"Irish magicians are doing extremely well at this years Event Industry Awards.

Shane Gillen and John Belling have been shortlisted in the Best Launch Event category for the hugely successful Late Night Magic, which has sold out the sugar club twice, and is back on June 8th.

And both Jack Wise and Brian Daly have been shortlisted in Best Corporate Entertainer category and will perform at the awards. All categories are very tough, and to even be shortlisted is an achievement in itself, as this year saw the highest ever number of entries.
Shane Black winning last year, and three magicians shortlisted this year is healthy for Irish magic no matter how you look at it. The profile of magic in Ireland is definitely on the rise and these award nominations will keep magic at the front of event organisers minds, which is hopefully good news for all magicians.

The awards will will be hosted by Dermot Whelan on June 21st in the Burlington hotel.

Fingers crossed..."

Confessions of Real Mindreades is a website developed by UK mentalist Kennedy.  He has been able to convince some of the top names in professional mentalism to share some of their genuine secrets and insights. 

Twenty years ago Quentin Reynolds gave his first mentalism show, a show which has developed and grown dramatically since.  Kennedy nailed Quentin down for two and a half hours to talk about the transition from magician to mentalist and confess his experiences along the way. Covering professional routines and advice won from hard graft, Quentin freely discusses and expands on a myriad of topics, performance tips and effects for today's mentalist.

You can purchase Quentin's interview, along with a miriad of others at the Confessions of Real Mindreaders website.

Bring and Buy
Members have previously suggested that they would like to have a Bring & Buy session at the beginning of meetings.  So here is our first one.

You are invited to bring a handful of items which you can sell from your chair or bag.  The idea is for this to be informal.  We don't want people coming along with rakes of stuff and turning it into a mini auction.  It is as it "says on the tin".  This is something teh commitee of The SIM hope may become a regular occurrence.

Emerald Magic Dealer Dem
Pat Fallon recently re-branded his dealing business as Emerald Magic and has some new original effects on the market.  Pat will present mini Dealer Dem and will have effects, cards, rope etc for sale.  So make sure you don't spend all your money at the Bring & Buy.

Richard McDougall Lecture
Richard McDougall has been a professional magician for over twenty years, having trained in mime and physical theatre. He is a Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star, and has won awards at FISM and the Desert Seminar, and was a former winner of the World Open for Close Up Magic. He has been lucky enough to perform his close up and stage magic in 40 countries, and at a number of events hosted by HM The Queen, as well as for HRH The Prince of Wales at his 50th birthday. 

As well as giving lectures to magicians on the subject of performance, Richard  also presents keynote speeches and training for the business community in presentation skills, and in particular on the subject of body language.   Last year he lectured to wide acclaim at The Essential Magic Conference.  Expect a fun, informative and thought provoking evening.

The evening is free to fully paid up members of The SIM.  For non-member bone-fide magicians admission is €15.

Those are the only details we have at present.  More details as they are announced.

Nevin Cody joins fellow Irish magicians John Bowden and Pat Fallon as part of this years line up.  Over the past few years Nevin has been climbing the ranks and is now considered one of the best comedy magic acts in the country.  His hilarious style has been wowing audiences all over Ireland.  He is also a resident magician and magic creator at the Secret Castle of Magic which was Ireland’s first regular magic venue and which is due to re-open soon.  

This weekend will see Nevin perform on the Saturday show at SAMS.  We wish Nevin and Messrs. Bowden & Fallon the very best of luck.  it is great to see three Irish names as booked talent at a UK Convention.

For those who can’t be bothered to read this in its entirety the quick review is that the Cork Uncorked Convention was a huge success and a good time was had by all.  Okay?  Now to the nitty gritty:

Cork is a state of mind. It is boisterous, canny, gregarious, opinionated and infinitely welcoming. At a pinch it will suffer fools if not gladly at least with good grace.  It is the Opera House, Barry’s Tea, The Banks, Murphy’s Stout, Drisheen, the Blarney Stone and Jimmy Crowley and the Boys of Fairhill.

But this weekend (June 27, 28 and 29 for the record) it was Magic.

 

When the Munster Society of Magicians for a variety of reasons found itself unable to host the Annual IBM Convention, the Southern Brotherhood –Ring 363 – stepped up to the plate and accepted the challenge.  And that’s Cork for you.

Running a convention is no pushover: it involves hard work and lots of it.  Those of us who’ve been down that road, raised an eyebrow and wished the SBM luck.  Thus was a dream born.  A dream which came into boisterous reality over last weekend.

