I Dream of Genii...(Genii Convention Report)

[Jack Shalom]

I was happy last week to spend four days in Orlando, Florida, attending the 2019 Genii Convention. For a comprehensive, contemporaneous, blow-by-blow audio account, click here:

https://jackshalom.net/2019/10/10/i-dream-of-genii/

[Matthew Field]

Thank you for the reports, Jack.

[Diego]

His review of Jonathan Neal and Liane, during the Gala Show, had a very dismissive attitude of their act being, "from The Ed Sullivan Show", with it's props and movement. First, being able to qualify for The Ed Sullivan Show was an important career-making achievement.

Don't know if the reviewer has seen them before, but watching them over the decades performing for paying public audiences, is a lesson in a performer entertaining real audiences. Yes, with standard props sometimes, but making it new for the audience. Watching his (2 ring) linking rings is a lesson in "less is more".
His thumb tie is an education in the entertainment value he achieves with the audience and volunteer, not unlike the skill of a Blackstone in entertaining (and respectful) engagement of the volunteer. Watching the entertainment level he reaches doing the old Demon Wonder Box, (which is by now new to real audiences) is another example.

Everyone has their opinion/impressions of an act, but years of listening to what paying spectators would say after they left the theater, (the best real world reviews) in Wizardz, The Castle, and other venues, always told a very positive story.

[Brian Douglas]

I can't get day 3 or 4 to play.

[erdnasephile]

Jack, I appreciate your candid and insightful comments. Thanks!

[Chris Aguilar]

I enjoyed Jonathan Neal's take on the thumb tie, but the rest of his material didn't really stand out. The disappearing/reappearing silks trick seemed endless, could not wait for it to end. The explanation seemed similarly belabored. The demon wonder box was interesting, but once again, I felt he milked it for far too long.

While Jonathan is obviously very skilled in audience interaction, I don't feel that he's in the same ballpark as Blackstone, who was flat out amazing in that regard.

[Richard Kaufman]

I think Jonathan is a true master and professional. The repetition of things in his act that had been performed earlier in the convention was my fault for not checking set lists between performers.
His column in Genii shows what a clever pro he is, and his constant work (and he is always working), demonstrates that he knows what am audience likes.


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[Curtis Kam]

I have to say, in further support of Johnathan, that his thumb tie was masterfully done, and one of the smoothest I’ve ever seen.

We had a chance to chat later, and he’s a prince of a guy, as well. So there’s that.


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[Chris Aguilar]

On a different note, I'll say that I especially enjoyed Jim Steinmeyer's talk on Morritt's "Disappearing donkey".

[Curtis Kam]

On a different note, I'll say that I especially enjoyed Jim Steinmeyer's talk on Morritt's "Disappearing donkey".

Me too. And I believed him when he said he solved the problem in his earlier book!


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[Richard Kaufman]

Live and learn


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