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Danny Hustle Inner circle Boston, MA USA 2393 Posts |
Michael Rubinstein was nice enough to send me a copy of his little book and I have to say....It's REALLY great! For me when I read one of these books the criteria I try to use when reading it is, do I wish I had access to this when I started out. I can truly say that if I had used this book as a template when I started street performing I would have done much better much faster. While the book is a bit dated in some aspects over 90% of it is still very relevant. I did find myself disagreeing with a couple of points but I want to stress that while I disagreed with some points, choosing to work this way would not hurt a performers ability to do well on the street.
One point I disagreed with after thinking about it, if a beginner were using the book I kind of agreed with. I found that interesting. Michael suggests to not do tricks that require the performer to borrow a bill from the audience. Well, I've done bill in lemon on the street with a borrowed bill and have done very well with it, so has Kozmo, Bobby Maverick, and several others I know. BUT getting that bill DEMANDS a HUGE amount of finesse. So really, for a guy starting out....it probably is best to be avoided. So kudos to Michael for thinking that through completely. That is another thing about this booklet, it is glaringly obvious that A TREMENDOUS amonut of thought went into this book. Michael understood that people were (hopefully) going to take the information, advice, and experience, in this book and actually use it to make a living. Too much pipe dream or bad advice in a book like this can totally screw a guy up no matter how much other GOOD advice the book may contain. The reason for that is as a new performer to the street you can not sort the wheat from the chaff and if you follow the bad advice, you will fail miserably and not know why. You followed the instructions, it should work! This book contains no bad advice. It is also REALLY straight forward, easy to understand, and a perfect primer for the street. Is it the end all be all? No, but if it tried to be that it wouldn't be half as good. There is such a thing as too much information and it seems Michael took great efforts to avoid that. I also REALLY enjoyed the fact that instead of giving you tricks to perform on the street Michael gives a list of tricks that DO work on the street and references where they can be found. He tells you what will and will not work as well as admitting that nothing is set in stone and if you have stuff you are doing now, THAT is probably the best thing to try out on the street. One thing I did disagree with BUT I again want to stress that this information will not hurt anyone attempting it is when he talks about collecting. He describes only two methods pressure and no pressure. In the vernacular of today's street performer we would call them working a flush and a trickle. Working a trickle (no pressure) is where you leave out a tip container and let people leave what they want. A flush is where you make a pitch at the end of the show and pass the hat (Pressure). Now Michal describes this as walking around the audience and shoving the hat under the noses of the spectators demanding money. The way it is described in the book, he makes it sound super harsh. I have seen it done exactly the way he describes and IT IS HARSH! It is also pretty rude, and the guys who do it this way are about two thirds of the way to something I would call a mugging. There is a third way. If I were to equate it to Michael's writing style I would call it a 'passive hat'. This is the way most of the (good) street performers I know collect. These guys make a respectful pitch and hold out there hat asking the spectators to STEP FORWARD if they choose and put something in the hat. they come to YOU you do not go to THEM. A pretty important distinction. In my opinion this is the BEST way to collect the maximum amount for your show IF YOU DO A GOOD SHOW. I've seen guys with bad shows use the pressure method as Michael describes and it works but it leaves a sour stink hanging in the air over the pitch. These are the guys that make magicians who do not work the street equate what we do with begging. If you do a passive hat collection you know you are doing it right when people come up to the hat, drop in some money, look you in the eye, and thank YOU as you are thanking them. This was always my favorite part of street performing. Not the money, but the contact where that guy or lady let me know they really had fun and enjoyed themselves. The money is what allows me to keep doing it, the smiles are the reason I enjoy doing it. Bottom line, I really loved this little book and I hope some of you that are thinking about street theater pick up a copy and use it to your advantage. Guys thinking about working the streets today are VERY lucky. At no time in history has there been more REALLY GOOD information available than there is right now. This book would be a GREAT book to get you started. As you progress there is a ton of great material out there to grow with you. I really do wish I had access to this book when I was starting out. BIG THUMBS UP! Thanks Michael! Finally, this book is much more comprehensive than the two earlier books I mentioned. Those are also great books for the beginner and well worth a read. As someone pointed out Secrets of the street conjuror is available for download for 4 bucks and "The street conjuror" by Jim Haviland is probably still available at Davenports if you live In England. Speaking of Mr. Haviland, Davenports also has a video of one of his lectures that would be well worth looking into. If you have a copy and have a way to get it to DVD or American VHS format let me know. I'll pay you for your effort and Davenports for the copy. I have been trying to get them to put it on a DVD for many years now so that we across the pond could enjoy it as well. Best, Dan- "MT is one of the reasons we started this board! I’m so sick of posts being deleted without any reason given, and by unknown people at that." - Steve Brooks Sep 7, 2001 8:38pm ©1999-2014 Daniel Denney all rights reserved. |
