* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Magic New Zealand * Proudly sponsored by International Entertainment * www.Alan-Watson.com * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Issue Number: #625 Date: Sunday 7th December 2008 Editor: Alan Watson www.magicianz.com e-mail: AW@Alan-Watson.com ================================ Hi here is the latest news ================================ 1. Editor's Message 2. Broken Wand - Vanni Bossi 3. Magic In The Arctic Circle 4. The Magic Mansion At Blois 5. Remarkable Magic #74 - Nick Lewin 6. Creativity And "Falling In Love With Ourselves" #97 7. Cruising With Paul Romhany #47 8. 35th Annual Winter Carnival Of Magic 9. New Chapter - Fellowship Of Christians Magicians 10. Magic Memorabilia Of Historical Significance At Auction 11. Sam Powers - Xtremeillusionslive 12. Darren Carr Live And FREE! 13. 29th New Zealand International Magicians Convention 2008 14. e-zine Archives 15. Privacy Policy And Copyright Notice -------------------------------------------- 1. Editor's Message -------------------------------------------- Sad to hear that Italian magician Vanni Bossi has just died. He was great performer, historian and a collector and he will be sadly missed. Magic New Zealand e-zine is now also published weekly on the IBM portal in colour. Go to: www.magician.org Remember if you have any magic news drop me a line: AW@Alan-Watson.com -------------------------------------------- 2. Broken Wand - Vanni Bossi -------------------------------------------- Message from Giacomo Bertini With a lot of pain, within the whole Italian magic world, I am sad to announce the loss of a friend and great magician Vanni Bossi. He left, but his creative ideas, his original and wonderful magic, and his passion will continue to live with us, and in the future. He had an operation to the throat and for the last two months he has had poor health. -------------------------------- Whaley's Who's Who in Magic Bossi, Vanni (Italy: fl.1980s-90s) Expert close-up coin man. Tricks in MUM (3/96). -------------------------------------------- 3. Magic In The Arctic Circle -------------------------------------------- Message from Scott Alcalay Finland during Christmas time is freezing but Magic makes is much warmer. Forty shows of Varietee Magica 2008 Plays in Helsinki and Rovaneimi in Finland. With the heartwarming mime of Arden James from the US, Gillermo and Inna, quick change artists from Spain, the statue of Jerome Murat from France, Light Fantastic Annette Gliwa and Robert des Forges, very creative Jugglers from Germany, closing the show with Amos Levkovitch and his flying assistants. The show is produced and MC'ed by Timo Kulmakko who is also the Artistic Director, Promoter, Stage Manager, Lighting Designer, Curtain Puller, Problem Solver and everything in between. How does he do it? I have no idea; he must be a real magician. For pictures and more info please visit the show web site at www.http://www.magica.fi -------------------------------------------- 4. The Magic Mansion At Blois -------------------------------------------- Message from Gérard Kunian (France) Saturday 29th November the magic Mansion at BLOIS (birth town of Robert-Houdin) celebrated for the first time 'teh "Magic Inventors". A tribute for one day long managed by Gerard Majax star of French TV and Celine Noulin  who is director of the "Magic Mansion".  In the afternoon numerous people were admitted into the exhibition rooms. One can discover many old bills, magic props of the 18th century.  Moreover many close-up magicians were busy entertaining among the crowd.  During the afternoon several lectures were offered to initiate the spectators to the problems linked to inventors of magic tricks (patent, copyright etc.). Jean Regil (big illusions), Gil Arthur(Mega Illusions) Gérard Majax ( TV producer and writer) gave useful information and advice during the part of the lecture devoted to answer and question time and were directed by Pierre Switon a well known magician. Visitors were interested by Patard's old clock workshop, Jack Barlett's demonstration linking Magic and new interactive numerical devices.  Pierdel a retired special effects creator demonstrated many illusions, Francis Lara showed automatons.  The well known Robert- Houdin's automaton: La joueuse de Serinette* was exhibited and demonstrated by the staff of the Museum and Castle from Blois. In the evening an international magic show closed the day: Alpha, Michael Ross, Jerome Murat, Carmel and Crimet, G. Magnin-Vostinic presented by Gérard Majax and Prof. Wonderfool (your devoted writer) were thoroughly applauded by an enthusiastic audience and received an "Inventors trophy". Professional magicians and chosen guests were offered by the town Mayor a "Banquet" into the Castle. At three in the morning everybody kissed each other good bye. -------------------------------------------- 5. Remarkable Magic #74 - Nick Lewin -------------------------------------------- Message from Nick Lewin (US) A wee bit more... In a recent column I mentioned Ron Wilson's 'tour de force' book 'The Uncanny Scot' published by magic's most astute publisher Richard Kaufman.  