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Quentin Inner circle 1020 Posts |
The Session Convention 2013
The Session Convention, organized by Andi Gladwin and Joshua Jay was held in Cheltenham on Saturday and Sunday, 12th and 13th January. Specifically a close-up convention, this year had a strong focus on mentalism with both Simon and Ginny Aronson performing their two-person act and Luke Jermay with his one-man show. I arrived on the Friday afternoon as had about thirty others who were scattered around the bar area. Before I know it I am sitting with a few guys I have just met and one of them is performing amazing simple and direct card magic. Turns out it is Joseph Barry, a 25-year-old from Linclonshire. Joe’s story is both interesting and inspiring in this day of DVDs and downloads. Aged 13 he bought in his local bookstore the Expert At The Card Table, Expert Card Technique and Scarne on Card Tricks. For the next seven years his entire knowledge of magic came from these books. Aged 20, he bought Card College Volume One. It was a delight for me to introduce him to different magicians over the weekend and stand back and watch their faces as Joe went to work, fooling them badly, again with simple and direct effects. Erdnase himself would be proud as there is simply nothing to suspect, let alone detect during his performance. Peter Nardi of Alakazam Magic has commissioned a DVD set from Joe, which will be released at the Blackpool convention, where you can see Joe perform at their stand. While there was plenty of time for socializing over the weekend, I didn’t get to see everything but will try and give a flavour of the weekend as well as my personal highlights. The main room where the shows and lectures took place was well laid out, if a little cramped as this year they had a record attendance. However a specially built set with raised platform and two large screens ensured that everyone could see. Bob and Sue Hamilton had a three camera set-up, which made for a very professional presentation of intricate close-up moves. Besides having regular one-hour lectures, The Session has sessions, which consist of three or four separate presentations, similar to TED-style talks. The first of these showcased Morgan and West, the time-travelling magicians with a segment of their show. They wear Victorian dress and present in the style of the 1870’s. Chris Rawlins showed his new drawing duplication, Reveal, and explained it along with presentational tips. It has just reached the market and is for sale at Vanishing Inc. Josh Jay did a very nice routine where a card decided by the audience is found in a matchbox that someone has been holding all along. Nothing is added or loaded at any point by the performer and the matchbox can be opened by the helper and the folded card removed by them. Very clever. Quentin Reynolds spoke on the importance of context in making you and your magic memorable. Bill Abbott is currently touring the UK with his pack small, play big lecture, so many will get to see it at their local club. It is a forty minute show that can play at a house party or a large venue with up to 800 people. The whole act fits in a small bag that will fit in the glove compartment of your car. I caught the lecture again last night in Manchester. Yoann Fontyn opened the Saturday afternoon session. He is highly skilled specialising in coin magic. He and his friends have just launched a magazine The Bull Frog, illustrated by graphic artist Father Alex. Every registrant received a complimentary copy. A few years ago registrants received a complimentary of Ben Earl’s Gambit magazine, copies of which are now selling at £50. You can read about The Bull Frog at http://magicalsleight.com Mark Elsdon spoke on the Meridian Technique, a clever way for close-up magicians to keep patrons at a venue and thereby increase revenue for the bar you are working at. http://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-d......e-ebook/ Josh then gave a demo of Stephen Thompson’s new magazine test Glance, which is exceptionally good and way to cheap for what it is. Details at http://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic/mentalism/glance/ Saturday evening Simon and Ginny Aronson gave two performances of their highly acclaimed and superbly constructed two-person mind-reading act. Both shows received standing ovations. Yours truly was proud to be their warm-up act. Luke Jermay finished off the evening with an hour of his one-man show. It is the best I have seen him. A well constructed show with strong mentalism. A new layer of deceptiveness to the tossed out deck fooled many before launching into a Q&A act with many original twists and turns. Luke has grown a beard which really suits his character and adds to the conviction of his performance. An excellent end to the scheduled events. Sessioning and socialising went on well into the following morning. Sunday morning got under way with Luke Jermay speaking with passion and clarity on how to write a show and what he felt was important to put in it. He emphasised the importance of magicians having at least a few audible gasps of amazement. In the first Sunday session, Morgan and West spoke of the importance of character, how they developed theirs and gave a list of points to consider. It is great to see a convention, such as The Session, addressing these important subjects which are too often overlooked in magic. Unfortunately I missed the afternoon session on comedy magic featuring John Archer, Rune Klan and John Van der Put and also the Dan and Dave Buck lecture. I also missed the gala show, MC’d by John Archer as I arrived late and the room was full but by all accounts Rune Klan stole the show. Jay Sankey was the guest of honour and gave an excellent and thought provoking presentation on what is wrong with magic today. It was interspersed with video clips including a wickedly funny send-up of a magician with believable connections to an Egyptian city. Jay is launching a new training system for magicians on March 1st which involves online video training and discussion, including creativity, performance and marketing. I predict it will prove controversial and innovative. More sessioning into the wee hours. Meeting with old friends, making new ones, sharing stories with mrgoat, experiencing some great magic, all contributed to making the Session a great start to 2013. There is a huge amount of work involved in putting together any convention, never mind a particularly good one. But that is just chicken feed for Josh and Andi who have decided to put on two conventions this month, one in the UK and another in the US. Josh and Andi the magical masochists http://www.magifest.org |
Stromberg Regular user 160 Posts |
Thanks for the review, missed it this year but it sounds like it was a blast.
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