The Adequate Blog

As a part-time pro, I need to get out to perform at faires, perform, and then get back in time for my “day job”. For me, that means flying a lot. Fortunately, Southwest Airlines and I have an understanding - I pack everything I can into two bags and keep them under 50 lbs each, and they don’t charge me extra.

The challenge inherent in this situation is that I have to keep my show, costume, and assorted infrastructure to under 100 lbs total including luggage.

I’ve discussed the need for infrastructure before - a backstage area, a place to keep my stuff, and a way to contain that stuff in the somewhat uncontrolled environment of the Renaissance Faire. I’ve been working with using fabric drapes, poles, ropes and the like. Then, my better half and the sanest part of the organization, my wife, pointed something out to me while I was looking for tent poles at REI, a major outdoor adventure store an co-op.

There is a “Cabana” style tent designed for backpacking… something I can easily put a chair into, stretch out in to take a nap, and of course unload all my gear into to make a “backstage” area. The tent is a half-dome style, with about 52″ overhead clearance, so I can’t stand up in it but it’ll make for a safe place to change and so on.

The best part - this bad boy breaks down to a bundle a little taller than a roll of paper towels, and weighs less than five pounds. For someone who has to count every ounce when packing, this is great. And, with a little additional rip-stop nylon and muslin I can create a custom rain fly / “cover” and decorate it with my logo.

This tent isn’t cheap - It ran me a little over $100, but the lesson learned is to not be afraid to go out into the “real”, “modern” world to find your infrastructure. And, especially if space is an issue, take a tip from the hard-core outdoor adventurers and look for the stuff that packs down, but plays big.

… 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!

… If you’re going to be performing at Faires which offer compensation, you’re going to have to confront the “how much should I ask to be paid” question.

The best guideline I can give is to determine your Cost Plus Profit rate.

In this case, Cost is what it costs you to perform - this includes

• Travel Costs (airfare? gas? car rental)
• Lodging (hotel? camper? tent? crash space at a friend
• Food and Living Expenses

When calculating your rate, think about how much is costs to get you there, and back, in one piece. Once you’ve got an idea of what your average is, double it so that  you have a 50/50 ratio of Cost Plus Profit.

This may not be your best rate, but it’s a good place to start.  There may be gigs which cost more, and gigs which cost less, but if you have a solid base rate and are willing to negotiate for options to mitigate costs such as passing the hat, performing more shows, etc, you should be able to make yourself attractive to show producers.

I’d also suggest taking the bold step of asking your producers what they offer on average for your type of act.   I was very fortunate in that one of the producers in my area was willing to give ranges for several types of acts based on how established and well-known they are. This gave me a realistic basis for developing my own rate.

I’ve talked about the “Do Three Things” exercise with various props and apparatus earlier, and it’s made me think about “monomaniacal” sets - magic acts where everything involves one particular thing in random variations.

The most common type of Monomaniacal Set is a card act. Simply put: here’s a deck of cards, now I will do things with it.  Since playing cards are relatively inexpensive, portable, and easily recognizable, that’s how a lot of magicians get their start.

But… is being able to do dozens of tricks with a single prop a good thing?

After a lot of thought on it, I believe the answer is “Yes, but…”

“Yes, but please don’t do them all at once.”   Just like being a demolitions expert or bagpipe player, plying your trade depends largely on knowing when it is and is not appropriate to do so.

On the other hand, if you know how to do many things with a single prop, that means you can use that prop, plus one or two others, to perform a variety of mini-shows. The “variety” part keeps you from becoming a one-trick pony.

…. so to speak.

I caught a replay of the “Batman Tech” special on the History Channel last night, and it got me to thinking.

Batman has a utility belt, a compact set of useful items he carries with him when he is in costume.

RenFaire people have their own version of that utility belt, in the form of the pouches, hangers, danglers and other random things we carry about when we are in costume.

Magicians… tend not to do that so much. We like our boxes, our tables, our briefcases. Jeff McBride has developed a sort of utility belt (his “pod belt” as described in his Magic On The Edge DVDs) which contains everything he needs to whip out a quick set or a full fledged show.

