FISM 2006 - DAY THREE

Wednesday, August 2, 2006


(By Tim Ellis & contestant reports by Sue-Anne Webster)

Today's activities began at 9.00am with the Stage Competition (and a few more acts used taped introductions), while other registrants attended lectures by Tim Star, Gaetan Bloom, and Gazzo, or the Jeff McBride Masterclass, Cheating and Gambling, or the Paul Potassy Talk Show hosted by Wittus Witt.





STAGE COMPETITION



41 - Sittah
Stage Illusions
Netherlands
Sponsor – Ronald Moray (Nederlands Magische Unie)

This act was introduced as a story of good and evil, where the action taking place was a battle to capture a magical glittering silver amulet, the source of power. Male dancers made an energetic entrance, performing acrobatics. The ‘evil’ man entered the scene to try and steal the amulet hanging in a large ‘pyramid’ frame on a stand. When he came too close, sirens sounded and the amulet rose to the top of the pyramid, a large cloth was draped over the illusion and whipped away to reveal Sittah in a tight silver costume inside the pyramid. A fight scene ensued where Sittah fought off the four males with combat moves. Sittah made two ladies appear from a fire cage and did a sexy dance with them until two young men came onto the scene and started fighting with her. She hypnotized one of them and had him placed in a small pyramid box (like a sword basket) and four fire sticks were inserted into the illusion which was then shown empty. A red flag was waved and he got back out of it. Some smoke filled the same illusion and the ‘evil’ man came out of it, too. He seduced her, but put her into a round frame that resembled a globe of the world with an arrow through it. It was covered and she vanished and reappeared across the stage in a tall triangular illusion. She got out and was persuaded to lie down on a spiker illusion. After being tied up and struggling fruitlessly to escape, blinds were pulled up and the fiery spikes were released. She had vanished and reappeared in the audience. She got her silver amulet back in the end. Very strong, energetic performance. (We last saw her compete at FISM in 1997 with Hans Klok when they received 2nd place in Illusions).


42 - Nikolai Friedrich
Mental Magic
Germany
Sponsor – Wolfgang Sommer (Magischer Zirkel Von Deutschland)

Nikolai, with music playing softly in the background and in a relaxed manner began his act by plucking rose petals from a rose in his hand saying “She loves me, she loves me not…” The judges preselected a volunteer and he asked her to write down the place of a rendevous in a city anywhere in the world, a place she has always wanted to visit, a place that everyone would know. She was asked to hand her written answer to someone next to her. She was then asked to imagine the colour of the dress she would wear and give her written answer to another person. She was asked for a two digit number. He did this by describing it to her with beautiful visuals, of rose petals falling into a pond and forming the numbers. The he read her mind asking her for confirmation. The dress was emerald in colour, the city was Casablanca and her hotel room key was 36. He asked for a photo of someone close to her and put it into an envelope, mixed it with other envelopes, then he found it. The act was rushed at the end because he ran out of time. He thought he was disqualified because the red light stopped blinking, the judges also thought he was disqualified, but apparently he was not. (Nikolai ranked 3rd Place in Mental Magic at FISM 2000 for his very original Mona Lisa puzzle act).


43 - Bastrakov’s Magic
General Magic
Russian Federation
Sponsor – Vladamir Rudnev (Moskovskiy Klub Fukosnikov)

The performers (a man and a lady) wore traditional Russian costumes and performed this colourful act to Russian music. They produced lots of bagels and six guitars. Holding up a large silk, they both changed costumes not so instantly, produced two huge fabric Russian dolls and a huge guitar from the same cloth. They performed a very similar act in FISM 2003.


44 - Sergei Buka
General Magic
Spain
Sponsor – Vincente Rafaeles (As. Catalana De Mags Ill. Prof. Y Empr.)

The act used projection on a large screen. There was a countdown on the screen, a flash and Sergi wlks throught the screen. Sergi interacted with the screen using magic. For example, he saw a glass on screen and reached into the screen to pull it out. He makes a dove appear, a cage is drawn on the screen, so he reaches in and puts the dove inside it. He pulled a yellow silk out of the screen, made two silks and produced two doves that he puts on the screen. He produces another silk, puts it on the screen. The dove ‘thinks’ (shown by a think bubble), a yellow feather is plucked from the dove’s thoughts, it’s changed to a silk and then to another bird. He produces a snowstorm. It became hard to see Sergi because he didn’t stand in the spotlight. Sergi produced a balloon, lit the string attached, it burns up and bursts the balloon and a dove appeared.. Sergi walks onto the screen, shrinks the screen (visual only) and shatters it. The act suffered as the workings of the screen was exposed at the start of the act. Sergi did the same act at FISM 2003 but his timing was a lot better this FISM, and so was his dove handling.


