Well I just got back from the 50th Anniversary Midwest Magic Jubilee in St. Louis. It was a fantastic event filled with great lectures, great performers, great vendors and great times.
I started the weekend by taking in the Thursday afternoon Cardinal game(they won!)and then headed to the Airport Hilton for the weekend. I saw some old friends and met some new ones. I even managed a little time away from the convention to have dinner with some friends in the area and also managed a daily drive to Ted Drewe's.
I have to say that my favorite part of the weekend is the close-up show that is put on by the professionals. These guys are the best. Whit Haydn and Jay Sankey were great, both in their lectures and their performances. And if you are a card handler, you have just got to take the Jimmy "Cards" Molinari advanced workshop. I went to it last year and you just can't believe your eyes. I wish I lived closer to St. Louis so that I could hang out with Mr. Molinari and pick up some of those moves!
The contests were fun to watch and all of the participants should be congratulated for their work. For those that might be wondering, I've toyed with the idea of entering one of the contests but don't really fit well into either of the catagories. The "Stand-up" or "Parlor" style doesn't really belong with the stage magic and definitely isn't close-up. Of the two, it would fit best with the stage magic but without any of what we (magicians) would consider to be stage illusions.
In the end, I was challenged to think like a spectator instead of a magician (Jay Sankey) and picked up a few new ideas that I'm sure will help my show.
Props to Terry Richison, Steve Zuehlke and all the staff.
John
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