FRIDAY JANUARY 15, 2010
After arriving in Bristol the day before to do magic at Illusions Magic Bar, I travelled by train to Gloucester. Thankfully, the snow had disappeared. From the train station I took the taxi to the hotel, set up my things in my room and sat down with Andrew, Danny Garcia, Mark, Alex, and Ray. Eventually, conventiongoers dripped into the Holiday Inn and so the pre-Session commenced. We had dinner and shook hands with old and new friends and at some moment the cards came out and the sessioning began. Ideas, routines, nuances, and sleights started to interact between the Sessioneers. Anyways, around 4 a.m., I fell asleep, dreaming of Ace Assemblies and the magician’s version of Card on Ceiling…
SATURDAY JANUARY 16, 2010
After having little sleep and a lot of English breakfast we started sessioning yet again. Registration opened at 11.30 a.m. and somehow my badge ‘disappeared’ and I had to wear a badge with a big “Z” on it…
The Session line-up consisted of Joshua Jay (USA), Brett Bishop (USA), Chris Mayhew (Canada), Thom Peterson (USA), Mark Elsdon (UK), John Archer (UK), Rune Klan (Denmark), Danny Garcia (USA), Danny Buckler (UK), Steve Falkner (UK), Rodney James Piper (Spain), Alex Rangel (USA) and Matthew Wright (UK). I know what you’re thinking: guaranteed a good time!
At 1.30 p.m. Andi Gladwin and Joshua Jay welcomed the seated conventiongoers and shortly after this announcement, Danny Garcia started The Session off. Mr. Garcia showed us ‘Greed’, a multple bill change, ‘William Tell’ (ninja style card effect), ‘Static Sandwich’ (a nice handling of this plot), ‘Timeline’ (a mystery card effect), ‘Stretch’ (an effect using a rubber band and a finger ring), ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ (a bill penetrates both strands of a rubber band one at a time), and ‘Butterbill’ (a three phase routine where a straw penetrates a bill). All these tricks (except for ‘Greed’) are impromptu, easy to do, magical, and fun to perform. Typical Garcia-material and an excellent and funny lecture to start The Session with!
The Session on Creativity was scheduled at 3.30 p.m. Mark Elsdon, Noel Qualter, and Daniel Garcia were questioned by Andi on creativity. How can one be more creative? How does a creative process look like? So what are the rules when creating magic? There are no rules! You can create anything you want! Daniel Garcia took the initiative and demonstrated the creativity in the room by a collective magic session with a shoe as starting point. Questions: what can be done with a shoe? What are the properties of the shoe? I thought that this event was very useful for the magicians in the crowd who wanted to be more creative. Again, the best things to be creative is keeping a notebook, reading (not only magic books), and sharing ideas with close friends (which is essentially sessioning).
Inspired by the previous event, I did a little card routine at the Magic Bar, which was set up for enthusiasts who want to show their magic to other magicians. Great fun!
Brett Bishop had a lecture at 6.30 p.m. He started off with an interesting effect using some powdered cherry flavoring and a bottle of water, named ‘Oh Yeah!’. The powder disappeared and appeared in the bottle of water. Other tricks he demonstrated were ‘Trans’po Boy’ (an unusual transposition found in The Session booklet) and ‘Go Cut Me a Big Switch’ (a matching effect with a kicker using a jumbo deck and a regular deck). Of course, this effect can also be done with a mini deck instead of a jumbo one. Furthermore, Mr. Bishop taught us ‘For Jack’, a very cool packet trick, and ‘Ringside’, where a coin and a ring change places on several occasions. ‘King’s Cross’ is a flourishy tranposition of a selected card and the four kings. All in all, a great lecture! Brett is such a nice and funny guy. Did you know he can classic palm a jumbo coin and fngerpalm two decks of cards?
After some more sessioning and an enjoyable dinner, we were invited to step in “Rune’s World” at 9 p.m. During this talk, hosted by Josh, Mr. Klan told about his career path and how arrived at the moment where he is now a Danish celebrity. We saw some hilarious footage of Rune from his Danish television show “Hokus Fucking Pokus”. Rune did a linking ring in a tank filled with water and a giant cups and balls where he produced a person at the end! Furthermore, Mr. Klan performed an awesome coin and bottle routine and also bedazzled us with CoinRUNEque. I told Rune afterwards that I definitely got inspired concerning the comedy in my magic and couldn’t wait for Rune Klan’s book!
From 11.30 p.m. till late was The Session Uncut. Let me start of by saying: what happened at The Session, stays at The Session…
Are you ready for a small overview of this event? Are you sure? Alright, here we go. This event was hosted by Andi Gladwin. Steve Faulkner performed a escapology routine and Matt Wright did a very cool lottery number prediction with his wizard puppet, Eugene (in no way related to Mr. Burger). Brett had a very interesting take on a Chad Long effect with a very surprising ending (I have to see a therapist about that) and Mark Elsdon had a hilarious bit with book titles (such as How to shit in the Woods). Andi was kind of thirsty because after every act, he got some shots of sambuca…
As a conclusion to this event, a female magician was invited who could make things disappear. And she had interesting handling on the LePaul Spread. Her work was a but angle sensitive so she flashed now and then. Nonetheless, she did an excellent act and got an erected ovation by the magi in the room…
After this exciting event, we went to the bar and continued sessioning and exchanging routines and ideas. I don’t know why, but after every effect I produced a royal flush as a kicker. I went to bed way too late and went to bed with a smile because I heard so many good stories told by Éireann and Alex Rangel…
SUNDAY JANUARY 17, 2010
I got up pretty early and had some breakfest. After a short stroll in the dealer hall, we seated to see Thom Peterson lecture at 10.30a.m. The Amazing Guy, introduced by Kerry Scorah, made an entrance from beneath the table. He began the lecture with ‘Surprise’, a ring in a chocolate egg. He continued with ‘Spooning’ and ‘Revenge of the Spoon’, two effects that fit perfectly together. The former effect was a spoon bend (perfect in a theater setting) and the latter utilized the out-to-lunch principle. ‘A Fish Tale’, a routine with a plastic fish and cards: I still think the routine is a bit weird, but the basic idea can applied to other effects and venues. All effects were from Thom’s lecture notes (they look awesome!). To close his lecture, Mr. Peterson performed ‘Psycho’. Basically, the spectator picks a card, shuffles it back into the deck, clutters it across the table, and finds his own card. Very cool!
