MICHAEL LEE

Sometimes fellahs write in and do such a good job i just put up their own story in thier own words......here's his in his own words;

Been busking for some 20+ yrs......

Hilights of my career so far have been,, Performing for President Bill Clinton , The birthdy for author Kurt Vonnigut, performing at the opening night Party for Siegfried & Roy....helping to Raise over $ 30.000 for 9/11 families. and performing over 100 FREE shows for NYC Fire & Police there families months after the 9/11 tragedy.

I have found that Busking /Street performing is Simply perfect not only as ways to generate fast cash, But most & more importantly as a way to keep your self & your material sharp !
Practing in front of a mirror once a week will not do ...If your going to do this thing called performing then YES get Your Material honed in front of a Mirror...... Then get away from the Computer, get away from the Dummy

Box (TV) Get away from those in your life that are non believers in you as a Person & get out in the real World & give em something that never seen...& I very strongly believe that that if you can't give em something that they
have never seen then the very least you can do as a performing Artist is to do your very best to Create & have your material evolve into somthing that equals ...YOU !
This will not happen overnight or even in a month...But hang in there, as the adventure is in the doing ....I firmly believe that Time Tell's !!!! and it will.


As a Professional Performer of 20+ Yrs.. , Im not really a fan of DVDs Im a lover of Books ...Im a reader ...Simply put there's "Gold" in them there books so as a rule I read everything...Reading takes work, Attention &
Focus....Sadly there is a "new " generation of performers (?) who seem to have little to almost no interest in the history of our Art.....Which is a verey sad thing to see.

My Friend / Teacher Jeff Sheridan was fond of Saying Creating material is easy when the work has already been done ! in other words DVDs = Xerox copy !!!! and leave's nothing to the imagination , Trust me ... Books are the way to go

The Wonderful thing about Busking is that once you geta tight show it can play any where !! and I have Cruise ships , Theatres, Festivals, TV, Corporate Events for Sony music, Harley Davidson, The Rockfeller Foundation Just to name a few... ..so inother words if you can make the audience like you than more than likely they will like your show.

I would also Highly reccomend The Jimmytalksalot book , "To Lure with Spectical" -First hand knowledge at a more than reasonable price. Just as I feel about my friend & another great teacher -Gazzo...There is no substitute for first hand Knowledge ! Gazzo has been rocking for more than 30 yrs !!! ......I remember him giving me advice on a very light Table I was using that was not up to his Standards ... he told me his opinion !!!! Believe me it was replaced the Very next day by a Heavy / Solid table top that met to his High Standards....I very much appreciated his advice from a good friend , I also very much appreciate his high marks on my Millennium Cups, somthing that I produced back in 2000 that are a Road worthy set of Cups that have been endorses by some of the Best in the Bizz ! (www.michaelleemagic.com)


Im not sure what else i can add Jim other than to say to anyone thinking to follow Busking as a career... Work hard then ..Work even harder , pay attention to your details but most importantly Do your very best & pay special attention to your audiences ..Give em a Great show.. one that YOU would be proud to even watch....Now get to work !


Cheers

Michael Lee
New York City
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