What Inspires you?

In my opinion the biggest obstacle to creativity is stress. The stress of daily life and work can often overwhelm even the most creative people and lead to mental blocks and at worst even depression and no one can move forward in that case. So what inspires you?
I've found that as a magician whose job is to bring amazement and wonder to my audiences, I NEED to keep the creativity flowing. So I thought I'd share with you my dear blog reader what I do to keep the new ideas coming and fresh perspective for my magic.
Firstly, I surround myself with things and people who remind me of creativity and previous experiences that fed my creative side. Two examples that come to mind you'd find on my nightstand. My two friends Figment and the Maker Bot

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Figment of course is a Disney character who speaks about the importance of IMAGINATION, and the Maker Bot is one of the logos and representation of the Maker Movement, the ultimate in using creativity, art and science to solve problems and improve the world.

On the dresser there are two small busts of two other inspirational men, Houdini and Ben Franklin. Both were important to their times, and innovative in their fields. There are also a number of my Steampunk items, like the lamp and light switch. I feel the Steampunk genre is one of deep creativity and imagination which is why I've embraced it in my current magical performance persona. Lastly there are the many Star Trek items I keep to remind me of the philosophy behind the stories and themes of that universe, which I find very inspiring.

Then of course there are my notebooks. I take one of these everywhere with me. I write down ideas and thoughts about magic and routines and even notes about how performances went. The other is more of a dream journal which I learned to keep after learning about it from a Jeff McBride class back in the early 90's.  In the morning after waking if  I had an interesting dream I write notes about it and then write the whole story later. Some of the memories that come out in dreams are really cool and a few times I've remembered something from my childhood which was an absolute thrill.
Once in a while I'll refer back to these notes to help come up with routine ideas.

The other source for ideas are books. I read books about magic, history, science, philosophy, and science fiction. Reading in many areas and exploring other ways of thinking are a very big influence on the creative process.
As time goes by and magic and performance take up more of my professional time, its very easy to get set in my ways and lazy. When a performer does the same thing for long periods of time its easy to get jaded. Sometimes the performances begin to lack enthusiasm and it will really show to your audience..this is when your creativity and need to recharge your creative batteries is really important. So What inspires you?
Feel free to post a comment about this, and please if you find anything I've written enjoyable or thought provoking go ahead and post a comment.
Also please let your friends and followers know about my blog, every post I enjoy seeing more and more readers.
Until the next post.......Keep being inspired,
Be Well and Keep 'em clean

More Buskers Please......

I was looking around the posts in the magic cafe,( https://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/index.php) and someone posted an article about a city in Massachusetts that is looking for MORE BUSKERS!


https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/12/22/cambridge-wants-more-street-performers-they-eliminating-permit-fee/miPukrLQfrvrwQNtAKlcON/story.html

In a nutshell, the city is eliminating the fees and restructuring the permits to encourage an increase in street performers recognizing that much of the character and ambience of a tourist city can be improved by buskers and other colorful cultural enhancements.  Obviously Magical Street Performers will be a part of this.....I hope.

As I've discussed in previous blog posts, I investigate the busking situation everywhere I travel. We take many driving trips during the year. Some for business and some for vacation. Before each trip I spend time online and on the phone with the local chamber of commerce of our destination finding out the rules in that city on street performing. Some places require permits, some don't, some have clear laws against it. If there is a chance to perform we schedule that into our time away. Usually the family goes off shopping or to some other attraction and I look for a pitch. For me....It's heaven.

You see NY has over the years become a very difficult busker market. Often the police or park police will ask you to move along, " you can't do that here", "You need a permit for that".....all of which is untrue, they just don't know the law and like to flex their authority. Silly Police...go to NYC.gov and read your own laws!
 I fell in love with Street performing when I was in College at NYU and lived in the dorm around Washington Square Park. This was 1987-89. The golden age of busking was before this but things were still very active in and around the park on a daily basis. I highly recommend the book, "Drawing a Circle In The Square" by Sally Harrison-Pepper for a perfect accurate description of the busker scene in NY.

