British Ring IBM Convention 2006, Part 2 (Written by Steve Evans)

Thursday, September 21, 2006
I woke early and went for a walk along the Sea Front. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the tide had washed the beaches clean. It was the perfect picture postcard setting apart from the Homeless people who seem to have their own beach community and who were on this day bemused by a number of jacket wearing elderly gentlemen still wandering aimlessly looking for Mike Close tickets.

It was Sep’s birthday and our Anniversary. I know that now but at the time I can’t say it registered. I was in the Close-up competition! (Along with WCM chums John Anthony, Steve Dela and Frank Allen). Sep was over the moon with this situation has you can imagine! Breakfast was a welcomed distraction made all the more entertaining by the fact that all the waiting staff were Eastern European which meant that if what you ordered was what you got it was more by luck rather than intension.

I spent the morning in our room practicing, got to the Tennis Centre (The Close-up Venue) on time and the place was buzzing. Bryan was marshalling his troupes and the whole thing seemed well under control. I was second on it the Media Suite which was where the Set-up space was and where the event was being recorded. It seemed to go well. I must say I’m really looking forward to seeing the performance on DVD because I’m not really sure why it went quite as well as it did but I’m not complaining. Frank Allen has been in the Close-up Comp many times over the years and he was really supportive backstage – thanks Frank. Dela was tense, a situation made all the worse by him nearly cutting the top of his finger off in his third room! John Anthony looked like he was enjoying the experience and seemed to be going well. The rest of my time between rooms is a bit of a blur.

My second room was the one hosted by Dave Taylor and I felt it was bit of a struggle. To be fair it was a slightly odd shaped space and on one said they had stormed it there. My third and fourth rooms were cool. Martin Jacks saw me in my last (4th) room and it was really nice to see one of my mentors in the audience. Also a big name in Magic fell a sleep on the front row and I milked it for all it was worth!! The reason for going in it was to be seen and that worked a treat (thank goodness) so I am really happy with how it all went. As with the Stage Competition the results were given out the following night. They were: First, Marc Oberon. Second, Chris Powers. Third, Steve Dela who also won the Rovi Trophy for Cards. I was over the moon for Steve and the result meant that the three main pre-competition favourites had made up the frame.

I was has high as a Kite after the Competition so sat in the Ice Cream Parlour for a bit before finding a quiet bench on the Sea Front where I could sit and relax, after all I’d got no one else to think about. After a while I saw a women coming closer who looked vaguely familiar. It was Septina and it was her birthday!!! Mind you it wasn’t all bad, she had ordered Beef for Tea (her favourite) I wasn’t doing anything else for the rest of the day and the evening show promised to be a belter.

So we chilled for a while, got changed, went down for Tea and Sep tucked into the Fish that was placed before her!

The show was great. John Lenahan compered and Mike Close played the Piano. Graham Jolly opened and everyone laughed a lot. Next up was Charlie Frye doing his juggling act and he went down a storm. John Carney was next on doing his Mr Mysto Act and whilst he is obviously brilliant for me the act wasn’t has strong as I had expected – still good though. Next up was Noel Britten doing his Street Escape Act. He didn’t think it went that well but that’s because he sets himself such high standards. I though it was fine and his audience and spectator management was (as always) second to none. Charlie Frye closed the show doing a Manip Act that still had a lot of juggling in it and again stormed it. John gave the Fringe a plug whilst saying goodnight and a fair number of us made our way over to the Wishing Well Restaurant (right on the Sea Front) which was to be the Home to this year’s Fringe (As it has been in previous years). As we walked in I saw Fay Presto and said “hi” she said “will you do 10 minutes. I said “you better ask Sep!”

Fay opened the show by magically producing a bottle of Champagne which she proceeded to give to Sep whilst at the same time wishing her happy birthday – permission for the Magicbloke to do 10 minutes had been secured! So I nipped back to the Hotel to get my stuff. When I got back the show was about to start so I just sat at our table at the front. I didn’t know when they wanted me to go on, I just presumed somewhere near the beginning.

Dave Jones Compered and held the show together well. Steve Dela opened with mentalism and did good, Alex Lodge was next up and did the 20th Century Bra Trick and you could have heard a pin drop – in Brighton. Julie Carpenter was doing an act inspired by someone off the Internet (who I had genuinely never heard of) but it basically involved her getting her kit off. She was in her WAF uniform from last year but the process of her removing clothing kept being interrupted by an Air Raid Siren. Bob Little then came on and was brilliant and then one of my hero’s in magic Steve Walker (From Australia) came on and was great. Julie then concluded her running gag by performing a costume change which identified a previously chosen card, a different ending I believe to what the woman on the internet does!! Julie is a Fringe regular now, the audience really warmed to her and hopefully we will see her again next year.

After that lot I thought they’d just decided not to use me after asking. This is something that has happened to me recently and it’s horrible. Not a problem here though. I just thought they’d decided to use me on another night until Dave Jones said “And now for our last act of the evening” and I thought “oh bugger, I’m following Steve Walker!” I must say I like the Fringe audience, I did 10 minutes and it was good fun and this year’s shows have been recorded, so my friend Jez (who couldn’t quite get his head round the turn I did last year) will be able to see for himself what the Fringe is all about.

At a little after midnight we both went back to our hotel completely knackered. And so ended a very long day – good fun though.