I lost my street magic "virginity" this weekend. I did three hours Saturday and another 3 hours on Sunday of street magic for a Shakespearean Festival.

I'm not sure if it was the crowd at the festival or the fact that there were other activities (like plays, jugglers, horse rides, etc.), but not many people wanted to see magic. I think some people thought they'd have to pay to see the magic or that I'd hit them up for money...hehe. Not that I refused tips, but I had been hired by the organizers.

My thoughts:

* Spongeballs went over the best for the kids. I did the standard 4 ball routine where increasing number of balls appear in the kids hands. Amusingly, I think most of the parents got a bigger kick out of it than their kids.
* I freaked out teenagers with Third Degree Burn. This seems like a great street trick. Simple, easy to use, resets instantly and makes a dramatic finish. Especially if you ham up the "burn".
* Rainmaker was tough to manipulate and get setup correctly, but was well received - though no overwelming reactions
* Mind reading tricks went over well - Child's Play II, etc.
* Color Monte blew most people away with its suprise finish
* I didn't get a chance to do Ambitious Card. I hadn't practiced it enough to be able to improvise because it was hot and my hands were so sweaty.

Anyway... those are my thoughts. Thanks for the suggestions, advice, etc.

Yes, sometime sponge balls have best reactions with adults than kids.

In a hot weather try to have easy resets effects and, if you can, rub your hands a couple of minutes with ice: it will keep your hands dry enough to do some effects of manipulation.

I've seen that people love money effects: have you ever try "Hundy 500"? It's a terrific effect, I bring it every time with me.

In every event you'll find every kind of people and many of them will refuse to see magic... Don't mind them, say thanks and smile every time, and you'll never loose your excitement. And don't forget to have fun!

Paolo

Yea, Hundy 500 is great. I use it almost all the time.

Chrix

Greetings and Salutations John,

Congratulations of getting out there and sticking to it. The first time for me was the worst -- I sucked hard cheese through a sippy straw and had to do five shows a day! It's gotten way better since, but there's nothing like the rush of getting out there the first time.

Festivals like the one you did are great places to break in as they are almost a built-in safety net for success as people are there to be entertained, and getting paid on top of it is great!

A couple of questions for you: because I don't remember the orginal thread, is this a first-time event; how were you hawking your shows; how were the audiences for other performers; have you attended other, like events, e.g., ren faires, etc.; and again, because I don't recall, was this your first performing gig that was not a staged event, or event/venue without a regular stage, paid attendance and stage time?

I know the sponge balls and color monte, and both would work well for street work, given the right conditions, which is sounds like you had but, honestly, I'm unfamiliar with your other effects -- are they designed to play to a parlour-sized crowd or are they more one-on-one effects?

While I don't use close-up effects, unless you want to count the cups and balls as a close-up effect, I know that other performers go both ways, opening with a close-up effect to start the crowd gather, or middle with a close-up, once they've won the crowd over -- that all depends on the perfomer, of course.

How did you routine your show, i.e., what was your opener, your middle effect/s, and your closer?

As for my show at a recent renfaire, I opened with the professor's nightmare and used it to help build the crowd, did the floating wand bit, and closed with the C&Bs. Depending on how I opened, or the crowd, I'd do a vanishing silk and or a color-changing silk streamer, and my show ran about 15 minutes, including passing the hat.

Are you going back next season, and do you have any plans for any other festivals, Shakespeare, renaissance, or otherwise, in the upcoming future?

Good luck and congratulations again on getting out there!

Joe in KC

Hello all:

Thank you for the compliment on Third Degree Burn, John! I too find that it sort of freaks out people (okay, I'm biased! lol). It was not only designed to be done in formal close-up event situations, but I also had "street magic" in mind when I was developing it. I'm glad that you are enjoying the trick!

Third Degree Burn (and our other trick, Divine Time) are both available for direct sale at our site if you wish---we have quite a few in stock. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your time.