I consider it to be one of the very finest books ever written about the structure and performance of magic. I got an email shortly afterwards from Ron thanking me for plugging his book.  It was a typically modest reaction from a man whose contribution to magic has been enormous over the years.  I wasn't plugging the book I was, in a very real sense, trying to nudge some of our younger readers in the direction of something that would make them better magicians and performers. There is an almost endless, never-ending, parade of books and DVDs containing tricks to show the guys at the magic club.  We really don't need more tricks, we need people who can perform the ones they do better.  It is amazing to read a book that contains routines that have so much impact. Richard Kaufman created something new under the sun with his amazing series of books that introduced the magic world to almost the entire philosophy and creations of key magical figures. Looking in the rear view mirror they may be the finest books published and the greatest bargains. One of my greatest sorrows is that Richard never got Billy McComb to write a sequel to his classic 'McComb's Magic.'  The world would have been a much better place if Kaufman had managed to capture the essence of Billy's contribution to the magical arts in the same way he did with Ron. Sadly so much of the latter day McCombical gems are only available in cheaply printed booklets, lecture notes and booklets.  Not that I am unaware of how difficult it would have been to capture this mercurial genius in a formal book.  I can picture Matt Field meticulously working to try and establish a coherent format and style.  Maybe it will still happen? We really must reach out and embrace our legendary masters of magical performance. The innate bias and awe in which the magic world holds the creators of moves and tricks needs to be balanced with a realistic view of the comedy magicians who have honed and perfected their craft. Of course Dai Vernon and Ed Marlo are geniuses but no more so than Ron Wilson, Billy McComb and Paul Daniels.  Their gift of being able to make something look easy and effortless as you perform a comedy magic act can conceal layers of intricacy that would completely astound the average close-up magician. I have said it before and I will say it again mastering comedy is not an easy thing.  Some magicians think they are deftly performing comedy magic but in actual fact it is neither good comedy nor good magic.  They think that have achieved an acceptable level of competence because they are reaping the synergistic rewards of doing two things at once. Yikes, don't even get me started on this one. I am never sure whom it is that gets to declare the rules and undeniable decisions in magic, (I do however suspect it occurs during secret meetings in the basement of Mike Caveney's house) but I know it's not me!  I am breaking ranks and have decided to proclaim that 2009 will be officially known as the 'Ron Wilson Decade.'  Young magicians must be forced to find his book and video clips of him performing and study them! I have nothing to pitch or sell but please feel free to contact me at nicklewin1@me.com -------------------------------------------- 6. Creativity And "Falling In Love With Ourselves" #97 - Kyle Peron -------------------------------------------- Message from Kyle Peron (US) magic4u02@aol.com http://www.kyleandkellymagic.com I have been discussing creativity and what hinders us from being creative thinkers.  I wanted to take the opportunity to expand and explore this topic a bit more with you.  I feel that in order for anyone to become a better creative thinker of magic, you must first 1) define creativity, and 2) know what hinders you from being creative.  Once you know these 2 things, you can work towards breaking down those barriers. As I worked on my creativity lecture, I realized that it would be a good idea to address the definition of creativity.  I knew what I personally felt it was, but realized it would be a good idea to establish how Webster's Dictionary defines it.  What I found out was VERY fascinating. Keep in mind that what I am going to tell you is not and has not been changed in any way.  It is straight out of the dictionary. "Creativity can be defined as something created rather than imitated." WOW!  