a chance to step back and start looking at what I want to do during the “Slow time”* in December.

Right now, I know I have the gig in May, but everything else is up for grabs. So my current plan is:

* Review ideas for making a more cohesive “all in one” bag and table. My Table box (the black thing with the chrome) has begun to develop structural issues after two, maybe three years in service.

* Review my act – I now have enough “stuff” to do two completely different acts during Scarborough. Rotating my bits will make doing 4 shows a day a little easier, and give people more of a reason to come back and see me.

* Go through the costumes. Yes, I am a RenFaire clothes horse**. I have to look at what I have to wear and determine if I will survive Texas in May while wearing it. And get in touch with my costumer in Oregon.

* Review – Review – Review. Are there tricks I want to do that I need time to practice? Contacts I can still make to get more gigs? Cat that needs more attention?

So, basically, we keep on doing what we’ve been doing. Welcome, once again, to my life.

—

* The winter months are the “down time” for RenFairs in the Northwest part of the continent. However, there are lots of outdoor events in Texas, and they usually happen in the months *around* July – Sept. Probably because it’s not so bleedin’ hot out there then.

** Bonus points for anyone who can tell me what a “clothes horse” refers to without going to Wikipedia!

Things are afoot…

It has been … a LONG time since I added a post to the AdequateBlog. There are a few reasons for this, all of which are too complicated to go into in detail… suffice to say I have some reflections and lessons to share here in the coming months.

 

There’s also some self-promotional stuff to pass along: I’ll be performing at Scarborough Renaissance Festival in Waxahachie in May of 2012! Huzzah! More gig notices will come when I get ‘em, folks…

As you may have noticed… we’ve moved. Yep.  Your humble hack magician is gradually shifting his base of operations, so things may be a bit wonky when it comes to web sites. Email should still work, though, tobias@theadequate.com is still valid…

… speaking of new

Please direct your bookmarks etc to either:

• http://adequateblog.com
• http://theadequateblog.wordpress.com

Thankyew!

As promised…

.. from Vaudeville at the Baker, the Stupidest Thing I Have Ever Done On Stage…

Sometimes I feel almost ashamed. Sometimes.

As promised…

.. from Vaudeville at the Baker, the Stupidest Thing I Have Ever Done On Stage…

Sometimes I feel almost ashamed. Sometimes.

Small Acts – Audience Training

As I mentioned on Tuesday, I spent last weekend doing a Vaudeville show in which I had a set of small acts spread throughout the show. I decided to try an experiment in audience training (in the interest of science!)…

The first time I came out on stage, the audience had no idea who I was beyond what was on the program. I came out, took off my top hat, and struck a “ta-da” pose with my hat held high. Suprisingly, it got some applause. I acted surprised and pleased.

The next time I came out, I hit the same pose. More applause.

The third time I came out, hit the pose – people went nuts.

The fourth time was more applause than I could have expected (and probably more than I deserved at that point) but by then the audience had been conditioned to clap when I came out, and they expected something entertaining to happen. That’s when I did the Stupidest Thing I Have Ever Done On Stage (soon to be copyrighted) and the crowd lost it in laughter and applause – the perfect payoff for all that tension and conditioning.

This may sound like a cynical thing – training the audience to respond in the manner you desire – but there are quite a few people out there who do not understand that they’re allowed to respond to a live performance! There’s no “like” button to press.

We have to let them know it’s ok to be heard.

The Joys of Small Acts

This last week I was part of a Vaudeville show in which I did a series of small bits, as opposed to doing a single, longer, act.

A lot of magicians worry about doing little short bits as they fear they don’t have anything that can stand up to being compressed into two or three minutes. I think it’s a great opportunity to see what you can come up with that’s quick, visual, punchy and above all else, entertaining. As I’ve mentioned before, my current “set” is very modular and can be mixed and matched. Since I already had things which would fit into the time constraints, I was able to pull three bits from my show and, in a fit of creative pique, come up with a fourth one that brought the entire series to a gloriously stupid crescendo.

I’ll get some video up of these bits some time this or next week – stay tuned!

Still life with promotional materials

What have I been up to? Some of this…