Episode 7

We've been away for a few weeks with Blackpool Magic Convention and then a few short breaks but we're back! 

This week, we're discussing all things Blackpool Magic Convention 2026! 

Find out more about the team behind this podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome to the Alakazam Live podcast with Peter Gardy. For the full video version of this episode, head over to YouTube and search Alecazam Magic Live. So grab a drink, look back, and let's play magic.

SPEAKER_04 0:28

Hi guys, and welcome to the Tuesday Live Podcasty thing, whatever Jamie decides to call it. Um so anyway, uh before we go on, let me introduce my co-host, uh the amazing Mr. Wayne Goodman, Mr. Julie.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

Hello, hello, hello.

SPEAKER_04 0:48

Oh, let me put my headphone in. I heard that, but am I yet? I'm alright. I need a haircut. I need look at that. You do need I need a haircut as well. Not that I've got, I think it's this one that needs cutting. That one just there.

SPEAKER_03 1:02

But congratulations are in order. Uh thank you very much. Yes, but it's been a while, hasn't it? Because that's like six weeks ago. Um no, about five weeks ago. Five weeks ago. Yeah, so um I proposed to my beautiful fiancee. Uh she wasn't my fiance then, she was my girlfriend. Uh Jamie Dawes caught it all on camera. Thank you, Jamie. He did. Um, and uh yeah, it was uh it was a beautiful day, a lovely day with lots of people. Yourself was there, and it was a beautiful day, and um yeah. And and also congratulations to you on your daughter's third wedding.

SPEAKER_04 1:35

Third wedding, yeah, to the same person, I remember. Yeah, to the same person. Yeah, we should yeah, no, it was it was amazing. It it was my first uh Indian wedding, and I hope it isn't the last. Um, well, I hope it is with Holly, but you know, it it was um yeah, it it was phenomenal, it was really, really good. Um, but Harry and Amelio are still stuck abroad. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

So which means Harry was supposed to be back at the weekend, wasn't he?

SPEAKER_04 2:12

Harry was supposed to be back Saturday, but his flight got cancelled, and it's now rearranged for this coming Saturday. Um, Emilio was supposed to be back last Wednesday, and his was rearranged to the 31st of the month.

SPEAKER_03 2:31

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_04 2:32

So an extra three weeks out there. He's had to stay, or he's having to stay. Um, and I think it's because there's so many of them in his party, there's nine of them in Emilio's party. Um, so obviously trying to fit them all on one plane when everyone's trying to, you know, travel everywhere. Um so yeah. It's uh but a little bit of uh news update. Obviously, that means print by magic has been because it's only um Emilio and Harry that know how to use the software, so hopefully it will be up and running again next week. Um, but it won't be at full speed until Emilio gets back because obviously Harry can only do so much because he's in the shop as well.

SPEAKER_03 3:24

Um so yeah shall we just say very quickly that if you have made an inquiry for Print by Magic, they're obviously not being ignored, they are being they will be addressed and we'll put a reply come back to you um, you know, as and when, but there is a you know there is a bit of a backlog now, so please be patient and just understand that you know there's not a lot we can do, but we are gonna get through it all.

SPEAKER_04 3:48

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we certainly are. And I just want to say I've just seen the birthday boy appear up here. Happy birthday. Yeah, happy birthday, Joshua. To the one and only Joshua. Uh happy birthday, mate. Thank you so much for joining us. So it's been we haven't had a live for what what did you say, six weeks, seven weeks?

SPEAKER_03 4:07

I think you had one at the beginning of February, but I wasn't that was after I got engaged, but I wasn't on here because I was travelling up to Blackpool. Right. Tuesday the 10th. Um, or I was in Blackpool. I I travelled up on the Monday. Um, so I was I was actually in Blackpool.

SPEAKER_04 4:23

And we we travelled up on the Tuesday, so I don't think there was one then. Oh, because yeah, because Blackpool was bought forward um a day, it meant we had to go a day earlier. Um, and we usually have the guys do the uh like the takeover, the Magic Allen Society, but we couldn't even do that, we just didn't have any time. Um so hopefully next year that will happen again. Uh that's always a fun day. Um, but yeah, there's been a lot happening. There's a lot happening. So what did you so seeing this is our first one since Blackpool, it was a sort of different Blackpool for you for you this year, because the last couple of years you've been a dealer up there.

