Magic Iain

I’ve been asked a lot recently if when I watch Penn & Teller: Fool Us do I try and figure out how the tricks work. Yes I do.

Watching anyone perform magic is a joy for me, whether it’s Chris Keightley (friend and manager) with a new card or coin trick at the dinner table or Paul Daniels performing the Classic Force at a magic lecture, but I suppose for very different reasons than why a non-magician enjoys it – figuring it out is one thing, but admiring the art and expertise into achieving the effect is another.

Figuring it out doesn’t take any enjoyment away for me, however not being able to makes it a whole lot better.

I think I’m well-versed in magical methods, sleights and subtleties so there are not many I can’t figure out after a second viewing (magician’s rule: never repeat the same trick), however, if truth be told, when I can’t figure out how a trick is done, I am always stunned by the skill involved.

I don’t want to go into any reveals or spoilers here for anything you may have seen, but I wanted to share a video with you from Youtube of Penn & Teller. It’s them performing their Cups and Balls routine, twice, the second time with clear cups.

Penn & Teller – Cups and Balls

This is as close to revealing magical methods as I’m going to get.

Enjoy it!

Last Friday I had been booked to attend Kendall School’s Mad Hatter’s Tea Party to make balloon hats and March Hares then perform a magic show for them. The balloons went down a treat and everything was going swimmingly until I came to turn on my portable PA system just before the magic show.

The Ion Blockrocker

The power light came on. My iPod told me it had connected to the system. But there was no sound. Not a peep. Nothing.

This would mean running the show without background music at the start and missing out my grand finale. I was quite disappointed and after I’d finished the show, my now defunct PA system was the only thing occupying my thoughts. It’s the most expensive bit of gear I have and not particularly cheap to replace.

After speaking to an electrician friend of mine, I dug out the receipt and went to Maplin to see if they could fix it.

Within two minutes of speaking to a member of staff there (turns out it was the manager), he said he’d replace the unit with a new one. A brand new, straight out of the box, Ion Blockrocker.

It worked when he plugged it in but wouldn’t run off the battery. As far as he was concerned, I could well have not bothered charging it for five hours that morning (I had) but rather than sending it away for testing or telling me to come back tomorrow after an overnight charge, he simply replaced it.

I told him it was a pleasant surprise and I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be given a new one, but his words exactly were, “Well we’d rather you leave happy, and we can’t disappoint the children now, can we?”

I left with a huge smile and a brand new Blockrocker. If you ever need anything electrical – go to Maplin. They’re brilliant.

October 23^rd this year Vicki and I will be getting married. There’s a whole load of things that we need to do by then. Thankfully, we’re (well, Vic is) on top of it all for now.

Personally though, there’s one thing not included in the wedding arrangements that I’d like to achieve by October 23^rd.

When we sign the register on the big day, I’d like to be able to write the word ‘Magician’ as my profession. That’s the target: I’m going to make Magic Iain my main source of income by the time we get married.

Possible? Yes. Difficult? Definitely. Wise? Maybe not.

Yes, there’s still a recession on and yes, I’m lucky I’ve got a full-time job. But if I don’t give it a proper go, I’ll forever be the guy that knows how to do a few magic tricks and make a few balloons for the kids.

As well as making a living from entertaining people with magic and enjoying the lifestyle that will bring, I love the thought that maybe, in a couple hundred years’ time, a great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandchild of mine might check out their family history and find out they are related to a magician. OK, so that’s only a cool idea to me, but I’m sticking with it.

So, spread the word! If you hear someone’s looking for an entertainer, then please tell them about me. If you have any advice for me or know anyone with any advice on making this business grow then please get in touch.

Sixteen weeks and four days to go. The countdown has begun. 16W4D.

I never thought Twitter or Facebook would ever result in anything other than a bit of fun as far as the business side of Magic Iain goes. But the last 24 hours or so have been a bit of an eye-opener.

Late yesterday afternoon, while compiling a list of local primary schools to phone regarding their forthcoming fetes and fayres, a tweet arrived in my timeline from @mashsocialmedia with a link to an article entitled ‘How to start marketing on Facebook’.

