Monday, January 31, 2011

Busking

I am a busker.

I was a teacher for a little while. My mismanaged school cut certain positions for budget reasons... and, all of a sudden, I was unemployed. I had moved all the way from New Jersey to Memphis for this job. As of Friday, that job no longer exists.

So what do I do? I could go home. My parents are supportive... but I don't want support. Not yet. Not now. So soon after I set out on my own, I'm not going to give up and make that shameful trip home. I'm here at least until July, so I might as well make the best of it.

With every tragedy comes an opportunity. I've decided to become - for the first time in my life - a full time professional magician. That means, for now, busking.

What is busking? When you walk through a busy tourist area in any given city, you might find mimes, jugglers, musicians, fake statues, and magicians entertaining pedestrians. These performers work to entertain an audience, they pass a hat around, and then they start again with a new crowd.

Opportunity and necessity has turned me to this ancient trade, and I'm finding that I'm loving it. Of course, I still have a lot more to do and learn. After all, today is my first day.

And what a day it was.

Today's warm and sunny. It's going to be rainy and cold the rest of this week... so I thought I'd make the best of it. At 1:00pm, I set out with my Charlie Chaplin get-up, minus the moustache (that's a story to tell another time... but the costume fits), slung my bag of supplies over my shoulder, and headed out to the University of Memphis campus.

Today's routine:

1. Beginning - Card effects: 2 Card Monte, a color changing 'wild card' routine, Ambitious Card
2. Middle - Sponge balls (or just Ambitious Card)
3. End - Straight jacket escape

I did card effects because I'm most comfortable with those. They drew people in at the beginning and legitimized my magic. In the middle, I did a sponge ball routine. I feel as though I may need a meatier middle section... so I'll keep on thinking on that. I ended with a straight jacket escape that built up a nice... large crowd. I passed out my hat and started over.

With the new crowd that had been drawn in during the end of the escape, I went back to the cards.

The good thing? I hit the university right during their lunch rush, so the crowds came easy. At the end of that second show, I checked my phone and found that my phone had died mid-show. Since this was my first time out on my own, I didn't feel too safe without having a phone around as a precaution. I headed home to recharge everything and reflect...

I gave out my email address to several people who wanted to get in touch with me for future events. One of the staff from the school asked about booking me for a small stage show. Some students wrote down my information for the University of Memphis newspaper.

So yeah. I thought I did good. In about an hour, I made more than I thought I would - I hadn't really been expecting anything at all. And I got some experience... Now I think I've figured out when and where I'm going to be busking most days.

Thus begins a dream that I thought would never come to fruition...

Keep checking here, and I'll keep blogging about my experiences busking in Memphis.