45 - Kristine
General Magic
Norway
Sponsor – Jarle Leirpoll (Magisk Cirkel Norge)

A Zorro style act. Kristine was dressed in a nice black and red costume with a red mask that turned into red roses, which in turned turned to confetti of petals from which she produced a potted flower plant. She performed a floating butterfly effect above a red fan, produced silks in red, yellow and black, making linking rings and flowers appear. She spun one ring on top of another and spun a ring on her finger. She put on a cape and mask and did a card stab with a sword. She took her cape and mask off and used her cape to produce a large bunch of red flowers and large bunch of yellow flowers, then stylishly exited the stage. Kristine performed this act at FISM 2003, but has improved her moves.


46 - Matthew Gore
General Magic
South Africa
Sponsor – Christine Tait (South African Magic Council)

The set was a hat shop. Matthew entered the stage with a white face in the style of a mime artist, waving a small flag. He tried on a hat and went into a silk production, starting with the red silk around his neck. He picked up the silks and produced a glass of orange juice. When he took off his hat the music stopped. When he tried on another hat, the music began again, but in a different style. He wore a bowler hat and produced a newspaper and a cane. He folded the newspaper and poured orange juice into it and it vanished. He performed the torn and restored newspaper, folded it up again and poured out the orange juice. With a new hat (a top hat) he had a problem with a fly, he caught it, produced a yellow ball for a ball manipulation routine, then juggled the balls which lit up. With another hat he showed empty, then from it a card fountain appears. He put on a sleeping cap, picked up a blanket and levitated as he snoozed. Finally, some silks became the South African flag. Very good miming techniques, the tricks were all executed cleanly and the act was polished.


47 - Kyoko
General Magic
Japan
Sponsor – Maki Kitami (Japanese Professional Magicians Association)

Kyoko was back again (she competed at FISM 2003) but with an entirely different act. This time, her energy was maintained throughout the whole act with strong characterisation as she stylishly executed the magic with ease. She was a hair dresser in a dark uniform. From a hair magazine she produced a large clock, took a red clock hand and changed it into a mirror, then a silk, and from it another mirror. She produces a comb which ended up in her hair. She does a thimble routine with hair clips and produces a large red and a yellow comb. From a comb came a hairdryer. She began to mime as an ‘invisible’ person entered the salon and sat in a chair for a hair cut. Kyoko wrapped a salon cape around the invisible person and their hands appear. After showing the client the hair magazine, she cut their hair (real hair appeared for a little while). To conclude the act, Kyoko morphed into the client, all dressed up (a costume change) and hair done ready to go out for the evening as the hairdresser became invisible. Kyoko’s moves were very slick and strong. She also had fabulous dance moves. (At the last FISM she performed in black leather and a cowboy hat as she did magic with guns, bullets and handcuffs).


48 - Andreas Axmann
Manipulation
Germany
Sponsor – Wolfgang Sommer (Magischer Zirkel Von Deutschland)

Andreas’ white hat and white silks seemed to make the magic happen in this act. He moved a tie behind a cloth which attached itself to Andreas’ shirt. He sat on a chair and produced a coin for coin manipulation. He took off his hat and tie, moving the hat down the front of his body instantly changed his dark shirt to a white shirt with a red tie. He made a painting of a cocktail and ingredients appear. From the painting he pulled off the tomato, produced fruit (orange, banana, apple and pineapple) and put them all in a champagne bucket. He made the glass in the painting fill with blue liquid, put a Kiwi fruit slice on the glass for decoration and made the slice spin of its’ own accord. Then he ran his hat up his body and changed the colour of his tie again. The full glass in the picture was magically emptied and refilled again. Andreas manipulated a large straw, changed its’ colour to yellow and pulled the cocktail drink off the painting for the finale.