Best regards,

Jason Palter
Paltergeist Unlimited
(416) 410-5766

Ewww ewww! Third Degree Burn is great and if you all are looking to add some cool mentalism to your act you will find a great addition with Divine Time. The cost may seem high but you get everything you need, no running around looking for props and it plays great.
Steve V

Jason,

I've never failed to get a reaction from Third Degree and I give it a whole Bizarre, mentalism twist which helps to greak them out. =)

Magi,

-how were you hawking your shows?
Not sure what you mean by "hawking". =) Do you mean to the audience or to the event coordinator?

-how were the audiences for other performers?
I think I probably had the biggest audience of any of the performers, although at times the fire-eater and jugglers had a decent crowd.

-have you attended other, like events, e.g., ren faires, etc.
Attended yes... performed... no. =(

-was this your first performing gig that was not a staged event, or event/venue without a regular stage, paid attendance and stage time?
I've done a lot of kids shows, which rarely have stages, but this is the first time on the street.

-I'm unfamiliar with your other effects -- are they designed to play to a parlour-sized crowd or are they more one-on-one effects?
Which effects are you referring to?

-opening with a close-up effect to start the crowd gather, or middle with a close-up, once they've won the crowd over -- that all depends on the perfomer, of course.

I stayed with close-up and drew a crowd around. With close-up, like mentalism, sometimes your props are the people who can see. And the people who couldn't quite see made an effort to stick around and get in close for the next show, which gave me time to introduce and promote myself.

-How did you routine your show, i.e., what was your opener, your middle effect/s, and your closer?

Honestly, I changed it everytime, mostly because of the aforementioned situation and the type of people who were around. I'm pretty good at playing to the audience.

I was usually opening up with a card trick (either color monte or a comedy card force/mind reading gag), then moving on to sponge balls with either adult patter if there were all adults or general patter if there were kids, then a one-ahead coin prediction with 3 spectators, then Child's play, then Third Degree Burn as a closer... basically, the premise was to start them out with "magic" and end with "mental/bizarre" effects.

I also threw in Disjointed and a thumbcuff escape (comedy version) and a few other misc. tricks to give the shows some variety from show to show.

I love the "ewwwws" and "Oh my g*d!" I got from the crowd with disjointed, especially the teen to twenty something crowd.

Greetings and Salutations John,

Sorry, "hawking" is a semi-standard term at the festivals I have performed for for calling a crowd/audience to a shop or show. I "hawked" my show in three different ways: the first, was simply playing with some props, most of which had nothing to do with my show, and ignoring the gathering crowd until the semi-circle of people was more or less the size of my liking, and then I'd shape them up, call a few more over and start my show. I also simply made eye contact with folks or used my voice to call people to my pitch/performing area, and when I had the number of people I wanted to start the show for, I'd begin. Or, three, I'd start off with the professor's nightmare and use people, usually someone from a group, to examine the ropes, by the time I had three groupsof people together plus a few more, I's start my show. In most instances I never started before I had at least a dozen people, 15 was better and 20 was what I wanted, trusting that more would fill in behind them. Anything less than 12 and there is a tendency for some to drift off, in which case you might as well blow off your show and start gathering again -- not a good way to make money. At 15-20, with the area I defined as my performing space, the crowd would be two-deep, and would build from there -- crowds attract crowds.

I know many fire eaters and jugglers, curse them all! LOL! Both have acts that either involve danger, the fire eaters, or break the third dimension, jugglers.

The reason I asked the "stage" question was to guage your experience with working outside of the box, or, off of a stage. In my own, admittedly, limited experience, getting folks to sit through a show at a stage is much easier than keeping them for a street or lane show at a festival. The first few times people walked away from my street show I turned into a yammering idiot and saw my performing life flash before my eyes. It was a rare occasion when folks would get up from seating at a stage. In both instances I now know that it was my fault, something in my show didn't connect with them; however, on the lane at a faire/festival, you act has to be tighter because they walked up and they can just as easily walk away, and there is so much to see and do that if you're not 'on' every moment you can lose audience in the blink of an eye.

