Magic Notes

It is interesting to consider the effect that modern media, in particular the Internet, has had on magic. 

A few decades ago, ninety percent of card magic seemed to be attributed to a small handful of magicians in the world, the likes of Vernon, Marlo, Dingle and Jennings. Hunting down a specific issue of a magazine such as ‘Pabula’, often used to take weeks to turn up in the post after the placement of an advert in a magic publication. New innovations, such as Chris Kenner’s ‘Sybil’ took several years to slowly propagate their way through magic. 

Aside from a few notable exceptions, magic then went through a long winter of stagnation with lecturers on the circuit showing dubious, if thankfully insignificant, ‘improvements’ to such plots as ‘Travellers’, ‘Collectors’, ‘Invisible Palm’ and ‘Ace Assembly’. 

Nowadays, no information can escape Google’s search engine. The entire collection of ‘Pabula’ complete with cross-reference is passed around without a thought. With countless magic forums and underground forums with RSS feeds searching around for interesting resources to plug into and with a myriad of media sites such as YouTube, isolated magicians situated in any outback in the world can be part of the global magic community. A video can be uploaded on a Saturday in the Far East and have magicians playing around with it while it is still Friday in Europe and the USA. Anything truly ground-breaking can propagate through an insatiable audience in a matter of days. 

Much of what many established magicians use in their everyday work is only one small step above what Stephen Mulhern teaches on Kid’s tea-time TV to try out in the playground the following day and many magic props are easily available even without looking for them but as always, there is the all important top few percentile on the cutting edge able to differentiate themselves and retain ‘real’ magician status.  Magicians such as the Buck Twins, who are maturing fast, and others on the frontier such as Cristian Engblom (Finland), Danni Da Ortiz (Spain), Olmac (France), Alexander Popov (Russia) still manage to make waves with almost cult following and the progress is relentless. Perhaps some of the most exciting advances have occurred in the Far East. By FISM Beijing 2009, there will have been something of an Eastward shift in power in all disciplines.

A number of eastern magicians have found recognition through the internet, among them Zenneth Kok, perhaps most famous for his ‘Impossible Twist’ which picks up the ‘visible twisting Aces’ theme where Guy Hollingworth left off, so I was very pleased to learn that WCM had managed to secure him for a lecture.  Meeting Zenneth was every bit the pleasure I expected it to be.If I was to be critical about the evening, it would be to say that in an attempt to “do something for those at all levels”, he featured a number of trivial items such as ‘Spectator Cuts Aces’, ‘Monte’ and ‘Changing Queen’ that I just couldn’t bring myself to care less about. I could have seen them from anyone although I did enjoy to hear some of his philosophies about working to laymen. He did though, feature some of the stuff that DOES warrant him travelling half way around the globe with and it was a pleasure to behold. Zenneth is very modest and humble which, while not usually bad characteristics, were a little frustrating on this occasion because he was actively holding back from ‘showing off’ aside from the odd glimpses of what he is truly capable of. The reality was, I would have immensely enjoyed him ‘showing off’ until my brain hurt. I realise of course, that for some, the reverse might have been the case.

Unfortunately, this website was recently breached and used as a relay site for illegal music/software storage/download and spam email. This web-traffic was invisible to me until I received an invoice for over £1800!

The website has been running for a number of years with several hundred items changing hands during that time. It has been however, a labour (and cost) of love in a lame attempt to provide a free facility for magicians to keep professional magic props off public auction sites.

It is with regret that, following this latest attack, I have decided to close the website which I don’t have time to constantly monitor for no return.

Many thanks for your support over the years.

Absentees
Two performers were not able to meet the performing schedule. Max Maven, who not everyone realizes is also a very able sleight-of-hand exponent, was unable to attend being instead confined to a hospital bed following a heart procedure (although he still managed to get a message through!), and Rafael Benatar who was unable to attend at the last minute.

They were respectively replaced by Rocco, who flew in especially from the Bahamas where he is currently performing, and Danny Archer.

David Regal performed the newspaper prediction that Max would not be there because of a ‘triple by-pass heart procedure’. When he was corrected that it was in fact a ‘double by-pass procedure’, he reversed the prediction Kolossal Killer style to show that he was “off by one”. I understand that Max is doing well and appreciated the humour.

Never look a gift horse…
The guest of honor was Ton Onosaka, who might be described as the Godfather of Japanese Magic. Prior to the Main Gala Show, he was presented with a number of gifts and awards. A couple of performers got some good mileage out of this during their performances.

