Number 472 - 11th July 2009
The
Pete Firman Magic Show - Southbank, London. Pete Firman, described
as the Tommy Cooper for the MySpace generation, and recently seen
performing alongside Justin Lee Collins on Channel 4's Convention
Crashers and on ITV's For One Night Only brings his magic
show to the Southbank Centre for the first time this Thursday, 16th July
at 9pm. "Gob-smackingly talented" Metro. Visit
www.underbelly.co.uk for more info and to book. "Just had a 1 hour
haircut. It looks exactly the same" - Pete's on Twitter!
http://twitter.com/petefirman.
11.7.09
Monday
Magic - An all-new live magic cabaret venue, in the heart of London.
Bill Davenport (Davenports Magic) writes: "We are organising a new,
weekly magic show in central London, at the Storm nightclub in Leicester
Square (the old Comedy Store). The first night is on the 27th July, and
will be a magical cabaret variety type event. We aim to have a different
show on each week, and will be using it to showcase new talent, as well
as some of the more established acts. The show itself is for stage acts,
though we will also sometimes have close-up magicians entertaining the
audience before the show as well. Tickets are £10 or £7 for concs.
Bookable via the Davenports web site or by calling us on 020 7836 0408.
Ticket price includes entry to the club until 3am." Visit
www.mondaymagic.co.uk for
full details of the opening night.
11.7.09
The
Fringe is back! Bob Hayden reports: "In the Late Night Magic
Shows of the past two Conventions there was an abundance of fine and
entertaining magic performed but the atmosphere that had been generated
by the Fringe shows in past years was clearly lacking. The Fringe for
many of the Conventioneers was the highlight of their Convention. Here’s
some great news. It is now confirmed that this year the Fringe is
returning. The Fringe is completely independent of the British Ring and
is essentially a series of additional free shows organised, and to date
financed by, Fay Presto. This year Fay has received some commercial
sponsorship from the dealers Magic Cave, so it’s a big thank you to them
for their support for without Magic Cave it would not have happened..."
To read the full story, from British Ring PRO Bob Hayden,
Click Here. 73rd British Ring IBM Convention. 23rd - 27th September
2009, Southport
www.britishring.org.uk.
11.7.09
Magic
at the Barn. Now in its fifth year, this successful magic and
illusion show will once again be taking place this summer at The Barn,
Sutton Hall, Shopland Road, Rochford, Essex. The show will feature award
winning magic, mind reading and comedy featuring Oliver Tabor and
special guests at 7.30pm on Saturday July 18th. This year the show will
be supporting Georgie's Fund, a charity for research into treatments and
cure for Neuroblastoma. The show is set in an intimate 17th Century barn
which over the last year has gradually been transformed into a mini
theatre. The year's guest artists are Steve Majes, a top professional
magician and amazingly creative balloon twister, his outstanding
balloons have appeared on the 'Paul O'Grady Show' and Richie Austin -
with his own brand of fun, magic and illusion. Close-up magic will be
presented by James Prtichard and Oliver Meech before the show. Doors
open at 7pm. Tickets: £10 adults, £5 children, available now by phoning
01702 543242 or online via
www.amazeandamuse.co.uk.
11.7.09
Deafblind
Blackpool Convention trip appeal. Imagine going to a magic
convention and not being able to see nor hear anything. That is what
Jimmy does with the help of clown magician Jonathan Lucia-Wright who is
a support worker with Deafblind UK. Jimmy was born deaf and had sight in
only one eye. He underwent an operation when he was eighteen but
something went wrong leaving him blind in both eyes, so he can now
neither see nor hear. His carers take him to the Blackpool Magic
Convention to stimulate his mind and imagination. They communicate
through a sign language that requires them to ‘type’ on his hand. This
in itself is magic of the highest kind. Jimmy’s carers are hoping to
take him to the Blackpool convention again in February next year but as
the party consists of four people funding can be a problem. Not a great
deal of money is needed for this visit but the costs of travel,
accommodation and food for four people can mount up so any help that the
magic fraternity can give will be much appreciated. Any donation, no
matter how small, will help to bring this Jimmy’s wish to attend the
convention to fruition. Perhaps you can help to provide a pleasurable,
fantastic and stimulating weekend to a man who can neither see nor hear?
