circus – MagicShow.Tips

White Album Xmas

For 17 years there’s been a circus show in Portland, OR called the White Album Xmas. I’ve heard about it and finally got to go see the show!

The show is a circus show to the soundtrack of the Beatle’s White Album, which is played by an amazing band! The show has a story that is the throughline and it loosely connects the circus acts.

This is a super fun show put on by super talented people and it’s clear that it’s a labor of love. I was chatting to a friend of my who has been in the show for 17 years and he said there’s about 65 people involved in putting the show on! That’s a major undertaking!

What really surprised me is that the demographics for the show was essentially two kinds of people. People who are into the circus and people who are into The Beatles. For each group, the other thing was a bonus. My wife and I were a good example of one person from each group!

The thing that really struck me about everyone in the show was that they all appeared to be having the best time they’ve ever had in their lives! Everyone in the show looked like there’s no where they’d rather be than on that stage. That’s something 99% of magicians should learn to do: look like they’re having fun onstage!

Sometimes I see a show and want to be a part of it and this is one of those shows. The reality is that my style of performing doesn’t really fit into the show. Sure I could create an act for the show, but the other problem is that the show runs during prime holiday party season and I’d be missing out on a lot of high paying gigs. I’ll have to settle be being a part of the show by buying a ticket and possibly volunteering as an usher or whatever on my day of.

If you’re in the Portland OR area in early December, you should check out this show!

-LOuie

On The High Wire by Philippe Petitt

My airplane reading last week was On The High Wire by Philippe Petitt. While not magic, it’s about variety/circus arts which is relatable. I thought this going more of a biography, but it’s not it’s a technical manual for high wire walking!

By technical manual, there’s not a lot of specific and it teaches it in very general terms. It’s a very fun read. The way he talks about high wire walking, he’s clearly in love with it and that passion carries the book.

It got me wondering why there aren’t really magic biographies for the general public written as technical manuals that teach techniques in broad strokes. They wouldn’t have to really give away any specific secrets that would spoil any tricks. It’d be an interesting read if someone was able to write one. I’m nowhere near a good enough writer to do that.

-Louie

The Moisture Festival Podcast – Vivian Tam

On this episode of the Moisture Festival Podcast we welcome Ariel superstar Vivian Tam. We talk about her interest in circus at a young age, how she was able to mimic circus videos she got at the local library and how that led to a successful aerial career.

She tells us about going to stunt school, how she comes up with some of her routines and how much storage is needed to house all her equipment. A fantastic interview with one of the best aerial performers working today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The Moisture Festival Podcast – PAZ

On this episode we are joined via zoom with the multi talented Paz. From his car he tells us about the origins of his name, how tennis led him to law school and how law school led him to the circus.

We talk about creating shows that combine circus with other popular pastimes and how by doing so it has allowed Paz to travel the world. A great conversation with a man who does just about everything.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Run Away With the Sideshow…

I just saw that World of Wonders is starting to take applications from performers to work with them this summer:

I had a blast performing with them last summer for 10 days. The people are cool and the show format is a lot of fun! You do a 3ish minute act twice in the show and you do the show three times a day.

For the 10 days I performed with World of Wonders I took a something I hadn’t done in a few years to relearn to do it and something from my current show. When doing just two acts instead of a whole show, I was really able to focus on making those two tricks better. I ended having a lot of callbacks from the first act in the second act.

If this sort of thing interests you, you should definitely email them!
-Louie

All Sizzle…No Steak…

Whenever I’m performing at a venue and there are other shows or performers I always try to watch them. You can learn soo much from watching other acts. One of the shows that I saw recently was the Jet Pack Circus.

This show used the water jets to propel performers in the air. Their set up looked great and the show has great curb appeal. What I mean by that is that it looks like something you would want to watch, or would want to book.

I personally wasn’t the the biggest fan of the content of the show. Yes, the jet packs are interesting for about 5 minutes. After you see the first person go up, it’s all a variation on them going into the air. For example the first performer goes with the jet pack shooting from a board they are standing on (see above pic), then the second performer went up in a seated position (see pic below).

Once they were in the air then went around in circles in pool. It was pretty repetitive. The show was short, at about 20 minutes and around the 18 min mark they finally gave us something new when a performer did a flip.

Their ending was a performing went up holding an American Flag. It wasn’t a big patriotic production like how Ringling used to end their circus. There was no patriotic music, just someone holding the flag and waving.

One thing I remember from an old magic book was they was to get a good round of applause at the end of the show is to end with the production of a flag. That’s essentially what they did. I think this is lazy, they didn’t have a finale, so they waved a flag. I dislike it when any performer leans on the flag to try to get applause.

Honestly, for my taste it was a lot of “Look at these jet packs we bought” and less of a “Jet Pack Circus“. This show would have been better as an act within a larger water show, not as a stand alone show.

I also understand that these water jet packs are fairly new technology and performers are trying to figure out how to use them. I hope they come up with something cool!

Worst Case Scenario

Oh man, tonight I saw an act that had a really rough time…and by really rough, I mean it was probably the worst case scenario of their show. Seeing an what happened to this act, really made me think about what are the worst things that could happen to my show. We’re talking possible career ending things that could happen to you as a result of your show. It’s not a fun thought, but something we all should think of.

The act that I watched was a circus act. The act started with them having sound issues. It began with someone’s mic pack off, however in diagnosing the problem, they adjusted their levels, so when the mic pack came on, their audio started feeding back. Once they solved that, they were off their game. They kept missing juggling tricks, which further knocked them off their game. They ending with one guy on stilts and someone standing on their shoulders…and that’s where the worst case scenario happened. They fell over and they fell hard!

That was probably their worst case scenario. I’ve had people fall off the stage, trip on the way up, get stung by a bee, I even tore my rotator cuff during a show. It’s how you deal with them that makes you a pro.

What’s your worst case scenario, and how would you deal with it?

Always Stop to Chat…

When I’m out performing and I encounter someone that wants to chat, whenever possible I always try to hear their story. Last week I was performing at a fair and ran into a guy named Dean Lewis. We started to chat, and I was glad I made time for him!

Dean used to get animals from around the world for zoos and circuses. He also ran an oddity shop in a nearby town. The next day I went over and visited his shop, and got to go through his scrapbook. The guy had lived an amazing life! Here’s a little article about him from a local newspaper:

https://www.dailyastorian.com/archives/coastriverbusinessjournal/oddities-of-nature-open-in-south-bend/article_3cdfb684-d400-565e-868a-009b418568fe.html

At the fair he also showed me a little magic trick:

By talking to people after shows I’ve learned a ton of things. Not just life stories, but magic techniques. One time I had an old timer teach me how to table faro, and another time I learned a lasso trick. It’s always worth taking a minute and chatting to people.