* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Magic New Zealand® * www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Issue Number: #315 Date: Sunday 6th February 2005 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. Al Koran's Legacy by Hugh Miller   3. Ron MacMillan's Passing   4. Australia, Adelaide Magic Convention 2005   5. New Zealanders Attending IBM Convention 2005 Reno   6. Magic Book Collection - 4000 Books - Sold   7. Youth Initiative Of The Magic Circle   8. Breaking News From The Magic Capital Of The World!   9. Missing 6 Issues Of The Linking Ring Magazine   10. The Passing Of Marx Straw - Colon   11. Magic CDBurner - Jamie-G   12. The Amazing Orchante Saga   13. e-zine Archives   14. Subscription Management ------------------ 1. Editors Message ------------------- Message from Alan Watson - The Magic One Tsunami Relief Event - Saturday February 5th 12noon-midnight in Auckland, New Zealand. A 12 hour variety event supported by Oxfam, Red Cross and World Vision was a huge success last night and raised many thousands of dollars for the Tsunami relief fund.  Our very own internationally acclaimed hypnotist/comedy magician Guy Cater was one of the many headline acts. -------------- Remember if you have any magic news drop me a line: AW@Alan-Watson.com ----------------- 2. Al Koran's Legacy by Hugh Miller ----------------- Message from Martin Breese (UK) I have just had the pleasure of acquiring the rights to the Al Koran Legacy from Geoff Maltby of Repro Magic. I have always wanted to publish all three of the Al Koran books in one large volume. And now this can be achieved. The book will include all of the material from Mastered Amazement, Professional Presentations and of course Al Koran's Legacy. A companion volume is also already in production and this features virtually all of Al Koran's contributions to magic magazines such as the Magic Wand, The Gen, The Wizard and many others. All of the illustrations are being produced by Paul Griffin. ----------------- 3. Ron MacMillan's Passing ----------------- Message from Frances Willard (US) We are so deeply sorry to learn of Ron MacMillan's passing. It was wonderful to participate in his "Day of Magic" on two occasions, and one of the highlights of my life in magic will always be performing on the stage of "Her Majesty's Theatre" in Ron's wonderful event. I genuinely hope that someone will carry on his behalf concerning this special day. Although I'm certain that Ron will be very difficult to replace. In Spirit, Frances Willard ----------------- 4. Australia, Adelaide Magic Convention 2005 ----------------- Message from Phil Ahrens (Aust) Adelaide Convention 2005 - The Friendliest Convention in Australia The Adelaide Convention is on from 26th to 28th August 2005 and once again we have planned a friendly and intimate weekend of magic. As those who have attended previous Conventions would know, we select our lecturers carefully. We are pleased that Pavel is joining us as our guest. He will be presenting his popular lecture "How to invent a new trick" as well as entertain us with his ropes, silks and cabaret magic. In addition we have Perth Magician, James Sleight, who will be presenting a Children's entertainment session. Also there will be Dave Flannigan, local comedian and entertainer, presenting a workshop on putting comedy into magic. Chuck Hickok will round out the weekend with a highly acclaimed lecture, entertaining people with mentalism. Once again we have a magnificent venue, the Lakes Resort, with plenty of good accommodation and excellent facilities including the essential bar and large dealers room. The Gala Night will be held in the grand hall overlooking the lake with fine dining and entertainment by Pavel, James Slight, Raymond Crowe and hosted by Gary Edwards. The Adelaide Convention represents good value for money as all your meals are included in the price. For the latest information please visit our website at: www.adelaidemagic.com/convention ----------------- 5. New Zealanders Attending IBM Convention 2005 Reno ----------------- Message from Tony Wilson - IBM International President 2004 – 2005 Great to see that 20 Kiwis that have registered already to attend the IBM Convention in Reno (as of 31st January). If any other Kiwis are planning to attend please register ASAP. Remember that the best seating for the evening shows is strictly in order of registration that are received. In registrations order: Tony Wilson, Mary Wilson Alan Watson, Michele Watson Danny Phillips, Linda Phillips Stanley Goudge, Marie Goudge Bill Seagraves, Marlene Seagraves Ross Harlick, Roselyn