picture missingThis blog has been set-up to provide daily information about the 2006 IBM National Convention to members of Ring 170.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Final Evening Gala (Day 5)

The final evening gala was again held at the Olympia theater. After the award of the money collected under the "Share the magic" theme, for the Children's Hospital of Miami, Rogger Miller and Fred Casto were introduced (outgoing and incoming International Presidents).
The show proper started with a traditibal manipulation show, that seemed to be a tribute to Fred Kaps. Unfortunately, due to less that perfect audio, I missed the magician's name. The MC role was taken by Orlando's John Ekin, who did a very good job. The first act was Charlie Frye & Company (Sherry), in a crazy, energetic juggling act. The next perform was Lu Chen, with a modern themed manipulation act. Yumi from japan gave us a traditional Asian manipulation act, very poised and very elegant. Then Charlie Frye (& Sherry) returned, in an act where Charlie carried out many different prodcutions, in his usual high energy way. The evening closed with the third performance in four days by Junge, Junge! This was very different to either of the two previous performances. The best way to describe it is perhaps to say that they used large felt disks with a center hole as troublewits. In other words the disks were folded, placed on their heads, on their arms, et., to represnt different things. This was done synchronized to music, a very entertaining show.

After the show we went back to the convention hotel for one last walk hrough the dealer room and to watch the strolling Olympics. However, by 11:30, half an hour after the planned time, nothing seemed to be going on, so that was the end of the 2006 IBM National Convention.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Day 5 - Morning & Afternoon

So the final day has arrived. The morning lecture started a little later than the activities on the other days, thank goodness. For this lecture the IBM had invited Jack Kodell, a magician from the golden age of magic, to sit down and be interviewed (by John Ekin of Orlando). Jack had a number of firsts, some of them were: he was the first magician to work with birds, the first to perform on ice and the first to work in Vegas. In addition to all that he married a lovely english lady, Mary Naylor, who also participated in the discussion with some wise words of wisdom about stagecraft. Jack's stories, backed up with video clips of himself and other key performers from that era, were a fascinating insight into a time when magicians scorned bookings less than six months, and interesting characters owned Las Vegas. John Ekin did a great job of leading the discussion along, and all present agreed that the time allotted was far too short.

In the afternoon I attended the final of the "Big Three" sessions. This was a simulated TV program a la Letterman & Leno, in which a number of magicians were interviewed. Apparently the sessions were also streamed live across the Internet, and can also be downloaded from the IBM website. In this session the first interview was with Andrew Payne and Keith Barber, who run a website where you can download podcasts (audio files) to listen to on your computer or MP3 player (IPod, etc.). These are weekly "broadcasts", and as they are approaching their first anniversary, there are almost 50 out there to listen to. Normally about 30 minutes long, they are just the thing to have in your car on the way to work or a gig.
Next we heard from Fantasio, about how he got started in the cane and candle business. The Texas based magician, Scott Wells, played the late night host role, and the interviews were interspersed with magic related commercials, just like a real show. Other guests were the three Germans from Junge, Junge!, and Michael Ammar, who had arrived at the convention to attend the Order of Merlin breakfast. The final of the day activities was an autograph session with the stars, and the Grand Banquet, at which the official change of IBM leadership is celebrated.

Look for a final posting later tomorrow, with details of the Closing Gala Show.

Day 4 - Stage Show Competition & Results

This evening 6 competitors trod the hallowed planks of the Olympia theater, 5 adults and one junior. The first performance was a unique motorcycle themed act. It started with the sound of a crash, then the curtain was raised to show Latko, from Argentina, sitting amongst a number of motorcycle parts scattered around the stage. He then proceeded to treat them in magical ways, including productions, disappearances and transformations, adding the end result to the skeleton of the motorcycle standing center stage. After production of a helmet, probably the best effect in the act, he "rode" the repaired bike forward about 20 feet.

He was followed by Hikari of Japan, a young lady that performed a stylish traditional Asian themed act. She worked with silks, balls and rings, mixed with dance and elegant movement.

The next act was a comedy act, Dave Kaplan (Columbus, OH) appearing as the Great, and sometimes Above Average, Kaplan. He included a very clever way to do a bowling ball production, which later was cleverly removed by floating up and away (switched for a black balloon). He also produced a lighted candelabra from inside his jacket, and played a tune on a balloon.

Wookie (Seoul, Korea) performed a manipulation act based on a young girl's dreams, producing all sorts of girl realted articles, finishing with a transformation of her clothes to a wedding dress.

Kyoko (Japan) performed a fast paced beauty palor themed show, producing relevant items, such as combs, scissors and hair-dryers. She finished the act by transforming from the black clad hairdresser to the stylishly dressed client, by climbing through the hairdresser's chair..

Finally, we were treated to an excellent junior performance by the ten year old Eli Portala. he did some excellent productions, tap dancing, even a dancing cane, all to a 40's theme. Watch that name, this young name has a huge potential.

While the judges were tabulating the results, Roy Houston came on to entertain us with some classical illusions. In his introduction we were informed that Roy had performed at the Olympia before, in fact it had been 50 years ago. Roy treated us to three classics, the 'Girl (and objects) From Suspended Drum', 'Light Bulbs Through Girl' and 'Sawing a Girl in Half'. For historians, Roy mentioned that the first illusion has been featured for over 40 years in Abbots's catalog, with Roy's picture.

After Roy's show, the results of the competitions were announced. Firstly for the close-up, the award of merit (runner-up), and People's Choice, went to M.C. Chow of Hong Kong, China. The first prize of $500, but not the Gold Cups, went to John Born of New York.

The junior award ($500) went to Eli Portala, who also won an all expenses paid trip to Fantasma Magic in New York, or Las Vegas.

The stage competition runner up was Dave Kaplan, from Columbus, OH, who also won the People's Choice. Winner of the $1000 first prize award, but again not the Golf Medal, was Kyoka of Japan.



The late lecture this evening was given by Aldo Colombini, who was as entertaining as ever, showing some easy to do, but very powerful, effects. He also had a couple of guests, who have contributed to his book "Impromptu Card Magic", Ivan Amodei and Aldo's new partner, Rachel Wild. Coincidentaly, both of them managed to fluff their tricks, adding to the merriment of the late evening.