talkmagic.co.uk

how many are in magic clubs?.... i recieved an email from the treasurer of the "dundee magic circle" inviting me to go along in response to a question i asked on "magic bunny" the thing is... i may be regretting asking now, the reason is as follows...... I view this as our own little magic circle and we all have our personalities which by and large have gelled quite well id say... we can be serious but at the same time we can talk the utmost nonsense basically we all get along and enjoy the banter.

now if i was to go along to this place..... A) i dont know anyone....B)what sort of people are they? young old... weird?????.....C)what would they expect of ME?

the reason i asked about clubs in Dundee was so i could learn some new stuff while getting help with stuff i already know and tips on presentation etc.which at the time i thought was a great idea but i REALLY dont want to go if I'm gonna be ......A) bored......B)made out to be inferior )... C) thought of as weird


so any help would be appreciated... hehe

I too have been invited to go along to my local Magic club, and have similar reservations to you on one hand, but on the other want to improve my skills and this would seem like an ideal way. Decisions decisions.....


J

I've been wondering about this as well! A club would certainly allow free exchange of ideas and demos which overcomes one of the difficulties of forum exchange - you can't see the stuff very easily unless you Mog it on video!

However, I've grown to be very parochial about Talkmagic and I have serious doubts as to whether I'd fit in a proper club - see my reference to Groucho Marx yesterday for the reasoning. Also, I don't have a lot of spare time so on-line banter, fun & games is my best option. In addition, I can do it at work!

I know one or two others here are regulars at Magic Club meets so perhaps they'll be able to give you 1001 reasons to go and join?

However, I've grown to be very parochial about Talkmagic and I have serious doubts as to whether I'd fit in a proper club

this is what i mean.... i dont think aardvark/armadillo/lemons/nigela lawson would sit right with everyone???


heh heh

what the hell does parochial mean anyways??????

Well I recently joined my local club, and now after my 10 minute audition I have been accepted.

Personally I have only good things to say about the club. The people for the most part are extremely friendly. Walking in for the first time I must admit I was a little nervous and didn't know what to expect - but decidied I had nothing to lose. If I didn't like it I didn't have to go again.

Well most people introduced themselves to me, in fact I was overwhelmed by the friendliness - I think I was expecting it to be a little "Secret Squirrel" club, and to be looked down on by th older more experienced magicians there - but everyone was very friendly. Heck - they were just like real people.

The only scary part was having to do a 10 minute audition in front of everyone - which for me was very daunting as up til then I had only performed in front of family and friends - so to do it in front of a large group of magicians - was very scary to say the leat, but you know what? they were very actually a brilliant audience, even when I totally flunked on one trick (And they still let me in ).

To be honest I don't think they look at how good the auditioner is, more as to whether they are commited to the art.

The biggest advantage though to the society is the events they organise. Unfortunately I missed the Daryl lecture - as that was in April, but some of the other events have been very enjoyable. Next month we have "Shoot Ogawa" - the linking rings superstar.

All in all I love talking about magic. That is why I love the Talk Magic forums so much - but it is fun also to meet people with a similar interest.

I would recommend going along to one meeting - just to see what these people are like. It can't do any harm.

hmmm now i REAALLY dont know... ok im making a big deal out of this but thats just me ... thanks for the advice banana


gonna have to give this serious thought

... and here comes Seige to throw another spanner in the works ...

I can only speak from experience, but I've actually been to two induction days for local magic 'clubs' - one when I lived in Birmingham, one in Shropshire.

My only observation, which put me off straight away, was the fact that it would be a struggle to fit in with the club straight away - as most of the night involved lots of 'networking' between businessmen.

Now, that's fine - but I talk shop at WORK - and neither of the clubs were my scene.

Saying that, I'm older now - and I'm fine talking about business and stuff - but I'd prefer to be talking and performing magic. Perhaps it was just me - but the only guy I gelled with was a young lad - who was there with his dad (an accountant, as I remember). He showed me the Colour Monte and a version of Dead Man's Handcuffs - told me his dad had taught him.

That was probably the most magic I saw that night.

Now, bear in mind that these were *small* societies - and the bigger cities and more prominent locations will obviously have better societies.

I think some 'hands-on' experiences could help us all decide...

I know this is all wrong but I still have the mental image of that One Foot In The Grave episode where Victor has his geriatric 'conjouring' fraternity round to the house and they're all there in top hats and tails, poking people in the eye and trying to saw each other in half. I think I need proper counseling on this!

Mog, like you I was initially approached by someone off one of the other boards who suggested I pop along to the local club. To be honest with you at that time it didn't even occur to me that there was a local club, and if I had known about it, it is very unlikely I would have gone without the invitation.