First Rocco presented Ton with an Ice-cream from nowhere which he handed over having taken a bite to show that it was genuine; following this, he visibly transformed a book of matches into a shaving stick which he also handed to the long bearded Onosaka having stroked it against his cheek to demonstrate its intended use lest he didn’t know.

Later, the inimitable Steve Bargatze had a cloth bound present. With sincerity, he declared to Ton, “This is a special gift that every magician in China will want. In fact, it is a gift that everyone in China is going to want; man, you are going to make fucking millions”, following which the gift was unwrapped and presented to him - a (cutlery) fork!

Since Ton Onasaka was guest of honour, there was a special show featuring five of the most promising close-uppers from the Far East. This inclded Hiro Sakai who now has his own TV show in Japan. I think you can probably guess how good this show was.

In Good Company
You know you are in good company when you are sat with the likes of Daryl Martinez, Helder Guimaraes (reigning FISM world champion of card magic) and Bill Mallone who are just as bamboozled as you are at what they are seeing. The table had some very strong magic to offer when it came to their turn with the close-up mat but the two exponents that simply battered everyone from pillar to post were Dani DaOrtiz from Spain, who has studied at the famous Ascanio school, and Christian Engblom from Finland, perhaps most famous for his sleight-of-hand anti-faro which I was also privileged to talk to him about for half-an-hour with a number of practically flawless demonstrations.Also very impressive as always, and very happy to hold court during any sessioning, was Bebel from France.

Let’s Shoot
From his emergence on the major competition scene with his Ninja Linking Rings and mind-blowing coin magic, Shoot Ogawa has set himself a place at the table of greats. I can remember marveling how anyone could be such an incredible force in more than one discipline. To add salt to the wounds, Shoot gave an hour demonstrating his work. After his newly heightened Ninja Rings routine (just in case anyone thought they were catching him up!), he proceeded with (flip stick type) wands, thimbles, coins and cards to demonstrate complete mastery of all disciplines. This has to be one of the most impressive demonstrations of close-up magic I have ever seen and Shoot was awarded the very prestigious FFFF MVP award for his efforts voted by all magicians attending.

Standing Room Only
The only standing ovation at FFFF this year - but let’s face it, it must be one of the toughest arenas on the planet in which to gain one, went to Rick Merrill.

Rick performed the routine which earned him the reigning FISM World Close-up Champion title which, following countless resulting invitations to perform it all over the World, has become even sharper and slicker than it was when he first performed it at FFFF a couple of years ago.

Lost In Translation
David Acer introduced a fellow Canadian and also acted as translator since the performer could only apparently speak French. As you would expect, much mirth was injected. Sometimes, the translation came back also in French but with a completely different attenuation. Later, the performer managed some words in English which David translated into French which led to the performer eventually speaking quietly in English and David translating for everyone’s benefit, or more accurately, bewilderment, into loud French.

As always with David, it was impossible to tell whether this was carefully planned or completely improvised.

Not so close up
FFFF is world reknown for being a convention dedicated to the art of close-up magic; no other form of magic is generally featured. In the main gala however, was Mike Robinson (Canada). Mike is a terrific card magician with, in particular, superb gambling technique. His main ‘job’ however, is to work as a comedian/ventriloquist, predominantly on cruise liners and it was in this guise that he performed.

From a material point of view, it was very topical and very funny although for some, slightly uncomfortable from the point of view that he repeatedly attacked Daryl for being a “fucking robbing magic dealer”, given that Daryl himself was positioned near the front and that he is one of the most highly regarded magicians in the world with a well earned reputation for a dealer with great integrity. He appeared though, to take it in good fun.

From a technical point of view, Mike was amazing. Given that he was so close to the audience and well lit, it was still almost impossible to see any lip movement and he had some amazing techniques including one that I had never seen before and that I just can’t comprehend even now - to make the dummy talk while making his lips move completely out of synch.
 

Ones to watch
Many magicians performed the routine for which they have become known, such as David Regal, Hayashi, Paul Gertner. Some performed the outstanding acts that are always a pleasure to see such as Simo Aalto’s FISM winning bells act and Rocco’s ’symphony of the sleeves’. Always of interest though, are acts from the ‘up and comings’.

Both Garrett Thomas and John Born were awaited with anticipation. Garrett started by request with his stunning self-solving Rubik Cube. Garrett is probably best known for his stunning work with finger rings but he performed an ‘arty’ act which started with the reading of a poem and proceeded to perform a routine about the ‘cycle of life’. It started with his hands appearing from under the table as he pulled himself into view to discover a coin on the table and ended, after he had slumped to the floor, with a pair of hands appearing from under the table but this time it was his young son, to discover the coin which had been left on the table in the same position. Interesting, and courageous but I would have to say, didn’t quite come off.