I looked but there was nothing new there. Some months ago I’d borrowed a book from the library detailing the same concepts and ideas for a Facebook page. However, while the thought of ploughing through school websites to get phone numbers hanging heavy over my head, the little phrase ‘word-of-mouth’ leapt out of the article and bashed me right between the eyes.

When I set up my Facebook page and Twitter account months ago, the idea was always to take myself to my potential customers (a direct quote from Simon Lucas), rather than have them hopefully ‘find’ me through search engines and newspaper or magazine adverts. At the time, social media sounded like a great idea and the theories and logic behind it all made perfect sense. But it didn’t work out. Nothing happened. No results.

Roll-up, roll-up!

It turns out you need to play the long game.

A tweet from me yesterday saying I’d be willing to attend school Summer fetes in and around Colchester for free, resulted, in less than an hour, in contact from the chair of a local primary school PTA. The simple use of the correct hashtag in my tweet combined with a similar status on my Facebook page has resulted in me being booked for a number of school Summer fetes and I am absolutely thrilled to bits.

The opportunity to appear in front of hundreds of parents is great for business. It’s thanks to Twitter and Facebook that I have that opportunity.

What a little darling.

“During the past quarter century, a subtle change has gradually taken form in the mental attitude of our children. Today’s child is sophisticated to a greater or lesser extent. Through the so-called benefits of modern science – the impossible exploits of movie heroes and blood-curdling video games – the child is thrilled to such an extent that a magician’s bag of tricks becomes a poor substitute.

“All this has brought about another more malicious change. Fifteen or twenty years ago the average child, with a few exceptions, was well-mannered, and quiet and attentive. The magician had very little difficulty in keeping them under control. Today it appears that those few exceptions have become the rule. It may be true that children today are no worse than fifty years ago. But the most casual observer must admit that today’s children are more ill-mannered. They have less respect for their elders and their conduct in public places is often far from commendable.”

Anyone nodding in agreement and thinking to yourself, ‘no chance you’d see me entertaining the kids of today’?

Eddie 'not so' Clever

What you’ve just read is from the introduction of the book Entertaining Children with Magic by Eddie Clever. It was written in 1939. Over 70 years ago.

How times change, eh? NOT.

OK, OK so the bit about blood-curdling video games should actually read “blood-curdling action stories on the radio”, but the general point is there. The misconception that children today are ‘so much worse than when I was a kid’ is one that will continue forever more.

In my opinion, Eddie Clever wasn’t so clever. Children’s mental attitudes haven’t changed. Children will always seek out the exciting, be it on the radio, in a video game or even watching a magic show. In that instance, the magician’s job is to bring the excitement to the children and wring it for all it’s worth.

I’d like to credit David Kaye (aka Silly Billy) and his book ‘Seriously Silly’ for bringing the passage from Eddie Clever’s book to the attention of those of us who enjoy entertaining children with magic. I guess that perhaps Eddie wasn’t one of us.

I had a fab party yesterday. A slight re-jig of my set list worked out just how I wanted it to and my conga-style warm-up managed to venture outside of St Theresa’s Primary School Hall into the beautiful midday sunshine and back in again. Possibly the furthest I’ve managed to get a conga-line to travel!

At the end of a party while the children are being picked up, I leave my music playing in the background. At the end of yesterday’s party I put my ‘Party Dance’ playlist on. To my surprise, the children at the party, mostly aged four and five, went wild for the YMCA! Granted, they didn’t quite get the actions right, but they most definitely knew the chorus. OK, I know they were only singing four letters, but they loved it.

The camp 1978 disco hit The YMCA? Why?

Well, that’s what’s confused me. It’s not new. It’s not regularly played on radio. It’s not a theme tune to a kids’ TV programme nor is it used in any current adverts. I’ve considered why it appeals to children and this is what I’ve come up with.

It's fun to stay at the...

I’m pretty certain it’s got nothing to do with the main message of the song (or any underlying ones for that matter), nor The Village People’s costumes, although at least one of these will probably find its way into every child’s dressing-up box at some point.

