* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Magic New Zealand
* www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Issue Number: #462
Date: Sunday 19th November 2006
Editor: Alan Watson
www.magicianz.com
www.Alan-Watson.com
e-mail: AW@Alan-Watson.com
================================
Hi here is the latest news
================================

1. Editor's Message
2. The Air Date For Magic Castle Special Set
3. S. A. M. Convention Dallas 2007 Update
4. Alaskan Tricky Lawyer
5. Meetings With Remarkable Magicians # 35 - Nick Lewin
6. How To Put Creativity Back Into Your Act!! - Kyle Peron
7. New Zealand "World Festival Of Magic" Tour 2006
8. The Illustrated History of Magic 
9. Book On Houdini's Tour Of Australia
10. 'The Funny Tricks Lecture' by Brad Manuel
11. Broken Wand - Roy Baker
12. Looking For A Book Sheherazade By Borodin
13. Wish To Buy Golden Fun Shears
14. Daytona Festival Of Magic Combined Fla. State
15. e-zine Archives
16. Privacy Policy And Copyright Notice

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1. Editor's Message
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As of today Magic New Zealand has 11,552 subscribers worldwide.

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Remember if you have any magic news drop me a
line: AW@Alan-Watson.com

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2. The Air Date For Magic Castle Special Set
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Message from Milt Larsen (US0

Magic Castle After Dark (Premiere) (A&E) Saturday 12/16/06 at 
11AM ET/PT (following a Biography of Houdini that airs at 10AM.

Magic Castle After Dark is a half-hour live to tape special 
featuring some incredible magicians from the world famous Magic 
Castle in Hollywood. It's like Evening at the Improv was for 
comedians BUT for magicians. It's a pretty cool show. It focuses 
on the intimate magic of the Castle and its half hour vanishes 
like magic. Some of the Performers on the show include Nathan 
Gibson, Jon Armstrong, Andrew Goldenhersh, Chris Hart, Joel Ward, 
Shoot Ogawa and Gregory Wilson.

Executive producers are Jude Prest, Dale Hindman and Milt Larsen. 
The Magic Castle after Dark show is earmarked as a series, but, 
of course, ONLY if the numbers reflect well enough for the 
network to sign off on it.

Thanks in advance for tuning in. Since the air date was just set, 
we missed the December deadlines for the magazines so please pass 
this on to all your friends. We can really use the numbers!!

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3. S. A. M. Convention Dallas 2007 Update
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Message from George Schindler - Dean - the Society of American 
Magicians

Six FISM favorites announced to appear in all Latin gala show in 
Dallas

All Latin magic gala theme show to feature FISM magic contest 
stars and award winners.

RG Smith, producer of the S. A. M. Convention shows in Dallas 
this summer (July 4-5-6-7) has announced that the Saturday Night 
Gala will be an "All Latin Magic Gala" featuring six of the many 
FISM acts he watched this summer. Every act was well received and 
breaks the "same old" mould of other US conventions. These stars 
have not been seen in the U.S. and he promises a blockbuster 
event.

David Sousa of Portugal placed 2nd in Manipulation at FISM. His 
astounding act touches the hearts by pleasing magic appetite of 
all manipulators.

Juan Ordeix of Argentina tied for 2nd place in the category of 
mentalism, After
watching this act the audiences had a great new opinion on 
mentalism. Juan will also
lecture at the convention.

Hugo Valenzuela - was the winner of two awards. Not only did he 
win "1st place
For "Originality: but his unusual UFO illusion took 2nd place in 
the 'Stage Illusions" category. Hugo is from Argentina.

Gustavo Raley also comes to us from Argentina. Not only was he a 
great hit in the South American FLOSOMA convention but he also 
competed and won great response at FISM.
Gustova will do two spots on the show and will be a dealer in the 
Dealer's room.

Brandon & Silvana split their time between appearances in South 
America and in Europe. The team won award around the world. We 
won't take awe some of the surprises they have in store, but 
their Busker and Florist combine illusions, classic magic and 
quick changes. The team hails from Argentina, Spain and Italy.

Senko is from Argentina whose classic dove act is simple and 
features a number of new equipment involving canes candles and 
light bulbs. He will also be seen in our Deserter room. One stop 
shopping- No need to travel around the world to see the newest 
acts.

Come to Dallas in July. Never before has any US based convention 
presented such an award winning line of all Latin acts.

