talkmagic.co.uk

Place= Falmouth, Cornwall (UK) The Princess Pavilion
Date =31/3/06
Run by = Kernow Magic

I travelled 7 hours down there and 6 hours back to see this show and was not dissapointed. The venue was only 300+ seats, and some were empty.
Although advertised as featuring Abbi Spinner (Magician magazine) I did not see her there. The show was very, very good and tickets were only £15 plus booking fee. The show was straight from his Las Vegas show featuring cards, fans, mouthcoils, a dancing cane, misers dream, linking rings, masks and some fake eyeballs (?!)

Unfortunatly during the first act, (his fantastic mask 'quick-change' act), the smoke machine went into overdrive and completely obscured the entire stage within 30 seconds! It got sorted and they raised the stage lights, but the audience missed nearly the whole of this fantastic routine. Also during his card manipulations, the stage lights were raised very very bright which made some of his slights more visible. Eugene provided close-up entertainment with spirit writing slates and a poker-style routine with oversized cards, two vounteers and a voodoo-style doll!

Both magicians were among the audience before and after the show, they talked with people, signed autographs and gave out cards and publicity photos. Kernow magic had a small stall selling dvds and decks of cards.

Overall, a fantastic event, with a very personal feel. A few hiccups, but nothing major for a die-hard fan like myself to complain about . The weekend also featured a Masterclass, which I could not attend , as I couldn't afford it (over £400).

Thanks for the review!

I was tempted too. Just a shame it was so far away.

Great !

Piers.

Sounds like it was really good. I would have loved to have gone, but as piers said it was just a little too far for me. Pleased you enjoyed it though. £400 for a masterclass! Yikes!

Yeah, i was wondering why they didnt do manchester, bradford or birmingham. Eugene said its because hes always wanted to visit Cornwall because of the spiritual background and history

Hello everyone. Interesting review lozey... Perhaps I can help clear up some of the points raised and shed some light on some of the "mystery"

Having just invested £500+ in the weekend I could not be happier. The masterclass itself was fantastic and everyone that attended truly learnt what it is like to be able to perform Magic!

I have been performing magic now for 14 years. the last 7 of which professionally... What did the masterclass teach me??? I haven't been performing magic for the last 14 years. Just my opinion however I think £450 for a masterclass (that is almost half what you would pay in the states per day) is a very small investment for something I take so seriously as my career when I leave the Air Force.

The show on the friday night was one of the things I had been looking forward to the most. Kenny (Owner of Kernow Magic and a good friend of myself) had put alot of work into the organising of the whole event... especially the show.

For those of you that don't know Cornwall very well, this was perhaps one of the biggest shows ever brought into the county. Venues of more than 300 seats that would be suitable for this kind of thing simply don't exist down here. Jeff himself was absolutely over the moon at the attendance for the show considering it was the first of its kind in the area and lets face it... how many lay people know who Jeff McBride is??? I bet they do now!!!

The Abbi Spinner mystery - as lozey said Abbi was advertised as coming across for the show... Unfortunately it has clashed with commitments concerning her music career. Kenny did actually put this out well before hand. Instead we had the wonderful talent of Romany before - and for a little bit during - the show.

Piers, you really tickled a funny bone when I read your post. Fortunately for me I live about half an hour from where this was all happening, however the world isnt that big a place... People travel worldwide to see these shows!!! Anyway perhaps if there is a next time you will be able to visit us down in Pasty Land!!!

The one disappointment from the show was the unfortunate "mishap" in the first half with the Masks routine. It seems that no matter how many run throughs they had before the main event, the "professional" - cough cough - technicians supplied by the venue couldn't quite get to grips with simple cues like "Lights on and Smoke off".

Anyway... Personally I think this weekend was a complete sucess. Kenny has out done himself. When he first mentioned way back that he was planning on bring Jeff and Eugene over to Cornwall it seemed like an almost impossible task. However being a part of some of the behind the scenes work really has made me appreciate the work and effort that went into not only the show but the Masterclass aswell.

For those of you out there who believe £450 was way too much for 3 days personal tuition from two of the Masters, then you have to ask yourself "How serious am I about being a professional magician?"

If you are looking for any further information about the Masterclass or any events that Kernow Magic may be planning for the future then please contact Kenny - his address can be found on his website.

One final point, is that the reason the show happened in Cornwall is.... Kenny is Cornish, and that Eugene has wanted to visit Cornwall since the 2 grade where he read the poem about the man who went to St. Ives and met a man with 7 wives etc... So needless to say that was one of the places on the tour for Jeff and Eugene while they were over. This was the reason they agreed to come to Cornwall, well that and the fact that Kenny is friends with them both. Personally I feel with Cornwall being so cut off from the rest of the world it was the ideal setting for the weekend, it was relaxed and magicial, and only those involved in the weekend were around... Somehow I cant see a nice little quiet session in the bar with the Masters and their students happening in somewhere like Manchester or Birmingham.

Anyway, if you missed it then you missed a real treat... again thanks for the review Lozey!!!

Scott,
Nice words, and glad to facilitate the tickling ofyour bone also.
Piers.

thanks for telling us more about the masterclass. I don't think the price for the masterclass was that expensive, but I'm a student and so don't have that kind of money at the moment. Hopefully in about two years time I'll be able to go to Las Vegas to do a masterclass

I'm so embarressed, I have to admit I didn't know Abbi even had a music career...

You shouldn't be that embarrassed mate, I didn't know she had either until it was mentioned....

Jeff actually uses alot of her music in the show, and indeed when we were having chillout sessions etc... at the masterclass he put some of her stuff on. It is very good.

Scotty