British Ring IBM Convention 2006, Part 1 (written by Steve Evans)

I was thrilled and honored when Steve Evans - ‘Evo’ to his pals - invited me to post his review of the British Ring IBM Convention. In addition to being a sterling bloke, and a very talented magician with a ton of original comedy material, Steve is also an experienced magic conventioneer. Which is why I always look forward to reading his reviews. One other thing you need to know is that Steve’s wife is called Septina, Steve refers to her as ‘Sep’. Okay, it’s time to hand you over to Steve…

I started writing these reports a few years ago primarily for a friend who had moved to the states. In more recent years I have taken to posting them on the e-group. Hopefully this will give you an early taster of what went on.

This was the IBM British Ring (25) 70th Anniversary convention. I remember after the 60th Bryan Atherton wrote that he was disappointed that the event had not been has special has he had hoped and I remember all the energy that was put in by the then organizers in rebuking him for daring to make such comments. More energy (I would say) than was put into organizing the event in the first place which was quite disappointing as I remember. Well Bryan is now part of the organization of the event (Close-up Competition and International Close-up) and I’m happy to report that all the committee’s energies seemed to have been put into the convention (this time round) as it was all rather super. That said it should always be remembered that this convention is organized by a Committee, very much follows the same structure that it has had since the year dot and the IBM don’t have Blackpool’s cash.

From the reports in the Budget over the last few months it had become apparent that Paul Stone was having a lot to do was the organization of the event, specifically the booking of the acts. Although I have only heard this via third parties it would appear that he had to put in place quite a complex business plan to pull it all off. This included a private show for the hotel where they all stayed (to pay for the rooms?) and the Sunday night show in London (at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane). I don’t know if it is intended for Paul to be involved next year but it will be very interesting to see if such a feat can be pulled off with Southport as the location with (presumably) a lot less people there. Also barring Penn and Teller and Lance Burton there is no one in Las Vegas left to invite because they were all there this year!

We set out at 5.30am on Wednesday morning and it took us just under 5 hours to get there due to traffic, my inability to drive at F1 speeds and Septina’s need for breakfast. We stayed at the Carlton Court Hotel 100m from the Winter Garden complex. Our Hotel is now painted pink and we were in a moderate room on the second floor that actually had a wardrobe in the Bathroom. That said the location was great, we managed to park right by the front door (more by luck than judgment) and the food was very good but it was cram packed full of old people from Wales (that’s the Hotel not the food) and at £45 per day (each) for half board we may look for a cheaper option when we return to Eastbourne in two year’s time.

So we unpacked, Sep headed for the shops and I went to the midday John Carney Lecture in the Congress Theatre. That said I had to register first and then deal with the long queues for “Trade show Live” tickets that snaked all over the place and an even bigger queue for the Mike Close at Midnight gig that was already sold out but due to the average age of the people in the queue being in the low nineties that fact took a little time to sink in.

John Carney is a superstar of Magic and (even though I have seen him Lecture before) I wasn’t disappointed. The lecture was more theory than tricks and centered around the premise that every trick has a problem or weakness, so how do you set about reconciling these issues. The tricks he did do were top draw and I am now a convert to the Finger Palm after seeing the coin work that he did.

I met up with Sep for the 2pm “Trade Show Live” session which was held in the Gold room with a booth set-up at each end. These were simultaneously occupied by Seth Kramer and Tim Conover who did 12 minute presentations, the audiences then swapped ends and they did the whole thing again. They then talked about the Trade show business until the hour was up. It was interesting enough but the general consensus from those I spoke to was that that approach wouldn’t necessarily work for UK Trade show audiences. I couldn’t say because I don’t do trade shows but Septina thought they were OK if a little quickly spoken and “in your face”. And if all you want to do is get people on your stand just give away free Coffee and Sandwiches!

