talkmagic.co.uk

My tickets just arrived this morning in the post so I can embarrass myself in front of everyone else!

Kati

I'm looking forward to seeing you guys. It is going to be a great day.

so I can embarrass myself in front of everyone else!

Trust me katrie, no one is going to embarass themselves, it is simply going to be a great day with so much going on you won't know what you are doing half the time (and the other half you won't lnow where you are when you do it).

As this is your first convention, I am actually excited for you. I remember my first and it just blew me away...

This is known as The Friendly One, and of course it lives up to its expectations!
Should be a good one this year, cannot wait =)

Just a reminder that if you are in the area on Sunday (or indeed, even if you are hundreds of miles away) and fancy a magic day out, then we would love to see you at the convention.

If you just want to see the Magic Gala Show in the evening then tickets are also available just for that.

The car is pointing in that direction already !

icantwaiticantwaiticantwait

Kati

And I will be in Swindon on a project management course. I have no idea why my company think that a scientist needs to know about project management, particularly since none of the PMs seem to know anything about it themselves.

Oh well, I will be thinking of you!

Just saying it was great!

The dealers were...er...expensive , the lectures were great, and the show at the end was just brilliant.

Scott Penrose is just amazing!

Kati

So Scott Penrose is pretty good eh?

He is lecturing at my magic club on the 2nd November, and I'm thinking of going along to check him out.

Another top day as far as I'm concerned...

You're absolutely right about Scott Penrose. I must admit, being a mentalist, when I saw him setting up for his lecture in his Tuxedo with the top hat on the table next to him, I honestly thought, 'Oh well, another typical magician that we've all seen before!!' I WAS WRONG!! His lecture was absolutely superb and he certainly didn't disappoint when it came to his evening performance either. Miss this man at your peril!!

I do think Michael Pearce stole the evening show though!! This 72 year old juggler was probably one of the funniest men I have had the pleasure to see in a long time!!

All in all an incredible day!!

I am actually stuck for words at how good I thought the whole day was.

I will of course be writing a review (when the words become unstuck), and as everyone who was there already knows, I did take hundreds of photographs (I think I was probably being refered to by th eperformers as the annoying guy with the camera!).

The problem is how do I condence a whole day like that into a single review. Each performance and lecture need a whole review all by themselves (and just maybe that's the way I will go).

But lectures and performences aside it was such a great day just for the social side of things. There were several Talk Magic members there, and it was great being able to chat with the likes of Katriealex, Mandrake, Capt Fantastic, Roman59, Midas Kid and possibly a few more. In fact in some ways it was a shame so much was going on as there just wasn't enough free time to chat to everyone more.

Actually, Midas Kid did one of the close up sessions alongside the likes of Scott Creasey and Jon Allen, so well done!

As to high points of the day. How can you pick them? there were just so many! (I was going to list some, but maybe t will be better to wait for the reveiw...)

All in all. A great day. Thanks to everyone that attended that helped make it so (and sorry I didn't get more time to chat).

All that goes for me as well. I had exactly the same false misgivings about Scott and thought, 'Here we go, doves, canes, silks - boring.' Boy was I wrong. Scott is so smooth and professional, every move he makes is done for maximum effect and he seems to never do one move where he can do two or more at the same time. For a guy to get into Tux and bowtie just to give a lecture was an indication of how professional he is. For the evening show he was in full tails and white tie and it all worked beautifully, like most of the performers, he used a lot of the stuff he'd taught us that afternoon so it wasn't just something to keep us quiet during the day it was the real McCoy. Marc, if he does as good at your club as he did at Ipswich, you're in for a real treat - classic magic taught by a classic performer who admits to being less than perfect in many instances. Would you believe he (like most of us!) has problems doing swift mental arithmetic, even the most simple kind, under stage pressure yet he used to work in the finance services side of a Stockbroking firm at one time!

Scott Creasy was on first - at the unearthly hour of 10.30am - and was excellent as he went through the ins and outs of escapology, Jon Allen was obviously having a ball as he went through his lecture session and I had the feeling that they were all keen to share knowledge with equals and entertain, not just lecture to the massed hoards. The close up sessions were great to see and involved two home grown entertainers from the IMS, Darren and Rob, who did a fantastic job. The evening Gala Show was top notch and seemed to be a sell out as there were no empty seats in the Hall as far as I could see. As mentioned above, Michael Pearse was just superb - I'm convinced my trousers will never dry - and all this from a guy who was voted Most Promising Newcomer seven short years ago. When he was 65! Steve Kovarez and Co. finished the evening off in grand style with large scale illusions whereby his lovely female assistant was variously hypnotised, imprisoned, run through with knives, levitated and whirled around all over the stage. And we didn't even get to know her name! All in all an excellent day, super value for money, loads of congrats to all concerned including the organisers, the back room boys, stage crew and not forgetting the seemingly inexhaustible team on refreshments. The Wooden Spoon Award for worst trick of the day goes to the local council who picked the same day to make the High Street disappear by closing it off and digging it up thus causing some delays and a generous detour to find the venue. Next years' Convention is on October 22nd so, hopefully, the new road will still be OK and won't need digging up again.

What can I add that hasn't already been said. An amazing amount of variety and a brilliant day. It was over all too quickly.

It will take something for IMS to top 2005. The guests that I brought along to the show have already pencilled in the date of next years show. If it becomes any more successful I think they are going to need a bigger venue.

Hats off the to IMS.

bananafish wrote:Actually, Midas Kid did one of the close up sessions alongside the likes of Scott Creasey and Jon Allen, so well done!

Really - that was you?! Congratulations . I was the kid with the backpack sitting to the far left .

Mark wrote:So Scott Penrose is pretty good eh?

You bet! He was just so smooth at what he did - no awkward pauses, no funny moves. The dove productions were brilliant, and the (not uncommon) flash paper was good too!

Kati