Saturday, February 26, 2011

Trolley Tour - February

Wow.

WOW! I mean - wow.

I am stunned, high on adrenaline, and ecstatic. I mean, I'm utterly tired, but tonight was my best busking experience yet. Before we get ahead of ourselves, though, let's start from the beginning...

I planned to meet up with Tim at 5:30pm at the intersection of S. Main and G.E. Patterson. He's the guy Don put me in touch with... and I'm really glad he was there. He helped me find a good spot to perform at: About a block from that intersection, there's some extra sidewalk space at the trolley stop. This spot was great because it's on the sidewalk, there's room for an audience to stand, and anyone waiting for the trolley is pretty much forced to watch the show.

So we had that going for us.

We also had a lot going against us. Mother Nature, for one, absolutely did not want me to perform. After a week of sunny days - of temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees - today was suddenly below 49 degrees. It was 49 degrees noon, so I'm guessing it was even colder at night. That meant that the summer/spring trolley tour crowds really didn't want to show up today.

Yeah. Foot traffic was horrible.
Again.

I should start expecting that of Memphis, huh?

The event began officially at 6:00pm. Tim and I stood out in the cold for an hour or so... talking and trying to grab and hold any group of people we could find. I was just about to give up.

This was starting to feel like every other time that I've tried to go out and busk.

But I stayed strong. And, at 7:00pm, it paid off.

7:00pm. Four ladies were trying to catch the trolley.
They waited. No trolley was there.
Hey! Let's watch some magic! Why not? We have to stand here anyway.

So.. they watched some magic.
Then they watched some more.
Then the trolley came!

Uh oh.

"It's all right," they said. "We'll catch the next one."

And they watched some more! The Four Ladies of South Main Street... they will forever be called. Because, just when they said that, another group of people had showed up. Four more spectators - all of them friends whom I had invited to come and watch me perform - were actually there. They added to the crowd....

AND WHAM! Two more stopped. A couple more...

And I had the crowd I needed for my straight jacket finale.

There were far fewer people watching my show than there were at University of Memphis. But this time, my show was more polished... more put together... and the crowd, overall, seemed to enjoy it more. I ended the show with a decent hat.

Nice. Good and fun. I chatted with my friends for a little bit.
I have to say - I am extremely extremely LUCKY to have these guys there. They showed up to watch at 7:00pm. They stayed and watch all my other shows until I stopped at 9:00pm.

Yes. That's right. I had more shows after that one. I had brief breaks between each show... but I began as soon as I saw people walking down the street. And each time, because my friends were there, the crowds came easily.

Four shows.
Four shows.
Four consistently decent shows.
Better hats than I've ever had.

Great audiences. Great laughter. And jokes that worked.

Best busking night ever.

And that was with foot traffic that was even worse off than what I had to deal with at Beale St last week.

--

What did I do differently this time?

For one, I had friends there. It was SO MUCH EASIER building a crowd with people already there watching. I wonder if I could have done the same thing without those guys. Maybe. Yeah. The first show I managed to build the crowd on my own... but I think it would have much much much harder if I had to do that every time.

Second - and this is important, I think - I got some help from Don with my hat lines. I made sure to give a clear hat line before the finale of my show... and I made sure to end the show with one final hat line.

Third - the show itself. I've changed it every single time that I went out and performed. Don advised me to cut down my show a little bit... so I cut it down to three effects.

1. Clutch: Pickpocket Demonstration
2. A coins-across type effect from my hand to a cup
3. Straight Jacket escape

In addition to cutting out an effect, I changed my presentation a little bit. I added more jokes... and, thanks to my friend Larry Clarke who gave me some presentation advice on my pickpocket routine, I managed to put together a wonderful comedic routine. A lot of pictures were taken on that end. A lot of jokes were made too.

My coins-across routine pretty much stayed the same. I wonder if I can change that up a bit too... make it funnier. During one of my four shows... I tried counting the three coins in different languages - I was inspired by Gazzo's cups and balls and wondered if it would work out here. It did, but I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with it. I want to figure some kind of running joke that I can put in. Hm.

Straight jacket escape. WOAH! Biggest change here.

Quick background - before today, I did my escape dramatically. On the streets, I did to gasps and a stop watch. Indoors on a stage, I did it to dramatic classical music. Then last Sunday, I joined a couple of magicians from Memphis' International Brotherhood of Magicians in performing at a magic show at an assisted living complex. I did my straight jacket escape there... but, before the dramatic bit, I added a new bit.

Before the escape, I told a little story about stereotypical Asian parents and their response to a daughter wanting to grow up to be a magician. That little comedic story got polished up for the streets... and I ended up using that for the beginning of a new comedic straight jacket escape routine.