49 - Richard Forget
General Magic
Canada
Sponsor – Joan Caesar (Association Canadienne De Magiciens)

Richard showed a newspaper and produced a white ball which changed into a white wand, then vanished it. He reproduced them and went into a ball manipulation routine. He turned one ball into a silk and confetti and another into a silk, then reproduced the balls again and back into a silk. He lit a fire in his hands which produced eight balls in a display. He opened the newspaper with the headline of ‘War’. Lighting effects and smoke come from behind it, but he showed nothing was there. He made a paper bird of peace with flapping wings and levitated it with a blue silk, ‘zombie’ style. It flew under the silk, he took away the silk and it still flew in front of him. Richard turned it into a mini snowstorm showing two birds flying carrying the peace symbol. Richard performed at FISM 2003 with an entirely different act,


50 - Anton & Landru
General Magic/Invention
Argentina
Sponsor – Rene Oscar Hernando (Centro Magico Platense)

A comedy act featuring an old lady at home watching TV. She changed channels and danced to the music coming from it, her hanky danced with her. The TV set broke down so she called for the repairman, but the phone line was cut. She donned a witches hat and gazed into her crystal ball to conjur him up. The repairman turned up and tried to fix the TV. The old lady was cheeky with the repairman but left him to work. The repairman had difficulties repairing her TV set, he went about trying to find the problem, but accidently broke the old lady’s crystal ball. There was a bit of slapstick humour as the remote vanished and reappeared, the TV vanished and ended up in his bag, he tried to plug in the TV, but the line ended up being the old lady’s washing line. He put on the witches hat and put the old lady in a trance when she entered the room, the crystal ball reappeared intact, the TV ended up back on the table, he pushed the old lady over and she convincingly levitated, he pulled up her skirts from the ground to show nothing was there. She got back up and everything was back to normal, she payed him and he went to leave, but she put on her witches hat, brought him back inside, took his money and took him into another room (off stage) patting his bottom. Uhumm.


51 - Ross Mickael Et Bethy
Stage Illusions/Invention
France
Sponsor – Guy Lamelot (Federation Francaise Des Artistes Prestidigitateurs)

The illusionists began their act by performing a version of the tube stretch on Bethy in a big wooden barrel, but the she gets twisted as well. Then a cage illusion with chains was brought out, but Bethy didn’t want to get in it, so they chained up a man. The chains acted like bars on a prison cell. The illusion was covered briefly, then the revelation showed the man inside the cage had swapped places with another man and a young girl who was helping out. The third illusion was a wooden trunk a man was sitting on, he pulled up a cloth to show big animated lips singing inside the otherwise empty trunk. The trunk was covered again and a cage was uncovered nearby showing the singing lips. The cage was covered, then revealed to produce one person, then two, then a third and fourth person.


52 - The Magic of the Nightingale
Parlour Magic
U.S.A.
Sponsor – Richard Dooley (Society of American Magicians)

The performer was a lady in an elaborate opera costume who revealed she was heaven and hell, that it was the story of the phantom. She sang throughout her act while she did a small snowstorm using her fan, a floating ball effect where the ball was obviously stuck to her thumb, then a woeful zombie routine with a silver ball that ended up stuck to her hat. There was a pop and rose petals appeared, she turned a ball into some flowers then thanked Jeff McBride as her teacher, calling for him in the audience but he wasn’t there, and proceeded to do a final effect that didn’t work. The performer was unable to concentrate on singing and magic at the same time.


53 - Mr Avesta
General Magic
Netherlands
Sponsor – Ronald Moray (Nederlands Magische Unie)

Mr Avesta entered the stage decorated to resemble a gym. He wore a loud suit, green beret, green shoes and danced to music, doing a cut and restored rope routine. He revealed a silver ball in his shoe and a smoke pot went off for no reason. Fifi the fake dog barks from her basket next to a barbell with 100kg black balls attached to each end. Mr Avesta couldn’t lift the weight so he stripped off his clothes in strobe lighting to reveal himself in underpants and a muscle costume. He drank an energy drink, flowers popping out of it. He stands on a winner’s block, took some silks and turned them into the Netherlands flag, pulled out gold and silver from his mouth as well as big gold medals he decorated himself with. He then went over to lift up the barbell. As he lifted the weight, the dog yapped again and one weight fell on the dog and squashed it. A vacuum from the barbell sucked up the squashed dog and it came out the other end. That weight fell off too, but mysteriously rose. The judges red lighted Mr.Avesta for his unbelievably ridiculously bad act and he was disqualified, but he was able to finish his performance because the curtains were so slow in closing. He managed to waste a few good confetti cannons. This was another insulting act to FISM.


