talkmagic.co.uk

Highlights

The lady with Marc Oberon

Lowlights

Almost every aspect of the convention.



I wont start naming names etc but I was SO bored and really didnt enjoy the weekend. So let me have a rant!

The amount of dealer tables covered in c*** (not the best) annoys me every time, its like a jumble sale, have they no pride?

Scott and Muriel were pathetic with a capital P.

Yamagami Brothers - Yeah right - clap cause they are young!

Raphael, Saturday night AWESOME, Sunday night terrible

Shimada I found to be REALLY REALLY boring, I cant believe they closed the conventions with that REALLY bad dragon act...

Fukai......................................nice guy but that act stunk!

"You want morrreesss?????"

David Sousa Manip Act I found very boring

Most of the close up sessions we didnt bother going to as it was FAR too noisy to hear them, when will the BMC realise that??

Shoot Ogawa - GREAT as ever!

Lior Manor Lecture, left after 5 minutes.

I didnt 'get' Roxannes act, lots of folks agreed that it wasnt good.

John Archer - Classic, Eric was unbelieveable!!

Topas I was REALLY disappointed with, I have seen his older manip acts and they were great, I found everything he did to be VERY silly, ESPECIALLY for an audience of 90% magicians.

Everyone crawling over Alan Carr and Justin Lee Collins for a photo made me sick!

Shall I go on? better not, dont want to upset anyone, but overall I wish I had stayed at home

Gary

The lady with Marc Oberon

Top totty of the convention!

I agree with almost everything that you said but still glad that I went. I thought that the Saturday night show was the better of the two and that included the compare. I was rather disappointed with the UK acts as a whole. and I thought that the 'rest of the world' were far more magical (other than Fukia).

A balloon artist, two escapology acts and two mentalism acts are not what I would call a good magic show. Where are our stage illusionist, up and coming magicians such as James More (I'm sure that there are others too!)? Having seen James act a few times I know that James is as good as most who were on the stage that night.

I heard a number of convention veterans commenting on it being a poor convention compared to other years.

Best,

The Audience with JD and WD hosted by Seabrooke.
The Close Up sessions, saw 12 of the 16 and most were brilliant.
Meeting up with TM members who are never likely to come to the Ooop North meets.
The female juggler of suitcases handbags and balls. Excellent.

Worse,

Too many dealers stands.
c*** (not the best) toilets.
Card manipulaters on the Sunday gala show when you are 70yds away and can't even see their hands never mind the cards.
Bloody foreigners who had no respect for performers and talked all the way through the Sunday gala show.
Rude people who barged their way round the dealers sections.
Convention hotel too small, too busy and not enough staff to provide a quality service. It wasn't unusual to wait nigh on half an hour to get served.

Most of the acts on the Sunday show, had already performed on the Sat nights show, was it "Buy one get one FREE? it just seemed like cost cutting to me, (perhaps to buy a new "Theatre Club" for 38 Blackpool club members!)

Some of the acts in both shows were terrible. If the best of each show, were put into one show, it would have been a half decent show, as it was each show was only average (or below).

The after show "Party" was a complete waste of time & money. The "Cabaret" for the after show party consisted of Losander, (we saw his act in LAST YEARS Gala show) & VERY GOOD it is too, (Floating Table, etc) BUT we had also seen him CONSTANTLY demming the floating table in the dealers hall for the THREE DAYS!!! so did we need to see this yet again?

As much as I like Terry Seabrooke, he also appears every year, doing the same material.

Then we saw JUPITER, who if my memory serves me right was also in the after show party LAST YEAR, then we had the Bee Gees Tribute Band, (which I was really looking forward to) The Volume was SO LOUD, that I walked out, along with virtually everyone else!!!!

There is PLENTY of homegrown talent that could be used, as David suggested, James More for instance, as good as the best from the Sat night show, or the Sunday show.

I did get up from my table, & walk across to Terry Seabrooke, & asked if the volume could be turned down, he said to ask "That man over there" which I did, the other chap told me there was nothing he could do, as there was no one doing the sound OR lights!!! This is quite disgraceful, especially as I'd imagine that blackpool (this time of the year) is probably full of out of work sound engineers, what would it have cost, £50 & a couple of pints?

I think it was a couple of years ago, that they had the Drifters group, & they were fantastic, with everyone singing along & dancing (a REAL party atmosphere!), I expected it to be as good this year with Bee Gees music, it wasn't.

Several hundred people paid £12.00 a head for approx 3 ounces of Hot Pot, & a slice of apple pie & icecream!!