John Born was also slightly disappointing given what he is capable of. He was been making a few waves after winning the 2006 IBM Golden Cups but he chose only to feature a short routine with four 5″ linking rings.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was Eric Leclerc from Canada. Eric performed as a bathrobe clad psychiatric patient complete with suicide bomb, razor blades, matches and pills. Some great magic and a great act that could go far.

The World Juggling Federation choosing to use the British Juggling Convention as hosts for their championships provided the very exciting opportunity to see some of the best jugglers from around the world. This seemed to be the Juggling equivalent to FISM so with great anticipation, I bought tickets for the gala as soon as they became available.

Steve Rawlings
Acted as comedy compere. Steve had a good ‘comedy club’ style about him and did some good sets between acts that exhibited both good comedy and good juggling skills. His only failing was his in no way curbing his humour or language to take into account the large number of young families in the audience.

FlameOz
Two guys all the way from Australia spinning juggling staffs with both ends alight. This was done in subdued light to good effect and was a nice opening act.

Norbi
Norbi was billed as one of the UK’s most talented young jugglers. Most of his act was a four ring routine which quite often have good potential. However, I can’t ever recall seeing a juggler have as many drops to the point of amusement given that one of the prime objectives is to keep things off the floor.

Angie Hoola Lahdee
‘Hoola Hooping from the future’ turned out to be a predominantly three hoop routine from the past. She turned up in jeans and T-shirt that looked like she had come straight from a practice session and did a very standard routine.

Dream State Circus
This was a super strong, in the muscular sense, duet performing a mixture of juggling and acrobalance as they supported one another in impossible positions. This includes her standing on top of his head juggling fire. Fairly endearing couple that worked well together.

Jam
Another duo poi routine that was competent but pretty much as you might see anywhere and nothing new to say.

Wes Peden
Was given a good build up as a very up and coming talent from New York. He didn’t quite live up to this image however with a reasonably good clubs act but with little personality and a lot of drops.

Jeanine Ebnither
This was a single ball Contact juggling act using the whole of her body. A very elegant and enjoyable mid-show act.

Tempei
Tempei was from Japan and his act was entirely comprised of devil sticks. It always looks very easy to tap a stick with two others and keep in the air but I’m sure it’s not. This was confirmed by the second half of the act where he had four sticks on the go with without doubt, the most impressive demonstration of this discipline I have ever seen.

Jason Garfield
Jason Garfield is classed as one of the top half dozen or so jugglers in the World but is infamous for his ’soapbox’ tendencies. He opened by telling/lecturing the audience that he had been juggling for twenty years but, unlike most jugglers who had been juggling for a similar time, he had actually done something with it. He proceeded to make snide remarks about just about all major juggling forces including Viktor Kee (my personal favourite juggler in the world so far) and Cirque du Soleil.

The guy clearly has some massive chips on his shoulder that he even takes with him to public shows. After a few ‘in jokes’ for jugglers, he decided that he was just too big a name in juggling to need to actually do an act so used the time to explain for the benefit of those that didn’t know, the difference between what most jugglers do and what he would have done had he felt so inclined.

I have met a number of great jugglers over the years, including the likes of the phenomenal Anthony Gatto, and have always been impressed by how incredibly humble they are about their incredible talent. This made it more difficult to swallow someone so ridiculously enamoured with himself.

Thomas Dietz
Thomas made a very classy appearance in long black leather coat and sunglasses before revealing he was wearing a tutu underneath. He moved around in mock ballet style making it clear that he didn’t really take girls with poi sticks very seriously but with great expectation at what he was going to do when he had finished his opening sight-gag, he is after all, one of the most technically acclaimed jugglers around holding the World Juggling Federation Champion title for the past two years.

To massive disappointment, that was it! He dragged the gag out for far longer than it warranted and that was his entire offering. Clearly he too considers himself too big a name now to have to actually perform so one of the greatest jugglers around, who was one of the reasons I took the trouble to go, did a puny act that any juggler in the World with sufficient arrogance could have done.

Vova Galchenko
Again, Vovo is one of the juggling world’s big-guns and acclaimed by many experts as the greatest club juggler of all time. He showed an extract from his ‘regular’ act, which includes 7 clubs! before showing a few crazy maneuvers just for the jugglers. Breath-taking skill and exactly the kind of thing I had come hoping to see.

William Wei-Lang Lin
At last, something to really shout about! William, who came from Taiwan, pretty much stole the show with a Diablo act! He started in the dark with as single, then two diablos which glowed. This provided a very nice start to the act and he got good applause when the lights were raised. At this point, no-one could have been prepared for what they were about to see. I have to say that Diablo is not normally my favourite form of juggling but this act alone was enough to convert me. He raised the bar on what can be done with a piece of string and three diablos higher that I could ever have imagined possible.

