One gig book for magicians, musicians, and circus acts

A parlor magician, a string trio, a clown for a garden, a circus duo with a van full of hoop and silk — the business is the same shape. A date. A host. A set. A crate. A fee. The vocabulary changes. The desk should not.

Housecue was written first for magicians because that craft already thinks in cues and props. It is equally at home with mentalists, musicians, circus artists, clowns, comedians, jugglers, dancers, and variety, so long as the work is legal live entertainment. If the night is a performance with a host and a fee, it belongs in this book.

What travels across crafts

A cue sheet is a set list with minutes. Musicians already have one. Circus already has a running order. Clowns already know which bits need a table and which bits need a lawn.

Holds and confirms are how every honest diary works. Deposits and balances are how every honest night is paid. Inventory is a trunk, a backline, a costume rail, or a coil of aerial silk.

The run of show does not care whether the closer is a signed card or a last song. It cares when you load in, who is at the door, and what must be in the case.

Discipline on the letterhead, not in a silo

Stage name, discipline, tax line. Pick magician, mentalist, musician, circus artist, clown, comedian, juggler, dancer, variety, or other. Change it if the act does. The studio does not scrape you into a public roster of “talent nearby.”

That is the difference from marketplace apps. Housecue will not send your Saturday to a stranger’s feed. It will keep the book, the crate, and the invoice where only you can open them. Read why the studio is private.

One weekend, several crafts

Plenty of working people are not one noun. A magician who also plays. A clown who also juggles. A circus pair who invoice as a company. Keep one studio. Several shows. Several crates if you must, as categories in one inventory. Several clients. The calendar does not need a second login because you own more than one hat.

If you need a second legal entity, that is a second studio — a second account — not a public split. Do not mix the invoices of two companies in one letterhead because it felt simpler on a phone.

Start with three of each

Rehearsal is free: three shows, three props, three clients, three bookings, three invoices. Enough to run a real weekend as a magician, a trio, or a hoop act. Studio Pro is monthly or yearly when the season grows. Yearly is cheaper if you already know you will work.

If the house sticks, write to support. If it does not, open a studio and put the next date on the book. The craft on the profile can wait. The date cannot.

A Saturday that is not only magic

Imagine a Saturday: a children’s garden at four, a parlor for adults at eight. The first might be a clown or a close-up magician. The second is mentalism. Same person, two shows, two crates, one van. The diary has to show both holds, both load-ins, both fees. A product that only understands “magician” as a marketplace tag will not help you pack the right trunk.

Housecue does not care which hat is on for which row. It cares that each booking has a show, a crate pulled from cues, a host, and an invoice. You can be three crafts in one legal body. You cannot be two places at 16:00. The calendar is the honest one.

Legal entertainment, invoiced in good faith

The house is open to legal live performance. If you cannot put the night on an invoice with a straight face — as magic, music, circus, comedy, dance, variety — it does not belong here. That is not a moral lecture. It is how the product stays a studio instead of a classifieds board.

For everyone else: the desk is the same. Write the set. Name the crate. Hold the date. Bill the host. Print the night. Then go and do the work that actually needs talent.

What each craft actually records

Magician: cues, decks and silks, a host, a deposit. Musician: set list with minutes, backline and stand, a venue, a balance invoice. Circus: running order, apparatus condition, load-in that is actually load-in, a rider the venue can meet. Clown: garden versus hall, costume location, a call time that is not “when the kids arrive.” Comedy: light and sound notes, a start that will slip, a fee that is not a drink ticket.

None of those need a different product. They need honest fields. If your craft needs a field Housecue does not have yet, send a feature request. The desk is built to grow with working acts, not with a marketplace of tiles.

Until then, use notes like an adult. A short note that is read beats a custom module you will not open. The calendar, the crate, and the invoice already pay the rent.