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When I arrived at Blackpool it was piercingly cold. A treacherous icy wind gushed up my trouser leg as I viewed the town from the highest platform on the Blackpool tower.
So I was pleasantly surprised by the warmth when I walked into the Winter Gardens for the Blackpool Magicians' Club 49h Annual Convention. For the first five minutes, that was. For the rest of the day I remained uncomfortably hot muttering unkind remarks under my breath about whoever it was with his finger on the thermostat. Maybe they were going for that 'Las Vegas in mid-summer effect' to make the visiting magicians feel at home. If that's the case, then I forgive the organisers, In fact I'd forgive them if they just did it to keep Greg Wilson happy. I'll talk more of Greg later.
I had about 1 0 minutes after I arrived to check out the Dealers' Hall before the first lecture. I figured that there'd be plenty of time during the day. How wrong I was. This became a bit of a problem. I don't know about the other days, but Sunday is jam packed full of close up sessions and lectures. I didn't want to miss anything. So I scuttled along to Bob King's lecture in the Spanish Hall.
Bob was very polished. He demonstrated a very nice sleeving method and a one-ahead card matching trick using ESP cards where he neatly disposes of the extra card. I was wowed by his linking ropes routine, and then by his telephone card trick. He made it look so easy. I guess that shows the importance of showmanship vs. mechanical routining. We forgave him for getting the telephone trick wrong the first time, 'cos the guy was such a showman. He made everything entertaining, mistake included. Bob was amongst the first session of close-up performers that day as well. I went along - well, I could check out the dealers' hall later. First up at my table was Peter Scarlet, who did a very commercial act, followed by Jupiter from Hungary. I like blatantly impossible effects, so I was impressed when he waved a couple of hankies around and produced a full size birdcage from them. Clever so and so. Almost as clever as Greg Wilson.
Greg was next in close up. Greg's got a mix of humour, manipulative skill and presentation that elicited God-like adulation from the crowd at our table. I could describe a few things he did with cards, like having a whole deck of cards jump out of a packet, then jump back in again, but it wouldn't do justice to the man's magic. He's good. He came on flicking card after card out of the pack and then watching them describe an arc around him, and then catching them in the pack, teeth, pocket, whatever. No string or mirrors - a very strong act followed by deafening applause. Later on in the lecture hall, Greg made magic from his two new impromptu videos look dead easy with a few thoughts on sponge balls and disappearing pen and cap routines. Where do you start? The guy's got a lot of energy, he's young, vibrant and he's a great entertainer.
No time for the Dealers' Hall - Chad Long's lecturing ......
Chad was another polished performer, looking like he'd stepped straight out of one of corporate America's boardrooms. Like Greg Wilson, he demonstrated quite a few impromptu routines. He did virtually the same disappearing pen routine as Greg showed later on, but he did a great gag involving a magnet, a can of spray paint, a marble and the owner of a DIY store, showing that if you shake hard enough, you can get the 'rattle' out of the can, and then smack it back in again. Funny guy - slick too.
You've probably got the idea by now that I never did get to check out the dealers' hall for very long. But I did pop in and I saw Bradford's President Elect Steve Naylor drawing huge crowds around Practical Magic's dealer table. Keep your eye on this man. He's sure to go far.
Back then, to the close-up sessions. Rafael Benatar treated us to some routines based around information technology related patter. There was a nice cup and ball routine where the mini baseballs he used represented emails being transferred from one place to another, and a similar thing where cards became taxes.
Stephen Bargatze did a great comedy patter close-up routine using the 'world famous eleven dollar trick' and a couple from the audience. Later on in the Gala show he went through the instruction book on how to escape from his 'new' straightjacket whilst wearing it, before verbally abusing some kids he'd planted in the audience and then dragged up on stage.
Scott the Magician and Miss Muriel did another very funny act in the Gala performance involving sawing Miss Muriel in two' I don't know why, but at the Gala Night performance I enjoyed the 'blundering magician' approach of Bargatze and Scott the Magician and Miss Muriel far more than the more obviously polished performances of Topaz et al. That being said, when Marvyn Roy (Mr Electric) and Carol came out of retirement to do their act I was seriously impressed. For a start, Marvyn is seventy-something but he was dancing around the stage with the best of them that night.
I'm pretty new to the whole magic scene so I'd never seen (or even heard of) most of the performers on the Gala Show and I didn't know what to expect. Big illusions aren't my bag but I can appreciate the choreography and the work that's gone into creating the effects presented on stage. So I won't rave about Topaz, Roxanne, Greg Frewin or Amethyst, but I was impressed by the variety of magic on offer. Other highlights were when Mask treated us to a gentle romantic interlude with his puppet love and magic story and Mark Oberon's one man black art show was great - a dream like experience.
I couldn't enjoy it more, though.