World Magic Seminar

[hnegash]

Could someone please post a review on how the World Magic Seminar was? I'm interested on the Monday, Opening Gala show. What was the lineup, what material did they perform and how was the overall quality of the show.

Any other reviews on the convention would be great; close-up shows, lectures, etc.....

Henok

[magicking]

A review of the Dealers Room and whats hot would be nice too!

[Steve Bryant]

A quick answer: Overall a fine convention, I enjoyed the acts and had a great time. I'll post more details later on my web site. The Monday opening gala show was in some ways the weakest of the shows because of a horrendous tech crew. They needed Dale Hindman, in part because he has teched Jason Latimer's act before. BUT a thrill to see Rudy Coby open with his iconic Labman routine, and I thought Rudy was also hilarious as emcee. Dave Kaplan followed with his popular zany stuff with bowling balls, a lit candelabra produced from his jacket, etc. The tech issues cropped up in Jason Latimer's act. He first appeared silhouetted against a "laser wall" (a wall of green light). He then opened with his card and Porper ring routine, and he closed with his laser act (once he made it through the tech issues; Jason handled the music and lighting miscues with good humor, but it was too bad that he had to handle them at all. I was beginning to think what was going on was personal.). Ah, but the middle. He had a new levitation of a woman. Once he had her in the air and was passing a rectangular hoop over her, the entire platform on which he was standing rotated 360 degrees, the girl in the air rotating as well, so that you could view the levitation from all sides. This is a fantastic new illusion. Jason returned later in the convention on the Cups and Balls symposium, where he killed with his FISM-winning clear cups routine.

A very quick word on other things: opening night party had a STRONG set by James Dimmare followed by some guy who sang nine or ten Sinatra songs (ecch) and then a good puppeteer, the teen contestants were thrillingly accomplished and original, the Encore Foundation show killed with a dozen top acts emceed by Max Maven, Kent Gunn cracked me up and impressed me with his Fun Shop Cups and Balls, Jeff McBride's salon was the most welcoming an amazing place to hang out, the adult contest was almost as good as the teen contest (amazing to see a guy do single card and split fan productions with jumbo cards; the winner was Soma from Hungary with an original and magical act that I'll describe elsewhere), Johnny Thompson and Antonio Romero also excelled with Jason in the cups symposium, the midnight bowling tournament was hugely popular and hugely attended, Rudy Coby's lecture had us roaring with laughter (esp. the Magic Dave video, including banter with Chris Kenner), Greg Frewin amazed as always on the final awards show (hosted by MUM ed Mike Close), and the best "new" close-up guy, who served as dealer, lecturer, and performer, great for his personality as well as his eye-popping magic, was Eric Jones (catch him on the David Williamson edition of Reel Magic). I am leaving out some of the things that were stellar, in part because they occurred in private moments; check Little Egypt Magic near the end of the month for details.

Now, interesting that you asked only about the Monday show ...

[Dave V]

No Steve, the tech issues weren't personal. This is the second year in a row that was plagued with tech problems. Personally, I'd be shopping for a new stage manager, but it's not my call.

[Max Maven]

Many of the tech problems on the first day's show were due to errors on the performer's part, and despite the fact that he decided to publicly blame the tech crew, the responsibility rests on the performer's own ill-prepared shoulders.

[Dave V]

Not knowing all the details, I'll accept that the performers could have missed their own cues or given bad or incomplete notes to the guys in the booth, but I still don't think that black stages (having to ask for a spotlight when one should have been ready), bad lighting (Latimer and his assistant's faces were in the shadows)(Mike Michael's act last year was even worse in this regard) , and multiple missed sound cues can be blamed entirely on the performer.

[Pete Biro]

One of the problems was the availabily of the stage and the union crew... Jason was hurt by a rediculously short period of time to load in, set up and finally run through... It's bad enough with a simple act, but his is so complex it's a miracle he ever gets enough time to prepare. He should have been better prepared. And I understand his own tech guy was calling the show. No matter who's the blame, it was too bad to see things go so sour. I tried to photograph his act, but the dopey spotlight operator didn't light their faces so they look "headless" in my photos... so I can't publish them. See "Buzz" for my WMS photo album link.

