I'm going to start busking again! Wish me luck! (or not, depending on your mood)

I've been reading the posts here for months and getting a lot of great advice from everyone here. So I figured it's time to hit the bricks again and see if I still got it.

Long story short, I had open heart surgery a number of years ago and due to an unusually long time under anesthesia, I had a significant portion of my memory misplaced somewhere. One of the things I have a very hard time remembering is my magic. I used to have a huge repertoire for table magic, street magic, close-up and stage I could do a dozen shows of each type and never repeat a trick.

Before the surgery, I had stopped doing magic professionally for a few years due to a bad decision. I had decided to marry a woman who refused to marry an entertainer... Big mistake on my part. After we split and I wanted to get back into it, I found I could remember how to do about 10 routines well, and lost most of the rest. So, I got out my library of books (I'm old school book taught. No DVD's back then) and start going through them and slowly start to get my mojo back.

Here's the weird thing. I'll spend a week remembering and practicing an old routine and if I stop doing it for a few days, it's gone again. I used to have a near photographic memory for names, now I forget them as soon as I hear them.. Dang it. To make it worse, I can’t remember where my collection of Harry’s memory books are!! (Sorry Harry, I’ll buy them again)

The worst moment for me though was when I joined the local (Mile High Magicians) Club and went to a few meetings. I was talking with a young magician there and when we were talking about a basic add-on move, I tried to show him mine that I had done thousands of times. I had no memory of it. As I was trying to remember how to do it, one of the "veterans" of the club noticed what I was trying to do and immediately took over to show us "newbies" how a real magician does it. I was mortified! I have been doing magic for longer than he's been alive and he thought it was my first time with a deck of cards!

Anyway, I guess this didn't turn out to be that short of a post.

This being a holiday weekend and I think I have a great couple shows to do on the street, I figured I'd go to Pearl Street Mall in Boulder and see what happens. I'll let you all know how it goes!

Thanks for reading.

Kendall

Good luck Kendall.
Who knows? "The Forgetful Magician" could become a great character for you.

You're already comeing up with some great lines...
I can’t remember where my collection of Harry’s memory books are!!

I think "the Forgetful Magician" is a funny idea actually, but I think if you were mortified at having forgotten something like that in front of another magician, you wouldn't particularly enjoy it in front of an audience either. Memory is an interesting thing, when there's a problem it picks and chooses. Some things are right there at hand, some things, things we KNOW.. skitter away like birds. My mom has had a bunch of small and medium sized strokes over the years and the effect on her brain is so unpredictable. Her sense of humor is sharp as a tack, but she's forgotten how to write her name. It's terrible and frustrating for her.

It sounds like your old way of working may not be right for you anymore. I think, and this is only a suggestion, that you should create an act, just one act, that is fundamentally the same every time you perform it. Don't worry about having a different act for every circumstance, try to create one act that works for almost every situation and refine it to perfection. This way you'll always have confidence in it, you won't have to think about it, so distractions won't throw you. Take the things you are the best at, relearn whatever you need to, and build an act that feels like home and make it your masterpiece.

Oh, on the names, if you call people by their name in the act, just ask them, after they give you their name, can I call you George? Then just call them that.

Hello Kendall:

I haven't had open heart surgery, but I did have a rather odd kind of surgery to take care of very tricky situation in my right eye. I had two surgeries about 3 days apart. I had all sorts of strange long term memory loss, but eventually most of it came back. It may take 4 or 5 years for everything to click, but the more you use the things you can remember, the more you WILL remember.

So, good luck to you.

I'll jump on the band wagon of those liking "The forgetful Magician" it begs for a character to be developed. Adapt some effects, add in some Ballantine-type gags, and you could have a great set. You could also build it into your hat lines "I forget my wallet..." "I forgot what a 20 looks like."

Good luck and keep us posted

Hang in there and get working. I have memory problems following my stroke, but am doing ok.

We have a man in our club who is in his upper 80's. Due to a stroke he lost some memory of the many tricks he did, so he just does the ones he can remember & still blows people away; even more so when they know his history!

There is some great potential here for "The absent-minded Magician," & I'm agreeing with the others that this begs to become reality! I can see some great material in this: "I have suffered some memory loss since as long as I can remember.(?) I once was going to start a club for people with memory loss but forgot to do it. (?)"

Don't give up! Your desire to perform despite your problem is very inspiring to me!

Sir Richard.

Well, I did it!

