* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * New Zealand's MagicNZ e-zine * www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Issue Number: #66 Date: Sunday 25th March 2001 Editor: Alan Watson www.magician.co.nz www.alan-watson.com e-mail alan@watson.co.nz ================================ Hi here is the latest news ================================ 1. Editor's Message 2. Magician swears he wasn't drinking firewater 3. It's Magic! 2001 4. Rumor about Caesars Magical Empire not true 5. Magic Memorabilia 6. Petrick & Mia's lecture tour across the United States and Canada 7. Kona Hawaii 15th Annual Magic Spectacular 8. www.magicwebchannel.com 9. Sheffield's Regional Day 10. Ring 58 in Knoxville, TN, USA 11. Items of Houdini, Kellar and Thurston now available 12. Paul Romhany flies in Cockpit 13. The Orchante Saga #22 14. Diarise these events 15. MagicNZ e-zine archives 16. Subscription Management ------------------------------------ 1. Editor's Message ------------------------------------- Message from Alan Watson - The Magic One Jeffery Atkins (UK) sudden death It was sad to hear of Jeffery Atkins sudden death on Monday 19th March. Jeffery was the Honorary Secretary of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, British Ring Number 25 and a Past International President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Condolences can be sent to: Mrs Cath Atkins at - Kings Garn, Fritham, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, SO43 7HH England. -------------------------------------- Joshua Jay will be presenting two lectures in New Zealand tentatively booked for: Auckland Friday 10th August 2001 - contact Alan Watson Christchurch Monday 13th August 2001 - contact Greg Britt Message from Joshua Jay (US) For information on me, please consult my website at www.joshuajay.com. This will fill you in on some of the things that I do. In addition, I'll be appearing on Lance Burton's next television special on March 17th. You will also find me on the cover of Genii Magazine this month and in August, I will begin duties as a monthly columnist for MAGIC Magazine. The lecture that I offer is in two parts - the first part is entirely self-working (easy tricks) and the second part is slightly more difficult. The items range from close-up to stand-up and involve cards, coins, rope, watches, a paintbrush, and more. ---------------------------------- DON'T miss next week's issue of the MagicNZ e-zine as Peter Marucci has contributed another article: "Needle Through Balloon" Peter Marucci - "There's a whole range of theatre here in this one trick: Drama, conflict, surprise, victory, denouement, climax." ---------------------------------- Palmerton North Magician's Society will be holding a Convention from Friday 1st to Monday 4th June 2001. They will be bringing in an overseas magician - which will be announced shortly. Remember if you have any magic news drop me a line: alan@watson.co.nz ------------------------------------- 2. Magician swears he wasn't drinking firewater ------------------------------------- Message from Richard Webster (NZ) Article in "The New Zealand Herald" HOT LIPS: Magician Randall Richman swears he wasn't drinking firewater. But he did eat fire. Richman says he had taught a fire-eating class in Hollywood when he was pulled over for driving without his lights on and doing 88 km/h in a 55 km/h zone. A breath test measured his blood alcohol at twice the legal limit. But Richman will argue at his trial next month that it wasn't liquor but three types of lighter fluid. ---------------------------------- 3. It's Magic! 2001 ---------------------------------- Message from Milt Larsen (US) A special edition of our It's Magic! show will be playing at the Hawaii Theater (Hawaii Center for the Performing Arts Honolulu) May 25, 26 and 27. All star show with Rudy Coby (emcee) Julienna Chen, Christopher Hart, Dana Daniels, Ed Alonzo and Joseph Gabriel. The regular run of the It's Magic! shows will play a number of theaters in the Southern California area in October and November. Milt Larsen started this long running magic tradition back in 1956. The last seven annual shows have been produced by Milt Larsen and Terry Hill. ---------------------------------- 4. Rumor about Caesars Magical Empire not true ---------------------------------- Message from Milt Larsen (US) Rumor had