talkmagic.co.uk

There's just the auction on Thursday so I guess registration desks don't open until Friday.

Thanks, this just in, I emailed Authur as well & just received this. Impeccible service as ever, I knew there was a reason i'd booked the thursday night at the B & B;

TICKETS

The desk will be open Thurday 12-30 till 5.00
Friday – Sat- Sun all day

we will offer Day Registration & Gold Cards until the
theatre seats run out – predict 35 for each class of ticket-

We will ALWAYS offer DAYTIME entry each day
for all events on the day at £50.00
and including late event Fri – lecture at 2200hrs – John Archer.

' “ “ “ Sat – lecture at 2300hrs -WoodyAragon.
'' ' Sat -beat the wand at 2300hrs


“ “ Sun After gala Show at 2245hrs.

Arthur Casson

There was a timetable of the site and there was no mention of Thursday. I am pretty certain that they didn't open until Friday last year. They are opening at 8.30 am for registration on the Friday

Thanks russpie, at the rate this convention is expanding it'll be a two week thing before long!

So, any thoughts, observations, comments, constructive criticisms?

Had a nice time with all my buddies from the magic club.. As usual spent way too much money. Met a few interesting people from Norway and Belgium.. Only attended on Friday and Saturday, saw a few shows, too be fair have seen better before but was good to be there anyway.. MANDRAKE sorry never met up with you as I forgot to put your number in my phone. Maybe next year.
Regards Garry.

I don't think the gala acts were as good as previous years, more varied though as usually there's more manipulation acts. Not much caught my eye in the dealer room either to be honest. Lectures were quality though & the Wayne Dobson bit was as good as previous years.

I thought the dealers room was quite disappointing. Nothing caught my eye and apart from a really good quality card box bought from Colin Rose all I bought were some stock items and a new Boris Wild marked deck. The highlight lecture for me was Boris Wild, his ACAAN I thought was brilliant. Wayne Dobson and Friends was as ever excellent although sitting towards the back it was frustrating that the technicians failed to get the screens on in time for me to see the show opening properly. There was the usual irritating amateurishness about some of the arrangements and it was because the right hand and left hand were not communicating that I got in to the Wayne Dobson show only to be thrown out because the room wasn't officially open yet and so lost my place in a queue which became a loose maul before the doors were officially opened a couple of minutes later.

Any review of an event like the Blackpool Magician’s Club Convention will, naturally, be very subjective but one or two points have been raised by others independently so perhaps my thoughts aren’t too wide of the mark. Overall I enjoyed the event and I’ve already handed my form for 2015 to Arthur Casson so I admit it, I’m an addict!

Thoughts and musings:
Thursday:
Auction of used magic props and books. One or two decent looking sets of props, several piles of books and, sadly, a lot of homemade stuff which was quite tatty. However at least it meant early arrivals could get in and register thus avoiding the crush the following morning.

Friday:
Because of time table clashes and other commitments, I didn’t see the lectures by Boris Wild, Mathieu Bich, Dan Garrett or Anson Lee. Oscar Munoz gave a great lecture and his linking balloons routine will be in my repertoire – as soon as I can blow the bl**dy balloons up! Mel Mellers is probably an acquired taste for many but I like the guy and enjoyed his lecture very much indeed. The close up Magic was spoiled for me by one of the most common problems at Blackpool – awful sound system. The theatre was full and the screens outside were very welcome but, on the screen I was watching, the sound was off and we only heard what was going on because the theatre doors were open.

The Gala Show had an air or being rushed together and in need of a bit more rehearsal. Individually the acts were fine, Mel Mellers compered very professionally but what the hell was Dan Garrett thinking of with his very unfunny Doctor Conundrum act – much of which contained stuff which only a US audience would know about? Valerie included more magic in her quick change act than expected so gets the thumbs up from me, Men in Coats were superb and Mark Raffles showed that age is no barrier with his linking rings/coat/hacksaw/chair routine. John Archer’s late night lecture was the high spot of the day for me, always well worth seeing and listening to.

Saturday:
Again many of the lectures clashed and some had to be missed so I didn’t see Henry Evans, Hayashi, Paul Gertner, Jay Sankey or Jordan Gomez. Valerie’s lecture was good, Tabary showed why he’s the master of anything with rope and despite saying at the start that his English was probably not all that good, he didn’t need to say a lot as his actions and demos spoke volumes. I only saw part of the Speed Dating session but as it was John Archer, I enjoyed every second. Wayne Dobson and Friends maintained the high quality and very irreverent stuff we’ve come to know and expect with a lesson in life for us all.

Gala Show: Again John Archer made it all so very enjoyable, even if he did suffer from miscued ‘ready’ lights and a cue to come on stage which he turned into spontaneous hilarity. Jupiter was first on and, as before, I couldn’t help wondering what it would take to get some emotion into that act. Skilful, yes, but very wooden and mechanical. Hayashi – hmmm, if I’d wanted to see a guy cutting up salad I’d have gone to the local Harvester! Despite being blindfolded and waving a seriously sharp Samurai sword all over the place, he managed to avoid treading on the dozens of bits of cucumber littering the stage… I wonder how….. Tabary was excellent and it was good to see the stuff he’d demoed in the lecture being performed on stage. OliverTabor’s Music/Magic act was good, Rocco superb and Guy Barrett who stood in for Ali Cooke was very entertaining but, as everyone there will know, it was Paul Derek and his feathered menagerie who stole the show. Ducks wandering on and off stage and, somehow, walking off stage right only to be ‘assisted’ back on stage left. Brilliantly chaotic! I saw part of Woody Aragon’s late night lecture but, brilliant as it was, it was a wee bit over my head so I decided to retire early… to The Ruskin.