SPEAKER_03 5:07

I've been a dealer, yeah. So this year, this year was I mean, I really enjoyed it. So um, so I I I have my job with Anna Kazam doing the emails and things like that. So I carried on doing that for the whole week I was up there. Uh in the morning I would um I would find myself somewhere to perch and I would do the emails until I finished. Um it was nice to wander around. Um yeah, it was just just to wander around and go and look at the stands and not have any, you know, it was it was it was yeah, very different but very enjoyable. And and like Tracy and I had a few wanders around the dealers hall, um seeing old friends, making new ones. Yeah, yeah, it was nice, it was alright. It wasn't it wasn't, you know, um I mean I I I'd been going to Blackpool for years anyway, so it wasn't you know, it wasn't a wow. Yeah, it wasn't a new experience for you because you're I'm gonna say this. I did miss not being behind the stand. I did miss not having that talking to people, and but then also I got to chat to people for longer. I I didn't have to worry about selling, I could just enjoy myself, we could just chat about everything, you know. It was it was alright, it was nice, yeah. I really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_04 6:24

So, did you manage to go and see any lectures or anything?

SPEAKER_03 6:28

Um yeah, I saw so yes, I did. I saw one. One did you see? Um, I saw them, and he is amazing. I thought he was really, really good. Um, and I've actually just announced him for the Shindig this year. Uh, I went and saw Vinny Sagou. Yeah, Vinny's great. He's great. His his opening trick in the lecture was amazing. It was uh a very clever principal trick, uh, very, very cool, very, very clever, very, very magical, um and just so easy. Just you know, it felt like cheating. You watch him do it and you think this is this is shouldn't be this this easy, yeah. Um, so that was really, really good. Um, and I saw one show as well. Um, I saw the Jack Rhodes show. Yeah, yeah, Jack's great. Jack's great. He did a lovely bit where he talks to his future self um on screen, and then later on in the show he has a crisis of emergency and he phones his past self and he has the same conversation back, so well scripted and so well done, and it's just an absolute it was beautiful to behold, it was really, really good. Yeah, so yeah, his whole show was great.

SPEAKER_04 7:47

He he truly is something special, Jack, you know, with his video editing skills as well, you know. He he's did you ever see his um Doctor is it Doctor Strange? No, you haven't seen his Doctor Strange video? No, right, as soon as this is done. Well Doctor Strange is the one with the portals.

SPEAKER_03 8:12

The portals, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:14

As soon as we're done here, I'm gonna send you a link. Okay, it is amazing, absolutely amazing. I've seen it, no, yeah, Lee's Lee must have seen it. I'm sure we've watched it in the shop, Lee, where he's chucking the Rubik's Cube in one portal and it's coming out the other. It it's phenomenal. Um, and he does after he filmed that as well, he filmed another one showing you how he did it all. Um but to to actually watch it, and he's doing it live as well. So he he's talking to people on Zoom, and I'm not gonna spoil it for you, I'll send you the link. It's it's absolutely incredible. And guys, if you're listening to this, if you haven't seen it, go and watch it. Jack Rhodes Um Doctor Strange video. It's honestly it's brilliant. So there's been some other big news that come out yesterday, and that is the very smug Mars Magician has been unmasked. So this just came out of nowhere, didn't it? It did, and if you guys haven't seen the video on that, you've got to watch it. It's genius.

SPEAKER_03 9:43

How the I think the guy is it's a professional, yeah, like um private investigator style computer genius, ethical like computer forensics or something.

SPEAKER_04 9:55

It's I mean, yeah, it's called OSIN, isn't it? Open source investigating, yeah. Um, and it reminded me of the Netflix show that don't f with cats.

SPEAKER_03 10:09

Yes. Except except he's doing it all on his own. Um, and the bit that amazed me was when he went, I've literally trolled through thousands of his videos, and you're like, and he's doing it in sped up, and you're looking at and you're going, wow, this guy really knows what he's he's looking for every single clue, yeah. Um uh yeah, it's just amazing, really, really good.