it that Caesars Magical Empire in Las Vegas was closing March 31. Not true. Although the future of the empire is far from certain it's booked through June. ------------------------------------- 5. Magic Memorabilia ------------------------------------- Message from Christer Nilsson (Sweden) The Swedish Magic Archive, started by me in 1946, I have a lot of duplicates, which I am now are selling to other collectors or magicians interested in magic memorabilia. If you go to my homepage http://welcome.to/magiarkivet you will find lists of posters, catalogues and other memorabilia (photos, publicity, programs etc). I do hope you will find something of interest for you! Yours sincerely Christer Nilsson sv.magi-arkiv@telia.com http://welcome.to/magiarkivet ------------------------------------- 6. Petrick & Mia's lecture tour across the United States and Canada ------------------------------------- Message from Petrick & Mia (US) A short time ago, Petrick & Mia announced they were going on a NEW Show/ Lecture tour across the United States and Canada. The response has been overwhelming. New dates are booked every week. If your magic club is interested in hosting Petrick &; Mia's New Show/ lecture for your members, please contact us as soon as possible. Dates are going fast and clubs that waited too long last time missed the opportunity to see these magnificent performers and their lecture. We also offer a workshop - a special offer, only for magic clubs who book Petrick & Mia for the lecture. Special Workshop with PM Magic Coins Limited to the first 25 people Workshop only $ 25.00, which includes, FREE, PM Magic coins, silk, cards and other props needed to perform seven amazing routines. (A $ 50.00 Value). We need minimum 10 people. Workshop starts 1 hour and 15 minutes before the show. For more information ask you lecture coordinator. For Petrick & Mia's information please go to: http://www.pmmagic.com ------------------------------------- 7. Kona Hawaii 15th Annual Magic Spectacular ------------------------------------- Message from Barry Gitelson (Hawaii) Saturday the 10th of March at the historic Aloha Theater in downtown Kainaliu Hawaii was the time and place for the 15th Annual Magic Spectacular. For over two hours the house was rocking with oohs and aaahs, lots of laughter, and the wonderful whisper of "how did he do that? Six magicians performed two shows for the American Cancer Society fundraiser. From Oahu we had the talents of young Takeshi (Future Magician) and master entertainer Curtis Kam. The Big Island of Hawaii showcased the talents of producer and director of the show Barry Gitelson who performed the floating hank (thank you Sean Begonia) and a take off on the Survivor TV show (Survivor-The Magic Act), Arnie Rabin who magically baked a cake in a top hat to celebrate the birthday of Jimmy (Tengu) Yoshida and also performed Metamorphosis with Barry, and Alan Konno who sang, tap danced, and produced more umbrellas than is legal on one stage. And for our closing act we had Mr. Ed Alonzo who totally blew away the audience with his professionalism and talent. The next day we got together as always for a Sunday brunch which included a lecture by Ed Alonzo and as always a small dealers table by Jimmy Yoshida. Visiting Kona? Give us a call and lets get together. Next year is our sweet sixteenth show. Come and be a part of it. ------------------------------------- 8. www.magicwebchannel.com ------------------------------------- Message from Steve Dacri (US) Yes, we've finally moved into our new home, at the very spacious MagicWebChannel. Jan's office is right down the hall from mine, very cozy. If you've been following our progress, we've been waiting for the MagcWebChannel to be ready for months, and we're finally in. Please bookmark this address, as all of the hatsandRabbits site will be moving into the MagicWebChannel in preparation for our official opening. And please change your E-mail address book for me as well. Birthday emails and money grams should be sent to steve@magicwebchannel.com Please take a few seconds and help us with 2 things... 1 - send a reply email and tell me how many of this email you received, along with any changes to your email address. 