The Fylde Mystics, 11- 2014.pdf

Promoting the performance of Magic

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The Fylde Mystics

November 2014

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Editorial by Paul Joyce

Apologies for the lateness of the November issue, but

the sun in Portugal was just too tempting!

The next issue will obviously be the Xmas edition, it will

be published leading up to Xmas so you all have

something to read over Xmas!

Please do send some articles in for it.

Look forward to seeing you all at our extra meeting this

month.

See you soon

Paul

Pete Firman Trickster Quays TheatreSaturday 13th September By GeorgeJennings

This is the second time we have been to see Pete Firman at the Quays

Theatre. As before he comes across as being very likeable. He is very

energetic and fast with his delivery. Pete largely performs the type of

magic I personally like to watch with lots of entertainment linked to

strong tricks. Looking around we appeared to be about the oldest

people that were there as the vast bulk of the audience that pretty well

filled the stalls, but not the circle or upper balcony were aged between

20 and 40 and with a sprinkling of children.

The stage had a large video screen with a leather sofa on which there

was a picture of Pete Firman holding a saw and with his body cut into

two sections.

The start of the show reminded me of one of the interactive sections

used on the various versions of Help my supply teacher is magic as

it used the video screen to say he wasnt in the theatre, but was in one

of 9 locations on a grid. It was a low key, but fun start to the show

when he eventually revealed where he was, which needless to say was

where everyone who had followed the instructions correctly had

finished up.

This was followed by the Martinka chair made famous in

the USA by Peter Pit which is like a version of topsy turvey

bottles, but using a chair finishing with a buy one get one

free finish. He said he had paid just 15 for the chair. I am

quite willing to give him a 100% profit on this if he would

like to sell.

I have mentioned before about making connections with the

audience by using stories. Here it was taken one step further

by showing a video of Pete performing a version of Glorpy

when he was about eight when he was rehearsing for taking

part in a talent competition at school. He then got 4 people

in the audience to give him marks out of 10 as if they were

judging the competition. When they had done this he

revealed he had won and showed the medal in a frame. On

the back he had had engraved the marks he had been given

which matched those of the judges in the audience. This

was an excellent routine, which registered very strongly.

The only bit that perhaps should not have been said was that

the marks, which were generous, 9,9,7 and 9 were the best he

had ever got. It was an understandable comment given how

high they were, but if they are to match those engraved on the

medal in theory it should not be a surprise. It would have been

better to comment on the original judges being generous and

the audience being the same. I suspect he was expecting

someone to mark it low for comedy effect, but on the night it did

not happen.

Another trend in stage shows is to use a video camera to allow

some close up magic to be performed. Here it was prefaced by

saying it was a trick he had learned very early on and over the

years had performed many different versions. Here it started

with using the pop out move to produce the four aces. It then

went into a version of the 4 ace trick and I was surprised by the

gasp that went up in the audience when he revealed the last

packet were now the four aces.

There were a couple of tricks, one in each half, that fitted the

modern fashion for geek magic. Not that both tricks were

modern, as one of them was the Hindu needles with lots of

needles. In the second half there was a version of Russian

roulette using staple guns that again terrified some of the

audience when it was fired into his chest, hand and face.

A couple of the tricks were very similar to Geoffrey Durham.

One was the hydrostatic glass and the second the torn and

restored newspaper with the use of thank you a couple of times

and pause before doing the restoration.

There was an acknowledgement of my friend Patrick (Page)

when he did the money gag linked to a card in wallet, which

was cleverly combined with the Joseph electronic escape.

He is very good at the adlibs. The best for me was when he

had a lady up to help him on stage who was wearing a dress

that was patterned into squares and part way through he said,

Ive got 6 across, but I cant get 12 down.