After getting some coffee and showing some weird Dutch card magic, I was ready for the flash talk. However, Ray Kosby had taken my seat. He apologized taking my seat. Eventually, I made Ray rise…that’s a magi joke… Anyways, Chris Mayhew could not make it to do the flash talk, so instead Super Mario did the flash talk. Super Mario demonstrated an interesting card at any number, which was also published in last year’s Session booklet. What? You weren’t there? Tsk tsk…
Shortly after Chris’ flash talk, the convention continued with the next event, named, Your Strongest Card Tricks. A survey was done among thousands of magicians to the questions: What is the strongest card trick you do? What is the strongest card trick you have seen? And the same questions were applied to non-card tricks. I think this was very useful. It made you rethink the card magic you perform for laypeople. For magicians, you can perform the most technical routine with a triple kicker. However, for your paying audiences I think you should perform effects that can be described in one sentence. David Blaine’s ‘Card through Window’ was one of the outcomes of strongest card trick that you’ve ever seen. Eventually, performers did the card effects that came out of the survey. Thom Peterson demonstrated his handling of Doc Daley’s ‘Last Trick’. I did a handling of wrong-card-changing-to-right-card, Mark Elsdon performed an ‘Out of This World’ and Rune Klan did a card effect where a card travels back to the deck. Danny Buckler told a story about Rich Purpura and how your material should fit with your personality. The result of the survey will appear on The Clog in the near future.
The lecture of Joshua Jay started at 3.30 p.m. Watching Josh perform and lecture is always a delight. First he explained ‘Hitchcock’, an effect he performed last year at Blackpool. I just love this routine. The whole presentation is something I really like. Followed by ‘Cornered’, a bill switch idea that has many applications. Besides explaining ‘Signs’ and ‘Voodoo’, he taught us ‘Prediction Piece’, a matching corner prediction. And to end the lecture, Mr. Jay performed ‘Transporter’, an interesting take on the classic card to wallet. Overall, an excellent lecture!
What I liked, it’s immediately after the lecture, magicians started to talk and try to adapt the material to their own personal style. “What if you did this?” or “What if you used an other prop?” or “How can I add an engaging presentation?” or “How can I make women through their money to me?” Oh, when looking for some books in the dealer hall, Christian Schenk invited me to do thirty Mercury Card Folds. In exchange I received a Phoenix Deck and I might be changing brand of cards.
At 7 p.m. Alex Rangel and Matt Wright rocked the bar with the Bar Magic Show! I believe this was a great idea and was very well received.
The Session Gala Show commenced at 8p.m. Danny Buckler was the Master of Ceremony and as the MC he had this Shakespearian aura, which I really liked. Mr. Buckler started off with a Six Card Repeat, Thom Peterson did a bit where two bills were torn and found in a Chinese fortune cookie. Matt Wright did a coins across, where the last coins floats from one hand to another and an amazing card bit on Lady Gaga’s “Pokerface”. Dynamo performed a multiple selection in such a manner only Dynamo could do. Alan Hudson performed an interesting balloon act where he predicted the sequence of popping by a participant. Followed by a very cool thimble on routine on music from the ‘90s. Those were the times… After the interval Mr. Buckler performed a book test and to close the gala show was John Archer, being hilarious as always. He started off with a story and continued with a very funny Bank Night routine. Mr. Archer closed his set with a blindfolding act where he correctly described three pictures drawn by three participants.
A quick note: Rodney James Piper plus a camera equals hilarious footage.
We sessioned in the bar til the depth of night. Fooling The Amazing Guy with my card at any number, performing every card effect from my upcoming booklet, and just laugh a lot and having fun!
What is so nice about The Session, you can have a chat with the performers, sit down with them and share magic. Also, the events they have always differ, which I really like. And of course, there is sufficient time between the events, so there’s plenty of time to session.
In conclusion, I had a great time! I even think it was better than last year’s convention. It was great fun seeing old friends and making new ones. Thanks to the Andi for organising it (with help from Josh and Kerry). My roomies Dennis and Leann. All the members from TSD who attended The Session, the whole Session 2010 line-up, Ray Kosby, JR, Lee, Nicolas, Christian, Ollie, and the crew of Scotland (better known as the “Nine of Diamonds”). And thank you to you who inspired me and/or shared your routines and ideas with me. A big thank you to the birthday gang from Chippenham who made my performance at Illusions legendary. Thank you Sam, Alan, Sylvie, and Mark for a good Thursday evening!
But I owe a huge thank you to the family who came out to see me and do some magic for them. Last year I did a magic act for them (it was the guy’s birthday). And this year the whole family came back to see me. They all remembered my name and the birthday guy was still talking about the Ring Thing I performed last year.
You made it this far…now put The Session 2011 in your agenda. See you there!
that was a wonderful read.. thanks for the post