I watched performers for hours between classes, and studied technique, crowd management, etc. My favorite performers were a magician named  Chappy Brazil and a Juggler Uni cyclist named Joey-Joey. Over time I got to know Chappy and was honestly in awe of him. His grand finale was stealing a spectator's watch off their wrist while holding their arms during a sponge ball trick. Then as a thank you for helping him he offered them the gift of their watch.
His cigarette and card manipulations were quite impressive.
Just imagine this street act today? Smoking and stealing an audience members watch on the street, they'd have a fit and call the cops! They'd come after you and the video would be online in seconds!
I started performing north of Washington Square Park at Union Square Park at the entrance of the farmers market. I never thought I was qualified to work Washington Square so I stayed away. I performed three days a week for a year and a half on that pitch, and never had any negative interaction with police. I was never asked to move on, or stop the show, in fact they often stayed to enjoy my show!
I followed Chappy's career and watched it grow. I even hired him to perform at a College Club show I produced. We tragically lost Chappy after a fatal motorcycle accident. I was told he was heading towards a taping for a video teaching watch steals. I have always missed watching him work he was a talented innovative magician. Recently in an issue of VANISH magazine someone ran an article remembering Chappy. It was great to see and I wrote a note to the editor thanking them for its publication ensuring we won't forget this young talent lost much too soon.

I would love to see buskers thrive in NY and get the respect we deserve for bringing art and culture to the city and adding to its character not only for the tourists but for the native NYers as well; at the Seaport, in the Parks, all over the City and in all 5 Boroughs.
And when you're walking down the street and you hear live music or see a live performer, thanks them and applaud then drop some money in their hat!
Be Well and Keep 'em clean

Happy New Year Blog Post..what else?

It seems some sort of Blogging rule that there's supposed to be a Happy New Year or New Year's resolution post on or about January 1st or 2nd so here we go

Its a New Year, 2019 what should we change, what should we do more of? Well as far as I'm concerned its quite simple. I would like to perform even MORE. Magic is a performance art and therefore it must be performed!!! For people!
I used to have this conversation with a friend of mine about going to magic club meetings and that if you just stay home, you'll end up performing for yourself in a mirror and that can be very lonely.
You must get out and do stuff. That means as magicians we need to get out and perform our art for live people. Some like to make YouTube content as their performance for the public but I personally think that's a poor replacement for the real human interaction...now that's magic. I've written about this before, that's why I'm in love with Busking. Its REAL interaction, not scheduled, or planned in any way, just strangers who aren't expecting to see magic stop to watch your performance.....that's the real magic...the chance to affect someone's day or mood by showing them something unbelievable even if its just a small effect, or simple trick you can really bring your audience to the magical place in their minds.
When my family and I do our Clown rounds, (which we haven't had time to do in a while but would love to get back to - talk about your New Year's Resolutions!) We would work very hard to "change the energy in the room" We'd go in and interact with the patients and the families and even the staff to take them out of the moment and change the emotional energy which improves mood and outlook helping the healing process.
Magic is a wonderful art form and Magic on the street or in parks is one of the best ways to view and enjoy this art form.
SO as we start 2019 I will work hard to keep that magic in my life, Busk more and everywhere I go.
Oh yeah and Loose more weight, exercise more maybe join a gym, eat healthy etc etc......like everyone else..boy those have become cliche resolutions.
Honestly, we have some exciting events coming up this year, lots of volunteering and volunteer shows, lots of travel and performance, and participation in busker festivals and Steampunk Conventions, so keep reading and following me, and PLEASE tell your friends to follow along on all my social media posts, they're all @drmolarmagic.
Be Well, Happy New Year and of course
Keep 'em clean