54 - Pilou
Manipulation
France
Sponsor – Guy Lamelot (Federation Francaise Des Artistes Prestidigitateurs)

A ‘youth’ in a beret and street clothes reminiscent of Oliver Twist did what can be described as a celebratory dance of magic. Pilou was so easy, so natural, so exciting and so happy as he displayed his incredible talents in dexterity and performance. He produced card fans to an apple, which turned into a red silk that produced an apple again, which he pockets. From the silk he produced a candle, as he lit it, there was a flash and it turned into an apple again which he pockets. After producing three apples, he juggled them in character. He produced a flash that produced a newspaper and confetti. He produced another apple from his hat, produced more cards for a card manipulation routine, then single card productions. He pulled out his shoe from his beret, another apple and more and more cards, card scaling, card fan productions, card juggling, catching a card in his mouth and hands to produce a card fan that changed into a newspaper and confetti again. He took an apple from his beret, then tipped up his beret causing many apples to fall out. He sat sprawled easily over a barrel, casually producing more and more cards and an apple, a red silk revealed a large card fan that he split into two. He got up and scaled more cards, produced his two shoes from his beret, then continued into large card productions, then a newspaper and confetti again, more large cards, huge cards from his beret, a card fan that he doubled into two card fans and confetti burst everywhere. An excellent act!!!


55 - Hayashi
Parlour Magic
Germany
Sponsor – Wolfgang Sommer (Magischer Zirkel Von Deutschland)

Hayashi was dressed as a Samurai who held up comical subtitles on large cards as he spoke Japanese. The subtitles became cheeky as they took on a life of their own. Hayashi gave up on the subtitles and decided to use a translating machine. The machine had an American accent that (deliberately) went out of synch to Hayashi’s mouth movements. Something went wrong with the machine, then Hayashi spoke perfect English while the machine spoke Japanese. After the initial introduction, Hayashi announced he was going to do the “World’s Coolest Card Trick”. He had a card signed by a volunteer and showed the signed card at the top, middle and bottom of the deck in a manipulation routine. He showed the whole deck to be in perfect linear order. Then goes over to his machine, the signed card popped out, he stabbed the card with his Samurai sword and gave it to the volunteer.


56 - Robert and Emiel
Mental Magic
Netherlands
Sponsor – Ronald Moray (Nederlands Magische Unie)

This act was extremely clever and thoroughly disturbing. Emiel introduced his ‘brother’ Robert as a child trapped in a man’s body. Robert was born with ‘a gift’. He was dressed in a white shiny plastic looking outfit, fabric he had picked out for himself especially for this occasion. He was blind folded with a black cloth and proceeded to psychically ‘see’ objects the audience were holding up. Emiel coaxed him on. Robert could ‘see’ numbers, a person’s date of birth and even knew what day a person was born on many years ago. Emiel took off Robert’s blindfold so he could look into someone’s eyes, seeing the type of money they chose and stating the serial number. The act was performed to tinkering notes on a piano which helped evoke an eerie atmosphere and the disturbing feeling that comes from seeing such a convincing oddity in a mentally challenged human being. Excellent character work but not to everybody’s taste. They achieved their goal of a convincing performance.


57 - Xavier Mortimer
General Magic
France
Sponsor – Guy Lamelot (Federation Francaise Des Artistes Prestidigitateurs)

A comedy act. Xavier played the part of a musician who plays a flute behind a music stand. The flute blows out some bubbles and Xavier plays with the bubble. He performs an acrylic ball manipulation that included some clever contact juggling. He vanished the ball which then came out of his mouth. He then produced two balls and juggled them. He throws a ball into the air and all the balls vanish. He produced a silk, then one ball came back so he could continue a multiplying ball routine. From his little case on stage came a lot of bubbles and Xavier takes from it a large bubble. The case closed slowly by itself and the music stopped. He sneezed and the sheet music closed by itself. A clever routine with a little magic and a lot of juggling.


58 - Minoru Arai (Replacing Jin Seub in the programme)
General Magic
Republic of Korea
Sponsor – Eun-Sung Chung (Korean Magic Society)

Minoru begins the act wearing a neat suit and standing near a fireplace holding a large white flower. He plucked the petals and pulled out a white silk. The silk changed to a fan of cards, then Minoru did a card manipulation routine to classical music. Slow and clean productions. He then produced a large card fan and did a Three Card Monte routine where the three Kings became three Queens, then changed into the Two of Hearts. It was covered with a glittery cloth and it disappears. The cloth becomes the Queen with no picture, but behind the cloth Minora produced a real lady, the Queen.


