Matt Field

I’ll be in England in January, do you allow foreign pigs to check out your classy joint as well?

Tyler Wilson

To me it sounds very ‘old school’ which delights me to no end.

BTW, if you are ever on Florida’s east coast, you are invited to one of our sessions. At this point, it would only be you and I but I predict there will be a handful of us shortly.

Regards,
Tony Tuccillo
Sebastian, Florida

Alex’s place has been filled by Angelo Carbone, a phenominally creative magician. Other members include Lewis Jones, another spectacular ideas man.

I won’t tell you what happens at the get-togethers, other than to say the group bring ideas and things they want to show to the table, John serves sandwiches and soft drinks and some cookies, and everyone has a great time. Previous members included Jack Avis.

The name of this club? There is no name. It’s just 6 magicians getting together once a month.

Matt Field

P.S. — Let’s not confuse magic clubs with conventions. The TSD convention I attended a couple of years ago (Andi was there) was my idea of heaven. But that’s once a year and attracted people from all over the U.S. and, as I said, the U.K., as does 4F. But those are not magic clubs with monthly (or weekly) meetings. The economics are different.

Matt

Your comments seem to support Andi’s post. Andi said for a club to work x, y, and Z must occur. You sight examples were they in fact occur. Happy Cheese! We have a similar situation here in Las Vegas with Gary Darwin’s club which is in its’ forty first year.

In my opinion, I think magic clubs do exactly what they’re designed to do. The IBM alows old men who think magic is cool and have never worked a day in their lives to sit around and swap stories about the time they almost met The Proffesor. They prettend like what they think matters, they display some horrible handling of a purchased trick, and they go home. The mistake we make is to go to these meetings and expect to take something from it.

You are right Andi that there are WAY too many lectures. Most of which are filled with information that is not worth paying to hear. There is nothing wrong with just hanging with magicians without the organized club. I spend every Wednesday evening/ Thursday morning with Allan Ackerman, Lew Brooks, and Looy Simonoff. I’ve learned tons more just hanging with those guys than I’ve ever learned at an organized club or lecture.

As far as learning by performing, I’m of the opinion that you learn more by watching laymen respond to your work than you will asking a magic club to critique you. I’ve asked magicians their oppinion before regarding effects and by the time they were done it was a completely different effect and could no longer be performed surrounded because they felt it would be cool if cards were held in lateral palm for no apparent reason.

The moral of the story is this. Go where it feels good. For me, that is breakfast with the fellas, TSD, and sessioning with those passing through Vegas. I know some IBM and SAM guys that would be bored out of their mind working out knuckle busting sleights. Those guys enjoy socializing at the local club. Many of them don’t really want to perform a trick for the boys anyway. They are the same guys that post 5000 times a week on the magic cafe and the genii forums. If you did the math on how many hours they spend a week posting that they hate David Blaine or Criss Angel and add in all the hours spent watching magicians on Utube, you’d find that there is no way that they could spend any time practicing let alone performing, but that’s a topic for another day. Of course I could be completely wrong.

Darren Hart

I’m just returning to magic after a 30 year absence (I was busy!) and have decided to pursue the study of close-up magic with an emphasis on cards. After reading the first volume of Ascanio’s trilogy, I was struck on how Spanish School of magic approaches the study and practice of magic.

Particularily how Ascanio often describes the approach of some of the groups he belonged to and how they concentrated on specific areas within the art.

So for me, a group of close-up / card men who would meet once per month for an evening of study, brainstorming, performing and conversation. Perhaps each month the group comes perpared by reading a specific book on cards or a specific section of a card book.

It could be classic or contemporary. The evening starts with discussion about the material in question, perhaps a few individuals demonstrate a specific technique. The group could continue with a breakdown of one or two of the routines with perhaps a member or two performing the routine. Brainstorming could and should be encouraged on how to personalize the routine.

This monthly session could even take place on a weekend day, say mid-afternoon, so at the conclusion, all could dine out together or be joined by their spouses or significant others where members would have the opportunity to perform.

Anyway, these are my thoughts and this is what I’m attempting to do in the central Florida USA area.

BTW, I think the CLOG is a great idea and will be a frequent visitor.

Regards,
Tony Tuccillo

First, I agree with Matt. I just dont see there being a large enough base to sustatian clubs dedicated to specialist (close-up, kids, coin men, etc.). I think its up to the club to offer something of interest for its members. One way to do this is something Matt mentioned: Allow for a seperate area for people to relax and talk shop. Another way is to have an opener perform and teach a quick trick of a diffrent genre (for instance, a gambling routine before a kid show lecture, or vice versa). I realize this may not play, but we are instatuting this idea for the first time at our meeting in a couple of days, so Ill be able to weigh in then.

Second, there are to many lectures. I think this depends on the structure of the club. We have almost a lecture a month (7-8 lectures out of ten meetings). BUT, we also have a session time after the lecture to show each other the latest trick, move, routine. Some times these sessions last FOUR hours. So we have a chance to discuss what we saw and perform.

Third, the layout is wronge. Maybe. But for what? For sitting and discussing magic, I LIKE the pub setting. And I also like performing in it.

Skill level is to varied. This, I agree, causes a problem. I dont mind showing some routines and teaching them, but I want someone to do the same for me. One way we accomplished this is breaking up into smaller groups for those after lecture sessions. People with similar interests talked together, and everyone has the chance to see magic and learn.

I realize that I belong to an above average club(s), but they are only that way after a lot of hard work.

I agree with you on several points particularly the fact that lectures are usualy aimed at the lowest level. it would be nice to go to a lecture at which the lecturer did not have to keep explaining the simplest of sleights or indeed any at all unless they where out of the ordinary.

I agree with Matt that although the idea of specialised societys sounds ideal , in a real world I think it would be difficult to maintain decent attendence as there would not be enough intrest/magicains in any one location… though perhaps London might.

phillip

These are fantastic comments – thanks for taking part and sharing your experiences – your comments are exactly what I was hoping for.

While I’m young (23 years old), I’ve been attending magic clubs, conventions and get-togethers for 11 or 12 years. Granted, the actual number of clubs that I have attended on a regular basis is low (around 5, I think), but all of them had the same fallings that I listed. Of course, those fallings may not apply to other clubs, but I have a feeling that at least some of them do (and maybe my solutions are wrong – it’s hard to tell until someone tries them).

I guess this kind of discussion certainly varies for each magic club and maybe it’s hard to generalise on this kind of subject. The Magic Circle is certainly not the norm – in fact, it’s probably the only club of its kind in the world and I think it’s definitely an exception to the argument.

I’ve only attended the Magic Circle once (I performed on that great stage in the current headquarters), but will be in London in January – I’d love to take up your offer of being a guest. Thank you.

I look forward to hearing more comments on this subject.

–Andi