Number 467 - 6th June 2009

 

Derren Brown: mind over magic. "The illusionist baffles and delights audiences with his mind games, but he wonders if this really is what a grown-up should be doing. 'I’m always slightly beset by embarrassment about being a magician,' whispers Derren Brown, the most successful magician we’ve had since Paul Daniels fever gripped the nation three decades ago. Right now, another kind of fever is gripping Brown: in a dim dressing-room in Oxford, where his latest stage show has stopped off en route to the West End, he is surrounded by vials of bubbling potions and healing magic powders. Well, OK, bottles of Benylin and sachets of Lemsip. He’s lost his voice. He’s looking pale. Can the show go on?..." Dominic Maxwell talks to Derren Brown in The Times, Click Here to read the full story. See Derren live on stage from June 15th - July 18th at the Adelphi, London. Tickets: www.seetickets.com. "P&O Cruises recruits Derren Brown" Click Here. 6.6.09

 

Kevin Ho from the USA and Dynamo are presenting a session on card magic for International Magic at 7pm on Wednesday, 10th June. Contact International Magic for more details. Email: martin@internationalmagic.com or telephone 020 7405 7324. 6.6.09

 

Spoon, Jar, Jar, Spoon: The Two Sides of Tommy Cooper. Rob Brydon explores two sides to comedian Tommy Cooper - his humour and his love of magic. On stage, Cooper assumed a manic and bumbling persona, but behind this was a man with a genuine talent for magic, as revealed by contributions from magicians Paul Daniels, Alan Alan and the late Ali Bongo. 6.30pm on Wednesday 10th June on BBC Radio Four. 6.6.09

 

Morgan & West present the preview of their Edinburgh Fringe 2009 show, Bamboozlement!, on Tuesday 16th June, at The Wheatsheaf, 129 High Street, Oxford OX1 4DF (Map).  Doors 7.30pm (8pm start) - only £3 per person! Bamboozlement! is an evening of magic, mystery and whimsical ideas taking the form of a classic Victorian Parlour show. Taking to the stage in full Victorian evening dress, magical duo Morgan & West entertain the audience with their powers of dupery, hoodwinking and confabulation in a myriad of magical feats with a healthy dose of silliness. An hour of laughs, hasps and rather splendid magic tricks with a veritable bucket-load of audience participation. Hold on to your top hats, there's not a white rabbit in sight! www.morganandwest.co.uk. 6.6.09

 

JB Magic has decided to open its doors again due to popular demand. The shop hours are Tuesday to Friday, 10am - 5pm and Saturday 10am - 4pm. The shop is crammed full of the very latest magic, so pay them a visit! JB Magic, 226 Lytham Road, Blackpool, Lancashire FY1 6EX (Map). Telephone: 01253 407097 www.jbtv.co.uk. 6.6.09

 

Fans of dark mentalism and the bizarre should make their way to Selly Oak near Birmingham on Friday June 12th for a very special evening of "Séance Theatre & Spirit Communication". Paul Bell, author of The Paranormal Entertainer eBook available from Lebanon Circle, will be hosting this unique event which will include such staples of the Victorian séance as table-tipping, automatic writing, glass moving/Ouija, and the grande séance itself! Tickets are just £10 (discounts available for multiple tickets) and full details can be found at www.seancenights.co.uk. 6.6.09

 

Brandmagic will be exhibiting at Excite, (formerly the Exhibiting Show), later this month www.exciteshow.com. The shows focus is experiential and live marketing, and Brandmagic's Managing Director, Peter Wardell will be speaking at the event as an industry expert on how live marketing can "Be Amazing". Peter is also looking for 1 or 2, ambitious professional magicians who are keen to break into the trade show market and who would like to learn more about how magic can be applied to live marketing. They will work alongside him at the show and although there is no fee available it will be a great opportunity to gain experience of trade show work and learn from one of the UK's busiest professionals. Interested parties should email Peter: info@makebelievers.co.uk, attaching a photo and a brief biog. 6.6.09

 

