3-MAGIC HANDS MUSES

#3 – Magic Hands Muses [1/23/1996]

Magic Hands Convention, Sindelfingen, Germany:

My trip to the Magic Hands Convention didn’t start too well, my 7:10 pm flight didn’t leave till 9:45 pm, making me miss my connection, where I planned to meet Ron MacMillan and Jeffery Atkins. Luckily on my new flight I bumped into Ali Bongo and Bob Little (talk about a small world). Upon arriving in Stuttgart, Germany I discovered that all of my luggage was lost. It finally arrived the next day – just hours before my first scheduled show. From then on everything went perfectly, Manfred and Vicki Thumm throw an extravagant, efficiently run convention that is always a lot of fun. The attendees always include the movers and shakers of the magic world .

The Convention: About 900 people attended the 19th annual convention, January 11-14, 1996 and all seemed to have a ball. I know I did.

The Lectures: Yuji Yamamoto, Pavel and Hank Moorehouse. All had smiles on their faces so I assume they cleaned-up.

The Close-Up: Manfred always has top notch acts – they have to be, to survive the 12 shows. This year he had: Lennart Green, Peter Scarlett, Johnny Lonn, Meir Yedid, Bob Little and Marco Duca. (See photo above.)

The Stage Shows: Opening show: Jean Garance, Jeane Herbert, Robert Lundell, ChaPotpurri and Alan Shaxon. Night Club Show: Sylvia Schuyer, Yuji Yamamoto, Lorgia, Kristalleon, Mr. Valnoha, Steve Sheraton, Remy Bricka, Gottlieb Wendehals and a huge marching band. There was also a Wizard Of Oz sketch by a very special cast (see photo above – can you guess who they are? Click on PRESTOCAM below to find out) and lots of dancing and great food. Gala Show: (Always the highlight of the convention) Christian Farla & Bianca, Jan Forster, Clemens Valentino, Ivan Netcheporenko (a well deserved standing ovation – incredible), Jorgos, Topper Martyn, Pierre Brahma and Takamitsu Uchida. The Finale Show: Johnny Lonn, Davide Costi, Ali Bongo, Amos Levkovich and the contest winners Jean Philippe Lupi and Juliana Chen.

The Stage Contest: The winners of this contest get large cash prizes and tons of bookings. Representatives from nine different countries are there for the sole purpose of booking these acts for their conventions and theatres. A winner here can literally book an entire year’s worth of shows. Jean Philippe Lupi from France won first place, Juliana Chen from Canada took second and Frank Musilinski from Germany took third.

Next year is the 20th anniversary convention and they are planning to make it the best ever. It will last five days (Jan 8-12, 1997) and it is close to selling out. Advance registration is DM 450 and you can contact them at: Magic Hands, Postfach 1113, D-71150 Nufringen, Germany.

Gaming News:

The much awaited sequel to Dustin D. Marks’ best seller Cheating At Blackjack (the best book on the subject I ever read) is finally out. It is called Cheating At Blackjack Squared and it features many different sleights, with chapters on hand mucking, adding chips to a bet, stacking, disguises, cheating tells, high tech cheating and much more. Both books are in stock and available from me.

Pit Stops:

On February 1-5, I will be at the Columbus Magi-Fest in Columbus, Ohio. I will have a dealer’s booth. hi.

I should explain: On Friday night there was a masquerade ball – the top three costumes received trips to Germany, London and Las Vegas. None of the winners are pictured here but I voted for the fake Max Maven and the good fairy (above photo).