talkmagic.co.uk

Isn't it funny how trends and styles change over they years? Ten or twenty years ago there would have been no way I could pull out a packet of tarot cards during a table-top routine and received anything but cries of horror. These days it's almost expected!

I do think the David Blaine, in spite of everything, has done a lot that we should thank him for. His Street Magic series was ground-breaking, and changed the face of magic & mentalism forever. Without Blaine I doubt if Brown would have experienced the success he has in the UK, and I'm convinced that Criss Angel would never have had the mainstream success he enjoys in the USA.

By the way, can anyone remember a guy in the late 1980's who had a series on Channel 4. He did big stage illusions, but presented them in a dark almost bizarre-style manner. The show was on at around 11pm, and I think he only did one series. I can't remember his name, but boy was he ahead of his time! He's probably a really well-known magician and I'm showing my ignorance by not remembering his name! I remember him doing a Russian Roulette routine a good 10 years before Derren Brown. Any ideas???

simon drake's secret cabaret...was that the fella?

i think he has a building somewhere in london where he does bizarre open days/nights too...that might be on magicweek.co.uk somewhere (i think)...

anway, drake was a genius..used to love that and penn and teller...

blaine i admit did re-open my eyes to magic...it was david berglas first for me, then the daniels, then Sadowitz on his Pall-bearer's funeral show on tv...

Simon Drake? Secret Cabaret? If so check out http://www.houseofmagic.net/ !

...and http://www.s-drake.dircon.co.uk/

That's it - Simon Drake! What a guy! First got me thinking about magic in a new light, which was then totally ignited by Blaine.