To Scipt or not to Script......your magic performance

"For my next trick I'd like to show you....." These are (in my opinion) some of the worst words a magician can say during a performance.   I fully embrace the philosophy that I am there to entertain using the art of magic  not just doing magic...Do you see the difference? As a performer you are there with a purpose....to entertain. I try very hard with every show or event to follow this.
When I perform I work from a script. Its not set in stone but it is written. There are stage directions and everything including pauses are written in. Then during performance I work from the script allowing for on the fly impromptu changes and ad libs. None of my scripts begin with the phrase,"for my next trick", or "this is a trick made famous by the great....." or anything of the sort. I prefer stories and background information that introduce my magic. I get to present the scenario and engage the audience as I do.
"Does anyone here believe in time travel, because I do and I've actually traveled back in time with my dog Otto. While we were there I needed a way to earn a little extra money. I set up my table in the park and asked the first person who walked by, would you be interested in witnessing a miracle?"
A very different approach. Another example, my sponge ball routine, " I've always been fascinated by Black holes. Like these. They are small handheld Black Holes, may I borrow your hand to hold one and I'll hold this other one......" etc. etc.
I spent a very long time performing magic without using a script. I knew what I wanted to say but it usually came out noting like what I planned and there were a lot of "uh", "um", between words because I had to think about what I was saying. Once you have a script and rehearse it, you can focus on the magic and use it to entertain and not just show the tricks, while staring at your hands. ( boy did I have this problem for a long time) 
What pushed me into this? I read the book Scripting Magic by Pete Mccabe after a recommendation from a colleague. It really made the point that I should start scripting my magic. I actually recently finished Volume 2 also a great read.

What else helped my performance? Backstory!
I came across a few threads on the Magic Cafe Chat room about the importance of having a definitive backstory for your performance character which will help the things you say and do so they will come out of your character. There was also an interview about this on Scott Wells Magic Word Podcast. Scott does a great job and I look forward to listening to every episode for interviews, recommendations, convention and magic travel reports making me feel like I'm there! I highly recommend it.

Scripts are not hard to write and they don't need to be in any official format, although it helps me. But I do encourage you to try scripting your performances. If you need topics for your scripts and Ideas for stories and themes, I recommend looking at your favorite children's stories, or poems or quotes from your favorite historical figures or mentors. Anyway you get there, start scripting your work and I assure you that your ability to entertain your audiences will increase......that's how you get call backs and repeat clients.
Be Well, Keep 'em clean

Which one are you? An update on My dove work

As my readers already know I have 10 doves, 4 parent stock and 6 second generation. All the offspring are from the same father, he's a tangerine dove named StudMuffin.The reason I got tangerine doves was that my performance character is the SteamPunk Time traveling Magician and Canine Psychic , Dr Vir Lateus Dentum. Steampunk involves a lot of copper and brass tones in the costume and props so when I decided to work with Doves I wanted birds with the orange color in their feathers. Its actually a very nice match.

As with all animals, each bird has a bit of a different personality and each is better at certain things than others.

                                                             4 of the 6 second generation

All 6 of the birds were hand held and fed while sitting in my hand from very early on.

 Even with that some of them are more tolerant of handling than others. #5 and #6 the youngest of the birds are currently still the most relaxed and take well to being handled and in the harnesses and load chambers of the various effects. #2 is good with siting on my head and won't fly off,

                                      Not the best picture of me but there's #2 on my head.
#3 is the most aggressive and hasn't responded to the training very much at all. #1, and #4 actually have god days and non cooperative days. But through it all I have had one problem......telling them apart without lifting them and looking at their tag numbers! So I decided to get different colored leg tags. Most leg tags come in a single color set, so all of the bands are orange. Now I've had to buy a few different colors and keeping their numbers, they will all have different colors. Now when it comes time to go through the training exercises I will be able to just pick up the dove I need to work with. Simple solution but sometimes the obvious simple solution is the one we miss. Which is the message for this post. I've been spending a lot of time working on my different shows. My Street show, my table to table show, my walk around show, and even my stage show. All related to the different venues at which I perform in my magic life. The work when putting together a good show is to stuff it full of great magic and good scripts and sometimes music, then start the real hard work of cutting things out to streamline and fine tune everything to get rid of what is really unnecessary. You need to get rid of the stuff that my clown teacher Dick Monday of The NY Goofs taught us that the great Clown Lou Jacobs called, "Shpegetti" Its very temping to keep adding magic and the latest effect I've found on ebay or trick I've learned at an SAM or IBM lecture and I need to work had to keep things tight and focused. More  magic isn't better, its just more complicated. Everyone advises to KISS and its good advice.
By the way I got the same advice from Jeff McBride at Mystery School! You'd think I'd learn it by now.....
So when your planning your act and show don't overdue it, just get rid of all the Shpegetti!
Be Well
Keep 'em clean

