* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Magic New Zealand * www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Issue Number: #505 Date: Sunday 10th June 2007 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. Universal Pictures Motion Picture "Magicians" 3. New Zealand Tour Adds $10,000 To 2008 Contest Prize Package 4. S.A.M. 2007 Convention Update 5. 'Remarkable Magic' #10 - Nick Lewin 6. Making the First Impression - By Kyle Peron 7. Sorcerers Safari Summer Magic Camp 8. The Lecture Network New Series 9. Australian Society of Magicians Centenary Convention Update 10. The 16th Annual KIDabra International Conference 11. Abbott's 70th Get Together 12. Vancouver's Harry Potter For U.S. Stars Of Tomorrow Show 13. The Magical Juliana Chen Opens At The Berlin Wintergarten 14. New Black Art Lecture In Reno 15. Magic In The Mountains Sydney 16. The Amazing Orchante Saga 17. e-zine Archives 18. Privacy Policy And Copyright Notice -------------------------------------------- 1. Editor's Message -------------------------------------------- Latest update on Paul Daniels sickness On speaking to the lovely Debbie McGee she tells me that the doctors have finally discovered what has been making Paul so sick. After blood tests Paul was diagnosed as having an under active thyroid and a very high cholesterol level. It will be up to 3 months medication before Paul will be back to his normal self. I know our readers will join us and wish Paul a big get will soon magic spell. ----------------------- Remember if you have any magic news drop me a line: AW@Alan-Watson.com -------------------------------------------- 2. Universal Pictures Motion Picture "Magicians" -------------------------------------------- Message from Steve Pradell (Alaska) I was reading the latest e-zine and tried the posted link to the Universal Pictures Motion Picture "Magicians" and saw that apparently utube has taken the clip off. I then located the film clip at: http://www.universalpictures.co.uk/ -------------------------------------------- 3. New Zealand Tour Adds $10,000 To 2008 Contest Prize Package -------------------------------------------- Message from Jack White (US) It was announced today that the World Festival of Magic will offer a stage contest winner at the IBM/SAM 2008 Combined Convention a four week engagement on its month long New Zealand tour from mid November to mid December. The contract will call for a fee of $10,000 in addition to airfare, any cargo or baggage overage, transport accommodation, visas and related visa fees. "We feel this is a great opportunity to showcase a winner of what is likely to be one of the world's best magic contests in 2008," said Gene McCarthy, producer of the tour for International Entertainment. "Previous artists who have filled a slot like this have been Marvin Roy, Dimmare, George Saterial, and Victor and Diamond to name a few. We are looking for a certain kind of stage act that will fit with the other acts on the tour and we expect to pick from the best of the best." "We are delighted that our friends in New Zealand want to be a serious underwriter of our contest" added Brad Jacobs, combined convention co-chair. "For many years, New Zealand magicians have supported both I.B.M. and S.A.M. conventions and this is just another wonderful example of their continuing efforts." The first convention of its kind ever staged in the United States will be held in Louisville, Kentucky, July 21-26, 2008 and will have up to 100 stage and close-up competitions plus a number of special events. The convention has pledged a $20,000 cash purse, and an equal amount in performing contracts has already been committed. The World Magic Tour has increased the cash value to $30,000. Complete 2008 contest rules, a registration form and hotel reservation link may be found on the convention web site IBM/SAM2008.com. -------------------------------------------- 4. S.A.M. 2007 Convention Update -------------------------------------------- Message from John Apperson (US) Four More Weeks to 4th of July! If you haven't made plans yet, please register now and join us! Here's what's in store for you at the S.A.M. in Dallas (July 4-5-6-7)! Five stage shows including "Oceans 7" and "Viva La Magia" public galas at the Majestic Theater, along with the "People's Choice" Stage Contest; the "Stars of Tomorrow" and "Magic from the Heart of Texas" at the Adams Mark. And--Six Lectures; Two Seminars; Nine Special Sessions (workshops & more). Plus SYM Kids events; "World's Biggest Magic Show"; Trivia Game Show; Dealers; "Five Star Teach In"; plus- Five Close-up Performers - and MORE. Plus the Fireworks on the Fourth in town. To register, please call John Apperson at 618-451-9749 Meet the performers at http://www.magicsam.com/SAM2007/acts.asp Click here for full details! http://www.magicsam.com/SAM2007/index.asp It's Easy to register online at: http://www.magicsam.com/SAM2007/index.asp#rates Visit www.magicsam.com for other details Register soon. Time is of the essence--S.A.M. room rates held only through June 20! Press information, reply to PUBSAM@aol.com -------------------------------------------- 5. 