[Kaplan]

The tech is always a problem on these shows, essentially because we try to do a more complex performance than rehearsal time allows (which is a function of how much $ can be spent on union crews, etc). I'm usually happy to have things about 85% right, and just hope the stuff that is messed up is not too noticeable. A way to make these shows run more smoothly would be to have fewer performers, but what fun would that be?

In these situations, all of us (performers, stage managers, tech people) need to take responsibility. Before the show, I told Rudy that I needed only 1 minute to set my props, and made plans with the crew to set my stuff. Sadly, no one had made plans to strile Rudy's stuff. Rudy was actually introducing me before HIS props were struck. When the crew realized amid the chaos that Rudy's stuff needed to be struck, they ran out to do it, and it left me to set my own stuff. I hope no one noticed I was winded when I finally made my entrance. When I had to run my propstand out by myself, one of my secret props shifted, and I had to omit a little gimmick from the act, as I when I went to grab it, it was not where it belonged.

Sometimes we just assume certain things will be taken care of. I certainly assumed Rudy's props were going to be struck. Little things like this can snowball. Next time, even though it may not really be my responsibility, I will find out who is going to strike the props from the act ahead of me. I learned something. I suppose we all did.

One more note; Jason Latimer doesn't use a showtech. When his music was messing up, he made a showtech joke. At the time, I wasn't sure what he meant by it. I suppose he was a little frazzled at that point, and it was all he could think of to say. We all say stuff like that in the heat of the moment. For the record, I don't know what system he was using, but it wasn't a showtech. I'm pretty sure that he, or one of his crew was in charge of running his music system, and it was not Steve Kline's or the sound guy's fault. I was actually using Kerry's MP3 tech, and it worked flawlessly.

One more note: I saw the Penn and Teller show before I left town, and I have to say, it was probably the greatest magic show I have ever seen. They fried me in the first 3 seconds. I felt like 'a boy among men'. Wow.

[Denis Behr]

He had a new levitation of a woman. Once he had her in the air and was passing a rectangular hoop over her, the entire platform on which he was standing rotated 360 degrees, the girl in the air rotating as well, so that you could view the levitation from all sides. This is a fantastic new illusion.

Maybe I am misunderstanding the illusion, but doesn't that make it obvious that the floating woman is in fact connected to the platform?

Denis

[Curtis Kam]

Denis,

Yeah, that's the thought that hits you (as a thinking magician) after you've been struck by how good it looks. I'm not sure when or if this is evident to a lay audience, since a) they still can't see anything holding her up, b) he did pass the hoop, and c) did I mention that it just looks "right"?

I suppose the "proper" thing to do would be for just the floating lady to turn 360 degrees. But somehow, that's not as satisfying, IMHO.

[Steve Bryant]

Someone else -- I forget who -- has also pointed out that, when most ladies float in the air, why do their hair and clothing hang down. What is the true effect, that only part of their bodies are defying gravity? It doesn't pay to think too hard about these things. Whatever, Jason's was a cool illusion, not your father's Super-X.

[Ian Kendall]

Strangely, I remember thinking the same thing at the end of Moonraker...

Take care, Ian

[CraigMitchell]

"Many of the tech problems on the first day's show were due to errors on the performer's part, and despite the fact that he decided to publicly blame the tech crew, the responsibility rests on the performer's own ill-prepared shoulders. "

Michael Close summed up Jason's unfortunate showing on the opening stage show by comparing it to the Hindenburg ...

It is, however, COMPLETELY inappropriate to blame Steven Kline when he had no control over Jason's tech which he was controlling himself. To publicly call out Steve like Jason did was in poor form - and anyone not privy to the true circumstances would assume the worst of the tech crew.

From what I saw, the balance of the theatre shows went off smoothly tech wise - Steven is to be commended on doing an outstanding job in what is a serious high pressure environment.

[John Signa]

Maybe I am misunderstanding the illusion, but doesn't that make it obvious that the floating woman is in fact connected to the platform?

I spoke with Jason about the illusion the night prior; the girl and the platform are not connected (well not, directly). (The name of the illusion is BulletTime which is pretty apt).