SPEAKER_04 10:35

But so yeah, a couple of people saying they saw it, and it's fascinating. So let me ask this is a good question, actually, for the podcast. What do you think of uh that guy? What do you think of the Mars Magician? Do you think or Mars magic it is, isn't it? It's not magician because the magician was the TV guy. So what do you think of it? Do you think uh it's well there's a couple of things here at play, right? One of them is do you feel that exposing magic on a social platform like that is bad for magic? You know, some people will go, it don't really matter, no one remembers. But there's another thing here as well, and that is he is exposing effects that creators make a living from. So I know he's exposed like the pain game by John Allen and a few other things like that. So there's actually two levels to this. One is standard exposure. Do you think exposure harms magic in any way? Um, and I will say, years and years ago, the Mask Magician, the TV one, done a street magic special where basically he performed all of the effects that David Blaine done on his first Street Magic Soda Rising Cars, um the cigarette through coin and stuff like that. I was doing a gig not long after that program was on, and I was doing cigarette through card, and this is the only time it's ever happened, but one uh person I performed to said, Oh, it's like the coin with a spring, isn't it? Now, even though it I sort of convinced him it wasn't because obviously I turned the card over, it's his sign card and this, that, and the other, that thought was still there. So people saying that people don't remember, I don't think that's a hundred percent right. I think it it it it once and I I it I think we've probably experienced this. Um I I know I certainly have, where someone believes they've got a method to a trick. Now, whether that method's right or wrong, if they believe it, yeah, that's it. And and the the problem is with, in my opinion, with something like the exposure thing, people can relate a method that they've seen to a trick that isn't obviously that method, and magicians do it a lot as well, where you know you'll go on a forum and you'll show a trick and someone will go, oh, he's obviously using R and S. And you're going, but even if I was, that wouldn't that wouldn't allow me to do what just happened, or it wouldn't allow him to do what just happened. But people grab to grab hold of whatever method they've seen and sort of try and relate it. And the problem is, if they believe they know how it's done, that's it. That's that's all you need, I think.

SPEAKER_03 14:13

I had a I had a line that I used to use with the Mask Magician, where I would say to people who go, Oh, well, they they still do say now, the older generation, they go, Oh, you must have hated that mask magician, and I would say he didn't reveal any magic, yeah. He didn't give away any secrets, and they go, Yeah, yeah, he did. And I said, Okay, look at the one where he'd hiding behind the pillow, and then they pull the sheet up and he appears. I'm like, that would never work on a stage because you've got an audience on three sides of you looking in. So they would see him stood there. I said, What is magic? Magic is showing you something and making you believe something else, and what has he done? He's shown you something and made you believe that's how the tricks are done. Yeah, and a lot of the time people would go, Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:56

Yeah, I mean, I I used the my standard thing was um, you know, the the tricks that he's saying is exposing are copyrighted, so he can't do it, so they're making up their own methods, yeah. You know, and then people go, Oh right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which does sort of make sense to them. Right, a few people have uh message back. So let me have a look. Can I ask a question? Sorry, mate.

SPEAKER_03 15:25

Can I ask a question? Can you? Yeah, yeah, of course you can. Yeah, why why am I taking up the whole screen? Oh, because why haven't you zoomed in just on me now? Where are you? Where have you gone?

SPEAKER_04 15:39

I am I was um doing so. Let me have a look here. Um right, so a lot of people saying, yeah, it's not good. Uh magic is more than knowing the method, is performance and patter two. That's Nigel Jennings. I think you're you're right, Nigel. The the issue, like I said, is we know I I remember years ago performing uh at a local restaurant, and there was this lovely old lady there, and I'm I'm sure I've told this story before, and I finished my set and she went, Oh, you were so good. She goes, but I did see the stuff go up your sleeve. Nothing went up my sleeve. So I said, Oh, well, let me show you something else, and I'll roll my sleeves up. And I rolled my sleeves up, showed her something else, and she went, Oh, you're so good, but I still saw it, you know. And and the fact is, once they've got it in their head, they're not looking for anything else, they've got the answer. That's that's the issue, isn't it? If they think they know how it's done, then that's it.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

That's it, you know. Um I think what the was that do you say was that Nigel Jennings said that yeah? I think something else based on that, that a lot of people don't get, and a lot of people, even magicians don't not all magicians understand this either, is that to be good at what we do isn't just knowing how the trick is done, it's about the pattern, the presentation. And when when someone like the mask magic or the mask magician or any of those kind of people do their stuff, there's they're reducing what we do down to just a method, when in fact it's so much more than just a method. Yeah, you've got to know the method of the trick, but that doesn't mean you can go out and I had this with my older brother once, and he was like, Oh, I could do what you do, I know how the trick's done. And I said, Go on, then go and do it. And he stammered and he stuttered and he and he gave up after about 10 seconds. Yeah, and like, yeah, you might know how the trick is done, you might know the method because you've seen me here doing it, but it doesn't mean you know how the trick, how to do the trick, how to get it.

