* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Magic New Zealand * www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Issue Number: #337 Date: Sunday 19th June 2005 Editor: Alan Watson www.magicianz.com www.Alan-Watson.com e-mail: AW@Alan-Watson.com ================================ Hi here is the latest news ================================ 1. Editor's Message 2. IBM International President Says Goodbye 3. Watch Out Reno - The Kiwis Are Coming! 4. Young Magician's Publication Enters Cyberspace 5. Captain Bill Grosscup Lost His Home 6. Gidday From The USA 7. Please Save Your Risqué Material For Adults 8. Creative Magic Lecture 9. Paul Romhany - Grand Princess 10. Videos For Sale 11. Dates For New Zealand Magicians To Remember 12. The Amazing Orchante Saga 13. e-zine Archives 14. Privacy Policy And Copyright Notice ------------------ 1. Editors Message ------------------- Message from Alan Watson - The Magic One Michele and I leave for the USA on Friday 24th June en route to attend the IBM Convention in Reno, the SAM Convention in Boston and from there to England to attend The Magic Circle's Centenary. Please note: The Magic New Zealand e-zine will NOT be published until our return, which will be in the first week of August. (Sunday 7th August 2005) ----------------- Remember if you have any magic news drop me a line: AW@Alan-Watson.com ----------------- 2. IBM International President Says Goodbye ----------------- Message from Tony Wilson - IBM International President 2004 - 2005 I am writing this paragraph a week before Mary and I leave for Reno to say goodbye in my capacity of the IBM International President especially for Alan's E zine readers throughout the world. I have had a wonderful year heading this wonderful organisation. It has been an amazing journey as President and meeting so many of its members in eleven countries around the world. Truly a unique experience and one I will never forget. Soon I will be a 'has been'. I mean a Past President. This will be another new experience that I am looking forward to. A chance to reflect on what I have been able to accomplish in twelve short months, five of which were away from my homeland. When I took over the chains of office I outlined five major goals. The first was to work on improving the growth of the IBM the world's largest magical organisation. The second was to introduce and use technology to improve the delivery and to publish our fine journal electronically and to investigate the possibility of having it published in other languages. The third was to foster our youth members and the fourth to have checks and balances built in to control our expenses and budgeting. My final goal was to encourage members to donate second hand original magic tuition video tapes to the IBM and for us to send these tapes to magicians in third world countries to enhance their magical ability and to broaden their magical knowledge and expertise. While all magic groups and organisations have been experiencing net loses of membership over the last few years I am hopeful we have arrested the net loss of 9.7% of our IBM membership since 2004 and that I have (even in a small way) been able to assist in this disturbing trend. I can certainly say I have achieved getting "The Linking Ring" on line and purchasing our own server as well as achieving a more timely delivery of "The Linking Ring" internationally including a new route via Venezuela! There have been some software "fish hooks" in having The Linking Ring published in other languages at this point in time but I am sure future Presidents and Boards will overcome this in due course. My video tape project has realised almost 200 video tapes currently located at our International Office awaiting my time as a 'has been' to organise the distribution of these tapes to third world countries already identified and ready to receive them. My thanks once again to the numerous donors who have kindly supplied these video tapes at no cost to the IBM. The lowering of the youth member's minimum age of joining the IBM to 10 years is certainly assisting recruiting and retaining youth members. The finances of the organisation are also in good shape. Who else do I need to thank for a successful year as your President. My thanks also go out to my own New Zealand Ring, Ring 160. More than half of the total membership of 65 (34 people) are travelling to Reno to support me at our July Convention and they have made lots of sacrifices to do this and to keep the Ring running smoothly in my five month absence in 2004/2005. Thank you to all you Kiwi magicians! Travel safely to Reno. See you soon! There is one more person to thank, my lovely wife Mary. She has willingly supported me in many different ways from helping me at home (and abroad) on the computer, finding me a clean shirt for each official function and being my sounding board for difficult decisions a President sometimes needs to make. Thank you my first lady of magic soon to be a 'has been' with her husband but both about to join an exclusive clique entitled the "Past President's Society". It's been fun and we have enjoyed it immensely. Thank you all for coming with us and enjoying the