Stage names?
Aaron Sherman
there uses one.
If you use a stage name- what is it? And why did you choose it?
Right now I'm leaning towards "Aaron Circus"....
--
----== posted via www.jugglingdb.com ==----
jack5balls
>
> So I'm working on a stage for myself and I was wondering who else out
> there uses one.
>
> If you use a stage name- what is it? And why did you choose it?
>
>
> Right now I'm leaning towards "Aaron Circus"....
>
>
I don't really have a stage name because
I don't perform but I would look for a juggling term that starts with the
same letter as your first name. ( it's easy for names like Jack & Jonathan
because you can make it like JuggleJack or something)
I hope this helps.
spike
Aaron Sherman
>
> What is your middle name? What is your big finish trick?
>
My middle name is Michael. Big finish tricks is.....um...? To be honest
I don't really know.
aaron gregg
>
> Right now I'm leaning towards "Aaron Circus"....
To be honest I think Aaron Circus is a bad idea. It's very plain.
I know it's hard thinking of something to go with Aaron - because it
starts with such a soft sound I think illiteration is a bad idea. I was
thinking of going with Aaron Electric for a while but few people liked it.
I've used Franklin Mint before, which is funny if you get it but not that
many people know about the Franklin Mint making cheesy collectible plates.
I've worked as Perriwinkle Flavour as well, though that's generally
reserved for when I'm doing shows for Drag Queens.
Recently someone suggested I go as Double A seeing as my name begins with
two A's and cause it fits my appearance. I'm not so sure.
"And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name him
Bill or George! Anything but Aaron! I still hate that name (for
performing)!"
-Aaron
(If this works I'll do it again)
catiecat
wrote:
I think Aaron Gregg works really well though, short, simple and easy
to remember. Personally I've really been debating if I should start
selling act under my first and middle names (Cate Emily), just because
it's easier to spell and remember. But I'm not sure if I really like
the sound there's something kind of cool about it but there's also
something kind of odd about the combination of the two names. For the
last couple of years I've been promoting myself and introducing myself
in my street show as Cate Flaherty (pronounced flair-eh-tee). I really
like the sound of that too, but it's harder to spell and longer to
remember. Also the "C" in Cate confuses a lot of people. Maybe I
should go with Kate Emily? Thoughts? Suggestions?
Sorry to hijack your thread (hey maybe High Jack or Hi Jack could work
for you? Probably not) maybe I should start my own?
Cate E.
Zoe The Goat
>
> spike wrote:
> >
> > What is your middle name? What is your big finish trick?
> >
>
> My middle name is Michael. Big finish tricks is.....um...? To be honest
> I don't really know.
>
I dont know a lot of jugglers with stage names. I know Sean Blue's real
name is Shawn Fischer. And I also
know for a fact that 'Marcus Monroe's' real name is Ronald Marcus Hudson.
If you don't believe me you
can look through the jugglenyc.com boards where they discussed stage names
a few months ago. Its not
a big secret.
Stallie
>
> So I'm working on a stage for myself and I was wondering who else out
> there uses one.
>
> If you use a stage name- what is it? And why did you choose it?
>
>
> Right now I'm leaning towards "Aaron Circus"....
>
>
>
how about Aaron noraA?
Aaron Sherman
>
> Aaron Sherman wrote:
> >
> > So I'm working on a stage for myself and I was wondering who else out
> > there uses one.
> >
> > If you use a stage name- what is it? And why did you choose it?
> >
> >
> > Right now I'm leaning towards "Aaron Circus"....
> >
> >
> >
>
> how about Aaron noraA?
>
not tickling my fancies X|
Aaron Sherman
I see your point. I think I need to take some more time to brainstorm.
Aaron Sherman
> last couple of years I've been promoting myself and introducing myself
> in my street show as Cate Flaherty (pronounced flair-eh-tee). I really
> like the sound of that too, but it's harder to spell and longer to
> remember.
