HEY, I'M JIMMY AND THIS IS MY BLOG FOR LEARNIN BUSKIN.

there's two commercials then the blog starts. one for my book and one for our new buskers site where the whole society du magis hangs out.

after that the blog begins, be sure and click all the months on the left for more articles.






The book is called;

"TO LURE WITH SPECTACLE AND OUR MYSTERIOUS SOCIETY."


















A STREET MAGICIANS MANUAL

by Jimmy Talksalot


Many people suggested I write a book for beginners, a manual that they could take with them on the street. So when the people of Leaping Lizards publishing approached me I got excited and signed a contract with them.


here's the intro to the book to give a little idea about what it's about.


AN INTRODUCTION

A lot of street performers have different ways to build a crowd. Some will insult the “passer by”, verbally or through mimic and mime. Some will be loud and announce that they are going to do a show by saying, “show time ladies and gentlemen show time in three minutes!”

Others will simply ask people to stop. Some times I do all of these, but to “Lure With Spectacle” has been my most successful method. In the book I will be describing my method and the reasoning why I use it. I will give a step by step, on how to get started busking and how to make a living.

“Our Mysterious Society”, is a group of articles that I have bundled together from my blog, on the internet; jimmytalksalot.blogspot.com

It is also a group of writings that I have not published, but have saved them up for this book.

I have gone much more in-depth in this book then the blog. It is about our society as magicians and the conduct that is expected of us from our peers and the public.

Understanding these things is crucial, in the life of a street magician and hence has made
the blog successful. These are the things that are not talked about openly enough, to the beginners.

The old pros know this stuff of course, but many aren’t talkin! Before I knew this stuff my career as a magician was always an uphill battle.

Since I have gone in depth here, you will have a much better understanding of our mysterious society then many out there who are just doing tricks and hope they are doing everything alright.

As it is a Manual, I would suggest after you have read the whole thing, you can keep it in your bag and just read bits and pieces over and over again as primer, while your out on the street. It is sectioned off in very small chapters to make this possible.

It is my hope that it travels with you where ever you decide to go and then one day we can say we’ve shared a lot of pitches together.

I hope you enjoy the book, it took a lot out of me to put it together.

Your pal Jimmy Talksalot.



here's the publishers site for the book;

http://leapinglizardsmagic.com/lure_with_spectacle.htm

if you go to the site they tell the price and give you a 20 page sample and the publishers forward.


here's a video commercial clip.




AND HERE'S THE NEW SITE!









the sidewalk performers now have a site!

the site is mostly for small acts busking for a living, but doing it because they love it first.


it´s not just magicians.


it´s any act;

musicians, clowns, mimes, balloons, jugglers, stautues,etc.etc.

the site is being designed to teach how to become and master the sidewalk.

this winter we will be filling it up with celebs and articles.

so if you would like to talk to some of the sidewalk performers you have heard of or get news about them please log on to the site.

it has it´s own forum and links to other important educational busking sites.



here´s the site;




sidewalkperformers.com

sign up for the forum, all your favorite buskers go there and gab and teach and learn;


http://sidewalkperformers.freeforums.org





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LIVING WITHIN ONE'S MEANS.

welp this one has been a long time comming;

some of the least known things about the buskers's life is that it requires 3 very important things; a work ethic, a frugal and practical disipline, and a keen sense of survival.

read that again and notice the order.

some begginers have a miss conception of busking as a lifestyle.

the first thing of course one should understand is that it is a career.

DIFFERENT CAREERS, DEMAND DIFFERENT LIFESTYLES.

But here's the most important thing,

if your a yuppie who keeps up with the jones's you are going to be fighting an up hill battle as a busker, i don't care how big you think your hats are.

one of the biggest problems with us americans today, is that we forgot how we built this empire, starting from lets say the 30's we began as a hard working class majority of people who moved where the work was,

then some how we went to be a self centered, spoiled, stagnant bunch who expects everything without working for it........

well my friends, reality is crawling up our chests, right into our faces with the state of our country.

we are finacially and morally bankrupt.....we forgot some things that our ancestors taught us.