Harlick, Craig Harlick Theo De Leeuw, Noeline De Leeuw Malcolm Silverman Terry Von Pein, Jan Von Pein Wayne Rogers Michael Woolf ----------------- 6. Magic Book Collection - 4000 Books - Sold ----------------- Message from Margaret Yates (Aust) I am writing to tell you that I have just sold my Magic book collection of some 4000 books to Byron Walker in the USA. They are now enroute to his home. Several people have asked me for the list and I'm afraid I haven't kept a list of who they are, so they may read this and know the collection is no longer available. ----------------- 7. Youth Initiative Of The Magic Circle ----------------- Message from Mandy Davis (UK) The Young Magicians Club is part of the Youth Initiative of The Magic Circle. It is a thriving and vibrant club with a membership that has grown to almost 700. Every new member receives a membership card and badge, a free trick and a bi-monthly glossy magazine which, until his recent death, was edited by Peter McCahon. On the month in between there is a newsletter to keep members up to date. I have just handed the production of that over to our secretary Rob Page. Workshops are a big feature of YMC. One is held practically every month of the year and some of the top names in magic have come along to teach. Numbers have grown since the early days from nine participants to between 60 and 80! In February we will be holding a cups and balls workshop with 80 sets of apparatus donated by two British magicians and ten teachers so that members can learn at their own pace in small groups. Besides organising and administrating the workshops I have now taken on the job as editor of 'Secrets' magazine. The first issue has just arrived on members' doorsteps and you will be interested to know that we have an international cover story this time featuring Australian young magician Ben Burscough. If you have anything that would be of interest to our members who are over 10 and under eighteen years of age (at eighteen they graduate to The Magic Circle) then please do contact me. I work two months in advance so remember that when considering sending news items. Photos are particularly welcome to accompany stories but make sure they are either hard copy or very high resolution. All the best Mandy Davis Diva of Deception ----------------- 8. Breaking News From The Magic Capital Of The World! ----------------- Message from Rick Fisher (US) The FAB Magic Company in Colon, Michigan proudly presents.. MAGICELEBRATION 2005 - AUGUST 2 - 6th. Here are the activities - Bev Bergeron lecture, Andrea Hardy (Germany ) Juggling For Magicians Seminar, Rick Fisher lecture, MEET THE LEGENDS OF MAGIC open forum with Bev Bergeron, Jerry Conklin and SURPRISE GUESTS! You won't believe who we found! Children's activities, Magic Flea Market & Auction, 2 Big Stage Shows Friday and Saturday night featuring Bev Bergeron, Charlie Chaplin (Europe's only Chaplin impersonator), Jim Reams, James Kestler, Rick Fisher, Mark Davis, Magical F/X and more! There is a NITE BEFORE PARTY ON TUESDAY AUGUST 2ND! Plus..free shows for the kids Wednesday Thru Saturday at the FAB Magic Shop, 111 East State Street, downtown Colon. Big craft fair! With the exception of the juggling seminar and the public shows the rest of events are FREE! FREE! FREE! REGISTRATION! Why are we doing this? We understand the cost of attending such functions especially with your family. We are doing this to bring more folks to Colon during magic week. This is good for all of the businesses and everybody wins! Especially the MAGICIAN! What a great week! Although the events are free you must sign up and register with us by calling toll free 877.44.MAGIK or visit us online at www.fabmagic.com. This promises to be the biggest magic party of 2005 and YOU are invited! We are working with the hotels and local residents to secure special reduced rates to make this event "family friendly" The flea market admission is free however there is a $15.00 per table fee for the flea market on Saturday. Last year's flea market was a big success and everyone walked away happy! See details on our website. You can also write us at FAB Magic Company, PO Box 483, Colon, MI 49040 - We look forward to seeing you there! Rick Fisher, Cheryl Fisher, Marilyn Abbott, Jack Barrows and the entire FAB Magic team! Daily specials and surprises still to be announced! ----------------- 9. Missing 6 Issues Of The Linking Ring Magazine ----------------- Message from Brent Miers (NZ) I'm missing 6 issues of the Linking ring magazine from a few years back. July 1995 August 1998 November 1999 July 2001 August 2001 September 2001 If