Even then it took me about 6 weeks before I actually did it, and as I mentioned before I haven't looked back. They only meet every couple of weeks anyway - and there is no pressure to go to every meeting.

The first meeting I went to was the alakazam dealer dem, which was pretty good for me as I buy a lot of gear from them anyway - and so I was already on speaking terms with Peter Nardi. (I spent an absolute fortune that night!!!! - so be warned).

Many of the people there are older - ex professional magicians - some still perform - but then there are also many like me - just your average kinda of guy who is fascinated by all things to do with magic, buy the odd trick off the internet - read a lot of books and like to impress friends and family.

The whole thing wasn't as daunting as I thought it would be (except the audition)- and it's such a useful resource to have all these people to be able to show you - for example - how to do the elmsley count. properly.

Seige mentioned that when he went along there was a lot of

networking between business men

. I personally haven't found this at all. In fact my only complaint if any has been that there isn't enough time to talk properly to all these people with all their experience. The meetings start at 7:30 and end at 10:00 - but because the evenings "event" takes up most of that time - I usually find there are people I wanted to chat to but didnt get time. And so far, the only conversations I have had at all have been related to magic. I'm not sure that I have even been asked what I do professionally. This suits me just fine.

Don't get me wrong - it isn't a substitute for the humour, helpfulness and general fun of this place - but it now means I get to see the likes of Daryl, and Shoot Ogowa in person - and that can bever be a bad thing.

I did go out for a drink with one of the guys from the society the other week - and basically we were showing each other some of the new stuff we had bought (that was the first time I got to do predicta), anyway halfway through the evening he says - "ok, lets have some fun", and goes up to a group of young lads and asks them if they want to see some magic. He then proceeded to show them a trick (the Houdini card mystery), which went down very well. However - he then says - "I'm off to the toilet - Simon will show you a few things now . The b*stard . Took me a bit by surprise, but once I got started - I actually had a lot of fun with it (I will say that these lads were a great audience - seemed baffled by everything).

The other advantage of societies is that if I did want to do it more on a "paid" basis (which at the moment I am happy not to) - there are many people there that could offer advice and even give me contacts to get me started.

Next meeting I plan to show off my hooey stick as I am convinced that this is a really under utilised item in the world of magic.

A) i dont know anyone....B)what sort of people are they? young old... weird?????.....C)what would they expect of ME?

My thoughts exactly when I first went to my magic club. My mum saw the notice about it in my local paper and phoned up the club president who said they'd be happy to have me, but not sure if I'd feel comfertable as they are all men, of ages ranging from 20 to 70's !!!!! Despite being terrified out of my mind( I can sometimes be incredably shy), I had a really good time, everyone was really friendly!!!! After my third meeting I did my audition ,as someone else was just joining that night too, and joined. Going there has-
A) Improved my confidence (if I can stand up in front of 14 grown men for 10 minutes performing magic, nothing else seems very hard!)
B)Improved my magic
C) Has allowed me to gain advice on performing and encouraged me to perhaps start doing kids parties
My reckon my magic club is quite small, but havn't seen any others so I'm not that sure. We only have about 14 members. Meetings begin with the Agenda which last about 30 mins, it just depends on how much A.O.C.B there is. This is followed by each of us perfoming tricks to do with the theme which is set at the previous meeting (coins, your favourite card trick, spookey magic etc) which is followed by general chat about magic. While I really enjoy it here, for me, you can't beat somone sitting down and going over a trick which you are having problems with and showing you exactly where you are going wrong. You can ask someone to bring along a trick next time to show you and get to know some other local magicians.

The biggest advantage though to the society is the events they organise

Very true statement!!!!!!!! We recently, I say recently, I mean 15th of december had our Christmas night out which was a social night and excelent fun!
All I can say is if you know of a magic club nearby, give it a try!!! If you don't like it, no big deal, if you do, then great!!!!!!!

Now you've really got me thinking.....!

mog i myself have thought of joining a club localy thanks to one found for me in gosport by one of our members, but my main gripe has always been the fact that i do mostly magic that dosn't involve that much skill ie scotch and soda and change bag (the crowd cheers) routines in my gigs with kids so i felt i would not fit in that and being a shameless self publisist.

even joining this forum was very hard as most of the posts were cardie type stuff, even the questions for getting into the secret bits were card orientated fortunately for me a list of what i did in my shows swung it for me and im very gratefull too.
so what am i trying to elude to well just this give it a go and if you dont like it we will welcome you back with open arms and if you do we will still be here like that bar called cheers were everyone is your friend and everyone knows your name, no back biteing here well maybey a little

Can I be Norm please?


Fave Norm quote :
My underwear is rising up!

Well why don't you adjust them?

Naaaah, I find sometimes if I give them five mins they self adjust