Number 241 - 5th February 2005
Happy
100th Birthday to The British Magical
Society, Europe's oldest magic club. To celebrate their centenary the
society are holding a one day convention today (Saturday 5th) in Sutton Coldfield from
10am to 10pm starring Max Maven, Amethyst, Paul Hancox, Daryl and Alison,
John Lenahan, Tino Navas, Sean Carpenter, Gavin Ross and Paul Dabek.
Restricted tickets are available on the door - so there's still time for what I
am sure will be a great day. The venue is the recently refurbished
Sutton Coldfield Town Hall, Upper Clifton Road, Sutton Coldfield B73
6AB (Map). 5.2.05
Wayne
Dobson heads the line up at the Northern Magic Circle Easter Parade
(Saturday 26th March to Monday 28th). Artists booked to date: Vizage, Joe
Trancini, Leslie Melville, Steve Gore, Percy Piecrust, Pat Fallon, Brian
Sefton, Clive Moore and Jean with more to be announced. Featuring:
Lectures, Dealers, Children's Showtime, a Gala Show, and a Close-up and
Stage competition at the Craiglands Hotel, Ilkley, North Yorkshire. For
registration details write to Bill Peckitt, 18 Pentland Drive, Huntington, York YO32
9PQ or telephone 01904 762910. 5.2.05
Magic
Profile is back and we're delighted to feature Rob James in our first
profile of 2005. A full time professional close-up magician Rob has turned
his passion for magic into a career. "I
now seem to spend most of my time driving to and from different hotels.
Some of the more interesting places I have worked include the Tower Bridge
Walkways, the House of Commons, the Science Museum and Plymouth Aquarium.
Magic has also taken me to Dubai twice, Egypt, Florida and Las Vegas." To
read more click on
Magic Profile. 5.2.05
The
Blackpool Convention has SOLD OUT! There are no seats left for the
Sunday Gala Show so you cannot purchase a Gold Card Registration anymore. But
there is some good news... Derek Lever, the Organiser and Arthur Casson,
the Registration Officer, have put together a Silver Card registration
package at £45.00 (Adults) and £30.00 (Juniors). This registration will
admit you to all events, including the Saturday evening show and the
Dealers, but does not include a Sunday Gala Show seat. It will also
include $10,000 of "Funny Money" free of charge to enable you to play the
tables in the Las Vegas style Casino. There are still a few
tickets available for the After Gala Show Party at £12.00 each. You can
download a registration form from
www.blackpoolmagic.com or email:
arthurcasson@aol.com or telephone Arthur Casson on 01253 393688. The
dates are 25th, 26th, 27th February 2005... better hurry! 5.2.05
Mick
Hanzlick presents Houdini - An Illustrated Talk on Thursday
31st March, at the Centrecom, 602 North Row, Secklow Gate West, Central
Milton Keynes (Map)
www.mickhanzlik.co.uk. 5.2.05
Sav,
Pete Wardell, Chris Priest and Noel Qualter have just returned from
the European launch of the new
Nintendo DS
in Paris. They performed customised magic designed to showcase the game
console's features including a clever touch screen. On their way home via Eurostar they nearly
got more than they bargained for when things were held up a little due to
the fact that an
unexploded WW2 bomb had just been discovered in a car heading for the
tunnel! www.sav-uk.com,
www.peterwardell.co.uk,
www.chrispriest.com,
www.noelqualter.com. 5.2.05
Nick
Einhorn lectures at the
Magical Mayhem
Club in Hitchin, Hertfordshire on Thursday 10th March at 8pm. The
lecture will take place in
The Sun Hotel's
Tavistock Suite,
Sun Street, Hitchin. For more information email
magical.mayhem@ntlworld.com
or telephone Martin Daubney on 01462 627503.
www.einhorn.co.uk. 5.2.05
The
Order of the Magi President Mike Sharples and Immediate Past President
Geoffrey Newton (photo, left and right) were invited to meet The President
of Ireland Mary McAleese when she visited The Magi's headquarters, The
Irish World Heritage Centre in Manchester, last week. A framed coloured
Magi emblem was presented by Mike who said "It was a great pleasure to
meet the president. We talked about the proposed new centre and how it
will make a superb setting for our centenary in 2009." 5.2.05
Rob
James has been teaching 'This Life' and 'Teachers' star Andrew Lincoln
some sleight of hand for his part in a new peak time ITV1 drama series
Afterlife. Andrew made a great student and the results will be seen
later this year. In the picture, Andrew and Rob on location in Bristol.
www.rob-james.com. 5.2.05
Roy
Davenport, Keith Cooper & Carol and Magic Circle President Alan Shaxon
appear at Mark Worgan's
Klub Magic in
Brighton on Wednesday February 9th with close-up magic from Steve Pratt
and Andrew Jeffrey. I saw Alan Shaxon recently live on stage in The Magic
Circle's Christmas Show and he was excellent. Tickets, via the Box
Office: 01273 647100. For more information visit:
www.klubmagic.co.uk. 5.2.05
Wanted!
