Busking in Sydney

Walking around the area where the cruise ships dock in Sydney, Australia, there are a good amount of street performers. Lots of ambient, music acts and a couple of them were cultural acts. I’ll talk a bit more about the acts in a bit, however the thing I noticed was all the acts with amplified sound used the Roland Street Cube EX. That’s the same one I use for my street show PA, so I guess I’m part of the “cool kids”.

One of the first acts we came across was this kid who was playing guitar. The sign he has in his case says that he’s deaf and he’s actually playing.

I’m not a guitar player, but to my untrained eye, his hands didn’t really match up with the sound. I could totally be wrong, but if I’m right, it’s a solid hustle!

Then there was this guy with the drum.

For the little while we watched him, he didn’t really do anything remarkable. I’m sure that he’s great, and that’s simply based on his sign boating about how many social media followers he has.

That’s the take away, signage is a lot more important now to busking than it was when I was a teenager and did it for money.

Then there were two cultural acts. The first one was just guy singing and making music.

It was really an ambient act with no engagement with people (that I saw).

However the second one was a group and the guy had some showman ship flair!

Of all the acts I saw, he was the only one that built a crowd. He did little talks and call and response things, like “we call this a ____…everyone say ____” and talked to the audience.

With a big cruise ship in town and it unloading and loading passengers, doing something cultural is smart. Ship passengers want to feel like they’re learning about where they’re visiting, and I think this was the act that connect with the audience the most because of that.

Also, while I’m not knocking the other cultural act that was using a percussion instrument, I’d bet 90% of the tourists want to see the digeridoo. Sure there’s a lot more to aboriginal culture, but honestly are you busking to teach people or make money? Yes, you can still teach people and if that’s in your heart, you absolutely should do what’s authentic to yourself and goals. However if you’re going to try to convince people to give you money, you need to figure out how to deliver that message in a way that will reach them (and their wallets).

-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

Senior Show Set Up…

Yesterday I took a quick break from performing on the fair circuit and did a senior show. This was a “monthly activity” for seniors at a retirement community. Most of these places need entertainment and host multiple entertainers a month to perform at things like monthly birthdays, holidays, etc.

If you’d like more info on performing senior shows check out my book How To Perform For Seniors which teaches you how to market and perform shows at these communities.

My current 40-45 minute show fits into the black case, which is briefcase sized.

The yellow case is my audio gear.

The show was put together to visually fill a little bit of space and not look like I’m just using flat handheld props that were selected because they easily fit into a briefcase.

The nice thing about this show is that it can be done using people from the audience, and it can also be done “no contact”, so no one from the audience joins me on the stage or handles any props.

Aside from any COVID restrictions, the no contact option is handy as sometimes you’ll have a less mobile group and it’s not easy to have people join you on stage. Having them interact from their seats is good, however if you physically go to them in the back row, a lot of the audience can’t see what’s happening. When you talk to them from the stage and the magic still happens onstage the whole audience can see what’s going on.

-Louie

Flying with sound

roland street cube EX

Last night I hopped onto a plane to head to a gig and my carry on is my sound system. This PA fits in the overhead compartment, so I don’t have to check it. I do frequently check it inside of a suitcase, however I’m travelling light this trip.

I use a Roland Street Cube EX, what I like about it is that it can run off of battery power. It uses 8 AA batteries and not an internal battery. If it had the internal battery, I’m not supposed to check it. Also if I forget to charge it, it’s easy to replace them. I do use rechargeable AA batteries in the system, so I’m not constantly buying them.



When I bought this, I needed three inputs for my show, however I currently only need two. If I was to buy one now, I’d get the standard Street Cube and save a couple of bucks.

-Louie

Sound System…

One of the things that’s always in the trunk of my cars is a sound system. Travelling with my own has saved soo many gigs. If the venue has one, I always prefer to use theirs, however there have been many times when I couldn’t plug my mic into theirs, or just needed mine to run music.

Recently I did a “socially distant” magic show and there were supposed to have a PA for me to use. When I got there and asked, they said they didn’t. This is a situation where having my own came in handy. I did have to laugh when they propped the door open with a PA system!

Get a small PA, it doesn’t need to be much. For years I travelled with a Kustom PA 50 in the trunk of my car. It’s got 3 channels and doesn’t take up much space.

I still have this speaker, however I switched to the Roland Street Cube EX, as it can run off batteries, as sometimes finding a plug can difficult. The bonus is the Roland Street Cube EX fits in the overhead compartment on an airplane!

Monitor the Situation…

One of the pieces of advice I always give to magicians is to get a microphone and use it. Most magicians don’t realize how quiet their talking voice is. Sure you can yell at the audience and many people do, but that’s only good for up to a couple dozen people if you aren’t in … Continue reading “Monitor the Situation…”

One of the pieces of advice I always give to magicians is to get a microphone and use it. Most magicians don’t realize how quiet their talking voice is. Sure you can yell at the audience and many people do, but that’s only good for up to a couple dozen people if you aren’t in a formal theater situation.


When I drive to gigs I always have a battery powered speaker in my car. It’s saved a ton of gigs. I use a Roland Street Cube EX:

This little speaker has enough power for a school assembly, and it’s nice a small!


Here’s the advantage to having a speaker like this: It’s versatile! What I mean by that is that I can use it as a speaker. However if I need to I can use it as a mixer, and more importantly I can use it as a stage monitor! Many smaller events will rent a sound system, but it’s just two speakers on a stand, which will work in a ballroom, but lacking the monitor, that’s where this speaker comes in!


If you don’t know what a monitor is, basically is a speaker on stage that allows you to hear your self. It keeps you from yelling and it will save you voice! When the sound guy asks always tell them you want some of your voice in the monitor!

I Saved the Show!

Last night I did a corporate gig that I wrote a post about packing for a couple of days ago (Click here to read the post).  The gist of the post was that I had a feeling the venue for the gig that I was flying to wouldn’t have a PA, so I packed my … Continue reading “I Saved the Show!”

Last night I did a corporate gig that I wrote a post about packing for a couple of days ago (Click here to read the post).  The gist of the post was that I had a feeling the venue for the gig that I was flying to wouldn’t have a PA, so I packed my street show PA just in case.

 

Much to my surprise the venue had a PA and a sound board!   Then I plugged my audio into it and learned that the sound board didn’t work.  The venue’s PA only had one XLR input and I need 3 channels.  So I used my street show PA as a mixer and monitor:

Roland Street Cube EX

Please take note that the jumble of wires on the floor is mostly the venue’s cords, not mine.  I simply ran the audio out from my Roland Street Cube EX into the XLR input in the venue’s sound system and I was good to go!

 

One thing I’ve learned as a full time performer is your ability to be problem solver will make your very valuable to your clients.  The booker of the event was in the room when  I was trying to figure out why the sound board wasn’t working, and when had the audio up and running.  She complimented me on my ability to find a solution.

 

So the moral of the story is be a problem solver!

 

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