2- visit MagicWebChannel and tell me how long it took to download into your computer. (feel free to include your comments, thoughts, suggestions, whatever---we can take it!) Remember, it's far from finished yet... This will help us greatly. By the way, it will take a few days for many features, such as the message board and guest book and sign up sheet to operate, as in switching over to the new web site, many settings must be reprogrammed.. ------------------------------------- 9. Sheffield's Regional Day ------------------------------------- Message from Peter McCahon (UK) - Regional Day Coordinator In Conjunction with the Sheffield Circle of Magicians The Magic Circle Presents its Sheffield Regional Day Sunday 22nd April Venue: Merlin Theatre 2 Meadow Bank Road (off Cherry Tree Road) Sheffield An all day event featuring, dealers, lectures, Young Magicians Workshops and culminating with a Public evening show. Lecturers: Jon Allen, Rob Cox, Richard Pinner Public Show Performers: Jon Allen, Roy Davenport, Richard Pinner, Mark Shortland & Peter McCahon 10.30am Doors Open & Registration 5.30pm Dealers Close 7.30pm 'The Magic Circle Entertains' Public Show Daytime Events Tickets for the Daytime event only cost £10.00 Free to The Magic Circle Members, Sheffield Circle of Magicians Members & Members of The Young Magicians Club Tickets can be purchased on door or in advance by sending Cheque for £10.00 plus stamped SAE to: Sheffield Regional Day 8 Cob Close Borehamwood Herts WD6 2SA Public Show Everyone must purchase a £5.00 ticket for access to evening show direct from Merlin Theatre Box Office: 0114 255 1638 Queries and dealer applications to Peter McCahon - Regional Day Coordinator 020 8688 3114 Sheffield@mccahon.co.uk ------------------------------------- 10. Ring 58 in Knoxville, TN, USA ------------------------------------- Message Mike Stratman (US) Ring 58 in Knoxville, TN, USA just put together another successful Winter Carnival of Magic. This years featured performers Greg Frewin and Juliana Chen received well deserved standing ovations. Other performers on the Saturday night show included Jay Mattioli and the Magic Guys. Both of these acts did a superb job and held their own with Greg and Juliana. We had Duane Laflin emcee the Saturday night show and, as always Duane did a great job. The Friday night show featured Terry Evanswood, Dan Harlan, and Oscar Munoz. We were very fortunate to have Warren Stephens on hand to fill in for Aldo Colombini who came down with the flu and had to cancel. This team provided us with one of the strongest Friday night shows in our 27 years history. We have already contacted Aldo and he will be here in 2002. The close-up shows featured, Dan Harlan, Tom Jones, Steve Beam and Gold Cup winner Oscar Munoz. Once again all of these guys did a great job and presented us with a good mix of close-up magic. We also had excellent lectures presented by Duane Laflin, Wild Magic, Dan Harlan, Steve Beam and the impromptu performance by Warren Stephens. I heard Warren was up most of the night trying to put something together and he did an excellent job. It is nice to have people like Warren around who just came to enjoy the convention and then at the last minute had to put together something from nothing in order to present his lecture and MC the Friday night show. All of the above is what makes magic so great and what makes our Winter Carnival of Magic a success every year. Hope you can join us in 2002. ------------------------------------- 11. Items of Houdini, Kellar and Thurston now available ------------------------------------- Message from Martinka & Co First, I'd like to say thank you for all of the encouraging emails and calls. And, with well over 300 bids logged so far, thank you for your participation in the auction. BTW, here's a shortcut to the main page: http://www.martinka.com/auction/MtkaAuction.asp Now, here's the latest information on the listings. Since I last wrote, the number of listings has increased daily, today there's over 100 vintage items listed. We now have items from Houdini, Kellar and Thurston available. The new listings are mixed in with the original ones, so look carefully. Next time, I'll try to keep them separate, so that you can easily see what's new. And finally, I've already found some interesting material for the next sale, but would love to supplement it with some consignments. It may be a good way for you to sell off that duplicate or item that no longer fits in your collection. Please let