Craig Mitchell has kindly sent some of his on the ground reporting, which he’s covering over on the Genii Forum as well from Kentucky:

Day 4 in Louisville Kentucky. The gift today was a specially minted souvenir medallion to join the custom printed playing cards, convention poster, leather wallet and special convention close-up set already received. A fantastic line-up of ‘goodies’ for the registration bag which really make a big difference … whoever was responsible had clearly gone to a lot of trouble in getting these extra touches together.

First event of the day was the much anticipated lecture by David Williamson on “Organic Magic - The Art of Impromptu”

Those who have seen David’s antics at past FISMs will know just how manic a magician he can be - unfortunately that mad cap magician is slowly being tamed - and that completely zany character was nowhere to be seen today. Instead we had David sitting behind a laptop computer attempting to present a ’serious’ lecture … technical difficulties however plagued the Powerpoint presentation leaving the impression of an ‘unrehearsed’ impromptu lecture ( the gods of fate are curious beings ). A few highlights though were video clips of David let loose on the streets of Kentucky to much hilarity. All in all though the lecture lacked magic and was disappointing having gone into it with such high expectations …

From there it was onto round 3 of the stage contest with a bumper 16 contestants.

Read the rest of this entry »

Psycrets have announced the fourth of the Tabula Mentis event to take place in London. Tabula Mentis IV will this time focus on seance, bizarre, and psychic demonstrations, and will take place on 15 November 2008 at 7 Mallow Street, London.

The line up of lecturers and speakers feature, Roni Shachnaey - Rogova seance, Jon Randall (Editor. Pentacle Magazine) - Fraud! A lecture on mediumship, Tom Lauten - Creating aged props for bizarre magick and Dr. Steve Murray - Bizarre magick.

There will also be a special evening presentation with David Berglas.

Full Details in our event entry, which also contains the website details.

Craig Mitchell has kindly sent some of his on the ground reporting, which he’s covering over on the Genii Forum as well from Kentucky:

So here we are on day 3 of the “convention of the century” - a little too lofty a title unfortunately..

First event at 11 am was the “business of being funny” - a discussion forum with Mike Finney, Mac King and David Williamson - hosted by Stan Allen. This was a great opportunity to get to know these legendary comic stars - their inspirations, approach to comedy, and ideas. Very relaxed and informal.

For those wondering, David Williamson wasn’t quite his usual hyped up self - but still presented plenty of antics along the way - including dismantling the podium as part of his ‘presidential debate’

The Stage Contest followed in the Kentucky Centre - a few observations of the acts today. Read the rest of this entry »

Craig Mitchell has kindly sent some of his on the ground reporting, which he’ covering over on the Genii Forum as well from Kentucky:

Today’s programming has been very sparse. No events until the 12 noon stage contest - surely with the sheer volume of talent at the event a few more lectures could have been arranged ? The same applies to this afternoon - with a single lecture by David Ben & Jon Racherbaumer on Vernon & Marlo … if thats not your cup of tea - you’re out of luck until the 8 pm gala show.

On to the contest ….
Unfortunately I am going to butcher some names as we werent provided with a printed list of competitors for the stage contest. Note to organisers - this would have been very useful along with a notepad and pen in the registration bag..

The contest got off to a bang with An Ha-Lim from South Korea presenting a kaleidoscope of multi-coloured card manipulation - an unbelievable number of cards and technically brilliant. But does a lay person find this entertaining ? Magicians went mad.

Just Alan presented a travelogue to India … 5 minutes of slide show - no magic to start - and then color changing liquid and Doug Henning’s Hindu sands effect. Very boring.

Magic Chiaki from Japan was beyond painful. Picture magician in cheesy tuxedo and assistant in blue tux with fishnet stockings. This assistant looked like she had never been on stage before in her life. Grace clearly is not a strong point. A floating feather with visible string ( note to all performers - thread work requires you to check your lighting ) A blendo done badly … and wait for it … a zombie feather with exposed gimmick.