Cheques can be made payable to Jonathan Lucia-Wright, who is Jimmy’s
advocate, at c/o Jimmy Blackpool Appeal, 59 Dingley Court, Westwood,
Peterborough PE3 7AW, England. For information about the Deafblind
charity visit
www.deafblind.org.uk, for more information about Jonathan
Lucia-Wright visit
www.extremeclowning.piczo.com and, of course, for details of the
Blackpool Convention visit
www.blackpoolmagic.com.
11.7.09
Sean
Heydon - Trevor George Entertainer of Year Awards 2009. Last Sunday
Sean Heydon was invited to perform his Illusion show at the grand final
of the Trevor George Entertainer of Year Awards 2009. The standard was
incredibly high and in front of a large audience of cruise directors,
event bookers, entertainment journalists and industry specialists Sean
was awarded Speciality Act of The Year 2009.
11.7.09
A
summer offer from Magicseen! From Editor Mark Leveridge: "If you are
going off on your hols you might want to take some holiday reading with
you, and here at magicseen we would hate to see you go without. So,
starting from Saturday 11th July, anyone taking out a new subscription
to magicseen will be entitled to select a book title from us completely
free! Sign up for 1 year and you may choose to receive a complimentary
copy of either WD40 in hardback (worth £35.00), or a copy of
The Man Who Would Be King (worth £20.00). Sign up for a 2 year sub
and, if you wish, you can request to receive both titles free. Offer
ends Friday 28th August 2009 so if you are not a subscriber to magicseen
already, act now and get your freebies before any of us at magicseen
come to our senses!" Subscribe via
www.magicseen.co.uk.
11.7.09
Smoke
& Mirrors Radio Show. The whole series of the Smoke & Mirrors Radio
Show can now be found on iTunes and online at
www.smokeandmirrorsradioshow.com, where you'll also find biographies
and videos of the guests. The ten episodes featured performers including
John van der Put, Paul Daniels and Marc Paul, making a total of five
hours of magic chat and performance in all. Hosted by Matthew Duggan and
featuring Julia Barnett, the show ran on Resonance FM in London and
online across the world via
www.resonancefm.com.
The programme will form the topic of a talk on 'Radio Magic' by host
Matthew Duggan as part of Jack Delvin's 'On The Air' Summer School at
The Magic Circle on 20th July.
www.matthewduggan.co.uk.
11.7.09
Israeli
Mentalist Roy Zaltsman lectures for The Chester Guild of Magicians
on Monday 13th July at 8pm. This will be the first meeting at the club's
new headquarters: The Bull & Stirrup, Northgate Street, Chester CH1 4EE
(Map).
Visiting magicians welcome (£5.00 entrance fee). Contact Steve Cooil for
details 01244 881462
stevecooil@mac.com.
11.7.09
Ian
Keable is delighted to announce he now has in stock the second
edition of his book Stand-Up: A Professional Guide to Comedy Magic;
a must-have book for anyone interested in performing comedy magic. Ian
will be lecturing the book at the Wolverhampton Magic Society on 22nd
July, Shrewsbury Magic Society on 7th September, Cotswold Magic Society
on 15th October and the British Magic Society on 10th November.
"Possibly the best book ever to be written on modern Stand-up Comedy
Magic. I wish I'd had it 20 years ago." John Archer, MagicWeek. "There
is a massive amount of accurate, interesting and totally relevant
information in this book. Ian's writing style is easy to read,
intelligent and coherent. The subject matter is covered exhaustively and
humorously. If this doesn't become the standard stand-up magicians'
bible, I will be very surprised." Mark Leveridge, Magicseen. "I
absolutely loved your stand up book. It's the first book of its kind I
have read where I actually believed the author had real life experience
in the subject he was writing about. I genuinely think this book should
be considered a modern classic." Derren Litten, writer of British TV
sit-com hit, Benidorm. To order visit:
www.iankeable.co.uk/stand_up.