ride. Please welcome my wonderful President-Elect and his lady, Roger and Sheila Miller and support them as you have all supported us. Share the magic! ----------------- 3. Watch Out Reno - The Kiwis Are Coming! ----------------- Message from Stan Goudge, Secretary IBM Ring 160 Kiwi Magic, the Tony Wilson Ring Inc The IBM Convention held in Reno Nevada USA from 26 June to 2 July 2005, will see an influx of Kiwis magicians and partners keen to support Tony Wilson, the International President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and Mary Wilson the First Lady. The Kiwi contingent in their white polo shirts with a Kiwi monogram encircled by the words "IBM Ring 160 Kiwi Magic the Tony Wilson Ring" should be highly visible. This will be the largest number of New Zealanders ever to attend an IBM Convention, and they are coming to honour Tony the President of Ring 160 the Kiwi Magic Ring. The Kiwi attendees are: Greg, Sue and Nicholas Britt Graham Dockrill Stan and Marie Goudge Ross and Roselyn Harlick Craig Harlick Theo and Noeline De Leeuw Wayne and Caroline McEwan Terry and Jan Von Pein Danny and Linda Phillips Ricky and Renu Prasad Wayne Rogers Bill and Marlene Seagraves Malcolm Silverman Richard and June Walls Alan and Michele Watson Tony, Mary and Amanda Wilson Michael Woolf One of the highlights will be the Formal Banquet Chaired by President Tony, with Danny Phillips as Master of Ceremonies, and Greg Britt, Wayne Rogers and Bill Seagraves providing the magical entertainment. In addition Roderick Stewart (aka Rodrick) and Christian Van Oeveren (aka Kris Kardo) will receive the Order of Merlin Shield for 35 consecutive years of membership, and Burns Scandrett (aka Delarno) the Order of Merlin for 25 consecutive years of membership in the IBM. ----------------- 4. Young Magician's Publication Enters Cyberspace ----------------- Message from George Schindler - SAM Public Relations and Publicity The Magic SYMbol, publication of the Society of Young Magicians, became available on-line with the June 2005 issue bringing the exciting and newly redesigned magazine to its members. The new format contains more pages and will appear in full color. Magazine Editor, Bruce Kalver announced that SYM subscribers will receive a postcard in the mail each month, with a special Member's password which will open the current issue on their website. Once the password has been entered the youngster can read it, print it, or save it. All the issues will be stored on the site so they can be viewed at any time. This innovative way to get the magazine to its members will allow the Society to present a much expanded publication. For information on how youngsters, ages 7-17 can join the SYM go to http://www.magicsym.com/ ----------------- 5. Captain Bill Grosscup Lost His Home ----------------- Message from Maria Ibanez, Society of American Magicians National 2nd Vice President Greetings everyone: It is indeed a sad state of affairs for Capt. Bill Grosscup and his lovely wife Lesley. Received the following through Tim Glancey with a "Me Too" from Alan Gold and since they ask it be forwarded FYI, here it is. On a personal note, my husband and I are good friends of Capt. Bill and deeply feel his loss. Having been fortunate to have visited his home and magic studio as well as having visited Paladin Magic in Key West, we can only imagine what he must be going through. It was a lifetime collection of magic, memorabilia and most important to him, the photos of all those who he had met and/or had been through his shop. Bill has been busy working with the Port Authority in Key West and as a consequence has not been able to attend the Florida conventions for the past few years (since the infamous 9-11). He has, however, registered every year and generous to a fault as always, has asked that the registration money be put to use to send someone who could otherwise not go.....just one of the many deeds that I can personally speak of knowing that Capt. Bill does.....there are many, many more. I just spoke with Rick del Vecchio, TVP for IBM in South Florida and IBM Ring 45 as well as S.A.M. Assembly 280 will be taking up a collection of photographs, magic, etc. to put a package together for Bill. Rick will be in Reno and I will be in Boston if anyone has any photos they would like to bring us and we will get them to Bill if you don't want to mail them to Tim. Tim and Alan will let us know when they will be honoring Bill (read Tim's message below) and I will forward that information in case anyone has the opportunity to show up or telephone, etc. that day. Thank you all for reading, for caring and most importantly for putting Bill and Lesley in your prayers. Respectfully, Maria Ibanez Society of American Magicians National 2nd Vice President ------------------------------------- To all Magicians, Captain Bill Grosscup lost his home in Key West and all of his magic memorabilia in a tragic fire yesterday. He and his wife Lesley are safe, but all of the autographed photos that lined Bill's 'Paladin Magic Shop' in Key West are lost. I am asking the Magicians that know Captain Bill or know of Captain Bill to send a new autographed 8 x 10 to him so we can give new