SPEAKER_04 17:59

No, and that that's that's a hundred percent correct, and that that's sort of that's what Nigel was saying as well. There's a lot more to a trick, but the problem is anyone that's watching that video to work out how it's done or anything else, or wants to know that they don't care about the time we put into the presentation, the performance of it, they just want to know the mechanics. Just just show me show me how that rubber band goes through another rubber band, show me how that pen goes through that card, show me how this happens. Um, they just want that so they're not gonna be fooled. It's that sort of thing, and you'll find that people that are like that as well are more often than not the type of people that will call it out when you're performing. And luckily that doesn't that very rarely happens, very rarely happens, I think.

SPEAKER_03 18:57

I I s I see it quite a lot when I perform in Cambridge. Really? Yeah, and and a lot of the Cambridge people, especially the ones it's when I do cot because I do a lot of college gigs and stuff like that, and not for the Japanese students, they're lovely, but for the for the English students, uh uh like the big Cambridge colleges and universities, because they have and also adults in Cambridge because they don't have they have a fear of looking stupid. If you if you do a trick and it fools them, yeah, they're worried it will make them look stupid in front of their friends. When in fact, if they just kept quiet and allowed the trick to happen, and if the performer's competent, you know, they'll make it in a way that it doesn't make you look stupid, it makes it entertaining and fun, rather than it's not me versus you, which is again where people fall down. Yeah, but you're right, and as soon as they've got the method, nothing else, it's reduced just down to that, nothing else matters. It's like saying the Mona Lisa, yeah, well, we just slap some paint on a canvas. Yeah, what's so special about that, you know? Anyone can do that, anyone can put paint on canvas.

SPEAKER_04 20:04

That that's a that's a a good analogy as well, really. And it it it is true, it it it boils down to and and what they do is they boil it down to a method uh and the mechanics, and the problem is as well, uh the the thing that I uh hated about it was the smugness. Yeah, that that's what really gets me. It's like it's just that, and you just think, oh, that that's horrible. I know, you know, it I don't agree with people exposing magic, especially when they are creations that creators make a living from, because it's it's not yours to divulge. If if I was to create all my own stuff and I wanted to expose it, I wouldn't, but if I wanted to, then surely that's my choice.

SPEAKER_03 21:05

Uh that's what Paul and Teller used to do, didn't they, with that rocket ship trip? Yeah. I mean, they created that, they you know, it was completely you know theirs. They they they did all the making it so they could drag themselves onto the stage and everything else, you know. The the rolling over teller in a 10-ton truck, you know, with with fake tyres, that was 100% theirs, you know, and everyone's going, Oh, they're giving away the secrets. Well, no, they're that's theirs to give away. That that's part of their show. I did I think maybe did set a bit of a precedent, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:38

Yeah, it it's weird how the exposure thing has got so big. I mean, you had you know Justin Flom doing it. Um I think he's moved away from exposing magic now. He's doing more stencil work and weird stuff like that, but he really Ricklax, you you had a big group of them from Las Las Vegas. It was like the Ricklax posse who were you know making a fortune. That that's the thing. At the end of the day, they are doing it for money.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:16

That's the thing. They are doing it for money. Um, but it'll be interesting to see if you haven't watched the video of how that guy found out who the mass magic was. Um, go check it out. Because the video is fascinating in its own right.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

Yeah, he's not a magician, is he? No. He was quote, he's a friend with somebody who's a magician, and said, Can you track this guy down? And he went, right, challenge accepted. So, yeah, it it's it's an absolute masterclass in in digital forensics, and yeah, it's not nowhere near as boring as that terminology sounds. It is amazing to watch it.

unknown 22:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:56

Um, so Magic Magic Man said, Do you think the guy being exposed will stop him? Now, the thing is, I don't think it will stop him because if he's making money from it, I presume he'll carry on. But the one thing that it will stop, I think, is if he truly loves magic and he truly loved being part of the community, and you know, he's already been banned from Blackpool. So if he was someone that went to Blackpool every year, that isn't happening anymore. You know, so I I can see him probably losing the community around him, and you know, everything we enjoy about magic, that's all gonna go now.

