Archive for the ‘General’ Category
 Where in the world am I today?: Red Deer, AB, Canada
So I’m debuting a new show at this year’s Pacific National Exhibition. The idea for the show which I’ve dubbed “The Hot Dog Show” started to germinate in my head five years ago while I was performing at the Windsor International Busker’s Festival. I started telling a story about my boys which culminated in the audience joining me in making a hand gesture to represent a “Hot Dog Bun.”
I was bizarrely fascinated by how this story struck a chord with the audience and so started the journey to build a partner show teaming my experience as a street performer with the spectacular dare devil stunts of William T. Wiener, the most Fearless Flying Frankfurter the world has ever seen. There will be thrills, there will be spills there will be comedy, improvised theatrics, and lots of audience participation.
There will not, however, be any juggling in this show.
I’ve taken departures away from the comfort of working with the familiar juggling props that I’ve used for years before, but I find myself scratching my head a bit as this particular idea seems like the biggest departure I’ve taken to date and I’m hoping the audience will enjoy the show as much as I think I’m going to.
I sold the idea of debuting this show at the PNE to the creative director months ago and shortly there after started assembling costume pieces and props to pull the idea together. It’s been a wonderful adventure as I’ve watch some ideas evolve, other ideas get scrapped and ideas I never considered pop up unexpectedly.
Not since I played my ukulele for the first time at the Vancouver Ukulele Circle have I been this nervous and excited about my performance and I’m loving it. Taking a step or two or three outside of my regular comfort zone is making me re-examine why I like performing and approach things with refreshed interest which is really amazing.
I’m well aware that it’ll be a bumpy ride at the beginning of the run as bits and pieces fall into place and the show really starts finding it’s feet in front of a live audience, but the sign that I’m on to something (at least for me) is that everyone I show bits to looks at the props and stunts with the same child-like-wonder that makes me giggle like a kid every time I picture putting them in front of a crowd. This is going to be scary and it’s going to be a whole heck of a lot of fun!
Alright every one… Put your hands up above your head and pretend it’s a roller coaster… Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Posted in General, Performance, Stunts, Thoughts | 1 Comment »
 Where in the world am I today?: North Vancouver, BC, Canada
It’s been an interesting week… I always have to deal with “THE PILE” when I get home from a trip, and by “THE PILE” I mean the stack of stuff that’s collected on my desk while I’ve been away, phone messages, bills, letters, what have you, the stuff that I’ve brought home from the trip that needs to be dealt with, accounting, thank you letters and general admin stuff, but then also things like unpacking, laundry, general care and feeding of props etc. – I roll all of this into one convenient term “The PILE.”
Dealing with “THE PILE” it typically my first order of business when I get home from a trip. Once I get through the fairly mundane tasks I feel like I can more comfortably settle into my daily routine at home. This time around, although I’ve been making steady progress on dealing with “THE PILE” it’s taking far longer and somehow seems like less of a priority than it usually is when I get back from trips. I think that this in part because I came home from Oklahoma having picked up some sort of bug which has had me more or less house ridden for the week. I did get out to visit the walk-in clinic on Tuesday, but there’s been a lot of time just spent letting my body fight the bug (ie crashed out on bed)… Oh… The added complication of my young son Owen getting his pinky smashed in a door jam and needing extra TLC this week has also mean a complete shift in priorities, and a general slowing to the pace at which I typically attacked “THE PILE.”
I think on some level I’ve always sort of looked at dealing with “THE PILE” a bit like the fight between the Rebel Alliance and the Evil Galactic Empire in STAR WARS… “THE PILE” representing a menacing threat to the freedom of my day which must be FORCE-ably dealt with with a one minded focus and determination. Even after the destruction of the DEATH STAR-like workload associated with this trip to Oklahoma, I know that the Empire will Strike Back with it’s same old tricks on the next journey I take to entertain the masses and bring mirth to the world…
OK, so maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, but come on… If you can’t make it fun, then it really does become just a fairly mundane set of tasks that aren’t nearly as much fun as stepping out in front of an audience and feeling the waves of laughter… Find the fun in even the mundane and the journey becomes that much more enjoyable..
