* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * New Zealand's MagicNZ e-zine * www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Issue Number: #74 Date: Sunday 20th May 2001 Editor: Alan Watson www.magician.co.nz www.alan-watson.com e-mail AW@Alan-Watson.com ================================ Hi here is the latest news ================================ 1. Editor's Message 2. Lance Burton - On vacation May 28 to June 11 3. Tim & Sue-Anne Webster - Lecture Tour to the USA 4. Life On The High Seas 5. Chemical Magic 6. Auction in Paris May 21st and 22nd 7. German Festival in India 2000-2001 8. Magic in Vietnam? 9. Edwins 'CircusTent Double Dove Production' 10. Conventions in The State of Florida 11. The Passing of Jerry Camaro 12. Books for sale 13. Mind games the supreme illusion 14. Bristol Day Of Magic 15. Jerry Camarro passed away 16. The Orchante Saga #30 17. Diarise these events 18. MagicNZ e-zine archives 19. Subscription Management ------------------------------------ 1. Editor's Message ------------------------------------- Message from Alan Watson - The Magic One The 26th NZ Magician's Convention Executive has asked me to join their team as the Publicity & Marketing Co-ordinator, which I am very pleased to accept. Pleased to announce that Oscar Munoz has just been booked as another headliner act for this convention. Oscar is an IBM Gold Medal Cup Award Winner in Close-Up Magic and is in great demand on the convention circuit in the USA. He is held in high regard for his creative and novel ideas in Stand-up magic. Auckland Comedy Festival: On Thursday night our family attended Guy Cater's (international hypnotist) opening night at the Power Station in Auckland. He's certainly a master of comedy and the audience thoroughly enjoyed his comedy situations that he invoked while his subjects were hypnotised. Phil Cass - Australia's number one comedy magician 'Trust Me' tour also appearing at the Comedy Festival along with his lovely assistant, Phillippa. Phil certainly knows how to entertain a lay audience from beginning to end. Our particular favourite effect is Phil's signature trick the Cut and Restored Tie and last night he couldn't have picked a better subject who was a show in himself. Michele and I also caught up with other magicians in Phil's audience, Leo Ward, Nick Nicholas, Peter Evans, Wayne Rogers, Ross and Rosalyn Harlick. ------------------------------ Remember if you have any magic news drop me a line: AW@Alan-Watson.com ------------------------------------- 2. Lance Burton - On vacation May 28 to June 11 ------------------------------------- Message from Wayne Bernath - Director of Publicity for Lance Burton Please change your listings for Lance Burton's show. He will add a show at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 27 and then be on vacation from May 28-June 11 returning on June 12. ---------------------------------- 3. Tim & Sue-Anne Webster - Lecture Tour to the USA ---------------------------------- Message from Tim & Sue-Anne Webster (Aust) We just got back downunder from the USA and WHAT A TRIP IT WAS!!! You can read all about it, see pics and reviews by clicking here. http://www4.tpgi.com.au/users/katzkin/TourUSA2001.htm We're scheduled to return again January-March 2002, hope to catch you soon! ---------------------------------- 4. Life On The High Seas ---------------------------------- Message from Paul Romhany (NZ) In Istanbul at the moment heading towards Egypt. Just a little info about life on the ship. The main rule is to have plenty of A1 material because you don't know what you are required to do until on board because each cruise director is different. The theatre I work in on board is called the International Lounge and seats about 800 people. There are some ships that seat much more of course. It is tiered seating so people are looking down at me on stage, and I'm working with people on all three sides so any material that can't be worked surrounded is out. You need to have at least 90 minutes of good solid material, some cruises you may do 4 20 minute spots through the cruise, you might have to do 50 minute headline and a 25 minute spot like I am this cruise. I'm also doing a formal close-up show as well during the voyage. On this particular cruise the average age of the audience would be 60 plus, leaning towards the plus so the material has to be very clean. This particular cruise is made up of people from all over the world including Italy, Asia, but mainly English and American. Also remember that many of these people have been on at least five cruises and have pretty much seen it all, so the acts do need to be a little different. Thankfully the comments I'm getting from everybody is how different and refreshing the Chaplin act is ... that's fortunate and hope it gives me a few more years. The nice thing about it of course is that you are working with a professional team of people from sound to lighting. I start the Chaplin show off now by coming on to strobe lighting, which gives the effect of the old fashioned movie, something you can't do when working corporate jobs. Just a little insight in to the performance world here on board. More next