(by the way, pod belts can be viewed and in fact purchased http://podbelt.com/ <- here)

Any other magicians out there have their own “utility belt”? What do you carry on it?

… this post is also dedicated to http://whatwouldbatmando.today.com , another fine blog from the today.com peeps.

* Or to use the politically correct term, person of pudge

Just a rumination here…

Trees and magic have gone together for centuries.

• The first magic wand was probably a piece of a branch.
• The same can be said of a wizard staff
• The “ring on stick” trick continues to be one of the classics of magic, and can be done close up and on stage
• In the 1700s and 1800s, as paper became less expensive, paper was used to wrap dry goods - grocers would make a “cone” of paper, twisting the ends to serve as an enclosed container.  This is why there are so many old tricks that used paper cones.
• The invention of the paper bag in 1852 marked the beginning of the end of “paper cone” tricks in popular magic.  Of course it also marked the beginning of “paper bag magic”
• Pound for pound, newspapers and paper napkins are the least expensive materials to use for magic. Mostly because the magician can often “acquire” the materials for free by walking past a bar, restaraunt or recycling center.
• There are over two  hundred variations on the “torn and restored newspaper” trick
• Likewise for the “torn and restored napkin” trick
• Harry Houdni published a book of Paper Magic  - I won’t say “wrote” as many of the tricks existed before he published them
• Making a rose out of a paper napkin continues to be one of the simplest ways I’ve found to make a lady or young girl’s day at Faire.
• And I couldn’t make a list like this without mentioning Slydini’s Paper Balls Over The Head - Others have done it after, but Slydini was the master

Bricolage, pronounced /ˌbriːkoʊˈlɑːʒ/, /ˌbrɪkoʊˈlɑːʒ/ is a term used in several disciplines, among them the visual arts and literature, to refer to:

• the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things which happen to be available;
• a work created by such a process.

It is borrowed from the French word bricolage, from the verb bricoler – the core meaning in French being, “fiddle, tinker” and, by extension, “make creative and resourceful use of whatever materials are to hand (regardless of their original purpose).”

- Wikipedia

For me, bricolage is the key to doing what I do - the heart of improvisation is being able to take a bunch of things you already have “in stock” and assemble them into something new and, hopefully, entertaining.

A brief aside - When I was growing up I wanted to emulate the really clever banter I saw on TV (growing up in the 70s and 80s meant I was witness to a Golden Age of good sit-com writing - Barney Miller, MASH, Cheers, Night Court, all the good stuff).

I did not realize that this apparently impromptu wit was coming from rooms of writers who labored over the Funny for hours and hours on end. By the time I learned this, it was too late and I had conditioned myself to generate this stuff automatically.

This explains a lot about me, doesn’t it?

Going back to my Script vs Outline ramble, I know that there are moments which are likely to happen in my show, and I have a few “riffs” (to use the comedy term) that I can fire off when those moments happen. Thus, I assemble my show based on the outline of things I will do and reactions to likely outcomes…

So where do these “riffs” come from?  - They come from where all writing comes from - running through scenarios in my head, personal experiences performing, things I thought of after the fact (yeah, we all do that, don’t we?)…

Bricolage.

My wife and I spend a certain amount of time in craft stores, which means I spend a certain amount of time wandering randomly around the aisles*. As I spend more and more time studying Magic, my way of looking at the various bits and bobs one finds at a craft store has changed. These days I tend to look at these things with one question in mind…

How can I use this?

Everything gets that treatment. In fact the UP/DOWN bit you’ll find in my new Demo Reel sprang from fifteen minutes of wandering through the “wooden bits” department of the local craft supply warehouse. Wooden squares with letters on them? Maybe a numerology kit. Inexpensive bandanas? A new medium for all the silk magic I know - or source material for a new devil’s hank. A big wooden oar? A seafaring Hot Rod routine using shells**.

Once my brain started working along those lines, I started looking at what I already own in the same way. The exercise question becomes

How much can I do with this?

