Kudos to Blackpool Magic Club

[CraigMitchell]

As someone who was highly critical of the Blackpool convention under Derek Lever - I must give the new organizing team credit.

The event has grown in leaps and bounds and the changes / improvements are phenomenal compared to my last visit a few years back. The investment in tech, talent and design shows - and is clearly reflected in the growing popularity and bumper numbers. The key difference is that one now gets the real feeling that the organizers ‘care’ ... they are striving for professionalism and it shows.

Yes - there were growing pains this year but ultimately minor in the grand scheme of the beast of a machine that this 4000+ attendee convention has now become.They are easily remedied and the team are no doubt already putting plans in place to deal with the growth.

The BMC team are to be congratulated. Pulling off a ‘mega’ event like this is no mean feat. Kudos to them ...

2021 sees Criss Angel headlining and I predict that next year will even surpass this years record.

Blackpool is big. It’s unwieldy. And that’s probably half it’s appeal. Everyone is there. And now with a team that really are doing their best to deliver on expectations for the ‘worlds largest magic convention’ you really do need to experience it at least once in your life.

[Richard Kaufman]

Over 4,000? Really?

[Christopher1979]

Does this possibly mean that Blackpool itself is improving? I think that is half the trouble. I haven't been to Blackpool for about 12 years but I lived there for some time.

[Richard Kaufman]

I don't believe the city is improving. There is no employment, no one has money to spend, closed shops. Blight.

[Christopher1979]

Hmm.... Much the same as it has always been then. Well, I believe that it was once a great place to visit anytime before the 1980s. The Tower Ballroom is a wonderful place if you're into organ music, the sound of that Wurlitzer is quite something. I suppose it's still full of stag and hen parties. The "nightlife" is something to behold let me tell you

[performer]

Does this possibly mean that Blackpool itself is improving? I think that is half the trouble. I haven't been to Blackpool for about 12 years but I lived there for some time.

I lived there too! Best place I ever lived! I LOVED it! As for Richard's comment "no money to spend" I managed to squeeze it out of them! Even the ones from Yorkshire..........

As I mentioned on Facebook there are loads of drunks spewing up in the streets after the pubs are closed. In fact if you don't spew up in the street you are considered most peculiar and such propriety is considered socially unacceptable. I have never seen any drunks in Toronto spew up in the street. Alas Canadians are dreadfully boring I am afraid.

[Christopher1979]

I bet the crowds in Blackpool loved you Mark!.. I am ashamed to say that I lived there far longer than I should of. Most of the people I met in Blackpool were great though.

[performer]

Blackpool is where I learned all my evil ways! I used to call the place "The University of Evil". In fact two of the chapters in my "The Lives of a Showman" are devoted to Blackpool. One chapter is called "The University of Evil" and the other was "More Evil at the University". However, unlike yourself I did not find the people to be "great". In fact I found them to be awful! Both the locals and the visitors. Still, I loved the town. Moving there from London was one of my better decisions. People keep telling me that it has changed from years ago. I don't believe it! I have watched Blackpool videos of recent vintage and I can't see any difference. It is still the most wonderful cesspit it has always been!

No place like it! I have been to Vegas and it doesn't compare. Vegas is boring but high class. Nobody in their right mind would call Blackpool "high class" but it has NEVER been boring!

[performer]

I don't believe the city is improving. There is no employment, no one has money to spend, closed shops. Blight.

This is mostly true but there could possibly be an excuse for the closed shops. Some of them may well be closed for the winter months. A lot of shops are geared up for the Summer when all the visitors arrive.

[CraigMitchell]

4300 was the number I was given including registrants, day visitors, guests et al and I could believe it.

The place was heaving ... two gala show performances nightly, dealers room jam packed to the point of not being able to walk and overflowing lecture rooms like I have never seen. They have fast become a victim of their own success!

The logistics of dealing with sooo many people is going to require some careful consideration for 2021- but nothing that some advance planning won’t alleviate.

Considering that magic conventions are dying elsewhere - Blackpool seems to have taken on an entire second life. Fascinating.

[Ian Kendall]

It would be disingenuous to suggest that Blackpool hasn't improved a wee bit over the years; there has obviously been investment into the town's infrastructure, and there are now restaurants open past 9pm (which was not the case in the 90s).

