The Adequate Blog

I have to give a shout out to the esteemed Mister Brian Brushwood for providing not only a good source for cheap magic wisdom (ie: free), but also a darn entertaining podcast in Scam School - put forth weekly but not weakly, Mr. B shows you a new way each week to use your powers for good instead of evil … well, for social engineering and the occasional free drink. Highly recommended and yes, free.

Cheap Magic (and Free Scam Schooling) does indeed rule!

I’ve talked about the necessity of having a sign if you’re a stage act - it identifies you as, yes, an actual show, and gives your show an air of “legitimacy” (oh look he’s someone who’s performing and not some random weirdo who walked out onto the stage).

I’d like to talk about another form of signage which I don’t see too often at the short-run faires, or in fact the long-run faires either - the Advertisement.

With a short-run faire, everything goes up and comes down in a weekend. You have one and only one chance to make your potential audience aware that you have a show in the next few minutes. For most of us, this involves doing a lot of hawking - but that shouting can blend in easily to the background noise of Fare - it is a shouty place, after all.

A few years back, I decided to take some of the marketing for magicians stuff I spent a stupid amount of money on (long story) and make up signs for myself, advertising my show.   Nothing really fancy - five minutes in PowerPoint generated a simple 8.5″ x 11″ landscape format sign with my logo, the show’s name, Tobias the Adequate, and the tagline “Dangerous and More Than a Little Stupid” along with the warning “Three shows daily” and a space for the location and times for the shows.

I’ll print up a batch of these on a fairly neutral colored heavy card stock and pack them along with some thumb tacks or a staple gun, and when I get onto site and learn where and when I’m performing, I scribble that information onto the signs and then walk the site tacking them to posts and trees and the like. There. Now I have ten to twelve additional indications that I’ll be performing, along with where and when.

Some guidelines:

• Some sites don’t want you tacking signs to their trees.  Make sure you check so you don’t end up breaking this rule.
• If you’ve made nice with some of the vendors (see previous blog post), you may be able to tack a sign up on one of their posts or uprights. This has the added benefit that said vendor may well talk you up to their customers.
• You don’t have to splash out for seriously Ye Olde Parchmente style paper for these signs. Neutrals - tan, light brown, khaki - will work fine.
• Print a few more signs than you think you’ll use. Because you’ll wind up using them too.

Go forth and promote!

Mike Caveney - magician, author, collector, and all around nifty guy, has said more than once, “Consistancy is the key to good magic.”  I agree with that, but I also believe that good magic evolves with the number of times you perform it.

Case in point - One of the centerpieces of my current show is my take on Whit Haydn’s Mongolian Pop Knot routine. This routine is available for purchase (you can look it up online, naturally), and while the mechanics of the effect remain the same (otherwise the tricks would not work), the manner in which I perform the routine has changed over time.

Part of the reason good magic evolves is because, if you can read your audience while performing, you’ll find that there are bits which work well for your show and your audiences if you break from the scripted “patter” and respond to what’s going on in a way that’s consistant with your character (and perhaps suprising to the audience).

For me, the best example of this is during the second phase of the routine - Whit’s scripting has the magician cut the rope in half, but not cleanly, and then snip off the offending extra length.  For me, I leave the ropes uneven, reacting to my error with a wide eyed “But that’s not the IMPORTANT part!” and then, when cutting the ropes into three equal lengths, get fed up and snip off the unequal bit while declaring that the rope is cut into “Three… EQUAL… pieces!”

What happened next was more a lucky coincidence. Playing up the frustration Tobias is feeling, I chucked the sharp, pointy Madagascarian Rope Shears at the wooden stage floor.  And they stuck - just as if I was a knife thrower and the floor was my target. *WHUNK*

A moment passed. The crowd, rather understandably, went “OOOOO!”

“… I’m not messing AROUND anymore… “

Looking back over tapes, I’m seeing a similar evolution taking place with the Mallet Trick and the White Tiger trick.

So, Good Magic Evolves.

Here’s a scary thought - don’t buy a single prop for a month.

