The Northern Magic Circle Convention used to be one of the top three conventions in the country, but has been on a dangerous downward spiral for quite a while, with dwindling attendance and funds. This weekend has defined the turning point. Thanks in no small part to Allan Clarke, Steve Gore and the team of convention organisers who have now set the bar for this convention.

The attendance was up, with a big age range on show, lots to do and see with enough time to keep this a friendly and sociable event. One or two star names which obviously helped the attraction, the change of format and the huge publicity drive all went to making this a very enjoyable weekend convention, they need to build on this success next year and once again make the Northern a must go too event.

I am sure with Steve now installed as President with a younger forward looking council you will not want to miss next years event so mark the 27th 28th March 2010 and join me and Magic Convention Guide at Southport Arts Centre for next years Spring Parade.

The Gala show opened with a James Bond themed routine from the Southport Academy of Dance.

John Archer was our Compere for the evening and he introduced us to the first act. Tony Parx is a very slick and incredibly skillful manipulator, as witnessed in his opening card sequence. He then moved into a talking section which included a half-dyed silk routine, a very quick rope through the body, a five-card-repeat and finally a vanishing champagne bottle.

John Archer performed his own spot, interspersed with interludes of Ukulele playing was an hilarious Seven Keys to Baldpate routine where he has to divine the right key from the sound it makes on the glass receptacle and a burnt note to wallet routine.

Alana closed the first half with the act she is using to represent Germany at this years FISM. She produced a billard ball and moved into a skillful vanish and manipulation sequence culminating in the production of a giant string of pearls, which proceeded to change colour. The magical production of a shoe was her confession to her love of shoes, she brought a male volunteer on stage who freely selected a picture of a pair of leopard print boots, she predicted his choice by showing a covered picture of the same boots, and finally that she had been wearing them througout her act covered by her long evening dress which then changed into a leopard print one to match the boots.

After another colorful and modern opening to the second half from the Southport Academy of Dancers, Gregory Wilson took the stage to show his skill at magic, cons, pickpocketing and down right cheating! His production of a large bottle of champagne from a small folded party bag, was a strong opening trick, Greg then moved into the cons and pickpocketing, this was demonstrated with a clever and quick jumbo three card monte and a con with a Rubiks Cube which was mixed by the audience, Greg then showed his cube had matching sides, and he finally fully solved the cube by just tossing it into the air. A quick pickpocket sequence on Stevie B. had his credit card end up in Gregs sock safe, and to close Greg showed a funny gag where he made his ears flap using dental floss.

Michael Jordan expertly took the juggling spot in the show. A very effective opening sequence of juggling glowing balls on a darkened stage, showed Michaels obvious skill in this domain. Something I dont often see other jugglers do is to talk, this works in Michaels case as he has a great rapport with the audience, he used this to build up a club juggling sequence and then to his finale of juggling knives whilst on a Giraffe Unicycle.

You always know you are in for a fantastic finale when Amethyst, aka Danny and Annette, are in that spot on the bill. A high energy mix of large illusions and smaller magic opened with Danny producing Annette from a Fire Cage. Annette was then locked inside a clear box, and a curtain raised, within seconds she was shown to have escaped with the box still locked, she was then placed inside a small cabinet, which was penetrated with a large tube, and subseqently squashed. Moving onto smaller magic they performed colour changing records, a silk vanish and drink-in-the-news. A beautiful solo singing spot from Annette lead up to the finale of their roller-coaster illusion where Annette gets chopped in half and sent all the way round some tracks, to be brought back to the top, and restored. This brought the act and the show to a great finish.

Steve Naylors lecture was entitled Table-hopping with both feet on the ground. This was a lecture on the business side of working restaurant and close-up gigs. Steve showed us how he approached a table, and started the lecture with a small set, simulated by a couple seated on stage at a mock-up restaurant table. A Single Coin Flurry ended with the production of a giant coin and into an International Coins Across routine. Steve closed his set with a very strong card to box effect.

He then went on to speak about the business side, he talked about publicity, the letters and contracts he uses, how to set your fee, what to do when taking a booking over the phone to make sure you get the job. He mentioned the importance of sending confirmation letters and the possible perils of working for an agent.

Next he went on to discuss the 8 guidelines when selecting material and how to handle hecklers and mistakes. Finally he went into a quick explanation of the tricks he did in the opening set.

A very informative lecture that took a different slant to a normal trick one, and a format that the organisers might consider repeating at future conventions, I certainly picked up some tips and guidance from a true professional in every sense, a great end to a day of lectures.