Yes, the B&Bs are still mostly squalid and uncomfortable, but they are cheap and you are usually only there for five hours a day...there are some very nice hotels now (the Boulevard, where the stars were billeted this year, is really quite swank).

Having said that, after spending all day yesterday walking around waiting for my 4.30 train, it was apparent that most of this is just on the surface; the population hasn't changed, despite at least a generation passing between my first and most recent visit. Shops are bland, and often uninviting. The only upshot is that during the weekend, very little time is spent outside the Winter Gardens anyway.

But, we'll all be back next year, even if it's only for one day (which, I have found, is the best way to do it).

[Leo Garet]

There were restaurants open after 9pm in the 80s and early 90s. After midnight, in fact. Two in particular we used. One Greek, but I can't recall the name, the other Chinese, called, imaginatively, "Mandarin".

But I agree. The place has seen better days, though it was well before my time.

[performer]

I remember restaurants being open after 9pm when I lived there in the seventies.

[Ian Kendall]

In the mid 90s I got to the Copthorne late, found some digs and then spent an hour looking for food. Even the Burger King was closed at 9pm. Nothing was open.

[Max Maven]

In fact, the city has improved. When I was there in 2012, many shops were boarded up. This time I only saw one empty storefront. As Ian mentioned, the BLVD hotel (which opened just a few months ago) is actually a really nice place; one would be pleased to stay there in any major city. I also went to one excellent restaurant, which is one more than I’d experienced there before.

That’s not to say that the city has suddenly blossomed. It’s still somewhat sad in many ways. But, there has been noticeable upgrading — apparently with some financial support from the city.

[Joe Lyons]

But, we'll all be back next year, even if it's only for one day (which, I have found, is the best way to do it).

How many conventions have one day passes?

Could be a reason for its success.

[performer]

What seems to be missing here is that the convention is in February. The middle of the winter. Blackpool is empty in the winter apart for the convention. There is no reason for shops to be open or for restaurants to be open late. There are no customers. You have to wait until the beginning of June until the end of October if you want that sort of thing.

[Christopher1979]

Yes, it is like a ghost town in the winter. I remember many cold, windy and depressing winters in Blackpool. If you are lucky to get some nice warm sunny weather it can be a joy.

[performer]

The ghost town atmosphere was actually a bit of a blessing when you have spent 5 months working 7 days a week from 10 am to 11pm at night trying to squeeze money out of the tight fisted visitors. And they weren't high class visitors either. I have noticed that the sort of magicians who attend the convention aren't exactly high class either but Blackpool has always attracted that sort of riff raff element. That is why it is such a relieve to see the back of them, count the money you have made from them and have a well deserved rest. Many of the traders in Blackpool rely on the summer months to see them through the entire year.

Not me though. I travelled out of Blackpool in the winter months all over the UK to deprive the public of their money. There is hardly a town in the UK where I have not sold svengali decks.

[Ian Kendall]

After nearly thirty years of going to Blackpool, every time I get the same feeling, which is best summed up in the Chris de Burgh song, Fatal Hesitation:

The cafes are all deserted
The streets are wet again
There's nothing quite like an out of season holiday town in the rain...

[performer]

Has anyone here actually been there in the Summer? It is an entirely different atmosphere.

[Christopher1979]

Has anyone here actually been there in the Summer? It is an entirely different atmosphere.

Well, I lived in Blackpool for about 5 years so yes! I actually lived in Poulton but worked in Blackpool.

[Tom Moore]

The convention has improved massively since the DL days (though I am a little concerned with the increasing hostility to Derek mentioned at the event; whilst much of it is earned there is no escaping the fact that Blackpool Convention wouldn't be what it is today without his 2 decades controlling and growing it at a time when every other convention was shrinking) though they risk becoming victims of their own success as they hadn't scaled up the infrastructure and program at the same rate as the attendees have grown. Booking headliner star lecturers in a room that can only hold 1/5th the total number of attendees, putting on "alternative" gala shows that combined only have 1300 seats when there's 2200 magicians looking for something to do, an app which is actually more confusing, unusable and outdated than the old printed programs and not having better control over the security/stewards are all basic event planning 101 stuff that they desperately need to get resolved before next year.

Also like all magic conventions they suffer from booking talent that doesn't actually represent or reflect the demographic of attendees or the real world - 95% of the booked talent this year was a white male in his 50's/60's and whilst this problem isn't unique to BMC they are in the unique position of being successful enough that they could have a more representative booking policy and be able to lead the industry rather than following it.