59 - Sergey Ferdzhulyan
Manipulation
Russian Federation
Sponsor – Vladamir Rudnev (Moskovskiy Klub Fukosnikov)
Sergey worked to jazz music in this act. He produced a ball and did a ball manipulation routine, then produced a card fan and went back and forth between cards, ball, cards, ball, cards, ball. His quick finger movements matched the pacy piano music. Sergey’s fingers were always constantly moving even when he finished his act, walking off stage.


60 - Jerome Helfenstein
General Magic
France
Sponsor – Guy Lamelot (Federation Francaise Des Artistes Prestidigitateurs)

Jerome produced a white light and transported it to a white screen to do shadowgraphy with a twist. This was ‘advanced’ shadowgraphy using an LCD screen or projector. He took bubbles from the screen and made them real to do a glass ball manipulation routine, then took the ball and put it back onto the screen. A shadow spider appeared and Jerome was able to pull the thread of the spider’s web up and down the screen. He plucked strings on the screen like a guitar. Musical notes appeared of the screen, he made a man with his hands who was playing the saxophone, a camel, a ship on waves, a frog in a swamp that caught flies, feathers fell and he caught one of them making it real, then draws a cloud with it. The shadow lamp turns off and the stage lamp turns on. Little magic, but very clever work.


After lunch it was a choice between more Close Up Competition (with more gambling themed acts) or Paul Daniels Max Malini Show.


CLOSE UP COMPETITION


25 - David Stone
Micro Magic
France
Sponsor – Jean Claude Crispon (Cercle Francais De L’illusion Jules Dhotel)

The close-up table was set as a restaurant with two seated volunteers and David entered as a waiter and began by using a huge napkin to produce a tiny coin. As music played he produced two wine glasses and transformed coins into cutlery. There was so much going on during David’s act that it was hard to keep up. He produced a bottle of wine and had a great running gag with a tape measure that kept reappearing so he could measure the distance between four coins that appeared on the close up mat. David had a card chosen and signed and it reappeared inside the pepper grinder on the table. In a flurry of a finale he stole the wine bottle from the table under the spectator’s nose and then produced both of his shoes and a spirit hand. David’s personality was strong and the act very entertaining.


26 - Tricky Niki
Card Magic
Austria
Sponsor – Johann Kellner (Magischer Ring Austria)

Nicki entered carrying a FISM bag and did a gag about finally getting a ticket into the close-up room which got a good reaction. He also played to the people watching via video in the other room which went over very well. He had a card named (9H) and changed a 5S into that card. He set out a prediction and had two cards randomly chosen. Those cards were a 7 and a 3 and his prediction was 10, the remaining cards in the deck were blank. A card was signed and shuffled into the blank deck and, after a series of fancy flourishes, it vanished from the pack. He produced a glass from his jacket and brought out a six-pack of Red Bull and gave four cans to the jury. A spectator was asked to choose one of the remaining cans and examine it thoroughly. Nicki then opened the can, poured out the contents into the glass and shook the can. We heard something inside. He broke the can open and inside was the signed card. Very impressive! (Though I did miss the backflip he did in his close up act at FISM 2003).


27 - Kevin Gallagher
Micro Magic
UK
Sponsor – Roger Miller (International Brotherhood of Magicians)

Kevin began by performing a matrix with tiny cards but then decided it might be hard to see so he used large coins and did the matrix with the cards under the coins. Then he did it a third time with large cards and the coins moving and concluded by producing giant coins. Next he performed the three shell game. He decided it might be hard to see so he did it again with three big peas and had the normal size shell under them. He then performed this a third time with giant shells and the big pea finishing with a huge shotglass for the finale. He made a small technical mistake when a pea appeared under the wrong shell but he covered it well and he did appear a little nervous but it was a well-constructed and presented routine.


28 - Alexander Popov
Card Magic
Russian Federation
Sponsor – Vladamir Rudnev (Moskovskiy Klub Fukosnikov)

Alexander was a large bearded man with short fingers and incredible skill. He spoke in a sort of rambling mumble that was strangely fascinating as he went through a series of the most amazing cuts, shuffles and flourishes while locating the spectator’s chosen card. He performed very matter of factly, as though it was just another day at work, and the little whistle he did that seemed to make the chosen card pop up got a great reaction every time he did it. It really became his trade mark. He finished by attempting to build a card castle in his hand. The audience was really behind him as he tried to construct it but, unfortunately, after three almost successful attempts he had to give up. The audience loved him.