That's the same reason why I want to drop my last name. Sherman is so
bland and possibly too long. I think I want a one syllable word behind
Aaron to give it a nice kick.
popstar_dave
Why not use "Cate E." It's got a nice sound to it.
Dave
rdiss
>
> So I'm working on a stage for myself and I was wondering who else out
> there uses one.
>
> If you use a stage name- what is it? And why did you choose it?
>
>
> Right now I'm leaning towards "Aaron Circus"....
>
>
>
IMO: Depends greatly upon what kind of act you do. I'm more of a
stand-up comedian and have always just used my own name.
If your act has a definite tilt (circus skills, maybe), then you should go
that way. You might also just consider a tag line, like "Aaron Sherman,
the juggling jester" or "King of Klubs" or whatever[1].
But think about some of the people you admire and who inspire you. What
do they do? My inspiration was Michael Davis, who just used his name[2].
What about you? Are you inspired by AG? or JG? or someone else?
Bob
[1] of course, put more thought into it than that.
[2] during the SNL days. Now he's Tad Overdone in a play, I believe.
Little Paul
> I've worked as Perriwinkle Flavour as well, though that's generally
> reserved for when I'm doing shows for Drag Queens.
You can't say that and then not give us a youtube link!
-Paul
catiecat
>
> Why not use "Cate E." It's got a nice sound to it.
>
> Dave
>
> --
> ----== posted viawww.jugglingdb.com==----
That's true, but it's really easy to confuse with Katie which I don't
really like (only certain really close friends have permission to call
me Catie)...
I think I really will start another thread.
Cate
Aaron Sherman
Bedazzle- to dazzle and amaze almost the point of enchantment.
I liek how it rolls of the tongue, you know? lol
Jason Kollum
I'll be creating a Stage Name hopefully by the end of the summer that--
hopefully, will follow me through my career. I've used "Jason Kollum--
Juggling and Variety Entertainment" for 2 years now, and cannot wait
to drop it. It was good and appropriate at the time, but not any
more.
Here's my advice/opinions on creating a Stage Name, these are the
criteria/thoughts I'm using to generate one. I would say these are
in order of importance. I hope these makes sense, as it's late, and I
haven't had my cookies and milk yet.
RULE #1:
Aaron--don't use "Aaron B'Dazzle." My first rule about stage names--
it must be SIMPLE TO SAY, SIMPLE TO SPELL and SIMPLE TO REMEMBER. It
should be so bloody simple that very few can screw up the spelling.
The stage names that are straight forward and simple are the ones that
are constantly being drilled into client's heads--and those of the
audience--that allow for repeat bookings. People don't remember your
name, unless your name is easy to remember, they remember your stage
name.
I had to scroll up Three Times when I typed "Aaron B'Dazzle" just to
double check the spelling.
People will *&#$ that name up all the time. People who generate
marketing brocures, posters, etc. for an event that you are performing
at will always get that name wrong and now your audience will see the
wrong spelling of your name, and most likely, won't remember it
correctly.
You'll get "Erin Bedazzles, Erin Bidazzled, Aron B'Dazzling, Aaron
BiDazzling, Aaron B'Dazzled, Aaron BeDazzled." You'll always get
people screwing up your name, and you will ALWAYS have to spell it for
people. It will be annoying for people to try to have to spell it,
and they'll be annoyed when you have to call them back to correct the
spelling error in their brochure, which will put a bad taste in the
client's mouth.
'Aaron Circus'--I sort of groaned at this one. We have Circus Boy out
by me who's probably the top entertainer around here, I just don't
like when people throw their first name into a stage name. (I used to
be Just Jugglin' Jason and Amazin' Jason years ago)
Circus Boy, Flying Fool, Rope Warrior--local performers to me--people
remember their stage names--little kids remember their names, they
don't remember that they are Bobby, Ken, and David. Those names are
simple to spell, remember, and say, and whenever I call for an event
that is already booked by these guys, the client remembers the stage
names.
