You can't see it, but the card on his hat also explains who he is. It reads, "Jeremy the Magician from Britain."
It's awesome. Everyone should start carrying little labels on their heads. I've been hanging out with Jeremy since March, and I haven't once forgotten his name. (That's a huge accomplishment, trust me). I also haven't forgotten who he is and what he does.
It's all in the labels.
He also has a white sign with bold black letters in front of him when he performs. Guess what it says?
MAGIC SHOW
It all makes sense, yeah? Jeremy is a magician from Britain who stands at a spot (a spot that I have borrowed before, when he wasn't working - that's his usual spot in my post last week) and does magic shows.
I mean, look at his hat!
Look at his vest!
Oh,.. you can't really see his vest here. This was mid-March in Chicago and, though it was technically spring, it was still really very cold for someone who would have to stand and work outside all day.
But here you go: a picture from April, when it's a little bit warmer:
He even has a British accent!
Though... I guess that's what happens when, you know, you're actually from Britain. You.. get.. a British accent.
Yeah.
The point? Everything about his appearance screams "MAGICIAN."
Jeremy is, in short, a street magician - one whose work I have gotten to know pretty well over the course of my research. So, for my first street performer profile (or busker profile - street performers are also called "buskers"), we're going to learn a little bit about this man, who he is, and what he does.
A Note on Performer Profiles
This will be the first of several performer profiles that I plan on writing. Unlike my regular weekly posts, performer profiles are going to involve a few days of posting. These people are going to show up over and over again in my various posts, so you guys should get to know who they are.
And, well, this is my way of thanking these performers for all the time that they have given me. It's my belief that the best artists in the world are street performers. Imagine the environment: you're performing for people who don't really want to see you - so you gotta be good enough to get them to stop, get them to stay, and get them to pay. That's the only way they can make a living out of it. They have to be very very good at what they do.
So here we go...
The Snapshot
Performer: Jeremy the "Magician from Britain"
Started busking: May 2011
Location in Chicago: On Chicago's "Magnificent Mile," just north of the Chicago River
His act: Magic
How I met him...
I heard about Jeremy long before I met him. For one, other street performers tended to tell me about him when they found out that I was a magician as well. But it wasn't until the day of the Saint Patrick's Day Parade in Chicago that I first ran into him.
Except I wasn't entirely sure it was him because he wasn't wearing Union Jack vest that I've been told to look for. Instead, he was decked out in green. As he told me, "Everyone's Irish on Saint Paddy's Day."
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When and where to find Jeremy
March, April, May: Most likely on Chicago's Magnificent Mile
June, July, August: Definitely on Chicago's Magnificent Mile
Around Mardi Gras: New Orleans
Other times of the year? There is a gap in my research... Maybe he'll make a comment here and fill in those gaps. In 2014, he was, however, "working everyday in February and March."
Stay tuned...
(Cuz this is a TV show, and we're stopping for a commercial break):
Tomorrow, we'll learn a little bit about how Jeremy became a street performer.
*Don't ask where the chorus came from. Where some people imagine theme music for the various activities in their lives, and some imagine an omniscient narrator, I sometimes take on random Greek(?) literary devices. I'm just gonna blame my childhood, Disney and their Hercules movie.
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