Tabman,

You missed a good one.

Bob and Lucy Sanders
Magic By Sander

How could it not be fun when you get to hang out with that many Magicians all having fun???

How was the dealer room?? I heard from a couple of the dealers that cash was not in abundance and that the hotel was so expensive that many went hungry just to be able to have a little $$ to spend.

-=tab

Here are a few pics from back stage...I was the quick change artist..lol more to come

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss51/......0277.jpg

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss51/......e06a.jpg view from room

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss51/......4928.jpg

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss51/......aed3.jpg night view of hotel...and that's just the part we were in

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss51/......0278.jpg

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss51/......0281.jpg The crew from Korea that kicked but

Great photos and great meeting you at the IBM in Nashville. Tell Ice "Howdy" for me.

By month's end I may get some time in the N and S Carolina area. Perhaps I'll see you again.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

Thx Bob, I'll tell him. I just spoke to him the other day. Yea, if your in the area, I'd love to see you again.

Great pictures. Thanks for posting them.

-=tabman

Just want to thank all the Café members who stopped at the Tabman booth to say hello. It was nice being able to put a face with the name. Look for us at other conventions. And Bob, always a pleasure working with you.
Ray

I thoroughly enjoyed the IBM Convention in Nashville, and thought I would briefly describe my views on the lectures. But first, here are some general comments.

Most of the lectures during the day were limited to an hour, which was much too short in my opinion. This made some of them seem rather rushed, and looked more like dealer demonstrations. Each night there was a lecture at 11:00 p.m. These usually lasted much longer, though attendance got smaller and smaller over the course of the convention, as people became more and more tired late at night (myself included). The fee for lecture notes was usually $20, with the notes from Rich Bloch being the best deal in this regard. His notes were spiral bound, and about 80 pages long, including a lot of material on being an MC, and a lot of effects he did not have time to go over during the lecture. The J.C. Wagner printed notes were only $10. For the lecturers explaining close-up effects, there were persistent problems viewing what they were doing on the large screen. The camera angle was often poor, or they kept going out of frame.

Now for specific lecturers:

Losander gave the first lecture of the convention, at 11:00 p.m. He lectured mainly on items from his Art of Levitation and Anytime-Anywhere dvds. He showed several effects, and completely explained them. These included a very nice paper ball that you blow up, levitate, then deflate and put back in your pocket. This was quite charming. He also did a salt vanish with a thumb tip, and a floating dollar bill. He also demonstrated his floating wand. He offered a very attractive special deal on his Art of levitation dvds, including a spool of invisible thread, a bottle of bubble fluid, and the paper ball. A great lecture to start everything.

Juliana Chen gave a lecture on card manipulation, but I was unable to attend this.

J.C. Wagner presented several card effects. However, they either required a somewhat elaborate set-up, took too much time to explain (an Ace assembly), or required a special gimmicked card. I was therefore rather disappointed in this lecture. Interestingly, later that evening, J.C. performed during the cocktail hour, explaining the tricks as well. The three that he showed us at that time would have made a much more effective lecture, in my opinion.

Shoot Ogawa gave the 11:00 p.m. lecture the 2nd night. He began by performing a beautiful coin and purse frame routine, then a flip stick based wand routine, and a really neat thimble routine. He then explained in detail the coin and purse frame routine, and an easy portion of the thimble routine. His mentor from Japan also did a card trick, which was a little hard to follow. You could buy a separate dvd with one of the above mentioned routines after the lecture, along with about a dozen other dvds. The one special was an additional thimble dvd of easy thimble effects given if you purchased the main thimble dvd (with thimbles).

Oscar Munoz gave what I heard was an excellent lecture, though I was unable to attend. I did see a lot of people walking around with sponge doughnuts, however.

B.J. Hickman gave a lecture designed for the child/family performer. This began with about 20 minutes of his act, followed by an explanation of which of those effects you could buy from him. It seemed at this point to be nothing more than a dealer demo. However, I stuck it out, and it got much better. He went on to describe the psychology and details of the effects in great detail. Three important points he stressed were: React, Reminisce, and Reiterate. That is, react to events as they happen, remind people of what has happened – this can also be used to subtly market yourself, such as by mentioning a different type of show that you have done in the past – and repeat some lines or bits of business. One effect I really liked was his Ovaltine/snake can bit. In this, he shows an Ovaltine jar, indicating that this is his sponsor, and then opens it, with a spring snake flying out. He then goes through various gyrations trying to get the snake back into the jar. He also had a cute Walkie-Talkie introduction in which he cued a boy onstage on how to introduce him, i.e., how to introduce B.J. Hickman. His program continued by discussing marketing ideas. Hickman offered a very attractive special of his 3 dvds and a lot of marketing things. If I was not already familiar with his dvds (I still have one of the original vhs tapes), I would have bought this.

