The Most Beautiful Places in the World
Timing is everything. A good location doesn’t hurt.
But, it’s the intangibles that will get you.
“To be completely honest, although I love living in the city, it’s not my favorite place to perform.”
What?
“It seems to have an overly-politically-correctness vibe.”
Really? So, we haven’t changed; they have?
“They seem to repress some of the fun and energy that our typical street show presents.”
For the love of show business.
Street act is foreground, cityscape is background.
A performer is barely on earth. We’d like to be, but you know it’s tough. We tend to be on stage, in bars, at rehearsals. Why isn’t that enough and if it is why doesn’t it come with a dental plan?
Once you have an act you are set. You get to be witness to more death than a mortician. There’s a lot of turnover in this industry.
One day the best act you’ve ever seen turns out to be a plumber. That unexpected incarnation put the fear of god in you.
As Jackie Gleason opined after a sip from the good stuff at the opening of his schtick.. “How sweet it is…” He’s only making that crack because of all the cadavers stacked up backstage.
So, the hungry acts know that you best keep the hook baited. Nothing but nobody waits for spit.
That’s the game. In these modern times. We used to be lousy with gigs from Salinas to Santa Rosa. But, that’s all dried up and nobody left instructions for what to do next.
You want a career in show business? Buy a suitcase, look for cheap tickets. Keep an eye on your back. Change is coming.
Then, you know, the phone rings, they need somebody for some spot dates in Northern Arizona on the Navajo Indian Nation’s territories. “Are you available?”
“You got to be kidding me? I’d do that date for free. When do we leave?” That’s how it is in my game.
You get the regrets and those of us with the moxy to have stuck it out we get the unpaid bills.
Nothing is free but for love and even that bargain comes with baggage.
I got an Australian friend in Dubai playing his swami act with a fake Indian accent to the Emirates. That’s some kind of con he’s got going. And YOU wanted to be in show business…
This is what the professionals look like…