time. ------------------------------------- 5. Chemical Magic ------------------------------------- Message from Tony Shelley (UK) Chemicals are used for many tricks by magicians. They should ALWAYS be treated with respect. The formula quoted is for roughing fluid and nowhere in the book does Mr Lippy suggest that it should be drunk. I have never heard of anybody being taken ill or even getting a mild headache through over use of a Brainwave deck, neither have I heard of anybody being breathalysed on the way home after absorbing alcohol from his Nudist deck. Used sensibly chemicals can be a powerful weapon in the magician's armoury. ------------------------------------- 6. Auction in Paris May 21st and 22nd ------------------------------------- Message from Albert Tshizubu I would like to announce a very special event : the auction to be held in Paris May 21st and 22nd of the magic collection of Dr Marteret, which includes books and manuscripts, tricks, automats, posters from the 19th and 20th centuries ; this event will be broadcast live by eAuctionRoom.com. eAuctionRoom.com ( ) enables you to participate in real auctions completely free of charge. Working with more than fifty esteemed European auction houses, eAuctionRoom.com has already broadcast more than 300 real auctions live on the site. Before a sale, you can browse the online sale catalogue and leave absentee bids on lots that interest you. On the day of a sale, you can bid live via the Internet, as if you were in the saleroom itself. If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us on + 33 (0)1 58 36 41 06 or send me an e-mail: a.tshizubu@eauctionroom.com *** To browse the full catalogue of this sale of "Magicians' Paraphernalia : Collection of Doctor and Madame Etienne Marteret " , click here: http://www.eauctionroom.com/scripts/index.php?rub=cat&vente_id=597&lang= en for May 21st http://www.eauctionroom.com/scripts/index.php?rub=cat&vente_id=598&lang= en for May 22nd *** To register to bid live in the auction or leave absentee bids, free of charge, click here: http://www.eauctionroom.com/scripts/index.php?rub=inscr_art&lang=en for May 22nd ------------------------------------- 7. German Festival in India 2000-2001 ------------------------------------- Message from Magician Subash (India) It is a great pleasure to inform you that on invitation I have performed my Magic show to an evening to mark the finale of the German Festival in India 2000-2001 on 23rd March 2001 at German Consulate General, Kolkata organised by The Consul General of the Federal Republic of German and the Max Muller Bhavan ------------------------------------- 8. Magic in Vietnam? ------------------------------------- Message from Ken Fox Well travelling in Vietnam for three weeks now and it is a magic place in itself, but I am yet to find any magic in Vietnam, maybe I'm looking in all the wrong places! ------------------------------------- 9. Edwins 'CircusTent Double Dove Production' ------------------------------------- Message from Harry McClymont (Aust) Would anyone happen to have a copy of Edwins 'CircusTent Double Dove Production' instructions? I have a colleague who has had the trick for many years without having any instructions and now wishes to add it into his act. ---------------------------------- 10. Conventions in The State of Florida ---------------------------------- Message from Rick Del Vecchio - IBM TVP South Florida There are four conventions over the next seven months throughout the state of Florida, USA. I have the privilege of working on three of them. 1) May 25, 26 & 27, 2001: 36th Annual Florida Magicians Convention Where: DoubleTree Hotel Tampa-Airport, Tampa, Florida The FMA (Florida Magicians Association) will present Norm Nielsen with a Lifetime Achieve Award. Norm will honor us by closing the convention with his legendary act. Also on the bill are: Carl Cloutier, Juan Mayoral, Enric Magoo, Dan Garrett, Jon Racherbaumer, George Schindler, Danny Cole, Anton, Jay Sterling, General Grant, Mike Miller, Ron Geoffries, Lupe, James Swain, Alfonso Guerra & Joseph Constantine. For more information go to: www.MagicConvention.Homestead.com 2) July 4,5,6&7, 2001: International Brotherhood of Magicians 73rd Annual Convention Where: Hilton Hotel in the Walt Disney Resort The Legendary Shimada returns to the stage. Also featured: The Pendragons, Barrie Richardson, Dale Salwak, Tom Mullica, Trevor Lewis, Fielding West, George Seterial, Fukia & Kimika, Murray, Bob King, Boris Wild, Jay Marshall, Rich Bloch, Dario, Henry Evans, Lee Bayless, Randy Pryor, Rick Walker & more TBA. For more info go to www.magician.org 3) Sept. 14-16, 2001: Daytona Beach Festival of Magic Sponsored by Daytona Magic Where: Hawaiian Inn, Daytona Beach, FL. This first year convention has a great line up. Performers include convention chairman and owner of Daytona Magic Shop, Harry Allen, Harry Lorayne, Fred & Kellie Becker, Michael Finney, Glen Ghiradi, Ken Scott, Joe Lefler, Bill Whitmire & Tom Yurasits. For more info: www.daytonamagic.com 4) Nov. 2, 3 & 4, 2001: 7th Annual Magic on the Beach. Hosted by IBM Ring 45 Where: Ramada Plaza Aventura Beach Resort, Miami Beach, Florida As I am busy working on the Florida Magicians