The 22nd Annual New England Gathering Of The Magi
Formerly  known as The Inner Circle Of Bizarre Magic Gathering. 

DATE HELD: November, 6th., 7th., 8th., 2013.
At the Crowne Plaza Hotel & Resorts,
1284 Strongtown Road,
Southbury, C.T. , U.S.A.

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Guest performers and lecturers were:-
Dan Garrett, Leslie Melville, David London, Andy Dallas, Kent Axell and Evildan.

The special Honoree this year was Leslie Melville from the U.K.

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   REVIEWS

Bruce Barnett writes:-
ICBM Gathering of the Magi 2014 - The Thursday and Friday.

I just returned from this year's gathering. I'll send in some notes of what went on. First of all, the best BEST part of the Gathering is the friendship and fellowship. There are no strangers here. If you are new, you quickly make friends. We look forward to seeing old friends, and making new friends. I've mentioned it before, but my wife has been to many conventions, and she's not a big fan. She likes Joe Cabral's Gathering and really look forward to going, vs dreading seeing a dozen variations of the same magic trick on the stage shows in typical conventions. This convention is unique.

Thursday night started out with people up in Hospitality Suite, snacking away. Then we were called down to the main room where Leslie Melville performed his Jack the Ripper piece. This was his first performance of the piece, and the audience liked it.

Friday Morning started with a David London lecture. I'm a big fan of David, because he is unique, driven, and very clever. Part of his lecture included some very valuable advice on marketing. I wish he collects his ideas and puts them into a book. His knowledge comes from hard-earned experience, and it's very  valuable.

David is making a living doing Bizarre Magic. He's not quite full time, as he is also involved in marketing/promotion of other acts, but he will be soon. I don't know about other people, but when a pro gives advice, it's pure gold.

David has been dreaming of doing a seance for the last 16 years. What had held him back was how can one do a seance without ripping the heart out of someone? His approach is to do a "Creative Spirit Seance"Without doing any ma where the spirit of creativity is evoked.

As an example, he does "games" where something magical happens, and the end result is some artistic expression involving the members of the audience. As an example, he had some tiles - half of which were marked with random lines, and half blank. Magically the assistant was able to distinquish between the two, and then the resulting tiles were assembled into a design. Other ideas involve Chapeaugraphy, and a water cleansing ritual. He also spent time on his box, which is a way to demonstrate magically "out of the box thinking."

One of the genius ideas he described was how to use a thread as a conversation starter. Using this, he can walk around a room, and others will come up to him, and START a conversation with him.  Without doing any magic, he can initiate dozens of conversations, which will continue as other people in the gathering will also be talking about him. This includes people who are strangers to each other, talking about David. My mind still reels thinking about this.

David also gave some advice on a one-person show and controlling sound and music. He mentions the Go Button Pro (?) and the AirTurn Two digit Pro (?). I think he means the AirTurn Digit II (http://store.airturn.com/airturn-digit-ii/ ) which is a $40 Bluetooth transmitter that works with hundreds of IOS and Android apps.

Next was the Leslie Melville lecture. Leslie described many of his routines
with the storytelling theme.

We had the works in progress. I do remember Cyril (CJ) doing his Evil
Magicinarand, and desire for  minions. It was hilarious.

Andy Dallas also gave his lecture, describing many of his routines, and his long-time passion for magic. This included a knife-through-coat, a box that allows a wand to float, a Die Box that will fit in a briefcase, and other practical ideas.

The Friday evening show had some memorable moments.

Andy Dallas did a magical event with a teleporting seed, which became a running gag. He also did a spirit seance with some hilarious and spooky
moments.

David London did a sensory deprivation effect, that involved jelly beans. I fell on the floor laughing over this.

Evildan did this wonderful and creepy effect with a bodyless monkey that could read minds.

At the end we had a Dung Beetle extravaganza. Let's just say it was a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

And afterwards we met at the Hospitality suite, and continued into the night.

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Photographs and more to follow