Rich Bloch gave a very informative lecture on card effects that would play well in a stand-up situation. This included his handling of card from sock. They were all detailed in his lecture notes, which were an excellent value, in my opinion. He also demonstrated a mental watch trick (which he sold - in fact, I think he sold all 20 very quickly). A large sign has the numbers 1-6 on one side. A person freely selects one number. The sign is turned around, and 6 names of watch makers are shown. It is clear that each number is associated with a single watch maker. Let’s say the person chose 3 – Bulova. The performer removes his watch, and asks the person to look at the face of the watch – it reads Bulova. No force, only one watch used. Neat!

Charlie Frye gave the 11:00 p.m. lecture on Thursday. It was entitled Eccentricks, and mainly dealt with items from his new book of the same title. He was a joy to watch, and did a great job of demonstrating and explaining a lot of items. Unfortunately, I was getting very tired at midnight, and had to leave. I heard the next morning that he sold every copy of the book that he brought with him.

Mark Oberon lectured at 8:30 a.m. on Friday morning. He had a large number of items on display, and demonstrated and explained all of them, I think. In many ways, this seemed like a dealer demo, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. He began with his floating wand. This was OK, but I much preferred that by Losander. He went on to demonstrate 37 (this was nice), Clean Connection, Off Key, and the Master Deck. I thought he spent way too much time on the Master Deck. Even though it can do all sorts of things, it really didn’t impress me . . . but he did sell a lot of them! I was most impressed with his Lecture Notes 2009 EPIC and his Psych Out booklet. Both of these contain mainly mental routines, and include a very nice book page force. I especially liked Tom Cat and WhatDoYouSee in the EPIC booklet.

Ed Ellis gave the 11:00 p.m. lecture on Friday night. Frankly, I had not heard of him before. What had I been missing? This was the most informative, practical lecture of the convention, in my opinion. He began by showing and explaining several card moves and effects, such as a really nice fan control. These were not too difficult, and could be accomplished with a reasonable amount of practice. Then came the rubber bands. He was selling yellow rubber bands – which show up really nicely, in comparison to the normal flesh colored bands – and opened up a pack, giving 2 to each person there. What fun we had learning the rubber band through thumb effect – I will use this immediately – and reviewing crazy man’s handcuffs. Then he taught Ringnature. Oh my goodness . . . if you do strolling magic or if you do table-side magic, you will want this effect! A card is freely selected and signed and returned to the deck. A borrowed ring is threaded onto a rubber band, which then encircles the deck. In a flash, the rubber band and ring vanish, only to be found encircling the selected card. When the ring and rubber band vanished during the close-up session in the afternoon, there was a loud gasp from the audience. It is just a beautiful effect . . . and easy to perform. You can find it on his Volume 5 dvd – The Castle Routine. At 1:00 a.m. he began doing some coin work. As much as I wanted to stay, I was just too tired. But I bought 2 dvds, and some rubber bands, before I left.

Hayashi was the final lecturer. He began by demonstrating a 10 phase matrix coin routine. It was simply beautiful. He then spent a good deal of time explaining the first 2 phases. This was followed by a couple of mental effects, and then some easy card tricks. Hayashi used a lot of anecdotes and humor, making a very entertaining lecture. He has a version of the old 21 card trick that is absolutely outstanding. This one looks like real magic, and really involves the spectators. Another effect he explained began with a spectator having a free choice of a card. The card is returned to the deck, and then piles of cards are gradually eliminated by the spectator – free choice – until only one pile remains. These cards are dealt out, and again the spectator freely removes individual cards until only one remains – it is the selected card! He had several dvds for sale.

Well, that is a very brief overview of the lectures. There was a pretty good variety, although it would have been nice to have seen more stand-up, family oriented material.

Bruce

Great report on the lectures. Thank you. It was almost like being there.

-=tabman