I think he did an outstanding job on this. I had never seen this particular production of the 3 balls at the beginning. The routine starts at 1:25

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRtPoX6tExU

Thanks for sharing this. It was interesting to see how much his audience grew once he was into the C&B routine proper.

Kozzi?

This was a great routine and I agree that the appearance of the ball in
the beginning was a nice a twist. I also liked his presentation; different
than what I've seen. His character and confidence seemed really nice too.

But...

He suffers from what Danny Hustle called "Premature show time"...
http://themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic......&start=0
Scroll down to Danny's post.

I've seen this happen with many cup workers. They have only one or two
folks watching until they bust out the cups (which is good edge builder with a table).

And then in mid-show they finally get an edge and when they get a decent size audience the show is practically over...

Thanks for sharing this Zombie...

Solrak29, thanks for finding Danny's thoughts and posting the link.

I wonder if being on Hollywood Blvd. where Matthew was performing has some special considerations to it? His back is to the auto traffic and the sidewalk might only be able to have just so many people stop and watch ( if pedestrian traffic is blocked or congested, do the police come and stop the show ).

Perhaps traditional show theory takes a back seat to practicality of the situation?

I liked it, as others said it was different and well done. Great confidence. But a little too much of a hurry, and The tip building comment was also right on.

Guess I would liked a lovely assistant to pop off of the bus. That would have been some really great timing!

But over all it was good and entertaining.

Thanks for sharing.

The Doctor

Or even for the lovely assistant to appear from behind the palm trunk and stand alongside Matthew at the back of the table. She could be standing over against the shops until time to make her entrance. Now, where's a pretty assistant to help me?...

I actually watched this a while back just browsing youtube videos, the production at the beginning is great, one thing I noticed is that he set up on the side of the sidewalk closest to the traffic, I'm not experienced in this so I might be wrong, but I've heard that you're better off setting up against a wall, as it helps your voice project, plus the noisy traffic right behind him seems like it would be a real pain, regardless this was really good.

Setting up against a wall is good for a lot of reasons. Your angle are better, nobody can get hehind you. Less distractions behind you, and the vocal projection as you mentioned.

But sometimes, you just have to take what you can get.

Also, for purposes of the video, the lighting might have been better curb side...

The Doctor

I'd do it at a slower pace, but if it works for him...

Not that fond of his final load sequence (too quick to and from the pouch without motivation), but again if it works for him...

When I first tried to busk Thayer St., I used the Brown Univeristy Book Store as my back drop. I was told by a Brown employee that they don't allow people to perform up against the building. I had to work against the curb with my back to the traffic. I got used to it. [The pizza place I work in front of now, has tables and chairs set up in front of their building, so I still use the curb.]

Oddly enough, nobody stops the beggers from parking in front of the building. Oh well.

The problem with trying to work on Hollywood Blvd with your back to the wall, you end up being on private property and mall cops will call up LAPD. The sidewalk is public about 25 feet from the mall and there are the walk of fame stars on the sidewalk. I worked that pitch for a couple years and its a hard one for many reasons.

People were talking about me on the Magic Café 8 years ago and I did not notice? !

Too busy workin'! Great routine by the way, I agree with the guys above that the balls appearing was a great little moment.

What about now? Presumably you're not busking at the moment, but has anything changed about your presentation of the Cups & Balls?

Kind of reminds of the guy from Terror Train that carries the blow up doll at the start.