That just really opened my eyes.  Read it again and let it sink in more. What it is saying is that imitation is NOT creativity.  Taking someone else's routine or act and "borrowing" it, is not being creative.  Besides, in my book it is just wrong.  Being creative means stepping away from what you have seen and taking a different path. So if we know that imitation is not creativity, what else hinders us from being as creative as we each can be?  Well one thing is certainly this notion of magicians falling in love with themselves.  Allow me to explain.  I am an artist and have been all my life.  Artists are just...well... weird folks.  We admit that.  However, even artists have less egos then most of us magicians.  Magicians seem to think that the world evolves and revolves around them.  If you have ever been to a magic convention, you know what I am talking about. But what tends to happen to us magicians?  Well the beauty of magic is the fact that we as magicians get the joy out of knowing the secrets of magic.  We get empowered by the techniques we discover.  Just think back to the first effect you ever saw and learned? Pretty amazing feeling wasn't it?  This is what tends to draw magicians to learn more and seek more.  It becomes our drug of sorts. Knowing the secrets and techniques is not wrong.  After all, they are the tools that allow us to create in the first place. However, what happens is that we start to love the techniques of magic so much that we forget who our audience really is. We may know and learn 50 ways to vanish a card.  To us they are all different and unique and we love them.  But just because you know 50 ways to vanish a card does not mean your audience wants to see all 50 ways in one act.  To a lay audience, you vanish a card and produce a card and the rest looks the same. What happens to magicians is that we spend so much time perfecting out crafts and fine tuning the tools we use that we start to fall in love with them.  We love the technique behind what we do so much that we feel we have to place it in the act just because WE love it. Once you start doing this, it becomes a hard habit to break.  It hinders creativity because you force to place things in the act not because they make sense or add to the entertainment value, but because we like them. One must always think of who the audience is and who you are performing for.  You must remember what you want to say to them and express to them.  Enjoy what you perform and create, but remember that a magician is a very lonely person without an audience to perform for. 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. - "Encore! Creativity in the Art of Magic" Ebook. Order online now at: http://www.magicenhancer.com/Enco re.html - "Tips and Techniques on the Chair Suspension" Ebook. Order online now at: http://www.magicenhancer.com/ChairSuspension.html -------------------------------------------- 7. Cruising With Paul Romhany # 47 -------------------------------------------- Message from Paul Romhany (NZ) Around the World with Paul Romhany As I write this week's article I am sitting in my suite overlooking Auckland harbor with a glass of champagne and on my balcony.  I am making the most of my time on this very high end ship, having traveled half way around the world to get here!  I left Barcelona then flew to York, then LA then down to New Zealand where I was able to spend two days with my family. It was such a short stay here and went so quickly my head is still spinning.  I did however manage to stock up on my Kiwiana items such as Jaffas, L&P (a much loved New Zealand soft drink - Lemon and Paeroa), and had a Big Ben Meat pie ... ahhh memories. I did manage to catch up quickly with a few friends and had a wonderful time.  I hope that if we get back next year, Natalie and I can spend more time than two days. Many of you will know about the 'pirates' that have been taking hostages on ships in the Arabian Sea.  What you may not be aware is that while we mostly hear about large tankers being taken over by pirates, cruise ships are also hit.  Three years ago a Seaborne Cruise ship was shot at by pirates using machine guns and a rocket propelled grenade.  It went through a cabin but did not go off!!  Fortunately the captain managed to get away. Natalie and I actually ended up going on that ship a month after the attack.  This year I had a contract cancelled because I was booked to join a ship in the Seychelles and disembark in Mombasa. Due to the danger the cruise line cancelled contracts and decided no longer to go to those ports. Only a few days ago another ship was attacked.  A luxury cruise ship bound for Dunedin in New Zealand came under attack from Somali pirates.  