29 - Brad Bradley
Micro Magic
U.S.A.
Sponsor – Roger Miller (International Brotherhood of Magicians)

Brad sat down at the close-up table and did a very basic cup and ball routine in rhyming patter. He also performed a paddle routine. He then introduced a double-ended cup he referred to as a “cup cup” and did some incredibly simple moves all the while speaking to us as though we were three-year old children. Why Roger Miller thought Brad’s act was up to FISM standard is beyond me. The audience was laughing at him, not with him, and in the end a small group of people gave him a standing ovation.


30 - Harry Lucas
Mental Magic
Austria
Sponsor – Johann Kellner (Magischer Ring Austria)

Harry began by having the entire audience stand up and swear an oath that they were not stooges. He then handed a prediction and a stop watch to an audience member. Two volunteers were brought up and given a pad and pen each and both were asked to visualize an animal and then draw it. It was a little dull as there was nothing happening while they were drawing but in the end they had both drawn elephants. For the next experiment he asked the spectators to stand back to back and for one to make some simple gesture, then the other to try to duplicate that gesture. After two or three unsuccessful attempts he abandoned that test. Finally he had the audience member with the watch to stoop the time. It was 7 minutes and 5 seconds. His prediction was opened and matched the time exactly.


31 - Mario Bove
Card Magic
Italy
Sponsor – Domenico Dante (Club Magico Italiano)

Speaking English with a thick Italian accent Mario had a gambling theme and offered to show “how the gamblers do it”. He started by cutting to the kings then gave a demonstration of ‘The Invisible Palm’ and changed the kings to aces. He dealt four poker hands with him getting the face up aces while the other players got four fives, four queens and four kings. He put the aces into different parts of the deck and then cut to them, then discovered all of the spades one by one. Finally the whole deck was shown to be in order. Mario was a very gracious performer thanking everyone for taking the time to watch his act.


32 - Will Houston
Micro Magic
UK
Sponsor – Alan Shaxon (The Magic Circle)

Will began with a very proficient coin routine to music, standing up with three coins, no sleeves and finishing with two jumbo coins. He did a card routine to music where he cut to the aces, did a deck vanish, card matrix with the appearance of four coins under the cards which went into coin matrix and many variations. He transformed the coins into Chinese coins and did Henry Evans effect where four Chinese coins appear from a card. He changed coins into a lighter and then produced a giant lighter from a flash (which didn’t work) and then produced an even bigger lighter (which did work). His technique was crisp, clean and effortless though I would have liked to have seen more of his personality.


33 - Guilhelm Julia
Parlour Magic
France
Sponsor – Guy Lamelot (Federation Francaise Des Artistes Prestidigitateurs)

An extremely unusual act themed around fish. The stage area was covered in tables with various bowls of water on them. With thunder and rain sound effects playing, Guilhelm lit flash string that changed into a card case, he took a deck of blank cards from the case, pictures of fish appeared on all of the cards, then he poured a live fish out of the card case. Fish number two was produced from a rolled up ‘fish card’ and fish number three came from his bare hands. Guilhelm took more flash string, lit it, and it became a lemon. He cut the lemon open, squeezed juice all over the floor, then pour a fish from the lemon. More flsh string was lit and a glass appeared. He produced another fish from a fish sticker, and then made the production of a fish-filled aquarium from a silk. Finally he blew out a candle and his shoe caught fire. He took off his shoe and poured out another fish. Quite an unusual way to populate an aquarium.


34 - Rocco
Micro Magic
U.S.A.
Sponsor – Dale Hindman (Academy of Magical Arts)

Rocco won 3rd Place in Close Up in 1994, so it was interesting to see what he’d come up with now. Performing to music while chatting away he began by producing a razor for a man with a thick beard. Next he called me up and asked me to kiss a piece of flashpaper. I did and he changed it into lipstick which he gave to me. He then produced a baffling array of items and proceeded to hand them out to various audience members: a lime, an egg, silks, wineglasses, popcorn, glitter, lime juice, cigarettes, pipes, grapes, confetti, ice, corn, ice-creams, and water. At the end of the act there was so much on the floor it looked like a clown had exploded! There’s something intriguing about Rocco’s act, even if you know how it works, it just draws you in and fascinates you.