A Lot to be Thankful For

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone and boy it was a good one! Yes I'm still stuffed from that meal that the Kitchen Goddess @thoreaulife made an amazing meal as usual. While @pupperdoodle18 helped get the house in order for the extended family arrivals and @PhineasJuggler was working for Macy's at the parade I was set free to go perform and CLOWN!
Every year I try to get to the Elohim Church in Richmond Hill to perform walk around for the gathering community there for a church provided Thanksgiving meal.

I arrived at 12:45 for the 1pm meal and went in, I was in my regular clown outfit but due to the cold I added the new sport jacket and because it was Thanksgiving I added my new Turkey Hat, man I looked good....

I went in and just started wandering around dusting with my feather duster and engaging the people. Wishing everyone a happy thanksgiving in English and Spanish (actually I speak fluent Spanglish, in a rather embarrassing Brooklyn accent)
The next hour was spent engaging the people and doing magic and playing games with the kids I made and gave out a lot of napkin roses and took plenty of photos with everyone. As the buffet line opened and tables started going up to get a sumptuous meal prepared and provided by this great community center in the Elohim church and food pantry I excused myself. After all with all that great food and groceries who needs a turkey headed fool with a feather duster!
As I made my way home my cell phone went off and I was tested that at home we needed lettuce. I headed to Keyfood and went shopping. Its amazing how so many people are so wrapped up in themselves that they either didn't even notice me or when they did they just ignored me. I wasn't trying to get attention but attention kind of follows me. Many shoppers did acknowledge me and smile which is all I ever ask, and I wished every one I passed a happy thanksgiving. I did make a bit f a scene at checkout, actually the nice lady who rang me up didn't even look at me, but four other cashiers came over and asked to take a photo with me.

After that it was off to the house to deliver my Lettuce and get ready for the family..
I would like to wish all my readers a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving and try, just try a little everyday to do good for another human on our planet....that's the only way it gets better.
Magically Yours
Be Well and Keep 'em Clean
Bruce

Hey why are you out here instead of doing magic at parties or something?

That's a question I was asked by a member of one of my audiences after a show in the Park. Often after the hat lines are done and the money is in the bag people want to come up and want to speak with you. This is one of the great aspects of busking, you get to interact with PEOPLE!. Any of my reader who are performers and have ever worked on stage at a banquet in front of a diner crowd, you'll know that you can only interact with the audience generally not one on one. I love working the streets because its mostly closeup and parlor type magic and with the gags and lines and even the hat lines you are directly interacting with the audience. You see their reactions to everything you do and say. You can develop a show and script all you'd like on paper but getting in front of strangers and performing is the acid test. I like it better than restaurants because you are getting the audience to stop and watch, they are not captive while eating.
I've been hired to do many types of shows and worked for lots of different audiences of all ages and backgrounds and its always better when I can work close up and watch their reactions. Even the lines and gags that I use can vary based on the reactions I get. For example, once my show starts and I finish the first effect, in most cases its the "mystery of black holes" a routine with black sponge balls, I put the sponge balls away and grab 2 small squeaky dog toys shaped like steaks, and I  move them up into the air one in each hand and say," Ok now I'm doing it, raising the steaks" Now I always try to do a clean family show and this gag is really cute and good for everyone and it usually gets a laugh. I also use this gag as a barometer to see how the audience reacts and I determine how much comedy I can disperse between and during the magic. If they laugh I can go on with more, if they crack up and really laugh out loud I know I can go and use another gag as soon as it fits, If they don't react, I know they are low key and I stick to the magic without as much by play. If they just walk away, well that happens also......BUT its the street, the next audience is just a few steps away.
I enjoy performing anywhere and everywhere, but busking and working the parks and streets will always be my favorite. (please feel free to use my gags but give me credit when asked where you got it......)
Be well
Keep 'em clean