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DWmagic New user England, Bristol 71 Posts |
Blackpool Magic Convention. Wow.
This was my first time at Blackpool, and I went with my Dad. We set off at about 10:45am on the Friday, and reached Blackpool at about 2:15. We then spent about Half an Hour trying to find the Hotel in which we were staying, and in the process we passed it at least three times. We eventually found the Hotel, then started to unpacked and made our way down to the Convention. After Registering, we got into the queue for the Paul Green lecture that was to start at 4:00pm. This was a lecture that I didn’t want to miss. However, when we got in, we found out that it wasn’t Paul Green as he had missed his flight and was lecturing later on in the Convention, and in its place was Craig Dickson. The lecture was very good; Craig was very down to earth and showed us some very good effects. The first was a very nice rising card effect, then there was a PK routine, a few variations on a versatile card technique and a stacked deck routine. Very nice stuff. He was selling packs after the lecture of which I was tempted, but I vowed that I wasn’t going to buy anything on the Friday. Them we made our way back to the Hotel as there wasn’t anything that interested me for a bit, we finished unpacking and I practiced the stuff Craig had just taught us. We headed back to the Winter Gardens at Seven. After that, we zoomed around the Dealers. As you probably know, they are restricted to the Horseshoe Area on Friday, so the Dealers that were there were restricted in what they could display, and over half of them weren’t there at all. It was pretty cramped in the Horseshoe anyway, so after we had skimmed through, we went off to get reasonable seats for the British Magical Close up Championships in the Renaissance Room. Most of the Stuff was very good. I won’t go into all of the Performers but they included some great card and coin work, an OK cups and Balls routine, some lovely Matrix routines and some very repetitive work with a Magic Wriggler. The Winner was Will Houston (either that or Will Gray, I’m not good with names at the best of times). His act was excellent, but it was done with Music which in my personal opinion takes less skill than with patter. Anyway, I think he deserved the win. A great finish to Friday. Saturday, and after an alright night, and a great Breakfast we made our way down to the Complex. First stop, the Dealers. Lost of em’. After browsing round for quite a while a found myself at the Penguin Magic stool. Morgan shook me by the hand, said “Hi”, and asked me what I what I wanted. I replied “Just Looking!” Suddenly from across the stand I heard a “Well you better stop just looking and Start Buying!” It was Black Fox! He was accompanied with his Shells. I’d never done Shells before, but I was very interested in them. I told him this and he taught me exactly how to do the move, and showed me his different Shells. After a discussion with him, I decided to buy his most expensive shells, ‘The Black Fox Master Walnut Shells “ in Gold for £40, even though Dad had got a deal with the plain ones. Please don’t buy them when they come out though, they are simply just too good. We also saw Paul Green on his stand, who told us he was lecturing after the Master Class. Nothing I was too bothered about now, so for a break (it was a bit of a Magic Overload) and because it was a clear day, we headed to Blackpool Tower. Amazing view, and lots of other things to enjoy in ‘Tower World’. We had a bit of Lunch there as well, before making in back to Winter Gardens for the Master Class. The Master Class was exceptional. First was Martin Nash, who showed us a nice little four card routine, then there was Craig Dixon who presented a brilliant Out of this World using the Principle he had taught in his lecture, Chris Capehart who along with his brilliant Character showed us a brilliant Coin Routine, Jean Pierre Vallarino who explained an Ace routine along with a Matrix, Michael Ammar’s brilliant Coins through the Handkerchief and Paul Green who headed right from his slot into his Lecture. All excellent. Paul Green’s lecture was all I hoped it to be, and revealed some of his best stuff, including Jepardy, and a briefed down explanation of the Classic Force from his excellent DVD. Finally was the Saturday Night Gala Show. First was The Mirage Dancers. I’m really not into that stuff. Second was Zyllan and he Juggled, very well I hasten to add. Then there was Jupiter, who I was incredibly disappointed in. Pulling silks from the air is very clever, but for goodness sake, it does get boring. Marc and Alex were quite good, but the highlight of the first half was Peter Marvey. The second half had Victor Voitko’s Spectacular Linking Ring routine, Johnny Lonn’s very Funny Comedy act, Kenji Minemura’s FISM act (which was good, but nothing to write home about), and Peter Marvey’s Sensational New Illusions Show, that really was just that. Sunday, and straight to the Dealers again. This time I bought myself a Table, some Modelling Balloons and Spinning Plates, and Paul Green’s Fortune Tellers Book of Days. All good. We headed to the International Close-Up Magic next, and with Eight Tables, it was Surprising how full it got around the Horseshoe Area. On our table we saw Chase Curtis with his Battery Routine, Chris Capehart with his Misters Dream and Linking Rings, Rick Merrill with his Pen and Coin routine (which I believe was his FISM Routine) and Michael Ammar with Crazy Man’s Handcuffs, Bill to Peanut and Signed Card Routine which finished with Card to Ceiling. For Michael Ammar I got the best seat in the house, as someone invited me to after the guy sitting there before hand left. That was great. We then ran off to Chris Capehart’s lecture. He was amazing, very humorous and showed us lots of tips. He demonstrated lots of routines; however he didn’t explain them, which is fair play. Just before he finished, I ran off to see if the Set of Rings (3) someone had told me about were gone yet. They were. O well, a great lecture, and lots of stuff learnt. We headed off for Marks and Sparks for Lunch, and walked along the front before heading back for Michael Ammar’s lecture. Before going into the Spanish Hall (in which I felt I was spending my whole weekend!), I looked at the lecture pack he was selling. It cost £35 which was a lot for what it was, however it did include more than I originally thought. It included his lecture notes, gimmicked cork, Michael Ammar Live DVD, Coins through the Handkerchief (with Handkerchief), and the Showcase Wallet. So I took a deep breath, and bought one, just in case there weren’t any left at the end. The lecture was excellent. He showed us the Coin through the Bottle, a Fire Ball flash effect, Card to Balloon, some nice Business Card Tricks, Bill to Peanut and some brilliant Topit Work. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for the Sunday Night Gala Show. However after Ammar’s lecture, we decided to give our Gala Tickets in so they could make good use of them. However, my Dad’s eye’s lit up as the lady on the Registration Desk gave us a full refund for the tickets! The highlight of the week for him. I was obviously sad when it came to an end, but I think I would of gone mad if there was another day. Blackpool Magic Convention. Brilliant.
Yours,
Matt Wood |
michaelrice Loyal user Ireland 257 Posts |
Nice review. I also enjoyed it and I will hopefully go again. I don't want to make you feel jealous but you missed out on the biggest highlight of the weekend, the Sunday night Gala show, it was spectacular, some very baffling acts. My favorite in particular was the interactive television act, all I can say is wow!
Mike |
GarySumpter Special user UK 857 Posts |
Great to read thanks, I thought the whole weekend was a total disappontment, but I wont go into that now!
Gary |
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