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madmanmike1 New user Canada (Ontario) 94 Posts |
Arrgh what a night. I was hired to do an adult banquet act and when I arrived found 20 kids under 10 awaiting "the magician". There goes my act! Not having much kids stuff to replace my adult routines with I went ahead with the adult show I was booked to perform. All the kids gathered around my feet as kids do and I had to step around them for the whole show. None of my lines got much of a reaction as the children did not get them and the adults were looking at the children to que their reactions. about 10 minites in I start one of my longer (read nessacary for time) routines involving borrowing 2 five dollar bills. Do you think any one in a crowd of over 100 adults would let me borrow a five? It was immpossible! normally I ask a few people if they have fives long before I get on stage, but I skipped this very important step this night as I was very busy trying to learn the facilitys cd player. I finally gave up and moved on after losing whatever build I had going (read none). The C.D. player at the facility was a 20 disk changer which caused me all kinds of problems all night trying to get the right track to play at the right time- I only had 2 C.D.'s. My fire wallet did not work and just made me look like an idiot on stage flicking the flint for 5 seconds before throwing it over my sholder. later on I perform a stage size 3 card monte which got the first good reaction of the night, that is until a kid knocks the stand that the cards where sitting on and they fall off into the children. All the kids dive for the cards and start playing with the slidy bits! I swear if I was not as composed I would have hauled off and hit one of those unbehaved children. A simple anwser would have been to pull the stand back abit on the riser, however my "riser" was only 2 4foot by 2 foot platforms. not much room at all. I actually I just did most of my bits standing on the floor amongst the children. My next few routines did okay and my finale surprised many but still did not get a great reaction, then unfortunatly I went to finish with a production that almost went horribly wrong. The last thing I usually do is to take a sheet of newsprint from a recently restored newspaper and I produce a hat coil from it. It looks great as a finale and I use a big sparkly wand to wind the hat coil up in a huge spiral. Well, the wand I use is actually a needle through balloon wand and it holds the needle. My needle through balloon routine is a very adult bit as it includes abit of a scare and lines that only the adults would get so I decided to leave it out of my act this night. Now when I usually perform the needle through balloon, when I'm done the needle is tossed back in my case NOT back in the wand. This was not the case this night as I chose not to perform the needle through balloon. Are you following me? Well at the end of the night when I produced the hat coil I reached for the wand to start winding it up. after a few seconds of winding the needle that was still inside the wand goes flying out into the children at my feet! I freaked, dropped everything and jumped out to the kids. Luckily the needle fell about 2 feet away from a child and I snatched it up quick and tossed it into my case. With a quick "Thank You!" I was done, and turned off the music. Most of my audience just stared.
In the end most people did not follow the mistakes and they just thought it was poor show, well I thought it was a poor show. My client said it was great and was all smiles as he was paying me but I know his angle was not the best. I learned a number of lessons though. What a night!
"it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide!"
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Samuel Catoe Inner circle South Carolina 1268 Posts |
It is not our successes that allow us to grow, but our failures.
Anyone who has performed more than a few shows has died on stage. Heck, I died my second time performing. Got absolutely NO reactions whatsoever. Nothing!! No claps, no boos, just a bunch of 13-15 year olds waiting for the band to start playing. I learned then that I have a lot to learn about getting a crowd's attention and holding it. Unfortunately it is a slow process. Best of luck to you. Samuel
Author of Illusions of Influence, a treatise on Equivoque.
PM me for details and availability. |
drwilson Inner circle Bar Harbor, ME 2191 Posts |
Madmanmike,
Can you tell us what you learned from your bad night? Yours, Paul |
Cliffg37 Inner circle Long Beach, CA 2491 Posts |
I have no idea who's error started the whole thing, yours or thiers, but it seems to me the whole business could have been avioded if you had understood who your audience would be.
Of course I am sorry you had such a bad time, but you WILL grow from it and be a better magician. It is stories like this that make me realize why the big name pros have such long and horribly detailed contracts.
Magic is like Science,
Both are fun if you do it right! |
madmanmike1 New user Canada (Ontario) 94 Posts |
Well,
The odd thing was that I had some okay reactions through out the night. I've been performing for a great many years now, but for some reasons the gods wern't with me this night. Just a lot of odd things happening all together. I even think some of the audience thought a couple of the flops were planned! I learned to be absoulutly certain I have ALL my volunteers lined up before the show starts. I learned not to trust my agent- but contact my agents client directly for a better picture of the audience. I learned I need to buy a new fire wallet. I learned that when working on a tiny stage certain effects require a lot of care!
"it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide!"
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Scott Compton Special user Hampton, VA 747 Posts |
Madmanmike,
I feel for you man. It sounds like if it could go wrong, it did. I was doing the sucker silk to egg. When I grab the real egg from my pocket, preparing for the switch, I cracked it. I started shoving the silk into my fist which now contained both eggs - the real one leaking out of the bottom of my fist. The kids start yelling, "hey it's leaking!", so I toss the real egg into my other hand and say, "well if it's leaking it must be a real egg." I thing they were all just confused, and I looked like an idiot. Same show. I have a stuffed beaver that holds a card in the tail. I have a 7S loaded in the tail, and I'm packing up. They ask to see something else, so I grab a deck and force the 7S, , pslm it off, have the beaver gnaw on the deck and have them check the deck. No 7S, right? "Uh....yeah, its right here" they say. I think, hmmm, I guess I missed and palmed off another card, so I repeat the process. No 7S, right? "Uh...yeah, its right here.". Your kidding! I do it again, same thing. It was then that I realized that I was using a Koran stack deck, with 12 7S in it! What a night! What did I learn? Don't use a tender egg, be careful, and for God's sake, check the cardcase for your mark, dummy! Scott
Magic is an art. I am merely a tour guide.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Scott-Compton-Magician/160270640674735 "You are the magic" Jay Ose to Albert Goshman |
ralphdean Loyal user Northern Ca 300 Posts |
Scott, a Koran deck. That is great!
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Brent McLeod Inner circle 1792 Posts |
Madmanmike-
Put it down to experience!!! as mentioned we have all failed on stage but as you mention you get better by eliminating over time all the small errors- This makes us better performers & helps us create an act that can play anywhere with a few variations for kids etc Also if an agent books a show-always check the contact person & if possible check the venue!!!-I always do this-so access, powepoints ,seating etc etc is sorted well in advance All the best for your next show-Im sure it will be a beaut!!! |
pradell Special user Alaska 560 Posts |
Perhaps one of the lessons of the night was, in the future, prepare your props and your mind/attitude to be ready for anything. By having some extra tricks in your bag for audiences of all ages, you may be able to adapt to your environment to give a show that works for the entire room, not just the back row of adults. Needle through balloon plays really well to kids with the right presentation. There is suspense, comedy, and frustration built into the trick. Kids love it, especially if the magician is in trouble! So being able to change your patter to a PG show rather than an R rated event is a skill you can practice over time and use to your advantage. Many of the same tricks that play to adults can play to kids and visa versa if the presentation and patter are adjusted for the audience. Really, you are an entertainer first and a magician second. Your tricks are just your props. It's you that is doing the entertaining, not your preplanned act. Like a jazz musician, if you arrive and your audience is not as planned, find out who is out there, listen to their reactions and determine what they want, and adjust your show to give it to them! Jam. That's right, Jam with your magic. This comes with time.
:magicrabbit: |
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