For more information on the convention see:
www.magicsam.com

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4. Alaskan Tricky Lawyer
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Message from Steven Pradell (Alaska)

Here's what's playing on the radio in Alaska.

Go to:

http://akradio.org/

and click on the "tricky lawyer" button

or go directly to:

http://akradio.org/archive/AK%20Story%202.mp3

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5. Meetings With Remarkable Magicians # 35 - Nick Lewin
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Message from Nick Lewin (US)

The man who became Mr. Escape.

Back in the late seventies I made a fateful trip Calgary in 
Canada to film a television show. Along with me on the trip were 
two men who became very good friends. The pair of wizards whom I 
met for the first time in Calgary's frosty environment was Piet 
Paulo and Steve Baker.

While Piet and I have remained close friends to this day I lost 
track of Steve sometime in the early nineties. It was with 
delight that I read in Magic New Zealand recently that Steve 'Mr. 
Escape' Baker was coming out of retirement at a future event. 
Less than a week later I watched an episode of Criss Angel's 
Mindfreak and there was Baker in person watching as Criss 
attempted one of Steve's signature escapes. Angel had been 
inspired by 'Mr. Escape' in the eighties and paid tribute in the 
perfect way, by risking his life in a truly death defying stunt. 
It was great seeing Steve again and watching as his influence was 
acknowledged by the always-generous 'Mindfreaker' himself.

When I first met Steve he wasn't yet 'Mr. Escape' and escapology 
was just one element of his magical repertoire and audiences had 
a chance to enjoy his superb comedy magic and other skills. The 
first time I saw Steve escape from anything tougher than the 
Calgary cold was in Hollywood. I received a call from Steve who 
asked if I would assist him while he performed a challenge escape 
at an event that celebrated Billy Eckstein's star being added to 
the Hollywood Sidewalk of Fame. Steve had the tough job in 
actually having to make the escape while all I had to do was work 
the microphone, describe what was going on and build the 
excitement, What I hadn't expected was that I would be working 
that microphone for nearly an hour. When Steve worked a crowd 
over he took no prisoners and the audience was on the edge of 
their seats right up until the standing ovation that greeted his 
eventual escape. A lesser performer might have made their escape 
faster but not Steve, who is a showman through and through. As 
for me, I have never been short of words and I enjoyed every 
minute of it.

A warm friendship quickly developed between Steve and me; we 
lived in the San Fernando Valley and together with our wives 
Susan and Julie we shared the up's and down's of our careers. I 
guess the downside was the fact that we had very little spare 
cash but that didn't stop us from having fun. We knew every good 
happy hour in the Valley and where the best free appetizers were! 
I remember once leaving for a cruise gig and I had so little 
money I really didn't know how we could make it until payday. 
Steve drove with us to the Port of San Pedro to wish us 'Bon 
Voyage' but it wasn't until later that night I realized that 
Steve had secretly tucked a fifty-dollar bill into my pocket. It 
was a lifesaver! A typically generous act executed in a manner 
that didn't even allow room for thanks and believe me fifty bucks 
was a small fortune to us in those days.

I watched with fascination (and certain misgivings) as Steve 
became 'Mr. Escape' and faced ever escalating dangers in the 
escapes he performed live and on a series of television specials.

When I saw Steve again on 'Mindfreak' a ton of memories flooded 
back and I was very delighted that Criss took the time and 
trouble to reintroduce 'Mr. Escape' to the public. If someone out 
there can let me know Steve's current whereabouts maybe we can 
get together again and find a 'two for one 'Margaritas' somewhere 
and catch up with each other.

Please send any bricks or bouquets to nicklewin@earthlink.net

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6. How To Put Creativity Back Into Your Act!! - Kyle Peron
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Message from Kyle Peron
Magician and Illusionist
Graphic Designer and Illustrator
(Specializing in Logo creation)
www.kyleandkellymagic.com

I decided to write this article out of numerous requests I have 
received from many magicians and manipulators on the subject of 
putting an act together. How do you keep it creative and 
different and why is it not always the best to just do an act of 
pure skill alone. Below is my answer to these questions along 
with some tips on what has worked for me in regards to ways 
anyone can make their own acts more creative and therefore 
connect better with the audience and gather more response and 
applause along with it.

My first question to anyone putting an act together may seem a 
bit strange or sound like I am being too harsh, but read on and I 
think you will see what I am referring to. Some of these tips 
relate to manipulative magic, but the tips can be used for any 
type of an act. My big question to you is: WHY!!!!!