SPEAKER_03 23:46

I don't recognise I mean, I had I had one of his profiles on my my Facebook, he's now gone. Um, but again, in later years, if he wanted to start releasing his own stuff, that won't happen now because he'll forever be tarnished with that. You know, if he's a member of a local magic club, you know, that that's he's in Italy as well. And if it's anything like Spain, I mean Spain is very, very structured with their magic. You know, if somebody gets ostracized from the club, that's them done. That can affect their performances and their shows, and you know, if this guy's doing shows to an agency that's run by a magician, and the magician sees that and goes, Yeah, you're not working for me anymore, that can affect his livelihood there as well. And I mean there are repercussions to it, the big repercussions.

SPEAKER_04 24:35

Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah, Nigel Jennings said the funny thing was he went through all that detective work and then got his name by sending him some money on Patreon, which is true, isn't it? Because right at the end, he puts in, he went, uh should have just done that. Should have just done that, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:55

Um, which was great. It was fascinating to see that process, it was fascinating to see the the the lengths and measures that he went to to yeah, because he said, Look, we've got this guy, this is the guy we you know, we we're 90% sure, but before we say anything, we've got to find that final nail, we've got to find the one that's gonna, yeah, and so now we've got to so it wasn't just a witch hunt, it was a a proper investigation into finding and making sure he's the correct person. Yeah, um, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:23

And then there was um, you know, he's actually when you watch him, he's actually a very good magician. You know, he he's slight of hand, he's good and very smooth and everything else. Um, and I know he's a performing magician because there's little clips on there of him performing. So, yeah, it it's an interesting one. It's an interesting one to see what's gonna happen. Someone said he had closed down his Facebook profile, but I don't think he has. I think he's still wondering. I think he may have made it private.

SPEAKER_03 26:01

Uh he had he had three profiles, right? Um I've not checked the other two, but yeah, because he had the the Mago Mask one, which he's not gonna close that down because he's making too much profit. Um, and he had the Mago Dominique one, which was the one that I was friends with. Um but you look on his friend list, I mean I looked on his friend list, and and he's friends with everybody, you know. I know on Facebook, you know, you get people adding you all the time and stuff. Uh you don't necessarily know these people. Um, but yeah, he is friends, he's right in the the core of it with everybody. Yeah, yeah. Um go back to Blackpool. Did um did you see anything? Or I I think for me the the trick, I almost bought one, but I didn't, mainly because I've got a wedding to pay for now. But I think you got one was the close-up map with the smoke.

SPEAKER_04 26:58

I didn't get one when I went up to no, when I went up to get one, it was sold out.

SPEAKER_03 27:05

So for the smaller black pole, there's this close-up mat, and the guy puts his he he has you choose a ESP symbol, say the whichever one he wants to do, and then he puts his hand on a close-up mat, and smoke starts billowing out underneath his hand, and he takes his hand away, and all of a sudden, the smoke kind of gets sucked back in like half a millimeter or so, and then comes out again. But now it's in the shape, the smoke is literally in the shape of three wavy lines or a triangle. Or I saw him do it, he had two objects, you put it on the table, he you're thinking of one of them, and the smoke comes out, and it suddenly forms the shape of an arrow pointing at the item that you chose, and it's playing cards, and it's so and it was probably one of the closest things to real magic I've seen in a long time.

SPEAKER_04 27:53

It looked phenomenal. I mean, we are trying to get them into stock. Um, I had a a chat with the creator while we were there, and he was saying in about six weeks, seven weeks, so I'm gonna email him. The only problem is his business card is blank until you stand out in the sun for 15 minutes and then the details appear on it. We haven't had much sun for a while, so I've got to wait and do that. So um, but yeah, I mean, we we bought back a lot of stuff from Blackpool. Um we have a lot of a lot of the foreign dealers will will approach us towards the end of Blackpool and say, look, you know, we've got this stock left behind. Um do you want to take it? Because we don't want to take it back, so we end up buying the stock from them. And we we tend to do that every year with people like um uh sort of Hansen Chen and Merchant of Trucks and people like that. And uh we had a lot of great stuff um that sold out very, very quickly, actually. One of the ones that everyone seemed to go wild for was that fast loose and rubber band.

