A Different Kind of Panhandler: Street Magician Joe Spelton

Joe Spelton lives his life in seconds.

He has only seconds to get someone’s attention, to make someone smile, and in his case, to try to make a living, understanding that he only has small windows of time in which to operate.

Spelton is a street magician and busker, and you may have seen him in the past few weeks plying his trade at intersections throughout the city. Spelton performs a magic show for drivers at signalized intersection, hoping that he can use those short windows of time as best he can – and make his rent money along the way.

Spelton performs sleight of hand magic for drivers while they wait at traffic lights, and he wants you to know that he is more than a panhandler.

He’s trying to share his gift and his art.

“It’s freedom. It’s the ability to be able to express my art without having anyone be able to tell me how or when to do it,” he said, of the busker lifestyle. “It’s the fact that I get show my magic to real people, and not people who have paid to sit in a seat for an hour.”

He understands the notion of operating in seconds, and loves the challenge of touching someone enough to make them want to give him a few bucks, or even their spare change. 

“It’s funny. Not only do I have a limited amount of time, but I also have an unpredictable amount of time. Sometimes the light changes in 30 seconds, or 5 minutes,” he said. “So you have to have flexible material. It’s kind of hard. And you can’t talk to them. The handkerchief’s gonna go here. They have to see it. So you have to slow down but at the same time you have to speed up.”

That barrier of silence helps train Spelton in some of his other shows.

“It’s good because when I go to other countries, I’ll have a silent show so there will be no language barriers, people speak French of Spanish or something like this.”

He got into magic as a child, but never thought he would be doing it for a modest living.

“The only other job I’ve ever had is a sales job,” he said. “So this is much different. But like all other magic geeks, I started with a few card tricks, and worked up from there.”

In recent weeks, Spelton has performed his quasi-show at intersections at Baltimore Drive and El Cajon Boulevard, La Mesa and El Cajon boulevards, and at the 70th Street entrance to eastbound Interstate 8.

He said that he only works La Mesa during the early week – usually Monday thru Wednesday – and will work a longer 30-minute show in popular tourist destinations like Seaport Village and Balboa Park on the weekend.

“There’s jokes, lots of crowd interaction,” he said of his longer show. “Afterward, people put whatever they think the show is worth in my hat.”

He said that how much you make isn’t often discussed in the busker community, but he admitted that during the week he can make about $50 in a day. On weekends, in crowded areas, that figure can more than double.

“Obviously it’s a lot less here than in say, New York, where there’s so many more people. But I make enough to get by.”

He specializes in variations of rope tricks, coin tricks, and handkerchief tricks.

He’s also done stage magic shows, but doesn’t enjoy them as much as the organic connection he can make with his audience, even if their attention is quick and fleeting.

“I’ve done stage shows and you don’t really get the feedback,” he said. “The audience can’t really say, ‘I hate you’ or ‘you suck,’ or ‘that’s awesome.’ Out here they can. It’s harder and I think it makes you better.”

He says the life of a busker is a hard one. He doesn’t really have a traditional “home,” adding that at this moment, he is just staying with a friend who lives near La Mesa. But the nomadic culture is something he identifies with, bouncing around different places while growing up as an adopted child.

Spelton was born in Vista and grew up in and around San Diego his entire life. He also spent time in parts of Colorado and Texas. He seems to relish going where the wind takes him. He said he rarely stays at the same place for very long.

“I’m a member of couchsurfing.org, so I just bounce around – or I’ll just stay at a hotel,” he said. “And then I go the road, and I won’t be here for, you know however long.”

His time in La Mesa may be short lived, however. Police chief Ed Aceves has spoken publicly of his working with Senator Joel Anderson to try and amend the state’s vehicle code, which would prevent panhandlers from operating at signalized intersections.

Anderson introduced the bill – known as SB 604 – to the state senate in February of 2013, and earlier this month, it was sent to the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing.

According to Anderson’s bill,

“Existing law prohibits a person from soliciting, displaying, selling, offering for sale, or otherwise vending or attempting to vend any merchandise or service while being wholly or partly within any of specified places, including, but not limited to, the right-of-way of any freeway, including any on ramp, off ramp, or roadway shoulder which lies within the right-of-way of the freeway, or any roadway or adjacent shoulder within 500 feet of a freeway off ramp or on ramp. A violation of these provisions constitutes an infraction.”

So what happens if the law is passed?

It likely won’t mean much to Spelton, as he’ll simply move on, like he’s done many times before.

“I do it to kind of make a statement out here. There’s art on the street, just in a different venue,” he said. “Come see me. Come see other buskers. Some of them are dumbasses, but some are pretty good.”