Don’t purchase any prop which is not a replacement for something you already have or a “consumable” (paper goods, rope, cards) which gets used up in your act.

This will prompt you to look at what you have and what you do with what you have. You may even be moved to … gasp … construct your own props!

Whenever possible, get on site early.  I’ve said this before, but this time for a diffferent reason - in this case, it will give you a chance to get at least a passing acquaintance with the vendors.

Why do that?

For one thing, it helps to establish you as a participant rather than a “playtron” (that is, a patron who gets dressed up), which can save some confusion and bother later as it’s less likely you’ll be hawked to. It’s good ettiquite for vendors to tone down or skip the hawking when it comes to folks who actually perform at Faire. 

It can also give you a chance to get to know who you can come to to “sell singles” - if you’re a pass-the-hat act, you’re going to get a lot of one dollar bills. Most vendors start out with a “bank” of twenties, tens, fives and ones, but through the day customers will pay for things with twenties because that’s what comes out of the ATM. So, if you show up with a nice stack of singles, especially near the aftenoon part of the event, you can make some points with vendors by “cashing up” and trading a stack or two of singles for twenty dollar bills. 

… and that can make life easier for all involved.

A stage show at Faire has to contend with a lot of distractions during the show - especially if your stage is right in the middle of everything.  The biggest interruptions tend to be from parades.

Ah, parades. When some group or other moves en masse from one part of Faire to another - sometimes to do their own show, sometimes as the “local color” for the event, and sometimes… well… sometimes Her Majesty just wants to go “Walkies”… and The Queen Does Not Go Walkies Alone.

Having a large group of people move noisily through or just behind your audience area can be death for a pass-the-hat show. It interrupts the “flow” of the event, and if it happens at the wrong time… it can kill your “hat line”, causing the entire crowd to turn their backs to you to see what all that ruckus is about.

This isn’t a complaint, this is a simple fact of how these events work.  And there’s some times that you, as a performer, can do to help minimize the damage, or even turn the interruptions to your advantage.

• Get to know your timetables - if the event actually schedules their parades and progresses, get a copy of that schedule and compare it to your show times. This will give you some idea as to when the interruptions are likely to occur, and help you plan
• Get to know the paraders - If this is the first time you’re performing at an event, you’re kind of on your own with that. However, if you can, get in touch with the folks who lead these parades.  If they know you as a person as opposed to Some Guy on Stage, they’re more likely to be willing to work with you.
• When you can, turn it into a bit - If you know they’re coming, you can work it into the show.  I have a loose arrangement with the criers wherein, if they’re taking a parade past my stage, I can call out a number and they’ll ring their bells in unison that many times.  Now imagine how your crowd might take you asking them for a number, then making the criers ring that many times.  Suddenly, the parade’s not an interruption, it’s part of the show.
• When you can’t. evaluate and be flexible - Let’s be honest here, Her Majesty the Queen may not care about your show, and she may not stop to watch. If that’s the case, being a good citizen of the Shire and leading *your* crowd in a few lusty cheers of “God Save the Queen” won’t hurt your standing with the management.
• Don’t take it personally - Honestly, there is no secret cabal plotting to ruin your show. The nature of RenFaire is that there are things happenning all around all the time. No one is working to “wreck” your show. As much as we’d all like everything else to stop dead while we’re performing, it’s not going to happen. Whenever possible, work with the interruptions and make them something other than interruptions. Make them part of your show.

… back in the saddle again!

As you all know, I’m a big proponent of cheap magic resources - because the less you have to spend for useful, quality magic items, the more you have for, well, all the other stuff you need to pay for.

This time around, I want to talk about “corner shorting” - originally used by card sharps, clipping the corner of a card to mark it in order to locate that card easily.

The biggest challenge in making a corner short is to clip the card evenly - usually this means taking a very small pair of nail scissors and very, very carefully trimming the card.  Unless you’re very good with scissors, it’s not easy to make a consistant corner short.

A few years ago a magician began to offer a “corner clip” device for about $30.