Shelley Radford from the BBC emails "Wanted - Funny and embarrassing
'magic' stories for a high profile BBC 1 television show audience, looking
for possible audience members and/or fans of Paul Daniels. Would love to
hear of any funny stories and events that have happened whilst performing
magic. Particularly interested in embarrassing stories where things have
gone wrong whilst on stage." Email Shelley Radford for more information:
shelley.radford2@bbc.co.uk. 5.2.05
Michael
Decker "World Champion Balloon Sculpturer Extraordinaire" will be
lecturing across the UK in September and October. Lecture topics include:
The basics, Using balloons as promotional give- aways, Balloons for
corporate and personal promotion, Balloons at birthday parties, Drawing
and holding a crowd, Making four or five balloons at the same time,
Christmas balloons, Halloween balloons, and Questions and answers. "In the UK
Michael performs regularly for Harrods of Knightsbridge. He has lectured
for The Magic Circle, the IBM Convention, the Blackpool Convention and
Clowns International. The lecture is both entertaining and informative and
will be of interest to beginners and experts alike." Michael will be
available for one week from Monday 19th September in the South and then
from 3rd to 20th October starting in Scotland and then heading South.
For more information to book the lecture for your club contact Colin
Peters, telephone 01306 883938, email
ColinPeters@TheMagicCircle.co.uk. Club secretaries should also keep an
eye on the MagicWeek Lecturer's page to
see who is currently available to lecture in the UK. 5.2.05
Roald
Dahl's The Witches, adapted by David Wood, will open at the Wyndham's
Theatre on 9th March 2005, following previews from March 3rd, for a
limited season to 2nd April. Starring Ruby Wax as 'The Grand High Witch'
and featuring illusions by Paul Kieve who recently created magic effects
for 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' 'The Witches' follows the
adventures of a seven-year-old boy and his somewhat magical grandmother
who battle with real life witches, led by the most powerful villainess of
them all - the Grand High Witch.
Click Here for more information. 5.2.05
Easy
Build Illusions by Paul Osborne is currently available from
www.elmagicshop.com together with a number of the other books in the
series. Easy Build features: The In & Out Box, the Fall Apart Box, Fast
Make Sub Trunk, The Mummy Returns, The King of Clubs, Fast Make Tip Over,
The Shadow of Life, Blueprinted and At the Beach. 5.2.05
The Magic Cavern at Barons Court is expanding. Richard Leigh for False Impressions would like to hear from magicians who would be interested in performing at the Magic Cavern and other venues in London. Magicians of every description are required with acts from anything from a single 12 minutes to 2 x 40 minutes in length. Please send promotional photos, act details, availability and fees to richard@falseimpressions.com or post to Richard Leigh, False Impressions, Plexus House, 1 Cromwell Place, South Kensington, London SW7 2JE. 5.2.05
The next Magic Car Boot Sale sponsored by Albion Magic takes place tomorrow, Sunday 6th February (from 9.30am), at The Beechmen Circus Warehouse, Union Street, West Bromwich (There's a map on www.albionmagiccompany.co.uk). The 28 stands will including the following dealers: Alakazam, Albion Magic, Keith Bennett, Mel Harvey, Hocus Pocus, Kitchen Table Magic, Magic Zone, Practical Magic, RAR, Harry Robson, Adrian Sulllivan, Stephen Tucker and Zane. Admission is £3. 5.2.05
Have pouch, will travel. Completing his round the world trip on a wing and a prayer (Australia, New Zealand Busk Fest, Los Angeles, Tampa, Key West), James James is back in the UK in time for the Street Busking Competition at the Blackpool Convention at the end of this month. "The value of Gazzo's tuition is paying off" said James. 5.2.05
Derek Lever - Change of email address: Blackpool Convention organiser Derek Lever has just had his email address changed by his ISP... but they forgot to inform him, so Derek asks readers who have not had a reply to any recently sent emails (that he will not be able to receive) to please email him again at his new email address: deriko@webaplomb.com. 5.2.05
Sony
Multi-region DVD player - £49.99 including delivery! Just the job for
all those magic DVDs this top-rated fully-featured player supports DVD
video, DVD-RW/+RW, DVD-R/+R, SVCD, VCD, CD, MP3 and JPEG playback, with
Coaxial
Digital out, RGB SCART out and phonos out. Featuring an
easy to use on screen contents browser, and, of course,
an obligatory remote control. From Amazon.co.uk
Click Here. 5.2.05
As
The Magic Circle gear up for their Centenary Celebrations Nick Barlay
talks to Magic Circle PRO David Beckley in The Times
Click Here • "Illusionist's new circle of friends really are magic"
Click Here • "Magician puts the fun into recycling"
Click Here • "Wand-erful way to raise funds. A magician will be saying
abracadabra to audiences in St John's when he puts on a magic show to
raise cash for the tsunami appeal."
Click Here • We've got an exciting new section planned for MagicWeek
starting on Saturday 20th, but that's it for this week. Your UK magic news
is always welcomed, see you next week, Duncan. 5.2.05