Where to go?

General,

I went south to visit the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival held at the Castle of Muskogee this past weekend. Although I was not performing at this show it is one that I would like to get into eventually.  Many of the people I talk to say it is a refreshing change to have an owner that actually takes part in his festival; one that is wiling to make changes and improvements midweek if it means a better patron experience.

I will be returning to Oklahoma in two weeks, over the Memorial Day weekend, hopefully with a few illusions to perform in the streets of Castleton. 

The other show I’d like to get into is St. Louis which runs mid-May to early June (four weekends total). It’s been many years since I made the trip to St Louis (probably around 2000 or 2001) and I understand they have been experiencing some growing pains lately. It was also recently announced that the same company that manages the Kansas City Renaissance Festival will be doing the same for St Louis. This is good news for me because it means I can use KCRF to audition for StLRF.

The problem is that these shows overlap, OKRF runs all weekends of May and StLRF runs four weekends starting mid May. Can’t do them both at the same time, so which one would I rather do?

Decisions, decisions…

Mentors

General

I’ve been meaning to do this since the middle of October, and then I got involved with the Phantoms Feast thing, Halloween, life… But I’d like to take some time to talk about my mentors; those people that have helped me along the way to be the performer I am today. I’m sure I should have more than the few listed, but these are the first that come to mind.

I’ve mentioned working at the Wizards Tower with Steve, and I supposed Steve would be the latest in a short list of performers that have in some way influenced me and my act. As I’ve mentioned before, going into this past season at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival I hadn’t performed in front of any sizable audiences and it showed. It wasn’t for lack of trying.  I just hadn’t performed around other performers or people that understand magic and comedy,  and because of that I hadn’t had any real constructive feedback about my act for years. Being on The Tower allowed another performer that I respect to give me that feedback I so desperately needed. Steve was always generous with a line or an idea I could incorporate to improve my show.

For example, he gave me pointers on a new effect that I was working on early in the season; I had the basic idea but not the subtleties that come with doing magic for 30+ years.  I ended up not adding it to the act full time, but it ended up being great for those times when I needed something a little different in the show.

For me, personally, this was a year of growth, and Steve helped me when he saw I was struggling.  Those that saw the show at the beginning of the season, and then again at the end of the season have said that the show got better.

Call me when you’ve done a thousand shows…

Dr Dumpe

Rod Sipe AKA Dr. Dumpe was another person that took me under his wing. My first year doing my own show at the Renfest back in 1999, he would come up to watch my show and give me some pointers. I was the young kid and he was the seasoned vet, so of course I listened. I’d seen the size if his audiences and that’s what I wanted, BIG audiences.

My next two years at the festival were the same, and then the following year my show was not renewed because of budget cuts. I still went out to the festival, I just didn’t have anything to do.

The following year Rod approached me about doing the suspended straitjacket escape that his son used to do. My job offstage was to do the grunt work (i.e. be a roadie) and I had no problem doing that, I was going to learn from the master.

Where else can you get paid to practice?

Dr Dumpe again

That’s the way it was, I did the heavy lifting and Rod survived to perform another day.  If you ask him today, he’ll tell you I saved his life. Between shows he would analyze the show we just got done doing and make changes in what I should be doing while on stage, and then we’d talk. He’d tell stories about places he’d been, people he’d met, crazy antics he’d got up to growing up, etc. And that’s the way it was day after day, I’d keep my head down and eyes open and just absorb everything. 

After doing the jacket for three years we moved to a less strenuous stunt with the broken glass. This was something I’d never seen done before and most of it was made up on the fly. Now, after hundreds of performances it’s become a showpiece; something to make the audience gasp and squirm. 

Anybody can buy a magic trick and call themselves a magician, it takes a performer to entertain!

Before that I have to go back to high school for another mentor, although at the time it didn’t feel that way. I worked at Worlds of Fun in the late 80’s for a guy that ran the Fool the Guesser game. I don’t even remember his name now. This was before WOF bought him out and started staffing it themselves. I learned a little about how to grab peoples attention and keep the crowd entertained for a few minutes while I made my guess. For two summers I guessed ages, weights, and birthday months.  Looking back now it’s more nostalgia than anything else, but man those were some good times. 

Hurry Hurry Hurry! Who’s gonna be next to try and fool the guesser!

Me in 1989

The final, final wrap post

Circus, Show, sideshow

I did the Phantoms Feast – Circus of Darkness at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. For those that don’t know it’s a Halloween style show with lots of blood and some scary things. Typically it runs two or three weekends after the end of the Renaissance Festival depending on when Halloween falls. It’s a 90 minute dinner show held in the feast hall and usually sells out every performance, seating somewhere between 105-120 people.

