Gazzo and I worked at Scarborough Faire during 1995 and 1996. I left after 1996 for personal reasons. Gazzo had suffered a stroke, which really limited his use of his left hand. His work still shows some of the damage from that. However, he has not let this stand in his way of entertaining people and doing the cups and balls.

Our approaches to working crowds were completely different. I couldn't do Gazzo's act in a million years. No way. There are a lot of people on this forum who can't do Gazzo's act. Some of them don't know it, though.

Granted, there may be people on this forum who do the cups and balls better from a technical standpoint. I won't argue that, and neither would Gazzo. However, even if you don't perform in his style or even if you don't particularly LIKE his style, there are three things to remember.

1) He entertains the HELL out of his crowds. He learned how to do this the hard way -- by working at it.

2) He almost always has fat hats. The size of the hat is for many of us the "grading machine" when it comes to busking acts.

3) People come back to see him. This is another "grading machine," when it comes to entertainment in general.

Maybe Gazzo's act doesn't appeal to you. Fine. If this is the case, then move away from the crowd so someone else who likes his act can see him a bit better.

If you do an act that is better than his, please let me know where you are performing. It would be a whole lot better than the cr@p acts I saw in Germany and Switzerland this last trip. They were so bad, there weren't even any pickpockets there.

90 min hypnosis act! that's it!

"You are all getting sleepy... SlEePy... NiCe AnD CaLm... WhEn I SnAp My FiNgErS YoU WiLl AwAkE, ApLaUdE MaDlY AnD ThEn FiLl My Hat WiTh AlL YoUr MoNnY...."

Talk about fat hats!

Ok, so some like him, some absolutely love him and others despise him. But as long as Gazzo has a new audience and the world continues to spin and over populate, he will always have an audience to play to and again it will be love and hate of Gazzo's routine.

While some will not like his rough street attitude, you have to remember he's been out there probally longer than most of us, he knows what he can get away with and what a crowd enjoys. Add the fact that his talent has inspired a number of other street peformers, and groves of inspiring as well as seasoned performers turn out for his classes. What does this tell you?

This topic has been brought up time and time again and it will always have the same ending, Gazzo is Gazzo and he will continue to show his arse in public when he performs. His work creates controversy and that generally creates GREAT advertising and followings.

Gazzo, thanks for all you've done for the street workers, the things you have taught us, continue to teach us and the willingness to share your experience of the street and magic with all of us and never asking for anything in return, but some respect. You have all mine!

Jake

bill that's it exactly.

but you don't need to tell me why any busker should look up to him, and praise him for his lifes work, I GET IT, HE DESERVES IT!


and please don't get me wrong my shows ok, but my shows not as good as gazzos, not even close, heck its not as good as a lot of the people on here, but it will be some day I hope.

even though I might not do gazzo's type of humor in my comedy/magic show he makes me laugh out load through his intire show no dead time its beautiful.

I never get tired of watching his show.

and cups and balls great piece of magic, I don't do em in my show, but if I did I'd wanna use his cups and pouch.

when I said he's not my hero I just meant he's not the guy I wanna be like, I wanna be like cardini,cellini,charlie frye,chaz chase,buster keaton,or eddie cantor...guys like that.

another thing about gazzo that I don't think has been mentioned I heard from a bunch of people that he knows a bunch of magic he doesn't do in his show any more and that he was walter scotts only student(actually that last one I saw on the internet)

Yeh thanks gazzo.

On 2007-06-03 09:27, jimmy talksalot wrote:
Starrpower
are you a busker? this is a place for buskers to learn and share.
Not exclusively, but yes, I do busk. Mostly balloon stuff. Are you suggesting I cannot comment on something if I don't do it myself? Must you be a world leader if you want to criticize the President?

