talkmagic.co.uk

This is part vent part question.

On Friday I agreed to perform at a local club which a friend organises a monthly evening of unsigned indie bands which attracts a young crowd who are really into their music.
For a bit of experience in different types of venues and for different crowds I decided to give it a go.
In between acts when the next band was setting up I was to go around entertaining the people.
What occured Friday night was, to put it mildly, horrible. Apart from one group who genuinly enjoyed themselves after much effort from my part ( A personal victory as I see it), everyone I went to either didn't want to know (which is ok by me) or liberally took the **** in quite a spiteful manner.
After the first 20 min walkaround I decided to cap it on the head for the night as there we only 40 - 50 people there and I'd tried a few large groups.
There's the vent.
Now the pondering.

Are there some groups or situations that feel they are 'too cool' for magic. I found that these 'We're friends of an unsigned band and like music you've never heard of' types with thier kooky clothes deserve my utter contempt.

Anything that they think might make them look less than something from a hair product advert is likely to get a bad reaction. But if that's the gig, I would have been seen to do something for the bands first, let the audience think it's the new cool, then approach them.

Yeah I did consider doing a quick 10 minute stage act first although the window I was offered was at the beginning of the night and when that slot arose there were only about 15 people in the venue.
Funnily though I do see this as a positive learning experience as I know if I can survive that and still go out and perform then that is most certainly a good thing.
I just think I will be able to commit a hate crime if I see a pretentious indie kid this week.

ah indie kids...thats the problem with them these days, back in my yesteryear of indiedom, we were all nice arty farty people who respected people's talents...

now its all emo and anger...or pure blandness...both as bad as each other..

i'd just treat them with the contempt that they deserve...they'd probably love that...

snotty, im better than you types...no time for 'em...

though you have given me an idea for an effect - cards with different chords written on them...5 are picked, then played on a guitar...hmmmm...a previously selected song?

If I've given you the idea I want the copyright!

you're welcome to copyright...when he's next online we'll have an official handing over ceremony..

As long as I can dress him up in a little sailor outfit and call him 'Cabin Boy' I dont mind

Some of my mates are in signed bands and they love to see me do the ol' magic. I've performed for some bands of the genre you mention who are in the process of 'making it' and they were very eager to see my magic too. I've not really had any negative responses from that 'scene' (man I hate that word).

I've found though that it's best to avoid certain buzzwords; much as I hate the word 'trick' seems to get a better response than 'magic' in these kinds of circumstances. If I had a response like yours I'd just shrug it off and move on... not worth bothering with really.

On a similar note, I hate the general perception of magic. I was doing a strolling gig and approached a couple, introduced myself etc. and asked them if they'd like to see some magic. They gave that look, you know the one, and said 'not right now', so I sad goodbye with the usual pleasantries and moved on. What really got me was how everytime they saw me around that same look came over their faces and they'd quickly move off - I hadn't looked as if I was going to approach them, I'd been perfectly polite before, but such was their perception of magicians...

Funnily enough in the backstage room where the bands were I got a very respectful reception when I wandered in. It was just the paying audience who were sub-human slime.
I do echo your sentiments though that it is best to shrug it off and move on as there are many out there who love magic.

several weeks ago I was doing a new card routine for a friend in the bar section of a west end cafe and a guy coming out of the loo came over and told me he loves magic and basically nagged me to go upstairs and do something for his table. I ended up doing 10 minutes full of cheers, laughs, claps and gasps...it is audiences like this that make performing so fantsastic.

I've found a few times that if your specs see a bad reaction from the previous group of specs, they're much more likely to follow along and also give a bad reaction. If things go badly, I tend to retreat to a far corner of the pub and start again.