Guest Article written by Steven Blair
Steven is a 17 year old boy from a large town in Scotland. His passion for magic started over 6 years ago when he got a magic set for his birthday from his parents. As well as magic Steven writes for his blog about his life inside and out of magic.
S.A.M.S Report
From the 4th to the 6th of May, I attended the 61st annual Scottish
Association of Magical Societies convention (S.A.M.S) in my hometown of Kilmarnock. The following is just a report on what I managed to see
and what I thought of the whole three days.
Day One
As the convention was held in my hometown and about a 30 minute walk away from my house, I didn’t have hours to travel which were an added bonus. I arrived at the hotel where the convention was held at around 6pm and got registered. I hung out in the lobby with some friends for around an hour or so and even managed to grab a quick chat with one of the star lecturers, Ian Adair, which was rather nice. Ian shared stories about how much my hometown had changed in the past 50 years since he was last here (as he was born and raised there), and he also spoke a bit about how much magic has changed since he was a kid.
At around 7:30pm, the president officially opened the convention which meant the dealers were also open, so I rushed over to get some bargains. Although there weren’t a million and one dealers, I still managed to spend a bit more money than I expected. As well as the dealers being open, there was also a buffet put on for all the registrants which was nice. At 9pm the first show of the weekend started, this was the vice president’s show and included performances from Paul Nardini, Mark Fisken, Tommy Templeton and Alex Proctor. This show was really good and had everything from mentalism to sponge ball magic, there was something for everyone.After the show, I spent the next few hours hanging out and chatting with a number of people. When I got home, I couldn’t resist playing with some of the titbits I bought at the dealers. The next thing I knew it was almost 4am!
Day Two
After about 3 hours sleep, I made my way back to the convention. The day kicked off with the dealer’s showcase in which the dealers demoed a number of items they had for sale. The first lecture of the weekend began courtesy of Ian Adair. In this lecture he performed and taught a number of kids routines and tricks, and even though I don’t do kids magic, I still managed to learn something new. After the lecture it was time for a quick browse of the dealers before taking our seats for the close-up show. This was an excellent show, mainly because I had only seen only one of the performers before so I didn’t know what to expect. The performers included Michael Neto, Pat Fallon, John Bowden and Toby Davies. It was mainly card tricks, but that’s expected in any close-up show. After the show, it was a quick dash into town to grab a bite to eat at McDonalds (other fast food chains are available), then it was back to watch the stage and children’s competitions. These were good and I could tell that the judges would have a hard job deciding who would win. After the competitions it was time for Pat Fallon’s lecture, which was packed full of material for everyone, from stand-up to kids magic. Another quick bite to eat with my family and I was back at the hotel before you could say ‘If I just snap my fingers….’
The gala show was really good. It started off with the MC Ian Adair welcoming everyone to the show, before introducing the first act, who was June Leith – a clown act that was very entertaining. Next up was my good friend Michael Neto, who is mainly a close-up performer but somehow he managed to adapt close-up tricks to work on stage. His act was very entertaining as always, and I particularly liked when he explained how one of his tricks worked by slowing it down. Next on was my favourite act of the show, John Kimmons,who mixed magic and ventriloquism to produce a really funny act. This was without a doubt one of the highlights of the weekend for me. The interval followed this, and I was super busy selling raffle tickets to everyone. The second half began shortly after the prizes had been given out, and the first act of the second half was Peter Kinney who performed the world’smost dangerous card trick. This act was really good even though I had seen it a few times before, I still enjoyed it. After that was Toby Davies, and his act was good but was made better by one of the spectators who helped out during his last trick. Last but not least was Pat Fallon and Gill, a manipulation/illusion act. This was really good and even though I am not a big fan of this style of act, I still really enjoyed it. Overall it was not a bad show.
After the gala had finished, there was enough time to browse the dealers for the last time that day. Once this was over, it was time for the president’s show which this year was a tribute to the late John Ramsay.It started off with Ian Adair and I didn’t see much of this act as I was working the curtains backstage but what I saw was rather good.Next up was Michael Neto who performed a news paper tear which I just caught the end of, followed by a 3 fly routine that started off by producing all 3 coins. After him was Nevin Cody, a magician from Ireland. This was the first time I had seen him perform and he didnot disappoint. Overall, it was a great second day and I really enjoyed it.
Day Three
I arrived really early and there were only 2 or 3 people about, but as soon as the clock hit 9am it started to fill up. I spent the morning making sure everything was ready for my close-up competition act. There were a number of good performances in the competition, which featured everything from ninja rings to mentalism. My favourite act (apart from my own of course) was Michael Neto whose act was really unique and entertaining. The other performers included Chris Dinwoodie who performed a ninja ring routine and even managed to find a great use for levitation in a close-up act, Billy Reid who did mentalism, I, who performed a mixture of card magic and coin magic, and last on was Alan Duncan who performed a game of chance themed routine. I never really saw this as I was getting changed and packing up my stuff from my act but let’s say it was great.
After the close-up competition it was time for John Kimmons to lecture. This was a great talk because even though it was a lecture on ventriloquism and children’s magic which I don’t really do, a lot of it was still entertaining. I don’t think I have laughed as much at a lecture like I did at this one in my life. After this, a spontaneous 3 fly workshop broke out in the corner of the room that had a number of people sharing ideas on 3 fly. This was great and I managed to get some great advice on it.
After this it was time for the farewell lunch which was a lovely 3 course meal that I really enjoyed. After this it was time to find out who the winner’s of the competitions and other awards. Even though I didn’t win the close-up I wasn’t disappointed, the winners deserved it more than me. There’s always next time.
Overall this was a great weekend where I managed to see some great magic, had some great laughs and I spent a ton of money. Can’t wait for next years which will be held in the lovely town of Troon. See you there?
Guest Contributor Steven Blair:
Steven is a 17 year old boy from a large town in Scotland. His passion for magic started over 6 years ago when he got a magic set for his birthday from his parents. As well as magic Steven writes for his blog about his life inside and out of magic.
http://themagicofstevenblair.
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