'Remarkable Magic' #10 - Nick Lewin -------------------------------------------- Message from - Nick Lewin (US) Remarkable Magic. The Saturday Gigs. One of the biggest differences between my early years in magic when I lived in England and my American life were the Saturday gigs. Kid's parties: the 'bread and butter' or 'cherries on the icing' of most English magicians. In the United States there is a great deal more close-up and wandering magic performed. The first truly organized pay scale I devised for my services was 'a pound and a slice of birthday cake'. However the exciting part was that you could sometimes perform five parties in an afternoon! These Saturday (and to a lesser degree Sunday afternoon) gigs were and probably still are the economic backbone of any performing magician in the UK. Don't think it was just the beginners mopping up this seasonal gravy. Bookers often didn't realize the quality of the performers doing 'baffling bunnies'' in the living room. With the prospect of a fast 'tenner' you might end up with a Billy McComb, Pat Page, Ali Bongo or Robert Harbin on your doorstep. Hell I am pretty sure even Maurice Fogel had a Hanukkah Mindreading Show for kiddies. In my earliest engagements and bookings in the children's party market my parents chauffeured me from gig to gig as I was too young to drive. I certainly wasn't too young to give orders. I would sit in the back of the car snapping out orders and directions like an overexcited mercenary at an old-fashioned regime change. Reading addresses and directions from little slips and pieces of paper I would shout frenzied directions to my good-natured father in the front seat. I would occupy the back seat of the car and rummage through my big light green suitcase without a handle. I would perform the 'bear claw,' which is a nervous habit I have retained until the present day. Every show I do there is a moment just prior to showtime when I think I have lost or forgotten an important prop. I then claw through the closest box/bag/drawer or suitcase looking for the missing item. I am beginning to think this could be a nervous reaction. Looking back on it now I learned a great deal performing those kid shows. They prepared me for the hustle bustle of actually working as a magician. They had a really nice quality of hit and run. You did your gig; you got your money, you ate your cake and then off to the next one. Frankly I Kind of miss the simplicity. As always send any bricks or bouquets to nicklewin@earthlink.net and check out my website at http://www.NickLewin.com -------------------------------------------- 6. A Making the First Impression - By Kyle Peron -------------------------------------------- Message from By Kyle Peron (US) Chances are that many of you have heard the old phrase, "Don't judge a book by its cover". It says and means quite a lot. It tells us that we really should not judge any one person before we get to really know them. However, in the area of show business, this is just not often the case at all. In the business world of entertainment, people do judge you often times entirely by the promotional materials you send out to them. This week's article is going to touch base on this idea of first impressions and how you can be sure to make the best one possible. Remember that often times the very first impression you ever make on any prospect is the promotional materials you give out to them. You probably spend money on developing a great show. You spend time having great costuming and props. You work hard to make your show as professional as you can. So why is it that when magicians get to their marketing materials, they basically give up? Now I know you are not really giving up, but what happens is we get lazy. Often times we do not see the value in professional looking marketing materials. We figure that because we have a computer with printing capability, we can create something fast and simple. If you care so much about the quality of your show, why would you want the first impression you give to anyone, be a business card that looks cheap and seems cheap because it is created on a home system with clip art and precut edges? It sends the wrong message and impression to your prospects. Your business card and materials are a direct reflection on you, and the show and service you provide. If a person is given two cards and one looks cheap, done on perforated edge card stock and the other is professionally printed, then the professionally printed piece has more impact. It is seen as having a much greater perceived value. Prospects do judge you on the quality of the materials you send out. They have to because most times this is the only thing they see of what you do. Remember that in most cases the prospect has never seen you before and they must make their decisions on what materials are sent to them. Yes, people really do care about the quality of your card and materials. I have done studies on it through my work as a graphic designer. There have been reports that clearly show your perception, as seen by a prospect, goes down ten-fold based on the quality of the card itself. This quality also means not only the quality of how it is printed, the paper, but also the design. Precut and perforated cards just never look good and never send the right message of a professional and quality performer. If you take your magic seriously and want your prospects to view