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 Where in the world am I today?: North Vancouver, BC, Canada
There’s no doubt in my mind that I’m a product of both of my parents. The DNA footprint that they left on me sometimes drives me crazy, but as I get older I think I’m mellowing into acceptance instead of resistance. From my Father I get a tendency towards perfectionism from my Mother I hope I managed to acquire the ability to set a deadline and do the best job I can up until that deadline – this isn’t always easy if I feel like with just a couple of extra hours or days I could make a project better, but the ability to set a deadline and do my best to stick with it allows me to do the best job I can, then move on.
Not only do I set myself deadlines, I usually try and finish a project before the deadline as it gives me an bit of extra time to recheck things and feel confident that yes indeed this is the best I can do given the time I’ve allowed myself. I derive a certain comfort in having enough time to recheck things fairly thoroughly and give myself this time when ever possible. There are of course times when I don’t have this luxury, but it’s my preferred working style if I can swing it.
This isn’t for everyone I know…
There are those for whom the deadline is just an arbitrary date set by someone else that has little or no barring on the current task at hand… This quote always makes me crack up in fact –
“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”
–Douglas Adams, English humorist & science fiction novelist (1952 – 2001)
Perhaps its as a result of the DNA I was born with, perhaps it’s my own particular take on the world, but deadlines seem to suit me quite well. Sure they play well to my control freak nature, but there’s also a level of respect involved for me that comes into it as well. Being able to set a deadline and keep it means that you have a certain respect for how you manage your own time and how the way you manage your time effects other people. In business, this sort of respect seems to go a long way.
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Posted in General, Quotes, Technical Tuesdays | Comments Off on Deadlines
 Where in the world am I today?: Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Up until now I’ve really focused on trying to provide a variety of venues and options for work. These are all venues that I’ve worked and continue to work, but I thought I’d change tack a bit today and discuss the motivation behind taking certain gigs.
I currently find myself in Oklahoma City performing at their Festival of the Arts. It’s a fine arts festival that features a hundred and forty four artisans selling everything from Handbags to Sculpture to Ceramics to Framed Prints to Wooden Toys. The variety and quality of the arts that’s on display and for sale is great. Having performed at similar events in the past I was aware of the sort of thing to expect and walked in ready to play and have a great time.
Beyond just knowing the gig and enjoying the environment and settling upon a fee that seemed reasonable though, the chance to come to Oklahoma City meant a chance to enjoy some Good Old Southern US BBQ. Ever since my friend Geoff Cobb taught me the difference between ‘Grilling’ and ‘BBQing’ I’ve been hooked and the trip to Oklahoma meant a chance to experience some authentic smoked meats. I arrived here on Monday and found this place called the Rib Crib just down the street from the hotel. It was so good that I went back for all you can eat ribs on Tuesday… Not sure how many more times I’ll get there but I think there may be a bit more BBQ worth enjoying before my time in Oklahoma City is over.
BBQ is what did it for me on this particular trip. A visit to the Suntory Whisky Distillery near Osaka back in September of 2008 was the cherry on top of an already great experience in Japan. The chance to do a bit of Christmas shopping in Shanghai was the icing on the cake for my trip to the Nanjing Clown Carnival, Picking up vanilla in Mexico has been the extra motivation for taking some of the cruise gigs I’ve done over the years.
It doesn’t really matter what your reasons are for wanting to visit a certain place, but the fact that this line of work not only provides you with a source of income, but also allows you to visit some incredible places in the world and seek out the things that really appeal to you as an individual means that this is quite possibly the greatest job EVER! That or it’s gotta be right up there anyway…
Always wanted to visit Australia? I did, so I looked up a bunch of Festivals around the country and then hopped from one to the next just passing my hat for tips for three months and quite successfully managed to pay for the trip and have some amazing adventures along the way too.
What ever the motivation, where ever the destination, enjoy the adventure!
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Posted in General, Job Opportunities, Performance | Comments Off on Motivation
 Where in the world am I today?: North Vancouver, BC, Canada
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
–Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher
Addendum…
“Remember to wear the shoes you like”
–David ‘checkerhead’ Aiken
I’ve got a friend I correspond with fairly regularly who I find I often drop quotes on… They just seem to come up in discussion or in the sorts of conversations that he and I carry out by email… On more than one occaision he has commented that the problem with living life by a neat little slogan that seems to capture the moment in a single phrase is the fact that LIFE tends to be a bit messier than what can be contained by a snappy one liner…
I totally agree with him of course, but these nuggets of wisdom still seem to appeal to me for some reason. Perhaps, if you choose to heed the advice of one of these often cliché-ed sayings you should give yourself permission to add an addendum to the original text to make it, at the very least, a little bit more fun. Might try doing this a bit on Saturdays, just for the heck of it…
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 Where in the world am I today?: Woke up in Cartagena, Columbia and am headed home…
Watched “Man on Wire” again yesterday and was struck by a moment in the documentary where Philippe Petit has walked the wire between the World Trade Centers and the Police and Reporters all want to know “Why” – His response is fantastic – “There is no why.”
