10-FFFF MUSES

#10 – F.F.F.F. Muses [5/9/96]

Dan Garrett, Jay Marshall, Guest of Honor Jerry Andrus, Pat Page and “Head Forker” Obie O’Brien.

F.F.F.F:

The 26th Annual Fechter’s Finger Flicking Frolic was a blast. It was held at the at the Sheraton Hotel in Batavia, New York (about 30 miles from Buffalo). Attending were over 150 close-up magicians who were invited by Obie O’Brien and his board of directors. The events started on Wednesday evening, April 24th and continued through Saturday the 27th. The guest of honor this year was Jerry Andrus and he started things off on Wednesday with his fascinating lecture. Many of the shows at this event are marathon-style, with never less than 10 performers per show. You can have one of the best magic acts in the world followed by the worst performance in the history of man kind. Below I will list all of the performers which appeared through the weekend. For me the highlights were Mike Gallo, Gary Kurtz, Stephen Bargatze, Jim Krenz, Steve Beam and of course Pat Page. Dan Garrett and Gene Anderson always do a very funny spoof of “Karnac the incredible,”” which is full of hysterical inside jokes. Always a highlight is Jay Marshall who, at a drop of a card or coin, will stand-up and tell a joke between acts. Included with the registration are three meals, midnight coffee and donut parties, all the beer and soda you can drink and all the shows and lectures. Bill Miesel, Ron Zollweg, and Ed Eckl have a nightly party in what they call the “Precurser Suite,” where magicians regularly stay up till 4-5am doing card tricks for each other and that’s what makes this convention so wonderful; everywhere you turn there is another magician doing something impossible.

A hair-raising card trick by Mike Sutton and Tom Jones.

Thursday April 25th:
A teach-in followed by a close-up show which featured: Terry Guyatt, Dan Garrett, David Drake, Karl Norman, Mike Powers, Hank Moorehouse, Reg Holden, Phil Willmarth, Peter Tappan, John Milks, David Neighbors, Howie Schwarzman, Jim Remenicky, Wesley James, Derek Hughes, Mike Pierpont, Tony Dunn. Dan Block and Simon Lovell. The M.C. for the afternoon was Obie O’Brien. Pat Page did the evening lecture.

Meir being fed to the rats! Welcome to Batavia.

Friday April 26th:
Mini/show: Mike Pierpont, Tony Dunn, Peter Plotkin, Ray Eyler, Phil Messina, Lou Locacio, Simon Lovell and Dave Neighbors. First Formal Show: Brian Gillis, Marcello Contento, Tony Gerard, Gary Wiseman, Roger Bernheim, Mike Sutton, Tom Jones, John Milks, Justin Hanes, Steve Shain, Bill Brunelle, Mark Fitzgerald and Ken Kurita. M.C. was David Drake. Second Formal Show: Charles Meyer, Terry Guyatt, Bob Little, Gary Morton, Yannick LaCroix, Doc Dixon, Mark Mitton, Tony Cachadina, J.C. Hiatt, Kevin King, and Hank Miller. M.C. was Obie O’Brien. Midnight lecture by Mike Gallo.

Lou Gallo autographing his great new book. Can you guess which is the real Lou Gallo? I will give you a hint: the other three are Meir Yedid, Gene Anderson and Randy Wakeman.

Saturday April 27th:
Nobody wakes-up early at this convention so the day started with the Gary Kurtz lecture in the afternoon followed by the Third Formal Show. Performers were: Capt. Bill James, Allan Sherer, Chris Ball, John Moran, John West, Joel Givens, Jeff Cowan, Dave Stritter, Pablo Zanatta, Stephen Bargatze, Joe Rindfleisch, Shigeo Futagawa and Jim Krenz. The M.C. was Phil Willmarth. Fourth Formal Show: Jerry Andrus, Randy Wakeman, Bob Bengel, Steve Beam, Pat Page, Bill Malone, Patrice Meunier, Peter Tappan, Thomas Fraps, Meir Yedid, Marc DeSouza, Gary Kurtz. M.C. Obie O’Brien.

If I left anyone out or misspelled your name — sorry.

Mating season in Batavia!

Pit Stops:

Here is where I will be. Come by and say hi.
May 19 – Have booth at Bob Little’s Super Sunday. in Warrington, PA.
May 20 – Performing at The Udder Club @ Holy Cow, New York City.
May 23 – Lecturing at 7:30pm at The World Magic Summit in Washington, D.C.
May 23-26 – Booth at the World Magic Summit in Washington D.C.

World Wide Web:

As of June first I will be on the Web with my own Home Page. The site will be very elaborate, it will have close to 30 pages linked together by artist. There will be tons of color photographs of the products, and the people who invented them. The navigation will be easy and logical. It will be a site which will continue to grow in size and quality. I hope to have video clips for all of the effects by the end of the year. The reason I decided to mention it here is that I would like to have your feedback. Is there anything you like, dislike or want to see on a web site devoted to selling magic? Although a majority of it is done there is still time to make changes.