Convention and handling registration for the IBM Convention, we have not yet hired anyone for Magic on the Beach. However I will keep you posted. For updates and info: www.Ring45.com ---------------------------------- 11. The Passing of Jerry Camaro ---------------------------------- Message from Mike Giusti I'm very melancholy to report that Jerry Camaro passed away on Monday, May 7. I'm still in shock over it and can't believe that I spoke to him just weeks before... Jerry worked in many venues all over the United States, including Magic Island in Newport Beach, and the same bar in Atlanta that eventually became the Tom Foolery with Tom Mullica. He eventually settled down in Santa Rosa, California, but still performed magic when our paths crossed. He gave me the shirt off his back and was kind and gentle to every person who crossed his path. He could always be counted on for providing critique in a smooth and loving fashion, making you believe that you were the most talented individual on earth. His beautiful personality will be remembered long after memories of his rendition of "Fechter's Aces." At Jerry's funeral, the whole situation seemed so surreal -- like Jerry pulling another one of his practical jokes. It would be just like him to come out during the ceremony and yell, "Surprise! I just wanted to see who would show up." Unfortunately, that was not the case. Penn Jilette of Penn & Teller fame wrote a 5-page "Ode to Jerry Camaro" and it had be chuckling and crying all in the same moment. Jerry was and will always be my best friend. ---------------------------------- 12. Books for sale ---------------------------------- Message from Books NZ$ The art of invisible thread by Jon LeClair $65.00 Don Drake's Blackart breakthroughs $50.00 Illusionworks 3 by Rand Woodbury $85.00 Illusionworks by Rand Woodbury $85.00 Diversions by Rand Woodbury $110.00 Device & illusion by Steinmeyer; Jim $65.00 Illusions evolution & revolution / Paul Osbourne $100.00 ---------------------------------- 13. Mind games the supreme illusion ---------------------------------- Message from Ross Skiffington (Aust ex-pat Kiwi) Here is a text version of a review for Lounge Wizard at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival plus link to an article in The Age about the Cabaret Festival that I recently performed at. It was the inaugural Cabaret Festival and we were the only magic act to be invited. The shows were a great success and we played to 400 people (+) per night. Technically it was a joy with the Festival Centre providing the biggest lighting rig to play with, so lots of lighting cues, plus a great stage space that was perfect for magic. I could not have been more thrilled about the facilities provided for the performances but also the reaction from the audiences. It goes to show that magic, when well presented, can be beguiling and entertaining. Now working hard on the illusion show for Glen Street Theatre Sydney in July. -------------------------------------------------- The Advertiser, Edition 1 - STATEMON 14 MAY 2001, Page 084 By: Paul Lloyd Ross Skiffington in Lounge Wizard Banquet Room Friday For the child within, Ross Skiffington is the supreme illusionist. He is so polished at his craft that even the adult within, after a while, ceases the rather pointless game of trying to work out how he does his tricks. The hand really is too quick for the eye, and the machines too devious, so you just sit back and enjoy, wide-eyed, what charms, what conjurations and what mighty magic (in Shakespeare's words). Skiffington is of the old school. He has the time-honoured repertoire he fell in love with at the age of eight - the endless scarf, the locking rings, the mind-readings, escapology and all manner of cards, balls, wands and ropes that move and change and disappear and reappear like a coruscation of rainbows on a spring day. The magician, of course, has a pretty assistant - Wendy Dalton - and, of course, she comes back whole after he has cut her in half in one of his magic boxes. Skiffington is truly prestigious (a word which, according the Shorter Oxford, properly means ``practising, juggling or legerdemain''). What elevates his show from a circus routine to a whole evening's performance is that he is an actor as much as a magician (that is, if the two are not the same thing). He plays different characters through his two acts, starting with the tramp that finds that magic can indeed be alluring but dangerous for the dabbler. Skiffington perhaps connected with the audience best when he played his comically ockerish alter ego Neville Fonteyn (whom he quite incorrectly dubbed ``the worst magician in Australia''). He was at his most enchanting as a white-face mime. When a bunch of streamers became his waltz partner, it was the illusion not of smoke and mirrors but of an actor's mind working on the audience's mind - the supreme illusion. The black-draped banquet room in the Festival Centre was the bureaucrat's version of cabaret with no smoking and no bar service during the show. Drinks and food were available in the foyer, a glass of pale ale for $4.50 and chicken and vegetable or pasta and salad, at $16 a plate. There were not many