In the days leading up to Christmas it snowed a lot in North Vancouver where I live! Not just on one day, but on about four or five different days we got just dumped on. Initially it wasn’t the nice sticky snow that’s good for making snowballs, but rather a drier powdery snow that didn’t seem to want to stick.
My boys and I discovered that even though the snow wouldn’t pack the way we wanted it to for snowballs, we could create snow bricks by filling up a big bucket and packing the snow into it sort of like making bricks for a sand castle at the beach. The perfect snow castle of course seemed to be an igloo, so we set about constructing an igloo in our backyard – well a half igloo as we built it against the back fence.
There wasn’t really an obvious “why” involved, because who needs a “why” getting in the way of the statement – We’re building an igloo in our backyard. More important than asking why was the journey that was involved in figuring out how to make the bricks, dealing with the different textures of snow that fell from the sky on a daily basis and working towards the goal that we had set for ourselves.
We had setbacks. I woke up one morning to discover that part of the wall had collapsed and I had to go back several steps and spend a great deal of time rebuilding the section that had fallen apart. ‘Why bother rebuilding’ never really entered the picture… It was just supposed to be. My boys and I were going to have an igloo in the back yard and we weren’t going to let a little set back get in the way.
We had a huge breakthrough the day the picture above was taken when we built the first roof arches and it actually felt like this dream we set out achieve was going to become a reality. The day after this shot was taken the snow that fell from the sky was perfect sticky snow-ball snow and the remains of the roof construction were a breeze compared to everything that had come before.
The igloo only lasted about a week before the weather warmed up and the structure really did collapse but the length of time it lasted mattered less than the fact that we had achieved the crazy dream we had put before ourselves.
Be it igloo or some other crazy mission I hope I’m able to remember not to let a question like ‘why’ get in the way of the joy derived from the the pursuit of dreams.
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Posted in Family, General, Thoughts | Comments Off on Don’t let “Why” get in the Way
 Where in the world am I today?: At Sea aboard the Coral Princess (Caribbean)
Over the past several months various friends have told me I should check out “Man on Wire,” the 2008 documentary that tells the story of Philippe Pettit’s historic tight-wire walk between the World Trade Center Towers on August 7, 1974. Well, I finally did and it was fantastic and haunting all at the same time!
While watching the film I was reminded of a conversation that I had had with fellow performer Glenn Singer years and years ago… Glenn and I were talking about various performers and the philosophies that motivated them to pursue careers as performers. Then… right smack in the middle of the conversation he drops a bomb on me –
“Ya know Dave, if we didn’t want to make money, we could make history.”
In that one statement Glenn seemed to put me on trial for some of the choices that I’ve made and continue to make. I know he wasn’t directing it at me in a bad way, as an insult or criticism, because the statement, on some level, made me question the path that I had chosen, it had a profound importance and stuck with me.
Watching “Man on Wire” brought up those feelings of doubt again because the story so clearly documents the story of a guy who chose the other path – the path to make history.
Admittedly when Philippe Petit started his journey –
“as a poet conquering beautiful stages”
– (as he states in the documentary) the world was a different place and it would be hard to imagine a similar feet in today’s world of ultra tight security, but the documentary does an amazing job of showing the lengths to which he went to conquer the obstacles and the sheer impossible-ness of the act and the resulting emotion in having pulled it off.
Of course it was against the law, but again, as the documentary states –
“Against the law, but not wicked or mean.”
Philippe’s walk between the world trade towers captured the imagination of the World and history was made. The 45 minutes he spent on the wire between the towers is about the length of an average show for many performers, but setting an impossible dream, accepting that it was impossible and achieving it anyway is a sort of poetry that very few performers give the world. It left me feeling like I should hold myself to a higher standard and perhaps shift my priorities a bit…
Hmmmm…food for thought. If you get the chance I highly recommend you check it out.