you the same way, then stay away from printing them this way and go with online digital printing. With the advent of online digital printing, you now have the power of professional printing with very low minimum runs (sometimes as low as 250) for a very low price. The competition is fierce for your dollar so that means often times great prices for us the consumers. Places such as www.vistaprint.com or www.overnightprints.com have good prices, reasonable low minimum runs and good turn around times. It just makes sense to spend this money to get a job professionally printed. It looks more professional, sends a better message to your prospect and your cost is still very little. Online digital printing really is a great thing. There are some that do amazing work that is very professional at a very reasonable cost. Of course not all of them are the same so I tell anyone I design for to ask for samples up front to make sure they can deliver on quality. Online printing has come leaps and bounds in the past few years. You can get full color, both sides on gloss card stock and even with a varnish for well under $65 or cheaper. The only time I would ever think of using perforated cards would be as a test for a card design I am working on. In this fashion I may print a few just to see how they look and get an idea if I like them, if they work and maybe get some feedback from a friend I trust. But short of that, I would never think of giving or mailing any prospect a perforated or poorly designed card. It just screams cheap and unprofessional. If I am giving out cards or mailing cards to prospects, then I am giving them a professionally printed card every time. The important thing is that now I am not handing out a card that looks and feels cheap. I am handing out a professional card that looks high in quality and my prospects need to receive that from me. I want my prospects to know I do a professional high quality job. As I have stated before, this is just my own opinion but it is based on years of doing this professionally for a living and designing for entertainers. The bottom line is a simple question... "How do you want your prospects to perceive you and your services?" If you want to be perceived as a high quality professional magician, spend the extra time to do it right. Work with a designer to create a logo or brand identity and then follow it up with a professional print job. You will be amazed at the difference it makes. 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. Kyle Peron Magician and Illusionist Graphic Designer and Illustrator (Specializing in Logo creation) www.kyleandkellymagic.com Chair Suspension Ebook Author http://www.magicenhancer.com/ChairSuspension.html ----------------- 7. Sorcerers Safari Summer Magic Camp ----------------- Message from Lee Asher (US) Sorcerers Safari Summer Magic Camp Unveils New 2007 Special Guest Browsers Den Magic Shop, Toronto, Ontario June 09, 2007 - A new kind of special guest will premiere at this year's Sorcerers Safari Summer Magic Camp. Owner and founder Mike Segal disclosed for the first time at camp's open house today, that master magician Wayne Houchin will be the special guest this year. "Sorcerers Safari hopes to usher in a new era of camper into our already existing program with Wayne's soaring online popularity. We truly are bridging the gap between the on-and-offline generations," articulates Segal. Sorcerers Safari's program is already designed from the ground up to put campers in more control of their 'magic camp experience' on their own terms. A Sorcerers Safari councilor's mission is to instill an appreciation for and promote the art of magic through professional instruction and diverse performances. Their mission also includes helping our young magicians hone their craft to achieve the next level while having fun. Sorcerers Safari provides participants with the opportunity to meet and work with people throughout the magic community. Working together with a variety of Canadian talent, magicians from the USA and other parts of North America, and some of magic's most notable figures - it's become the world's premiere magic summer camp. When is Magic Camp? --- August 24-31st 2007 Those interested in learning more about attending Sorcerers Safari with Wayne Houchin this year please visit http://www.sorcererssafari.ca/wayne_houchin_magic_camp.html About Wayne Houchin Hired as a consultant on the hit national television series "Criss Angel: Mindfreak," Wayne Houchin exploded on the scene with his initial release Coin in Soda Can. Two years later, he released the groundbreaking DVD "Stigmata" which garnered widespread critical acclaim within the magic community and became an instant international bestseller. His next release Indecent is currently doing as well as its predecessors. For more information about Wayne Houchin, please visit: http://www.WayneHouchin.com About Sorcerers Safari Summer Magic Camp Disappear for a week and immerse yourself in the rich art of magic, make friends and life-long memories, all while enjoying the great outdoors Try your hand at palming cards, master the art of illusion, learn to juggle, and perfect your stage presence. Plus daily swimming, canoeing, bon-fires, and so much more await you at Sorcerers Safari Magic Camp. For