MURRUGUN THE MYSTIC

well here's a magician of a different color, heh, his stuff is real.....he's a sword swallowing bed of nails kinda guy.


I met him some years back in san diego, he has been performing for many years but has only in the past few years brought his act to the streets.

i remember him starting out and taking on the streets and the san diego entertainment venue world. i also remember tellin him he was wasting his time in san diego and that he was wasting his talent on this town, i knew he was good, but i thought san diego wasn't.

.....WELP, now i'm eating my hat, because he found the equation to crack san diego's uptight and sterile tendancies. they actually love him there now, infact he's made the local paper front page and he dominates the venue market.

this should all be understood that it didn't come with out many years of hard work and nay sayers {myself included}.

fakir, jadoo wallah, mystic, dement. he has worked every venue in san diego and has done some travelling as you'll see if you check out his myspace;

www.myspace.com/murrugun

his act is fire eating,blowing, exibition, sword swallowing and a bed of nails where a group of the audience stands on his chest at the end he lets them examine the holes in his back.

Fun show, all done with accompaniment, by the lovely miss Justine Bethel on her accordian, she looks like a doll.....a demented raggedy ann doll, making poses like a marrionette with mime smiles.

the show begs to be watched and the two of them deliver. they really are a striking couple doing some very interesting things.

his video clip of them working in sea port village;




murrugun's story is the story of EARNED success, this is a tuff town.

this is a great lesson to us all that, if you're stubborn enough, you can make it happen in the town you want it to happen in.

i have been working here in san diego now for a little bit and i have got to appreciate him more nad more.

murrugun you have my undying respect.




your pal jimmy

STREET SHOW KIETH AKA KEROSENE KIETH

when i started this who's who blog, i started it to give credit, to some of those brilliant performers who have been doing it along time, but have failed to get the credit they deserve.



you see, many of them have focused all their time on the quality of their show and have not found the time to focus on promo. also some of them are not sterile and wont play by the rules of exploiters so they get neglected and even frowned upon.

i have seen many other more well known performers focused all their time on promo and their income and have left the quality to the way side and many of them have a sterile bubble gum show. not so with fellahs like Street Show Kieth Wolfe.

you wanna talk about a real street guy, well check this guy out.

he travels up and down the west coast of the u.s. the hardest to place to work i have ever been.

he does this making a living. he will crash festivals and over regulated spots. always in and out before they shut him down. the west coast is EXTREMELY over regulated for everything not just busking, businesses have a hard time here.

i have seen the buskers in frisco repect him and let him work....for any one who has worked there you know how voilent and dog eat dog it is there, so this is sayin somethin.

he has various different shows and characters. sometimes he's painted up and some times he's gotta street costume instead.



along with the streets, he also works alot of circuses, cabarets, and private functions.

i have seen him personally in frisco and san diego and some other spots build a huge crowd when it was impossible for me or others to get a show off and to add insult to injurey he made some fat hats. his show is hillarious and he can work a sidewalk or large circle act.

his act is a bit gritty and pushes the envelope, sometimes a bit more then i would in my show, but it fits his character better then it would mine.

people don't copy his act because they can't it's so orininal it's to the point of.....of...well, frankly wierd sometimes.......the cocktail to success my friends.

he has a myspace and a presence on the internet and i would hope you take the time to look him up and watch some of his work.

here's his myspace;

http://www.myspace.com/streetshowkeith

here is some rough footage of him, it does not show alot of his tecnical skills, but the patter is great;



Kieth i get it.

thanks for your lifes work.

PEPPE MIME

Sonny Holliday calls him a world class performer.

PEPPE comes from a high theater education, he has studied from and taught the masterers.

A WORLD TRAVELLER, but he is a covent garden icon, a celebrity, a myth, a legend, and a force to be reckoned with.

he is a dangerous street character and a loveable child like character rolled into one. he gets the largest crowds in the garden and for good reason. his show can be watched over and over and infact most performers do just that in awe and thrill.

when first meeting him you will notice a thick cockney accent and a rough exterior, with a grin that the cat has when it ate the canary.

his show for the most part is silent and he dominates the garden or any other pitch he chooses to work.

his character is that of a shadow performer who is curious and oblivious that what he is sometimes doing is outrageous. as he puts it he, "just plays" with the people.

he is a performer's performer in that he is a genious with the audience and the show can be watched over and over and it is still new and exciting everytime.

he watched me work silent and offered to instruct me for a couple of hours....when he taught me it was pretty advanced i could barely keep up with the instruction and fell short. his understanding of mime is mind blowing.

later on after years i finally began to understand and impliment more and more. he is loved and respected by all the performers.

everyone has their stories who knows him and i will be writing some in the future when i have more time.

this is A VERY IMPORTANT PERFOMER in the busking world. he sets the standards for what a quality performance is.

he has taught me and many others much and i am thankful.


i am posting this mini documentry below of him, be warned it has what some would think is vulgarity {bad words}, but i feel in this video he best expresses everything that is truly busking. i perticularily like his message at the end about money and motives for being out there.

it also shows some of his mime, physical comedy, and the bits of funny business.







an interesting note to magicians;

