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.
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.
David, this is such a great set of reminders as a performer. We should never slow down the energy of annual gigs. But it does happen sometimes! Keep up the smiles for the kids!
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