This was a sensational act and had the entire audience on its feet in a spontaneous standing ovation. Without doubt it deserved to be the closing act.

Get the Shoe
From my knowledge of magic acts, this closing act showed all of the hallmarks of being German. It was a two man act using club juggling to tell the story of how an assailant robbed his victim of his shoes (you had to be there really). Some great humour, and mock martial arts fighting sequences wrapped in some absolutely superb and flawless juggling skills and amazing choreography.

Overall
It was a very enjoyable show with some terrific moments and a couple of acts that will make it into the back of my mind forever. At the end of the day though, I went because I most specifically wanted to see the juggling skills of Jason Garfield, Thomas Dietz and Vova Galchenko who are three of the most predominant forces in juggling today. That is why I paid my money, gave up my Saturday and made the journey. The whole event was therefore heavily marred by two of these choosing to act as primadonnas.

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Sunday 24th September 2006
Produced by Paul Stone

Just sitting in the likes of the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane in itself creates the ambiance of an old time variety show before the curtain is even raised.

After the opening overture of the ‘Ian Mac Big Band’ and the ‘Sophistication Dancers’ performing a Moulin Rouge type set, Charlie Frye & Co. was introduced. Like most of the acts, Charlie is in great demand and it is easy to see why. He romped through a highly energetic and entertaining juggling act with some excellent sight gags and comic sequences and got the theatre buzzing after an excellent start.

Pilou, who recently won the Grande Prix at FISM was next with a street urchin character manipulative act featuring predominantly cards, and apples (balls). It was a tough spot for him, being much lower energy than the previous act, which he suffered slightly for but it was a very enjoyable performance.

Mac King was exactly the Mac as known showing in the most demonstrable way that you can have an audience eating out of your hand with the simplest of card and rope tricks. He recovered (as always!) from a number of spectator mishaps and finished with his hallmark vanishing head in a paper bag and left to much laughter and applause.

‘Soul Mystique’ are a quick change act from Australia and will never be able to escape comparison to David and Dania who have stamped their mark so firmly. Nonetheless, it is an excellent act featuring much Latin American style music and dance with some stunning costume changes. The final costume change was once again, pure David and Dania but in the ‘real World’ where this comparison would never arise, I have no doubts that they will enjoy enormous success.

Paul Zerdin, who used to have a very high profile in the UK as a ventriloquist was next with an entertaining dummy act followed by his use of a member of the audience as a ‘living dummy’. He finished by leaving his dummy alone in a diminished spot-light where it unexpectedly came to life being somehow controlled remotely. This was a great spot that added to the variety.

To close the first half, the ‘Overtures’, played through a medley of 60s music. The fact that they were selected to play at Elton John’s wedding speaks volumes about their musical ability and all five members had the chance to show their individual skills.

After another set from the band, ‘String Fever’ were a string quartet with a difference. In six minutes or so, they gave us the ‘brief history of music’ giving a quick enthusiastic taste of music through the ages, much of which was never intended for a string quartet (and indeed, beyond the range of it) but it was very well received.

Another return of the ‘Sophistication Dancers’ with a ‘Can Can’ type sequence led to the introduction of Jeff Hobson. Jeff did his ‘card-in-mouth’ and ‘egg bag’ as known and it was as phenomenal as ever.

James Dimmare was next up with his doves (and budgie) and canes act. This classical magic act fit perfectly into the bill showing yet another facet of magic at its best.

Wolfgang has a unique acrobatic act where he gyrates around inside an eight foot diameter circular frame and comes straight from Cirque Du Soleil. I have seen this before in a large open space but I was interested to see how he would perform on a relatively small raked stage which dropped into an orchestra pit. Though slightly compromised by these confines, he did his great original act, once again adding to the fantastic variety.

Next to the stage was Derren Brown who started with his ‘which hand is the coin in’ (except that it was a banknote). This played well but is a little difficult to watch with conviction as a magician. He closed with’magic square’ which suffered slightly from an error resulting in his psychic persona suddenly quite clearly doing lots of arithmetic as he altered the numbers around.

Wally Eastwood was another juggler spinning clubs at the most phenomenal rate, juggling hats and finally, performing his hallmark ‘playing a keyboard on the floor by juggling balls on it’. For me personally, he quite rightly closed with his combination of extraordinary skill and strong endearment.

Before being re-intoduced to the entire cast, Janina Sweetenham dressed in Britannic costume sang ‘Land of hope and glory’ offering everyone the chance to wave their Union Jacks (supplied together with a high quality programme) and join in.