existence to that lost lifetime collection. I am also asking all magicians that receive this email to post it on all of the read boards you know for magic. Tim Glancey will be collecting the photos as they arrive. Please mail your autographed 8 x 10's to the following address. Tim Glancey 330 Elizabeth St. Key West, FL 33040 305.394.1406 Once Captain Bill has settled down and a good number of photos have arrived, we will have a special ceremony to honor Captain Bill at Frank's Magic Bar in Key West. We will announce when that happens so that those who wish can watch the event on the net at www.schoonerwharf.com. I thank you in advance for your support of Captain Bill in his time of crisis. As our prayers go out to him and his wife, it is my hope that this new collection of photos from his fellow magicians in the brotherhood will put wind back in his sails. He has always believed that the show must go on! Let's do our part to help make it happen for him. I thank you all in advance, Sincerely, Frank Everhart Jr. www.frankeverhart.com 305-797-8812 I also thank you. Alan Gold Key West, FL, U.S.A. ----------------- 6. Gidday From The USA ----------------- Message from Guy Cater (NZ) We are in the middle of all our shows and a crazy lifestyle at the moment... Barry gave us more shows and we have hardly stopped running (rather diving) from one end of the State to the other. Been extremely tiring and not helped by the fact that we both have had a bad dose of the flu. Had three days off in Sacramento and had intended to get down to Hemet for those days and see Kevin and Tanya again but instead we holed up in a Motel Six and spent the three days in bed dying!!! Will hopefully see them again next week. The shows are going well .... can't be otherwise when you go along to hypnotise 17 and 18 year olds. You would have to be pretty bad not to do well. Last night (early this morning) we were in Long Beach in Los Angeles and had 600 kids in the audience. Tonight we perform also in LA at a school in Los Angeles at 10;30pm then the next one at 1.30am and then a third at 3am then jump back in the car and drive up to San Francisco for three shows over two days there. It is warm but not hot ... quite comfortable really. Looking forward to seeing Colin Paris when he arrives on the 24th. We have a 3am show that morning then will drive out to LA International Airport to meet him. He and I will perform at the La Holla Comedy Store on the Sunday night then we drive up to Las Vegas for four days. ----------------- 7. Please Save Your Risqué Material For Adults ----------------- Message from Andy Walker While talking with some parents at a girls birthday party where I performed this last weekend I was told some slightly disturbing news about one of my fellow magicians. The parents I spoke with had recently been to a 3 year olds birthday party where another magician was performing. This magician had an audience of 3 year olds and was using sexual innuendo type humour. All but two of  the parents had apparently walked out on this performer disgusted with the jokes he was using. This type of humour really has no place in a day care centre in front of a group of pre-school children. I would have though all magicians would have known better than to use adult material in front of 3 year olds. Parents of small children really don't find it funny. It really makes all magicians look bad when performers do this type of thing. If you perform for children PLEASE save the risqué material for your adult audiences. ----------------- 8. Creative Magic Lecture ----------------- Message from Tony Griffith (UK) Tony Griffith's 'At Home' which is now known as A CREATIVE MAGIC LECTURE/TEACH-IN DAY to be held at his home in Bristol, UK on Sunday 10th July has been fully booked for some weeks. This event is proving very popular so Tony has decided to take the concept 'on the road' In other words his AT HOME - WILL NOW BE PLAYING AWAY on some occasions. He has already had a number of enquiries from overseas to present this unique day. The CREATIVE MAGIC LECTURE/TEACH-IN day has been described by those who have attended such occasions in the past as a MAGIC MASTERCLASS. It is a day long event. Numbers attending should not exceed 15 persons. The intimate nature of the group will enable questions to be answered fully. The suggested framework and schedule for the day is as follows: 1030 - 1100 Arrival, Coffee and Biscuits. 