SPEAKER_03 29:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 29:18

We've got another hundred of those coming in in the next day or so. So if you've been waiting for one and you haven't filled in the uh notify me box, go and do it because I know we've got a hundred coming in, and there's already 125 people that have signed up to notify me.

SPEAKER_03 29:37

This was another instant sellout at Blackpool.

SPEAKER_04 29:41

Oh, did you get one?

SPEAKER_03 29:42

Yeah, well, we ordered one, so he measured my hands, and then it arrived this week. Um, and it I mean it's it when as soon as we saw it, Tracy said, Yeah, that's very you. Um yeah, you take a pair of scissors and hang on, hang on, I'm gonna bring you full screen. There you go. So you got a pair of scissors, and um you say, What's this? You shouldn't play with scissors because you know, yang, you know. Oh hold on that way, there it is, there it is. Oh no, that way there we go. Yeah, boom. Uh is you can have it like that, or I quite like it. Hold on. Uh like that. Yeah, it looks great, doesn't it? Um, I think actually, I think this is my favourite way. Um the first way looked great. Yeah, so this this this way is really good. So if I bring the camera, um and then you can you can really show it from pretty much all the angles. And this isn't magnetized on, it's just um, yeah, it's just absolutely beautiful. So it's David Stone, um, and then you can take it off, and yeah. Um it's David Stone, but by Hanson Chen. And I'm I'm still playing around with it, but yeah, it's beautiful. But this sold out very quickly. Well, I the doors open at nine o'clock. Tracy took her half an hour to get in. She went straight to the Hanson Chen stand to get it for me, and it was sold out.

SPEAKER_04 31:20

Yeah, yeah, they sold out very quickly, very, very quickly. Um let me have a look.

SPEAKER_03 31:31

I got I got this as well. Can you see that? Oh, is that the blue fur? No, it's the SB. Right. So if if if um if you name a time for me, just name a time. Uh let's go. 642. 642. Any time any reason why you said that time?

SPEAKER_04 31:54

Um that's usually the time that I finish my dinner. We would have fed Buddy because Harry's away, and uh, we'll be sitting down to watch some tally.

SPEAKER_03 32:05

Well, right here on my watch right now. It's gonna be upside down. But it's uh nice. 642. Nice. Um, and then um, yeah, I can make it there. We go, back to the normal time. What I really liked about this one compared to other ones that I've seen, is you can wear this one like a normal watch and it will it'll function as a normal watch um uh and work completely fine, which is which is really good. Yeah, I quite like it.

SPEAKER_04 32:38

Um Jamie Williams said someone told him that those mats, the temperature needed to make the smoke, will melt the 3D plastic inside. So he didn't get one. Hmm. Hmm. I don't know about well, I don't know about that. Um so Magic Magic Man said, Did you buy any UK exclusive rights uh platpool? So there there were a few items that we had the exclusive on uh for a while. One of them is that fast loose and rubber band. Um, the other one we had was that karatsuke, which we got more coming in. That was lovely, so simple, but really good, really nice price. I didn't see that one. Yeah, that that that was really good. Um there was a few others we had as well, but they sold out, we sent out an email, and they sold out so quick. I'm trying to think, because the day we got back from Blackpool, I sent out an email on one product, and it wasn't a cheap product. I'm trying to think what it was, and we sold out in in like an hour, and we had a decent amount of them as well. Um, but all the Blackpool stuff sold very, very well.

SPEAKER_03 34:07

There was a nice feeling at Blackpool this year as well. Everyone seemed to be, you know, there was no there was no not that there really air is, but no aggravation, there was no, you know, particularly I don't know what I'm trying to say. There just seemed to be a really nice feeling around the convention. Everyone seemed to be do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 34:26

Yeah, no, I know exactly what you mean. I've felt that ever since the end of lockdown. I I felt that Blackpool has changed back to sort of like the good old days of everyone just having fun, everyone being excited. It started to become very negative, I felt, and it had nothing to do with the Blackpool convention, no, but the attitudes, you know. I I remember um before lockdown, I remember these discussions on the magic forums where people were going, yeah, my plan is I'm not gonna spend a penny in the dealers' hall, and everyone's going, yeah, I'm not gonna spend and I'm thinking when I used to go to Blackpool as a punter, all I wanted to do was walk around the dealers' hall and buy some new magic. I I can't think of anything better than getting something. I mean, I bought myself stuff there, like I do every single year. Um, and I love it. How did you find the extra day? Um hard work. The older I'm getting, the more I'm feeling it, I tell ya. Um so yeah, it was hard work.