the point is that most full time buskers are working class people, certainly the beginners. in order to make your new career work you will need to be frugal and practical, you will need to submit to the idea that you will have to go to where ever the work is best and work many, MANY, MANY, HOURS.

granted as buskers we live pretty well, especially if we are single, but some times..times can be slim.

those who have been doing it for years know that keeping up with the jones is not compatible with what we are doing.

example; most of us with families will go to a pitch for the season and stay and work it to death until it is milked dry and then move on to greener pastures, sending money home in bulk every morning. some of us who are more frugal,
will sleep in our vehicals and get a room every couple of nights. some of us will go in with many other buskers on a cheap apartment for the season and bunk there and eat in......sending money home every morning.

many of us travel the world, working on our careers and supporting a life at the home front.

basically we are blue collar workers in tux shirts.

we are not talking about rich or poor...because every wealthy wise man knows fortunes need to be earned.

of course this artical here is going to get many interpetations from every different person reading it, but one thing that should be understood is that busking full time as a sole means of income is a unique lifestyle and one will have to learn how to adjust, through research and a willingness to change ones predjudice.

JIMMY TALKSALOT - SAN DIEGO

Seaport Village in San Diego, small sidewalk show.

PEPPE'S MINI DOCUMENTARY ON BUSKING.

Well,be warned this mini documentary has some bad words and stuff, but it definately expresses what i have been trying to get through about money, what we do, and our lifes work.

the rest of the blog doesn't use bad words.....it's just that this is a really important busker talking about some really important stuff....he's just using street language.

MOTIVATIONS-by Eric Evans

i have here an artical before me, that my friend ERIC EVANS wrote awhile back on an old forum we used to frequent.

he got his head ripped off for writing it....so you know it's probably good.

they hated it because it talked about the motivations of why people go to the street to work.

some of the readers there hated it because he didn't put money first and further stated that talent was judged on more then income.

i thought it so relevant that i should post it here.

here's the artical by Eric Evans;
it's titled;

MOTIVATIONS


I guess I need to spell something out…
(The reasons are simple, and not what they might at first appear to be).

I’ve been working the streets for years and years and over that time I’ve seen all sorts of people come and go. Used to, I’d see all kinds of performers who were driven there from sheer desire to perform, and the ones who were good at it made money. The ones who weren’t that good at it didn’t make all that much, but they were still doing what they loved – performing.

Then David Blaine hit it big.

David Groves was one of the guys who decided to cash in on it by writing a book. Now I’ve only read David’s book once, but aside from some good advice from other guys, mostly what I remember (besides the slick, professional packaging) is him promising the reader tens of thousand’s of dollars every other week, financial bliss, if one were to “be a Street Magician!” It was a pretty good book, other than that. At least David “interviewed” some good guys.

I was one of those who were driven to the street to perform. Not because I couldn’t find anywhere else but because that is the place where the purest, most beautiful performances can be had. What constitutes “pure”?

In 1991 I was performing walkaround in the penthouse of a hotel in downtown Dallas, one might say a real sweet gig – making roughly 500 dollars for a couple/few hours work. As I was performing I felt couldn’t escape a feeling like I was some kind of “pet”, like someone’s prize poodle. It didn’t feel right and for once I saw clearly why. Working in a hip restaurant two nights a week and taking other work on the side had left me feeling burned out. My magic was going nowhere as I was loosing touch with what had brought me to that point, my love for magic. It was it was during that time that I met Cellini. I had decided to work the street in Dallas, a couple of friends worked there, and while I now felt like it was somewhat “beneath” me at this step in my development – it turned out to be the best move I ever made. For it was there that I met Cellini.

Cellini was buoyed by freedom. His magic was unencumbered by social propriety and convention. I was so blown away by his example that a month later I hit the road and decided to make the Street my home too.

Over the years things have changed drastically as to the world of Street Performing in general and Street Magic in particular.

Now, literally everywhere I go, I see performers, who instead of perfecting shows and their own ability to express themselves in their own way and time, make shows that push the idea in their audiences head that they should give them lots of money. Their show becomes a medium for selling an idea, one simple idea, that their audience owes them something. One long commercial, and sure commercials can be funny and entertaining, but they’re just commercials. And like commercials, how much money they generate is the bottom line, the single most important consideration.