Besides, since you don't seem to understand, I will try to clarify: I am not necessarily commenting on Gazzo, but rather how magicians perceive other acts, and why. Understand? Gazzo happened to be the example I used.

feathers were ruffled because we thought it was OBVIOUS not because of hero worship,some of us don't care for gazzo's stlye.
Never assume peoples' opinions are obvious ... nor should you assume that you speak for everyone here by using "we" -- I am reading diverse opinions here.

so you know this is a busker's forum and I'm wondering if you do a 90 min hypnosis act on the street...
Um... right. Of course I don't do a 90 minute hyp act on the street! But I thought you were being rather condescending comparing me to Gazzo. I never made nor suggested such a comparison. In turn, I thought I'd demonstrate the absurdity of your question by posing one of my own to you.

more importantly do you ever compare yourself to some one better then you to make yourself better?
you said,"Not intentionally. Why do you ask?"
are you kidding? if not, I think you may be unreasonable and I wont trouble you any more.

My mistake. I thought you were implying that I compare myself to others in an attempt to feel better, kind of a "criticize him, and I'll seem better by comarison" mentality. That's what I don't do. But, if you mean do I look at someone better than me in an attempt to improve, of course; who doesn't?

but with anwers "like why do you ask" or "what am I missing" people are going to ask if you understand....do you understand?
Duh .. understand what? Type a little slower and it might help.

well good luck and fat hats...um, that means I hope you make good money on your shows.
Thanks for clearing that up! Now, about that word "busking"...

Why judge steet performers by the amount of money they make?

When I performed in the past (very few times), I'd say: "Folks, I'm not doing this for money - of course, if you're a pretty girl with a college degree, you can leave your phone number."

And I got a couple of those ...

If you judge any act by the amount of money they make ALONE, IMO, you are making a big mistake. As an example, I give you Ded Bob. Clark has a cute act. He makes MONSTER hats. But I think his method of making MONSTER hats is crude and abhorrent. Why? Because he sends two guys out into his crowd as a contest to see which one can fill the garbage sacks fullest with "donations." It's clever. But it's crude and it's overkill.

I could never bring myself to do that kind of thing. OTOH, Clark makes a mega-giga-shipload of money. I don't know how well his act would translate to actual street busking. But in a Renaissance festival setting, it's the act that gets the biggest hats of all time, including the Sturdy Beggars Mud Show.

If you have a really good street act, and you can do it within the bounds and limitations of Renaissance festivals, you can make a lot of money. But you need a different approach to the crowd. I have seen excellent street acts fail at these things.

The size of the hat is only one factor in judging the quality of a street act.

These comments were directed at the general forum.

Specifically to jimmy talksalot -- why would you want to be like ANY of the people you mentioned? That's the wrong goal. Be yourself. Be the best version of yourself that you can be.

Learn from all of them, but apply what you learn from them to your own character, so when people see you perform, they don't say, "Well, there's another (insert name here) clone."

The world does not need another Gazzo, or another Cellini, Charlie Frye, Chas Chase, Buster Keaton, Eddie Cantor, Doug Henning, David Blaine, Mark Wilson, David Copperfield, Faucett Ross, Dai Vernon or Johnny Thompson." All of them are or were good or even great. But they were great at being who and what they are or were. You cannot possibly EVER be as good as them at being them. But none of them can or could ever be as good as being jimmy talksalot as you can be.

This was one of the things I took home from the Dai Vernon $1000 lecture. In a way, it was the basic thought behind his lecture.

I surrender, you are correct Starrpower, Gazzo is over rated and magicians only look to him because they think they have to, they are sheep not worthy of our time, they are the unwashed masses and do not have our clarity. Long live Perci.

those cats sound cool! I wish I could train my cat...

I'm with magicsanta I surrender this place is a mad house.

so starrpower you win???

its hard to share or learn or even argue if people don't understand you.[no matter how simple you make it for them.]

I'm bored.

I'll be on the pitch[place where I work]

but I'd like to leave you with these words of wisdom. its a quote that openned my eyes to the situation.

[quote]On 2007-06-03 20:58, Starrpower wrote:

My mistake. I thought you were implying that.....

Apparently you really don't get it, Jimmy. I was asking for opinions. Nobody can "win" when discussing opinions.

In any case, I do agree that this thread has been exhausted. Move along, everyone, there's nothing to see here ...

