Where in the world am I today?: Seattle, WA, USA

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

–Plato, Greek author & philosopher in Athens (427 BC – 347 BC)

Addendum…

“I prefer the interactions I enjoy through kindness to the alternatives.”

–David ‘checkerhead’ Aiken

Matt Baker and I were shopping for groceries today and because we’re both comedic base entertainers we have a certain joviality and goofiness even in very mundane situations… So we’re in the grocery store looking for a bottle of wine and some food for dinner and the woman in the wine sections comes over all aloof and has this snarky attitude towards us… We’re checking out what bottle to buy based on the labels, which I admit isn’t necessarily the smartest way to do things, but the store clerk at this very chi chi grocery store sort of looks down her nose and goes…

“I prefer to make my selection based on the quality of the wine not the colours on the label”

Matt was like – What’s up with that? But I moved us around the corner to the cheese counter and once again approached the clerk with a light heart and a sense of humour and she was sucked into the joy of interacting with these two whack-os… Fun! And a much more friendly interaction that we’d just had. The cheese was good too!

I’m well aware that my goofy enthusiasm towards life and how I do things either rings true with people or can be incredibly irritating, but I am who I am and this approach has given me much success in my life. For those who don’t ‘get it’ or are annoyed… Well… Perhaps they’re fighting a much harder battle than I am and the kindest thing I can do it so walk away and not contribute to their angst.

Where in the world am I today?: Cartagena, Colombia aboard the Island Princess

“I’m going to memorize your name and throw my head away.”

–Oscar Levant, US pianist, composer, author, comedian (1906 – 1972 )

Addendum…

“Here here! Having a head is highly over rated!”

–David ‘checkerhead’ Aiken

I kick myself sometimes in the middle of a show… I know I just asked a volunteer their name, but I turn around to grab a prop and when I turn back their name is just gone gone gone!

Where in the world am I today?: North Vancouver, BC, Canada

About a week ago I got an email from Becky Priebe suggesting that a friend of hers, Cory Tabino, who had recently moved to Seattle contact me as I might be able to give him some leads on work… I cracked open my address book and provided the following information – Cory seemed to appreciate getting it, so I thought others might as well…

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If you haven’t already, contact the guys at LeapFrog Entertainment and introduce yourself to them –

http://www.leapfrog-entertainment.com/

They’re down in Seattle.

As are the Brothers from Different Mothers – http://www.differentmothers.com/

Who know the Seattle scene really well… Worth connecting with them if you haven’t already… Matt Baker does a comedy blog at http://www.comedyskills.com/ and is always looking for contributors…

Vancouver-wise – sounds like you’re already familiar with Busking down on Granville Island…

If/when you do come up consider inviting people to come and check out your shows. These folks may not have anything for you immediately, but it’s worth the effort to connect with them and invite them down to come and check out your work or offer to take them out for a coffee and meet them face to face so that the next time something comes up that you’d be perfect for you’re in their heads…

Me – Just so we can meet face to face

David Clark – BC Event Management – http://www.bceventmanagement.com/

Brett Brown – Noteable Entertainment – http://www.noteable.net/

Tom Stulberg/Borja Brown – Fireworks Marketing Group – http://www.fireworksgroup.com/

Steve Carmichael – Pacific Show Productions – http://www.pacificshow.ca

Beth Mackey – City of Surrey – http://www.surrey.ca/

Ann Phelps – City of Richmond – http://www.richmond.ca

Peter Boulanger – Underground Circus – http://www.undergroundcircus.ca/

Kira Schaffer – Firebelly Performance Society – http://www.firebelly.org/

Jay Nuns – Cirkids Vancouver – http://www.cirkids.org/

There are others in town who might be worth connecting with as well, so if you hook up with any of these folks ask them about other people you might hook up with as well. Being able to successfully network around the community will eventually lead to opportunities, so it’s well worth making the effort.

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Some performers are fairly guarded about giving away their network of contacts to others, but I’m of the opinion that there’s enough work out there for everyone and don’t mind sharing this sort of information freely. If you’ve just moved or are just getting started as an entertainer making the effort to meet people in the industry and in your community will serve you well. Some may have information to share, some may feel a bit more guarded about the exchange, but like my grandfather used to say. Everyone can teach you something, so get out and do some learning.

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Where in the world am I today?: North Vancouver, BC, Canada

I’m not sure why, but for some reason there seem to be a bunch of Clown Festivals popping up in China. I was in China in October at the Nanjing Euro-Americas Clown Carnival and had a blast. Something like twenty or thirty different acts and we had so much fun as a group that a ‘Facebook Group’ was created. Prior to taking that job I had also had another offer from another agent about another Clown Festival happening at the same time. On the way back to Vancouver I ran into a ton of the performers who had been at that other festival at the Shanghai Airport. I just recently got contacted about another festival that’s happening in April in Beijing.

So…

In spite of the general panic about global economics clowns and interactive comedy seem to be in demand in China.  For today’s post I thought I’d pass along a couple of addresses for agents who I’ve encountered who are starting to work with China. So here you go –

The Agent responsible for my gig at the Nanjing Euro-Americas Clown Carnival was –

Orbital Entertainment
Attn: Brian Wilson
Suite 1500 Bank Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1H 1B8, Canada
Phone: (613) 860-1846
Fax: (613) 443-9978
web: http://www.orbitalent.ca

The agent that booked the ‘other’ Clown Festival that was going on at the same time as the one that I was doing was – 

Brenn Swanson
2296 Lanes Mill Road
Brick, NJ 08724
USA
email: seaclown11@aol.com

Also, for those of you interested, the production company that handled the on-site production needs of the Nanjing Euro-Americas Clown Carnival was –

Sunglow Entertaiment Ltd.
1906 Zhonghuan Building N0. 2
Lane 3856
North Zhongshan Road, SHANGHAI 20063
CHINA
Web: http://www.sunglow-entertainment.com

Now all you have to do is learn how to speak Mandarine and you’ll have a whole new market to jump into!

Happy Happy Good Good!

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