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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...
