TSD 7 (Houston, March 17 - 18, 2006)
Every year I celebrate three events in my life: my birthday, Christmas and the annual TSD convention. If pushed, I could probably do without the first two (except the presents, of course), but the latter is something that I must always celebrate. If you've never attended, you're probably wondering why I'd be so passionate about a magic convention. Read on to discover why.
For me, the convention started on Wednesday morning after meeting Tyler Wilson at Houston airport (who had been munificently waiting for me for thirteen-hours before I arrived!) and meeting Luke Dancy at the convention hotel. Within a minute of our arrival, cards were being thrown across the room in an attempt to catch up on what we've each created since last year's convention. Daniel Garcia joined us a few hours later, and then we joined Scott Wells for a spot of dinner in one of America's delightfully tacky yet unrefined eateries. This was the first time that I had met Daniel and Scott - two Houston inhabitants - and as the mozzarella breadsticks and beer was guzzled I soon realised that our hosts were about to show us a good time in their city. And they sure did - they were perfect hosts throughout the weekend.
After a whole day of sessioning, the convention officially got underway. Tyler Wilson started things off with his fantastic lecture. He performed an excellent set featuring magic with cards, Post-it Notes and cola bottle candies. A certain Andi Gladwin also made an appearance from under the table to perform as Tyler's stunt-hands in one of his effects. My highlight was seeing Tyler perform his Card Warp routine (Scarred Warp) once again - it truly is the most original Card Warp handling to date. Unfortunately, due to a number of convention logistics, the lecture didn't start until 12.30am, but Tyler managed to keep the crowd awake with his hilarious patter and mirthful magic. Based on the two lectures that I've now seen Tyler give, I can truly say that he is certainly set for a long and bright future performing magic and giving lectures to magicians.
Tyler also gave attendees a chance to purchase his new book and CD that I published. Since the book has not been released yet, many of the registrants snapped at the chance of getting their hands on a copy. For those who weren't at the convention, it'll be officially released in April 2006. Everyone who purchased the book has given us such fantastic response - I can't wait for the official release.
As always, when the lecture finished, the sessioning continued. Many of the registrants stayed up until at least 5am and took a trip to a local Kettle restaurant for a spot of breakfast. The crowd took over the joint and the sessioning didn't stop. I got to see some great magic - it seemed that everyone had a deck of cards in their hands and everyone was ready to pounce with their next effect. Highlights included Ricky Smith having to win back his own shirt from a teddy-grabbing machine and watching Trini Montes surreptitiously infiltrate the restaurant's kitchen to cook Alan Ackerman a delicious pancake. OK - I saw him cook the pancake - I think delicious may be the wrong word!
Everyone had two or three hour's sleep, then Tom Frame appeared from under the table after Trini Montes introduced him as our second lecturer. He wore a stylish blazer covered in dripping paint and presented an interesting array of fun tricks that are as detailed and well thought-out as they are entertaining. His presentations are always funny and his interaction with his participant was extremely fun to watch. His Hypercard Project effect was talked about by a lot of people after the lecture.
After more sessioning, everyone regrouped at H&R Magic's warehouse for the third annual Move Monkey session hosted by Paul Cummins. As if being in a room full of thousands of new and second-hand magic books wasn't enough (all offered at an extremely low price), Paul introduced several TSD members who performed and explained one of their moves. I explained my Tom Cruise Control and received some great reactions. Some of my favourite moves were Ricky Smith's excellent Bottom Palm, a brilliant reversal from Theron Schaub and of course, Allan Ackerman's fantastic work. For a little light relief, Tyler Wilson used showed his Sankey Time machine - a random trick generator that he claimed is used by Jay Sankey to create his magic. As you'd expect, Tyler created a trick in about 15 seconds using the generator. Although, as you might not expect, the trick involved cotton candy, a midget (costing $7) and a whole lot of laughs!
After a short break for everyone to spend lots of money on magic books (or, far too much money in my case), we were treated to a rare rendition of Richard Hatch's Erdnase lecture. He explained how he became interested in Erdnase and then took us through his research to discover who Erdnase really was. The lecturer was thorough, entertaining and eye-opening. For those who missed it - I can tell you this. Erdnase's real name is not Jason Alford.
On Saturday, the convention ended with a bang. Allan Ackerman presented a first-rate excellent lecture. I first saw him lecture at the third TSD convention and enjoyed this lecture equally as much as the first. Unlike most lecturers, Allan is able to perform all of his published material on demand - this is especially amazing since he literally has hundreds of tricks and moves published. He was happy for people to shout out the name of one of his tricks, which he would then perform. I always enjoy spending time with Allan and watching him perform - this lecture was a blast. Both myself and Jason Alford made a special appearance in the lecture by stroking his leg as he performed one of his effects ... and yes, jumping out from under the table to surprise him!
The final event was something that every close-up magician in the world should have attended: J.C. Wagner performing behind the bar in the convention hotel. Everyone staying at the hotel was invited as a thank-you for putting up with our antics over the past few days. J.C had everyone (magicians and lay-people) laughing, screaming and clapping. His magic fooled everyone, even though much of it came straight out of his classic book, The Commercial Magic of J.C Wagner.
After everyone had calmed down from the performance, the convention attendees slipped back into the lecture room and was treated to a lecture containing J.C's newer material. I enjoyed this lecture a lot - it was great to see what the great man had been working on since his disappearance from the magic scene, over ten years ago.
This year's convention was one of the most enjoyable yet. Jason Alford, Trini Montes and Mark Aspaziu should be thanked yet again for putting on such an excellent event - every year they bring us new surprises and always surpass our expectations. It was great meeting so many new people - the TSD family keeps getting bigger!
