Posted by Ian on 2011-05-01
MAGIC VIDEOS
Trying to catch a flavour of a magic show in a video is difficult. Do you go for one or two complete tricks or quick, short extracts? The latter is usually the most popular and probably looks the best. However you can get a much better sense of how good a performer is if you see a continuous uninterrupted piece.
Recently I had to recommend a close-up performer and a number of different magicians applied. They all had very slick videos but all you saw was intercut images of cards and coins being manipulated and spectators looking on amazed. The sound track was some song that had absolutely no relevance to the magic; what was completely lacking was any talking by the magician – which to me is one of the most important factors in any performance. But I must confess they did look good: and I can certainly imagine a potential client being impressed.
Anyway I’ve decided to join the crowd in promoting my one man show, Funny Tricks; and have produced a video of disjointed pieces from various shows which I’ve done. Hardly any of the segments are more than ten seconds long. The result can be seen on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGVYEWZ2M5A .
However if, like me, you are sceptical of such ‘cut and paste’ promotions, then you can always see me in continuous performance pieces. Comedy Mindreading here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLkp9D8piOA . And Comedy Magic here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP1eWQIx_iY .
[Nothing new with these two, if you checked them out before!]
PAUL DANIELS
Poor old Paul Daniels continues to be the butt of jokes by comedians. I even caught one recently on the Radio 4 programme, The Unbelievable Truth. David Mitchell, the presenter, was introducing one of the panellists, Alan Davies, who starred in Jonathan Creek. He said: “If you haven’t watched Jonathan Creek, it’s a bit like watching Paul Daniels: one or two magic tricks and a strong sense that someone should be arrested.”
A more subtle dig at him was made by Derren Brown, in an interview he did for The Radio Times. To be fair to Derren, I’m sure the jibe wasn’t aimed explicitly at Paul; but was more of a generalisation about certain magicians. He said: “I don’t show people magic tricks in social situations any more. At my age, it’s a childish route to impressing people and to need to do that is a sad thing.”
It is well known, however, that Paul Daniels does perform tricks all the time. When he did Celebrity Wife Swap with Vanessa Feltz, she specifically commented on the fact that he was performing card tricks when they went to the pub together: and suggested that it was his way of dealing with social interaction.
Although it’s not my style, I actually quite admire magicians who are constantly performing (so long as they are good – and are aware when they have out-stayed their welcome). It shows a love and enthusiasm for the craft, which means they are happy to do tricks even if they aren’t being paid.
PASSAGE OF TIME
Of course it’s well-known in this country that once a performer meets a certain level of celebrity status, the back lash will begin. It’s happened big-time with Paul Daniels and doubtless will happen soon with Derren. It could be argued that it has already started. I’ve just read the first really bad review of something that Derren has done: Metro newspaper (a London freebie) reviewed his Miracles For Sale television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4 last week.
The premise of the programme (which I confess I haven’t seen) was that Derren would train someone to be a faith healer: to demonstrate how easy it is to swindle US citizens out of their money by claiming to have miraculous powers.
Metro’s grudge against the programme appeared to be that it was irrelevant for UK audiences (as we don’t really have faith healers over here): and therefore it was designed purely for entertainment. As such, the reviewer wrote, it was devised “to earn Brown some screen time and some cash, which as far as I can make out, puts him firmly in the league of those greedy healers.”
Personally I think this is a very unfair critique: as the same argument could be used against any documentary which purports to show members of the public being swindled by unscrupulous people.
THEATRE SHOWS
I don’t often have the chance to perform in a theatre; so was delighted to be asked to appear in the gala show of the Northern Magic Convention, which was held up in Scarborough in the Spa theatre. There’s something very nice about a theatre, compared to my more normal cabaret floor venues. The audience are well behaved and they have come specifically to see you. Everything is focused on you whilst you are on stage.
The seating capacity of the Spa theatre is around 600; and I would have said it was about half-full. Just up the road is the Futurist Theatre, where Derren was performing on the 1st and 2nd May. Needless to say the seating capacity in that venue is a great deal more; and doubtless he sold out both shows.
Ironically two other forthcoming events featured on the Futurist Theatre website are Tracy ‘TJ’ Higgs Psychic Medium (Tracy ‘TJ’ Higgs is described as “a thoroughly modern medium and also the most accurate female medium both in the UK and Abroad”) and Derek Acorah (“with countless hours of spirit contact, one-to-one readings, numerous TV appearances and twenty years of live stage shows, Derek Acorah is unquestionably the most time-honoured and respected Spirit Medium in the UK today”.)
I wonder if their audiences will have watched Derren’s programme!
MAGIC SHOWS BOOK
I still have a few copies left (now there’s a euphemism!) of my book Magic Shows: 30 Years of Programmes from Daniels to Derren. I received a rather nice review of this – and as the review wasn’t actually written by a friend, I thought I would reproduce part of it here.
