* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Magic New Zealand * www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Issue Number: #163 Date: Sunday 23rd March 2003 Editor: Alan Watson www.magician.co.nz www.alan-watson.com e-mail: AW@Alan-Watson.com ================================ Hi here is the latest news ================================ 1. Editor’s Message 2. Sad News 3. 2003 Magic Moments - Wanganui NZ 4. Paul Daniels Masterclass New York April 13th 5. David Ginn Lecture - NZ & Australia 6. Vince Carmen Performing In Atlanta 7. S.A.M. Joins Performer's Alliance 8. I.B.M. Is The Place For Kids This Summer 9. Norm Neilsen’s New Website 10. Flicking Fingers Down Under 11. Rey Ben From Argentine - US Lecture 12. The Amazing ‘Orchante’ Saga - Page 153 13. Magic New Zealand e-zine archives 14. Subscription Management ------------------------------------ 1. Editor's Message ------------------------------------- Message from Alan Watson - The Magic One "Michael Woolf – Editor of Magicana Magazine has heard from Murray Craig and David Taylor in Dunedin New Zealand that Euen Blackley is unwell and in hospital. All magicians will wish Euan well." Euan Blackley has only 3 days to a week to live. Cancer - lung and bones. ------------------------------------- Tony Wilson reports that Vasili Ermuratski - a professional magician from Moldova, has just become a permanent resident in Auckland New Zealand. ----------------------------------------------- Remember if you have any magic news drop me a line: AW@Alan-Watson.com ---------------------------------- 2. Sad News ---------------------------------- Message from Maria Ibanez (US) It saddens me to report that Darleene Eads (IBM Executive Secretary) and Denny (Office Manager) granddaughter has passed away. Darleen and husband Denny have been commuting back and forth to Chicago as their 5 month old granddaughter went through the treatment for cancer. The granddaughter is now no longer suffering with either the dreaded disease or its treatment but at such a tender age is a very heavy burden made only heavier by the costs connected with the efforts put forth by parents and family alike in fighting the disease. A Memorial Fund set up to help the parents cope with the massive medical bills. Contributions should be sent to: Sydney Kahle Medical Fund c/o Harris Bank 225 South Randall Road Algonquin, IL 60102 My personal condolences and prayers and those of my family to Darleen and Denny as they face these sadest and most difficult of times. Our thoughts and prayers also go out to their family. ------------------------------------ 3. 2003 Magic Moments - Wanganui NZ ------------------------------------- Message from Norm Twigge (NZ) A day and a half Mini Convention in Wanganui Queens Birthday Weekend 2003 Saturday 31 May to Sunday 1 June midday Lectures By Pat-Trick & Melissa from Australia and Wayne Rogers of New Zealand Pat-trick and Melissa have recently performed at the Miami Convention in U.S.A. and Wayne completed a Lecture tour in the U.K. recently. Pat-trick will be Lecturing on Close up magic and Wayne on Stand up magic. Two Lectures, two competitions, workshops, dealers, sales tables and Evening Show. VENUE: Durie Hill Bowling Club Rooms at the bottom end of Windsor Terrace, WANGANUI. Registration fee - $60 - Juniors 15 & under - $30 The Registration fee covers - two morning teas - one afternoon tea - Saturday lunch - lectures - dealers - workshops - Evening show and supper - sales tables - registration tag - programme of events and a map to find the facilities. You will need to find your own evening meal on Saturday. The facility can provide this as a set menu at a reasonable extra charge but it must be ordered in advance. Bar facilities are available. Workshops such as Balloon sculpting, Coin moves, Sponge balls etc. are still being formulated - you will get the opportunity to attend several. Let us have your ideas on what you would like to see. Sales Tables One man’s junk is another man’s treasure - old Magician’s Proverb!! Clean out that infamous bottom drawer, make another magician happy and turn your unused gear into cash. For Registrations contact: Norm Twigge - Phone / fax 06 3578232, 19 Hampden Street, Palmerston North Email - normtwigge@xtra.co.nz --------------------------------- 4. Paul Daniels Masterclass New York April 13th ---------------------------------- Message from Michael Canick (US) We are very excited about a visit to our city by Britain's most celebrated magician, Paul Daniels. Paul will be coming to New York to offer an all-day Masterclass on Sunday, April 13th, which he is producing himself. If you'd like to find out more about the Masterclass, or register to attend, please visit his site at: www.pdmasterclass.com PAUL DANIELS PERFORMS HERE! In addition, Paul has graciously agreed to give a performance at our store that evening (April 13th) at 8 p.m. after the Masterclass! As usual, we will serve refreshments and Paul will be available for informal discussion as well as to sell some of his products and sign books after the show. For those of you who haven't seen him live, this may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to catch one of the greatest performers of our time, not to mention rub elbows with him informally. We expect this event to sell out, so please reserve your seat today. Tickets are $25 in advance; $30 at the door; $20 for members of our Book Club. We will also be selling copies of Paul’s recently published autobiography, "Under No Illusion" for $28.00. Those who are unable to attend the performance may purchase a copy in advance and Paul will be glad to sign it or personally inscribe it. P&H, of course, will be additional. Please contact us now if you would like a copy so we can order a sufficient number of books. PLEASE NOTE that the Masterclass & store performance are two completely separate events. Michael Canick Booksellers, L.L.C. 200 East 82nd Street, #3B New York, NY 10028 Phone: (212) 585-2990 Fax: (212) 585-2986 E-Mail: canick@panix.com ---------------------------------- 5. David Ginn Lecture - NZ & Australia ---------------------------------- Message from David Ginn (US) NEW LECTURE will be based on my new book due out in April ... CRASH COURSE ON KIDSHOWS Crash Course on Kidshows a new book by DAVID GINN ? Intro: I Love Kidshows ? Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. ? Entertainment comes first before fooling. ? I love children; you should too. ? I love performing kidshows. NOT ONLY TRICKS TO ILLUSTRATE, BUT I will discuss ... Part 1: Basic Show Format 1. Comedy Warm-up ... my favorite dozen 2. Silent Magic to Music 20 I've used a lot 3. Talking Comedy or Sucker Trick 13 sucker tricks + 5 other solo tricks that work 4. Audience Participation with One Helper ... 22 tricks I have used with success 5. Two or more Helper Routines ... 2 dozen tricks that work in this category 6. Danger Type Trick ... a dozen I have used of this type in my shows 7. Show Closing usually with Music ... six ways plus my special pre-school closer Part 2: 33 Things Children Enjoy 1. Surprise...makes everyone feel good 2. Exaggeration...larger than life 3. Groaners...humor kids miss 4. Mistakes/in Trouble...creates laughs 5. Get Hurt...basic slapstick for laughs 6. Object Takes Over...we lose control 7. Look Don't See...favorite technique 8. Dressing Up...kids love to do/see this 9. Repetition...comedy comfort zone 10. Running Gag...repetition for comedy 11. Animals...live, stuffed, even pictures 12. Incongruity...not quite right 13. Use Adults...kids love this ....and TWENTY MORE ... plus TRICKS, ROUTINES which may include... Part 3: Baker's Dozen and MORE...  ? Jumbo Card on Back  ? Mr. Flying Gecko  ? Silver Sceptre  ? Flower Wallet  ? Spike Arm Illusion  ? McCombical Deck Maybe?  ? Frank Herman GlowLoops  ? Hocus Pocus Hare  ? The BIG BLACK HAT  ? Snake Can in Brief  ? The Big Red Hand or Star of Show  ? Future Fungus Sucker Version  ? The Pluto Planet  ? Turkey Sandwich/Jr. Chicken  ? and a whole lot more ... plus  AN INSPIRATIONAL CLOSING. NOTE: I am gone March 26 - April 8 on a Scandinavian lecture tour ... two conventions and five lectures in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. ---------------------------------- 6. Vince Carmen Performing In Atlanta ---------------------------------- Message from Dan Garrett (US) I'm delighted to see the posting about Vince Carmen performing in Atlanta again this summer at 6 Flags Over Georgia. It is a tough 7-day schedule every week, so to give Vince a break, he has asked another magician to perform at the USA Theatre at 6 Flags to give him a day off. That magicians happens to be me (Dan Garrett). I'll be performing every Monday in June and July during the afternoon and early evening shows. (With the exception of Monday, July 7, as I will be attending the SAM Convention in Las Vegas.) If you happen to come by on one of those Mondays, you won't be able to see Vince's full illusion show, but my "Dan the Wizard" character and show will be quite entertaining, and there is a good chance you can still meet Vince at the park in his magic shop during those off days. ---------------------------------- 7. S.A.M. Joins Performer's Alliance ---------------------------------- Message from George Schindler - S.A.M Public Relations The Society of American Magicians joined an alliance with four other national performing organization to form PAVE. The Performer's Alliance for Veteran's Entertainment. Supporting this alliance encourage respective members to become involved in a program bringing entertainment to veterans. The project has been approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Veteran's Fund, Other participating groups are the Barbershop