Don't Get Lazy On Me...

I had a terrible show this morning.

It was my fault.

Here is a caveat on all I'm about to talk about.  The audience had a great time, I took lots of pictures.  It was a library show, the librarian couldn't gush over me more.

But it was a terrible show.  And it's my fault. I got lazy.

This is a library I've done for years.  It's tiny but we pack em in.  I don't have to bring sound or big tricks, I just don't have room.

It's not far from my house.  I was just blase about the whole show this morning.  I couldn't control the children the way I like to.  Because the room was stuffed, kids were staring right up my nose, when children are that close they start hitting and because I had a wide range of ages, interaction was tough.

I got to my 11am show at 10:53.  I like to be at library shows 30 minutes early, today reminded me why.

The room was set up wrong.  The entrance was right next to my playing area.  I would have turned all the chairs around and made the back the front.  I would remove one row of chairs, so I would have more room, parents can sit on the floor too.

By doing this, late comers wouldn't have been a distraction.  People having to leave early wouldn't have thrown the rhythm off.

I have this old saying.  The difference between a $200 magician and a $1000 magician, one has their shoes shined.  It's attention to detail.

What makes me a killer children's performer is I take charge.  My show kills because of a lot of attention to detail. I'm at heart lazy.  But lazy is not worth it.  It takes the fun out of performing.  

Recreating the Clown...

I would apologize for not posting in um...eight months but you've got two hundred other posts to read!

It's been a long time since I recreated my character.  I'm way over due.  I haven't done it, because I'm comfortable and it costs a lot of money to buy new costumes.

When I first thought of being a clown, I loved the baggy pants Bill Irwin type clown.  Then I went to Clown College and became a pretty traditional white face clown.  While I did the white face, I messed around with Auguste and the baggy pants guy.

I went to a character clown.  It was a bit sloppy for me.  I like very clean looking clowns.

then to my current look.  I have jodpur pants (riding pants), tuxedo style shirt and a tuxedo jacket without sleeves.  A vest with scalloped tails.  And a top hat.

I've done this look for at least 15 years.  For the  past few years I've been getting tired.

For the past 6 months I was a character on the vaudeville stage of a replica Speakeasy here in San Francisco.  I created a fast talking comedy magician.  The baggy pants vaudevillian I've been fascinated with for years.

What's so much easier this time, the internet.  The last time I changed I worked with a costumer, designs, shopping for fabric.  I'm not great at all this.  But I worked it and spent a fortune but I have a unique look.

I've spent so much time looking at old vaudeville and burlesque clips lately that I'm going that direction.

My costuming starts with the hat.  I've been thinking a lot about the bowler.  I like the bowler it's just silly.  I can also do a lot more hat tricks out of the gate with this hat than I can with the top hat.  It's shorter so it rolls down my arm better.  I'm debating the color.

I've found a lot of nice clothes online in the style of the late 1800s.  I'm matching things up.  I like the look and I like that I can buy off the rack and create a unique look.

I'm going to transition into the shows that I love, the large shows.  The schools, the stages, the libraries.  I'm learning some new material, especially hat manipulation.

Did I mention no make up?  No nose?  I've given in.  I'm always a clown but the world has spoken, I need to lose the clown nose so I can grab more gigs.