My First Cure for Wild Drinking Was Being Wilder

In 1982, Sydney did not have internet.

If you wanted to promote your work, it was:

- ads in newspapers
- handing out flyers
- snail-mailing folks

(or street lectures)

Now the last one was not so common.

Kings Cross - the scene of my Alexander “revelations” 6 years previously - now became the home for my Alexander busking – an innovation based on most people’s inability to exert control over their subconscious behaviour.

I would gather a crowd by declaring in a loud voice:

“Come and win $50!!! No tricks, no losers – all will be explained.”

I would shout and holler until a sizable crowd had gathered – even the local police occasionally stopped to gawk. I was a little nervous that time – I had gathered a crowd of more than 50 - but in 1982 busking permits didn’t exist. 

The police just laughed with everyone else.

I loved performing this way.

I came across as a real trickster – I think – and I played up that. It unleashed some of the stifled performer in me, and I relished making the crowd laugh and keeping them listening for as long as I could.

I discovered that as long as I kept promising a prize of $50 – worth $160 in today’s money -  I could hold a crowd for as long as I could entertain them. And in that time, I delivered my “Alexander lectures” – letting people know why they suffered from back pains, neck pains and destructive behaviour.

I would take forever to get to the moment of the competition.

It wasn’t my decision if they won or not.

I would deputise two volunteer judges from the audience, and THEY  - not me – had the final say on whether a contestant won the $50. Part of my act was to create another educational moment by “training” the judges in front of the audience. 

The process was transparent and fair. 

In all the hundreds of performances I gave, I never lost my $50.

And the task?

Haha. Just like my audience, I will keep you waiting.

Make sure you read my next daily!