takers. Skiffington performed to relentless recorded music, as varied as Little Willie John's Fever, Leroy Anderson's Sandpaper Ballet, Nino Rota's La Dolce Vita and, inevitably, Sammy Cahn's and Jule Styne's eponymous classic, It's Magic. Illus: Dinkus: adelaide cabaret festival Library Heading: Festivals - South Australia Column: arts Monday Section: FEATURES Type: Theatre Review ---------------------------------- 14. Bristol Day Of Magic ---------------------------------- Message from Mandy Davis (UK) After a brief few words from IBM President John Palfreyman, the Bristol Day of Magic kicked off with a lecture on entertaining children by Tony Rix. Without performing a single trick, Tony took us through everything needed to run a successful business in this field. A slide show reinforced everything that was said, from the options one can offer a prospective client, through personal attributes, fees, the format for a corporate Christmas party with the various games and disco music and ending with, what for some was the highlight - the demonstration that any rabbit is capable of waving to the boys and girls! The whole lecture showed Tony to be knowledgeable, professional and successful at what he does. A close up show followed this, repeated in the afternoon and instructive tickets had been issued to each registrant so that one could only attend once and at the designated time. During the lunch break, the Young Magicians' Club presented a junior workshop for 10 - 17 year olds. It took quite a few minutes to clear the room of the adults who insisted on taking part but once under way, some twenty boys and girls enjoyed teaching sessions aimed at their capabilities. Tim Shoesmith took the larger, more advanced, group for some complicated card work whilst those with more diverse interests learned some rope work and some ring on/ring off moves with Mandy Davis and Simon Lane. The general opinion afterwards was that the session had been 'well cool!' The Bristol magicians had pulled off a coup which no other magic organisation had been able to do for six years - they brought Simon Lovell over from the US just for their convention. Simon's lecture showed him to be the Simon that we all remembered - zany, forthright and a skilled performer and teacher. He opened by stating that magicians sometimes say that card tricks are boring - but it is not the tricks but the magicians who perform them; card tricks are merely tools for entertainment. The message of the lecture, however, was summed up when Simon announced 'Simplicity of Method is primary to being a good magician'. Having talked about approaching a group without scaring them, Simon demonstrated several card tricks such as Fingered Number Three, Packed Wallet (in which a card to wallet then becomes a deck to wallet), The Namer where the signed card is seen, after a lot of byplay, to have 'Your Signature' written on the back and Another Departed Point based on some work by Alex Elmsley. Simon also talked about and demonstrated second dealing, Pen through Tongue and the great value of making a paper serviette rose and NOT changing it into a real one. This was an unmissable event and those present were privileged to see this man at his best. The Close Up event had four performers, all different and all equally talented. Shaun McCree showed us a flattened card box which changed into one containing a full deck. An ambitious card style revelation followed, each card shown being placed under his lapel until there were four - which had all changed to Aces. Shaun followed this with a rising invisible folded card which was revealed to be a selected card. A gambling story incorporated Lucifer and a contract made of parchment and the final trick showed a chosen razor blade inserted into a deck where it chopped up all but the chosen card. Tim Shoesmith performed, as usual, with great panache and sense of drama. Using poetry and seemingly complicated prose which proved to be, in some places gobbledegook and in others profound statements, Tim took us through an origami revelation, an Ambitious Card routine, some rubber band work and a Torn and Restored child's painting. By performing most of these when standing on a table, the whole audience was able to enjoy the act to the full. Simon Lovell used his zany anagrams of spectators' names to start his first trick - where three cards are selected and found, the last having been under a spectator's hand prior to any selections being made. Four jumbo cards formed the basis of a tap-dancing card routine before the finale - the trick I always associate with Simon Lovell, Sleight of Tongue. It is always worth the price of admission to see Simon perform and this was no exception. Mike O'Brien was the last performer and gave a slick Ambitious Card routine which culminated in Card to Wallet. Coins across and a card matrix followed. A knife through borrowed note then led into two selected cards being found either side of the same knife when it was plunged into a wrapped deck. I didn't actually see Patrick Page's lecture at this particular time as he was about to repeat it (with many additions) at my local club two days later. I can certainly tell you that he opened with