me know if you would like to list something and we can discuss the details. Your participation, consignments and suggestions make a difference and will truly help to keep Martinka & Co. on the map. ---------------------------------- 12. Paul Romhany flies in Cockpit ---------------------------------- Message from Paul Romhany (NZ) On my last night at working in Dubai at the Renainassance Hotel, I noticed that the crew of Singapore Airlines were having dinner in the restaurant I was entertaining in then they went to the nightclub where I was also performing. Knowing they would be my crew for my flight from Dubai to Singapore I wanted to have fun with them so they would remember me when I boarded my flight. I spent about half an hour joking with them and having a great time.. then at the nightclub they loved the Chaplin Show and took part. It was a lot of fun. I then spent some time after my show with them and getting to know them a little. Sure enough, when I boarded my flight from Dubai to Singapore, they got all excited and really looked after me. The most exciting thing for me was to fly in the cockpit and do the landing (not fly the plane but be there for the landing). It was the best flight, and because I spent a little time with them and had fun they made my trip very enjoyable. I'm now in Australia as an opening act for a Las Vegas Entertainer and performing in Sydney. Caught up with Sean and Diana Taylor in the fantastic magic shop. It was great to see them both. ---------------------------------- 12. The Orchante Saga #22 ---------------------------------- Message from Tommy Orchard (The Amazing Orchante)(UK ex-pat Kiwi) IT WAS 'FUN-TASTIC' Back in 1962/3 I met up with JOHNNY COOPER. He was promoting/running - very successfully - Talent Quests, in the Waikato/King Country - the central areas of the North Island of New Zealand. I toured with Johnny, as his guest artist. Show after show, town after town - Mangakino, Murupara, Otorohanga, Reparoa, Arapuni etc. blurred by, hundreds of bands playing perfect copies of the Shadows, the Champs, the Ramrods, Duane Eddy, etc. (none could read music, always playing 'by ear' and singers, all seeking fame and fortune - I remember the seemingly endless renditions of - oh, God - not again - 'TEN GUITARS', over and over, like a record stuck on 'repeat' mode. How I wish one could turn the clock back - you just don't realise or appreciate at the time (do you) just how wonderful those early days really were! Johnny, a famed Maori singer in his own right, had two huge recording hits in the late '50s. I sent an e-mail off to Eddie O'Strange of the Blue Smoke Music Company in New Zealand, requesting specific dates, if known, of Johnny's recordings. The reply I received from Eddie is so interesting (well, to me, anyway), I'm going to repeat it here. Colourful characters like Johnny Cooper should NEVER be forgotten. As an Entertainer and Promoter he IS an important part of New Zealand's 'Show Biz' history. The two songs Johnny was famous for, were 'LOOK WHAT YOU' VE DONE' (THE LONELY BLUES), and 'ONE BY ONE'. The following is the info from Eddie O'Strange Hi Tom, "Look What You've Done (The Lonely Blues)" was written by Johnny Cooper." One By One" was written by Jack Anglin and Johnny Wright, American country singers who performed as "Johnny and Jack". Jack was killed in car accident on the way to Patsy Cline's funeral on 8 March 1963. Johnny (the husband of Kitty Wells since 1938) retired from touring with Kitty and their son John, a couple of months ago (on New Year's Eve, 2000). Both songs were written in 1954, the year Johnny recorded them as duets: "Johnny Cooper and Margaret Francis accompanied by the Range Riders". Issued on His Master's Voice label (NZ release only). Cat # HR 61. This was on a 10 inch 78 rpm disc (pre-vinyl 45's). This was one of those rare "double-sided hits". "One By One" is the official A-side and is the song Johnny is most remembered for today. "Look What You've Done" (note: The Lonely Blues was added when the sheet music was published a short while later) is unusual in that it's still a widely-known song today, but very few people (even amongst musos) realise it's a New Zealand song, let alone who wrote it. It has slipped, rather anonymously, into our folk culture (in a "party song" sort of way). Trivia: it's thought that "One By One" was the