All in all, a superb night out. It was more than a six hour return journey for me to get to see it but I would do it again without a thought. Wow!!

My opinions for what they are worth:VENUE

The show opened with five dancers in semi-darkness wielding torches. The dancing sequences ended with them pulling a shadow box on stage from which Richard Cadell was produced to take on his role of compere.

Richard has developed a very cheekie-chappie style, which I found at times a bit grating, but he very ably kept the show moving with an armoury of one-liners to fill where required.

The first act on was Steve Dela who performed the act that won him YMOTY featuring brightly coloured sponge balls and silks, card manips and mini-linking rings performed as a pacy silent act. Steve is maturing quickly and gave a slick and confident performance.

John Archer came next with the usual hilarity which won over magicians and lay audience alike. He featured ‘tossed out deck’ with the amusing subtlety for magicians of making the three subjects face the back of the theatre so that none of them could see which card they had been nominated. He finished with a box from which three spectators were invited up on stage to remove a freely selected object which he then divined in his inimitable style extracting much fun along the way.

To close the first half, Roy Davenport performed one of his several acts as known. The act featured coin manipulations, thimbles and the energetic linking rings that have become his hallmark with the variety of seemingly wild links that would seem impossible to make as sure-fire as he has somehow done.

The second half opened with another illusion from Richard Cadell, this time, a mini-mini zig-zag. This was well performed but had the disadvantage that the assistant was so confined as to prevent the change in position on which zig-zag type illusions rely so when it was opened at the end, little imagination was required to imagine where the blades had gone.

The first act in the second half was ‘The Balloon Brothers’ from the Netherlands. The two, dressed as ‘The Blues Brothers’, produced between them a number of large balloon models using a combination of balloons they blew up and pre-prepared balloons retrieved from behind their backdrop. It was an enjoyable enough act, my main criticism would be that in the time taken by the two of them, the final sculptures could maybe have been a bit more impressive that a fairly standard teddy bear on a motorbike.

Next up was Michael Finney. Michael suffered badly in trying to persuade someone to volunteer their services up on stage, as do many visiting Americans who are not used to it presenting such a problem. This almost reached the depths of “let’s hold hands and try to contact the living” type lines. The person sat in front of me leaned to his neighbour to express his disappointment. Most performers would have gone out into the audience and cajoled someone into helping anyway to forced the act to a potentially uncomfortable conclusion. Instead, Mike retreated to centre stage, took a deep breathe and dropped into a stand-up comic mode in an attempt to endear himself to the audience before trying again. This he succeeded in doing and finally ended up with someone on stage to assist. By the time he had finished, Mike had completely turned the audience around and left to great ovation.

Throughout the day, Mike had given the impression that he didn’t have much magic to offer beyond ‘six card repeat’, ‘sponge balls (with watch steal)’, ‘cut and restored rope’ and ‘card on forehead’. His performance in the Gala was an object lesson in why, armed with nothing more, he has supported some of the biggest names in show-business. In the end, his initial struggles provided us with something much greater than we would have seen had he just run through his act as intended. It was a superbly crafted turn-around and he left to a unanimous endearment.

Richard Cadell performed a Metamorphosis illusion (sub-trunk) with the twist that it was one of the other girl assistants that emerged from the chest instead of Richard who then revealed himself to be one of the two on-stage ‘policeman’ assistants.

To close the show was David and Dania with their costume-change act as known. I have now seen this act at least half-a-dozen times but I would have no objection to watching it half-a-dozen more. The ‘bouquet production’ type magic acts as padding as you wait for the next costume change but it is always worth waiting for. Despite the number of viewings, I have never seen the slightest glimpse of a get-ready or change-completion  since everything is performed with breathtaking sharpness and split-second timing making the changes truly magical transformations with seemingly no input from them. This act has already established itself as an all-time great speciality act and it is always a privilege to see it.

LECTURES 

Kostya Kimlat (USA)
Many great card magicians have a few techniques that form the basis of most of the things they become reknown for, usually it is because they enjoy an early proficiency in some technique or other that sets them off on a particular course. Kostya, fits this mould. He is a great card magician and much of his magic revolves around a variation of the cull which he calls his ‘Road-runner cull’ because of the finger action. He used it to great effect with the likes of a breathtaking ‘Triumph’ where a SPECTATOR shuffles the cards face up into face down! Very good lecture if this is your thing with some excellent cull finesses.