Then, to add to that, I got the audience involved with some clapping and a little dance on my part. I mean - I was in a straight jacket, so I figured I'd demonstrate moving around as much as I could. Jumping around to clapping and whatnot. It was all in good fun.

And finally, instead of escaping completely by myself, I get the help of an audience member - preferably a little kid - with a part of it.

And yeah. It worked well. It worked really well. I'm always afraid when I invite my friends to these things... and I was particularly worried today. It's one thing if I fail miserably and none of my friends experience it. It's another thing if they're out there watching me fail at gathering and crowd.

But.. today... wow. They were there, and it worked.

What did I take out of all this?
At the end of each day, I need to take a good look at my show. I need to figure out what worked and what didn't work. Then I need to change something - anything at all - to make it better. At least, until my show starts working well consistently... that seems to be a good idea. I don't think I could have gotten to this point now if it weren't for that.

The big question, though, is if I would be able to repeat my successes today.

I mean - there were less people here tonight than there were at Beale Street last week, but I had a better time. There were WAY less people than there are at University of Memphis any time of the week, but I had better hats. So yeah. Maybe I should take this new show of mine and try it again at the other places.

I am excited for Trolley Tour again.
It was freezing today, and I did ok.
When it's warmer, there will be more pedestrians walking around, and there will be many more people wanting to stay and watch a show.

In the meantime- I'm going to visit my parents next week. If the weather is nice up north, I'll try and busk more... but, from what I hear, it's pretty bad. We'll see. If not, I won't be back in Memphis until the end of March. That means I'll miss March's trolley tour. But I will be here for April's... and, maybe I'll be able to take my polished show somewhere else before then.

Thanks for reading.
Comments, suggestions, and ideas are always appreciated.

Friday, February 18, 2011

U of M Redux & Beale St Day #2

Tuesday morning, I went back to the University of Memphis.

That place was just so perfect for busking that I couldn't help myself. I went back. I had some fun... but, unfortunately, I left after an hour of performing with, essentially, an empty hat. It was the worst I had done on the campus thus far.

I need to get there earlier if I want to get a crowd.

And, honestly, I need to use the hat lines. It felt too contrived the last time I was there... so I was trying to be more natural with my hat lines. That essentially meant that I barely gave a "final hat line." That said, there were more people Tuesday than before who came up to me, thanking me for the show and apologizing for the fact that they didn't carry any cash on them that day.

So maybe it was a combination of bad luck, bad timing, and bad performance structure.

I packed up at the end of the lunch rush... intent on figuring out a better script.

--

That afternoon, just as I was thinking about the scripting, I got a phone call from another magician in town. I had contacted Don Driver, the creator of "Building a Tip" - a DVD on building and maintaining a crowd in a busking situation. I tried to purchase his DVD, and Don put me in touch with another magician who wants to start busking in Memphis.

I met up with this magician, and we discussed busking. I got the chance to look over a script for Don's bally. Needless to say, I spent the next few days practicing and practicing and practicing... To the point where I could say what I needed to say, throw in my own jokes, and go on with my own show at a comfortable level.

Today - Friday - I went out to Beale St.

The bally worked like a charm. I stood in the middle of the busiest part of Beale St. at 12:00pm (which was a little busier than usual because of a lunch crowd? maybe? and yet, it was pretty dead compared to other venues that I've seen in cities in the northeast). I took a deep breath, climbed on top of this little stone structure, and started yelling.

"We are going to have a little fun - we're going to do a little magic. Watch!"

And on I went.

Pretty soon, I had a decent crowd. I was shocked. Nervous, too... though I hadn't been this nervous since I started busking. I was about 3/4's through my show... at a little break right before I was going to give my first hat line and move onto my strait jacket finale... when a guy walked up to me and asked me to move my show outside of the Beale St. barricades.

First problem that I encountered: I had a couple people leave as soon as the bally was over, and they found out that I wasn't going to immediately change ten one's into ten ten's. People were still sticking around though. I need to fix that... fix my transitions so there aren't any points in the show where people will feel like they can leave.

Second problem: Transitions again. The man who had walked up to me was politely waiting until the end of the show before he asked me to leave. He stepped in during an applause bit - when I took a breath to grab the strait jacket. Transition problem right there.

Third problem: I was asked to move. DOH! I really wanted to try out this new bally. But off I went... outside of the barricades... and there, I had almost no foot traffic.

I packed up my stuff, tried walking down to Main St., only to find that Main St. is quite dead even in this nice weather. Back up to Beale St., set up outside the barricades, and waited.

