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Northern Magic Circle Session 2
Sunday May 8th 2011
Morecambe
Reviewed by Paul Joyce
Organised
by Stevie B and well arranged to fall on Sunday May 8th in the same venue as the
previous night’s Presidential dinner.
There was a reasonable turn out of members although it was disappointing there
weren’t more who had made the journey or decided to stay on after the
presidential dinner from the previous night. For those who had made the effort,
it was proved to be a very wise choice. It was free to all Northern Magic Circle
members and only £5 to non members and it proved to be a bargain.
Opened at 11am, there were four dealer stands selling their wares, one being
Cynthia working as hard as ever overseeing sales on the Juniors stand, all
proceeds going to the Junior section. Most of the props I believe have been
donated by members in the past an there really were some bargains to be had,
well worth a look if you get a chance, you may get a bargain whilst knowing you
are supporting the juniors as well.
Stevie B opened proceedings by telling us the timetable for the day and also
telling us about his trip to Poundland and what you could get from there. If you
want to know what it was you should have gone to the session! We then went into
a trick session where Stevie explained the mechanics of how it worked and then
gave us all the chance to work at it and make our own versions. We even got to
take it home! After a few trials with the product, we all got to grips with it
and it was a very clever principle – again, if you want to know more you should
have been there!
We then went into the first talk of the day and that was by Ray Roberts and was
about the life & times of Horace Goldin. Hearing about his Jewish ghetto
beginnings and how he started to develop into the magician we had all heard
about was fascinating. It was a really good talk and enjoyed by all. I think
special mention must go to Ray, he presented his talk in a most entertaining
way, starting with mutilated umbrella to cane to begin and to finish, I thought
his effect was a real showstopper and presented superbly.
We then had a break for lunch, with plenty of teaching of tricks going on, Baggy
taught a great card trick to my son Jonathan who has done it none stop ever
since! The two best tips of the day came from a junior who said he keeps his
playing cards in the fridge and for misdirection shout Moose! He also showed
great skill with an ace production which he then very kindly taught us all.
After lunch it was straight into Shaun McCree’s lecture (photo) which due to the
set up of the room he was able to firstly perform as if in table hopping mode.
From there he talked us through the mechanics of the routines and what has
brought him to do things the way he does. I have seen Shaun perform many times
and also lecture and he just gets better and better, you can always tell when
you are seeing a real worker in action and in my mind he is one of the best.
Every routine is commercial and with the experiences he shares with you, it can
only help with your own magic. Superb lecture and if you get the chance to go
and see it I strongly recommend that you do.
Then it was on to the raffle and afterwards our President thanked us all for
coming and closed the session. It really was a great day as those who went will
testify, it’s not often in life these days you get something for nothing and it
is great that the Northern Magic Circle are trying to organise events for their
members. Please support the next one in your area – you won’t regret it.
© Paul Joyce, May 2011.