anyone has any copies that they want to get rid of, I'd be happy to pay a fair price for them. Best wishes, Brent Miers magic1@xtra.co.nz ----------------- 10. The Passing Of Marx Straw - Colon ----------------- Message from Rick Fisher (US) Here in Colon we lost a friend and magician..Marx Straw. He had been a magician his entire life and was actually tutored by Percy Abbott appearing on one of the get together shows in the 1950's. He was a member of IBM and the prestigious Order of Merlin. He leaves behind no family but scores of close friends who knew his talents well. ----------------- 11. Magic CDBurner - Jamie-G ----------------- Message from Jamie-G (Canada) Effect: Magically take information from playing cards and burn it on to a blank CD. Props: Three playing cards, a card with a half flap, a card that is all silver that has been treated with the foil, a normal playing card, a blank computer CD with a mini playing card glued on the back of the computer CD, and a small key chain laser light. Note: The playing card with the flap or half card is going to match the mini playing card that is glued on the back of the computer CD. Step#-1: You must put the silver card under the flap; this is going to be the forced card. Show the three cards note the middle one. (They look like 3 normal playing cards) Then you show the back of the cards. The normal card goes overtop of the silver card and next to the closed flap hiding the silver card. (It should look like 3 normal playing cards front and back). Note: The cards may differ from the instructions all you need to do is make sure that the silver card is behind the flap. Whatever the flap card is, that is the card that you are pretending the silver card is. This is the card that is on the back of the CD (Mini card). Step#-2: While showing the back of the three cards, take the middle one out and put it on the table face down. They think the 5 of diamonds is on the table but it is the silver card. Now you have two cards in your hand, slide the normal card right over the end of the hinged card. If you did it right it will look like you have two normal cards. Show these two and it proves the 5 of diamonds is on the table. Then put these in your pocket. Step#-3: Now take the CD out of its case. Don't show the back of it because they will see the mini playing card on it.(The mini playing card can be covered up very easy by using two fingers than you can show both sides of the CD just make sure the mini card is covered.). Show the front of the CD and feel the back for the mini card. When you feel it cover it with your fingers then show the back. (It will look like a normal CD). Step#-4: Now take the CD and place it on top of the face down card that is on the table. Grab the key chain light from your pocket and turn it on. Put the light on the CD spinning the light around the CD slide the card out from under the CD and flip the card over to show the silver card. Next flip the CD over to show the mini card. Patter: I'm going to show everyone here a new breakthrough in technology. Most of you are aware of computers, some of you just might own a P.C. for home or even work. Computers come with printers and some even come with CD burners. Well you’re in for a treat today. My CD burner doesn’t use electricity it only uses magic. Do you all know what a CD burner does? It takes information and burns the information on the CD It is very important that we don't use too much information so we will use these three cards. I'll show them to you they are the Ace of Hearts, Five of Diamonds and the Ace of Diamonds. We only need one. I'll take the five of diamonds and place it on the table. See I've got the Ace of Hearts and the Ace of Diamonds in my hands. This is too much information and we don't need it. (They are placed in the pocket) Now we need the CD (show the CD front and back) All I have to do is place the CD over top of the card grab the laser light and now the information has been transferred to the CD Lets check to see if it worked. Note: Everything for this effect (The magic CD burner) should all fit very nice in the CD case and makes for a very great close up effect that is very compact. What is really great about this effect is you can use it for any age and it is a great new effect. Laser Light: The key chain laser light can be found at most dollar stores for just a couple of dollars. Any type of little light will work for this effect. Silver Playing Card: What I use is silver foil from my magic foil system. But you can use foil wrap and paste this neatly on the front of a playing card and it would work as well. Flap Card: This is a normal playing card with a half of another playing card glued or taped on the front of it. Its main use is to hide the silver playing card and to make it look like you have three normal playing cards. History Of The CD Burner: I came up with this effect a few years ago when I was fooling around with the magic foil and playing cards and pretty well took off from there. There are about 400 magic CD burners out around the world that magicians are using. ----------------- 12. The Amazing Orchante Saga ----------------- Message from Tommy Orchard (The Amazing Orchante)(UK ex-pat Kiwi) Page 38 Another thing I’ll never forget about that Bar, was the Toilet/Lavatories. “Through that door there”, I was told on enquiring of its whereabouts. It led into the back yard – enclosed by corrugated iron fencing. Two shallow ditches had been dug, running the length of the yard, ‘Ladies’ one side, ‘Men’ on the other. It was a sight to behold – a line of ‘blokes’ standing, or crouched down, depending on what their particular call of nature happened to be, and a line of women, panties around their ankles (if they Were wearing any) on the other side. That WAS ‘Life in the raw’. Today, the mental image of that scene is so vivid, at times it seems like it was only yesterday! Wish it were! I have strong memories of going to a Leper Colony to perform my magic show for these most unfortunate people – children, as well as adults – horribly disfigured from this terrible, infective, mainly tropical disease. It was a pleasure to bring a little joy and happiness to these shunned human beings. I still get choked up whenever I think of them. One really has to experience something like this to fully comprehend that old saying “there, but for the Grace of God, go I”! I feel fortunate, privileged, that I saw Tahiti the way it was originally, before the multi-storied hotels and apartments sprang up. I watched it change, and it broke my heart, another Paradise lost, ruined forever, with concrete and steel. We returned to Noumea from Tahiti on 28th June, 1964. Apart from performing in Gilbert’s Nightclub, he had also arranged shows at three villages, somewhere, out in the ‘bush’. Talk about ‘lost tribes’ ‘going native’, lush primeval jungle, and wild rivers – it was ‘true to life’ scenes reminiscent of the movie ‘The African Queen’. One village could only be reached via a swing bridge, made from vines, which stretched across the river. For those of you who can remember the film ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’, there is a fight scene on a swing bridge (it’s exactly 10 minutes from the end of the film – I know, I’ve got the Video, and checked). That gives a pretty good idea of what I’m talking about. We even had porters, I kid you not, to carry the equipment – portable generator, (no electricity where we were going) – the band’s speakers, amplifiers, guitars, microphone stands, my stuff, suitcases, lighting, the lot, carried on shoulders over that rickety bridge, which swayed from side to side like a pendulum. You just prayed that the men and equipment wouldn’t go tumbling down into the swirling, raging river far below! Compared to this, the bridge, at the infamous London Dome that everyone complained about last year (2000) because it moved slightly (that made me laugh), was set solid in concrete! - Bloody wimps! The most enjoyment I got was performing impromptu magic for the kids (and adults) on the village pathways and roadside stalls of these far off islands. The simplest ‘trick’ was, to their eyes, pure magic – the wide-eyed look of bewilderment and wonder on their faces, was a joy to behold; to them you were some sort of ‘god’, a witchdoctor supreme. In the remote villages of Mexico, China, South America, Papua/New Guinea, and with the Aborigines in the top end of outback Australia, the reaction was always the same. Performing sleight of hand with anything they were familiar with, such as small nuts, stones off the road, cigarettes, bottle-tops, matches etc., (not fancy manufactured equipment) only added to their wonderment. So, my first overseas trip ended. For most, the only experience of a lifetime; for me, the beautiful South Sea Islands, to which I returned many times, and the rest of the World - still beckoned. I left Noumea on the 10th July 1964 FOR MY OWN ISLAND PARADISE MY HOME ‘GODZONE’ NEW ZEALAND ------------------ 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) ------------------- 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® nor 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. 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