[Tom Stone]

Also like all magic conventions they suffer from booking talent that doesn't actually represent or reflect the demographic of attendees or the real world - 95% of the booked talent this year was a white male in his 50's/60's...

I felt embarrassed when I saw their program. Like there had been no evolution in 35 years. Disregarding duo acts, there were only one female magician in the program, a lecturer. None in any of the shows.

There's lots of magic conventions that do much better.

[performer]

I have been to many magic conventions over the decades. To be honest I don't remember very much in the way of female magicians on the programmes. Once in a while of course but not that much. Perhaps things have changed in recent years. I just haven't seen it.

I actually think it would be an advantage for a female magician not to have too many of them around. They would probably be wise not to encourage too much of it. Better for business that way.

[erdnasephile]

Also like all magic conventions they suffer from booking talent that doesn't actually represent or reflect the demographic of attendees or the real world - 95% of the booked talent this year was a white male in his 50's/60's and whilst this problem isn't unique to BMC they are in the unique position of being successful enough that they could have a more representative booking policy and be able to lead the industry rather than following it.

Mr. Moore: Just curious: were the demographics of the attendees at Blackpool much different from the demographics of the booked talent? (At the last magic convention I attended, the demographics AND the talent were pretty much one and the same.)

[Tom Moore]

Also like all magic conventions they suffer from booking talent that doesn't actually represent or reflect the demographic of attendees or the real world - 95% of the booked talent this year was a white male in his 50's/60's and whilst this problem isn't unique to BMC they are in the unique position of being successful enough that they could have a more representative booking policy and be able to lead the industry rather than following it.

Mr. Moore: Just curious: were the demographics of the attendees at Blackpool much different from the demographics of the booked talent? (At the last magic convention I attended, the demographics AND the talent were pretty much one and the same.)

Were there lots of “old white men” there - yes. But there were also lots of women, lots of people of Asian / black ethnicity, plenty of young magicians.... it’s an undeniable fact that the talent on stage was NOT representative of the audience watching them

[Tom Stone]

Mr. Moore: Just curious: were the demographics of the attendees at Blackpool much different from the demographics of the booked talent? (At the last magic convention I attended, the demographics AND the talent were pretty much one and the same.)

30% of the attendees at Gay Ljungberg's Magic Weekend convention in Lund, Sweden, are women.
Wasn't that ratio to begin with, but when he changed his booking to be more diverse about 15 years ago, the amount of attendees increased and the demographics changed.

[Brad Henderson]

Perhaps Gay could share the details of that journey with the wider magic community sometime - What lessons he learned? What challenges he faced? What he sees as being the next steps forward? What would he tell others who want to work toward the same goal? Any resources he could offer? (Heck, even a roster of female performers who have appear successfully on his stages would likely be useful to many bookers who wanted to consider making an effort.)

I’m sure there is a lot he could share after 15 Years of working toward these results.

As Tom Moore said, the problem of a lack of non male representation (words choice to acknowledge non binary and trans magicians) is world wide - a few notable exceptions aside.

I know some conventions have tried to help by booking more female talent, but clearly it’s more challenging than just that.

In the meantime, has anyone communicated to those who book blackpool their concerns?

Seems to me to be an obvious first step. I think it would have the most impact coming from a well known magician, or a group of regular attendees.

[performer]

There is something that nobody seems to have noticed except me. You are all concentrating on how many women are booked on the shows and lectures. Well, out of the 4000 or so attendees (presuming that number is correct) I bet there aren't a hundred women attendees! I have been looking at various videos of the convention and nary a single woman attendee there! Not even one! I am sure that if I looked harder I would find one or two but I really shouldn't have to look should I?

Come to think of it when I lived in Blackpool naturally I went to the convention and even took a dealer's table once or twice. I don't remember ANY women there!. There probably were of course but few and far between.

Methinks it might be a good idea to find a way to bring women ATTENDEES to the convention before worrying about booking female acts. Of course it doesn't seem to have occured to anyone that perhaps the vast, vast, vast majority of women aren't particularly interested in magic in the first place.

