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