a coin vanish inside a handkerchief and continued with billiard balls, a superb 'Do as I Do' card trick and topit vanishes. Everything was explained in great detail and Pat made it all look so easy. The main message of his lecture was 'Practice, practice, practice!' and it was evident that he takes his own advice as everything he demonstrated had immense style and polish. The gala show took place at the nearby theatre and tickets had been sold out for some time. The audience comprised members of the public as well as magicians; no one was disappointed by any of the acts. It was a first class event which opened in fine style with the Daniel Dean dancers producing Daniel from behind semi opaque screens which were lifted and immediately dropped. A large substitution style box was brought onto the stage and after being shown empty (tip-over style) proved to contain our compere for the evening, Mandy Muden. She found herself left alone and had to clamber out of the box unaided to the delight of the audience. Mandy proved to be an accomplished and entertaining compere who kept the show moving at a cracking pace. Colin Rose performed a short act incorporating fire and card manipulations. Every move was elegant and polished as always. Patrick Page pattered his way through Miser's Dream and the instant retrieval of selected cards, following this with Card on Forehead and a hilarious routine with a jumbo card being selected from a normal sized deck. He then portrayed a silent act where a red-nosed magician vanished a jumbo card which kept reappearing on his back, continued with a polished rope routine and ended with colour changing gloves and some linking colour ropes. Scott Penrose closed the first half with his act as known - yoyos to doves, manipulations, the appearance of a mimed cigarette and silks to doves ending with the doves and cage disappearing and leaving a live rabbit in its place. As a change, he then performed a Snowstorm in China effect using a snow animator, filling the auditorium with snowflakes. The show reopened with the Daniel Dean dancers in an energetic routine which led to the reappearance of Mandy who treated us to her version of Six Card Repeat. Duncan Trillo, whose performance is always a delight, gave us thimble and card manipulations as well as Diminishing Cards and his signature Animated Handkerchief which took a bow, along with Duncan, at the end of the act. Simon Lovell was the act that the magicians were waiting for as many hadn't seen him perform live. It is difficult to do justice to his zany wordplay and antics but be assured that he was on top form as he romped through an imaginative Cards Across with two spectators and, after a spoof floating ball, ended with his own hilarious straight jacket escape. Local illusionist Daniel Dean closed the show, ably assisted by Emma and the Daniel Dean Dancers. After being sliced in an appropriate box, Emma got her own back by forcing Daniel into a Twister illusion and getting her revenge. Some 'small magic' was given the 'hi-de'hi' holiday camp treatment but the illusions were strong and well executed with a professional team of dancers to give polish to the whole act. The Bristol Day of Magic is certainly a value-for-money event with a strong line of performers and lecturers. Every year they book the best and this year was no exception. ---------------------------------- 15. Jerry Camarro passed away ---------------------------------- Message from Bev Bergeron (US) If you have not picked-up something on the internet - Jerry Camarro passed away on the 8th. His wife just emailed me. The two of them were in Orlando last month on a lecture tour. I took the two out to Disney World and Jerry and I talked about other days. We have been exchanging tapes and email up to his death. He had lived in San Diego, Miani area, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and now in Santa Rosa - North of San Francisco. He was best know for his bar magic, but has worked stand up at the Castle and other places. I don't have the bio on him and would appreciate anyone with more information to get it to Phil Willmarth at the Linking Ring. -------------------------------- 16. The Orchante Saga #30 ---------------------------------- Message from Tommy Orchard (The Amazing Orchante)(UK ex-pat Kiwi) Friends Past and Present. ALAN HOROBIN - The conclusion - and, I find a long lost Friend In 1967, I did another tour/run with Alan and the two Peters around the north of the North Island of New Zealand (I've still got the original poster). In a small town (can't remember which) on the tour I met a young man who had come out from the audience to stand on top of me when I was doing my 'human filling in a bed of nails sandwich' segment. After the show he came and introduced himself, He was an amateur magician, his name, KEN WARD. Ken, a typical New Zealander, had lived and worked all over the place, spent some time on Naru Island where, among the other things he learnt how to skin-dive. He finally settled down in London England. In 1987 Ken turned up at a club near his home, where we were performing. I had no hope of recognising him, but he had an old photo from all those years ago which showed