[MagicbyAlfred]

Performer may just have a point. Years ago, I performed at a Super Bowl party at Admirals Cove, Jupiter, Florida. At halftime, I broke out a new routine I had recently learned from my mentor. My maiden voyage was with one of the women at the party. The plot was to do some cold reading with each of 4 [apparently] indifferent cards. After the reading was done with each card, it was placed face down in the lady's hand. After the 4th card was placed, it was announced that, although each of the 4 cards portended something about the lady or her future, the 4 cards taken together carried their own message. As the cards were turned face up to reveal the 4 aces, the tag line was that, "This will be the luckiest year of your life." A couple of women who were looking on, immediately asked me, "Please read my fortune."

As i turned my attention to the second "reading," with a climax of 4 Queens this time, and a tag line that. "You must have royal blood," I was astonished to see that a long line of women from the party had formed. The line stretched out the door and into the hallway. I was far more astonished than anyone for whom I did magic at that party, and quite busy for the rest of halftime, and well beyond, as the men in the next room, oblivious to these goings-on, guzzled beer and boisterously debated the merits of the game, the performances of the players and the decisions of the coaches. I learned something that day.

Guess what my number one "trick" for women has been ever since?

[Tom Stone]

Methinks it might be a good idea to find a way to bring women ATTENDEES to the convention before worrying about booking female acts.

You bring them in my presenting events that aren't archaic. You've seen my girlfriend's facebook page, Mark. She loves magic, but other than the shows and lectures she wanted to see at Blackpool, she thought it was horrible and fled the place as quickly as possible, rather than stay and be subjected to rudeness and condescending remarks. Having fistfights in the lecture rooms are not as inviting as it might seem.

In Sweden, Gay Ljungberg started to book more women, mainly because he wanted to present events that seemed contemporary rather than stuffy. And now, 30% of the attendees are women.

[Tom Stone]

Of course it doesn't seem to have occured to anyone that perhaps the vast, vast, vast majority of women aren't particularly interested in magic in the first place.

Statistics doesn't quite agree with that.
This is this week's demographics for my workshops (female magicians: 52%):

This is the demographics for the last year Magic Bar in Stockholm existed (women: 58%).

Uppsala Magic & Comedy Festival (women: 59%)

And for my little show Mystique (women: 49%).

[performer]

Fistfights in the Lecture room? How exciting! You wouldn't get that at a Canadian convention! The populace are far too boring for that!

Most magic conventions are very respectable with terribly posh and intelligent people. However, Blackpool seems to attract the dregs of the earth and around half of the attendees look as if they have just come out of jail and for all I know they probably have. As soon as I hear all the dreadful Northern England accents I realise these are not the sort of people who would be welcome in the best country homes. I can well imagine all the women being scared away!

On the other hand it is probably the most successful convention in the world with the greatest attendance. I am sure I read somewhere that attendance at other conventions are falling off while Blackpool seems to thrive. Therefore they must be doing something right. I doubt if they are going to change. Still, I expect by now they will have read the complaints and at least they will know about it. They may well take the attitude of "If it ain't broke don't fix it"

Incidentally I have been trying to search out the artistes and lecturers for this year so I can get an idea of the context and the quality of the people they have booked.

Oddly enough I don't think I have seen 5 female magician lecturers in my entire life. Come to think of it I swear I have only seen two and one of them only a few days ago. What I did find interesting about them is that they talked about theory more than they did about tricks. I did find that refreshing. The only trouble was that I couldn't hear a bloody word they said even though I sat in the front row. Of course I am half deaf nowadays but I do wish lecturers would speak up a trifle. They should never assume that people can hear them when they merely talk in their normal voice. Either that or use a bloody microphone.

On another sort of related note I have hired many demonstrators in my life to sell svengali decks. I only hired two females in all that time. Oddly enough those two turned out to be the best grafters I ever hired.

[performer]

Oh, they are Swedish statistics! They don't count! Blackpool and Sweden are two different animals! Come to think of it Sweden and the UK cannot be compared. I still remember working an awful night club in London called the Blue Angel and the entire audience was drunk every night. Rowdy and nasty. Then one day the management told me that the usual crowd would not be allowed in because there were a large party of Swedes coming in that night instead and all the horrible British louts would be turned away. I protested that I couldn't speak Swedish and was told to suffer it. However, every single one of them spoke English fluently and they were a wonderful audience.