The visual effect is that you are seeing all the way around the illusion. If just the girl rotated, I think it would call focus to the point of connection. When I saw Lance Burton Thursday night, when he rotated the girl around him, it felt very stiff and not as dynamic in comparison.
I still don't understand the purpose of showing a video projection of the illusion.

Regarding Kaplan's comment about Penn & Teller, I too saw it Wednesday and it is an excellent show. I saw the show just a few years ago and they've added quite a bit of new material since then.

[Denis Behr]

If the illusion looks great and no connection is suggested, even better. As I said, I have not seen the illusion but was just curious after the description of it.

[Bill Wells]

No Steve, the tech issues weren't personal. This is the second year in a row that was plagued with tech problems. Personally, I'd be shopping for a new stage manager, but it's not my call.

Just for the record, there was a different stage manager in 2008 that I inherited. While I don't recall a "plague", there was there was a tech problem (missed cue) with one act in the international competition in 2008.

I hired the 2009 stage manager, Steven Kline,and I feel he did a super job. Also for the record, as has been stated here by others, Steven did not call the cues for Latimer's segment - Jason's crew did. If Jason wished to have Dale Hindman call his show, he could have done so by including Dale on his crew.

Bill

[Pepka]

I had a great time at the convention. I regret missing some of the events due to just hanging out with friends. On Jason's act, he did tell a few of us that he did not have enough time to load in and tech, and he knew that going in. My point is, if it takes say, 6 hours to load in and tech, and you are told you only have 3, why take the gig and risk doing a bad show? I'm a close-up guy, if someone calls me and wants an illusion show, I don't take it and try to muddle through it, I pass it off to someone who will do a good job. My opinion, Steve and his crew did a good job with what they had to work with. If Jason knew he wouldn't have sufficient time for load in, he shouldn't have taken the job.

I too saw Penn and Teller with John and Kaplan and was really blown away. The newest bit in the show is Penn doing close-up for an audience member who holds a video camera for the big screen. This will fool you very badly, as long as you don't sit next to John Signa. ;-)

[Steve Bryant]

Bill, MY comments about Dale Hindman were unfortunate, mere speculation. I never heard Jason wish he had Dale, never heard him say anything about the opening show other than to laugh it off with good grace.

And for those who weren't there, everything eventually worked in that show. It was the interstices that weren't smoothly professional. But ... music and lighting were reset, after which all the magic transpired successfully.

[Ralph Mackintosh]

Due to the lack of proper lighting and lighting cues the levitation looked like the "woman on a black stick" illusion from my vantage point (stage right). I thought the rotation looked good until the lights came up revealing all. And no the platform and rotating stage are not connected.

[Alan Bursky]

Somebody explain the bad Sinatra impersonator at a magic convention???????????????

[Shawn Farquhar]

Although I was unable to attend this years WMS, I have attended many in the past. I want to publicly congratulate Bill Wells on his choice of Stage Managers. Steve Kline is outstanding and I speak from experience. I had the pleasure of having him tech me a number of times at events like Magi-Fest and was so impressed that I hired him to tech the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians convention too! When Steve's backstage, my comfort level goes way up!

Cheers,

Shawn

[John Signa]

Somebody explain the bad Sinatra impersonator at a magic convention???????????????

A bad juggler wasn't available.

I understand the intent is to provide some texture/variety (we'll see enough magic the rest of the seminar). However, I would kill the stage show all together and just let people mingle/socialize and catch up with people they haven't seen in a year.

[Joe M. Turner]

Somebody explain the bad Sinatra impersonator at a magic convention???????????????

Strange indeed. At another magic convention last weekend (Winter Carnival in Pigeon Forge, TN), there was also a Sinatra act... although I don't think 'impersonator' is accurate as he looked, dressed, and sounded nothing like the Chairman.

http://www.ibmring58.com/wcm/thu/

He had 15 minutes between a roast of Mike Stratman and a lecture by Mark Mason... which he dutifully filled with over half-an-hour of Sinatra karaoke.

He got under my skin, so after one song I left him... softly... wishing that someone had called the whole thing off.

[Alan Bursky]

You go to a magic convention to see MAGIC! If you want to see a bad Sinatra impersonator, you go see Frank Sinatra jr..

[Jerry Newton]

Excellent response Alan...