In fact, only reproducing part might make you think that I’ve edited out any of the less than flattering comments (akin to editing a video – see above). So I’ll leave it in complete. The review was published in Magicol, No. 178 and is courtesy of Magicana. The writer was Ricky Smith.
Magic Shows: 30 Years of Programmes from Daniels to Derren, Ian Keable. 190 pages, hardbound, limited to 500 copies. £20 plus shipping (varies by destination).
Magic shows by Ian Keable is a nicely crafted, tidy, hardbound volume featuring descriptions of the magic shows Mr Keable attended over the course of thirty years (1981 to 2010). It represents the shows of forty-four magicians and fifty-seven different magic shows. For those of you that did not do the math, yes, Keable saw some of the more than once. In addition to the descriptions of each program, Mr Keable provides some brief introductory comments for each show as well as a nice assemblage of photos, articles, and ephemera.
I really enjoyed going through all the shows and learning what tricks people were doing, during what period of time, how they organized their performances, and how they changed their shows. This book gives a nice perspective on magic of the period and Mr Keable notes a change from a proliferation of comedy magicians (à la Paul Daniels) at the beginning to mentalism (à la Derren Brown) toward the end. Mr Keable is fairly detailed, and you will likely find many interesting comments and tidbits.
Some personal highlights were the descriptions of Chris Power and Ricky Jay’s shows. Mr Power is one of my favorite magicians, but I did not know that he had ever done such a show. He is primarily a close-up performer, so it was interesting to see the effects he chose and the opportunities he took advantage of in a more formal setting.
The description of Ricky Jay’s show brought some closure to a very minor mystery that’s had me puzzled for years. When I was fifteen, my father took me to see Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants, and it was fantastic. Accordingly, we both talked about it often. Sometimes, however, my dad mentioned things which I had no recollection of being in the show. Perhaps he had conflated Mr. Jay’s performance with one of the many other shows we had seen over the years? On the other hand, perhaps my memory was colored by watching the televised version of the show too many times.
Needless to say, Mr Keable’s description of the show solved the mystery … my dad was right! In all, I was very pleased with this book (my only complaint is some of the images are not very bright) and wish there were more like it. Mr Keable has done a thorough and admiral job with a product that offers many interesting opportunities and is a great resource.
Available from Ian Keable, www.iankeable.co.uk/magic_shows
Trying to catch a flavour of a magic show in a video is difficult. Do you go for one or two complete tricks or quick, short extracts? The latter is usually the most popular and probably looks the best. However you can get a much better sense of how good a performer is if you see a continuous uninterrupted piece.
Recently I had to recommend a close-up performer and a number of different magicians applied. They all had very slick videos but all you saw was intercut images of cards and coins being manipulated and spectators looking on amazed. The sound track was some song that had absolutely no relevance to the magic; what was completely lacking was any talking by the magician – which to me is one of the most important factors in any performance. But I must confess they did look good: and I can certainly imagine a potential client being impressed.
Anyway I’ve decided to join the crowd in promoting my one man show, Funny Tricks; and have produced a video of disjointed pieces from various shows which I’ve done. Hardly any of the segments are more than ten seconds long. The result can be seen on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGVYEWZ2M5A .
However if, like me, you are sceptical of such ‘cut and paste’ promotions, then you can always see me in continuous performance pieces. Comedy Mindreading here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLkp9D8piOA . And Comedy Magic here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP1eWQIx_iY .
[Nothing new with these two, if you checked them out before!]
PAUL DANIELS
Poor old Paul Daniels continues to be the butt of jokes by comedians. I even caught one recently on the Radio 4 programme, The Unbelievable Truth. David Mitchell, the presenter, was introducing one of the panellists, Alan Davies, who starred in Jonathan Creek. He said: “If you haven’t watched Jonathan Creek, it’s a bit like watching Paul Daniels: one or two magic tricks and a strong sense that someone should be arrested.”
A more subtle dig at him was made by Derren Brown, in an interview he did for The Radio Times. To be fair to Derren, I’m sure the jibe wasn’t aimed explicitly at Paul; but was more of a generalisation about certain magicians. He said: “I don’t show people magic tricks in social situations any more. At my age, it’s a childish route to impressing people and to need to do that is a sad thing.”
It is well known, however, that Paul Daniels does perform tricks all the time. When he did Celebrity Wife Swap with Vanessa Feltz, she specifically commented on the fact that he was performing card tricks when they went to the pub together: and suggested that it was his way of dealing with social interaction.
Although it’s not my style, I actually quite admire magicians who are constantly performing (so long as they are good – and are aware when they have out-stayed their welcome). It shows a love and enthusiasm for the craft, which means they are happy to do tricks even if they aren’t being paid.