Two small boats approached the 30,277 tonne Nautica as it sailed through the Gulf of Aden, in the Arabian Sea, in an area known as "Pirate Alley".  As the cruise ship began evasive maneuvers, eight shots were fired from one of the skiffs.  None hit the vessel.  The pirates got within 300 meters of the liner but were unable to keep pace with it. This attack illustrated the boldness of the pirates, who were prepared to take on a cruise ship carrying almost 700 passengers. Attacks in that area have increased 75 percent in the last year alone! Cruise ships at least have some technology that tankers do not. This includes a long-range acoustic device that is capable of blowing the eardrums of a pirate within 2km. -------------------------------------------- 8. 35th Annual Winter Carnival Of Magic -------------------------------------------- Message from Mike Stratman (US) The 35th Annual Winter Carnival of Magic will be held on 5th , 6th  and 7th March 2009 at the Country Tonite Theatre in beautiful Pigeon Forge, TN. This annual convention hosted by Ring 58 of Knoxville, TN is proud to announce we will be featuring the Pendragons with Kristi Toguchi as our Saturday evening show.  We were very fortunate to obtain this world class act and are looking forward to their 90 minute show.  Our Friday night show will be featuring the multi award winning magician from Canada, Shawn Farquhar, Magic Fukai from Japan, Ken Scott and Stoil & Ekaterina from Bulgaria.  Mark Mason has also been booked plus others yet to be named. We will also be featuring 7 lectures, close-up show, contests and a fine display of magic from our selected Dealers. Ring 58 member and Past International President, Mike Stratman will also be celebrating his 70 birthday on March 5th. So, come and enjoy our 35th and Mike's 70th. The Winter Carnival is one of the best bangs for your buck in magic conventions, with motels ranging below $50.00 per night and registration at $115.00.  To obtain more details, check out our web sites. www.ibmring58.com and www.winter-carnival.net Hope to see you there. -------------------------------------------- 9. New Chapter - Fellowship Of Christians Magicians -------------------------------------------- Message from Hal Brosious Several magicians are attempting to put together a Chapter for the Fellowship Of Christians Magicians ( FCM ) for the Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park and Leander, TX. and surrounding area. We will hold monthly meetings on the fourth Monday from 7:00 pm until 9 pm, starting in January. Please contact: Harold ( Hal ) Brosious at: ketsugojujitsu@earthlink.net or J.D. Stewart at : jd@jd-stewart.com -------------------------------------------- 10. Magic Memorabilia Of Historical Significance At Auction -------------------------------------------- Message from Gabe Fajuri Potter & Potter Auctions, Inc. Most Items Offered Without Reserve Potter & Potter Auctions is pleased to announce its first sale of 2009, a Marketplace auction of magic memorabilia, apparatus and books, scheduled for January 18th, 2009. Most lots will be offered at low starting bids with no reserve. Sale highlights include autographs and autographed material, Houdiniana, unique ephemera, and apparatus, including many items with important historical provenance. Featured Lots Include: -A fan used by Chung Ling Soo recovered from the Marvelous Chinese Conjurer's properties on the day of his tragic on-stage death at London's Wood Green Empire in 1918. -An outstanding selection of vintage and collectible books, many signed and inscribed to legendary entertainer Jay Marshall. -Houdiniana: autographs, photographs, programs, postcards, books, and assorted ephemera. -Harry Blackstone Sr.'s Sand Canister props, manufactured by Carl Willmann of Hamburg, and used by the master showman as an "in one" effect for over a decade. -A spectacular collection of autographs, including Hardeen, Chung Ling Soo, Cardini, Horace Goldin, and dozens more. -Props from the Howard Thurston show. -Choice scrapbooks of never-before-seen ephemera and unpublished photographs, many signed and inscribed. -A rare ALS from The Great Lafayette on his stationery, boldly signed. Visit www.potterauctions.com to purchase a catalog, download a PDF-version, or for further information regarding the auction schedule, terms and conditions, absentee and phone bid forms, and more. The sale will be conducted on January 18th, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency Woodfield Hotel in Schaumburg, Illinois.  Bids will be accepted live, on line and via phone, mail and fax. Previews will be held on Saturday, January 17th. -------------------------------------------- 11. Sam Powers - Xtremeillusionslive -------------------------------------------- Message from Garry J Cohen  Hey Presto Magic Studio Pty Ltd Velvet Underground, Cairns Reef Casino, Australia Experience the art of illusion to the EXTREME with Magician of the Year Sam Powers, and his cast of stunning assistants.  