1100 - 1300 First Session 1300 - 1415 Buffet Lunch 1415 - 16.30 Second Session 1630 - 1700 Light Tea and Departure The organisation of the day is very flexible. No special stage, lighting or venue is required. A room in a house, a hotel or small hall that will accommodate 15 - 20 people is all that is needed. During the day areas covered include, Close Up Magic, Trade Shows, After Dinner Speaking/Entertainment, Promotion, Publicity and Organisation. Items for the Childrens' entertainer can be included if desired. The CREATIVE MAGIC LECTURE/TEACH-IN DAY is ideal for those magicians, who are keen on learning more about performing magic in the 'real world' and are looking for a more in depth discussion and learning process. The CREATIVE MAGIC LEACTURE-TEACH-iN DAY has been presented in a variety of venues in the UK. It fits in nicely as a precursor or as part of a magic convention. For a review of a previous such day log onto www.magicweek.co.uk Click on REVIEWS and then scroll down to July 2003 to read a review. Those organisations or groups of magicians who might be interested in such a day in their area are advised to contact Tony for details of costs, reviews etc at:- Tel +44 (0) 44 1275 837017 www.tonygriffith.co.uk tony@tonygriffith.co.uk ----------------- 9. Paul Romhany - Grand Princess ----------------- Message from Paul Romhany (NZ) Here I am in Athens today having the most amazing trip . again!! Venice was absolutely stunning, any photographs you see just don't do it justice. Very excited when Natalie joins me and we get to spend a few days there. After Venice I went to Dubrovnik, Croatia. Some amazing history here and there is an incredible fort with stunning views. From there it was off to Corfu and Katakolon in Greece. Katakolon is the port to visit Olympia where they held the original Olympic games, the place is surrounded by ruins and relics. After Athens we head to Mykonos then one of my favourite 'mad' ports, Kusadasi, Turkey. I have been to Kusadasi before and the shopping here is fantastic! Again, so much history you can visit such famous sights as Ephesus, St. John's Basilica and the Virgin Mary Shrine. Then it is off to Rhodes which is where Natalie and I spent a weeks holiday. Rhodes once had a statue that was considered one of the ancient wonders of the world. Finally we head to Santorini, Greece with it's lovely white buildings overlooking the blue ocean, will be a busy photo day for me as I have been taking loads of photos and burning them on to DVD. Natalie then joins me in Rome where we take the ship back to Venice. It certainly has been another incredible journey for me, thinking where I have been in the past four months, from the Amazon jungle to Russia and Poland then London and now in the Med. I am certainly the luckiest person in the world to be able to travel like I do. I am currently on the Grand Princess, a very large ship that holds over 2500 passengers and has more bars and restaurants than you can shake a stick at. Well dear friends, I just wanted to touch base and say hi, I arrive back in Canada on July 7th and am taking a month off work as I need to get my land legs back. The performances are going very well and the theatres on the ship are state of the art. ----------------- 10. Videos For Sale ----------------- Message from Greg Hudson (Aust) I'm just trying to make some space on my shelves and have put some videos for sale on EBAY. Go to EBAY and search on magic video my listings should appear. ---------------- 11. Dates For New Zealand Magicians To Remember ------------------ Friday 2nd September 2005 Chuck Hickok's Lecture - Auckland Time: 7.30pm Thursday 22nd September Lee Asher Lecture - Auckland Time: 7.30pm Friday 23rd September Lee Asher Lecture - Palmerston North Sunday 23 October 2005 Kiwi Magic Day Venue: Dolphin Theatre, Onehunga Auckland Registration form - go to: www.watson.co.nz/magic.html 20-23 October 2006 28th International New Zealand Convention of Magicians Palmerston North Convention website - go to: www.joel.co.nz/convention.htm ----------------- 12. The Amazing Orchante Saga ----------------- Message from Tommy Orchard (The Amazing Orchante)(UK ex-pat Kiwi) Page - 59 Raging Ocean - 'Going Mental' Fishing off the Coast of Tahiti, December 1969. It is around 3 pm, time to head back - we noticed that land - Tahiti - was not in sight. The shark, in its fight to escape, had towed us over the horizon. Now the 'FUN' part starts. It turns out that our 'Captain', who "no speaky English", DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO NAVIGATE. He, like us, didn't have a bloody clue which way to go - he couldn't even read the compass. Oh Crap! Earlier in this narrative, I said we headed West - actually it was South-West, out from the beach front of the Maeva Hotel - logic tells you that heading North-East would put you on the right track, but, we DIDN'T KNOW then, that we'd gone South-West. After all these years, I've just worked it out. The 'Maeva Beach Hotel' is a few miles down from the Faaa International airport at Papeete, which is on the West coast. I came up with the bright idea of tuning into a radio station - (if it was broadcasting in French, it would have to be Tahiti) - slowly turn the launch around until we got the strongest signal, and head off in that direction. That didn't work - out in the middle of the ocean radio signals are the same strength, no matter what direction you're facing. More Crap! Then we noticed a slight breeze had come up, and the sea was getting a little choppy - nothing much really, but the sky was darkening. Someone said, "why not send out an S.O.S. on the radio" - great idea - why the hell hadn't WE thought of that in the first place, or our so-called 'CAPTAIN', for that matter. We wrote S.O.S. on a piece of paper, thinking he (the Captain) would at least understand that for Christ's sake, and then pointed to the radio. He looked at it as if it was something from Mars -NOT ONLY COULD HE NOT NAVIGATE - HE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO USE THE $&*#* RADIO!! By now the Swede, the Norwegian and myself were praying that there was plenty of toilet paper on board - we were going to need it. Outside, the wind has come right up and is blowing quite hard. The smooth sea has rapidly transformed from a large ground-swell, to angry, surging, foaming waves that were breaking over the stern of the launch, froth flying every which way - our shark was breathing water - the once beautiful blue sky, now obscured by darkening ominous cumulonimbus clouds, the torrid air heavy, laden with moisture. 