over 10 years serving magicians ages 8 - 20, amateur to expert. Visit http://www.SorcerersSafari.ca -------------------------------------------- 8. The Lecture Network New Series -------------------------------------------- Message from Walter Blaney (US) I just saw the first Lecture Network appearance on the internet produced by Jeff Hobson and Loren Michaels. Guests were Mac King and Lance Burton, with Jeff as the host. Just three long time magic friends casually chatting and joking around and it was fun. Funniest highlight was when each was telling one story or a blooper or an odd happening. Lance said he was doing a big corporate show and one of his birds flew into the crowd. Lights kept Lance from seeing at the time that the bird had landed on top of the head of the company CEO in the front row. Lance said he heard such a loud and strange commotion and sound from the audience that he had never heard before at any show ever. Mac pops a quick ad lib, "Applause?" It was just priceless. Better join up... it will be fun. Cheers from Texas, Walter -------------------------------------------- 9. Australian Society of Magicians Centenary Convention Update -------------------------------------------- Message from Charles Gauc (Aust) President ASM Competitions We regret to announce that we cannot accept any more competition applications. We had to extend the Close-up competition to three sessions as we have had a tremendous response. The competitors in both competitions will only be required to perform once. Each competitor will be videoed and the image will be projected on a full size cinemascope screen. This will ensure that each act is seen to its full advantage. There is an 8 minute time limit for each act. A bell will sound at the 7 minute mark to warn competitors that they only have one minute left. If a competitor exceeds the 8 minute limit they will automatically be disqualified. We suggest you time your routine to 7.5 minutes. The audience will be handed a voting slip as they enter the theatre. The act with the highest number of votes will be declared the winner and the next two for 2nd and 3rd place. We decided to do it this way to eliminate any suggestion of bias towards any particular performer. Convention Registration Deadline We have extended the deadline to the 15th June as a result of numerous phone calls. We are only ordering the bags for the number of registrants and have no intention of over ordering and being left with dead stock. The supplier needs a fortnight's notice for delivery as each bag has to be printed. Each bag will contain a soft covered copy of Brian McCullagh's book 'Deception Down Under". A look at magic in Australia. One Convention Program, a Pen and a Notebook. Any registration after the 15th June will not be guaranteed a convention bag but will still receive the "goodies" in a plastic bag. I am sure that you will understand that we are trying to run this to a strict business plan and all we have asked for right through is an indication of people's intentions so that we can budget for it. Day Passes Day Passes can be purchased but they must be paid for before the 1st July. Prices are: Saturday Excluding Public Show $130. Sunday $130. Monday $110. Day pass holders will only receive a convention program with a day pass. There will be no sales at the door once the convention begins on Saturday. Public Show tickets: Adults $30, Children $15, Family Package 2 Adults and 2 Children, or 1 Adult and 3 Children $60. No public show tickets will be available for sale at the theatre. Tickets can be ordered through Brian Pleasant at 03 9584 3879 or Charles Gauci 03 9431 2900. Friday Night Pre Convention Get Together From 7.30 pm, on the mezzanine floor at the Victoria Hotel conventioneers will gather to show each other their latest effects. There are enough tables and lounge chairs to accommodate some 200 people so come along and have a great time and catch up with old friends. Drinks at the bar are very reasonably priced. We will set up a registration desk to hand out the convention pack which will help to ease the congestion at the Besen centre on Saturday morning. It is critical to wear your registration card holder when attending the convention otherwise you may be refused entry. Shuttle Bus Service Shuttle buses will ferry overseas and interstate conventioneers to and from the convention centre daily. In view of the late night get together the buses will leave the Victoria Hotel on Saturday morning at 9.30 am sharp. The buses will be numbered and each conventioneer will be allocated a bus number. Please co-operate by using the bus number allocated to you. As you enter the bus please tick off your name. This will help us ensure that nobody is left behind when each bus leaves for the Besen centre. Bus problem. We need to know how many buses to order. We will assume that interstate and overseas visitors will be catching a bus. The main confusion is the Victorian registrants particularly the country ones. We would appreciate it if you can contact us and register your name if you will be requiring a bus pass. We want to avoid the situation of not having enough buses and at $575 per day per bus we are not keen to over order buses. For Convention news update visit www.magicians.org.au Looking