Street Performer in New Orleans

In the French Quarter in New Orleans I ran into a street performer. He was doing standard stuff in a pretty standard way. It wasn’t bad, but for me it was just “meh”.

street performing magician

He closed with the cups and balls. If you look at the picture above, you can see the table top. The above picture was taken with the camera held above my head.

I also took a picture of with the camera at my eye level:

Magician street performing

I was in the 3rd row and couldn’t see a thing. The busker had trouble building past the second row, and that’s because you couldn’t see what he was doing.

I know I write about this a lot on this blog, but most magicians would learn a lot about what’s visible if they saw a picture of their show from the audience’s eyeline.

Have a friend take a picture of your show and check out your audience’s sight lines, it’s eye opening!

-Louie

Street Show Props…

A couple of weeks ago, I was loading my street show into the dressing/storage/green room at a fair and had all my gear laid out before packing it into it’s cart.

street magic show

That’s my street show. There’s not much to it. I have a shoebox with close up magic, but 90% of the time I don’t do any of that aside from the card trick that’s my initial crowd build. I’m not sure why I travel with the close up magic anymore, I think it’s my mental security blanket in case I can’t stop more than two people.

-Louie

The Moisture Festival Podcast – Just Felice

In this episode of the Moisture Festival Podcast we triangulate locations over zoom and welcome in Just Felice. We learn about how she got started in magic, how she wrote her thesis on street performing and how that inspired her to start doing street shows herself.


We also learn about how she uses her comedy to turn stereotypes on it’s head and what inspired her to take that approach. She also teaches us what an Ethnographer is and how to pronounce it. A great conversation with a great mind in the performing world. 

Extreme Street Performing…

In Seattle one of the spots that people street perform is at the Pike Place Market. The challenge there is there is a permit system and a lot of rules. However if you cross the street you are still in an area with high tourist traffic and there are no rules.

I was just down there and across the street from the Pike Place Market on the corner, there was a crazy set up for a band doing a street show!

The band didn’t even fit on the corner, they spilled out onto the street. The have their own power supply, five speakers and even a giant umbrella! This is some next level street performing, you can hear them blocks away!

One of the things with most street performers is the ability to be mobile. The time it takes to set up is time you could be performing, I’m going to imagine this set up is a pain to unload from the car and build before you start performing, then you have to take it down at the end of the day. Then you factor in that there are 3-4 people involved and everyone gets a piece of the hat. I’m curious how long they can do this and still be profitable AND how long before they get a ticket for being in the street. They’re set up at a busy intersection.

I do like that they’re doing what they need to do to bring their art to the people!
-Louie

You Gotta be a Boy Scout

When you are a performer you have to live by the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared I’m flying out today for a corporate gig and I have  a strange feeling that they venue’s sound system won’t work.  What I mean by that is that it won’t work for my show’s needs.   In banquet halls … Continue reading “You Gotta be a Boy Scout”

When you are a performer you have to live by the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared

I’m flying out today for a corporate gig and I have  a strange feeling that they venue’s sound system won’t work.  What I mean by that is that it won’t work for my show’s needs.

 

In banquet halls there are tons of reasons why the system won’t work. Sometimes they have systems that you can’t plug into.  The speakers in the ceiling sound like a tin can or make it so you can’t move around without getting feedback.

 

Honestly I don’t know why I have this feeling about the sound system, but my “spidey sense” is tingling.

 

So what do I am I doing?

 

I’m packing my street show PA in my suitcase:

Magic show sound system

Since I’m only away a short period of time, I don’t have a lot to pack, so the speaker fits easily in the in my suitcase.

 

The PA I’m using is the Roland Street Cube EX.  The great thing about this is it’s small enough to put in the overhead bin on the plane but has enough power for a gym.   I’ve got the proper cords with me to use this as a mixer and/or monitor if they have a system I can plug into.

 

Hopefully I won’t need it, but in case I do, I’ve got it!

Louie