I told you that it may seem a bit strange, but let me go on now 
to tell you about what I am referring to. To a magician, we are 
fascinated with cards and flourishes and vanishes and anything 
related to manipulation and magic. It amazes us by the technique 
and the method and skill involved in doing the executions of the 
routines. This alone keeps us striving to learn more and peaks 
our interest and curiosity.

However, this is often NOT the case with a lay audience. A lay 
audience does not see manipulative magic in the same way we do. 
They do not understand the techniques and skills involved and nor 
should they if what we are doing is supposed to be magical. With 
this in mind, the audience often will say to themselves... "WHY". 
Why is this magician doing the same thing over and over again.

Why? Because the magician knows he is doing different vanishes 
and each one is slightly unique. However the audience only knows 
that the card vanishes, the card returned and now your doing it 
again. This is why an act of manipulation is very hard to do well 
if your doing it for 7-8 mins in a normal act time. You do not 
want your audience ever going "Why" at any time in the routine.

So how do you work around this problem of boring your audience to 
tears? Well that is where research and creativity comes into the 
picture. It gets back to the point that in a manipulative act you 
must give the audience "more". It is not good enough to simply 
show an 8 minute act of pure skill alone doing moves that appear 
the same to any audience.

So how do you give your audience more? Well you can give them 
more through the use of themes, character, style, pacing, 
transition effects and emotional response to just name a few. Let 
me go on to talk very briefly about each of these I just 
mentioned. Each could be an article all in itself but I will just 
give you my tips on each one for now in hopes you can grasp what 
I am referring to.

- Themes: You can give more to your audience in any manipulative 
act if you simply add in a theme to the act you are doing. This 
can be a generalized theme in regards to the objects all relating 
that you are manipulating, or the act itself can be themed around 
a storyline. In this way you are performing a small 8 minute play 
that just so happens to have magic in it. The audience can relate 
to the themed objects or the story and get more involved with 
your act and with you.

- Character: Every act you do should have a strong character 
present on stage. The audience needs to be able to connect with 
this character. If you can connect the audience with you, then 
they become more attached to you and can relate to what you are 
doing on stage. Ask yourself if your character is suave, comical, 
athletic, hip, sad, down on his luck. Each of these can become a 
strong character that can be conveyed in your stage movement and 
even your music.

- Style: With style, I mean the way you move on stage and the way 
you conduct and hold yourself throughout the act. It is something 
that must be learned over time. It is those little things that 
make a huge difference to an audience liking you or not. It can 
be the way you pause at the right moment and look at the audience 
and wink right before a big production. It could be the way you 
move and look and smile at the audience as if saying thank you 
without moving your mouth at all.

- Pacing: The way you pace and time your act can make a world of 
difference to an audience. In many manipulative acts, the 
audience is being barraged with too much visual input. They 
cannot follow it all the time and so start shutting themselves 
down from even watching what it is you are doing. You must pace 
your act and place in it pauses that give the audience a chance 
to catch up, breathe a bit and give them a chance to applaud you 
before going into the next sequence.

- Transition effects: These are the simple things you can place 
into your act that changes it up a bit and adds so called "spice" 
to the act. It gives your audience something more to watch and 
breaks up the act from being too repetitive.

For example: You could be doing a billiard ball act. You do a few 
vanishes and produce the ball. The ball gets tossed up and as you 
catch it it turns into a white silk. You do a knots of silk 
effect and the knot becomes the ball again. In this way the ball 
to silk becomes a transition effect that gives your audience 
something more to be interested in.

- Emotional Response: This is a HUGE one and can work so 
wonderful if done well. If done right it can make your audience 
connect with you long after you have left the stage. It is 
causing an emotional response in your audiences by allowing them 
to connect and relate to your character and the predicament 
presented on the stage. It can also work closely in with the 
theme you are presenting.

Every person in your audience has experienced something in 
common. What are common to us all are emotions. We have all felt 
fear, love, confusion and happiness. These are common to every 
person no matter who you are performing for. So if you can 
connect with them on one or more of these emotions, you can get 
that audience member to really relate to you because they are 
remembering a similar situation when they too had that exact same 
emotion or situation happen to them. They can relate.