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Posted in General, Performance, Thoughts | Comments Off on Man on Wire
 Where in the world am I today?: Port Everglades, FL, USA
Got this tip from Willie Tyler the other day and thought it would make a good tip for a ‘Technical Tuesday’ entry. I work on cruise ships a fair bit and often I fly into ports in foreign countries and am picked up at the airport by a representative from the local port authority. The port authority is a local representative who looks after details for cruise ships that visit that particular port. When a new guest entertainer arrives, it’s often the port authority, who ensures that you get picked up, taken to what ever accommodations have been arranged and/or takes you directly to the ship you’ll be working on.
When I arrive in a country where I don’t speak the language, with a ton of props in tow I sort of stick out and people who are looking for a “Guest Entertainer Type” don’t usually have a hard time finding me.
Quite often they’ve got a sign with my name on it along with a sign that indicates which cruise line they’re working for. When I see a sign like this I breath a small sigh of relief that there’s actually someone there to pick me up (I’ve had a few instances where there wasn’t) and quickly walk over and introduce myself.
Ventriloquist, Willie Tyler took this concept one step further and travels with a sign that has his name on it so when he gets past the immigration formalities and has collected his baggage he can hold up a sign that helps identify himself to people who might be looking for him. Though not overly complicated, this sign has apparently saved his bacon on more than on occasion and I’ll be crafting a sign of my own when I get home from this current trip.
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Posted in Cruise Ships, General, Technical Tuesdays | Comments Off on Bring a sign with your name on it.
Where in the world am I today?: The Panama Canal
Years ago… Many many years ago at the tender age of thirteen years old I was putting laundry away and started messing around with three bundles of rolled up socks – tossing them around, trying to keep the aloft. My brother had shown me the basic move behind a three ball cascade several weeks prior to the laundry basket incident, but it wasn’t until that fateful day in September 1981 that something clicked and the skill of juggling combined with an already peaked interest in performing gave birth to what has served me well ever since. Served me as a passport for seeing the world, the key to unlocking some amazing doors which have lead to some amazing adventures, friendships, my wife, and the resources to provide a roof over head, clothes on backs, food in tummies for myself, wife and our two boys and a pretty amazing life.
I’ve been reading some blogs over the last year or so and have noticed a few things – some blogs are straight up comedy, some are a bit preachy, some seek to teach and inform. I know myself well enough to have figured out that I like to catalogue and document things – people/events/information and thought that this might be the best way to hack out my little corner on the Internet and allow me to spew the contents of my brain into a somewhat cognitive arrangement.
Mondays – Marketing • For years people have commented on the fact that I seem to be able to market myself well and have a plethora of promotional materials at my disposal. On Mondays I’ll have a look at some aspect of the world of promotion and/or marketing that has either worked for me or impressed me for some reason.
Tuesday – Technical • I certainly don’t know everything, but in the nearly three decades of performing I have picked up a few bits of information about props, costumes, sound equipment, computers, etc. and will explore these aspects of the biz on Tuesdays.
Wednesday – Work • I seem to work a lot. Not as much as some performers, but enough that I’ve been able to make my living from nothing but performing for a long time. Wednesday’s will deal with some aspect of getting gigs and impressing the client so you can get the gig again.
Thursday – Thoughts from inside the Checkerhead • As the heading suggests, Thursdays will be my day to pull out some random nugget that pops into my head. It may relate to one of the daily topics, it might be a story from the road or it could, quite possibly, be something completely unrelated. It’s my ‘free pass’ day to talk about what ever I want.
Friday – Friends, interviews with folks from the inside the Industry • I’m lucky that I get to travel around the world and share the stage with some pretty amazing performers, work with some amazing producers and agents, not to mention world-class technical staff. I’m going to attempt to profile a different industry professional each week with a standard-ish format of stats, questions and comments in an interview format that will hopefully grow to be a catalogue of the folks I’ve run into along the road each with a different take on the industry and what it takes to make it as a professional in the entertainer world.
I’ll be taking the weekends off to let my brain wander and come up with content for the week ahead and be right back at it on Monday again.
This is the plan anyway…
How long I’ll be able to keep it up, whether this format, which seems do-able and a useful way to organize info will hold up or whether I’ll change things remains to be seen, but I’m hoping that this becomes a daily habit that will help me share some of the information that’s in my brain with folks who might want to know…
Like that!
d. – checkerhead
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Posted in General, Thoughts | 2 Comments »
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