Creativity
Craig P: Hi again Geoff.
Simple question really, what do you do to get your creative juices flowing?
Craig P
Geoff Williams: I LOVE watching creative people and acts, everything from Gaetan Bloom to Ed Alonzo to The Blue Man Group to Michael Moshen (juggler extraordinaire) to Stevie Starr (professional regurgitator).
I get ideas from cartoons, too. "Binky the Super-Intelligent Mind reading Chicken" (see my avatar) stems from a cartoon chickenhawk from my Saturday am TV childhood.
I enjoy brainstorming with friends. It's fun to play the "What if..." game and see what develops. Example:
"What if your assistant was completely invisible (or maybe only partially so?) yet still helped you with your act as would a flesh & blood assistant? Maybe she perished in a freak Mini-Cube Zag accident and her ghost lives on as your helper. You still hand things back and forth to her as she walks the items off stage and then brings other props out to you. Maybe she even bumps your table and accidentally knocks something over which she sets back upright. You can see her tug at your coat as she pulls you close and plants a big kiss on you.
Can you even imagine the "misdirection potential" of such a premise? Steals would be a breeze.
How would this be accomplished? Forget methods and practicalities. Brainstorming sessions shouldn't be hindered with the "how" but should only focus on the "what." Once you decide on a premise and work through the flow of the story you want to tell or the visuals you want to create, then you can concentrate on the mechanics.
Sounds like fun, huh? The creative process is so rewarding because there are no wrong answers in brainstorming (the wrong answers usually happen later when you try to make it a reality).
I have a scenario to get more use out of Copperfield's "Flying" apparatus that would be visually stunning IF he could pull it off (but that's another story for another time).
Hey Mr. Williams
Furret: How long did it take for you to learn the greatest tricks? And also, what’s it like being a celebrity?
Geoff Williams: I'm still learning them.
I never worry about how long it takes to learn things. As I see it, if a certain move takes 5 years to learn properly and I'd started working on it 5 years ago, I'd be doing it today.
What with all the paparazzi with their darn flashbulbs and chasing my limo through Parisian tunnels and stuff like that. AND... super models throwing themselves at me, night and day, why, it's a nightmare I can certainly tell you. So many bruises...especially from supermodels being thrown at me. Can never really tell where or when another one will come sailing over a hedge right at my car, that's for sure. These days, I look both ways at an intersection, you can bet on that. Yessiree.
Jason Waskett: Cracking. I always enjoy a good laugh, and who doesn't. You should write comedy for a living.
Geoff Williams: Actually, I do. I just wrap it in some magic first.
BTW, when I was but a lad, I always thought my dream job would be writing comedy for The Smothers Brothers, Steve Martin and Johnny Carson. Thanks for validating that for me.
Your DVD Set
Tammclaughlin: Geoff, if your magic is as good as your humour, then I will soon be spending £50 on your DVDs.
Seriously, I have laughed at every one of your replies so I can imagine that your sense of humour comes over in your routines. I have been looking at purchasing a DVD set with routines that are designed for restaurant/table hopping type of work where the routines are short, direct, and funny and with props that are easy to manage.
Would you say your routines on the DVDs fit these criteria and has your act been built in this way?
Geoff Williams: MOST DEFINITELY! Because of advances in technology, television and the internet, most people nowadays (myself included) have the attention span of a ferret on crack cocaine. My magic needs to move along at a clip to be interesting to my audience (and not bore the heck out of me either).
I tend to avoid 27-phase poker demos, complicated & convoluted storylines and hookers with prominent oozing sores.
Okay, in all seriousness I've never actually spoken to a hooker but that's not the point. The point is that restaurant table hopping is an iffy proposition time-wise. Before approaching a table, you don't know if you'll have 15 minutes or only 2 (depending on when the food arrives) so it's always best to keep things short and sweet.
My son, remember these words of wisdom and guard them close to your heart and they shall serve you all the days of your life:
Audiences are merely ferrets on crack.
;)
nrage04: I've just had the worst day and that’s the only thing that made my laugh/smile, thanks!
Geoff Williams: You just made MY day!
Thank YOU.
Retirement
Spaced: Welcome to the boards Geoff and thanks for taking the time to post.
As the title suggests my question is about your future plans, You have said in your previous posts that you love magic but you also really love your day time job and therefore will not stop. When retirement comes around, will you perform more Magic publicly? Tour and lecture more, or even go head long into the DVD business?
You could just play on the Play station all day, but I have a feeling you won't!
Geoff Williams: Retirement? What's retirement?
As long my day gig is so accommodating of my night gig, yes, I'll probably keep both going.
Ultimately, I'll probably retire from computers, launch headlong into creating and helping others create magic, fail miserably, take out a huge loan, go bankrupt, win the lottery, blow it all on financing an 8-track tape company's comeback, start "Grape Computers" and then get sued by Apple for merely buying their units and gluing a small grape logo on the front of each, make the "honest mistake" of neglecting to pay ANY income tax for 20 years and then hide out from the US Government by working as a deck hand on John Calvert's boat (because we all know he's going to outlive all of us).
I have a sneaking suspicion most of the above will probably happen.
Spaced: Thanks for the reply Geoff.
By the way if you need a partner for Grape computers I'm your man!
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