Sam has dazzled them in 16 countries, appeared on TV before 10 million viewers and now it's your turn to witness this breathtaking show LIVE. Sam powers his way through one of the most enthralling shows you will ever see in 'Xtreme Illusions' as he takes audiences of all ages on a mystifying journey through astounding illusions and sassy modern dance routines. You are guaranteed to be amazed as this world class production features never before seen illusions and the quickest sleight of hand movements complimented with slick humour and hysterical audience participation, all interwoven with the dynamic moves of Sam's stunning showgirls. Show duration is 60 minutes and is suitable for families. Velvet Underground, Cairns Reef Casio -------------------------------------------- 12. Darren Carr Live And FREE! -------------------------------------------- Message from Sean Taylor (Aust) Darren Carr Live at North Ryde RSL Friday 5th December Australia's #1 Comedy Ventriloquist, "Mo" and "ACE" Award Performer of the Year Darren Carr, is coming to North Ryde RSL on Friday 5th December, for a night not to be missed.  Darren is a great friend and supporter of Taylor's events and has been for many years.  He would love your support. Darren spends the majority of his time these days working at corporate and private functions, so this will be a rare chance to see him performing his whole show which now includes a couple of new "friends".  This show will also be filmed for release as a DVD in the New Year. The show starts at 8pm and tickets are available at the club, but if you send Darren your name via email (darren@darrencarr.com) or call him 0412 458 228, he will ensure you get in as his guest for free. Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you think maybe interested in coming because... the bigger the crowd, the bigger the laughs. -------------------------------------------- 13. 29th New Zealand International Magicians Convention 2008 -------------------------------------------- The 29th New Zealand International Magicians Convention will be held in Auckland, New Zealand from the night of December 27th 2008 to January 1st 2009, 1.00am. The venue will be the Waipuna Hotel and Conference Centre in Mount Wellington where we last ran a successful Convention in 2001-2002. Bookings can be made for convention accommodation by contacting: Waipuna Hotel & Conference Centre, 58 Waipuna Road, Mt.Wellington, PO Box 14 164, Panmure, Auckland, New Zealand. Phone: +64 9 526 3000 Fax: +64 9 527 1937 Toll Free Reservations (NZ): 0800 924 786. http://www.waipunahotel.co.nz/ We have been able to secure a very attractive room rate of $NZ110 per night (including GST) for single or double rooms with registrants being able to book direct with the hotel. The official registration form for the convention can be downloaded from: http://www.ibmring160.com/ If you don't have internet web access contact Ross Harlick, Secretary, 91 Panapa Drive, Meadowbank, Auckland 1072, New Zealand Or by: Phone: +64 (09) 521 3327 Fax: +64 (09) 521 3327 -------------------------------------------- 14. Magic New Zealand e-zine Archives -------------------------------------------- Back issues of the Magic New Zealand e-zine go to: www.Alan-Watson.com 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) -------------------------------------------- 15. 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 Zealand® E-zine at www.Alan-Watson.com Magic New Zealand® E-zine is published each Sunday. The opinions expressed therein are those of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of Magic New Zealand®. Neither Magic New Zealand® nor Alan Watson 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 they will not hold Magic New Zealand® or Alan Watson, jointly or individually liable or responsible in any way for the opinions expressed therein. Magic New Zealand® reserves the right to alter, correct or disregard any articles submitted. Readers are encouraged to submit timely articles or news items which may be of interest to subscribers. By submitting articles to this e-zine, the authors grant Magic New Zealand® the right to publish such articles and such authors confirm their copyright of the material submitted. All works published by Magic New Zealand® are protected by international copyright legislation and articles must not be published for profit by anyone other than the individual authors without the written permission of Magic New Zealand®. Notwithstanding the foregoing, 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 2008 Alan Watson