Take a stroll down the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica CA. some weekend afternoon or night and you’ll see what I mean. If their not making it, they’re telling everyone that they’re making it in the hopes to create, from sheer will power, the illusion that they’re making it so they will make it.

And make it they will.

Their good because they make the money, they’re defined by it. Sure they have some tricks up their sleeve, there’s has to be some entertainment value there upon which to hang the notion that their audience pay them big for it.

Watch them closely and you can see them grab their audiences by the proverbial throat and demand payment. And if you can’t see it, keep looking because it’s there to be uncovered and as a magician, as a real magician, you should know about these things, see them for what they are.

You see I went to the street because that was the one place I could find families. Families are my target. Nothing in this world means more to me than creating smiles on their faces and laughter in their hearts from magic. Now maybe I don’t make thousands upon thousands of dollars every week, but those guys that do, can’t necessarily do that.

I guess maybe they’ve never seen those smiles or don’t know how valuable they are.

Unfortunately, most people don’t recognize the value of that ability to create those smiles, at least not immediately. And one day soon, maybe I’ll learn the perfect way to communicate what they’re worth, but until that day comes, I won’t allow my show to become a commercial. There’s nothing magical about a commercial.

JIMMY TALKSALOT - ESPANA

this is me working in Barcelona, Spain. i love it there, spain is my favorite place to work.














don't forget to check out the who's who of sidewalk performers blog to see some of the other characters out there on the sidewalks of the world.

http://sidewalkperformerswhoswho.blogspot.com/
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THE PROS AND CONS TO THE WAY I WORK

i don't use an amp.

i don't use a table.

i don't use any fire.

i don't do cups and balls or a straight jacket.

i don't juggle or break dance or play an instrument.

i don't do close up tricks, but all my tricks can be seen close up or far away or surrounded.

i don't need a cart to carry my stuff.

i can walk down the street with NOTHING in my hands, stop build a large crowd and do a show any where.

i can come and go into businesses like any other normal person with out lugging stuff.

i can blend into a crowd if i need too. and just walk away before being confronted by an authority.

i can pass through customs with out being suspected as a street performer comming to work in their country, because i don't have a massive rig to explain. and i don't have to deal with shipping.

i do large parlor effects and a large half circle show ONLY WORKING FROM MY POCKETS . i can do a show 3 mins. - 30 mins. what ever will fit my needs or the needs of the pitch or the customer.

with these methods it is difficult for cops or other authorities to regulate me. this is my main objective. THIS IS MY MAIN OBJECTIVE!

the draw back to my system is it is much more difficult for me to compete with the larger circle shows with amps and huge rigs and $150 and up hats. i can make these hats but not as consistantly as proper circle show guys can.

it's give and take because, i don't have to suffer regulation like those guys and there is ALWAYS a place for me to work. the big amplified circle show spots are drying up in america, there were never many to begin with. so i take a very, very, small cut in pay per show verses the big circle show but i'm always workin, year round, any town, any where.

i do not suck all the fun out of what i do, by doing a commercial show. i try and create original tricks to perform instead of the old stand byes like cups or silk vanish etc. these tricks are great and gaurunteed to be a success by any one.......but that's really the point why i don't do them.

i love the cups and balls it's my favorite street trick and in my opinion there is no better trick for the street....none.

that's why i love the chalenge of not doing it.

i think the great draw to the street is it's fun and chalenging and is a great place to create.

this is the draw to the beginning artist type to come to the street, and to tell this type of individual that he must have a commercial show, can only be described as the rehtoric of a bitter fun hater.

but for the those less artistic beginners who are only interested in MONEY my way of working could be fatal and should be avoided because my way is not a way to make huge hats. a money guy should definately persue a larger rig and a large amplified show for larger hats for more spectacle and delay and hat build.

i'm not saying i'm artsy, i never thought i was, until all the accussations by my critiques. frankly i never thought i was good enough to be artsy. our enemys will even compliment us if they have to, so they can insult us.

your pal jimmy

here's a day at the office, showing a pretty good example of some of the strategies i use.



THIS IS A MINI DOCUMENTARY MY TEACHER DOUG CONN MADE OF ME.