It was a weekend packed with lectures, shows and impromptu sessions in bar, lounge and certain bedrooms. And the magic was good too!  Rather than trudge through the events as they happened here is a random collection of snapshots -   thumbnail impressions in no particular order which might convey some of the flavour of this remarkable weekend. And do note that this is a personal reaction and is no way intended to be fair minded or impartial.

 

• Luke Jermay frying a packed room with two mind reading demonstrations:  dual reality or what?  No.  One involved a stripper deck and the other a reader.  Talk about pulling the rug from beneath your feet.
• The same roomful all munching from paper bags.  Munching what?  Sweets, homemade sweets from John Coleman’s elaborate help yourself free candy buffet.  A child’s dream come true, but devoured with relish by grown men and women.
• The quirky liquid suspension from a Red Bull Can taught by Diamond Jim Tyler.  And they say it gives you wings.
• The suggestion that You Tube, Face Book and Twitter be combined in a single application to be known as YouTwitFace.
• FISM winner Helder Guimarães’ version of the classic Cards Across –simple, direct and elegant.  A maestro at work.
• Just about anything done, said or performed by John Linehan.
• Late at night, the ubiquitous Luke Jermay, Tarot pack in hand, whispering sweet everything’s in a young lady’s ear.  In the early nineteen hundreds, Luke would have been up there with The Davenports, the medium Margery and the other psychics.  In the 16th century he would have been burned at the stake. Today he is a louche gem in the crown of contemporary mentalism.
• Quentin Reynolds generously sharing the work of a lifetime and revealing a treasure trove of  stunning Children’s magic , the distillation of  a quarter of a century of meticulously honed craft.  His version of Dante’s Lazy Magician is ten minutes of sheer entertainment.
• The elegance of Laurent Baretta in both his appearances on the Gala Show.  The movements, the gestures, the sheer – I don’t know – the sheer je ne sais quoi?  Well, what do you expect – the man’s French, isn’t he?
• Aonghus McAnally barnstorming his way through stories, songs, slagging, and other stuff beginning with S.  And still they gazed and still the wonder grew.  And he was heading off at the crack of dawn on Sunday to take on the best in a snooker championship. Is it fair that one man should be so talented?  I merely ask.
• Paul Gordon’s very funny lecture cloaking the skill and talent that puts him in the galaxy of the greats.  He’s also one sweet guy as well.
• Generosity – here we go again: the open handed generosity of all performers, lecturers and attendees.  Must be something in the Cork water.  Or the Barry’s Tea.
• Buzz words – logical disconnects, dual reality.
• Apropos of the free sweets (see above):  having a chat with the guy who makes them. He explains how he can usually tell what’s lacking in a person’s life from the type of sweets they fancy.  Oh yeh?  Opens up a whole new tranche of cold reading possibilities, eh?
• Bloody mobile phones going off in the middle of lectures and performances: some people have no cop on.
• The Triskel Chistchurch venue for the Gala show.  Weird, weird, weird.  A narrow converted church.  I can imagine it working as a rock or concert venue, but for a magic show:  I had some reservations, not the least of which were the sight lines.  The show was great, however.
• John Linehan’s six card repeat with contemporary references to the Greek economy, and a side swipe at Fianna Fail.
• Apropos of the Triskel sight lines: I have a scribbled note on Laurent Baretta’s second appearance: “think he’s doing card fans, but can’t see the f**king thing!”
• And lest it be forgotten in the general maelstrom, turmoil and frenzied scramble that is a Magical Convention let me mention with a great deal of awe, that e-book offered initially as a fund raiser by Ring 363, and called appropriately enough CORK UNCORKED.  Edited and compiled by Tony Galvin, it has over 40 effects from 17 contributors, in 130 pages, and is priced at a ridiculously low €10.  All good workable effects from the likes of Ger Godley, Luke Jermay, Ger Kearney, Tom Moloney, Quentin Reynolds, John Bowden and Diamond Jim Tyler.  Sorry if I missed out the other contributors.  This is a book of little and large gems from complete routines to insightful essays, and from self-working effects to much more advanced stuff.  Not sure if it is still available, but it is a must buy.  I’ve spent over five times as much for much less.  Hey, three long routines from Luke Jermay for €10!  Tony Galvin’s mad routines from his own act.  A little killer from Paul Gordon.  And seven – SEVEN – bamboozlers from Diamond Jim Tyler.  Come on!

Unfortunately I had to leave early Sunday afternoon, and had to miss the three hour Luke Jermay workshop, and Tom Moloney’s lecture on children’s magic incorporating his own ideas on games – both events to which I was looking forward.  Congratulations to the officers and members of Ring 363 for putting together with heart a thoroughly enjoyable weekend.