For example, your manipulative act could be all about this guy at 
night who is just trying to reach a bus to get home. It is late 
and he misses his bus and the entire world seems to be passing 
him buy. He sits on a bench to wait for the next bus and turns on 
his radio. He drifts off to sleep only to awake moments later. He 
realizes that magic starts happening to him even though he does 
not know exactly why it is. Throughout the act the magic that 
happens to him causes him to smile and to realize that life is 
full of wonder even if we may not always see it.

Now this is just a very vague example but you can see how the 
entire act could be a manipulative routine but now you are 
relating to them a story of a very well defined character with a 
well defined theme. You give them an emotional response to the 
act because most can relate to being in a similar situation in 
their own life. In this way they relate better to what you are 
doing on stage.

Now these ideas are not meant to be the bible for a great act by 
any means. They are simply some of my own understandings on what 
I have experienced that has really worked not only for myself but 
to other acts that have really "made it." They are meant only to 
be reviewed and given some thought to. Take even one thing from 
them and I think you will see your act reaching your audiences in 
a whole different light.
So I simply ask you to ask yourself. WHY?

As always, I encourage you the readers to let me know your 
thoughts. So if you have any thoughts on my articles or 
suggestions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me directly 
at magic4u02@aol.com. I would love to hear from you.

--------------------------------------------
7. New Zealand "World Festival Of Magic" Tour 2006
--------------------------------------------
Message from Gene McCarthy

On this years tour: Tony Laffan, Shimada and Jason Byrne

Monday 20th November - Taupo - 4:30pm & 7:30pm
Great Lake Centre

Tuesday 21st November - Tauranga - 1:00pm & 4:00pm & 7:00pm
Bay Court Theatre

Wednesday 22nd November - Gisborne - 5:00pm & 7:30pm
War Memorial Theatre

Thursday 23rd November - Napier - 5:00pm & 7:30pm
Napier Municipal Theatre

Saturday 25th November - Rotorua - 2:00pm & 5:00pm & 7:30pm
Civic Theatre

Monday 27th November - Whangarei - 2:00pm & 5:00pm & 7:30pm
Forum North

Tuesday 28th November - Hamilton - 5:00pm & 7:30pm
Founders Theatre

Wednesday 29th November - New Plymouth - 5:00pm & 7:30pm
TSB Show Place

Thursday 30th November - Wanganui - 5:00pm & 7:30pm
Wanganui Collegiate High School
(Prince Edward Auditorium)

Saturday 2nd December - Wellington - 1:30pm & 4:30pm
Queens Wharf Events Centre

Sunday 3rd December - Palmerston Nth - 1:30pm & 4:00pm & 7:00pm
College of Education

Tuesday 5th December - Nelson - 7:00pm
New Venue

Thursday 7th December - Christchurch - 1:00pm & 4:00pm & 7:00pm
Friday 8th December - Christchurch - 1:00pm & 4:00pm
Theatre Royal

Sunday 10th December - Timaru - 5:30pm
Theatre Royal

Monday 11th December - Dunedin - 2:30pm & 7:00pm
Regent Theatre

Tuesday 12th December - Invercargill - 2:00pm - 5:00pm & 7:30pm
Civic Theatre

Saturday 16th December - Auckland - 11:00pm & 2:00pm & 5:00pm
Sunday 17th December - Auckland - 11:00pm & 2:00pm & 5:00pm
Logan Campbell Centre

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8. The Illustrated History of Magic by Milbourne and Maurine 
Christopher
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Message from Maurine Christopher (US)

Sales of the latest edition of The Illustrated History of Magic 
by Milbourne and Maurine Christopher (published by Carroll & 
Graf) are going well. This edition climaxes with a profile of 
David Blaine, America's most highly publicized magician 
currently.

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9. Book On Houdini's Tour Of Australia
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Message from Leann Leann Richards (Aust)

I would like to inform you that I have recently published a book 
on Houdini's Tour of Australia. You or your members may be 
interested in it.

It is available through Gininderra Press at 
http://www.ginninderrapress.com.au/. and priced at a reasonable 
AU$17.50

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10. 'The Funny Tricks Lecture' by Brad Manuel
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Message from Garry Cohen (Aust)

'The Funny Tricks Lecture' by Brad Manuel
Thursday November 30th at 7.30pm at Hey Presto Magic Studio


If you are looking for knuckle busting card moves & sleights - 
you won't find any in his lecture - Brad's lecture is full of 
practical (real world) effects he has developed over the past 15 
years specifically for his own acts and (normal) audiences.

