Bad parent night

Tonight is what I call a "bad parent night" ... see, when your working a crowd you realize that what one person does the other people will do - it is a buskers job to get a crowd to act like a single entity. It's not hard, when people are in a crowd they naturally look to what other people are doing to decide what they should do ... people do not want to be viewed as deviant.

What I've learned is that it extends to ANY crowd no matter how big or how small ... each week, the tourists flow into the city - and each day of the week, they all act generally the same. On Monday, you may see them all carrying bags because they are buying things ... on Tuesday, you notice they have tightened up, now you don't see bags. It's always a group action, the actions of a large group of tourists.

So tonight, I start spinning my trick sticks to draw a crowd. Some little girl stops and says "KEWL!" ... I make some quick small talk, when her mother grabs her by the hand and drags her away - how rude! I'm glad my parents didn't act like that when I first saw the magician with the Chinese Linking Rings!

These are bad parent nights, on these nights it's difficult to stop anyone yet alone draw a crowd. Another kid wanted a balloon animal, "how much do they cost?" ... "you can have one, no charge for you - they are curtsy of Barefoot Landing". Now, I don't know who wouldn't want to take me up on that kind of offer - I truly don't care if I get a tip or not, I'd rather give away a balloon than let a kid walk away to never get the JoeJoe experience. Yet, his parents didn't want nothing to do with it ... dragged him away like I was a child molester or something.

Street work is hard. [sigh]

JoeJoe