I thought I would start a thread where we can talk about street performances we've seen ourselves in person. No fair using YouTube!
Tell us what the performer did, why you liked it or whatever else you'd like to comment about!
I went to the University District Street Fair today and saw four street performer acts. 3 were pretty bland and 1 was fantastic and fun.
First the bland:
I don't enjoy a straight forward juggling act. There has got to be some funny patter or interesting story going on in this sort of performance. Today I saw a guy just continuously add more balls (up to 7 which is impressive to be sure!) but the act was pretty darn dull. He had very few jokes and dropped his equipment a lot without offering a funny retort. He also had a hard time getting volunteers from the audience. However he did have one great gem.
He had some water in a bottle which he poured on the cement in a pretty big circle to outline his performing area. He then asked the audience to move right up to the circle, once we were in position he said something like "OK, let's get this show started!" and took out a lighter and blazed it on the circle. I laughed at that. Of course it was just water. That was pretty darn funny though.
The next act I couldn't spare much time on cause I was hungry and the Salmon Burgers were calling. But to gather a crowd the guy turned on some music I could barely hear and just sort of danced around for a bit. Not doing anything to fancy or interesting. I began losing interest right away but wanted to give him a chance. So I stuck it out and finally he got started on his show and announced at the end he would be doing a hand stand on a bar and he would take something out of a small bear trap with his teeth while teetering upside down. That sounded interesting at least. But instead of doing something to keep our interest he just sort of prepared to get his act rolling. At least that is how it appeared. It was dull and my friend the Salmon Burger smothered in cajun mayo could wait no longer.
The third act was more of a freak show deal. I know the guy who was doing all the talking. He does a lot of variety stuff but his stuff has a darker tint to it than I generally like. He and a couple other guys were stapling dollar bills to themselves while a heavy set sun burned fellow in a utilikilt put a nail into his nose and tapped it in with a hammer. While I know this sort of stuff is old school I didn't really enjoy it. I suppose most of my laughter from pain goes to the Jackass movies which can be quite funny and occasionally too much for me.
Now for the winner!
Mama Lou, Strong Woman.
This act was great. I wasn't able to catch the whole thing but I caught a great deal. She had excellent crowd working skills, a great personality, a professional looking costume and some really funny patter. She does all sorts of feats of strength all the while wise cracking, nabbing hesitant audience members and involving them in the show a great deal. She does a hilarious chin up bit where she has two guys hold a chin up bar for her. She also chooses an "Arch Nemesis" out of the audience and puts them into a unitard (the kind pro wrestlers wear) and then challenges them to tear a phone book in half amongst other things. She flirts, she jokes, she's funny! I really wish I could have caught the entire act.
Check out
her website and
MySpace and watch her two videos and you'll get an idea on the kind of show she did today. Great stuff!