I don't go to any lectures or anything, I just roam around the dealers, attend the shows, & go to the after show party. I didn't book my hotel for next year, I shall think long & hard as to if I bother to go at all............

It seems from reading a few sites that the people who had the best times went to meet up with mates and get drunk!

Tomo wrote:It seems from reading a few sites that the people who had the best times went to meet up with mates and get drunk!

I had a bloody good time!
Although I did enjoy a lot of the organised magic there too.

Tomo wrote:It seems from reading a few sites that the people who had the best times went to meet up with mates and get drunk!

Isn't that always the way?
Although I didn't get drunk I certainly loved the opportunity to chat to new and old friends from around the globe. For me that's what makes Blackpool special, not the gala, the dealer hall or the lectures but the opportunity to meet the incredible variety of characters that are involved in magic worldwide. For me these are the true stars and it's often in the Ruskin afterwards that I find my convention highlights.

I'm very likely to go again next year but may opt out of the gala show party. As said earlier, I ended up in the Theatre bar with about two dozen others and no entertainment whatsoever. I basically paid £12 for a spoon and a bit of hot pot.

The social aspects of the convention are what makes the event worthwhile.

dat8962 wrote:I'm very likely to go again next year but may opt out of the gala show party. As said earlier, I ended up in the Theatre bar with about two dozen others and no entertainment whatsoever. I basically paid £12 for a spoon and a bit of hot pot.

The social aspects of the convention are what makes the event worthwhile.

Amen, brother Taylor.

I didn't realise there was no close up stuff in the downstairs bar, in previous years the complaint has been that the table hoppers didn't have enough time to get round to all the tables so some people didn't see any magic at all.

garysumpter wrote:Highlights

The lady with Marc Oberon

Gary

Couldn't agree more! I think I saw Blade Of Destiny demmed about 15 times over the course of the weekend!

HIGHS
Random order
1. David Stone lecture - Jim Carey with magic!
2. Geoff Durham's Lecture - truly motivational and, as a welcome change, delivered by someone who really knows about acting and presentation. The fact that he had only his book on sale, rather than half a dozen DVDs or bagged tricks was refreshing.
3. Audience with Geoffrey Durham and Wayne Dobson, a moment of magic history and I'm still chuckling at at some of those ad libs!
6. Jon Archer's act - entertaining and Beethoven on a Ukulele!
7. Rafael's Dracula Act
8. The lady luggage juggler.
9. Valerie's quick change lecture - it was good to see and hear about the secrets of this type of act although her spot in the show wasn't all that good - what was it with those false legs sticking out of the side of the scenery?
10. Graham Jolley - superb! (And he was down on the Labco stand next day checking new stuff out!)
11.Meeting and greeting the TM (and other) members who'd made the pilgrimage including 9 from the Icelandic Club and the posse from Ipswich!
12. Ali Bongo's impromptu impression of a demented Dracula - performed in the bar for Raphael!
13. Martin Sanderson's lecture was good but I agree about his sausage, not very good at all.


NOT-SO HIGHS
Equally random order
1. The sound and the awful 'tribute band' at the after show gala. Blackpool always suffers from sound problems of some kind each year, radio mikes not working, total failure of all mikes at one lecture in the Pavilion Theatre a couple of years ago which meant the guy had to shout his head off to reach the audience seated right at the back, but the disgracefully high volume level made it physically painful to stay in the Spanish Hall for more than 10 seconds. From what I heard from outside, the group had no idea of how to sound like the Bee Gees anyway so I didn't miss much.
2. The fire eater - how many times can you stick a firebrand in your mouth and blow it out before it stops being entertaining and becomes annoying - 2, 3 at most?
3. Lennart Green lecture - whilst his skill at taking a strict mathematical principle and turning it in to an apparently sloppy and random process was truly amazing, after all the previous lectures, his very quiet laid back style and the fact that he was on from 11.30pm, I really couldn't concentrate much after midnight so I had to leave.
4. Fukai - sorry, he's obviously skilled but went on far too long, and that darned song.......
5. Jupiter. As has been mentioned he was there last year and the year before and in all that time he hasn't managed to find a different facial expression other than smug ambivalent automaton doing tricks. Again quite skilled but he should have gone to Geoffrey Durham's lecture about presentation and entertaining people. If Jupiter is performing next year I'll not be a happy chappie.
6. David Sousa's lecture - couldn't understand what the heck he was saying and holding up an A4 sized diagram of stage/audience angles didn't help much, even when the camera picked it up on screen - sorry!
7. The Horseshoe Area. It's well known by now that the noise from the acts on either side are always louder than the one in front of you so it's about time there were some proper sound screens or perhaps a change to a different place in the Winter Gardens? And why did they post a list of performers at each station only to ignore it and change the order?
8. Saturday's Show had a lot of interaction with the audience, Sunday's had none. Perhaps that's one of the reasons Saturday's was better?
9. Danny (& Annette) who'd spent all weekend selling gaffed handcuffs, locks and restraints then offered an act where he had to 'do the impossible' by escaping from the same things using only a 'borrowed' hairpin! I've seen Amethyst before and they can do far better than that, sorry.
10. Scott & Muriel (plus the uncredited third guy) had driven overnight all the way from Holland to be there. They really shouldn't have bothered.
11.The Tiny Tamigochi (or whatever) Brothers - oh dear. Ask me again in about 15 year's time when they start shaving.

