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