first NZ recording played on radio's "The Lever Hit Parade". It's also believed that "Look What You've Done" was also played later on The Lever Hit Parade, hosted by the late Selwyn Togood.. Unfortunately the playlists from then have not survived. Cheers, Eddie O'Strange Thanks, Eddie! At any typical, good old KIWI style booze-up/party-bash there is always, at least one guitar-player present, and you can bet your bottom dollar that 'Look What You've Done' will be sung by all and sundry. I watched a film, produced and set in New Zealand, the other night on Satellite, called 'ONCE WERE WARRIORS'. In it, there is a party scene, and guess what they were singing...........! The end credits thanked Johnny Cooper for the song! 'KIWI' - a flightless New Zealand bird - also, slang for a New Zealander. Johnny was way ahead of his time - where others would have loud-speakers on the roof of their car, Johnny had his hidden behind the front grill, with amplifier and microphone wired up to the dash-board. Cruising down the main drag of a town, spruiking 'IT'S TOOONIIIITE! JOHNNY COOPERS.............. WITH SPECIAL GUEST ARTIST .............. IT'S TOOONITE.......!' Wow!! With Johnny Cooper style promotions, it was always a sell-out! Johnny decided to put 'THE AMAZING ORCHANTE -IT'S FUN-TASTIC'- SHOW, on the road. The first half (around an hour), consisted of a Rock 'n Roll band, a Singer, and myself performing the Magic, Yoga, and Mime Acts, in between band sets, and the Singer. After the interval, the entire second half (an hour and a half long), was taken up with my Hypnotism show. Ever the promoter, Johnny always advertised that a dance would be held after the show ('Hey, I've got a Rock 'n Roll band - use 'em'). I remember that the drummer in the band was a young lad from Kawerau (a purpose-built Paper Mill town). His name - John Rowles, now a New Zealand Super Star, with World Wide Recording hits. These days he lives in Hawaii. After the show had finished, and the audience had left, everybody would pitch in and move all the seating, placing it around the hall/Theatre walls. Within 30 minutes, when the front doors were again thrown open, the people - and their money - came pouring back in!! Johnny taught me much in my early Show Biz days. I'm proud to have played a small part in your life, Johnny - you sure played a LARGE part in mine - Thank you, old friend, I'll never forget you! NEXT WEEK, My old 'stomping' grounds - THE EXOTIC, POLYNESIAN ISLANDS OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC -------- MAGICAL ADVENTURES IN PARADISE -------- ------------------------------------- 13. Diarise these events ------------------------------------- The 26th NZ Magician's Convention Thursday 27th to Monday 31st December 2001 Palmerton North Magician's Convention Friday1st to Monday 4th June 2001 Joshua Jay (US) NZ Lectures: Auckland Friday 10th August 2001 Christchurch Monday 13th August 2001 ------------------------------------- 14. MagicNZ e-zine archives ------------------------------------- Back issues of the MagicNZ e-zine go to: www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html Both the User Name and Password MUST be entered in lower case to gain access. User Name: ezine Password: newzealand When you enter the archive the e-zines are in issue order and are coded. Eg 001nov0699.txt first three numbers (001) denote issue number, then the date (nov06) and the last next two numbers the year (99) If you want to print copies of MagicNZ e-zine go to: www.watson.co.nz/ezine-archive ------------------------------------- 15. Subscription Management ------------------------------------- Our subscriber list is NOT made available to other companies or individuals. We value every subscriber and respect your privacy. To subscribe or unsubscribe from the MagicNZ e-zine: www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html MagicNZ e-zine is published weekly, on Sunday. The opinions expressed in this e-zine are those of the individual contributors. Neither MagicNZ or Alan Watson can vouch for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, message, statement, or other information reported via MagicNZ e-zine. We reserve the right to correct any errors or omissions as we see fit. >> This publication may be freely redistributed to other magicians if copied in its ENTIRETY << © Copyright 2001 Alan Watson