him standing on top of me, when I was doing my aforementioned nails bit (God, we both looked like kids). We became very good friends, and Veronica and I would often park our rather large American Recreational Vehicle (Motor Home) outside his home, and stay for a day or two, talking Magic, of course. Ken was very well known on the London magic scene, and was also a Magic dealer for some big names - Fantasio being one of them. Sadly, Ken died about 2 years ago (another precious memory, eh, Jon - and Burns)! Getting back to Alan Horobin, that North Island tour of New Zealand was the last time we were to work together, as Alan became very busy with a major project - built, and became part owner and Manager of Marineland, which opened in 1968 and is situated just north of Auckland City, at a holiday resort called Orewa. We would all go up there to talk about the good old days with Alan and his most beautiful and charming wife Frances. Frances was born on Thursday Island, which is in the Torres Strait off the North East Coast of Cape York Peninsula, at the most northern tip of Australia. Occasionally, when Alan would come down to Auckland City,he would give me a phone-call from some pub where I would meet up with him for a drink or two or three or - - -. Alan liked to have a drink with his mates - don't we all! One night, Alan phoned me from the 'Great Northern', (a very nice Hotel of International standard, - I performed there often.) " Tom, come on in for a drink" " I can't do, Al, - you sound like you've had a 'couple', already" " I sure have, but come on in any way" "Sorry Al. I'm really tied up at the moment" " Well, I might just as well head back to Orewa, then!" "Alan, do me a favour - book a room for the night, and we'll see you tomorrow" " Yeah, okay - - -", HE DIDN'T!! About a mile from Orewa, there is a narrow bridge -----!!! I am holding in my hand, a cutting, with the heading; 'MARINELAND MAN DIES IN ACCIDENT!', then a short story of his life followed by Quote" Mr Horobin is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. The funeral service will be held today at Devonport. It was packed! Alan was only 46!. All these years, I've had to live with the 'IF ONLY' I had gone to the Great Northern that night ----- there's been an awful lot of' 'if onlys' in my life - in everybody's, I guess! Alan died 29th July, 1975 - Veronica's birthday - it was a very sad day. Peter Taylor died in 1997 (of cancer) Rusty Greaves also died in 1997 - that leaves 'Newbs' and myself - and we're not too crash hot! I think I' ll go and have some of my 'magic' medicine, and a Jack Daniels. Jon Zealando sent me an e-mail last week, informing me that he had met up with an old friend of mine, (from the last century or so it seems) - Murray Hobson. Murray and I met 1963/64 in Waihi, when I was performing during the Christmas season, for Johnny Carter, who promoted shows and dances all around that area. Johnny owns Race horses these days, as well as a Plumbing shop, exports sheepskins to Europe, and God knows what else he's up to. I phoned Jon Z.for a chat, and we had a good laugh about how, individually, we would go down from Auckland to Te Aroha/Waihi for Johnny, do 3 shows in one night, and then drive back to Auckland, because the bastard was too tight to provide accommodation, and to add insult to injury, we got paid peanuts - while Johnny became rich from his various promotions - ain't that the way with Agents/promoters? Apparently Johnny has some 'hard case' stories to relate about me - I've yet to contact him. God, I'm desperately trying to get out of the 60's era, but, there's more to come! Anyhow, my old mate, Murray Hobson, (who still lives, with his wife Margaret, in Auckland, New Zealand), was working for Johnny Carter in Waihi, or as Murray put it 'it was more like a paid holiday'. We became great friends, and he would occasionally assist me at various gigs, in those wonderful, not quite, lost in the mists of time, days. We even put a small tour together, with Murray, myself, Rusty Greaves, and Val Proctor, a vocalist - (I've got the original poster of that as well, from my aluminium trunk which truly seems to be a bottomless pit.) Jon Z. sent me Murray's e-mail address, the consequence of which, he and Margaret are flying over here to the UK in two week's time, to visit. By the time I've drained his memory banks, I should have reams of tales to relate for the Saga. It's going to be one hell of a reunion after - what - 30 years? Ye Gods! I'd better stock up - on hangover cures! See you next week! ------------------------------------- 17. Diarise these events ------------------------------------- Palmerton North Magician's Mini Convention Sunday 3rd June 2001 Joshua Jay (US) NZ Lectures: Auckland Friday 10th August 2001 Christchurch Monday 13th August 2001 The 26th NZ Magician's Convention Auckland Thursday 27th to Monday 31st December 2001. The registration form and information is now available on the web go to: www.magician.co.nz/convention1.html ------------------------------------- 18. 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 ------------------------------------- 19. 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