Roberto Giobbi (Switzerland)
Roberto chose to give a theoretical lecture using card tricks as illustration rather than a ‘teach-a-trick’ lecture so some tricks were imparted for those where that is the main interest but the lecture was actually of far greater value for those that wanted to listen. Among other things, he talking about ‘motivated actions’, ‘in-transit moves’ and ‘choreography’. It was a much longer than usual lecture but, to my mind, very worthwhile listening.

Jerry Andrus (USA)
Jerry started with a few minutes without speaking a word or looking at the audience as he shakily organised his props and notes around the table and chair which immediately brought back memories of Ray Grismer last year and the dread of things going the same way. Hopefully, this will finally be lesson learned because Jerry is passed being able to give a completely coherent lecture and he repeated himself several times after picking something up and remembering “Oh, we’ve done that one” as he referred back to his notes to try to remember where he was.

Jerry is quite rightly a legend in magic and his tricks and illusions have a recognisable hallmark which is sign of sheer class. He featured ‘Ball and Silk’, ‘Ball and Cone’, ‘Ball and board-with-a-hole (Zone Zero)’, ‘Balls and tubes’ and a number of the card items for which he is most famous.

In actual fact, in terms of sparked ideas, I got more from Jerry’s lecture than from any other of the weekend and he was an extremely nice guy but, rather than putting people approaching 90 through this kind of ordeal, I would far rather see him sitting there as a special guest with an under-study on stage to guide and protect his dignity.

David Merry (Canada)
I must admit to never having heard of David though he is a good friend of the likes of Jay Sankey and David Acer coming from the Toronto area and working the comedy clubs there. He has also enjoyed many Canadian TV appearances. His lecture was essentially a series of sight-gags which were often funny but sometimes light-weight.

Rick Merrill (USA)
Rick showed his very entertaining multi-card revelation before going into an explanation of his act which very intensively features the jacket-less sleeving of marker pens. I thoroughly enjoyed Rick and his magician’s humour which made for an entertaining lecture although it was a little disjointed because some sections were explained whilst others were declined because they were “not his to explain” but this to some extent rendered it a little pointless since there wasn’t really enough left to construct much of an act with making it of more cursory interest than practical use.

GALA SHOW

Noel Britten (UK)
Noel has acted as compere at many of these galas now so could easily have become stale. Not so thankfully, he continued to give many laughs without feeling the need to inflict a magical audience with legends (?!?) of compering such as the ‘chinese sticks’. He was as always, the perfect man for the job and kept things running very smoothly with good humour.

Farrah Siegal (USA)
A young (17) girl with twin dancing canes, yo-yos, hula-hoops, large silks and the usual gyrations. It had plenty of energy and provided a good start to the show.

Roberto Giobbi (Switzerland)
I was very interested to see what Roberto would do as a stand-up act. It turned out to be a front of curtain palour act. He started with an amusing routine where he read from a newpaper which repeated changed heading. There followed a borrowed twenty pound note ending up inside a lemon selected from a variety of fruits and finished with a very baffling Brainwave which was a complete fooler.

Arthur Trace (USA)
This was a terrific act with what I would class a very european style; I would never have guessed that he was American. The act was billed as combining Magic and Art and so it did, with a large picture frame showing a monochrome picture which gradually became coloured as he removed parts, manipulated them and put them back after they had become coloured. For example, white paint spots - white billiard balls - coloured billiard balls - coloured paint spots. A beautiful act that I am sure I will see again many times on the magic circuit.

David Shiner (USA)
What can I say? David was a mime artist who did two spots, one in each half. In the first sketch he invited a girl on stage to share an imaginary car with him. In the second he invited (as in grabbed) a crew of four to help him produce an imaginary play under his guidance as he acted as director and cameraman. Just brilliant! I could have watched an hour of him.

Erik Borgman (Netherlands)
Erik was a juggler who, unusually, juggled footballs. He performed some great juggling with a football, then three, then five!, all using a combination of head, hands and feet.

David Merry (Canada)
David romped through a series of jokes, one-liners and sight-gags taken from his successful comedy act which takes him, among other things, around the Canadian golf clubs (since David was also a professional golfer and still plays off a 2 handicap!).

Scott Penrose (UK)
Scott performed his ‘act as known’ that I am sure almost everyone will have seen. A very traditional general magic act silks, candles, card sword, silks to cape and dove productions, the doves ultimately being changed into a rabbit.

Omar Pasha (France)
This was their black art ‘act as known’ which I expect very few people have not seen by now. It remains as stunning as ever with many items very visibly appearing, disappearing and floating around. It still remains one of the best acts of its type in the world.
 

