Going for Glory

It’s show day today, July 7, 2012, and I’m scheduled to do a show in Dover, DE, about an hour south of my home.
The temperature is supposed to top out at about 102 today in Dover and the show is outside.
But the show must go on! I doubt that the success will be that great today but I did a show at this same party last year and it was hot then, so I was invited back to do another and hopefully it will all work out.
There will be some tents under which the volunteers can sit during the show. That might actually entice more volunteers from the crowd most of which will be sitting in the sun to watch.
If it does get to 102 it will tie the highest temperature in which I have performed. A couple of summers ago I did a corporate party in a field near mid-day in South Carolina WITHOUT a tent. That was perhaps the most torturous show that I have done even though it was still a great one.

Such is the life of a D-list entertainer. We work when we can and where we can and hopefully…someday…get a big break somewhere.

This is one reason why so many people audition to get on shows like American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, and America’s Got Talent. Tens of thousands of entertainers of all kinds make attempts to stand in front of judges who have the power to determine their fates.
I am a fan of American Idol and America’s Got Talent, the latter of which is now in its live show Quarterfinals. Gone this year is judge Piers Morgan, who was just a douchebag the entire time he was on the show, in favor of radio star Howard Stern.
Stern’s addition was a good one for the show, in my opinion, because he does bring raw honesty and a good eye for talent. Even though he may sometimes be harsh he just isn’t as much of a total tool as Morgan was.

This year’s quarterfinals features a mentalist, Eric Dittleman.
I also perform a mentalism routine as well as my hypnosis show. My mentalism routine is rather unique and always gets rave reviews from my hosts. So it was with particular intrigue that I watch this guy.
So what ends up irking me are the two routines that I have seen him do before. Both went over very well with the judges, obviously, since they moved him forward twice. But the routines he did were so basic that I don’t even do them in mine because I think they are cheesy.
My mentalism show plays better to more intimate and smarter crowds though. I would have to develop something that would be more visible and playable to a larger live audience. The TV audience would be fine since they do close up shots, but there has to be an affect on the crowd watching in the theatre.
But now since this guy has made it on the show I can imagine that many others in the same genre will try to get there with their routines also.
After this dude did his routine a friend of mine texted me to ask me how he did what he did. She then sent me a couple of her thoughts as to how he pulled off his stunts. I didn’t tell her how he did them but she did get it right in one of the two methods that she mentioned. That, to me, tells me that he will have a hard time convincing many others as time passes.
But, still, he has indeed gotten his break. How big of a break it will be, is yet to be seen, but the exposure is worth its weight in gold for sure.

2012 America's Got Talent Promo Picture

This might be one of the years where a singer doesn’t win it all. There is perhaps one singer left who can go deep and he is 49-year old, Joe Cocker-sounding Tim Hockenberry with a good personal story.
But is he a million-dollar Las Vegas act (like my hypnosis show someday?) Who knows how America will vote? There is a dog act (Olate Dogs) that is absolutely spectacular, a guy who made an instrument of the audition theater (William Close,) a couple of artists who incorporate music into their routines (Joe Castillo and David Garibaldi and his CMYK’s,) and perhaps even one solo dancer (Turf) that I believe will reach the finals this  year.

I’m tired of dance groups making it through on this show though. Yes, I know they all work hard, but unless they are incorporating a bunch of acrobatic moves in their routine I don’t really like them. Just my personal preference; I’m sure they would hate my hypnosis show…unless they were in it and I was turning them into dancing monkeys.

But all of this has inspired a whole new idea which if the partner I picked to help with the production and I can pull off, could very well make a move to stand on that long line ourselves to try to stand in front of those same judges. If we can pull off what I hope you’ll know before then. But until, or unless, we can figure out everything that will be last that I mention of that. So that means that for now, I’m

Done.