A couple people walked past, and I did some effects for them, but I couldn't get a show going.

Then I walked up and down Beale St. again, looking for this guy. Went up to Beale St. Management, found the guy, and he was convinced to let me stand in the park (right off of Beale St) to perform for today only. He did say that he wanted me to come back in mid-March to April. He saw my show (the ONE real show I actually managed to give... though I didn't get the chance to finish it with the finale there), and he said it was good. I hope that's true?

But yeah. I set up at the park off of Beale... and I was allowed to stay there until 4:00pm, when the guy who actually rents out that little spot comes in to work.

First problem: Once again, foot traffic. Most of the pedestrians were on the other side of the intersection. The park was a little bit out of the way. I would need to yell out really loudly for anyone to hear me from that far away.

Second problem: There a band in the park, not too far from where I was. Once again, I had to worry about projecting my voice out so that people could hear me.

Solutions? I tried the bally... but I never got too far with it. As soon as I started talking, the few people who were there to hear would be almost gone by the time I got up to a point where - last time - I started drawing a crowd. They were just walking by.. and they were trying to get to the busier end of Beale. In the end, I just ended up standing there and performing for small groups of passerby every so often.

All this started at 11:30am... and I left at around 4:00pm.

Third problem: NO HAT LINES! I couldn't get any of them in there for the small groups. Maybe I felt more awkward when I had to say them to groups of two or four people. I probably did. And yeah, most people did tip, but they weren't nearly as good as when I had larger crowds and I could give my lines without feeling like I was being too pushy.

Oh. And I encountered my first creepy guy today. This guy with longish hair and a hoody hovered around my table all day. He would walk away as soon as people were there to watch... and then he would come back, stand right near me... or walk in circles, pacing.. waiting.. I don't know. For what. I wasn't really making enough for anyone to REALLY want to steal from me.

He might have been desperate.
Or he might have just been a creepy guy.

Good news? I think I'm on pretty good terms with the vendors and the musicians in that area. Maybe it has to do with me being the only girl working those parts... but a word here and there, and I'm confident that they were watching my back.

Still, when I packed up to leave, this creepy guy essentially followed me.. though he stayed on the other side of the street. I stopped at a corner cafe, chatted with the guy there who helped me find Beale St. Management earlier, and watched the creepy guy in my periphery. I told the guy at the corner cafe that I was avoiding said creepy guy, and he said he'd watch out for him. Creepy guy turned and left, and I grabbed my table and bag before heading off to my car.

Went home - arms hurt from carrying around the table all day.

Reflections?

-I need to get luggage straps to make carrying the table easier.
-In five hours, I made as much as I made at U of M in one hour. Having foot traffic makes a huge difference.
-The dollar bill bally works! I just need to use it.
-And man - the anthropologist in me is aching to go back out to the streets to get to know the vendors and other street performers better.

Plans for the future?

I'm thinking of going out tomorrow morning to perform at a farmer's market in the area. I hear there's a decent flow of people.. but I also hear there aren't really ever lots of people there at one time. Here's to hoping.

Maybe I'll go outside a church Sunday afternoon and try to catch those guys on their way home. The bad news? One of my former bosses go to the church I'm considering performing outside of. I don't want to see him. We'll see, huh?

I've lost the chance to perform at Beale St, pretty much, after the guy asked me to stop. I might try Overton Park sometime.. and I'll go back to trying U of M during the weekdays. Good news? Trolley Tour takes place the last Friday of every month... and there are actually buskers there. Real street performers! It's the only time in Memphis that I've seen other non-musician buskers out. I'm doing that, definitely. I'll find away.

Advice, suggestions, comments? Feel free to leave them.
Until next time!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Beale St: Day 1

Fail.

I don't know what else to call it. Fail. That's it. I spent a long time just driving around downtown... trying to find a good area with a lot of pedestrian traffic. I settled for Beale St, which was ok - nowhere nearly as crowded as the University of Memphis campus. Did one OK small show for a couple of tourists. I did two hat lines - one before my finale and one at the end. My last hat line didn't come in quickly enough, and most people were gone by then.

I need a stronger opener. The crowd builds up as soon as I do the straight jacket... but that's my finale, and it doesn't last long enough to warrant a bigger hat, it seems. And grown-ups.. unlike college students... don't yell or laugh as loudly. It's harder to draw a crowd on Beale than it is to draw a crowd on a college campus.

That said - there were also some other buskers around. The moment the Beale St. flippers showed up, I felt like I was intruding on their territory. They weren't that successful in filling up their bucket either... and they definitely didn't work at drawing a crowd. Other than those guys, there were one or two musicians sitting around, playing music.