Theo The Magician raises £17,000 for New Incubator. Theo's daughter Elena was born ten weeks premature, weighing just 2lbs. She is now seven and the tallest in the class. Theo was overwhelmed with all the doctors and nurses care and attention they gave his daughter at The Neonatal Unit, St Helier Hospital in Carshalton, Surrey. So, for the last five years he has been busy fundraising towards a much needed new incubator through Raffles, Prize Draws, Magic Shows, Balloon Modelling, Plate Spinning Workshops and talks at Rotary, Inner Wheel and Probus Clubs. Yesterday he finally got to say his big thank you by presenting the New Incubator at The Opening of the Refurbished Neonatal Unit. Theo has now raised over £250,000 for various different Charities. To see some of his fundraising exploits visit www.magictheo.com (see 'Press Articles'). 6.6.09

 

The Home Counties Magical Society in Reading are pleased to have John Bannon lecture for them on Thursday 18th June. John is one of the most popular creators of close-up magic. This this lecture is one of only two sessions in the UK on his visit; offering a rare opportunity to see John's work live. For full details visit www.hcms.org.uk and to pre-book Click Here. 6.6.09

 

5 FOR £5 - new ebooks released. Oliver Meech, author of The Plot Thickens, has just released a new series of ebooks, 5 for £5. Each one contains five fresh tricks, using no knuckle-busting sleight-of-hand, covering five different genres: ‘5 for £5:Coffee’, ‘5 for £5:Kids’ and ‘5 for £5:Stage’. The first 3 releases are available now from stores.lulu.com/olivermeech. To celebrate the upcoming release of Plot Twists, the follow-up to the critically-acclaimed The Plot Thickens, Oliver Meech is offering the chance for a magician to have their name immortalised in print! The winner will lend their name to the spectator in the description of the 'Ambitious Balloon' trick in the book and will also receive a signed copy. To enter, email oliver@olivermeech.co.uk with 'competition' as the subject line, by 30th June 2009. You'll also be added to his mailing list to receive a free ebook and fortnightly newsletter (if you would prefer not to receive these, please specify). The winner will be randomly selected and announced in Oliver's newsletter. www.olivermeech.co.uk. 6.6.09

 

John Bannon lectures at Davenports on Saturday, 20th June at 2pm. John is one of the most popular close-up inventors of today, and is famous the world over for his direct, visual and impossible close-up magic. Author of such books as Mirage, The Very Best Of John Bannon, Impossibilia, Smoke & Mirrors, and Dear Mr. Fantasy, John is a well respected and talented artist. Tickets are £10 each, via www.davenportsmagic.co.uk (under 'New Products' on their home page). 6.6.09

 

Rob James' wedding. David Williamson finished his recent whirlwind visit to the UK with a performance at Rob James' wedding on May 23rd. He performed close-up magic at the tables with an hysterical cabaret set to finish. All the magicians in attendance were big fans so it was a huge treat to see David working live for "real" people. Magicians from left to right: David Willmott, Ben Earl, Andi Gladwin, Rodney James Piper, Noel Qualter, Rob James and Hayley, David Williamson, James Long, Alan Hudson and Matthew J Dowden. Click Here to enlarge. 6.6.09

 

Pavel lectures in Exeter on Thursday 11th June at the Exonian Magical Society - see What's On for details of this and other Pavel lecture dates. 6.6.09

 

The Northern Magic Circle is having its Presidents day in Haworth, West Yorkshire, on Saturday 18th July. Called “Wuthering Sleights” it’s a family day out around Haworth and finishes with a pie and pea supper (£7 per head) and a micro magic marathon. Email steve@northernmagic.co.uk or phone Steve Gore on 07986 499671 to register your interest. You don’t need to pay until the day, but numbers are needed for the for catering www.northernmagic.co.uk. 6.6.09

 

Magical Teacher wins Stage Competition. Teaching a goldfish to count, producing apples and making a hedgehog appear, are all in an evening's work for Mark Harrington. This quirky mix of magic and science won him the Tony Shelley Cup at the Wolverhampton Circle of Magicians last week. To find out more visit www.illusistration.com. 6.6.09