35 - Felix
Card Magic
Germany
Sponsor – Wolfgang Sommer (Magischer Zirkel Von Deutschland)

Felix also chose me to be his spectator. He began with a poker theme and produced the four queens. He asked me “What do you think is the most common question people ask a magician?” He must have expected me to answer “How is it done?” but the first thing that came into my head was “Can you make my wife disappear?” He looked a little flustered and said “No family problems, please!” and I’m sure I saw Tim reaching for the red button. (Just joking, of course!) As the audience was laughing and Felix was about to go into his routine when he fumbled and dropped the deck on the floor. Thinking quickly he said “Time for a deck switch” and pulled out a spare deck. I’m sure he improvised the rest of the routine but he did very well under the circumstances. He found the four queens again and caused the red and black queens to switch places. Next he did a signed card to card case and then found all of the cards in one suit one by one and ended with the entire deck in order.


36 - Rey Ben
Micro Magic/Inventions
Argentina
Sponsor – Rudyard Magaldi (Circolo Magico Argentino)

Rey Ben began by demonstrating and explaining his first invention, a cigarette dropper that fed one cigarette at a time down your sleeve then doubled as a cigarette case for a final production. Rey then chose me to assist him as he demonstrated a device that could inject a silk into any bottle with ease. He started flirting with me a little, then saw Tim sitting in the front row. Once he realized Tim was a judge he quickly sent me back to my seat and, in the process, generated a lot of comedy during his act as Tim again pretended to threaten him by pushing the button. His third invention was a way to get a card into a vodka bottle, then instantly flick it back out again. All of his effects were very commercial.


37 - Charming Choi
Card Magic
Republic of Korea
Sponsor – Eun-Sung Chung (Korean Magic Society)

At the last FISM Choi really pushed the limits of close-up card magic with his ‘Little Mermaid’ act which involved magic performed in a large fish tank with a huge inflatable mermaid as the finale. This year he did it again as he introduced us to ‘Kardaoke’. Dressed impeccably with extremely high energy, Choi introduced his act as ‘The Sound of Magic’. He scratched a king to make it talk, but he had some technical problems with his electronics and things just weren’t going his way. He improvised a sequence instead and had a card chosen (AC) and manipulated it. It was signed and then he did an ambitious card sequence and caused the card to vanish and reappear in the case. Next the deck became blank, while some of the cards changed to completely black cards. He layed the cards out on the table and we realized he was creating a keyboard. Sure enough, each time he or the volunteer touched a card, a musical note sounded. His big LED sign started displaying song lyrics as he played his deck and lead the audience in several choruses of ‘Do, Re, Mi’. He got a huge round of applause at the end. I don’t think anyone had ever seen anything like it.


38 - Galambos
Micro Magic
Hungary
Sponsor – Molnar Gergely (Budapest Magic Club)

Last FISM we saw Galambos compete with a similar act, but a lot of the time we just saw the top of his head as he concentrated on the props on the table. He began with cups and balls and he connected with the audience a lot better. His routine was set to music and it was very fast paced as the balls vanished in puffs of smoke. Throughout the routine the cups changed from silver to copper, though some of the cup exchanges were not that deceptive. Next he tilted the close-up pad up so we could see the cards, which was a nice touch, and he showed a blank deck which he began manipulating and he located the aces. He held a rose in his hand as he changed the aces to blank cards and when he spread the blank deck a rose was printed on the spread. He then performed a four ball routine with tiny white balls and finished with a coin matrix routine. It looked like he had a little trouble with his coins and he finished his act before the end of his music.


39 - Gregory Wilson
Card Magic
U.S.A.
Sponsor – Dale Hindman (Academy of Magical Arts)

Gregory has presented this routine at FISM 2000 (where he won equal 3rd place in Cards) and FISM 2003 (where he won equal 2nd place) and it is always entertaining. The close-up table is set as his office and, on a small table to one side, is a time-clock. Gregory entered to a great reaction and began with a joke as he poured a long stream of glitter from his hand and said “Sorry about all the glitter, I shook Rocco’s hand before I came on.” He explained that card tricks are his job and began by pouring a cup of coffee from a card case before taking a deck of cards out of it. Gregory picked up a spike from his “desk” on which was impaled a folded card, the audience called out a card at random and he let them take the card off the spike, unfold it and it was the same card. He almost got away with this effect but the angles were bad from where I was sitting. He had Obie O’Brien choose and sign a card which reappeared in a sealed deck in its’ original position (this was a new addition to the act) and then he finished the act by finding all of the cards from one suit in order. His finale, find the 10 through king from a card fountain from the time clock, messed up and he failed to find the cards but the audience responded very well regardless.