I strolled around and did some magic. My table's not ready yet... and I think not having it there makes it so that I'm moving around too much. I need to pick a spot and stick with it (maybe?). And then I need to draw my crowd in, as opposed to me going around trying to grab a crowd.

How do I do that? What's a good attention-grabber... in a street where there aren't really that many people? I have to figure that out... so I'll keep on doing some research.

So yeah. Fail. But I'll try again.
If I fall down seven times, I will stand up eight times.

Strait Jacket Escape

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqS4aKmklxY

First day of busking - I'm on the University of Memphis campus. I ended my routine with a straight jacket escape... Phones and cameras appeared all around me, and.. it seems... someone decided to put the escape up on youtube.

Let me know what you think, if you're reading this.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Some busking, getting kicked out, and meeting other magicians..

The weather's been horrible.

After the random glimpse of spring on Monday, winter set in again... Though I might have been willing to stand outside in the cold, no one wanted to stay and watch. As a result, I had to stay inside for a couple of days.

I used these past few days to clean up the house, practice some magic, and start my construction of a busking table. I bought a restaurant tray jack from a restaurant supply store in town. Went out to Home Depot and got myself a nice slab of wood... and I even got a friend to drill in two metal brackets in which I can set the table in. I still need to figure out how to hold everything together... and I need to figure out how to put everything up on my shoulder so I can transport it around.

Anyway- today.

Today I was restless.

Maybe it was because of my dreams from the previous night. I dreamt of my students. In my sleep, I imagined that I had driven to my school for breakfast duty - out of habit... because I had forgotten that I don't work there anymore - and some of my students attacked me with hugs. I woke up restless. I needed to see them.

So, regardless of whether or not I was allowed to, I decided I would drive to the school and see my former students during their recess time. And after all that, I decided - good weather or bad weather - I was going to go out and busk.

With my decisions made, I dressed up in my busking outfit, hopped into my car, and drove directly to Omni Prep Academy. As soon as I walked in, the familiar cries of young children reached my ears. Those voices... followed by that name of mine - "Ms. Ling! Ms. Ling is back!"

A stampede of children, hugs, and tears followed that cry.

It was... a sweet moment. I said hello to my friends and former colleagues, said goodbye to my kids, and did what I could to ignore the pity of the school's administrators. Unlike those who are still stuck in that school, I am happy. And I am free.

That sense of freedom struck me more today than it ever did since I left that school.

After I drove off from Omni Prep, I went to the University of Memphis campus. Once again, I walked straight to the student center. This time, instead of setting up outside, I walked into the center and performed in the lobby. I got two shows in - approximately one hour in length, making the same amount that I did before - before a man walked up to me and asked me to leave.

As he spoke to me, he brought up that he was a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. He said that, since I wasn't a student there, I would not be allowed to come back and perform again, unless a student group hired me to be on campus. He warned me, he said, because he did not want campus police to hold me for trespassing.

He proceeded to give me his card, and he suggested that I come to his friend's show later that night. He also pointed me in the direction of a local magic shop. After talking with a student that I had performed for and getting the contact information for the university's student activities committee, I went straight to that magic shop.

Talked shop with the magician in there for a quite a while.
Left.
Went to a friend's house to borrow a drill. This is for that table I mentioned working on earlier.
Went home to grab some food.

Then out again to watch the magic show Nathan (the guy who stopped me from performing at the U of M campus) introduced me to. This show is called Larry! It's a magic/juggling act. I watched from 8-10pm (it was a pretty great show, with a good mixture of magic, juggling, and comedy), and spoke with Larry afterwards. Had a long conversation with him, Nathan, and Joey (a mentalist who was at the show).

I stayed to watch the midnight improv group.

I didn't get home until 2:15am. All I can say is - wow. Thanks to my job teaching at a charter school, I forgot how much fun life can be. I also made some great contacts tonight, and I got some suggestions on where and how I can busk. The biggest upset, though, is that I won't be able to perform at University of Memphis anymore.

I don't know.

The ask forgiveness, not permission, mantra seems to work great for me. The guy who asked me to leave is a magician who doesn't actually have the authority to kick me off campus... but his warnings about the police holding me for trespassing are scary. I don't know..

That pitch was so... perfect. I could perform outside on nice days, inside on bad days, and... there are always people there wandering around. I'll try and fight to stay there. In the meantime, I guess I'll look into performing downtown or somewhere else.

All in all, I had a wonderful day. I may be joining the IBM soon. Not sure... but I will see if I can keep on working as a busker. I'm not going to give up on that just yet.