'El Capitan' (who speaky no English), has started the outboards, his eyes staring straight ahead, fixated like a man in a trance, face vacuous, holding the wheel as the launch wallowed, slapping and thudding at the bottom of each trough. It became frighteningly obvious that our so-called Captain's (who no speaky English) only sea-going experience was limited to cruising and fishing around and just off the Tahitian reef, in smooth, calm waters, where he could also 'show off' with his watery 'wheelies'. The guy didn't have a @$#^& CLUE; OUR LIVES WERE IN HIS HANDS! DEAR GOD!!! One of the 'boys' (I can't remember which one), was becoming extremely agitated, yelling at anyone to 'Do Something', while his mate did his best to calm him down; 'El Capitan' was on another plane of existence. My only experience with boats was trout fishing on lakes in New Zealand, Taupo and Rotorua in the North Island, and Queenstown in the South Island. I vaguely remembered being told, and/or reading, that if caught out in rough weather in the middle of a lake, the surface can and will whip up like ocean waves, and that you should power down the motors when going into a trough, and full power back on when going back up; and not to go straight up or down, but cross each wave on an angle - going down, say, to the right at 45 degrees, and back up to your left at 45 degrees, and continue this action ad finitum, much like a board surfer does on those huge waves that they tackle. Get the angle wrong, and/or too little power and you will flip, swamp, and sink! It's a wonder I have any memory at all of what happened, considering the extreme circumstance, I have very clear memory of the chap who 'lost it', he went totally crazy, screaming insane. His mate had to lock him in the cabin - I can't remember where our Captain was - probably in the cabin as well. Somehow, I had taken over the wheel, attempting to put my very limited knowledge of boating into some sort of practice. The other Scandinavian was on deck with me, doing what, I don't know, but I remember he was calm and cool, the total opposite of his now utterly demented 'mate'. We were in the middle of a raging, tropical cyclonic hurricane, and rainstorm. With the tempestuous wind howling, the turbulent ferocity and intensity of it all was terrifying! ---------------- 13. Magic New Zealand e-zine Archives ------------------ Back issues of the Magic New Zealand e-zine go to: www.watson.co.nz/fezine.html Both the User Name and Password MUST be entered in lower case to gain access. User Name: magic Password: kiwi When you enter the archive the e-zines are in issue order and are coded. Eg 001 Nov06 1999.txt first three numbers (001) denote issue number, then the date (Nov06) and the last figures the year (1999) ------------------- 14. Privacy Policy And Copyright Notice ------------------- Our subscriber list is NOT made available to any other companies or individuals. We value every subscriber and respect your privacy. You can subscribe to or unsubscribe from the Magic New Zealand® E-zine at www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html. Magic New Zealand® E-zine is published each Sunday. The opinions expressed therein are those of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of Magic New Zealand®. Neither Magic New Zealand® nor Alan Watson vouch for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, message, statement, or other information reported via Magic New Zealand® E-zine. Subscribers to this publication and authors who contribute to it by doing so agree they will not hold Magic New Zealand® or Alan Watson, jointly or individually liable or responsible in any way for the opinions expressed therein. Magic New Zealand® reserves the right to alter, correct or disregard any articles submitted. Readers are encouraged to submit timely articles or news items which may be of interest to subscribers. By submitting articles to this e-zine, the authors grant Magic New Zealand® the right to publish such articles and such authors confirm their copyright of the material submitted. All works published by Magic New Zealand® are protected by international copyright legislation and articles must not be published for profit by anyone other than the individual authors without the written permission of Magic New Zealand®. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this publication may be freely redistributed, but not sold, to other magicians if copied in its entirety, including the copyright notice below and the above disclaimer. © Copyright 2005 Alan Watson