I hadn’t intended to do it when the entertainment director was looking for acts back in September, but my former partner, Dr. Dumpé, thought it would be something we could do together and so I agreed. Less than a week later Dr. Dumpé had to drop out because of another conflicting event that was already booked. The entertainment director sent me a frantic email asking if I was still available. I talked to him the following weekend and he explained that I would just need to do my act and I could be done for the evening. It didn’t sound too bad so I agreed.

Two rehearsals and four shows total, not a huge drain on my time and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might have been. Now that I think about it, I don’t think they ever did get my name right in the show. Lots of Magnificent’s and Stupendous’s, but I think only once did the name come out right, Marvelous Matt! Overall, I had fun, even the one night where it got near freezing. You see I don’t wear shoes, I was doing my whole act barefoot since I was walking on broken glass. Trying to remember lines and asides while you are in front of an audience is nerve wracking. But knowing that if you take your time and don’t mumble through it, the audience will eat it up. And they did. Of the four shows I think there may have been one where the audience started getting out of hand yelling at the stage. That was the one time I got to use any of my anti-heckling lines all season, and it felt good to be that prepared.

The best thing about the experience is, it took me out of my comfort zone ever so slightly. I now have a better idea of what works and what doesn’t as a solo act when it comes to some of the sideshow stunts I’ve done, especially the glass. I heard many good things about the show, and my act, from management and I even got several compliments from the entertainment director on the final night, which I unfortunately missed hearing because I had a second event to go to.

Would I do it again? I don’t know. Even with the minimal time commitment it was more than I had intended to do after Faire was over. It wasn’t terrible and I did have fun, and I got to meet some nice people outside of the characters created for the Renaissance Festival. Yeah, I still don’t know…

Bonus: I got to keep my Circus of Darkness “poster”. It’s actually printed on vinyl banner material and looks pretty cool. I designed the central image and the office added the Circus of Darkness header and footer, I’ll try to add a pic later on.

Here’s the picture I promised.

Circus of Darkness

Circus, Show, sideshow

BOO!

I was asked to do the Phantom’s Feast out at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival grounds this year. The theme is a take on an evil circus. Not much in the way of rehearsals and this past weekend was the first two of four performances. During the show I’m walking on a bed of broken glass and, of course, the straitjacket. Before this show I hadn’t done the glass in over a year so I didn’t have a script in my head. After the Wednesday rehearsal the director asked me if I could make the glass more ominous and to not change anything with the jacket. (Can you tell which one I perfected in over 85 performances this season?) So all day Thursday I’m working the routine in my head, trying to remember lines and the little things that make it more than a stunt. Thursday’s rehearsal went much better since I had managed to cobble together bits and pieces of the routine from my memory.

Friday ended up being the coldest day of the fall season so far. It was also the first public show for Circus of Darkness. It was not a full house but it was close. I happen to be the first “act” in the show and just before showtime I checked the temperature…36 degrees. I do my whole act barefoot since I walk on the glass then do the jacket. I saw many familiar faces in the audience and I kind of regret that I die and am unable to ask them what they thought of the show.  I am not required to stick around after my act because, well I’m dead. I was so glad to get home and warm up after that night.

Saturday was much warmer at showtime (59 degrees), and this show was a full house. I attempted something new in getting my volunteer, and everybody seemed to really enjoy what I was doing. Much laughter and gasping, and an occasional heckler but nothing I couldn’t handle. Big gasps when death reached out it’s cold hand and I collapsed.

I talked to a few of the waitstaff before I left and they said everybody seemed to really be focused on what I was doing, and one waitress said she was asked to move out of the way by a patron, for the first time she could remember, so that they could see what I was doing. I felt real good hearing that.

Of course, since I was dead I went home.

Don’t dream it’s over…

General, Magic, Show

It’s been about a week since the Kansas City Renaissance Festival finished up it’s 2013 season. The last weekend had beautiful weather and according to what I got from the office, record crowds through the gate.

My seven weekends at the Wizards Tower went by too fast. I’ve had several people say that I’ve matured as a performer. My show has passed through the fire and has become better for it. It’s more polished and I think a little more entertaining than it started out. There are elements that have been added, some that have been dropped, but many that just needed a little extra performance time to become gems.

Going back and reading some earlier posts, I was focused on the fear of standing alone on stage. Would the audience accept me? Would they like what I do? Would I be good enough? The answer to all, I’ve found, is yes. It seemed all I really needed was to get out there and be myself. I wasn’t smug, or condescending, I was just me; although I will admit I put on a pretty confident face when I need to.

