2010-09 Dennis' Deliberations

The summer is rapidly drawing to a close here in the Shenandoah Valley and the leaves should begin turned in a couple of weeks. They expect it to happen a little earlier this year because of a very record breaking hot and dry summer.  I spend almost all the summer doing the afternoon news shift at the radio station, gathering, writing and reading the news.  Now that public school has started, I am going back to Substitute teaching and then doing fill-is afternoons and evenings and on Saturdays at the radio station.

 

I am also actively marketing my Middle School Fund-raising show, “The Travels of Marco Polo”.  The show  has a  pre-packaged set of lesson plans based on the Virginia Standards of Learning (The SOLs) related to geography, math,  science and social studies.   It is not being promoted as a magic show but as a family fantasy show that blends learning with entertainment by “Edu-tainer” Dennis Phillips.

 

Obviously knowing me, you can guess I would have costumed scenes with music from exotic lands (Arabia, Persia, India, China) and bits between the scenes on the apron telling about what Marco learned and saw in each land. I have smaller costumes so that audience assistants can participate.  Running time is 90 minutes with an intermission and my profit center will be concessions, trinkets and pitch items.  The school will get a percentage of the ticket sales and they will handle the drinks and food.  So far interest has been high and I will keep you posted.

 

Hoe many of you have heard of the booking agency, Bill and Lenny (obviously my fictitious names)  This company is on line magic booking agency. Don't be a sucker... they are pocketing more than you're getting, but if you are willing to sell yourself really cheap , they'll use you.

I have a friend who worked for them years back for a very short while, but always held his guns, because he was informed about them ahead of time... they try varied tactics to get you down in price, and if you move once, they've got you locked in at a low proce forever.

He mutually parted years back, and I know they've been trying other magicians... they always have a sob story of how little they are going to get out as commission, or they are giving up their full commissions just so they can book you. The Best Advice I Can Give You.... Don't Be FOOLED!!

 

How did he know, what they're getting in price from the client? Sit down and think about it! He always got what he asked for or he  would not take the gig and it was never what they originally offered. Even then they kept phoning back with low-ball  offers.

 

His final Gig: ... They called him with an offer... when he got the info and checked details, his quote back was more than double... they haggled about the fee... but he knew that the corporation was spending bigger dollars on their event, and stuck with his fee. 

Had he not done so, they would have pocketed a significant percentage that belonged to him. That was it.

 

They offer the same money to the other local's who will jump at it because they're plain ignorant, and have no idea of entertainment value, and think to themselves "another paid show"... But, B& L because that act was poor, doesn't get a good report back from the client, so they keep jumping around to other Magi until they get another one to bite and they'll keep working them until they see what's going on.

 

In the mean time, they are socking away chunks of commission that should be going to the performer.

I realize they are not going to do this for nothing; they have to get their share. But when is enough, enough?

 

I can recall times years ago when I would run around Central Florida getting $200 a show at a Convention and having to pay an assistant out of that and the booking agent was billing and getting $1500 for my act!  I found out the billing once and confronted the agent who said to me , “You are a good magician but a lousy business man. You have no idea what it cost me to book a show. You took the $200 bucks and was happy with it, you have no right complaining."  Needless to say, just on the principle of the thing and the fact that my time was more valuable than netting $100 a show, I declined any further gigs from that agent. 

 

From my desk… Paul Osborne sent this…He and Michele still stay in touch with Senor Rai. Remember Rai, “The Liberace of Magic” he toured for years as a magic Ringmaster with the Hanniford Circus and even had a brief gig in Las Vegas. 

 

It is sad that he now lives now with his significant other in a haunted trailer in Milton, Florida! 

http://www.biography.com/video.do?name=myghoststory&bcpid=104613367001&bclid=586318468001&bctid=586317691001

 

Ever wonder why a magicians in a magic?  What do they get out of it?

 

Maybe it is the  "Ahhhh" (gotta get the right number of h's) which lends further meaning to life. At least the life of an ego-craving magician, who sees the value in magic beyond the need to earn a buck with it. 

Now that I think of it, every magician has a tiny "superman complex" inside him. As in: "I can do impossible things that YOU can't figure out!" 

The comedian has the same craving: the feeling of power he derives from manipulating an audience into a state of helpless laughter. 

The musician gets his jollies by showing off a skill that stretches well beyond the capabilities of the listeners. 

The stage actor gets high on the manipulation of the emotions of a willing (i.e. paying) audience.  The stock market maven tickles his endorphins on the challenge of the gamble. 

The Gospel magician-preacher gets his emotional thrill by interpreting God for his congregation and entertaining them in the process.

 

It is said that thousands of starry-eyed young people try to get into show business (of whatever kind) to avoid doing a real job, not realizing until it's too late that that, too, is a lot of work; and more often than not, an incredible struggle.  Magician Larry Thornton in Calgary, Canada saw the entertainment section of his city's  Herald newspaper on a table, and in there was an article (and interview) on former Saturday Night Live comedic actor John Lovitz. He will be in Calgary soon doing his stand-up comedy act. John Lovitz admitted he wasn't doing all that well anymore. He put it more brightly but it amounts to the same thing: "Since movie and TV offers have been drying up, I said to my agent , 'Hey ya gotta find me some more gigs or I'll be broke in five years!' " ... He said he turns almost nothing down -- TV bit parts, voice-over work for cartoons, whatever he can get. Show business can be an extremely insecure life, full of heartbreak, with a public that is extremely fickle. So Lovitz went back to his stated "first love" which he never really did much of, and probably on the advice of his agent:  stand-up comedy. And he confessed that it initially scared him silly, having to face an audience all alone and deliver a full hour of material. Working bars, halls, casinos..... whatever he can get.

 

So here is John Lovitz, popular at one time but now reduced to struggling in the "boondocks" of show business, off in a Canadian city doing standup comedy.  He's probably on a circuit, maybe his next stop is Red Deer, or heaven forbid, Edmonton!  Next -- it's birthday parties for the kiddies!  ... At 53 (born 1957) he is more-or-less "washed up" and has to rely for work for the rest of his career and life on people knowing him from Saturday Night Live, obscure and forgettable sit-com TV shows, cartoon voicing, and the movies. 

 

Maybe I paint a picture grimmer than it is, but I was surprised at how candid John Lovitz was.  I think most entertainers on the alleged "downside" of their careers wouldn't be so forthcoming... going around telling every rinky-dink hack journalist in the backwaters of nowhere, that you're losing the game...

 

There have been a lot of losers lately.

 

NEWSFLASH--- My ultimatum!

I have decided that unless they move the Magic Castle to Harrisonburg, Virginia, I intend to publically burn my entire magic library. It will go viral on the Internet and inflame thousands of magicians.  Maybe I can make it to the TV news or have David Copperfield and Cris Angel call me wanting to work out a deal? 

 

The world has gone insane….

 

Dennis Phillips

Harrisonburg, VA