Posts
Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring
Next general meeting Wednesday, 8/15/2012 at 7:30 PM SHARP
I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819
Please join us for dinner beforehand
Lunch meetings in the McDonald’s at 7344 Sand Lake Road, Orlando. It’s two blocks WEST of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Sand Lake Road. We meet every Tuesday at noon upstairs.
Website: http://www.ring170.com/
F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
*************************************************************
Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Sheldon Brook- Secretary – mrbrook33@yahoo.com
Treasurer - Bev Bergeron & Joe Zimmer - Bev@bevbergeron.com zimsalabim@aol.com
Mark Fitzgerald- Director at Large - markaf1949@hotmail.com
Dan Knapp- Sgt at Arms - danknapp@centurylink.net
Stefan Bartelski – Editor of “Famulus”- Famulus@illusioneer.com
*************************************************************
GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it to Famulus@illusioneer.com, and we will get you in print.
Please, please, please, use the Famulus@illusioneer.com e-mail address, your messages are in danger of getting lost if you do not do so.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
2012-08 From the Editor
Summer is coming to an end so thoughts will be truning to the upcoming holiday season, which, notwithstanding Dennis' gloomy outlook for magic, will be busy for our professional and semi-pro members.
Once again the broken record, thanks to Dennis and Sheldon for their contributions.
Don't forget that a great lecture is coming up on September 5th, Dan Garrett, who has some great material. Don't miss him.
Your editor
Once again the broken record, thanks to Dennis and Sheldon for their contributions.
Don't forget that a great lecture is coming up on September 5th, Dan Garrett, who has some great material. Don't miss him.
Your editor
2012-08 Ring Report
President Craig Fennessey opened the meeting with introductions of guests David Freeman and Ivan Dandini both from Clermont, Florida. Craig reminded the membership that they were entitled to a discount on tickets to the upcoming Genii Convention to be held here in Orlando. Veep Chris Dunn reported on the opportunity he experienced in attending, for a day, the National IBM Convention. Our Ring's Jeff Pierce is releasing his book Cardwarp Tour at the Genie convention.
At the end of this month, Mark Fitzgerald will have completed 6 years of performing at Orlando's Hard Rock Cafe. Mark also performs close-up at the Portofino Hotel and at Goodwill Industries new store openings. Mike Martin is entertaining at Give Kids the World and invited the Ring membership to participate if they were available.
Bev Bergeron presented an interesting Teach-In showing his method of handling and passing, simultaneously, five (5) half-dollar sized coins through a table. Practice!, Practice!, Practice!.
Phil Schwartz followed with Magic History Moment No.42, a treatise on Multiplying Billiard Balls.
After a brief intermission Chris Dunn emceed the performance portion of the meeting. William Zaballero started it all with a multicolor thimble routine. Cody Morgan followed with an entertaining example of Poker Chip and Card Magic. Mark Fitzgerald shared three (3) effects with the membership. A magic color changing wheel, changing a dollar bill to a hundred dollar bill and back. He finished strong with a four (4) ace transpo routine. Brandon Zaballero followed with a juggling routine that brought out a very popular response from the audience. Dan Stapleton ended the evening by predicting the outcome of a magician name matrix by having a volunteer move through the names and ending on the predicted outcome. The outcome mysteriously appeared on a blank tissue paper when ignited. Truly. a great way to end the evening.
Sheldon Brook
At the end of this month, Mark Fitzgerald will have completed 6 years of performing at Orlando's Hard Rock Cafe. Mark also performs close-up at the Portofino Hotel and at Goodwill Industries new store openings. Mike Martin is entertaining at Give Kids the World and invited the Ring membership to participate if they were available.
Bev Bergeron presented an interesting Teach-In showing his method of handling and passing, simultaneously, five (5) half-dollar sized coins through a table. Practice!, Practice!, Practice!.
Phil Schwartz followed with Magic History Moment No.42, a treatise on Multiplying Billiard Balls.
After a brief intermission Chris Dunn emceed the performance portion of the meeting. William Zaballero started it all with a multicolor thimble routine. Cody Morgan followed with an entertaining example of Poker Chip and Card Magic. Mark Fitzgerald shared three (3) effects with the membership. A magic color changing wheel, changing a dollar bill to a hundred dollar bill and back. He finished strong with a four (4) ace transpo routine. Brandon Zaballero followed with a juggling routine that brought out a very popular response from the audience. Dan Stapleton ended the evening by predicting the outcome of a magician name matrix by having a volunteer move through the names and ending on the predicted outcome. The outcome mysteriously appeared on a blank tissue paper when ignited. Truly. a great way to end the evening.
Sheldon Brook
2012-08 Ring 170 Web-site
If you did not already know it, the new Ring 170 website is now up and running. Thanks to Craig Schwarz for his work on this. And thanks to Mark Fitzgerald who ran the previous version of the site.
Be aware, maintaining a website is not a simple job so thank these gentlemen when you see them, please
Be aware, maintaining a website is not a simple job so thank these gentlemen when you see them, please
2012-08 Dennis Deliberations.... Editorial and Comment
The poet Paul Valery observed after World War One: " Nous autres civilisations savons que nous sommes mortelles" (We, civilizations now know we are mortal)
I would not say that we are looking at the end of “Magic” as we knew it, but certainly the potential mortality of the hobby and business is apparent. Barry’s Magic Shop in Suburban D.C. just closed and it made the AP wire. I saw it on the “State News” part of the regional Associated Press feed while I was preparing the Sunday Morning News for my radio broadcast.