11.7.09
John
Dornan wins the 2009 Nottingham Guild of Magicians stage magic
competition. The Nottingham Guild of Magicians held their annual
competition on Thursday 2nd July and this year it took on a different
format, instead of it being held at their HQ in Arnold, Nottingham it
was held at a local theatre. The first half of the evening was a
close-up competition where nine magicians circulated the tables that
were set out in a cabaret format; they then moved onto the stage
competition, each having 12 minutes to impress the judges and audience.
Among the judges was John Palfreyman, who has 70 years experience in
magic. During his career he was associated with the David Nixon and
Tommy Cooper shows amongst others. John Dornan won the stage competition
with his comedy act and the competition was hailed a great success, with
thanks to Andrew Morrison, Graham Harper and a big thanks to Dawn
and her team for the magnificent food! John Dornan is from Keyworth in
Nottingham.
www.nottinghamguildofmagicians.co.uk.
11.7.09
The
Nottingham Guild of Magicians would like to announce that Roy Bond
successfully defended his title of 'close-up magician of the year
2009/10'. In his acceptance speech Roy said that he would not be
entering next year's competition as "I feel that one title win and one
defense is enough.". He did say that he would still perform as part of
the evening's entertainment though, and he thanked everyone involved in
organising and supporting the event.
www.roybond-magician.com
www.nottinghamguildofmagicians.co.uk.
11.7.09
Simon
Southerin (aka Simon Magic) will be performing close-up magic and
cabaret for 33 days at the Bluecoat, Liverpool, from July 30th - August
31st in the afternoons, 7 days a week, for their Slow Magic exhibition
"... are we looking at something real or imagined? Is a painting flat or
three-dimensional? The selection of works included in the exhibition
highlights this much like a conjurer, it is the artist's sleight of hand
that makes painting magical." For more on the exhibition visit
www.thebluecoat.org.uk.
www.simonmagic.co.uk.
11.7.09
The
Talent Code: Unlocking the Secret of Skill in Maths, Art, Music,
Sport, and Just About Everything Else. "'Talent. You've either got
it or you haven't.' Not true, actually. In The Talent Code,
award-winning journalist Daniel Coyle draws on cutting-edge research to
reveal that, far from being some abstract mystical power fixed at birth,
ability really can be created and nurtured. In the process, he considers
talent at work in venues as diverse as a music school in Dallas and a
tennis academy near Moscow, to demonstrate how the wiring of our brains
can be transformed by the way we approach particular tasks. He explains
what is really going on when apparently unremarkable people suddenly
make a major leap forward. He reveals why some teaching methods are so
much more effective than others. Above all, he shows how all of us can
achieve our full potential if we set about training our brains in the
right way." Available from Amazon.co.uk
Click Here.
11.7.09
Dynamo
- Glastonbury 2009,
Click Here • "Keith Barry, 32, is a magician. He is originally
from Waterford, but now lives in Dublin with his wife, Mairead, and
their baby daughter, Breanna..."
Click Here • "Vegas Magician Mum On ‘Death Drop’ Mishap"
Click Here • "Magician arrested on suspicion of firing gun"
Click Here • "The day Michael Jackson, Uri Geller and David
Blaine pitched up at Exeter City FC"
Click Here • "Theatre review of Franks Closet starring Debbie
McGee"
Click Here • "Me and my money: Brendan Byrne"
Click Here • Adrian Wright reviews the recent three day School
of Busing course held in Cardiff,
Click Here • Al Smith reviews the Travis Perkins Assembly
Seventeenth Anniversary Day of Magic, held last week,
Click Here • Many thanks for your news contributions - have a good
weekend, Duncan.
11.7.09