It does, however, have a very simple chorus. Once you’ve heard it twice, you’ve got it. If you’re a child aged four or five and becoming proficient with using letters, the YMCA is perfect. They know there are actions because if they’ve ever been near their grown-ups while it’s playing, they would have witnessed probably the most memorable dancing they have ever seen their grown-ups do.

So are these the reasons why today’s children love The YMCA? Are there other not-so-obvious songs that kids love that I’ve not found yet?

One thing’s for sure, they probably wouldn’t sing and dance around to the song that knocked The Village People off the number one spot; Ian Dury and the Blockheads’ ‘Hit me with your rhythm stick!’

Or maybe they would?

The Expert at the Card Table - S. W. Erdnase

This book was first published in 1902 under the title Artifice, Ruse and Subterfuge at the Card Table: A Treatise on the Science and Art of Manipulating Cards.

A book not only for magicians, but for cheats too!

From the foreword (1995): “The methods are as useful today by magicians and card hustlers as they were in 1902. This book is still the bible of card ‘mechanics,’ and as such a delight to read as it was in the early years of this century.”

I love writing an entry to my blog. It always takes longer than I expect, each post always heads in a slightly different direction than first intended and every time I go to click ‘Publish’, the buzz is the same.

The problem is having the confidence that what I’m writing actually interests you, the reader.

Parachute play

I could happily type away about the latest developments in the world of playing card manufacturers or the weight and balance of new magic wands. I could blog about team-based children’s games or parachute play ideas. That’s all before I even consider telling you what a bad gardener I am and how much I love Formula 1 (don’t let that put you off – I promise not to mention F1 again in this post!).

They are all really interesting topics to me, but, as a friend said to me after I offered to show him a website where I’d recently bought a magic prop from, “Why would I find that interesting? That’s like me showing you the site I buy my fitness supplements from”. Fair point. Different strokes for different folks.

This is why, today, I have officially signed up for WordPress.org‘s ‘PostAWeek’ challenge. Basically, they’ll supply the blogging topics and I’ll pick the ones I want to blog about. Unless I think of something all on my own. Then I’ll blog about that.

It probably won’t be easy, but hopefully it’ll be fun, inspiring and a little bit wonderful.

If you already regularly read my blog, please get involved and post comments here and who knows, you might end up blogging too! Then we’d be blog buddies! Actually, ‘Blog Buddies’ sounds a little weird. We definitely wouldn’t be Blog Buddies. Just people that read each other’s blogs. That’s definitely not weird.

Anyway, this is this week’s blog. Hope you’ve enjoyed it.

At Hospital Radio Colchester I present the Six at Six on a Monday night – six songs along the same theme at six o’clock. With that in mind, here are the top six things I love about volunteering for the service.

6. It just feels good

Giving up my own time for a good cause has such a feel good factor to it that I don’t think I’ll ever stop. If playing good music and attempting to say something entertaining in between songs helps relieve the boredom, loneliness and solitude of a stay in hospital then count me in. No matter how long a patient is in for, I hope what I do helps their stay go that little bit quicker.

5. The music

The variety of music we play is eclectic. It’s not always to everyone’s taste, but it is always to someone’s taste, which is the key difference between us and the other radio stations on offer. Our request show throws up an astounding range of music. We’ll play Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley in the same 15 minute period as Rihanna and Mika, depending on who our request collectors have met on the wards that day.

4. Nailing a link

Radio broadcasting is a passion for me. I’m not sure if I’m any good at it (thanks SGR Colchester) and I most certainly will never attempt another career in it, but I do love it. From writing links and executing competitions to dedications and reading the weather, being ‘On Air’ gives me a buzz that cannot be replicated.

3. Fundraising events

The charity has no regular income from government, councils or sponsors – all the money we need to run is raised by our fantastic volunteers. My favourite event is our biggest – the Bank Holiday Fun Day in Lower Castle Park at the end of May. With thousands of visitors all paying to get in, local charities all able to pitch up for free if they want and loads of entertainment all day, it’s a highlight of the year for me.