The lecture covers material on close up, stand up & kids routines 
Including:

Bottle in Shoe "One of Brad's signature effects"
Extreme Coin In Bottle
The Tag Gag
Keep Your Eye on It
Burning Ring Of Fire (It's not what you think - I hope)
And More..

You may also see Brad's Record Breaking Dice Stacking Demo

Get a chance to see the creator of effects including:
Credit Card Fraud, Buckethead, Bowling Ball Blitz, The Heat is 
on, Schnapps Shot & More. If you want to get ideas on how to make 
you and your performances a little more unique than the next guy, 
then THIS LECTURE IS A MUST!

Price $25 At the Door.

We look forward to seeing everyone at this very funny lecture!

www.heyprestomagic.com.au

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11. Broken Wand - Roy Baker
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Message from Mike Easterbrook (NZ)

This is from Eddie Burke's web page.......

My cousin and fellow hypnotist, mind reader, magician and magic 
dealer/inventor Roy Baker died on Friday last. His funeral is to 
take place at Medway Crematorium next Friday 24th November 2006 
at 1.20pm. Roy had many unusual and entertaining effects to his 
credit - but possibly most will remember him for his truly 
original and amazing P.A.T.E.O Force. R.I.P dear Roy.

Baker, Roy

-------------------------------
From Whaley's Who's Who In Magic

(England: fl.1950s-80s) Stage name of Geoffrey R. H. Hursell, aka 
"Zaharee". Pro performer (with hyp act) & mail order dealer (in 
Rainham, Kent). Invented the Fez Egg Bag (Abdul's Fez) by late 
1960s. See Hugh Miller, Baker's Bonanza (1969; reprinted 1972). 
Wrote Baker's Capers (1983).

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12. Looking For A Book Sheherazade By Borodin
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Message from Maria Ibanez (US)

I am looking for Sheherazade by Borodin if anyone has a copy they 
would be willing to sell please e-mail me at merlina17@aol.com

I've just received Final Curtain and couldn't be more thrilled 
with it.

Respectfully,

Maria Ibanez

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13. Wish To Buy Golden Fun Shears
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Message from Phil Cass (Aust)

Does anyone in the world have an original set of Golden Fun 
Shears that they'd like to part with?

In other words, I wish to buy a pair of cut-no-cut scissors that 
were made in England by Supreme many years ago.

Please drop me an email at trustme@philcass.com

Many thanks.

Phil Cass

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14. Daytona Festival Of Magic Combined Fla. State
--------------------------------------------
Message from Harry Allen (USA)

We just finished the combined convention in Daytona Beach, The 
weather was great. (High 79 low 65) On the beautiful Atlantic 
Ocean.

The event is sold out. We had a few last minute replacements on 
talent due to illness, death of family members and the birth of a 
baby girl. The replacements were John Ferentino who brought the 
house down. Fielding West who received a standing ovation on 
Saturday nights show. We were privileged to have Fielding do his 
first magic lecture. It rocked!! Sammy Smith stood in for Scott 
Humpston. Sammy always does a great job.

They joined the likes of Franz Harary, Fukai, Terry Seabrooke, 
Boris Wild, Carl Andrews, Dave Risley, Don Townsend, Joe Young, 
Erick Olson. All of which made an outstanding event.

Already booked for next year: November 2, 3, 4 2007

Johnny Thompson
Kevin James
Lennart Green
Tom Burgoon
John Mendoza
Dan Fleshman
Ron Conley
Scott Humpston
Plus much more to come.....

Make your plans now to attend in 2007

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15. Magic New Zealand e-zine Archives
--------------------------------------------
Back issues of the Magic New Zealand e-zine go to:
www.watson.co.nz/fezine.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)

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16. Privacy Policy And Copyright Notice
--------------------------------------------
Our subscriber list is NOT made available to any other companies
or individuals. We value every subscriber and respect your
privacy.

You can subscribe to or unsubscribe from the Magic New ZealandŽ
E-zine at www.watson.co.nz/fezine.html. Magic New ZealandŽ
E-zine is published each Sunday.

The opinions expressed therein are those of the individual
contributors and not necessarily those of Magic New ZealandŽ.
Neither Magic New ZealandŽ nor Alan Watson vouch for the
accuracy or reliability of any opinion, message, statement, or
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Subscribers to this publication and authors who contribute to it
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Readers are encouraged to submit timely articles or news items
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Notwithstanding the foregoing, this publication may be freely
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entirety, including the copyright notice below and the above
disclaimer.

Š Copyright 2006 Alan Watson