40 - Marc Oberon
Micro Magic
UK
Sponsor – Alan Shaxon (The Magic Circle)

Beginning with music, Marc started by floating a silver ball, which looked very nice but there were some thread flashes at times. He went into the multiplying balls with some effective patter about hallucinations. He changed one ball into an Academy Award and produced an apple which he changed to gold, though this was very angly. His next piece was extremely visual as he took a crystal ball and asked Boris Wild to name a card. Boris said “Six of Clubs” and, as we watched, the six of clubs slowly appeared in the crystal ball then disappeared. He asked Gerrit Brengman to name a card, he choose the six of diamonds and Marc lit a piece of flashpaper and it changed into the six of diamonds. As the music continued it showed how rehearsed he was as each vanish was accompanied by an appropriate sound effect. His deck of cards became a gold deck, he produced a gold ring and then make it bigger and then went into the Zimmerman dancing ring on rope. Again he demonstrated just how prepared he was when, after a problem with his rope, he ditched it and brought out a spare with which he continued the routine. He finished with a series of great coin manipulations with giant gold coins and changed a coin to a gold key which he then turned into a giant key.

After the competition Tim and I did an interview for a FISM TV special (which may even go to air in Australia one day!) and then we got organised to see the Close Up Gala Show while another batch of registrants went into Victoria Hall to see the Gala Stage Show.

The Close Up Gala.... well, things began badly when some FISM official announced, as they were opening the doors, that it was 'free seating'. After people rushed in to get the best seats, people with tickets for the best seats started to show up and chaos ensued. FISM officials had to announce a mistake had been made and the show started fifteen minutes late (and with a bad atmosphere) as people had to reorganise their seating. Please note, this was the second night they have staged this show so there's no reason for this mistake to be made.

The compere, who's name isn't listed anywhere in the programme, kicked off the show by introducing Belinda Sinclair. She came on accompanied by singers, dancers and musicians and brought two audience volunteers up on stage with her. The following 20 minutes was not well received at all. As her singers sung, musicians played and dancers danced, she told lyrical tales and performed four ace effects, MacDonald's Aces, Three Card Monte and Matrix as allegories. One person told me it looked like a scene from a freaked out hippy party. Maybe it was not the best choice of material for the FISM crowd.

Add to that the fact that the camera work was shocking, with two cameras in use and the director constantly missing the action, and it made conditions very unpleasant for viewing close up magic. Even when they did shoot the right part of the table the lighting was so dim that you had to strain to see. Dim lighting seems to be a trademark of this FISM as the same is happening in the stage events too.

Tim Star followed and he performed a series of card effects that really didn't seem to be that strong at all. His final effect with aces was nice but he didn't seem to have the sort of personality that could carry across a room of this size (about 700 people!)

Lennart Green was next and he stole the show. Sensational and unbelievable card work and, by using the camera person as a volunteer he ensured the camera on the table was locked off and focused on the table at all times. His ability with a deck of cards is without peer. It's as if the cards are another part of his body. He received an enthusiastic standing ovation for his work. (A highlight being a matrix where he put regular size cards under normal coins and we couldn't see them underneath!)

Bob Sheets had to follow Lennart, a task any magician would hate, but he had the charm to carry it off. Bob did two tricks, a 5 card trick that ended up being a 1 card trick, and Cuba Libra which is way too big for "real" close up but a perfect choice for the Close Up Gala as everyone could see it without having to rely on the screens.

Michael Vincent was next and he was crucified by poor camera work. Every time he found the aces and dealt them on the table we had to take his word for it as the camera would inevitably be on his face at that time. The audience revolted during his act and started calling out camera instructions to the AV crew.

Finally we had Armando Lucero. A brilliant performer who got a great reaction despite a very underlit shot of his working surface. He performed his legendary matrix which looks like pure magic, and a thought of card appearing between two face up jokers. People who had seen Armando before said that he didn't perform as well as they'd seen him in the past but, given the mood of the room, I'm not surprised. People were really angry with the FISM organisers regarding the seating debacle and the camera work had only made them angrier. As we mingled in the foyer it was evident they were now turning their anger towards the standard of performances.

I did a brief poll asking people what they liked best and least about this FISM. Here are the results:

BEST - Seeing such a wide variety of competitors. Lennart Green and Juan Tamariz.

LEAST - Having to catch a train to go to the Bar Magic every night. The low standard of organisation, AV support and guest artist performances. Having to wait in line for the close up comp (and many other events as well). Having a whole night with nothing scheduled (last night).