What fascinates me is that the contestants were supposedly vetted for the contest - you could have fooled me. This act would have been jeered off stage at FISM ( although those acts are truly the most memorable )

Yuko from Japan continued our Asian descent into the bizarre with a strange color changing act with parasols, appearing pom poms from sleeves ( so thats where they come from ) and a floating butterfly on fan with - you guessed it - visible thread.

David Boyd from NY picked up the pace with a bird act - billiard balls and card manipulation. His unkempt collar - ill fitting costume - all just added to a performer who was clearly nervous and uneasy with his magic.

Bin Lin from China saw everyone’s worst fears of FISM China come to life - boring silk act after manipulation act after silk act all done poorly. Billiard balls generally need to be seen to be effective. Bin Lin decided to take the approach of the further away I walk from the audience the better until she was at the very far curtain - with the spectator in front of me ( row 3 ) getting out his binoculars to see the act ! And in a triumphant highlight - let’s steal a ribbon from a make-shift kangaroo pouch and call it magic.

Michael Tallon from the USA did an offbeat card act featuring snippets of well known songs. The comedy was a welcome relief and saw him receive a standing ovation if for nothing else his originality.

Sterling Dietz kicked off his act with neon poi, d’lite, floating cane, linking rings ( very much back in vogue now ) and card manipulation. Act was well received although I heard also suffered technical difficulties due to thread lighting.

Roger Benoit from Canada did a multiplying bottle routine. Nothing to write home about.

Fuji Yama did a linking ring routine ending with the production of a lifesize jumbo ring. Technically very good - but is it mandatory for Asian magicians to perform traditional Asian style magic in traditional Asian clothes ? Does everyone in Asia do parasols, silks, linking rings in flowing kimo style costumes ?

Zihao Liu China - more card manipulation.

David Kaplan came to the comic rescue again with a falling bowling ball from the stage rafters destroying a prized musical instrument underneath. Received another standing ovation.

Elliot Zimet from the USA did a hip punk style bird act complete with appearing parrots. Very contemporary and well received.

3 hours later and the first part of the stage contest draws to a close. Big kudos to the contest organisers and tech crew with everything running like clockwork !

All in all - a very weak line-up. Many acts should have never been selected in the first place. Besides the first card manipulation act - nothing stands out as amazingly wow - so the contest is still very much open for the taking.

Craig Mitchell has kindly sent some of his on the ground reporting, which he’s covering over on the Genii Forum as well from Kentucky:

When you call yourself the ‘convention of the century’ - you’re setting a VERY high standard - and unless you are 100% sure that you are going to over deliver BIG time - the safe money is that you are setting yourself up for a very nasty fall.

The IBM SAM kicked off with an Opening Show at 12:30 pm this afternoon at the nearby Kentucky Center theatre - a short stroll from the main Galt House hotel complex.

If we are going for convention of the century - one would hope ( and expect ) some high powered show to really set the tone - kick off with a bang - and really get the adrenalin going. What we got was 5 minutes of 1970’s computer generated synthesiser music accompanied by a demonstration that the tech guy could use all the settings on the intelligent lighting system - not exactly heart pounding stuff. Five minutes of light show over - and out comes the convention organisers, the society presidents -spouses and the mandatory 10 minutes of speeches along with citations by the ‘replacement’ sent by the mayor who ‘had other engagements’. Note to producers - speeches are BORING. Quite ironical considering the tag line for the convention is ‘it’s all about the magic’

Pleasantries out the way and MC for the show Mac King takes to the stage. Finally - magic time. Mac King was his usual consummate self and ultimately featured his classic material from his Vegas show - cut & restored rope, shadow tent, cloak of invisibility etc. Mac was simply great and has the instant charm that the audience so quickly warms to. The rest of the talent on the show was sub-par.

David Garrard is Louisville’s own illusionist - I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Perhaps its a Kentucky speciality to include a blow-up doll as part of your family friendly repertoire ? And when performing in front of 2000 magicians - you have got to be a VERY brave man to use your blow-up doll in your Zig Zag … in goes the doll - slice and dice - and voila out comes the live assistant. From Zig Zag - we went into a Linking Ring routine ( thrilling ) followed by a broomstick suspension. ( dressed up as a family christmas portrait next to a snowman - and yes, we are no where near xmas yet )

No disrespect - but with a budget of THOUSANDS of dollars to spend on opening entertainment - this was the mega illusonist for the show — oh my !