Quartet Society, the International Folk Alliance, the Bluegrass Music Association and the World Clown Association The immediate goal of PAVE is to arrange visits of area magicians to those Veteran's Hospitals in their local area who have an interest in bringing "live" entertainment to patients in their day rooms, wards, or private rooms. Parlor and close-up "strolling" performers are needed to bring a small measure of sunshine to the veterans. There is no pay other than the great satisfaction of setting a patient free of his or her ills for a short time. For detailed information see www.magicsam.com. or contact Richard Dooley: doolini@aol.com ---------------------------------- 8. I.B.M. Is The Place For Kids This Summer ---------------------------------- Message from Mindy Burden (US) The I.B.M. Convention has re-vamped its Junior Member and Youth events. If you are under the age of 18, you will want to be a part of the all-new exciting events! Our Kansas City Convention will set the standard and presents learning sessions for everyone, along with a lot of fun! Here’s what’s in store for you: Jr. Members Exclusive 3-Day Camp with Aldo Colombini The Camp is free with your registration! You will have 1½ hours of instruction on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, concluding with a graduation/performance. You will also receive a notebook and certificate. This Magic Camp is ONLY for JUNIOR MEMBERS of the IBM. Very nice door prizes provided by Fantasma Toys. Your Junior Member registration fee is only $100. This includes ALL convention activities and shows PLUS this 3-day Camp!! Wednesday, July 2/ 4:00 - 5:30pm Welcome Party for All Kids. Fantasma Toys will have a magic trick for all kids in attendance. Simon Lovell will demonstrate magic tricks. International President Mike Stratman will greet you. Aldo Colombini will give you a preview of Magic Camp. Your host is Dr. Aubrey Fine. Thursday, July 3/ 10:00am Youth event for all kids: A special presentation by either the Kansas City zoo or Science Mueseum. Thursday, July 3/ 4:00 - 5:30pm Jr. Member Camp Friday, July 4/ 10:00 - 11:30am Youth Workshop: Former Jr. Members will present beginner effects for young magicians or -non-magicians Friday, July 4/ 4:00 - 5:30pm -Jr. Member Camp Friday, July 4/ 10:00pm MYI pizza & lecture: Fun, food, and magic combine for a fun time as Trixie Bond presents valuable tips on marketing yourself, booking birthday parties, and handling the birthday children. This event is for IBM Junior Members and serious young magicians. Saturday, July 5/ 10:00 - 11:30am Jr. Member Camp Saturday, July 5/ 11:00 - 12:00noon Autograph Session with the Convention Stars Saturday, July 5/ 4:00pm Jr. Member graduation and Send-off Party for ALL kids. ---------------------------------- 9. Norm Neilsen’s New Website ---------------------------------- Message from Lupe Neilsen (US) Finally! Our BRAND NEW WEBSITE up and running. It has a new look, along with a complete listing of all our items, vintage posters, poster reproductions and a handy shopping cart! Hope you like it. You can check it out at: http://www.nnmagic.com Our featured posters this week are: - Carter "Elongated Maiden" 3-sheet - Carter "World's Weird Wonderful Wizard" 3-sheet - Kellar "Portrait" Thank you for your attention to this notice, and hope things are going well with you. Take care! --------------------------------- 10. Flicking Fingers Down Under ---------------------------------- Message from Sean Taylor (Aust) Plans are coming together well for the visit of the world's most succesful magician's group. Just in case you have been under a rock, this is a weekend of magic being held in both Sydney and Melbourne. The Sydney event is April 19th and 20th (Melbourne is the week before, contact kikkii@hotmail.com ) and consists of 6 full lectures, 3 shows, workshops, comedy improve (MagicSports), and more magic than you can poke a stick at. A couple of notes on the Fingers. 1. If you have elected to pay in stages please make sure with me that your payments are up to date. We need this dough in now to cover costs. 2. Contrary to a story I heard yesterday, there are plenty of places left. Our venue seats 250 so we have stacks of space. Come and have an Easter weekend packed with Magic in Sydney. 8 guests.... Bigger than a national convention! 