On magician's corner in covent garden, i have seen peppe do a sidewalk magic show with only cards, a table,a stick and his banter. funniest bit of by play in the world. he said he learned this from nick nicholis, gazzo, and a bunch more that he knows well and has for many years.
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....................................................................PEPPE..........AUTHENTIC.
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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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ANDREW HARDING

when i first started this who's who blog, it was my intent to give credit to those who went for years with out recognition for thier work......Andy is the perfect example of this for years he has worked london, sometimes at "Covent Garden", but the sidewalk at "London Eye" on the south bank, has been his pitch for years.

originally from his beloved Stoke he came to london many years ago and had it rough from the begining working his way of the streets and into public housing where he took me in the first time till some years later when i came again to london he took me into his new aparment and introduced me to his new love in his life "Cat" a lovely english girl he calls duck.

he has a big heart and takes care of his friends. very loyal person.

he does close up magic, his character is that of a strange and sometimes silly authority of the bizzar.

last i saw he was crowd buildling with a severed hand and finaling with card to glass frame an old anneman effect fro jinx.

he is a real london icon, working sidewalks all over the city.

some of the rougher buskers about town call him weasel out of love of course, he is well known and loved by all the other performers in london.

andy also has another act, he has a human robot act that he does mime and magic to, complete with suit.

he is an avid collector of magic, he has a huge collection and can be found almost once a day at davenports magic shop, a magic instution of england and the world.

if you ever wanna see a truly quirky and real london sidewalk show, keep your eyes peeled for andy.

thanks for everything andy your a real friend. this picture is special to me, it's me and him countin money in the hat. it was taken by a photographer impressed with our shows and way of life as buskers.



i wil be keeping an eye open for some footage, i would be curious myself as to what he's up to these days.

KENNY LIGHTFOOT

i first met kenny in covent garden , but i had been hearing about him for years in san diego and new orleans.

the guy is one of the most interesting characters in busking i have ever met.

he looks sort of like an hasitic jew and has a beatnick artist sort of aire about him. he's a really nice guy and really intelligent.

as a magician the first thing that will stick out is that he does the magic square in a street show, this to me was mind boggling when i heard about it, but after watching it i realized it worked and it worked big, it was the sort of thing that only he could pull off, his show is incredably original.

i loved it.

when i met him i was hanging out with brian bloodworth and i found out that they were old friends who were street performing some twenty years in the past together in frisco.

hanging out with him always sets you at ease, you feel like everythings alright.

i shared a pitch with him and watched his show over and over i never got sick of it. the way he holds a crowd to me is like magic, people just feel comfortable with him and hang on what he has to say.

where ever i go i hear about him from the locals, where he has gone he has had that sort of impression on the communities he has amazed.

i wish i could track down some footage of him he really is brilliant.

he helped me out when i needed help and i appreciate it.

BRIAN BLOODWORTH

many years ago walking down royal street in new orleans i saw a well dressed southern business man, set up in the middle of the street on a artists suit case table.

i was learning to work the street and looking for all the acts i could find. there he was doing some of the most incredable magic i've ever seen, he was doing with a dean martin aire about him.

as he worked a cigarette would vanish and appea, over and over, as this happened he was nonchalant and acted as if it was nothing.

he announced that he waould make a signed card appear in his wallet along with a salt shaker in side an envelope in his wallet, he would take that same card and throw it up over the building next to him, needless to say i watched in disbelief with everyone else as he did all the things he promised.

one of the things about his character is that he can do many flourishes and stunts, so impressive that it stops the passer by in their tracks.

he is a long close friend of eric evans, and he knows many of the greats, gazzo gotta chance to see his act and told me he loved it.

a vetran street performer taking on europe again right now but he is known as an american performer.

he started on the street in 1980 & 81. a short time latter he met cellini, since he has had quite a life with the life he chose. he has worked all over the world on the streets and he has work alot of corprate gigs and over the many years just about every venue.

a full time pro, he taught me alot i owe alot to him.

i am hoping to get some footage of him to post here, so you could get an idea.

but the best thing is to see him live, so keep an eye out for him on one of your own busy sidewalks.

i hope all is well with you brian and thanks for being such a good friend.

CHARLIE CAPER

well where do i begin?

i could go on for hours about the greatness and the rise to greatness of this street magician.

charlie is a full time busker from sweden, he makes his lively hood almost intirely from the streets.

he can work any venue, sidewalks, half circle, circle, stand up with no table, with a table, indoors, on stage, cabaret, any size any venue.

he won swedens got talent with the same humble attitude he has conquered thousands of venues.
he has integrity and honesty and a self critical attitude many are lacking in our industry.

he is a humble perfectionist.

i first met him at covent garden,we all called him carl, we became friends. he watched me work with out a table and i would complain about not having a finale i was satisfied with, two days later i saw him perform a show with out a table and he had a brilliant finale. it was simple and to the point.

all the biggest names including cellini know his name for a reason.

i could go on but i think his work speaks for it self











take the time to check out his amazing site.

http://catchmagic.com/

charlie is a stand up guy and the real deal, he's been all over the world showing people that he is a master at the art of magic and that real magic is alive and well even in our modern age.

thanks charlie for for your lifes work, it's an insiration to all of us.



charlie caper successful busker.