The first half closed with him asking someone to write down a

number, which he appeared to be having difficulty in picking up

as he wrote the wrong numbers. Eventually he named the

numbers, but he had by then used them to make a magic

square. The closing item for the second half was a Malloy

prediction chest routine, that used the premise of improvisation

of doing a trick based on things suggested by the audience

when he was given a crutch by one spectator. This again was a

very entertaining routine with a strong finish.

There was much to admire in this show, but, and it is a big but forme, I have to say that there is one thing I did not like about thisshow and that is that the amount of swearing he uses which ap-pears to have increased dramatically from the first time I saw himlive.

Whilst I am not naive enough to think that children are not awareof certain 4 letter words I do not think it is appropriate to usethem in a show like this when there are some present. Thesedays most young performers seem to take it for granted that it isacceptable to use them and to do so frequently. It is up there withmagicians describing moves as being organic which I assume isthe in word for what Vernon called being natural.

And whilst I am on the soapbox about the over use of words wein the UK seem to be following the American trend of saying thateven ordinary everyday things are awesome. Overuse of anyword becomes irritating to the listener and usually the person do-ing it has no idea that it is happening. One of the pieces of adviceI was given, which I have never followed, is to use a digital re-corder to record all your performances and certainly this wouldbe of use to make us aware of exactly what we were saying eachtime.

I doubt the use of this would make much difference to how PeteFirman speaks and for many of the venues he performs it wouldnot be anything anyone would bother about, but in a theatre withyoungsters it perhaps worth looking at and questioning if it is re-ally necessary.

Keeping it Fresh By Alan Mylecraine

Further to my corporate performances at Blackpool Football Clublast season at select matches, this season I have been booked forevery home game. Apparently, last season, when I wasnt per-forming at some of the matches, the corporate manager was beingasked where I was, which proved a great advantage for me as hedidnt want the same questions this season, hence he booked mefor every match.

Now it has been well documented that Blackpool FC havent gotoff to the best of starts this season, although I do feel the tide isturning and the football is improving. However, due to the startBFC have made the corporate lounge hasnt been as busy assome of the matches last season. Whilst initially this may seemlike an advantage, and it is in the fact I have got to know people,their names, what they do etc., and they know me too, it doesmean that my arsenal of magic to perform has to be increased toensure I am performing something new each match, especiallyfor the tables who request I attend and perform for them. Eachmatch I am given a list of which tables and/or executive boxes toperform at, these may be match sponsors, or clients BFC arehosting, once I have performed for them then I am free to go whereI like within my given time period, which usually runs for about oneand a half hours up to 15 minutes prior to kick off.

As I briefly mentioned before, I have found that I am learning moremagic effects to perform at the football club, so as well as havingmy A & B set which I regularly perform at corporate events,weddings etc, I am now adding a C & D set too, which actuallykeeps it fresh for me as well as my audience. This is somethingwhich I think is essential, keeping it fresh, when it comes toperforming.

I personally have performed my sets 1000s of times, by perform-ing so many times it enables me to know what can and cant gowrong with an effect, what to say and when to say it (timing), it alsoallows me to concentrate on my patter and injecting my personalityinto the performance.

Although it may be the 10th time I have performed a particulareffect at a gig, for my audience it is the first time they have seen it,and quite possibly the first time they have experienced close-upmagic live, and I need to ensure that I convey the fact that it is asfresh for me as it is for them who are seeing it for the first time(quite possibly). We as magicians only have one chance to makea first impression, and we are not just making it for ourselves, weare making it for all magicians they may come to experience in thefuture!!

Terry Griffith Lecture By Allan Clarke

This month, I attended a special lecture by Tony Griffith fromBristol. The lecture was hosted by the Modern Mystic Leagueand for a nominal fee we were treated to a fine evening.

Tony is a long standing professional worker and a highly regard-ed magic lecturer. What struck me most was how commercial allof the material was. It's becoming a bit of a cliche these days buthis routines were certainly slick and very well routined. It's easyto lose sight of how much a performance can be improved byclever routining. By adding 'light and shade', appropriate audi-ence participation and the right amount of ebb and flow in thevariety of effects it can make a big impact on the whole perform-ance resulting in it all very 'watchable'.