If your stage name is just too hard to memorize, or spell properly,
the client is not going to think of you when thinking about hiring
next year's entertainment..."last year we had.....um, Bi, daz, um,
something?"
'Aaron B'Dazzle' (I had to look up again because I thought it was
Aaron B'Dazzled) is good because it doesn't type-cast you into just a
juggler, but it makes you sound like some young kid who is going to
come out wearing a shiny sequined vest doing some tricks and the name
is also not good, in my opinion, based on the above.
RULE #2:
Feeding off of Rule #1 of a stage name being easy to say, easy to
spell, and easy to remember, rule #2 is that a stage name should be
constantly repeated over and over again for name recognition in your
market. Promo Brochures, Website, your prop case, voicemail, even
what you say at the end of your show, should constantly reiturate your
stage name. A hard to say/spell/remember stage name is harder to
create recognition for yourself.
Your website name could/should be aaroncircus.com or aaronbdazzle.com
to reinforce your stage name to clients/people who've taken your card,
but NOBODY is going to get the spelling right. People might remember
your name from a show, try to google you, get frustrated that they
can't seem to get the spelling right to pull up your webpage, and give
up. People who call you and hear your voicemail, again, won't be able
to pull the correct spelling from your voicemail message, and thus not
have the chance to go to your website.
Lots of people call once, don't want to leave a message and wait for
your callback. If they could visit your website based upon hearing
your domain name in your voicemail, they could go to your site, and
shoot you a quick email. But w/o one they can spell, you'll lose a
possible event opportunity.
jasonvarietyshow.com works pretty well in that sense. I think it's
boring now, but overall, I've had very few people say it's too hard to
spell. I do get people who ask if it's "Jason's variety show?" ie
plural.
RULE #3
All these "rules" are of course my strong opinions. But, I think
taking into account rules #1 and 2 leads to my rule #3 that try to
avoid using your first name in your stage name unless it's a really,
really good stage name. Frank Olivier I believe is Funny Frank and
funnyfrank.com. I think that's a killer stage name.
I see so many stage names of magicians like Bob the Great, Tom the
Great, Joe the Magnificent then Tom the Juggler, Tim the
JesterJuggler, Juggler Tim. I just made those up, but those just type-
cast you into that one skill and that's all people will think you do.
And I think they are just boring overall.
I think if your real first and last name are really easy to remember,
spell, etc., that may be a good thing, and I can't speak about the
corporate market now, because I'm in the family market. Maybe the
corporate market needs your first+last name, don't know.
I think stage names work best when they just take into account
"entertainer." Could be a juggler, balloon entertainer, stilt walker,
magician, face painter, who know's?
But when a stage name is of the formula "First Name+skill name", I
think you are really limiting yourself in the long run.
So, Aaron Circus is successful in that regards, though I think this
name causes "clown" to come to mind.
Make the name goofy, fun, entertaining, and not limiting to "I'm a
Juggler, hire me to juggle." or "I'm just a magician." In the family
market, you need to be a variety artist anyways to make a living. The
successful ones around me are the ones with a huge skill set.
I think the problem with clowns is that they are just pegged as, well,
just clowns. It's Flowers the Clown, Slurpy the Clown, etc. (I made
those up). You don't really get 'unique' and 'different' from that.
They are only type cast as clowns, with no difference between each of
them.
Finally, RULE #4:
Make it a fun name for the kids. Kids/parents recognize me all the
time at events from different events I've worked. Not one has ever
remembered my first/last name. It's always "hey, remember him, he was
the juggler from that event."
To kids, I'm an adult, and saying my name is Jason Kollum or even just
jason is not "fun" for the kids, so it makes it difficult for them to
remember.
You'll become a celebrity over time in your area, and you want
everyone to remember your name. Who care's if they don't remember
your name is Aaron Sherman, if they remember your stage name, you've
done your job. Let the payroll department that will be issuing your
check and your W-9 worry about the correct spelling of your real name.
