Wednesday, April 7, 2010

April 2010

President's Words


Greetings!

Ship Shape Entertainment

This past week I was on a cruise and caught several of the evening shows (along with a few pounds). We were hoping there'd be a magician on board, but unfortunately I was the only one and despite several attempts to get on the evening schedule, all of the staff agreed that my attempts at the Guy Hollingworth Float Pass weren't quite "show ready". So, I resigned myself to a lounge with a deck of cards, most of which fell to the floor in the process of learning this new move.

There was, however, a great juggling team and once again I was struck in the face with another example of why what you do is far less important than how you do it. Technically, they weren't the best jugglers and I'd seen many of the tricks before. In fact, once they started I leaned over and said, "this better get good real soon" half hoping for another excuse to go eat. What I didn't realize was how much better they were going to get. To say they had the audience eating out of the palm of their hands would be a drastic understatement. Throughout the course of the show we saw drops, mistakes, ad libbed lines to cover for one thing or another, and actual frustration between the two performers as one would drop while the other one wouldn't. I later learned that most of this was carefully planned, but I'll tell you, it certainly didn't look like it. The best part was that the rest of the audience just ate it up and I haven't seen 1000 people so happy to see 2 jugglers try every trick, whether they succeeded at it or not. Bottom line, they won on personality. They entertained first, and everything else came after. Man... some make it look so easy.


This month we have a nice change of pace, a lecture on stage magic! What? yes.... a lecture that will address stage magic. "GO ON!" you say. Ok, I will. This month we have Peter Pitchford joining us for a lecture on manipulation and topit work. Peter won the 2009 SAM stage competition with his manipulation act, which is a reminiscent tribute to Cardini, and has developed some new work on topit techniques. As part of his lecture, he will be going over some of his innovations in the realm of all things magically manipulatable (did I make that word up?) and also giving us another special opportunity. Peter can do topit installations at the lecture. For anyone interested in topit work or in having a topit installed, be sure to bring your jacket and coats and Peter will have it installed at the lecture.

See you there!
Derrin


Meeting Information

NEXT MEETING: Tuesday April 13, 2010

Event: Peter Pitchford Lecture
Place: Milanese Restaurant
115 Main St
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
(845) 471-9533
Time: 7:30 PM

Taken From Peter's My Space Page

Peter is a strange amalgamation of superb skill, expert dexterity, amazing agility, suave suppleness, and maladroit clumsiness. Enter Peter Pitchford, the debonair dunce, the sophisticated klutz. His supreme manipulative abilities will amaze audiences while his inescapable calamity adds emotional depth that surpasses crude humor, overused jokes, and bland presentation. The combination of skill and misfortune allows the audience to share moments of laughter, of grief, of inspiration, and of triumph. Peter has been working as a full time professional for over four years. He has been studying the art for over twelve years.

Awards he has won
2009 1st place Society of American Magicians
Hofzinser Award
Silver Medal of Excellence
2009 2nd place International Brotherhood of Magicians
2007 Magician's Alliance of Eastern States Clint Riedel Best Act of Competition (1st Place Overall)
IBM Ring 165 (Collingswood) 2007 1st Place Stage Magic
SAM Assembly 4 2007 1st Place Close Up Magic
SAM Assembly 4 2007 1st Place Stage Magic
SAM Assembly 4 2006 2nd Place Children’s Magic
SAM Assembly 4 2006 2nd Place Close Up Magic
SAM Assembly 4 1st Place Stage Magic
2006 Magicians Alliance of Eastern States 1st Place Manipulation
2006 Magicians Alliance of Eastern States 1st Place Comedy Magic
IBM Ring 6 2006 2nd Place Close Up Magic
IBM Ring 6 2006 1st Place Stage Magic
IBM Ring 6 (Philadelphia) 2005 1st Place Close Up Magic
IBM Ring 6 (Philadelphia) 2005 1st Place Stage Magic
2008 Competed at the International Championships of Magic (IBM/SAM combined convention)
2008 1st place stage International Battle of Magicians
2008 2nd place stage Magifest



MAGIC NEWS
Magic News......Link Below
http://www.magictimes.com/

Frank Monaco
Secretary, Al Baker Assembly #35
Contact: sam35editor@gmail.com