Voronin from Ukraine presented a bizarre act which was meant to be comical ( tables being made to fall down by a piece of string running across the length of the stage isn’t funny to me ) And where is the magic ?

Marty Pollio had to be the strangest choice … part comedian ( not funny ) … not a magician … and an average juggler I’m perplexed as to what possible role he was meant to fulfil ? If you are going for juggler - then please get a good one who is exclusively a juggler.

So we have 2 ‘comedy’ acts - a blow-up doll illusionist - the fantastic Mac King - and to end it all - why not have a bagpipe marching band lead everyone out the theatre.

Not exactly the fantastical start I was hoping for.

The Dealers Room is packed with a great assortment of dealers from around the globe - and naturally is always one of the highlights of any event.

The main lecture this afternoon was Jim Steimeyer - titled ‘The Secret No one Tells You’ … the lecture is held in the main ballroom with jumbo video screens on either side and flat seating for 1500+ delegates. The secret is ‘don’t perform junk magic’ … Jim dispensed some good, practical advice and shared a few tricks along the way - although the connection of the tricks to his message was - I felt - sometimes lost along the way. It was nevertheless well received.

CLOSE-UP CONTEST:

The close-up contest has to quite possibly be one of the biggest ( in terms of venue size ) in history. Held in the main Kentucky Center theatre ( the same venu as the gala shows ) - performers are playing to 1800+ people. A large screen suspended mid stage is showing the action while the performers are on ground level in front of the judges. While I had my doubts having close-up in such an enormous venue - it surprisingly worked okay for me ( but then I still was seated in the first 10 rows so had the benefit of watching both performer and screen ) I don’t know how effective this arrangement was for those viewing from the rooftop.

The contest organisers were on the ball - with everything running very smoothly. 12 competitors formed the first group of close-up contestants.

Craig is also covering this in more detail on the Genii Forum

Craig Mitchell has kindly sent some of his on the ground reporting, which he’s also covering over on the Genii Forum as well from Kentucky:

Early reports from the registration desk ( which was well staffed ) were of enormously long lines with wait times in excess of an hour ( caused in large part due to a very long checking process of ensuring that everything was in the bag and having delegates sign off receipt of tickets, voucher etc which just delays matters immensely )

Thankfully - my wait time was significantly shorter ( and made all the more enjoyable by bumping into hot contest favourite Shawn Farquhar and family ) With Jim Steinmeyer standing in line right behind me … everyone who is anyone has descended on Kentucky.

The registration bag is the black fabric shopping bag type ( I much prefer the more traditional delegate laptop style bag as used by Stan at Magic Live ) filled with a number of goodies including a superb convention “magazine” put together by Richard, Dustin and the rest of the Genii team. An outstanding job - well done guys … the book is filled with all the details on the event and the obligatory shots of “hierarchy” complete with mayoral chains and enough congratulatory messages being passed backwards and forwards on their rise to power from family, friends and “worshippers” - aaah - magic politics is so much fun. But then this is IBM SAM after all - twice the amount of fun..

A special highlight is a custom close-up magic set put together especially for the convention featuring a host of custom branded IBM SAM effects including Princess Card trick, 2 card monte etc. A very nice touch along with an IBM SAM lapel badge and a “special” Presidents badge ( in case you want to have the respective mug shots of the new IBM and SAM presidents adorning your attire) Maybe there is a special Presidential Anthem they play as well ?

All in all - a good job on the reg kit with more vouchers to swap out in the coming days for extra surprises …

Tomorrow’s program sees Dealers open at at 9 am - Opening Show featuring Mac King, Voronin and David Garrard at 12 pm followed by a special lecture by Jim Steinmeyer in the afternoon. CLose-up contest at 7:30 in the evening - lots to look forward to …

And Louisville has added its own magic to the night with a full on lightning and thunder show … thank goodness for aircon.

Craig is also covering this on the Genii Forum