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MagiUlysses Special user Kansas City 504 Posts |
Greetings and Salutations,
Danny, have I mentioned, lately, that you are a true gentleman among gentlemen. As Danny said, it's not the first and last word on performing on the street, but it'll send you in the right direction. And, by all means, when you have the means, buy the other works mentioned in this and other threads. Don't be paralyzed by analysis, but it pays to know what others, Kozmo, Giz, Cellini, Capehart, Haydn, Morris, et al, who have tread before think on the subject. Particularly when someone else thinks that those gents have enough to say on the subject to gamble on publishing them. Just my $.02 (USD) worth. YMMV |
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superpixel Regular user Knoxville, TN 133 Posts |
As a budding performer who is planning to take his act "to the streets" (well, our local town square then a road trip with a friend where we'll be doing comedy and magic) in the coming months, I have to say all of these references and suggestions have been wonderful!
Thank you all for entertaining and sharing. Now I have to choose amongst you on where to spend my money first ;-)
-- superpixels / victor / banana wizard --
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shanehillman New user 51 Posts |
Danny,
I am curious about the DVD set that Richard Kaufman released that you were referring to. What is the title of the set? I wanted to look more into it. Thanks -Shane |
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Whit Haydn V.I.P. 5449 Posts |
Michael Rubenstein also sent me a copy of his book. I thought it was extraordinary, and like Danny, just wish I had had something like that to help when I was starting out. It is packed full of great information and ideas in a very concise and easy to read form.
What a time to live in! One could take a complete college level course in street magic today just with Mario Morris's set of DVDs, which are stellar. I can't tell you how much better and more succesful I would have been as a street performer if I had had access to this kind of help back in the 1960's. Back then I had to pick up bits and pieces from helpful pros like Presto, Al Cohen, Ken Brooks and Patrick Page, and found the majority of magicians I ran into either contemptuous or mildly amuzed by the idea of a hippy working for change on the street. There is no better learning experience for becoming a professional magician than working on the streets. |
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Danny Hustle Inner circle Boston, MA USA 2393 Posts |
Quote:
On 2010-04-19 09:02, shanehillman wrote: http://www.elmwoodmagic.com/full/DVD-Bob......5727.htm "MT is one of the reasons we started this board! I’m so sick of posts being deleted without any reason given, and by unknown people at that." - Steve Brooks Sep 7, 2001 8:38pm ©1999-2014 Daniel Denney all rights reserved. |
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Review King Eternal Order 14446 Posts |
I read Michael Rubinstein's Inside Street Magic today and thoroughly enjoyed it. While I have never busked performing magic, I do have Kozmo's and the Mario Morris DVDS and Micheal's book should be in everyone's library. I learned a great deal from it.
Chris
"Of all words of tongue and pen,
the saddest are, "It might have been" ..........John Greenleaf Whittier |
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Michael Rubinstein V.I.P. 4665 Posts |
I am resurecting this thread, because I found a few copies while getting ready for a move. I have them available here in case anyone is interested: http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......rum=78&0
S.E.M. (The Sun, the Moon, and the Earth) is a sun and moon routine unlike any other. Limited to 100 sets, here is the promo:
https://youtu.be/aFuAWCNEuOI?si=ZdDUNV8lUPWvtOcL $325 ppd USA (Shipping extra outside of USA). If interested, shoot me an email for ordering information at rubinsteindvm@aol.com |
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magic123 Loyal user 273 Posts |
Im interested in street magic , and read everything I read a review of Mr. Rubinstein's book writtem by Michael Lee
who said the book was Very well written , and in great detail, Mr. Rubinstein is most knowlegable in his writings on the Art of busking. The Sheridan book I was told is a documentation of Buskers through out history- But Does Not go into the how to's ie. how to get people to stop , how to Build a crowd etc. The Rubinstein book is without doubt a worthy investment. |
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