LOL!

Santa, I lived in Tucson Az for two years, only owned tanks tops and shorts. I hastly moved to the New England in the spring time and thought the weather there was lovely...until the winter snow came.

The shorts and tanks tops worked fine until then, my girlfirend took me to the mall and we spent a small fortune on winter clothes for myself.

I've lived here now for 16 years and man I am dang tired of the weather!

First time I went to New England (Boston) was late Fall. I had never been North of Virginia on a visit or lived North of Atlanta. I figured the weather would be the same as California and didn't bring a jacket....I was wrong. It was colder than I ever experienced and to the people there thought it was comfertable.

I just came in from falling down outside. Once again my wife failed to come aid me. I hate this snow and ice stuff.

No, that's when you have to break out the red flannel suit with the floppy hat that has a white pom pom at the end!



Can I get an AMEN!? 1984 marked my third attempt to live in RI and I've discovered that I really HATE New England winters! Even NYC didn't seem this cold and nasty! Oh well, just a few more weeks to go and this winter has been milder than most with only a couple of weeks of real "arctic" temperatures!

Matt, it's been 3 weeks since your post. Did you actually get out and try it on the streets? How'd it go.

Street magic is TOUGH.

But, if you can get past being nervous, and do it a few times a month, you'll perfect your skills as a magician and performer much faster than you will any other way. Your confidence will soar so quickly.

Chris Capehart has a fabulous lecture on being a street performer. He says he has earned a living doing this for more than 30 years. Imagine that? He says you can earn $1500 to $2500 a week as a street magician if you find a good location. He goes to parks in Philadelphia, and to the boardwalk in Atlantic City.

Try to get his lecture notes. Maybe contact him directly or through ebay. He has some very solid tips on making it work as a street magician.

He suggested you find a spot in a park where business people go to have lunch, and then just start performing a routine. Such as the linking rings. He also suggests putting on an attention getting outfit, and standing on a mike carton. When Chris does this, he says he gets about 15 to 20 people within the first two minutes.

Yes, it's hard, but the confidence and skills you gain will be worth the difficulty and anxiety you'll have to endure the first few times. And, if you can become good at it, its a nice way to go out and make a hundred or two a day (or more!) whenever you need some cash!

Also, a note of interest, Chris Capehart said that Penn & Teller got their start this way. He said that they even performed street magic as a way of raising funds to rent a theater from time to time break into show business in a bigger way.

My best advice for a first timer in street magic is GO WITH A FRIEND. the first time I did street magic I went with a friend and it was still pretty freaky.

The most important thing is to be comfident, noone likes to watch a magician who is not sure of himself .

Street magic is really fun, you can also try going to your local coffee shop and doing magic there.

Have fun!

I am a young magician from Philadelphia who is in need for a job this summer. I am away at colloge for the rest of the year. I worked for Irv Furman this past summer and ran his website until he died in December, but how can I get in contact with Chris Capehart. Since Irv's death I haven't been able to find any good magic "hubs" in philadelphia.

Morpheis91

Try through his website: http://www.chriscapehart.com/
or come out to Magical May Day {WWW.MAGICALMAYDAY.COM} he will be performing & lecturing there as will other greats.

Good Luck

Hey everyone!

I'm very new to magic (in fact only started learning in late December 2007, so only been learning for a couple of months, but I am addicted!

I disagree with some of the views on here about street magic. For me that's what it's all about. I'm not trying to make any money or anything with magic, it's just fun!

And I can't think of many things I have enjoyed more than the reactions I've got from doing magic for people I've met for the first time.

And yes, you will get some people who don't want to see what you have to offer, but I have found personally the "rejections" have been very low. And it's all about who you approach, and also the way you approach them.

Bear in mind this is me speaking who has only been doing this since Jan (that's the first time I did anything on the street)... but here are some of my thoughts:

1. I never say to anyone " do you want to see some magic" or mention magic or tricks in any way. If I am approaching someone or a group of people (I like to approach usually groups of one or two people), then I will normally start by just asking them how they are and their names etc, then maybe I will ask them a question such as "do you know much about quantum physics?" or something that gets them interested, and then go into a quantum physics explanation for how you can actually penetrate 2 solid objects if you concentrate hard enough - then follow this with a coin in bottle trick or something. This is just an example of a routine, but I have had VERY VERY few rejections from doing this and have got amazing reactions.

People are not expecting a "magic trick" so they are a lot more drawn into what you are doing.

2. My favourite method of doing tricks for people is actually when working with a friend. I have had a lot of fun when out in bars or restaurants, and my friend will start talking to someone and will at some point in the conversation say something like "Oh you have to see what my friend here can do... he can do some really weird stuff.." and tells me to show them... I will act like I don't want to show them this "thing" (note once again we have given no mention of magic or tricks) and then at this point the person/people in question will be begging you to show them.

This again works so well because rather than approaching someone and shoving a magic trick in their face, they end up actually begging you to show them which makes them a lot more involved in what you are doing once more.

You can really have a lot of fun with this, and you can really make people's days. Believe me, they will remember you for a long time! And you will also make a lot of new friends.

One other tip: After doing this for a while, you will start to be able to "read" the type of people who you are doing a trick for. This is very important not only for choosing the people to approach, but also for "calibrating" and adapting your tricks and presentation as you go. For some people you will want to present your trick in a completely different way to another... and the only way I can really advise you to learn this is just to go out there and observe the reactions that you get from different types of people.

OK that's about all for my first post in here! Sorry if my thoughts are a bit unorganised, but just wanted to share some of the things I have learned and don't have time to go back and edit it all!

Hope it's helpful!

Joe

Try to find your own charachter, but at the same time, study the masters like gazzo.

Order the Art of Street Performing by Jim Cellini! All 3 videos are an outstanding tool. You will even get to see the acts of some of our Café members (Danny Hustle is a member) The videos go through all of the basics that you will need to survive on the Streets. Break a leg and have fun