Will I be back? You bet I will. At least I hope I will be back. According to the area manger my numbers were pretty good and they weren’t getting any complaints, so that works in my favor. Steve told me as far as he’s concerned it’s gonna be the Steve and Matt on the Wizard’s Tower next year.

Weekends Five and Six

General, Magic, Show

It was pointed out to me that I hadn’t posted in over two weeks so here it is, somewhat overdue.

It was almost two weeks ago so lets see what I can remember about the  fifth weekend. Saturday morning was wet and stayed cool but not uncomfortable once the rain moved out. Unfortunately because of the light rain that lasted well into lunch, crowds for the rest of the day were quite a bit smaller than what I had hoped for. This gave Steve an opportunity to play around with something he’s been working on, a vortex cannon. He shot cups off of kids heads all day which was pretty cool until he filled it with smoke from a smoke bomb. Then it was awesome! Watching smoke-rings go out fifteen to twenty feet from the stage and knock a cup off of a persons head was very impressive and everybody that saw it thought it was pretty neat too.

I also unveiled a new dragon at the Wizards Tower. Steve has one he’s been using for years but it’s been rained on, it’s faded, and the head droops, so I made a new one. It looks kind of like the one below, except mine is green and I changed it to say “Estevon”.

Links to the dragons are below…

Even printing it on poster board, the one drawback is that with all the moisture in the air his head got a little heavy so it ended up drooping by the end of the day. I fixed it the following week so now his head stays upright all the time.

Sunday’s weather was perfect and the day started quick and ended big. Steve and I alternate shows all day and we ended up doing seven shows each that day. I can’t say there were any major problems or issues that came up on Sunday. I will say that the next morning I felt like I’d been run over by a truck.

The sixth weekend also started with a little rain in the early morning hours. Forecasters had predicted lots of wind and rain but the storms in the area didn’t develop much of either. Saturday started cool and stayed that way all day. At one point before my first show I caught myself shivering, so I wrapped up in my jacket until I felt better.  I had several good shows and I was getting huge audiences for the jacket escape although that wasn’t translating to an increased hat. I’m not saying that the hat wasn’t good, but watching people just walk off as I begin my hat pitch really sucks. I’m sure  it’s something that every entertainer has to deal with at some point, I’ve just got to learn to not let it bother me. Of course if it didn’t bother me I wouldn’t have written about it here so I’m not doing so well in the not letting it bother me department. Ha Ha. Other than those minor things the day and the whole weekend went really well. Steve did tell me this weekend that I don’t know how good I really am and that doing these kinds of shows have chewed up some of the best magicians in the city. Adding that very few have what it takes to make it in the faire environment and I should be be proud I haven’t collapsed yet.

I have another post on mentors and what they’ve meant to me in the works, not sure if it will get done before the weekend but I hope to have it up soon.

Here are links to download your own dragon: in RED, BLUE, or GREEN. 

Weekend Four – Growth

Magic, Show

If last weekend was about change this one was about growth. Beautiful weather both days and the ever increasing crowds made both days go by fast. Growth as a magician and entertainer can take make many forms, from improving routines to learning to deal with the inevitable conflicts that arise.

With some input from Steve the jacket escape has become more of a finale as opposed to just being a stunt. I’ve added lines and a few strategic pauses, even adding a timekeeper to add to the tension. It’s working out pretty good even when things go wrong.

Another thing is that I’m learning how to deal with is unruly volunteers and becoming better able to spot those people ready to “play along.” Up until this year some of my biggest audiences have been relatively small, typically 30-50 people or less. Under those conditions I’ve had to work with what I was given, but now that I’m in front of 100 or more, I have greater latitude with who I chose as a volunteer. It’s not as easy as it looks, and the right volunteer can convey the impact of the effect to the rest of the audience. Get the wrong volunteer and the audience can begin to feel uncomfortable and that’s the last thing I want them to feel.

My best show so far was also my shortest show. Sunday, Steve had just finished and I had about 20-25 minutes before the parade was due to come through. I knew if I couldn’t get through the show before the parade passed I might as well kiss the hat goodbye. So what did I do? I started the show quick, eliminating my first two effects. I got through the next two effects with no problem, and I started my jacket routine. At this point I’m only hoping I can get out and do my pitch before the parade comes by. I picked my volunteer, went through an edited version of the explanation for the jacket, got strapped in and I started to hear drums and trumpets in the distance. I cut more lines, got everyone clapping, and began my struggle. I’m was out in under a minute. I looked toward the front gate and I saw the parade through the trees moving my direction. I did my hat pitch and started collecting, reminding everybody to stick around for the parade that would be passing right behind them. I was still collecting as the parade passed by us. Whew! That show got laughs in the right places, reactions in the right places, and the audience stayed engaged. I would love to have those same reactions every show, just not the rush that forced it.

