Don’t you hate it when you get to your venue and the performing space is not at all how you need it to be? Does it make you mad when the birthday child’s mom serves the kids food and drinks during your show? And how about when you get to the venue and all the guests are already there so you have to park a five-minute walk away? There’s got to be a better way!
Well now there is. Introducing: The Letter You Send to Your Client a Few Days Before the Gig! That’s right, The Letter You Send to Your Client a Few Days Before the Gig tells the host all the things they should prepare so when you get there everything is ready to go. Just set up and perform.
I first heard about the idea of sending a letter before the gig 30 years ago from my best friend and incredible kid show magician Bruce Bray. He told me that he sends a letter before every show and when he gets there the performing space is exactly how he needs it to be. He based his letter on one described in the book Life on the Living Room Circuit by Tom Myers (1991). Back then you had to place a piece of actual paper in an envelope and drop it in a mailbox. Now you just click “send.”
Bruce had a terrific letter. In it he told the client that he needs to perform “in front of a blank wall.” When he arrived at one show he saw nails in the wall and the dust outline of pictures that had been hanging there. He asked, “What’s all this?” The client responded, “You asked for a blank wall, so we took down all the pictures.”