My props are all selected for the trip. My apprentice and I worked hard on this, winnowing down to the bare essentials for 90 days under unfamiliar conditions. (Thank you, Michelle. So much I couldn't do without you to focus me.) I thought people might enjoy a look.

One of the problems I've seen with other buskers, and have experienced myself, is an inability to work when conditions are unfavorable. You have your big outdoor show, and if weather or police are uncooperative, you starve. I call it the Apex Predator Problem; borne of excessive specialization. This kit will let me subsist more like a coyote than a tiger, hunting and scavenging in several ecological niches. A big circle show, a little sidewalk show, restaurant/bar walkaround, coffeeshop and sidewalk cafe fortunetelling, are all possible with this kit, and I may even be able to work while traveling by train, once I am familiar with trains.

A long term kit like this, there are several restrictions on prop and trick selection that wouldn't occur to a non-magician.

• Weight and size. Some very fine tricks didn't make the cut. Everything I bring, I have to carry everywhere.
• Durability. Must last 90 days and still look good. I reprinted all my playing cards onto plastic stock.
• Scale-able. Must perform for 2 to 200 people. Notice the indexes on the cards are 2x normal size.
• No consumables. Nothing here gets used up during the performance. Nothing needs replenishing.
• Angle proof. If I'm on the street instead of the stage, I have to assume I am working surrounded on all sides.
• Weather proof. Immune to wind, rain, humidity, etc. Again, plastic playing cards.
• Instant reset. At the end of the trick, the props have to be back in place, ready to perform again immediately.
• Can be performed without a table. I'm simply not going to haul a magician's street table all over Europe.
• General utility. Props with multiple routines are better than one-trick props.
• Visual. Ideally, can perform for people who don't speak English. This has been the hardest obstacle.

All that, and we haven't even mentioned whether the tricks are effective entertainment, suit my stage personality, or are ones I'd be willing to perform thousands of times and still treat them as fun and fresh.

Some prop highlights:

• The big yellow rope is for building an impromptu stage. It helps me place my front row where I need it.
• The PA system is wireless, 18 watts, rechargeable, clips to belt. It's just enough to give me an edge.
• The whistle is to help me get attention when amplification is prohibited.
• After the PA, the heaviest props are those solid steel linking rings. They pay their way tho.
• Those jumbo card tricks are the max size that can fit in a shirt pocket.
• The antennae with suction cups? Comedy mind-reading prop.
• I'm hoping those "read your palm" buttons will let me work on trains and with people standing in queues.
• The wand is lignum vitae, basically indestructible. (Thanks to Paul Koontz.)
• The crystal ball is acrylic. Lighter than quartz and just as psychic. Max size for sleight of hand.
• Why am I bringing 250 business cards? I'm passing them out to people who take pictures of me.