WONDERINGS:
1. Whereas Brian Sefton's classic top hat and tails manipulation act was almost balletic in style, why did the oriental performers feel they had to don the same garb - apart from the obvious plus of having tails etc to stash lots of cards/doves etc? It seemed very artificial to me. The oriental dragon act was boring, sorry!
2. Martyn James - this won't mean much to anyone overseas but isn't he Steve MacDonald in Coronation Street? No? Have you seen them in the same room at the same time.....?
3. Did this year suffer from the previous two weeks of Showzam in Blackpool? There were some big names appearing during those two weeks so perhaps the BMS event was very restricted in choice of artists to a certain extent?

PURCHASES:
Don't ask, I'm still smuggling them out of the car and into the house in small batches!

Next year? Well, despite the less positive points above, I've already booked the hotel and the Convention tickets!

HIGHS


1. Lennart Green - Excellent with cards (and Duck-taping his face up in the name of entertainment looked painful!)
2. David Stone - His speed and misdirection is exceptional. And even though we got "stickered" on the back by him, his book is very good.
3. Graham Jolley - O.K, perhaps not "magic" to some people, but he was extremely funny.
4. Jon Archer - The "Eric" moment was hysterical and a comidians dream to get him up on stage. (I thought at first he was a stooge, but after reading the posts of those in the know on here he wasn't)
5. - Antje Pode - I don't know where she got the idea to jugle suitcases with her feet, but it was a difficult and faultless routine, which went down really well with the audience.
6. - An audience with Wayne Dobson and Geoffrey Durham - Wayne Dobson was such a funny guy and had the audience in stitches!


LOWS

1. - Scott & Muriel - Don't get me started! it was awful. I sincerely regretted leaving my crossbow in my other handbag.
2. - Bob Wooding - The balloon bloke first up on the saturday. Any idiot can go behind a screen an put a pre-made balloon hat on their head!
3. - Hiring Close-Up magicians for a stage show. Anyone sitting after row K could'nt see what the heck was going on!


WONDERINGS

1. - Is Dirk Losander Michaels Bolton's stunt double?
2. - Did Geoffrey Durham mention he has a new book out? and how many times was he on Countdown.....?
3. - Why did Danny Hunt (and Annette-"don't wear shiny lycra pants-love") have to borrow a hair-pin of "june" in the audience (Arthur Casson's wife!) when they where selling gaffed cuffs on their stall all day!


PURCHASES

1. - David Stone - The Cell and Close Up
2. - Marc Oberon - Master Deck.
3. - Lots of great card / coin stuff from "Joker Magic"

Have to disagree about Bob Woodings act,
"Any idiot can go behind a screen an put a pre-made balloon hat on their head! "
Here is someone that for over 16 years has toured around the UK presenting a thoroughly entertaineing act with balloons, admittedly not many balloons are twisted on stage. Just the Dalek would take approx an hour to make, so it would'nt be too exciting to watch him twisting the whole act live on stage.
I have been all over the world watching balloon acts, yes I am that sad, but I have to say that Bob's act would rank as one of the best balloon acts in the world.
I put on balloon days all over the UK & your more than welcome to come along to any one of the days and present your balloon act for us?
As you say,
"Any idiot can go behind a screen an put a pre-made balloon hat on their head!
But Bob's act is so much more than that.


Graham Lee
www.magicact.co.uk
www.balloonartdesign.co.uk

I have to say enjoyed the balloon act, it was presented more for comedy than balloon sculpting and the idea of appearing from behind the screen as one of the Thurderbirds or Ghostbusters was a great idea. Truly a 'novelty' act in the old fashioned sense that nobody else was doing anything like it!