Most of the lecture was full of 'classics' at least in as much asthere wasn't anything earth shatteringly new, but as with his firsteffect, his presentation of the Nudist deck, they quickly involvedall the audience and set the scene for later effects. I have alwaysthought that the ubiquitous 'Ring and Rope' routine was a greatvisual treat for the spectator, but here agian Tony had some ex-cellent storylines that drew the spectator in and held their atten-tion in a way that I hadn't thought possible. One very useful pieceof advice was the inclusion of a large ring, in his case a colourfulJuggling ring. It was surprisingly effective and highly visible forplatform work. He had also incorporated some moves which,whilst I knew them, had never thought of combining them in sucha way. A case in point was his use of the 'one handed' knot moveto which he had added the 'capture' of a spectators watch forgreat comedic affect.

He was certainly able to wring out miles of comedy in his presen-tations, from funny lines and puns to general observations, someof which may have procured the odd groan but generally kept theviewer enagaged. His patter for the 'Chinese Compass' took an-other 'oldie but goodie' to a new level showing that in the righthands and at the right point in the show these 'compere items'could make for very entertaining viewing. In the same vein, wasthe old Grey Elephant in Denmark prediction effect which inTony's case was vastly improved by the addition of a number of'options' which took the effect away form the 'standard'. I wasparticularly impressed with the prop he had created to do this,adding a simple visual 'times table' allowing the audience to keepup with the potential rigours of the mental arithmetic required atthe same time helping to reinforce the outcome and make thewhole thing more effective.

He also had a bunch of card effects, again all standard but mak-ing also making use of some unusual diversions when it came tothe revelations. One in particular, where the chosen cards arecaught by a balloon animal, next by an paper 'mouth' and finallyby a mousetrap held by the now hapless volunteer. He had anumber of gambling effects such as 'Your Choice' but had builtthree variations, including a 'Pass the Parcel' type routine whichcould be used in lots of differing situations. For me, the highlightwas his version of the Ten Card Poker Deal, Pokerdem. Han-dled properly (there's some phsycological conditioning at play)the magician cannot lose but it was very entertaining and thepresentation obviated the need for the spectator to understandthe value of winning poker hands.

Tony's final effect was another classic, the story deck effect 'TheSpiv'. This was elevated by using devices to engage the audi-ence such as a ringing bell and a script, effectively having theaudience chorus the patter lines. All in all it was an excellent lec-ture very well presented.

Without doubt, the material is practical and entertaining. He hasauthored a number of books such as his Reflections series anda kind of 'omnibus' edition called The Essence which I wouldhighly recommend. It has 140 pages of effects spanning a widevariety of effects from silks, cards and ropes to childrens effectsmany of which include artwork for the enthusisastic DIY readers.'The Essence' book underpins his highly acclaimed 'At Home'series of lectures and can be obtained via his web sitewww.tonygriffith.co.uk. You should check it out it's good solidstuff.

Whats on by George JenningsI have just had a second notification about Luke Jer-may. He is appearing at King George's Hall WindsorSuite Blackburn on Thursday Feb 26th 8pm Tickets 15and 13 concessions. It also says 16+.and it is listedunder comedy!