Put John Archer in front of an audience and he will perform, with all the quick fire responses and developing situation lines, it was hilarious, but there in lies the lesson, Johns performance of his tricks make apparent essential techniques of comedy, timing and delivery.

Johns version of Dr Hoys Tossed out Deck, shows a perfect example of how John has taken a classic routine and made it his own, with twists and subtleties including his deck-switch technique and a piece of business, that I had not seen him use before, and for me was worth the price of the convention ticket, I wont give it away but if you do the Tossed out Deck you need to see this lecture!

For years demonstrations of The Magic Square were at best interesting mathematical oddities, at the worst positively pedestrian. This routine recently had a renaissance with several well known performers making it a feature item. Again John has examined the routine, ironed out some of the potential flaws in the method, and come up with a presentation of a challenge attempt, which injects some much needed drama and excitement. I know John encourages people to steer away from his presentation and to come up with their own, so hopefully this may see some other unique takes on this plot.

Komedy Killer is Johns story and methodology for Kenton Kneppers Kollosal Killer. Cleverly John builds the main drawback of the trick into an engaging and charming story about how he went to America to learn to read minds. John concluded the lecture with Psychic Spelling. What started as an out for his Book Test routine has grown into a strong standalone piece, where a freely thought of word appears written on a card in an envelope in his wallet.

Steve Frayne is a great guy, and its fantastic to see he hasnt lost touch with his roots. It was good to see him patiently explaining techniques to the juniors who were clearly bowled over by his presence and willingness to session. I first became aware of Steve at the Northern conventions, and it is amazing to see how much he has grown into his own style and brand of magic, now performing all over the world for celebrities and big names he has also had several TV advert deals and specials. Considering this was only his second lecture it showed great maturity, with a structured display of some of the effects that we have seen him use in his TV appearances.

His Polo Through Neck effect based on Sean Fields Saw trick got audible gasps, as he choked on a Polo his neck chain was sawn into the flesh and came out with the Polo threaded on the middle. Next he gave a great demonstration of the Georgia Magnet, were a big tall guy was made to loose his strength so he was unable to pick up Steve. This also got some great reactions from the audience, in particular when he taught one of the Northern Juniors, James, to do the trick so the spectator was unable to pick him up!

Next two effects using a spectators T-Shirt, a variation on a Joe Russell effect called Holy Shirt, saw a spectators T-shirt get burnt and restored. This was followed up with a coin penetration utilising a very clever Bob Swadling gimmick. Two coins were balanced on the T-shirt, and one penetrated through, all literally under the spectators nose!

Steve went on to explain his handling of the Haunted Deck using a loop, and his handling and care of the loops with the different variations he has. I remember the video clip of him performing this to Coldplay and the sheer astonishment on Chris Martins face!

Can From Shoe was Steves way of being able to do a Cups-and-Balls style load that fit his style of magic. Based on ideas from David Harkey and Jarle Leirpoll, Steve showed us how he loaded the can under misdirection of a card effect, and talked about how he sometimes combined this with Wayne Houchins Sinful.

Lastly to conclude the lecture a performance of Steves Multi Selection Card routine. Twelve cards were selected and lost back in the deck, and found in different ways, with spins, multi packet cuts and body popping for good measure. A fantastic end to a very enjoyable lecture.

James Brown has amazing self belief coming from his thinking that he doesnt mind failure and likes to take risks to pull off a great moment of magic. He talked about his way of working, and then ran us through three very strong card effects.

The first was a Thought of Card to pocket, James placed a mystery card in his pocket where one card was peeked and another named and James used the named card to try and reverse engineer the peeked card, he then pulled the named card from his pocket.

Caught Three Times is a trick based on John Careys Slo Mo Collectors. James had three cards chosen and placed back in seperate parts of the deck, then two court cards were placed face up in the middle, and slowly, and one at a time the three selections materialised in-between the court cards.

In The Hands Sandwich was a take on a plot twist I first saw Kostya Kimlat use in his collectors routine, and I believe Gary Jones has a one card handling, simply two sandwich cards are placed on a box, a selection made and meanwhile the sandwich cards have vanished off the box to appear back in the deck surrounding the selection. James prefers to make as much of his magic happen in a spectators hand so has changed the handling slightly, puttiing the sandwich cards onto a spectators hand, so that after the selection has been made the card sandwich instantly appears on their hand.

James ended the lecture by saying that he didnt care if he messed up and took that philosophy with hecklers, after all he wanted his magic to be fun, and to have fun in doing it, it was a great sentiment to end a fun lecture.