[mattyMagic]

Can anyone give details about the Teen Contest during the WMS 2009? That was really the only thing I wanted to see (my friend was in it). He gave me his version... I wanna know what someone in the audience thought!

[Magic Mike]

I was at both the teen prelims, and the finals. What is it you would like to know?
They all did an excellent job.

[DanSperry]

The teen contest was the strongest I've seen it in a LONG time. So many of the acts showed great potential.

I do have to jump in here and defend my friend Steven Kline, I try not to get involved in this too much bu what needs to be said already has been. And Steven needs no defending. There is a reason why he is hired by internationally touring acts and performance groups, conventions, half time shows, etc. I've known Jason Latimer for many years, though we're not close friends, I've seen him put things into his act and continue to try to work on projects which is great. I agree he may have bitten off more than he could chew, but, this -to my knowledge- was his first "headlining" role in a convention so no doubt he wanted to make a big impression and tried to make a good one. In an effort to do so this is probably why he brought his own crew to call cues as a security blanket however it sadly back fired. What I'm more concerned about was not the tech issues with his set but more so his comments made outloud towards Steve and the rest of the crew and union house there. It is comments like this which mess up opportunities for further acts to not get "F"'d over by the union boys. I've seen and heard of plenty of horror stories in which the union houses hate magicians and will let props get dammaged, lights to not turn out, and just basically have a theatrical equivelant of courtroom amnesia. Am I making sense? I was also a bit confused as to the laser act which looks very familiar to the brilliant french performer Theo Dari's lazer act which has been at FISM many many times over nearly 10 years ago, Jason also did not open with his manip routine but rather an almost move for move take off of Florian Zimmer's spray paint and billiard ball routine which Florian won the S&R contest with a few years ago and the all too lifted slow-mo variation with charriots of fire in a jumbo card version of 2 card monti. Did anybody else notice this? It just made me uncomfortable.

I didn't make it to the cups and balls thing at the convention but I hope Farquhar's amazing cups and balls routine was somehow included. If it went over looked, I'm pissed. That's the best [censored] YOU cups and balls out there. Especially his amazing ending with the solid bottoms. When I first saw it like back in 98' it fried me. I know Sean wasn't there, but he should have been. That was probably the only big "ball drop" of the convention from my eyes.

but what do it know, this is just my opinion.

[CHRIS]

I was backstage for the Latimer show and saw the whole thing go down so I must throw in my 2 cents. Steve Kline is a excellent technical director I worked with him this year at WMS and at PCAM and not one cue was ever missed. I happened to be helping Joseph Gabriel backstage for the show Mr Latimier was on. Jason said well over 10 times that day and during the convention that he had never done those effects. I agree with Mr Sperry that Jason bit off more than he could chew. He did rip off many performers like Jef Justice, Florian Zimmer, and Theo Dari. The problem was if Jason was nice and let off of his ego the audinece would have been behind him. As a true pro you take the heat off the tech crew when things are going wrong not focus the attention to them. Jason showed very little class and made the audinece dislike him very fast. I think Jason is very talented but his actions were upsetting and he owes Steven Kline a public apology. As Mr Sperry said thats my 2 cents not that it means anything.

[Pepka]

Since Dan asked about the cups and balls session, I'll tell you what I thought of that. The real highlight was sitting in the front row, watching Johnny Thompson do his classic routine with impersonations of Vernon, Kreiger, Malini etc. Rafael Benatar did his wonderful email routine, and Antonio Romero's unusual routine fooled us all very badly. Jason's routine was OK, but it just went on and on. I'd seen it on TV before and it seemed to be 2-3 minutes, this was closer to 9. I just wanted to say, "OK, we get it." I also have to say that JW grip does not look good with balls. The discussion that followed led by Pete Biro and Bill Palmer was very enlightening. They had a lot of great stories and historical information that can be useful to all cups and balls workers.

[Tim Ellis]

I wish I was there at the Cups & Balls session. It sounds like it was fantastic!

[Botond Kelle]

the winner was Soma from Hungary with an original and magical act

Hi guys,

Here is the newest version of Soma's Phone act:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jucxw56RDik

One of the best contemporary manipulation acts.

[Francesca Moffet]

I saw Soma perform at International Magic last year, I loved his act.

I am hoping to get to WMS next year. *crosses fingers*