DERREN BROWN INTERVIEW

Prior to the weekend, a Special Event (to be announced) had been billed for the Sunday. This transpired to be a session with Derren Brown who had been in evidence throughout the weekend. This was started with an interview with Duncan Trillo. The two sat on stage in adjacent comfy chairs and Derren’s route from an everyday ‘Restaurant close-up magician’ to International TV Star was re-traced. Next followed a number of clips on a large screen from Derren’s next series, the most impressive being an experiment with a man with a prosthetic (artificial) arm revolving around the fact that such people are sometimes still able to feel their old limb.

After a short discussion about the forthcoming ‘Heist’ TV Special, there followed a Question and Answer session with Derren taking many questions from the floor. Finally and unexpectedly, to the delight of everyone, he then performed. A very randomly selected member of the audience was provided with a (non-electronic!) pad on which to draw any freely selected image which Derren attempted to divine. This turned out to be incorrect. Derren, (after having his ears closely inspected by Duncan!) then offered to repeat the exercise and was this time spot on. This routine caused much later discussion with an amazing array of possible solutions.

The European Stage Magic Chamionships were held in Eisenstadt near Vienna as part of the combined SAM European COnvention and the 50th Anniversary Austrian Convention.  

In shows of this standard, long gone thankfully are comperes with Chinese sticks and six card repeats. Gaston, of ‘Die fertigen finger’ fame performed some first class magic in his inimitable style and did a great job in keeping the atmosphere alive – not that it needed it!

The Tramp (Switzerland)
This act used a theme seen in a few acts over the years, opening to a tramp asleep on a park bench. The magic happened from items such as flowers, newspapers, rats!, cigarettes, fruit that lay around the bench and waste-bin. The finale included a very effective light bulb levitation back to a lamp-post and a breathtaking costume change followed by an explosion of confetti and money which then showered down over him as he grabbed it and filled his pockets. The act should really have finished here as a ‘rags to riches’ but he strangely went back to sleep on the bench in his fine clothes in faded light to end in anti-climax. When I later spoke to him, he explained that this was to show that he was only rich in his dreams but this needed to be better communicated.

Karim (Spain)
Karim is very popular in Spain where he is in demand at every convention. It is a manipulation act using bottles, balls, thimbles, cards all beautifully executed with much flare and charisma.

Aaron Crow (Belgium)
Aaron is the reigning World Champion of mentalism. He has a fantastic character. I took this to be a Mongul warrior but speaking to him later, his greatest influence was the movie ‘Blade’ (which I haven’t seen) and it is in fact a futuristic martial-arts warrior complete with nunchakas and samurai sword. After a dramatic entrance, he goes through a blindfolding sequence which starts by him pouring wax from a large candle into his eyes. This is very effective but I don’t think it will be emulated by many! Once ‘blindfolded’, he moves around the stage seeking out three members of the audience previously positioned around the stage holding certain items. With pin-point accuracy, he stabs a small bag of sand held between the first spectators hands, moves to the second spectator and after a demonstration with a pair of nunchakas, uses them to (truly!) smash a wooden block held by them before moving to the final spectator, removing his samurai sword and breathtakingly slices a water melon in half on top of their head. Even if he wasn’t blindfolded, it seems to carry some true risk since the weapons are VERY real; I just hope he has good public liability!

Arsene Lupin (Poland)
Arsene Lupin will I am sure be known to many readers because he is a very well established top flight magician with a long list of FISM prizes. With enormous charm, he presented some extremely baffling magic including probably his most famous – the multiplying and inverting chairs. Fantastic magic but also a masterclass in presentation.

Florian Zimmer (Germany)
I was VERY excited to finally get to see Florian. He is Europe’s best hope in FISM manipulation against the current Far Eastern onslaught. I would describe Florian as ‘next generation Topas’. Some truly, truly amazing manipulation, very originally presented and ending with the producing a full sized BMX bike that he rides off. This act will gain many standing ovations.

Loki (UK)
Loki performed his excellent character act that I think most readers will be familiar with. It was an amazingly high standard show to have to hold your own in but Loki did so admirably. His act added great colour and was well received.

Marc & Alex (Germany)
This should more accurately be ‘Marc, Alex and their five amazingly attractive assistants’. They are current German champions of illusion and have a tremendous act with many state-of-the-art illusions. I will not spoil it by describing the end of the act for when you first see it but it is one of the most inspired pieces of illusion work I have seen.

The final placings were:

1st - Florian Zimmer (Germany)
2nd - Arsene Lupin (Poland)
3rd - Karim (Spain)

As always, it was a very strong competiton line-up. The acts, in the order in which they appeared were: 

Karl Berseus (Sweden)
Street Entertainer act. It will probably suffice to say that he finished with \’cups and balls\’ and \’melon under hat\’. Competent opening act.

