Posted by Ian on 2009-04-24
in Tips
Are podcasts the new blogs? Is my blog already redundant?
I ask the question because a couple of magicians just recently have started podcasting. In truth it’s four magicians because the way both podcasts work is for two magicians to talk to each other – which is obviously much easier than speaking to a microphone on your own for half an hour.
The first to air, by a few days, was two talking in a car: they’ve called it ‘Two Pros Talking’. One of the magicians I know reasonably well – his name is Keith Fields and he has just emigrated to the US. A surprising move because Keith seemed to have a pretty successful career over here: he was a stalwart on the comedy clubs and did plenty of television warm up work. However he clearly felt like a change; and so upped himself and his family over to the US.
He’s made contact with an American magician called Nathan Kranzo and they both sit in the latter’s car and chat away. The idea, I think, is to give cogent advice on various aspects of performing. So far most of it has related to street performing, my personal bête noir – in that I can’t really imagine anything worse than doing magic in the open air. Having said that,
I think most acts accept street performing is a young person’s game (with a few notable exceptions) and Keith himself certainly hasn’t done any for a very long time.
The other podcast is from the UK – two magicians from Hull called Rob James and Alan Hudson. This one would seem to have far less serious intentions and is certainly more freewheeling. The main difference is that Rob and Alan have been friends for some time and therefore are more relaxed; whereas Keith and Nathan are rather more formal with each other.
The problem with talking, as opposed to writing something down like I’m doing here, is that it’s hard to censor yourself as you go along. And therefore much easier to blurt out something that you regret later. One has only to mention Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand to appreciate that.
You can certainly hear Rob and Alan being very careful in their own conversation: they are both amusingly gossipy in real life so are having to be ultra careful in their chat in case they inadvertently criticise someone. In fact you can tell that a lot of the time they are trying to goad each other into slipping up with an indiscretion.
I guess the key question, though, is whether I got any good tips from listening to what has amounted to two hours of chat to date. And the short answer is: "no". Top tip from ‘Two Pros Talking’ was to construct your street set so that’s there no obvious end, until the actual end itself: as you don’t want people to walk away in the middle of your act before they’ve put money into the pot. But I knew that already.
From Alan and Rob nothing new either. Although I was taken by Rob’s observation that the wealthier the clientele the longer they take to move from the reception area to sit down at the dinner table. Although as Alan amusingly pointed out, this wasn’t actually a tip as such.
As a piece of entertainment my vote goes to the two boys from Hull. However I think they would be the first to admit that what they say is mainly a stream of consciousness with no real proper structure.
A bit like this blog really!
I ask the question because a couple of magicians just recently have started podcasting. In truth it’s four magicians because the way both podcasts work is for two magicians to talk to each other – which is obviously much easier than speaking to a microphone on your own for half an hour.
The first to air, by a few days, was two talking in a car: they’ve called it ‘Two Pros Talking’. One of the magicians I know reasonably well – his name is Keith Fields and he has just emigrated to the US. A surprising move because Keith seemed to have a pretty successful career over here: he was a stalwart on the comedy clubs and did plenty of television warm up work. However he clearly felt like a change; and so upped himself and his family over to the US.
He’s made contact with an American magician called Nathan Kranzo and they both sit in the latter’s car and chat away. The idea, I think, is to give cogent advice on various aspects of performing. So far most of it has related to street performing, my personal bête noir – in that I can’t really imagine anything worse than doing magic in the open air. Having said that,
I think most acts accept street performing is a young person’s game (with a few notable exceptions) and Keith himself certainly hasn’t done any for a very long time.
The other podcast is from the UK – two magicians from Hull called Rob James and Alan Hudson. This one would seem to have far less serious intentions and is certainly more freewheeling. The main difference is that Rob and Alan have been friends for some time and therefore are more relaxed; whereas Keith and Nathan are rather more formal with each other.
The problem with talking, as opposed to writing something down like I’m doing here, is that it’s hard to censor yourself as you go along. And therefore much easier to blurt out something that you regret later. One has only to mention Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand to appreciate that.
You can certainly hear Rob and Alan being very careful in their own conversation: they are both amusingly gossipy in real life so are having to be ultra careful in their chat in case they inadvertently criticise someone. In fact you can tell that a lot of the time they are trying to goad each other into slipping up with an indiscretion.
I guess the key question, though, is whether I got any good tips from listening to what has amounted to two hours of chat to date. And the short answer is: "no". Top tip from ‘Two Pros Talking’ was to construct your street set so that’s there no obvious end, until the actual end itself: as you don’t want people to walk away in the middle of your act before they’ve put money into the pot. But I knew that already.
From Alan and Rob nothing new either. Although I was taken by Rob’s observation that the wealthier the clientele the longer they take to move from the reception area to sit down at the dinner table. Although as Alan amusingly pointed out, this wasn’t actually a tip as such.
As a piece of entertainment my vote goes to the two boys from Hull. However I think they would be the first to admit that what they say is mainly a stream of consciousness with no real proper structure.
A bit like this blog really!