PASSAGE OF TIME
Of course it’s well-known in this country that once a performer meets a certain level of celebrity status, the back lash will begin. It’s happened big-time with Paul Daniels and doubtless will happen soon with Derren. It could be argued that it has already started. I’ve just read the first really bad review of something that Derren has done: Metro newspaper (a London freebie) reviewed his Miracles For Sale television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4 last week.
The premise of the programme (which I confess I haven’t seen) was that Derren would train someone to be a faith healer: to demonstrate how easy it is to swindle US citizens out of their money by claiming to have miraculous powers.
Metro’s grudge against the programme appeared to be that it was irrelevant for UK audiences (as we don’t really have faith healers over here): and therefore it was designed purely for entertainment. As such, the reviewer wrote, it was devised “to earn Brown some screen time and some cash, which as far as I can make out, puts him firmly in the league of those greedy healers.”
Personally I think this is a very unfair critique: as the same argument could be used against any documentary which purports to show members of the public being swindled by unscrupulous people.
THEATRE SHOWS
I don’t often have the chance to perform in a theatre; so was delighted to be asked to appear in the gala show of the Northern Magic Convention, which was held up in Scarborough in the Spa theatre. There’s something very nice about a theatre, compared to my more normal cabaret floor venues. The audience are well behaved and they have come specifically to see you. Everything is focused on you whilst you are on stage.
The seating capacity of the Spa theatre is around 600; and I would have said it was about half-full. Just up the road is the Futurist Theatre, where Derren was performing on the 1st and 2nd May. Needless to say the seating capacity in that venue is a great deal more; and doubtless he sold out both shows.
Ironically two other forthcoming events featured on the Futurist Theatre website are Tracy ‘TJ’ Higgs Psychic Medium (Tracy ‘TJ’ Higgs is described as “a thoroughly modern medium and also the most accurate female medium both in the UK and Abroad”) and Derek Acorah (“with countless hours of spirit contact, one-to-one readings, numerous TV appearances and twenty years of live stage shows, Derek Acorah is unquestionably the most time-honoured and respected Spirit Medium in the UK today”.)
I wonder if their audiences will have watched Derren’s programme!
MAGIC SHOWS BOOK
I still have a few copies left (now there’s a euphemism!) of my book Magic Shows: 30 Years of Programmes from Daniels to Derren. I received a rather nice review of this – and as the review wasn’t actually written by a friend, I thought I would reproduce part of it here.
In fact, only reproducing part might make you think that I’ve edited out any of the less than flattering comments (akin to editing a video – see above). So I’ll leave it in complete. The review was published in Magicol, No. 178 and is courtesy of Magicana. The writer was Ricky Smith.
Magic Shows: 30 Years of Programmes from Daniels to Derren, Ian Keable. 190 pages, hardbound, limited to 500 copies. £20 plus shipping (varies by destination).
Magic shows by Ian Keable is a nicely crafted, tidy, hardbound volume featuring descriptions of the magic shows Mr Keable attended over the course of thirty years (1981 to 2010). It represents the shows of forty-four magicians and fifty-seven different magic shows. For those of you that did not do the math, yes, Keable saw some of the more than once. In addition to the descriptions of each program, Mr Keable provides some brief introductory comments for each show as well as a nice assemblage of photos, articles, and ephemera.
I really enjoyed going through all the shows and learning what tricks people were doing, during what period of time, how they organized their performances, and how they changed their shows. This book gives a nice perspective on magic of the period and Mr Keable notes a change from a proliferation of comedy magicians (à la Paul Daniels) at the beginning to mentalism (à la Derren Brown) toward the end. Mr Keable is fairly detailed, and you will likely find many interesting comments and tidbits.
Some personal highlights were the descriptions of Chris Power and Ricky Jay’s shows. Mr Power is one of my favorite magicians, but I did not know that he had ever done such a show. He is primarily a close-up performer, so it was interesting to see the effects he chose and the opportunities he took advantage of in a more formal setting.
The description of Ricky Jay’s show brought some closure to a very minor mystery that’s had me puzzled for years. When I was fifteen, my father took me to see Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants, and it was fantastic. Accordingly, we both talked about it often. Sometimes, however, my dad mentioned things which I had no recollection of being in the show. Perhaps he had conflated Mr. Jay’s performance with one of the many other shows we had seen over the years? On the other hand, perhaps my memory was colored by watching the televised version of the show too many times.
Needless to say, Mr Keable’s description of the show solved the mystery … my dad was right! In all, I was very pleased with this book (my only complaint is some of the images are not very bright) and wish there were more like it. Mr Keable has done a thorough and admiral job with a product that offers many interesting opportunities and is a great resource.
Available from Ian Keable, www.iankeable.co.uk/magic_shows