My most recent subject matter is a 3′ x 3′ purple silk scarf and a 3″ diameter replica “Aztec Coin”. How many things can I do based on those two items?

… how many things could you do with those two items? Or two things you already own? Would it be easy to carry those around with you and bust out a five minute set? Could you busk with them?

… think about it.

*Insert “husband in a craft store” jokes here

** Yep, it involves a Paddle Move.

The key to excellence is consistancy - Jim Caveney

For me, what happens after a show at Faire is what helps keep me centered and grounded. There’s a set of things I do after each show to ensure that I’m ready to go for the next one* and that everything is, more or less, where it needs to be, including myself.

1. Reset the Magic Act
   This is, and will remain step 1 after any show. Tidying up the loose bits that get tossed back into my bag during or after the mayhem on stage so that I can do the next show ensures that I can find all the random stuff I use on stage with a minimum of fumbling.
2. Count the Money
   As any busker knows, the goal is to GTFM - Get The (Freaking) Money. This is my instant-ratings review of the show. It also gives me a chance to get all the bills sorted and “faced” (all facing the same way)
3. Document my “Hat” take
   Adding what I made in this show to the running tally on my phone or in my notebook. Yep. I’m one of those insane people who -gasp- keep track of what I make in hat, along with notes about the conditions in which the show was performed… Hot, quiet crowd, incessant parades, devil children in the front row? How did it affect what I did? How did it affect how I did in hat?
4. Review the show in my head
   For me, the actual show doesn’t really register for at least 10 minutes after I’m off stage and sitting quietly. This is where I think about any technical or stagecraft issues that might have come up during the performance and make notes - mental or written
5. Drink lots of water
   Faire. Hot. Shouting. Nuff said.
6. Blow my nose for about five minutes
   Faire. Shouting. One of the hazards of having an acoustically perfect skull is that all the projecting I do during the show shakes things up in there. This means I need to clear my head. Usually for about, yes, five minutes. Yes, that is what those loud honking noises backstage are. Now you know.
7. Rest
   Yes rest. Remember my Cheap Advice to performers ? I do it too. Resting. Just sitting quietly with my eyes closed if nothing else.
8. Prep for more hawking for the next show.
   More water, food if available, making sure my shoes still feel ok, loading up on yet more water… and keeping an eye on the time so I can go out there and start the process all over again.

You’ll notice that all of this happens immediately after my show… I do a more abbreviated set of tasks immediately before I start the show - usually when I’m on stage. I’ll talk about that tomorrow.
* with the exception of the last show of the event. That tends to run like this:

• Change into civvies
  
• Throw everything into bags
• Get check
• Haul things to car
• Shove bags into bigger bag in car, using brute force if necessary
• Haul ass to the airport, stopping at a 7-11 on the way for caffiene and carbohydrates

… not as organized, really

There’s an ongoing debate / discussion / heated argument among magicians as to whether it’s better to script out your show word for word or work from a loose outline.

Seriously. People get into fights over this. Partially because we tend to rely (unfortunately) on other people’s words when we start out in magic - we call that “Patter” - and it’s included with every trick that’s sold. Usually these words fit the person who wrote them perfectly.

Sadly, that person probably isn’t you. So we tend to flail about a bit while doing our stuff.

My own process involves creating a very rough outline of what I want to say when I do my stuff, and then honing and toning the words over the course of the shows in which I perform that particular bit.  To steal from Commedia Del’Arte, I create magic lazzi, in which I know roughly what I want to say when I do a bit, and then tailor it on the fly to the circumstances (show going too long? too short? audience dead? parade coming through?).

So I have an outline punctuated by lazzi - The opening, the ring bit, the sword bit, rope bits, and so on to the Big Stupid Finale and passing the hat. Even the hat line changes depending on the circumstances.

For Faire, since the environment is so variable, having a stock of lazzi works very well. I’d recommend it for any stage show (or long, complex street bit).  It comes in really hand when your “riff gun” misfires in mid-improvisation.