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Sep. 2nd, 2004 10:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oakenguyThere are a couple of rules for a good performance that are hard to do if you're a living statue. "Leave them wanting more" is tricky--they put money in your jar, you move a little, you freeze again, they go away. "Be a virtuoso at something"--also tricky. Once you've mastered the motionlessness thing, there's not too much else you can do.
Or so I thought until tonight. There's a living statue in Harvard Square named Aria who's, I have to say, a genius.
You put money in her jar and she doesn't just move, she sings opera. Amazing opera. Brings-people-to-a-halt opera.
Which is cool enough by itself. But--and here's the part that elevates her from skilled performer to evil genius--she always cuts off in the middle of a phrase. Even folks who don't have a clue about opera hang around, hooked, until someone else drops money in and she finishes the sentence...and starts a new one. She's frickin' Scheherazade in silver paint.
I just was part of a semi-circle of listeners who were basically using telepathy and subtle movement cues with each other to work out who would be the next one to put money in and keep Aria singing. There were about twenty of us, Asian tourists, bookstore clerks, students, and she had us tossing money into her jar like rich retirees at a slot machine. I've never seen anything like it.
If I could just figure out how to do the equivalent of this at one of *my* performances...god, the possibilities...
Or so I thought until tonight. There's a living statue in Harvard Square named Aria who's, I have to say, a genius.
You put money in her jar and she doesn't just move, she sings opera. Amazing opera. Brings-people-to-a-halt opera.
Which is cool enough by itself. But--and here's the part that elevates her from skilled performer to evil genius--she always cuts off in the middle of a phrase. Even folks who don't have a clue about opera hang around, hooked, until someone else drops money in and she finishes the sentence...and starts a new one. She's frickin' Scheherazade in silver paint.
I just was part of a semi-circle of listeners who were basically using telepathy and subtle movement cues with each other to work out who would be the next one to put money in and keep Aria singing. There were about twenty of us, Asian tourists, bookstore clerks, students, and she had us tossing money into her jar like rich retirees at a slot machine. I've never seen anything like it.
If I could just figure out how to do the equivalent of this at one of *my* performances...god, the possibilities...
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Date: 2004-09-02 07:43 pm (UTC)Also on human statues,..
I have ben wanting to do a video project with half naked clown girls where we ruthlessly irritate Mr. Statue.
All based on the idea of people not realizing he isn't a real statue, and treating him as his artifice warrants.
anyway,..
she sounds amazing.
Can't wait until i have the skill to rip that idea off.
KK!
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Date: 2004-09-03 10:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 03:09 pm (UTC)i'm knotty klown!
from
www.knottyclown.com
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Date: 2004-09-03 04:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 05:18 pm (UTC)KK!
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Date: 2004-09-02 11:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 03:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 04:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 05:51 am (UTC)When my sister and I were in France, there was this living statue standing outside the palace at Versailles, dressed like an Egyptian in a sarcophagus - in a kind of full bodysuit of head-to-foot decorated gold cloth. When you put money in the jar, all he did was bow.
I remember saying to my sister, "How fast do you think he could chase us if we stole his jar?"
I am so evil.
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Date: 2004-09-03 06:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 07:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 08:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-04 10:49 pm (UTC)