2. Meeting all sorts of people

I’m Membership Secretary for the charity, which means I am a trustee and I’m responsible for overseeing the induction of new volunteers to the service. Getting to meet all our volunteers is an absolute pleasure. I’m in a fairly unusual position to be able to meet them all – our volunteers join one of our daily teams and it’s only at fundraisers and social events that the teams get to mix and see each other. We have so many different people on board – it’s not many places you’ll find a carpet salesman, an electrician, a magician and a computer technician together.

1. When a listener calls

The best bit about volunteering for Hospital Radio Colchester is when a listener calls us. To hear from and speak to someone who genuinely feels a little bit better because of the service Hospital Radio Colchester provides is humbling. To hope it’s working is one thing, but to know it has is something completely different.

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to meet Paul Daniels. It was announced that he would be lecturing and performing at the Ipswich Magical Society’s annual convention that year and there was no way I was going to miss that. Paul Daniels! I had the Paul Daniels Magic Set when I was a kid! This was my chance to see an internationally successful stage and TV magician in action. If I worked it right, there’d be a good chance I could get to meet him, too.

Vicki and I bought the convention tickets (yes, Vicki went with me – she’s good like that. One day she might let me saw her in half!) and found that the mighty Paul Daniels had an autobiography that maybe we could get him to sign. Bingo. Our way in to meet the legend. We’d buy the book, ask him to sign it and in doing so, get to meet the great man himself.

The first problem was finding the book. It was listed in the usual places around the internet, but only if you were happy to wait two weeks or so for dispatch. It was still in print, but it seems no-one was stocking it. Not even Paul’s website.

So where could I get a copy of his autobiography? I had no idea. I chanced an email to the enquiry address at pauldaniels.co.uk, asking if they had any idea who the current stockists were. I got an email back from Paul Daniels. I’ll say that again as I nearly collapsed when it happened.

I got an email back from Paul Daniels.

Not only did I receive an email from Paul Daniels, but he said he’d bring a copy of the book along to the convention and we could personally collect it off him. Amazing. We were definitely going to meet him.

The convention was that October – Paul’s car was in the car-park, number plate MAG 1C. His lecture was brilliant and taught me the Classic Force better than any book ever has. For any magicians reading, his explanation was so good that not only did it give me the confidence to try it, but whenever I have tried it since, I’ve nailed it pretty much every time. Email me with any further questions.

At the end of the lecture, Paul announced that if the young couple who wanted the book would like to meet him backstage he had it for us. This was it. The big moment. We were about to meet Paul Daniels.

He’s a lot shorter than you think he’s going to be and looks a lot older close-up than he does on stage or on TV. He produced a copy of the book. Not magically, just took it out of a bag. At this point, the first question in my head was ‘Is he going to charge us?’ There is a reason he’s a multi-millionaire magician and it’s not because he gives his autobiography away to fans. I don’t remember how he put it, but that’d be £16.99, please. Fair enough. The guy’s making a living travelling the country and selling his wares like any other magician.

I asked if he would sign it for us, as that was the whole point of buying it, so we could ask him to sign and therefore meet him. He did so, mentioning that if he didn’t put our names then we’d get a bit more on eBay for it. Cynical? Maybe. I was slightly disappointed he didn’t find my affection (granted, it was now dwindling somewhat) for him genuine.

The next bit of the story is possibly the weirdest bit. Having handed over a £20 note for the book, Paul (I’ll call him Paul from now on, as I am one of his creditors) looked slightly sheepish as he searched for change. He asked his nephew (around 12 years old I reckon) if he had any change – he had the penny but not the £3.00. Neither of them did.

Paul

This was awkward. The legendary Paul Daniels searching his magical pockets for some loose change to give us. The moment felt so awkward that I said, ‘don’t worry about it,’ saving any further embarrassment all round. ‘No, no,’ came the reply, ‘I’m Paul Daniels I’m sure I can get you three quid. I’ll sort it for you later.’

He couldn’t. He didn’t. Paul still owes me £3.00.

We do still have the book though. Somewhere.