Later that same afternoon was also the day a little old lady in biker leathers almost derailed my show. The one thing I learned from this show was, if a woman is a little too eager to help with the jacket, RUN! Lets just say she was a little too “hands on” with the jacket. I tried to keep things moving, but I almost had to get nasty to get her to focus on getting me in the jacket. And her husband sitting in the audience wasn’t any help either, at least not to me. He kept encouraging her bad behavior. I joked, I quipped, I skipped, I prayed that I could get through the end of the show. OMG, it went waaaay longer than it should have. Thank goodness I was able to escape quickly, because I’m not sure the audience was going to hang on any longer.

Overall I’m pleased with the way things are progressing. Hopefully If you’ve seen the show the first couple of weekends, you can come back and experience the changes.

3rd Weekend Update

Magic, Show

This was a weekend of extremes. Saturday overall was good with lots of patrons turning out for the cooler weather. Most of the shows went well and we tried out a new arrangement for my mic so that I can be heard during the straitjacket escape. It didn’t work as well as we had hoped so I made some changes overnight and brought it in the next day and it was much better.

I said most of the shows went well, that doesn’t mean they all did. The second show of the day was a major blow to my confidence. Repeatedly I tried to engage the audience and got no reaction. At several points in the show where I typically get some sort of reaction I got nothing. I tried talking to one particular older  lady and she tells me she’s just there to watch the kids. That’s three strikes, I was out of there! I ended the show short and told them to come back later if they wanted to see more. No pitch, I just walk off the stage. Done, Finished, Kaput! Steve asked me about it and I tell him flat out the show went south, I was done.

We talked later and he said I did the right thing, but it sure shook me for a while. I mean really shook me. I have never felt that kind of helplessness on stage, ever. I didn’t know what to do so I did the only thing I could think of, and I thanked them for being there (even if I didn’t mean it) and  walked off. How can I, as a performer, expend energy for an audience that doesn’t react, at all. Short answer, I can’t. Live performance is a sort of dance, a give and take of energy and excitement. If only one half is expending all the energy, eventually they are going to be left with nothing. And that’s exactly where I ended up during that show and I got the hell out of Dodge.

Mentally sending an image to a spectator

Once I had some time to go over what had happened, the rest of the day went much smoother. Shows went well, and the audiences responded at the hat.  Late in the day, I think it was between 5:30 and 6, we had a small group of college kids sit down and since Steve had just finished I went out and talked to them for a bit. I did a few small things, eventually bringing one of the girls on stage for my version of paper balls over the head (something I don’t normally do in a show, but something that I had been practicing. ) Her friends are laughing and she has no idea where the balls are going. After the third ball I look up and notice that several more people have joined in the audience. I do one more with a super large ball, I thank her for coming up and send her back to her seat. She looks back and sees the balls on the ground, she rolls her eyes and her friends get another good laugh. At this point I’ve got maybe 20-30 people sitting so I go ahead into some of my regular routines, finishing with the jacket. I love it when things just fall into place. Normally at that time I would have been done, but because of the way things worked out I had one of the best shows of the day.

Sunday, crowds were a little lighter. Steve had two aborted shows first thing because of rain, but after the rain it never really picked up like it had on Saturday. We figured it was because of the morning rain and also the Chiefs home opener against the Cowboys. Regardless the shows went well and the new mic arrangement for the jacket worked out well. I had some really good volunteers for the jacket and some new lines that got some good laughs. The patrons really cleared out late in the afternoon, so by 3:30 we were back to doing small magic in the benches for a few people. I managed to draw in enough people my last two shows that it was worthwhile but the audiences were still small.

Next weekend is obviously the fourth weekend, the midway point at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. I know the crowds are only going to get bigger and  I’ll continue to get busier. I only hope I am up for the challenge.

My Biggest Fan

General, Uncategorized

Sixteen years ago I met my biggest fan, although I didn’t know it at the time. What started out as verbal one-upmanship with a girl that I thought was pretty cute has led to some of the best times of my life. She has stood by when I doubted my skill and worth, and encouraged me to take steps to better myself. Even when I feel like I’m losing my joy, the twinkle in her eyes makes me smile.

Happy Met-U-Versary Honey!!

My Biggest Fan!!!

Thank you for the past 16 years.