 

Cabinet Magazine. Two years ago, the New York-based art and cultural quarterly Cabinet magazine dedicated one of its issues to the theme of magic under the guest-editorship of visual artist and magician Jonathan Allen (aka Tommy Angel). The issue included contributions from a number of UK-based magicians and historians including Eddie Dawes, Paul Kieve, Shreeyash Palshikar, Scott Penrose, Ian Saville, Tim Reed, and Vanessa Toulmin. The current issue takes 'deception' as its theme, and explores amongst other subjects the history of camouflage, online spam-money schemes, and Richard Nixon's passport. Jonathan has contributed a short text on the history of playing-card trickery. Cabinet issue 33 Deception is available briefly online, and at large visual arts venues. 6.6.09

 

Andrew Murray and Rajan Rajput entertained VIP guests at last Saturday's FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Everton. 6.6.09

 

Ali Cardabra will be presenting his new lecture for the Merlin Magical Society on Thursday 11th June at Little Heath Parish Hall, Thornton Road, Potters Bar EN6 1JJ (Map). The lecture is called 'It's Just a Gimmick' and covers Ali's own innovations an inventions, sometimes using brand new gimmicks and sometimes using old gimmicks to produce new and unusual effects. Ali Cardabra has been lecturing since 1985 and has been a frequent contributor to magazines including Magic Info, Magigram, Repro'71, The Magician, Abra and The Linking Ring. Doors open at 7.30. Non Members pay £5 at the door. 6.6.09

 

Mark Williams entertained at the FA headquarters last week for what could be the last time, as the FA are moving from their home at Soho Square to Wembley stadium in the near future. Mark was entertaining at an event that raised over £40,000 for selected FA charities and was attended by many football and British Olympic stars. The highlight of the evening was performing for current England Manager Fabio Cappello, Sir Trevor Brooking and Lord Triesman. "The event was a great success and it was great to see the likes of Fabio Cappello coming along and supporting a night like this, I am a huge football fan and it is a large part of my working year, I always hate the summer break with no league games." www.mwmagic.co.uk. 6.6.09

 

S1L3NC3 will be performing at this year's Camden Fringe Festival with a brand new show, on the 16th & 17th August, at the Etcetera Theatre Camden. Visit www.camdenfringe.org or www.realityabuse.com for more information.. 6.6.09

 

The Magic Alliance. Paul Doyle (Magic Paul) emails: "The Magic Alliance is a brand new non-profit organisation for magicians. Their introduction night will be held on Friday the 4th of September 2009 in Liverpool. On the night there will be an introduction by The Magic Alliance (TMA) followed by a raffle. Then a lecture by Jon Allen who will be selling merchandise after + Free Buffet. The bar will be open late and there will also be a chance to socialise with TMA and other magicians at the end. Tickets only £7.50 + £1.00 postage. Don't miss this spectacular night. Get you tickets for The Magic Alliance Introduction Night at: www.themagicalliancetickets.weebly.com." 6.6.09

 

Spellbound 2. After the success of the Spellbound Mind Control and Hypnosis Party Night last month, Spellbound 2 will be taking place in Tunbridge Wells on 13th June. "If you want a night of fun mind control and hypnosis why not join Adam Smith magician and mentalist and Freddy Jacqui world renowned hypnotist on the 13th, who knows what might happen?" For full details and tickets call Adam Smith on 07920 772792 Tickets £10.00 each. 6.6.09

 

Bob Hayden profiles two more acts set to appear at the Southport Convention in September, Click Here • Congratulations to young magician Max Curd, recent Sussex Magic Circle Close-up Competition winner • Clint Barron reviews Dave Gemmell's recent lecture at the Portsmouth & District Magic Circle Click Here • Jonathan Jay reviews Lee Thompson Pickpocket in Cirque de Soleil, Kooza, in Atlanta USA, Click Here • When submitting news please include venue postcodes and an image if possible. See you next week, Duncan. 6.6.09

 

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