The following article first appeared in the March/April 1997 issue of the Magic Menu. The Magic Menu is a bi-monthly magazine for restaurant entertainers. For subscription info, contact jsisti@ibm.net.
After reading Paul Greene's column in the last issue of the Menu I decided I had to do what he asked of his readers. I would send him a story about an awkward situation, and my solution to the problem. I then realized how silly that idea was since the story I was going to use is about balloons and can be used for my own column. When I get a chance, I'll have to send him one of my bowling ball stories.
Last summer I performed at a two day rock music festival. Between sets, I did my usual thing of floating around and grabbing crowds in various areas to do short shows for 25 to 50 people at a time. The only real difference between this setting and the typical festival is the state of mind of the people attending. I've done street shows before, and I know how to attract a crowd. This was just a peculiar event. I didn't have to attract them. They just came - and stayed. Of course, in a crowd that size, once they left I didn't tend to see the same people again. But one person that apparently goes by the name of ``Dirt'', managed to find my car (it was the only one with balloons tied to the antenna) after watching me and stuck a note in the barely open window to let me know that I had done some neat stuff. That was cool.
Things didn't get too bizarre until the end of the second day. I was mid way through a show an hour before I was scheduled to stop when my voice just cut out. My throat didn't hurt, and I wasn't at all sore. I just couldn't speak. Stopping now with no explanation wasn't going to happen. I'm sure all I needed was a one minute pause. But even a minute is a long time to wait when you've got someone with an arm in a chopper, a sword through their neck, and absolutely no clue what's coming next. I used all the energy I had left and forced myself to speak, straining my voice very badly and ended as quickly as I could.
Having gotten through that bit, I needed to do something to keep people entertained. I clearly couldn't talk. A friend suggested I do only balloons. Why that hadn't occurred to me, I'm not sure. I did what I always encourage others not to do. I made the assumption that this wasn't a crowd for balloons. I'm glad I listened to my friend. I found myself silently walking around inflating balloons and placing them in peoples hands, untwisted. Not knowing (them or me) what I was going to do, they followed me. There I was playing Pied Piper. I settled down in a comfortable and wide open area and just started putting together the balloons I had given out earlier. To my surprise, I found myself with a larger round of applause and cheering than I had received all day. When I looked around I saw a huge mob around me, with people on other people's shoulders trying to see. The sculpture wasn't bad, but quite ordinary for me. It was a 5 balloon motorcycle from my book, ``Twisting History'' with a rider. I tossed it aside, and said what was on my mind, almost talking to myself. ``If I can get a reaction like that for this thing, maybe I should do something cool.'' I never had so many people screaming and cheering me on as I had right then. What a rush. I had been working hard for two days doing the best shows I knew how to do. Now here I was with no rehearsed routine and no voice, and being quite successful.
The crowd grew and they yelled out what they wanted to see. I just added balloons to my new sculpture and tried my best to keep up with them. We ended up with a cowboy on a horse, complete with hat, banjo, and long hair. This thing was somewhat larger than me by the time it was done.
I learned quite a lot from the experience. Playing pied piper and creating large sculptures have become incredibly useful things for me in various venues. The pied piper bit has proven very useful in drawing crowds. Now when I place a balloon in someone's hand, I glance back at them a few times as I walk away until they realize they're supposed to follow. Once there's a line of people behind me, more join in on their own. I'm yet to see anyone get mad at me for putting a balloon in their hands. And it does get them interested in what's coming next. I recently worked a trade show where that was so effective that other vendors joined forces to stop me from continuing my horrendous behavior. After all, it must me a crime to do a job well. Making a large sculpture to the specifications of the crowd has evolved and improved drastically. You do have to be quick to come up with ways of creating the things people ask for, but if you're willing to try, it can be a lot of fun. And if you're not creative with balloons, don't worry. The fact is, without much effort you can really control what you create anyway. If the crowd is big enough, you can ``hear'' them yell whatever you want.
I'm looking forward to hearing other balloon ideas. I encourage everyone that works with balloons to check out Balloon HQ (http://www.fooledya.com/balloon/). Join the balloon entertainer's mailing list and share your ideas.