Here's an experience that I would like to share with all of you.

Last night I decided that I would go busk in Waikiki. Since it's been about a year since I had last busked, I had to get used to having a crowd of 10-20 people around me again. Anyway, I made $4, got a phone number, and made people laugh and smile. Sure I didn't make much, but some of the reactions were priceless. I had three separate performances that I will talk about in this reflection. Oh, I just thought I should mention that tonight was the night I used my Black Tigers for the first time in a public performance. And contrary to what a lot of people say about how laymen will automatically jump to the conclusion that they're trick decks because they look different, well...nobody accused me of it.

For the first one, there was this kid. He was about 12-13 and he told me he was rolling with a gang and wanted to see some "(fill in explicit word) card tricks". Why he was in a gang at his age, it beats me. What caught his attention (from about 30 feet away) was that I was using the Black Tiger deck and I was just practicing some XCM moves to warm my hands up. I kinda took him as someone who could potentially try to ruin an effect, so I started him off with a trick where he picks a card, loses it in the deck, and I reveal it via Daryl's Hot Shot Cut. Now this kid who was acting like the biggest and baddest guy on the island let his guard down. You could see a transformation from his gangsta attitude to well, how any 12-13 year old kid would react to magic. He wanted to see more, so I did a fan and told him to pick one. When I fanned, he literally jumped backwards in amazement, almost as if it was the first time he ever saw a deck of cards being fanned out. He wanted me to do it again, so I did a giant fan. He was more amazed with the flourishes and XCM than the actual magic. I had an extra deck, so I offered to teach him how to fan. He didn't do that badly the first time...actually, it was pretty good. That whole time he was there with me, he was smiling. I had a feeling that he would be a good card man one day, so I gave him my extra deck to practice with and asked him to promise me that he would practice. Right now, I hope that he's in his room practicing how to fan with his cards instead of hanging out with the gang he's in, and eventually the cards will pull him away from that lifestyle and that he'll enter our lifestyle...hopefully. Oh, and he dropped a dollar in my can.

My second performance involved two girls and a guy on vacation from the California bay area. Once again, it was the tigers that attracted them over. They asked me why the cards were black. I told them one of the lines from the Black Deck Book and let them shuffle and cut them to their heart's content. When I got the deck back, I spread the cards out and told one of them to pick one. I had Biddle Trick in mind for this one. These people were good spectators and were really into the magic. They were in a rush so all I had time for was Biddle Trick. One of the girls gave me a dollar and left me her number too. Hopefully my girlfriend won't get mad about this :X.

My last performance of the night started off once again, with flourishes. This couple said "Oh wow, he does card tricks too!" A friend of mine was performing further down the street, so I told the couple that I do more than cards. A family overheard me say that and stayed to watch. I started a spongeball routine with their children. This was the first time I performed with the spongeballs because for a while, I didn't feel too comfortable with them. One moment, I'm down at eye level with their kids, and the next moment I looked up and saw a crowd of about 15-20 people. When they saw that the two spongeballs turned into four, they clapped. From there I performed the Professor's Nightmare just to do something different from cards. I had totally underestimated this effect because in the past, the reactions I got from this effect were rather mediocre. Last night was different though. I handed out the ropes to three different people for them to examine then I went on with the routine. At the point where you show three medium ropes, one of the guys blurted out "Now THAT's trippy." When I did the ending where you show the ropes are of different lengths, that same guy yelled out some dirty words out of amazement. I also performed the ambitious card routine and biddle trick for a couple people and when I was done, two people dropped in a dollar each and everyone just left.

I left shortly after that. I had $4 in my can and a new number in my phone. That was after being out there for about three hours. Was it worth it? Well, sure it was only $4, but this was one of the best night I've had. I learned a lot about how I present my magic and the light hearted character that I portray. Now, to learn how to get people to put more money in my can *laughs*

You did more than make $4.00. You made a tough street kid remember that he's 12-13 years old and he's allowed to have some fun in life!

Now if are back out there and that kid sees you again he may want to stay and watch you instead of getting in trouble. He then may go back home and start praticing.