I skipped the Vanni Bossi Lecture and sat chatting in the Ice Cream parlor across the road from the convention venue and was interrupted a number of times by very old people wanting to know where the end of the Mike Close ticket queue was. I told them “Brighten” and they seemed to go away happy enough. Then is was Tea with the people from Wales and off to the magical highlight of my year “The Shield Competition”.

This year there were 14 competitors (with intervals after acts 4 and 9), it was the usual mixed bag with an overall standard that was higher than some in recent memory but this year the overall production values of the show have to be questioned. Introductions were made and then no competitor came on and women (several of which were friends of mine) paraded across the stage with name boards (before each act) which for me was from another time.

Paul Dabek opened. He was the YMOTY before Steve Dela and did a very competent Manip Act with all the usual stuff. Scot Pepper announced that he was going to do the World’s most dangerous card trick and then showed a video of him bungee jumping for 10 mins. Graham Lee best known as being the new Balloon Kid on the block did a very original act that was a breath of fresh air. “Classics of Magic” but done with balloons! Great fun although purely for Magicians. He had a lovely manner on stage which meant that the audience almost instantly warmed to him. Fred Corvenieo was in last year’s Close-up Competition and this year he thought he’d have a go in the Stage Competition. John Van der Put was next up with a theatre piece condensed down to ten minutes taken from a ninety minute show. It Centered around the temptations of smoking, had a number of dead spots in it (where there was nothing happening on stage) and it didn’t work.

We returned a bit late after the interval and by the time we got to our seats the second session had started. Ron and Carol Gilbert ware on stage with a large number of props but not a lot seemed to be happening. Ron won the comedy award a few year’s ago but this act didn’t score very high with the audience. Alex Lodge is a very confident young man who works in holiday camps (presumably during the summer). He did a Manip Act with the twist that half way through he becomes an Italian chief! Nice idea but it needs work. Eastern Delights featured a man in Asian dress and a Belly Dancer with a noticeable belly. Steve Dela’s mate Mathew was the person they got up on stage to demonstrate their tricks on and they gave him a box of chocolates for his trouble so it wasn’t a complete waste of time. Oliver Tabor closed the second section with a nice Manip act Centered around a violin and the Theme of Music. He had minor technical problems at the end with his Vanishing Bird Cage but all in all it was a good act well performed.

The final section of the evening opened with Paul Ray. The audience warmed to him and found him funny. The act was smooth and polished, tricks with impressions from yesteryear that the IBM audience all knew and could associate with.  Jonathan Shotton was next on. He had been a YMOTY finalist last year. He’s come on a lot in the last year but still has a way to go but he has time on his side, I just hope he’s got the right people behind him.

WCM member Jason Steele and Joanne were next up. They did the Wrist Chopper and Card Manips which included the production of a number of Card Castles.

Joe Ray (Paul’s son and Geoff’s Grandson) was the last but one act. He came on after 11.30pm, way past his bedtime. He to was in last year’s YMOTY. He did the same stuff, based on his Granddad’s Manip Act; with a central theme of money with Card Manips has an added bonus. This was a good act, Joe’s personality and confidence have developed a lot in the last 12 months and if that improvement continues he is a nailed on certainty for the Young Magician title next July. Last on was Dave Andrews. A Manip Act, he was set too far back on the stage for some reason. He lacked luster and no one seemed to be taking too much notice of what he was doing but he didn’t hurt anyone so his act ended harmlessly enough with the entire thing being rapped just short of midnight.

The results were given out before the Late Late show on Friday night but for the record were:
Shield Winner – Paul Dabek
Comedy – Paul Ray
Manipulations – Joe Ray
Originality – Graham Lee

There was no Fringe and we hadn’t got one of the small number of tickets for the Mike Close Lecture (at the Lansdowne) so we went back to our Hotel. Tomorrow was the Close-up Competition, Sep’s Birthday, our Anniversary and the Fringe and I had it in mind that it might be a long day!

(Note from Steve Bedwell: I’ll post the second part of Steve’s review tomorrow).