I only have a nodding acquaintence with most mentalism effects, and I don't follow new effects too closely and am not familiar with 'Rainmaker' or 'Third Degree Burn.' I know that Ambitious Card, sponge balls, and card effects like 'Color Monte' can play great on the streets and so lend themselves to faires and festivals. So, what I meant was, are 'Third Degree' and 'Rainmaker' effects that can play to a larger audience, or are they close-up, one-on-one effects?

It sounds like your show had a decent flow. Me, personally, I stopped switching out effects by the second day and concentrated on what was working for me, the professor's nightmare, the floating wand, and the cups and balls. After a couple of more days I didn't have to concentrate on what I was doing or the patter and I could play with the audience. The benefit there was I could keep my eye on them, and when I had eye contact with them they were less likely to drift away.

Congratulations on getting the gig, and getting the crowd reactions! Sometimes those "ews" and "ahs" are worth more than the money ... sometimes! LOL!

Joe in KC

Ahh... Hawking...

Hmm... I did a combination of things. If a small group of people was passing, I'd try using eye contact and some witty banter about one of my tricks to get them to stop, then I'd do one or two little tricks to draw a crowd.

If I saw a group with kids, I'd start making some balloon animals... and for those who say they aren't period, I told them that the very first balloons were make from sheep's intestines... and then proceed to hand them a balloon. =)

The balloons were an instant draw and if I was feeling abandoned, I just need to break those out, make a few balloons, then ask them if they'd like to see some magic. At that point, I'd start the show.

As far as walking away, I don't take it personally. It's MUCH different working with a show that someone WANTS to see and working with people who were probably not expecting to see a magician. Not to mention, the place I had to perform had scant little shade and that made the audience less likely to stay.

My Third Degree Burn routine goes something like this: I ask the audience if they'd like to see another card trick. They say yes, especially after Color Monte. I ask one person to think of a card. Then I ask them to visualize that card. I ask them if they can really see the card. They say yes and I ask them if they know where the image in their mind comes from. I tell them whenever we think of something, it comes to be in the spirit world. I then tell them I can find their card in the spirit world, but I need a conduit... and fire is the conduit. I pull out a lighter and ask the spectator to light it. I then tell them I'm going to reach in and pull out their card. I reach in, try to grab the flame and then go "OW!"... I bring my fingers back and tell them I almost had it... then I show my fingers and tell them, I got part of it and blistered on my fingers is the number and suit of the card.

It caters to a smaller group, but the nice thing is... you do it to the people who can see and they go "ooohh" and "ewww" and the people in the back get really curious! =)

Rainmaker is really a smaller crowd illusion too. But again, once you explain everything, even if they don't get wet themselves, they still react to the other people getting wet.

John:

Awesome idea on my Third Degree Burn! Great idea and I like the "spirit world" part. Do you mind if I use that in our upcoming .pdf book of additional ideas for Third Degree Burn? If you are okay with it, please email the idea to me.

Best regards,

Jason Palter
Paltergeist Unlimited
(416) 410-5766

To get a reaction from the kids with sponge ball, you have to play up the performance a bunch. Screem like a woman when they open their hands. Show them how they are supposed to react. Of course they enjoy the scream more than the effect, but who cares... its funny.

Steve V:

I forgot to thank you for your comments on "Divine Time". We are very proud of it and the reviews and comments for it have been fantastic. You are correct: the cost may seem a little high. But truthfully, when you add up everything that you get with it, plus the full routine, plus the fact that it is "ready to go out of the box", it really is a good deal (at least I think so! LOL!).

If I may mention: We have lots of Third Degree Burn tricks (and Divine Time) in stock. If you want ordering information or have any other questions/comments, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your time.

Best regards,

Jason Palter
Paltergeist Unlimited
(416) 410-5766