Let’s talk about why the Norfolk International Brotherhood of Magicians National Convention reflects the contraction of magic. My understanding is that attendance was down and certainly there were a lot less dealers. Show quality was considered still good as were the lectures. Those who attended had a good time. The IBM has always been the hobbyist group and mostly middle class. First, Norfolk is not a resort town. The old joke was that you won a vacation: Second prize was two weeks in Norfolk. First prize was one week in Norfolk. Conventions today are too expensive for the shrinking Middle Class. There is nothing new in magic other than the latest packet trick. Grunge Magic is all the rage now and that genre does not lend itself to convention attendance. I heard the attendance was 400 people and 10 dealers! I recall the days were the Florida State Convention was better! All the same lectures are easily available on the lecture circuit and You Tube.
All the acts have been around for years. One night was all Asian and I was told that all they did was productions. Very few people are now making a living from magic and thus you have almost no pros to talk to, just a bunch of move monkeys and finger flickers. “Try the Hamman frustration count just before the Elmsley Move, but Faro shuffle......” Zzzzzzzzzzzz......( by the way, I just Googled “Hamman Frustration Count” and three You Tube videos popped up!)
I have heard dismal reports from FISM. It will be interesting to see how the Genii and Daytona Convention will fare both being in Central Florida and being only four weeks from each other in the October-November time frame. They may appeal to 2 totally different crowds. You have to mortgage your house, which probably has an underwater mortgage, to go to the Genii Convention. It is being held at an Orlando Hotel next to the Florida Mall and near the Orlando Airport. It promises to have a celebrity line-up on the bill.
SAM always was a classy group but we in SAM often seemed like a magic clique. “We’re number two and we don’t try harder!” Apparently with a Vegas venue and David Copperfield, the SAM Convention was well received. But I look at the names. Lots of old guys! Let’s face it in Magic, the old guard is dying off and the new people are a different form of businessman. (Josh Jay, Andrew Mayne, Jay Sankey, Wayne Houchin, Nathan Kranzo, Daniel Garcia.) Denny Haney fancies himself, according to his cover story (August 2012) in MUM, as the last brick and mortar magic shop hold out. No pun intended with the term “hold out”; an old method for doing magic effects. The local corner store just can’t make it when faced with the Wal*Marts of magic. The biggest problem is not so much with other shops which can provide props cheaper. The problem is You Tube when all the secrets are open. Honestly now, a large percentage of people who buy magic buy it for the secret. If it is free on You Tube, they will not buy it. I have a friend going to the MAES Convention in Cherry Hill, New Jersey in September. Reports from Abbotts are coming soon also. We will see how they go.
Dennis
I would not say that we are looking at the end of “Magic” as we knew it, but certainly the potential mortality of the hobby and business is apparent. Barry’s Magic Shop in Suburban D.C. just closed and it made the AP wire. I saw it on the “State News” part of the regional Associated Press feed while I was preparing the Sunday Morning News for my radio broadcast.
Let’s talk about why the Norfolk International Brotherhood of Magicians National Convention reflects the contraction of magic. My understanding is that attendance was down and certainly there were a lot less dealers. Show quality was considered still good as were the lectures. Those who attended had a good time. The IBM has always been the hobbyist group and mostly middle class. First, Norfolk is not a resort town. The old joke was that you won a vacation: Second prize was two weeks in Norfolk. First prize was one week in Norfolk. Conventions today are too expensive for the shrinking Middle Class. There is nothing new in magic other than the latest packet trick. Grunge Magic is all the rage now and that genre does not lend itself to convention attendance. I heard the attendance was 400 people and 10 dealers! I recall the days were the Florida State Convention was better! All the same lectures are easily available on the lecture circuit and You Tube.
All the acts have been around for years. One night was all Asian and I was told that all they did was productions. Very few people are now making a living from magic and thus you have almost no pros to talk to, just a bunch of move monkeys and finger flickers. “Try the Hamman frustration count just before the Elmsley Move, but Faro shuffle......” Zzzzzzzzzzzz......( by the way, I just Googled “Hamman Frustration Count” and three You Tube videos popped up!)
I have heard dismal reports from FISM. It will be interesting to see how the Genii and Daytona Convention will fare both being in Central Florida and being only four weeks from each other in the October-November time frame. They may appeal to 2 totally different crowds. You have to mortgage your house, which probably has an underwater mortgage, to go to the Genii Convention. It is being held at an Orlando Hotel next to the Florida Mall and near the Orlando Airport. It promises to have a celebrity line-up on the bill.
SAM always was a classy group but we in SAM often seemed like a magic clique. “We’re number two and we don’t try harder!” Apparently with a Vegas venue and David Copperfield, the SAM Convention was well received. But I look at the names. Lots of old guys! Let’s face it in Magic, the old guard is dying off and the new people are a different form of businessman. (Josh Jay, Andrew Mayne, Jay Sankey, Wayne Houchin, Nathan Kranzo, Daniel Garcia.) Denny Haney fancies himself, according to his cover story (August 2012) in MUM, as the last brick and mortar magic shop hold out. No pun intended with the term “hold out”; an old method for doing magic effects. The local corner store just can’t make it when faced with the Wal*Marts of magic. The biggest problem is not so much with other shops which can provide props cheaper. The problem is You Tube when all the secrets are open. Honestly now, a large percentage of people who buy magic buy it for the secret. If it is free on You Tube, they will not buy it. I have a friend going to the MAES Convention in Cherry Hill, New Jersey in September. Reports from Abbotts are coming soon also. We will see how they go.
Dennis
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)