3. I am still in need of two rooms for visiting fingers, If you can help, please call me. Superday Again, silly rumours that Flicking Fingers was replacing Superday this year. This is NOT the case. Three things I can tell you at this point. Firstly, Superday will this year be a whole weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Secondly, It will take place on the weekend of 28th September so get it in your diaries. Thirdly, it will be held at the fabulous Zenith Theatre in Chatswood, our new home of Magic! I hope to announce the guests on the Flicking Finger weekend. WA Convention Some of you may not be aware that there will be a Western Australian convention this year on the Queens Birthday (NSW and VIC) weekend 6th-8th June at the Kings Hotel in Perth. Guest Artists are the Fantastic Eugene Burger and also the Super commercial Paul Green. Two great guests from the USA. I'll be there too with the usual table of goodies and a couple of the local guys are coming across too. If you are coming into the shop I have the forms but for any more info contact Ray Haddad: rhaddad@iexpress.net.au Shop Relocation I was hoping to be able to reveal the new address but thanks to the usual vagauries of Real Estate the deal has got a bit messy this week so who knows........? ---------------------------------- 11. Rey Ben From Argentine - US Lecture ---------------------------------- Message from Rey Ben (Argentine) I want to communicate that I’m travelling to give my lecture in USA again. I’m from Buenos Aires, Argentine. At this time I’ve arranged this:  April 21 Rochester - Lecture  April 22 Big Flat - Lecture  April 23-24-25-26 FFFF - Invited and Dealer About me and my lecture I can say: Before the lecture I perform my Baby Act, where I have problems with a baby that’s crying sometimes while I’m trying to do magic. Creating a funny act, where I show a lot of my inventions, like a diminishing chair, cap in bottle, laser card, and others, like a funny and good look "Baby levitation", finally, the baby disappears and my table changes to crib with the baby inside !!!!! During the lecture I explain some of the baby act props and then I show my best inventions: Cap In Bottle (a cap goes in and out of a bottle), Crayon Producer (I produce six crayons and finally the crayon box), Laser Card (a normal chosen Card appears with the first letter of the name from spectator, write with laser pointer), Diminishing Chair (a normal chair, change to a little one), Rising Card (a different three card raising), Mc Ben Aces (a twist for a classic for aces routine), Thumbs Tie (my version from it, with rubber bands), Steal with rubber bands (how to steal objects in table to table with rubber bands), etc. I give these lectures in IBM 45 Miami, FFFF 2000, 2002 tour (Linden, Philadelphia and Essex, by Mark De Souza). And I perform my Baby act in FISM 94 Yokohama , in FFFF 2000 and Spain National Congress 2001. I’d recived two prizes from Linking Ring Magazine for my Cap in Bottle trick and for my Parade (July 2001). Photos, etc: www.reyben.com --------------------------------- 12. The Amazing ‘Orchante’ Saga – Page 153 ---------------------------------- Message from Tommy Orchard (The Amazing Orchante)(UK ex-pat Kiwi) We have our own, practically self-contained beachfront flat! It has two bedrooms, a big sitting room, shower and toilet. All that's lacking is an oven, but Eric says any time we want a home-cooked meal we can use his. Surrounded by coconut palm trees, the view through the two, large ranch sliding doors of the sitting room, which fronts onto the beach, is simply breathtaking! The pure white sand slopes gently down to the clear, shimmering blue water of the sea, only a few steps away. Truly magical! 17.7.76. Last night we went to sleep with the gentle lapping and whishing sound of the wavelets on the sand. What heavenly peace; this morning we were rudely woken up by a storm, it poured with rain and blew like hell all day! So much for ‘Paradise’. Well I suppose that Fiji, being a tropical Island, has its share of tropical typhoons and monsoons as well as sunshine. We drove with Eric to the town of Sigatoka, 20 miles away, where Tom got some White Spirits for his fire eating. The garage near here doesn’t keep it because the natives drink it! We did a show tonight, fire, fakir and magic. It was well received, except for one poor old lady, who had a heart attack with the ‘String Thing’. However the rest enjoyed it. Our work permit has been refused! However, we are going through to Suva next week to do a show for Hotel Managers, and Immigration Authorities, the hope being that once the Authorities see the show, they will realise that we won’t be doing Fijians, or the Indians out of work, and will change their minds. After all, none of them perform sleight of hand magic and yes, Tom does eat fire but, he doesn’t walk on it! 18.7.76. Still a rainy, miserable day, although it looks like it might clear up late this afternoon, and we can really enjoy our ‘million dollar’ sea view and surroundings, in this little patch of tropical paradise we are currently calling ‘home’, but for how long? We thought that all the immigration details etc. had been sorted before we arrived in Fiji. No show tonight, but people have been coming up all day, saying how much they enjoyed last night. I wish this permit thing was settled so we can start earning some real money – don’t like