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Festival Street Shows versus Busking
This past Saturday was probably the hottest day so far this summer… and I couldn’t bare to put on my vest, hat and tie and hit the streets… but that didn’t stop me from heading out to watch somebody else sweating it up while performing magic outside.
So I headed to Langley for it’s Arts Alive Street Festival to watch my magic-buddy, Wes Barker perform.
Some people wonder what the difference is between busking and street performing, say, at Festival… the answer is about $100/hr… kidding… depending on the performer the dollars can vary considerably but there are other factors.
A busker’s job is, in Cellini’s words: “Getting them to stop. Getting them to say… and getting them to pay.” That’s not the case with a festival.
A festival is a destination and by definition people have arrived to see or do something. They’re pre-primed to stop and watch something, they’re not on their way to the store, an appointment, a movie or a friend’s place– they’ve come, at least partly, to see you!
Getting them to pay isn’t an issue either… usually, though not always, performers are hired by the organizers to provide the entertainment… and tips, although welcome, are not expected.
Which leaves the ‘getting them to stay’ part… and on a hot day with the sweat trickling down behind your ears and down your neck, it’s still the toughest job.
Wes was a great host, he made sure everyone was welcome, that they had a good time– and got rid of them before any of them noticed the heat… and that’s not an easy job when you’re inside a strait jack and the pavement is soft beneath your feet. It almost made me feel bad for not performing myself that afternoon…
… almost.
Glass Walk Vs. Straight Jacket Escape
It was fun to hit the street with my old performing buddy Wes Barker yesterday.
Instead of doing our two-man show we alternated sets: he did card tricks and balloon swallowing and ended with his classic comedy Straight Jacket escape and me, I read and controlled minds… including my own as I finished up with my new Glass Walking routine.
It was fun to sit back every other set and let Wes do his thing.
The reactions from passers-by were very interesting. It’s always great to watch another perform work. I always learn a lot.
Who won?
The good citizens of Vancouver, of course.
Post Game Seven Streets
I set out on Wednesday afternoon intending to do a show or two on the crowded streets of Vancouver.
There was a lot of foot traffic and two out of every three people that walked by had a Canucks jersey or a blue and green painted face. I set up on the usual pitch and folks stopped by… but never for long. After a couple of half-hearted shows I gave it up as a losing proposition.
It was an odd vibe.
I used to scoff at the idea that the streets could have a particular mood but even after my relatively short time as a street performer I can easily feel the good days from the bad. Other, more experienced folks, have an even keener more specific sense of the pavement’s mood.
I as I walked down Robson, my buddy Travis, the magician, called as I made my way passed bar after bar with line-ups out the door. He was wondering if I thought it was worth his while to come down for an hour. There were hoots and hollers and horns from the people walking by. I told him that the usual pitch was off, that Granville, though crowded wasn’t filled with people hanging out having fun. It was filled with hurrying. And a kind of impatience.
It was still too early to be drunken… if anything Robson had a more coked-up vibe. Jiggling feet and darting eyes. Not a crowd looking for the kind of entertainment we might provide. I wasn’t enthusiastic.
We chatted a little longer, I think Trav decided not to bother and I headed home past the huge line-up for the Jumbo-tron CBC had set up on Hamilton.
Five hours later there would be rioting. Although our condo’s only a couple of blocks away that night was actually quieter in our neighbourhood than it had been during previous post game rowdiness.
The next day I couldn’t resist venturing out again. I had a couple of new lines I wanted to try out for my glass-walking routine… which may or may not have been too soon. I thought there would be a more hung-over feeling out in town. But it wasn’t. It felt more like the street was filled with annoyed parents looking for their kids.
I made my way over to Granville Island to see what it was like there.
It was restrained and mostly filled with tourists who looked like guests who arrived late to a wedding only to discover something awful happened. But they came all this way and decided to stick around for the cake.
As the afternoon progressed, though everybody was still subdued, smiles came a little more freely. I had a couple of fun shows.
There wasn’t a Canucks Jersey in sight.
Victoria Day
Hopped out for a quick couple of shows on Robson Street this afternoon.
A lot of fun trying some new experiments.
Thanks, Vancouver.
The Changing Pitch
It happened in a week.
All the buskers in town decided it was time to come out of hibernation.
I had been enjoying a couple of months of showing up at Granville Island whenever I liked knowing that there would be a pitch waiting for me.
I went out this afternoon and every pitch was taken, even the crappy one over at Railspur Alley.
It’s early morning sign ups or off to Robson Street for the summer I guess.
Synchronicity Part II
… and if that wasn’t enough.
After performing today I started packing up and hauling my gear to the car when some one stopped me.
He explained that he had seen me perform only a few days earlier. He described how I teased him for taping the show and said had just posted a video of me on Youtube… You’ll see me around the 1:20 mark.
Synchronicity
It’s said that when you perform mysteries, the uncanny follows you.
Yesterday I was performing on Granville Island. This tourist destination is a great place to try out new experiments in thought-plucking, especially early in the week on a spring day before the big crowds of the summer force you into a more practiced routine.
There was a one new piece I was eager to try out. I had tested it on family and friends and was pretty pleased with how it was going. It had been inspired by Apollo Robbins, the Gentleman Thief. I had met Apollo and his lovely partner, Eva, several years ago in Las Vegas. Apollo is a consummate sleight of hand artist and pick-pocket extraordinaire.
More recently I had seen Apollo sharing some of his “put-pocketing” techniques which led me, in turn, to develop a new piece for my show.
Yesterday was a lovely, if bit windy, day down on Granville Island I had just finished a small but enjoyable show and was getting ready for another where I was going to debut my new piece… when I saw a face in the crowd.
It was Apollo Robbins.
He had just flown into Vancouver for a corporate show the night before and he and Eva were just touring the city, seeing the sights.
Moments before I had performed a demonstration of coincidence with two brothers but it paled to the outrageous synchronicity the universe contrived to bring Apollo there at the moment I was to try a new effect that he inspired.
Charlatans, like me, are always warned not to be seduced into magick-al thinking… but it’s hard to resist sometimes.
Welcome to Dave Moses, Mind Reader.
This site was a long time coming.
I thought that performing my demonstrations of Mind Reading and Hypnosis were something that I would just be performing for family, friends and at the occasional dinner party.
But word got out that I was performing incognito on the streets of Vancouver… and the phone started ringing. Now I’m performing at private and public functions as well as corporate events. Even internationally!
It’s crazy I know.
As some of you know I make my living as a television writer. You can see some of my work from that part of my life here… and here not to mention here. Unfortunately if you live outside of Canada you might not be allowed to watch these shows. Sorry.
I’ve tried to keep these two worlds separate and have performed under various aliases for the last couple of years. Now I think: “Why bother.” Practically everybody in the television industry knows of my strange predilection to bend spoons and swing pendulums, and those who know me as a performer aren’t a bit surprised to hear that I write TV shows on the side.
So please consider this as my Mind Reading base of operations.
If you want to hear my thoughts on Television Writing and such stuff, I have another blog you can visit.
Thanks for your interest,
Dave