forward to seeing you at the convention -------------------------------------------- 10. The 16th Annual KIDabra International Conference -------------------------------------------- Message from Mark Daniel Spotlight on Mike Bent At the KIDabra Conference, the philosophy with our attendees is to spend quality time with great teachers, creative thinkers and top performers. What a shame to spend just an hour with someone at a convention lecture every few years when they have so much to teach. With that thought in mind, many on the KIDabra staff annually share new directions, new ideas and collectively, much wisdom. For instance, since the wildly creative and funny Mike Bent started attending KIDabra a few years ago, he is always on target with his unique perspective and passionate enthusiasm for children's magic. He has appeared on all three of the KIDabra Live Session Evenings with original material, this August will mark his fourth. For many years he was one of Hank Lee's original magic shop elves, spent several years on the comedy club circuit and made numerous TV appearances. He has taught a class on comedy writing at Emerson Collage for nearly 20 years! After his daughter was born his priorities changed and he started developing shows for children with his special "bent." Out of those programs has come a wealth of original material, much he has released to the fraternity and some of which you can see at mikebentmagic.com (A couple of years ago while hosting the Saturday night gala show at KIDabra, Mike's Card Magic for Dogs would become some of the funniest moments in KIDabra history, causing my usually reserved son, Stephen, to laugh so hard I was afraid that he would pass out!) In Mike's first feature lecture at KIDabra enjoy: A Magical Year! Mike Bent's 2007 KIDabra lecture will explore the events and holidays that make up a magical year! Christmas and Halloween are the big two, however Mike will present routines and theming ideas for all the events we perform at throughout the year, from Birthday Parties, Blue and Gold Cub Scout Banquets, to the 4th of July and beyond. Learn to "think inside the calendar" and plan ahead to make special events even more special! Customizing for your clients means that the folks you perform for will love you for it. They'll even reward you by booking you again and again! Mike Bent's A Magical Year is a KIDabra Highlight Event! You're invited to join folks from around the world as they meet at The 16th Annual KIDabra International Conference: The Association of KIDshow and Family Performers August 15-18 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, USA. For more info on KIDabra Conference, the featured line-up, schedule and the Association go to kidabra.org -------------------------------------------- 11. Abbott's 70th Get Together -------------------------------------------- Message from Hank Moorehouse (US) August 1,2,3,4,2007 are the dates of the 70th Abbott's Get Together. Colon, Michigan will double in size as magicians from around the world will double the size of this small village at the side of a lake. Registration is $140 It's more than just magic with the village providing a craft and arts fair, fireworks and magic in the streets. As usual we'll have Vent-0-rama's, close up Gala, Magic Ministers meeting, 6 lectures, contest with $1,100 in cash prizes, dealers and 5 gala shows. Performers include, Wed. Romaine, Danny Archer, Circus Boy, Andy Dallas and Richard Forget. Thursday, Glen Gerard, Toritto, from Japan, The Blackstone Ladies, Oscar Munoz and Jay Mattioli. Fri. Kerry Pollock, Skilldini, David Sandy and Jason Bishop. Saturday matinee, Paul Emmick, David Kovac, Craig Thornquist, Mike Woodward and the contest winner (extra cost event). Evening show...Jeff Hobson, Richard Forget, Stunt Johnson Theater, Alan Shaxon, from England and Arthur Trace. No Politics, Just Fun. Contact Greg Bordner 269 432 3235 or www.abbottmagic.com -------------------------------------------- 12. Vancouver's Harry Potter For U.S. Stars Of Tomorrow Show -------------------------------------------- Message from Clive Court (Canada) Vancouver, BC (May 30) Nicholas Chow, a seven-year-old award-winning Vancouver magician, has been selected for the Stars of Tomorrow show at the Society of American Magicians convention in Dallas, Texas, July 4-7. Nicholas will be one of five young magicians, including one from Britain and three from the United States, who will represent the next generation of magic stars. Nicholas is the youngest by nine years. This event is a showcase for outstanding young talent not a competition. As this is one of the world's largest annual magic conventions, some of the world's best magicians will be in the audience. Founded more than a century ago, the Society of American Magicians (SAM) is the oldest magical society in North America. A few years ago, the U,S. Postal Service issued a stamp featuring Harry Houdini, their founding president, to mark their centenary. Nicholas Chow is the two-time youngest Pacific Coast champion magician for North America and Asia. He is also the two-time youngest Vancouver Magic Circle champion. He won his first award from the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians at five. On Sunday, June 10, Nicholas will be