Lol this is such crap....gazzo is brillant ...now not everyone likes him...some don't get his sense of humor...they think hes rude so walk away...

starpower, I just wonder if you have ever worked the streets...

heres some truth for you all...and most of you wont like it....it has nothing to do with magic NOTHING...all these great sleight of hand guys that cant make a living on the streets...i have seen them come and go...failure after failure...thats the reality.. some of those greats of street magic that are talked about here wouldn't be able to share a pitch with gazzo because lay people love him...and they couldn't be compared

I had a magician come up to me after a show in the south a few months ago...150 people KILLED them BIG hat...they laughed and had a great time (great time, that's my job) and this guy came up to me and said, hey how do you get to work here?...i told the guy that he would have to get a permit and explained how, then I asked him how he like my show...he said, it was ok....just ok?...he said yea well I saw you load the lemon and the mellon, I knew when you did it....

hes a magician HES SUPPOSED TOO!~ lay people don't see it, we are not out there to fool magicians...we are out there to entertain lay audiences...maybe starpower you need to remember that...

gazzo once told me, these guys go out there and fail then what do they do...a rope trick and it gets worse....NO ONE CARES NO ONE CARES! NO ONE

magicians look for the next great trick that will put them over the top and make them successful....and it NEVER happens...because they don't care...oh that was nice, whats next....gazzo leaves them with something...and that's what magicians don't get THEY don't GIVE A RATS ASS ABOUT MAGIC>>>THEY JUST don't

now starpower probably just assumed that because of reputation that he would be blown away by gazzo.....and his magic and it didn't happen...gazzos smart, he knows magic doesn't work all that well and funny is money...gazzo is a great street performer...the best maybe in the last 50 years at least in magic....some get it some don't but most do...gazzo is a friend and one of the great on this planet...hes had more influence on street magic performance and possibly street performance than anyone in the last 30 or 40 years...hes brillant...try to do what he does then come back and lets talk

I just noticed this post and thought I would chime in...

Gazzo is a lot more than a street worker with funny lines.
He has an uncanny ability to entertain masses of people with the most common of effects. Even though the effects are common to us and a lot of laypeople, one still watches and laughs. Or maybe they don't laugh, but they do watch don't they?

Starrpower, I think that while you were watching the loads, and picking at the performance, you did miss the most obvious thing. The ability to connect with people, and make them forget about their problem for a while. The ability to make them feel something. Anything at all. didn't ya see it in their faces?

He motivates the hell out of me.

That's the magic of Gazzo man. It should be the magic for all of us.

The sad thing is, this is what you missed...

Kozmo's speakin the truth once again

Hey starr power did you read that?

theres a pattern emerging here.

Starrpower and I shan't be swayed with your silly notions that the mear fact the majority enjoy the show and laughed and had a good time and put a lil' something in the hat means this Gazzo did it RIGHT. Oh no siree, he didn't fly, he didn't climb the side of a building, he didn't even cling to his mommy while one of his brothers wept in fear of his being injured...that, you lessers, is what real magic is about.

PS: I absolutely HATE performing for magicians, they are the worse audience. I'll be the guy at IBM in Reno w/out a deck of cards on me.

I hate tomatoes. I think they are terrible. But many many people love tomatoes. I'm ok with that.

:)

I much prefer performing for magicians. I find performing for laypeople boring, because they are so easily fooled and entertained. The challenge in magic for me is to fool other magicians and have the most original, sophisticated routines. Just as playing the piano for aunt Milly is not quite as much fun as playing the piano in a night-long jam session with other pianists.

Perhaps it is because I experienced one of the worse magic clubs in history. They were unfriendly, bitter, angry geezer punks. These guys would argue with lecturers until, and this is true, the lecturer would just give up and cancel work shops etc.. The final straw came when I told them I was doing a classic pass and switched in a one way deck, amazingly they caught me every time I did a pass, told me how I flashed and how bad it was. Thing was I never did a single pass, just would instert the top card, flex my arm, and show the card was on top. Of course with a one way deck that isn't difficult! So, I don't do magic for magicians, they are not my audience. I do see your point though and can appreciate it. One thing about musicians jamming, you don't have everyone playing the drums.