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.
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