the invited guest performer at The Children's Magician of the Year competition at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in Burnaby. B.C. This is an annual competition organized by the Vancouver Magic Circle(VMC), the largest regional magical society in Canada. This competition for the Wilfred Rutherford Trophy features adult magicians who specialize in entertaining children. The public audience is encouraged to vote for the magician of their choice. The 2006 winner was VMC president Mike Norden who will host this year's competition. The event begins at 1pm. ----------------- 13. The Magical Juliana Chen Opens At The Berlin Wintergarten ----------------- Message from Clive Court (Canada) Vancouver B.C (June 1) Canadians travelling to Europe this summer and planning to spend some vacation time in Germany may like to catch up with Canada's amazing magician, Juliana Chen, at the Wintergarten Theatre in Berlin. Chen--the world's first lady of magic--opens at Germany's most famous variety theatre next week and plays through October 6 in a show designed to attract international tourists as well as residents. Since she became the first woman to win gold at the 1997 World Championships of Magic, fifty percent of her work has been in Germany, a leading G8 nation. Only one per cent of her work has been in Canada and mainly fundraisers and corporate functions. Unable to find an agent or manager in Canada, Chen no longer needs one because she has learned to successfully negotiate her own way around the show business world during the past decade. She now books talent and produces her own shows . She recently completed her second contract as the artistic director of the Athens Art and Illusion Festival. She has been invited to present six up-and-coming young world-class magicians at the Shanghai International Magic Festival in November . Chen is also planning to join Murray Hatfield's annual Canadian tour next November, December and January. Hatfield is Canada's premier touring illusionist. At the end of tour in January, Chen will return to Germany to begin a three-months tour of German cities starting in Hamburg. Further information sources: www.wintergarten-variete.de www.julianachen.com www.murrayhatfield.com ----------------- 14. New Black Art Lecture In Reno ----------------- Message from Don Drake (US) I'll be looking forward to meeting some of you in Reno at the IBM convention. I do hope you'll come to my lecture and introduce yourselves. The lecture will be at 11 AM on Friday, June 29 in the Reno Room. Lecture over at 12:30. A surprise performance by a very good illusionist and his partner will be presented for your entertainment and a good demo of the Miracle Wall. Please don't miss it! In addition everything in the lecture will be new, especially the close-up. And there will be hidden surprises, music and a lot of comedy! I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of you for the first time and also my old friends. ----------------- 15. Magic In The Mountains Sydney ----------------- Message from Graham Justice (Aust) On Sunday 23rd June at the Winter Magic festival, an established event in the Blue Mountains - there really will be some great Magic - The Carrington Hotel will be the venue for a day of magic The afternoon show promises to be a wow - Your Host will be that funny Sydney Comedy Magician Barry Mawson . From the Sydney Showboat Rod Junor will be bringing his brand of magic, and Adam Mada from Sydney will be amazing with magic and illusions. The Historic Carrinton Hotel has donated its full facilities for no charge. It will be a great day with Dale Sadler - Performing his brand of Mentalism - Jason Low with a demonstration of Bang On Tony Quelch a Blue Mountains Magician will also be performing. We are hoping to see lots of local Sydney based hobby magicians attend, it will be a great place to actually perform to a public. We have a childrens show and a mentalism event in the Grand Lounge - Also for youngsters wanting to know more about magic there will be an introduction to magic in the Library. Count Dracula will be presenting a micro performance and Digiquick will be demonstrating some off the latest effects. All proceeds from the main show and kids show are going to Project Magic, this is David Copperfields magic for rehabilitation. Already several magicians have expressed their interest in helping out with the Australian Branch of this project. Graham Justice the owner of Digiquick is going to the USA to meet up with David Copperfield and attend the conference in Las Vegas - This is in Early July. On his return it is hoped to get the wheels turning and start Project Magic Australia. For details of this go to: http://www.digiquick.com.au/descriptions/project%20magic.htm For details of the programme of events at the Winter Magic Festival go to http://www.digiquick.com.au/main%20categories/programm%20of%20events.htm ----------------- 16. The Amazing Orchante Saga ----------------- Message from Tommy Orchard (The Amazing Orchante)(UK ex-pat Kiwi) Page 160 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 Singatoka, 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 next week -------------------------------------------- 17. 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