Different culture old chap. No good trying to change we British. Drunken rudeness is part of our national heritage I am afraid. And I expect in Blackpool particularly there may well be an attitude that women should be in the kitchen rather than prancing about on a public stage. Not nice but alas that is the way of things I am afraid.

[Tom Moore]

In the meantime, has anyone communicated to those who book blackpool their concerns?

There’s a number of very active discussions on the official BMC channels on exactly this point with lots of organiser members and other people insisting there’s no problem at all and nothing needs to change - whilst several other people pointing out that this is word-for-word the responses and actions that took place about 10 years ago when the comedy industry realised it had an imbalance and tried to do something about it.

I would say there was around 15% female attendance at this years convention and around 10%BAME neither of which was represented proportionately on the bill. It has been pointed out by several female magicians that they avoid the dealers hall at conventions because of low-level
sexual assaults and avoid many lectures from certain performers because they rely on incompatible clothing choices or genres of magic women aren’t particularly prevalent in. The more inclusive stuff (mentalism, children’s magic, comedy magic) had a much higher female attendance than knuckle busting close up lectures.

[Ian Kendall]

I think it's always hard to gauge attendance diversity in 4500 people, but 15% would be 700ish, and I'll be stunned if that's an accurate number.

But there has been progress; in the early 90s, there were often fewer than twenty women, and the same ones kept getting picked for helping in shows and the like...

[performer]

Performer may just have a point. Years ago, I performed at a Super Bowl party at Admirals Cove, Jupiter, Florida. At halftime, I broke out a new routine I had recently learned from my mentor. My maiden voyage was with one of the women at the party. The plot was to do some cold reading with each of 4 [apparently] indifferent cards. After the reading was done with each card, it was placed face down in the lady's hand. After the 4th card was placed, it was announced that, although each of the 4 cards portended something about the lady or her future, the 4 cards taken together carried their own message. As the cards were turned face up to reveal the 4 aces, the tag line was that, "This will be the luckiest year of your life." A couple of women who were looking on, immediately asked me, "Please read my fortune."

As i turned my attention to the second "reading," with a climax of 4 Queens this time, and a tag line that. "You must have royal blood," I was astonished to see that a long line of women from the party had formed. The line stretched out the door and into the hallway. I was far more astonished than anyone for whom I did magic at that party, and quite busy for the rest of halftime, and well beyond, as the men in the next room, oblivious to these goings-on, guzzled beer and boisterously debated the merits of the game, the performances of the players and the decisions of the coaches. I learned something that day.

Guess what my number one "trick" for women has been ever since?

This doesn't surprise me one bit. I often do walk around close up magic combined with palmistry. First I do the usual walk around stuff and tell the people that later I will be set up in a quiet corner to read palms. After an hour or so of the walk around magic I set up somewhere quiet (I can't do this in a noisy atmosphere) and a line appears as if by magic! I am busy for the rest of the evening and am frequently asked to stay longer (for more money of course) rather than leave people out. If there are other close up magicians working the event they will be sent home and I will be asked to stay there and continue.

As I am typing I just realised that all a convention organiser has to do to attract female attendees is to hire a palmist or two!

[Brad Henderson]

Tom Moore,

Sadly, some people think the problem will be solved by merely ranting on Facebook. They even claim that if a booker doesn’t book women they should be removed - of course, these people are in no position to make such removals so - beyond bitching - they aren’t really doing anything. So it’s good to hear that people have actually raised the issue with the blackpool club and discussions are ongoing.

I suggested, elsewhere, a couple of ideas which could help encourage reluctant bookers:

1) convention attendees must communicate to those who book conventions that they want more equitable representation of genders and must be willing to support those demands with their registration dollars. Unless bookers feel a financial impact from their choices it’s too easy to insist there are no problems.

2) magicians who are in demand for conference appearances should pledge not to attend and present at conventions where there is not adequate or equitable representation. If bookers can’t get the people they want, they may feel pressure to be more inclusive in their booking choices. I believe some hollywood stars have done something similar.

I have considered other strategies but I think these two may be the most effective in getting reluctant bookers to change.

Thanks for raising the issue here.

[Bill Mullins]

they suffer from booking talent that doesn't actually represent or reflect the demographic of attendees or the real world - 95% of the booked talent this year was a white male in his 50's/60's

What fraction of attendees wasn't white and male? The American conventions I've been too in the last few years still trend that way (maybe not 95%, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were 75% or more.)

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