I applaud his enterprise, but… I’m cheap. So I did some research at one of my favorite magic supply stores - which is to say a craft store. Turns out there are more than a few “corner rounder” paper punches available from Scrapbooking suppliers for much less.

The “shorter” I like is by the Uchida “Marvy” company and can be found for about $10 at craft stores like Michael’s, Jo-Ann’s, Ben Franklins and, well, right here at the AdequateBlog (shipping & handling, of course, would apply).

It also came in handy for clipping the corners of some DIY playing cards I had made at the local FedEx-Kinko’s for use in the Mallet Trick - which, I think, went over pretty well…

You can order the Marvy Uchida Corner Punch CS here…

Cheap Magic Rules!

Some additional thoughts from 18 years of flailing about at Faire on “Gigging”.

• Learn Names (or at least nicknames)
  Knowing the character names of the people you’re improvising with will make gigging with them a heck of a lot easier. It also means you’re more likely to pick up on their character traits for more gig fodder
• Develop a Route and Learn Schedules
  Improvisation is about structured randomness! If you set yourself a schedule (likely wrapped around your guild or show schedule) your peers will learn when you’re around, which will make it easier for them to gig with you
• “Yes and” is better than “No”. Always
  A “no” stops improvisation dead. There are always directions you can take from any idea thrown at you. Build build build build!
• Dare to Lose
  I’ve said it before - losing in an improvised conflict can be much more satisfying than winning, especially if if you lose in a creative, funny, clever way
• Funny Works
  There we go. People come to the Faire to have a good time. High Drama is ok in small bursts, but when all is said and done, people do not go home talking about the subtle, tense dramas. They talk about the crazy things those performers did. Remember that, and you’ll not go wrong.
• When All Else Fails - RUN!
  Running away… is funny.  It’s even funnier if you have a blatantly contrived reason for fleeing.  When I was a SeaDog, the default excuse (and method for bailing out of a gig) was “We must sail! We must go meet the tide!” followed by hurrying away with shouts of “The tide!” “We mustn’t miss the tide!” “Where the hell did we put the ship?” and so on…

any other suggestions?

Here’s something I’ve started doing which can be used by Rennies and Magicans alike - an exercise in creativity.

Pick your favorite prop - yes it can be a magic prop or it can be something you tote around with you at Faire… honestly it can be anything you like to fidget with.

Now, find three things - three different things - you can do with this prop.  It could be three tricks, flourishes, random bits of business - but find three things you can do and that you like to do. There’s no use in messing with something if it doesn’t “feel” right.

See three things equals a routine, or lazzi (there’s that word again!)… and lazzi  can be incredibly useful to both the Rennie Improv Wizard and the Itinerate Magician.

We perform because, well, because we want to perform - otherwise we’d be doing something that didn’t involve having a lot of people watching. The question comes up, however…

Who are you performing for?

I’ve managed to narrow the list down to three:

1. The (paying?) Audience
2. Your Peers
3. Yourself

And looking at it, that’s also the way I would recommend you prioritize.  If you’re a pass the hat act, if you’re being paid,  or if you claim to be a professional in any way, shape or form, you should be performing for the audience - the people who paid, in one way or another, to watch you do your stuff.   Most of these people are not going to be as knowledgeable about your field, and they’re going to be looking to be entertained.

Performing for your peers can be fun - after all, we all like showing off in front of our friends. You can get away with more in front of your friends - inside jokes, obscure references and the like - because they’re all working from the same information. On the other hand, magicians are generally poor tippers* so most of the “payoff” from performing in front of your peers comes in the form of respect and acclaim.

Performing for yourself … well, the nicest term I’ve heard for this is “Theatrical Self-Abuse”, and it goes downhill from there.  If you’re only doing this stuff in front of a crowd to satisfy your ego, and you’re not looking for any other compensation…  Fortunately the internet provides all of us with a place to just show off.

My advice - that list is in the right order, and with the right priorities. As RJ of Out of Kontrol puts it so well -

Without you people here to watch, we’re just four jerks on a plank of wood.

Truer words have never been spoken, and they apply to us all.

* No offense, gang, but I’m working from experience here