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Newsletter November 2010 Made to Measure Magic Email Newsletter No 5 - November 2010. Hi there and welcome to edition No. 5. News and Gossip Well since the last newsletter the main event for me has been my trip to the USA with my son Andy. It was a great time away but I’ll just mention the magic parts of the trip. A few months ago I said to Andy that I was a bit fed up of attending conventions and spending the whole time behind the dealer’s stand never getting to see any lectures or often I don’t even see the evening shows because after a long day on my feet I like a couple of beers something to eat and an early night. I said I was going to a convention as an attendee so I could get involved like I used to. Great said Andy, I’ll come with you but lets go somewhere a bit different – let’s go to the Convention Paul Stone is organising in Las Vegas - so that’s how it came about. We flew to LA and hired a car as that was much cheaper that flying direct to Las Vegas. After a couple of nights in LA – We stayed in Santa Monica and saw loads of street entertainers but only one magician (Coin Matrix, Ambitious card and mobile phone in balloon) and came across another place where they put on magic shows at weekends but it was a bar and sold a few bits of magic the rest of the time. The guy was friendly and showed us the theatre but there weren’t any shows on and the place seemed a bit tatty to me. The next day we picked up the car and drove to Las Vegas. The venue was The Suncoast at Summerlin which is a suburb of Las Vegas. For me this made it a perfect venue. It was big enough to have everything you needed (eg. six restaurants) but small enough that you did not get lost like I always do at the big casinos on the strip. It also meant prices were very reasonable so for four nights I only went outside once to have an hour by the pool. So was the convention any good? Well we thought it was great. Paul was limiting attendees to about 375 I would guess he fell short of that by a few but hopefully not too many to have had a big impact on his bottom line. The numbers attending meant that it was big enough to provide atmosphere but not so big that you ever felt lost. A few of the names scheduled to appear – Jeff Hobson, Gabriel, Andy Nyman, Chris Cremo – didn’t show, presumably because of other contractual commitments but when you see who he did get you’ll appreciate what was achieved. Highlight for me, and I guess many others, was the lecture by Teller on the Red Ball effect from their show. It was fascinating to see how much work had gone into bringing the effect together before it was finally included in the show. Chris Angel did a question and answer session. Now I’ve never really liked Chris Angel and expected him to be a real **** but he came over really well with some well expressed answers. Afterwards he was happy to stay around for quite a while posing for photos when asked and generally being a nice guy.
Photo - Andy with Chris Angel A new book was launched on the lives of Siegfried and Roy and the two of them attended. (Siegfried also attended one of the evening shows.) Whilst it was great to see them it was clear that Roy will never perform again despite the rumours that keep cropping up. He showed great determination in walking to his seat with minimal help but it was interesting to note that Chris Angel turned up with a minder, Roy had a nurse ! What else went on, opening night was an informal get together with a discussion on comedy in magic featuring Mac King, Amazing Jonathan, Johnny Thompson and a surprise appearance from Tom Mullica who got a great reception. Those of you who don’t know the work of Tom check it out on You Tube. He has been very ill recently with a form of cancer and I was surprised to see him looking so well. He is planning on taking his show back on the road early next year. There were lectures on customer service, getting trade show work, children’s magic (most of the UK performers were not impressed – the American approach seemed rather babyish), using music in your act, web site design and others I can’t remember at the moment. With the exception of the children’s entertainer and Gaeton Bloom on the last day there was not one lecture that taught tricks – I don’t think that would go down very well at a UK convention but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I commented to someone that there were no tricks on offer and his response was that this convention was for professionals. There was a close up session with four performers and with the exception of Mark Mason I had not seen any of them before. Just a small Dealer’s room and they were only open when there was nothing else going on so they could enjoy the convention as well. This annoyed some as someone said to me – I don’t do kids magic so I would have liked to spend that time with the Dealers. Speaking with Paul Stone he suggested that he would not be running another one but is planning a special event in London in Autumn 2011. Afraid I can’t say any more about it at the moment but I think it could be something a bit special. After the convention we spent a few days travelling – Grand Canyon, San Diego (my first time there but I would definitely go back again) before arriving back in LA. We attended The Magic Castle which I think is a great night out. Fantastic meal, two close up shows, a parlour show and a stage show with three acts. All were top class although the only one I had seen before was David Aker. I even got approached by someone who wanted to know if I could copy a die box which he had. Anyway we have been back three weeks now and everything is getting back to normal. Christmas Items I guess this is the last chance to drum up sales of Christmas items. Anything I don’t sell this month will probably still be around this time next year so let’s have a bit of a sale. Last month, I pointed out the two new releases at Kidology of Tricky Micky’s Chimney Race and Race for the Stars at £60 each. Thanks to Stuart, these two items are now on You Tube so you can have a proper look. I’ve put the clips on the home page of the website for the time being. Other Christmas Items are Father Christmas up the Chimney (£35), Christmas Stocking Change Bag (£20), Children’s Card Castle with Christmas Style Cards (£30), Production Christmas Tree (£20). Limited stocks but while stocks last - Buy two or more
items and take 20% off the total. Recent ‘One Offs’ A couple of ‘one-offs’ recently.
The Hands Off illusionette. Mel Mellers has included a routine with this prop on the DVD that he released earlier this year leading to a few enquiries and a couple of orders. I’ve also made a small Monkey Bar which is small enough to go in the pocket and use for walkabout. Best Wishes till next time. David and all at Made to Measure Magic. www.madetomeasuremagic.co.uk
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