Hope this helps. Now, it's time for my milk and cookies. It's late.
Goodnight.
Jason
Little Paul
>
> Here's my advice/opinions on creating a Stage Name, these are the
> criteria/thoughts I'm using to generate one. I would say these are
> in order of importance. I hope these makes sense, as it's late, and I
> haven't had my cookies and milk yet.
Made sense to me, a lot of sense. There's some good advice in here
especially:
> You'll get "Erin Bedazzles, Erin Bidazzled, Aron B'Dazzling, Aaron
> BiDazzling, Aaron B'Dazzled, Aaron BeDazzled." You'll always get
> people screwing up your name, and you will ALWAYS have to spell it for
> people. It will be annoying for people to try to have to spell it,
> and they'll be annoyed when you have to call them back to correct the
> spelling error in their brochure, which will put a bad taste in the
> client's mouth.
I have a really hard time with the name "Aaron" - Mainly because
"Aaron Gregg" and "Arron Sparks" spell their first names differently.
This is a constant source of confusion for me, and if I've got
them the right way around in this post it's luck more than judgement!
If I can get confused trying to spell the names of two jugglers
who I hear from on a regular basis - what hope has some random
punter got of remembering your name? I think this alone is
probably a good reason to keep your real name out of your stage
name.
I've never used my surname when performing, because people have
enough difficulty saying it, let alone spelling it.
The most lucrative work for any entertainer is repeat bookings. If
they can't spell your name right first go after hearing it, they're
not going to remember how to spell it in a years time - you're
going to miss out on a few of those bookings.
You might want to consider single word stage names. Some examples
which others have used which I think work well. Clockwork, Topper,
Airjazz. None of them tie you to a specific skillset, they're all
memorable, they're all easy to spell.
Good luck, and let us know what you settle on!
-Paul
--
Help me collect 100 Signed Jugging Promotional Photos!
http://100jugglers.org 17 down, 83 to go
Queue: 1 scanned and ready to go, 0 awaiting scanning
J.F. Rick
plenty of air in juggling.
Just something that came to mind,
Jeff
--
"They bought and sold it all; it's gone. They've taken it and built O-
a mall. And, now, they're playing your song." --Hole (Celebrity Skin) 7
Aaron Sherman
This is a lot of help! Thanks so much!
Enjoy the cookies!
-Aaron
--
Aaron Sherman
I see what you're saying, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the
advice, Paul, I'll put it to good use. I'll let you know what I decide on.
-Aaron
> I have a really hard time with the name "Aaron" - Mainly because
> "Aaron Gregg" and "Arron Sparks" spell their first names differently.
>
> This is a constant source of confusion for me, and if I've got
> them the right way around in this post it's luck more than judgement!
>
> If I can get confused trying to spell the names of two jugglers
> who I hear from on a regular basis - what hope has some random
> punter got of remembering your name? I think this alone is
> probably a good reason to keep your real name out of your stage
> name.
>
> I've never used my surname when performing, because people have
> enough difficulty saying it, let alone spelling it.
>
> The most lucrative work for any entertainer is repeat bookings. If
> they can't spell your name right first go after hearing it, they're
> not going to remember how to spell it in a years time - you're
> going to miss out on a few of those bookings.
>
> You might want to consider single word stage names. Some examples
> which others have used which I think work well. Clockwork, Topper,
> Airjazz. None of them tie you to a specific skillset, they're all
> memorable, they're all easy to spell.
>
> Good luck, and let us know what you settle on!
>
> -Paul
--
Aaron Sherman
sent it to be added to the IJDB Compendium? I'm sure it could a lot of
other people like me.
-Aaron
--
Arron S
"I was thinking of going with Aaron Electric for a while but few people
liked it."
I'm very glad you didn't... ;P
Arron Sparks