He is appearing at the Lowry Sunday March 1st 20158.00pm. Tickets 12.00

MYSTICAL DVD LIBRARY1 Card College 1 & 2 (4 discs) Giobbi, Roberto2 Gambling Protection Series (3 Discs) Forte, Steve3 The Minotaur (2 Discs) Harlan, Dan4 Bullets After Dark Bannon, John5 Bullet Party Bannon, John6 Red Mirror Guimaraes, Helder7 Pat Page Pat Page8 Magic By Gosh Albert Goshman9 Corporate Close Up 2 Volume 1 RSVP10 On The Spot Gregory Wilson11 Complete Intro to Coin Magic Michael Ammar12 Blackpool Magic Club 2006 DVD RSVP/BMC13 The Session 2007 Alakazam Magic14 The 52 vs Joker Project Gary Jones & Chris Congreave15 Exchange Rate Inc Cameron Francis16 Elegy Shift Alex Ward17 Interview with Wayne Dobson Jay Fortune18 Reel Magic August 200919 Razzamataz Aldo Colombini20 Fibre Optics Richard Sanders21 The Classics George McBride22 Skip Switch Project Ollie Mealings23 1 Below Zero Andrew Normansell24 Magic Tricks Tutorial DVD Tricks 4u.com25 The Cullfather Iain Moran26 Card Through Window David Forrest27 Linking Cigarette Akira Fujiis28 Easy To Master Card Miracles Vol 1 Michael Ammar29 Easy To Master Card Miracles Vol 2 Michael Ammar30 Easy To Master Card Miracles Vol 3 Michael Ammar31 Easy To Master Card Miracles Vol 4 Michael Ammar32 Easy To Master Card Miracles Vol 5 Michael Ammar33 Easy To Master Card Miracles Vol 6 Michael Ammar34 The Magic of Alex Elmsley Vol 1 Alex Elmsley35 The Magic of Alex Elmsley Vol 2 Alex Elmsley36 The Magic of Alex Elmsley Vol 3 Alex Elmsley

37 The Magic of Alex Elmsley Vol 4 Alex Elmsley38 Fylde Mystics Close Up Comp 2012 Members39 Secrets Of Card Across Worlds Greatest Magic40 Hands Of Mystery Gordon Dickson41 Bright Ideas Christopher Williams42 Mike Austin Lecture Notes Mike Austin43 Smoke & Mirrors John Bannon44 Standing Room Only Aldo Colombini45 Dobsons Choice Wayne Dobson46 Learn Magic with Kaymar Card 1 Kaymar47 Learn Magic with Kaymar Card 2 Kaymar48 Learn Magic with Kaymar Card 3 Kaymar49 Learn Magic with Kaymar Card 4 Kaymar50 Learn Magic with Kaymar Card 5 Kaymar51 Learn Magic with Kaymar Card 6 Kaymar52 Magicbox EXP Magicbox53 David Jones Basic Coin Magic International Magic54 CrowdPuller Peter Wardell

My s t i c a l L i b r a r yBOOK S e c t i o n

1 Born To Perform Lecture Notes Oz Pearlman2 Totat Paul Hallas3 Pool Table Aces Joe Riding4 A Prefoessionals Repertoire Ian Keeble5 UK Sankey Tour Lecture Notes Jay Sankey6 The Cheap Close Up Book Paul Hallas7 Cards Within Al Smith8 Mental Mix Paul Hallas9 Little Miracles Geoffrey Durham10 Kidshows List Of Lists David Ginn11 Old Ideas New Twists Pat Fallon12 Into The Abyss Oz Pearlman13 Almost Unpublished David Ginn14 Nearly Unpublished David Ginn15 Crossing The Fine Line Trevor Duffy16 The Even Cheaper Booklet Paul Hallas17 Pocket Power Jarle Leirpoll18 Aspects Of Entertaining Children Colin Ceekay19 8 King Set Up Frank E Blaisdell20 The Magic Party Mark Leveridge21 Indian Cups & Balls PK Ilango22 Lecture notes From Underground Joe Rindfleisch23 Alan Shaxon lecture Alan Shaxon24 One Minute Miracles Petrick25 Elastrix Ed Mishell & Abe Hurwitz26 Kind Of Magic Lecture Notes Wayne Dobson27 Gobsmacked Lecture Cody S Fisher28 Insight Devib Knight29 Rub The Lamp James Breedon30 Mind Blasters Peter Duffie31 From Page To Stage Neil Roberts32 Encyclopedia Of Card Tricks Jean Hugard33 Bread & Butter Shawn Farquhar