I got to Boulder (about a 45 minute drive) early only to find the weekend festival that was NOT supposed to be on Pearl Street Mall was indeed there. All but one of the pitches was covered by a vendor selling cheap imitation Indian jewelry or cruelty-free tofu. (If you know anything about Boulder, that's funny)

So I introduced myself and my friend who was there to assist and provide moral support to the buskers already there. What a fantastic bunch of guys! They were incredibly supportive and helped me with getting setup. A thousand thanks are not enough for Mark, Casey, Bashi, Warren and Reed and Zippy the Zip Code guy!! (I had to call my friend to get the names.. I forgot all but Bashi, he's hard to forget) and a few others who I really can’t recall.

Unfortunately, all my research before-hand did not reveal there is an unwritten law that forbids recorded music being played on a sound system. Yes, they say "no amplification allowed" but nothing about recorded music. So, 3 out of the 5 routines I had rehearsed and "perfected" for the weekend relied on music. What a fun way to start! So, thinking on my feet (I had to... no chairs...) I reordered things a bit and got in the rotation. My turn comes up and I get out there and start to channel the Kendall Scot of 25 years earlier.

I did ok. Not great by any means, but ok. I forgot a few jokes and bits of business, but I attribute that to stress under pressure rather than memory loss. The crowd was not very responsive other than a few kids, but that's ok as well. The hat was only $3.00 but no one was making money that day. One of the pros that have worked the mall for 18 years proceeded me and he only made about $5 so I think I did good considering. Another pro muttered after his hat that he was getting "f$#@ing sick of rich people...

So then about a dozen other buskers showed up and joined the rotation. That would mean about 3 hours between shows. And then a big storm started to move in quickly. I figured that was my signal to pack it in for the day.

Now I need to rework my show to NOT include music. It's really too bad since almost all my Street Routines involve music. I need a really strong closer that is not cups and balls...

I'll work on all the suggestions you all have provided! Maybe there is a great "Forgetful Magician" show I can develop?

That's 3/4 of the fun after all!

Thanks!!

Reminds me of the time, a number of years ago, when I was packing up rooms full of books in preparation for moving to a new home. I found four copies of The Memory Book stashed in various places. I kept forgetting where I'd put the book.

These post are what I prefer to read in the Café ^^
People sharing their amazing story, I hope you will be able to get something fantastic out of the "Forgetful Magician"

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

It is great to see the love of magic survive through all that you have been through.

Best of luck and please keep updating your progress. It is quite interesting to read about.

John B.

It sounds like you're really confused about Boulder...

Hi Zoobini, I was hoping to hear from you. in what way confused?

Well, you obviously can't just show up with amplification. It's Memorial Day weekend and Boulder has always had the booths on the mall for zillions of years just like the Fall Festival/Labor Day. The link below concerns Ibash-i's fight against deportation including 4 marijuana busts.

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/co......19488628

Ahhh, yeah, I see that now.

I did research it as much as I could find online and for whatever reason, I thought by "amplification" they meant a guitar amp or PA system. A friend of mine had told me they saw an entertainer with a boom box on Pearl street recently. As I said, this was my first time out in 25 years. I had never been to Pearl Street on a holiday so I didn't know what to expect.

I did go up there twice in the last few weeks to check it out and each time I went, there were just the kids with guitars and such. I didn't see any pitch style busking. I was hoping to find someone there to ask.

So, confused... no... Uninformed... yup. Now I know. I still had a great time and got over that hump of not busking for so long and was really glad to find out I didn't suck as bad as I thought I might. Now I'm pulling out the books and working on a better show.

Will I be seeing you out there this summer?

Thanks for link to article...not only is it human interest story, but it demonstrates what's needed for busking: a defined character, crowd building, simple acts that lead to a climatic ending that people stay for...while reading you can even get sense of his hat lines. Also, instant reset!

Now that you know, I think you'll do better your next time out.

I actually forgot I was instrumental (bada boom) in banning amplification on the Pearl Street Mall way back when every kid who got his new electric guitar and amp ran down to the mall. As beginners, they would thrill us with learning their first three chords. Unfortunately, they took up 2 blocks with the power of amplification.

I'll be around this Summer as usual filming the movie and performing something out there...Hope to see everyone on the Pearl Street Mall

Kendall:

Do you remember Art Metrano? He was the guy who started doing "magic" with his fingers as he hummed "Fine and Dandy."

If you want to use music, there are a couple of options.
1) Hire a live musician.
2) Get a kazoo. This would be an excellent gimmick. You could even manipulate them like Rick Merrill manipulates Sharpie Markers.