watching our money dwindling down even though we only pay for drinks and cigarettes. Eric is a terrific person, but he can’t do anything more just now, than he has done already. Apparently an Indian Magician went through Fiji a couple of years ago. He charged about $4 per head, and got at least a 1000 people at every show. The Fijian Indians, who are never seen without their pocket calculators, and use them at a moment's notice, assure us that he left with about $100,000 clear profit! Some folk have all the luck. (I bet it was ‘SORCAR’ Junior, following in his famous father’s footsteps, that they are referring to - T.O.) The band is murdering ‘Blue Spanish Eyes’ at the moment. They are great on Island Music, but just cannot handle anything else. And as far as the Fijian government are concerned, if a Fijian can do a job, no other bastard is going to, whether the other bastard does the job 10 times better, or quicker or not! Eric says it took two weeks to get two coconut trees cut down. The Tourist hotels, although their rates are high, don't make very much money, as they must have ‘X’ number of workers per occupancy rate. Eric has 69 employees and although they only get on average $30 per week, there are so many other expenses. It costs a dollar apiece for cartage from Suva; so 45 bricks would cost $45 cartage, over and above the original price of the bricks. Food and cigarettes are very expensive - even fruit, which you would think would be cheap, is not. Bananas and apples 50¢ a pound, which is 58¢ New Zealand. 21.7. 76. Two frantic days! Monday morning Eric received a telephone call from head office in Suva, blasting him for allowing Tom to do a show after the permit had been refused, and saying we should get into the Immigration Authorities immediately. We caught the Nadi - Suva coach, which reached Suva at 6pm, and stayed at the Southern Cross Hotel. The manager Steve Griffiths and his wife Jenny, made us welcome, shouted us a bottle of wine, and put us in the picture, as he saw it. According to him, a work permit had never been applied for in the first place. Steve said that Don, the Company’s Managing Director for Fiji had written a covering letter and sent it into Immigration with my letter, asking permission for Tom to do shows at Paradise Point in return for free accommodation. This was a complete shock to us, and a kick in the teeth, as we were expecting a contract with Trans Tours, not a free holiday! -CONTINUES - ------------------------------------- 13. Magic New Zealand e-zine archives ------------------------------------- Back issues of the Magic New Zealand e-zine go to: www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html Both the User Name and Password MUST be entered in lower case to gain access. User Name: magic Password: kiwi When you enter the archive the e-zines are in issue order and are coded. Eg 001 Nov06 1999.txt first three numbers (001) denote issue number, then the date (Nov06) and the last figures the year (1999) Both the User Name and Password MUST be entered in lower case to gain access. ------------------------------------- 14. Subscription Management ------------------------------------- Our subscriber list is NOT made available to other companies or individuals. We value every subscriber and respect your privacy. To subscribe or unsubscribe from the Magic New Zealand e-zine: www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html Magic New Zealand e-zine is published weekly, on Sunday. The opinions expressed in this e-zine are those of the individual contributors and not those of Magic New Zealand. Neither Magic New Zealand or Alan Watson can vouch for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, message, statement, or other information reported via Magic New Zealand e-zine. Subscribers to this publication and authors who contribute to it by doing so agree that they will not hold Magic New Zealand and/or Alan Watson liable or responsible in any way for the opinions expressed herein. We reserve the right to edit, correct or, in our discretion, choose not to publish any submissions provided to Magic New Zealand for potential publication. Magic New Zealand welcomes readers to submit timely articles or news items which appear to be of interest to our readers. Those submitting to this e-zine agree that we have permission to publish their submissions and that they have the full copyright to the material submitted. All works published by Magic New Zealand are fully protected by international copyright as provided by law, and articles cannot be published for profit by anyone other than the individual author without the written permission of Magic New Zealand. >>This publication may be freely redistributed (but not sold) to other magicians if copied in its ENTIRETY including the copyright notice below and the above disclaimer.<< © Copyright 2003 Alan Watson