34 165 Card Tricks & Stunts Jean Hugard35 Magic & Card Tricks Wilfred Jones36 Self Working Table Magic Karl Fulves37 Modern Coin Magic JB Bobo38 Magic Everywhere Matthew Costello39 Locksmiths Training Manual40 Feature 3 Roy Johnson41 Teach Yourself Magic Robert Harbin42 Encyclopedia Of Card Tricks Jean Hugard43 202 Methods Of Forcing Annemann44 Tricks for the travelling trickster Ken De Courcy45 Now you see it, now you don't Bill Tarr46 Traditional Pub Games Arthur Taylor47 Magic With Everyday Objects George Schindler48 Mysterious Book Of Magic Peter Eldon49 Mark Wilsons Greatest Magic Tricks Mark Wilson50 Dubblekross & Simulkross Ken De Courcy51 Clear AntiGravity Lewis Ganson52 Time Flies Roy Baker53 Thirty Card Trick Supreme54 Routines In Rhyme Bill West55 Coin And Money Magic Eddie Joseph56 The Magician Jan 2005 Repro57 The Magician Feb 2005 Repro58 The Magician March 2005 Repro59 The Magician April 2005 Repro60 The Magician May 2005 Repro61 The Magician July 2005 Repro62 The Magician August 2005 Repro63 The Magician September 2005 Repro64 The Magician November 2005 Repro65 The Magician January 2006 Repro66 The Magician March 2006 Repro67 The Magician May 2006 Repro68 The Magician June 2006 Repro69 The Magician December 2006 Repro70 The Magician Xmas 2006 Repro

71 The Magician January 2007 Repro72 The Magician March 2007 Repro73 The Magician May 2007 Repro73 The Magician Holiday 2007 Repro74 The Magician Summer Repro75 Balloon Magic Marvin Hardy76 All Wind & Twists Finale Doug Brearley77 Second Wind & Twists Doug Brearley78 Rainbow Balloons Shirley Ray79 Balloon Toons Bob Wooding80 Balloons Mad Jack81 Entertaining Balloons Jean Merlin82 Card Magic USA Peter Duffie83 Card Conspiracy Duffie/Robertson84 Card Conspiracy 2 Duffie/Robertson85 Beyond Compere Terry Seabrooke86 A Pocketful Of Miracles Hugh Miller87 Mind Blasters Volume 2 Part 1 Peter Duffie88 Mind Blasters Volume 2 Part 2 Peter Duffie89 Subtle Miracles Peter Duffie90 Diamonds From Goal Duffie/Robertson

Dont forget to let Paul know if you want to borrow anybooks. He doesnt always bring the library to the clubbut he can bring along any titles you need. Just givehim a call.

Please note: Thanks to the generosity of membersthere are a few items that will be added to the lists intime for next month.

2014 / 2015 Programme:

5th August 2014 Trick a Tape Session - Perform, Video, Critique... simples!2nd September 2014 STAR LECTURE with

Dr Roger Woods- The Magic of Jessie Demaline.

7th October 2014 Card Sleights Masterclass - Hands on Tuition.

4th November 2014 STAR LECTURE with John Carey, the Card Man's Card Man2nd December 2014 Christmas Meal (open night)

6th January 2015 Childrens Magic - Perform two ef fects suitable for childrens party3rd February 2015 STAR LECTURE with Mark Southworth3rd March 2015 Table Hopping on a shoestring.... hop, perform, hop again.7th April 2015 Close-up Competition Night - Open night - guests welcome.5th May 2015 BOOK CLUB: Perform effects from a book.2nd June 2015 Mentalism/Stage Night. But then you knew that didn't you?2nd July 2015 Mini AGM and Trick Session

Thanks to all who contributed to this months edition, with-out the contributors and the readers it wouldnt be possible!

The Fylde Mystics, 11- 2014.pdf

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