Steve Dela (UK)
Steve performed the act that recently won second prize in the British IBM close-up. Generally too rushed making for an unclear plot and the entire act was done to music which offered little chance to build any rapport.

Rex Cooper (UK)
Rex has performed many original acts in the IBM over the years, which he won around 30 years ago. He performed his chinese restaurant act, also seen at the IBM but he should really have known better than to enter this high profile International competition. He was greatly outclassed with magic and humour which showed its age.

David Blanco (UK/Spain)
David performed (three) remote coins to glass. This was very well presented and would be very good in a commercial situation, but it was a one-trick act which relied heavily on an electronic table so was never going to attract much attention from judges.

Ferenc Galambos (Hungary)
Ferenc performed the act with which he has enjoyed enormous success all over Europe, including last year’s win here with ‘Cups and Balls’, ‘Fisherman’s Pearls’, ‘Ace Assembly’, ‘Multi-coin matrix’. In an attempt to redress it, he wore a Spanish Matador costume and performed to Spanish music. This was however, much weaker than his previous character and served only to dilute.

Erik Nordvall (Sweden)
Erik unfortunately struggled with both the language and the magic, at one point taking seemingly around two minutes to effect a successful faro shuffle. Maybe nerves got the better of him but it was a poor display.

Olmac (France)
Olmac is an up-and-coming French magician with an excellent act with some multi-colour-change card sequences that left me with no idea. High impact act with some excellent magic very well presented.

Will Houstoun (UK)
Will’s first impression didn’t hold much hope since he seemed very awkward and not yet dressed.  But interest was soon greatly lifted after he sat to perform a card and coin act to music. Will has an unfortunate demeanour but with his chosen act, the sole attention was on what was happening on the table and that was beautiful, attention holding magic culminating in three increasingly large cigar lighters.

Rick Merrill (USA)
Rick has enjoyed great success in the USA with an act principally based on marker pens with many productions,  vanishes and transitions (coin, pencil) before a large production finish of tens of pens pouring from his sleeves and two large fans of pens. Very funny laid-back humour, well pitched for magicians, and superb techique.

James James (UK)
James is a very successful street entertainer performing all over the world. He performed in tartan banded bowler hat, kilt and sporran despite no scottish accent, although he is from Edinburgh. The act would play very well in its intended setting with another ‘Cups and Balls’ and ‘Melon under Hat’.

Ralf Gagel (Germany)
Donning a long coat jacket, Ralf gave a confident enough performance but nothing of great impact. All that really sticks in my mind are LOTS of bill switches and a rising card routine.

Szabo Gabor (Hungary)
Szabo is a friend having entered here many times, but his act is always very dreary. He performed with Jumbo cards which only served to limit what was technically possible and twice he seemed to have finished with a slight groan from the audience when he offered ‘just one more card trick’.

Antonio Perete (Spain)
From his entrance, it was clear that Antonio was going to be very entertaining and so it proved to be. All I can really say about Antonio is that I can remember HIM much more than his MAGIC which has to speak volumes.

Mario Bove (Italy)
Mario recently won the cards category competiton at the Italian convention. A very capable performance of predominantly gambling routines as he sat at the table. Some great technical skills were on show but little humour.

Kostya Kimlat (USA)
Kostya has a fantastic presence about him and for me, is setting the pace of how a pure card act should be performed if that is what you choose to do. It was slightly unfortunate that he had given a lecture the previous night which tipped much of the technique but an excellent ‘thought of card to ceiling’ and story-deck.

Martin Eisele (Germany)
I feel some pride in having persuaded Martin to enter after two national successes in Europe. It was a character act played to a funny narration about “Martin, the stupid magician”. The act suffered slightly because it was based on a children’s TV show which no-one in the UK would be familiar with so it was a bit like someone from the UK doing an act based on ‘Bob the Builder’ in a country where no-one had heard of him. Comedy variations on matrix with a very original final sequence.

Helder Guimaraes (Portugal)
Helder suffered from his late placing in the competition with a traditional card act featuring the likes of ‘Travellers’. There was some excellent work however with a switch that would have fooled everyone had they been still awake enough to register together with a very clever ‘invisible deck’ routine.

Philip Tawfik (Austria)
A technically competent card act but with very little personality making for low impact. It was the sort of act that the next day, no-one would be able to tell you anything about except that ‘he did lots of card tricks’.

The final results were:

1st - Martin Eisele (Germany)
2nd - Rick Merrill (USA)
3rd - Will Houstoun (UK)

Awards of Merit:

Kostya Kimlat
Olmac
Antonio Perete