Sunday:
The Master Classes were well worth seeing although Hayashi’s contribution was something we’d probably all seen and/or done many times. I’m told that the lectures by Shoot Ogawa and Darryl were excellent and I certainly enjoyed Jeff McBride’s lecture on many different levels. The Four F’s thing suffered from very dry intros and links, the performers really ought to have had much better. Patrick Redford/George Tait – try as I might I really could not take to this guy. OK I know it’s necessary to be firm and positive but he was verging on the arrogant and smartypants most of the time. However, he did tip a couple of very useful hints which I shall make full use of! Rocco’s lecture was great, despite it being very much on the hoof he demonstrated superb skills in misdirection and sleeving. He also put paid to the assertion that any performer need only carry the bare minimum of stuff in their pockets – his typical kit for a performance was about the size of a small pillow and included all sports of stuff, gum, pretzels, flash string, candy, matches, cigarettes (real and fake), babybell cheeses, TTs and dozens of other items. He was a very generous chap, giving away a lot of his stuff for the sheer hell of it. I’d certainly travel and pay good money to see him perform.

Gala Show: Dunno why Peter Moretti’s crossbow act had two slots, even if it did include the famous cardboard box and swords routine made famous by his father. Last time I saw Clive Web and Danny Adams on the BMC show (the same year as George King!) they were comedic and entertaining but this time they were just two blokes being silly. Jeff McBride was great and the young lad he got on stage really stole the show. Graham Jolley did well despite a spec not following instructions thus screwing up one revelation! The big box act at the end disappointed me, stereotype long leather coat and big boots plus lots of apparatus didn’t do much to lift things. The girl in drum effect wasn’t explained well enough, the item where a chap stood in an illuminated box and disappeared from view even though we could hear him is as old as the hills and only last year was featured as a sideshow attraction in the Showzam area in the Winter Gardens Basement. As much as I like Ken Dodd I really think his contribution needs to be reconsidered – by all means have him there to present but not to recycle the same jokes as in previous years. And on that topic, the aspect which really annoyed was compere John Martin. Obviously a very exerienced and professional compere and probably stand up but that’s no excuse for all those out of date jokes. Horsemeat in beef burgers? The Beatles? Barack Obama’s name being worth 100 points on a Scrabble board? Oh come on, everyone had paid good money to be there and deserved much better – it was lazy, very lazy and the over accentuated slow Scouse delivery was well off. In the audience that night was a well-known TV and stage comedian of many years standing (no names, no pack drill) and he had to go for a toilet break while the compere was talking. His wisecrack was ‘Was it something I said?’ Under his breath but audible enough for those in the vicinity to hear the departing comedian said, ’It was everything you said’ Sez it all for me.

After Show Show: Brian Sefton was his usual smooth and excellent self with his traditional white tie and tails act – assuming you could see it from the places right at the back which weren’t already reserved for members of the BMC. Then Patrick Redford came on and was, IMHO, somewhat caustic with his volunteer - no please or thank you’s as far as I could tell. When he stated that unless the spec divined the secret combination to his prop case he’d have to go home I was secretly wishing the spec would really not guess it! Sadly she did so I sloped off and missed Mark Shortland.

Dealer Hall was frantic at times and thus difficult to negotiate. Loads of stuff on offer and several folks I know picked up bargains. I didn't see anything which cried out to be bought and brought home so better luck next year!

Final thoughts:
This was the 62nd Convention so I feel it unforgivable that, as with every previous year I’ve been there, microphones failed, sound systems weren’t on or turned up loud enough, speakers to the Horseshoe area weren’t on or working. Professional firms handle this aspect so the presentation should have been more professional. Most unforgivable was in the Wayne Dobson and Friends Show the cameras weren’t turned on until 5 minutes into the show and those outside missed Jeff McBride’s opening bit. Surely somebody somewhere would have the responsibility to make sure microphones, volume levels and cameras were all as they should be? Why is it seen to be appropriate every year to block off/reserve so many tables at the After Show Show? Presumably we've all paid the same so should have the same access? Being stuck right at the back means the acts can't be seen or appreciated properly - not good at all. Finally, and nothing to do with the BMC, could somebody have a word with The Ruskin and explain that there are likely to be a lot of thirsty people in there for that weekend so perhaps extra staff actually serving at the bars early on would be a good idea? I’m quite sure that there are plenty of folks in Blackpool who would love to work bar for a couple of nights so to find the downstairs bar staffed by only one person because the other had gone upstairs to ask for extra help was, to say the least, annoying.

OK enough of the moans and groans from me, I’ll still be there next year and for as many years as I can manage because there is always something to bring home and use – this year I gleaned five different things which I can and will use so the investment was well worth it.