SPEAKER_03 35:50

I didn't lose my voice.

SPEAKER_04 35:51

I didn't lose my voice this year. You weren't?

SPEAKER_03 35:54

I didn't lose my voice this year.

SPEAKER_04 35:56

No, no, that was the thing, and I I didn't, thankfully. Um I will say, you know, Harry is a different animal now. You know, Harry is a demmer. He he will work, he will dem. Um when you I don't know if you were part of Alakazan when Harry Eddy's first stand thing, like his first go behind the stand and where he was obviously you know nervous and everything, he's a completely different kettle of fish now. If there's someone that you like Mason, without a doubt, is the world's best magic demonstrator, closely followed, I would say, by a magic ballet, um who is once again absolutely awesome. I think Harry could be up there, you know. I think he could be up there because he's got that banter, he's got that, and it's more like we said, it's more about him about who he is and talking to people and not about what we're showing.

SPEAKER_03 37:26

Yeah, you know, yeah, and he could get up there and show 12 different white socks and people would buy them, yeah. You know, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:35

And so it was it was hard work doing the four days. Um did it.

SPEAKER_03 37:42

It was quite nice, but on from my side of things, it was quite nice seeing people like Craig, like Dave loosely jumped on for a while, Simon Lutkin. I think knocked it out of the park. Yeah, I think Simon proper. I mean, he you couldn't get him, you couldn't get rid of him, could you?

SPEAKER_04 37:56

I mean yeah, I mean it it was it's it's a weird thing. So of demonstrating is not like performing. No, they're they're two they're two different things, they're two different animals. Um so when Simon came over, we said, Oh, you know, more than welcome to jump on, uh I don't know, I've never really demonstrated magic before. And um we sort of we said, just give it a go, see what you think, because it is different, and the psychology is different, and you know, you've got you've got to get yourself into a different state as well because you're performing to magicians, you're not performing to lay people, you know, it's a it's a different kettle of fish. Um, but Simon got on the stand, and by the time he finished the first day, he he said, Oh my god, he said, I absolutely loved it. And then the next day he came on and he didn't leave the stand at all. He was on there all day, and it is it's very addictive because you're speaking to people, you're having a laugh with people, you're non-stop doing magic. I mean, if you think about it, from nine till five we are constantly demonstrating magic.

SPEAKER_03 39:22

Well, you're you're always the last stand to have people leaving, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:27

Yeah. Um, so yeah, it it's it's very good, but it is when Russ first told me that it was gonna be four days, I thought that that's fine because usually we would travel up on a Wednesday, we set up on a Thursday, and then we've got to leave the stand, and then you start selling on a Friday. So I thought, well, that's fine, we can travel up Wednesday, set up Thursday morning. Um, and by the time we're set up, we're always sort of raring a go anyway. You you just the stand's set up, you want to start selling. Um, but then Russ said, no, we can't have people setting up on a Thursday, so it meant we had to go up an extra day. So there's a lot more expense, a lot more time, and everything else. But it's Blackpool, you know? It's it's a chance for us to meet our customers, some of them we've never met before in person, um, see some old friends. Um, it gives us a chance as well to um to film some trailer footage, it gives us a chance to work some tricks in. Talking about that, I've got a little quick trailer to play. Oh. So shall I play that quickly? Yeah. Okay, and you'll see this was actually filmed at Blackpool, so it's a nice little segue in. Nice. Here we go.

SPEAKER_01 40:59

Hi there. My name is Alexis de la Fuente, and I'm here at the Blackpool Magic Convention to show you my user temperature. So I have a few blank colours, blank on both the lights. And blink on both light. People who need to and filter cannot be lighting from the light. People make creative templates creative. But most of them are table and very difficult in handling and it doesn't make any sense. They want to something easy to do, people who could handle all the clouds that they handle and filter in nothing on the cloud. It's quick, visual, easy to do. Multiple multiple handlings that hold. So even if you are a beginner, you will be able to perform the temper right away. I'm Alexis de la Fuente, and this is Temper.

SPEAKER_04 42:01

So now is Stamper. We've got a live launch for Stamper next Wednesday. So make sure you join us for that. But this coming Thursday, we have got a special launch for Sentinel by Adam Badswell. Now, what's going to make this launch different is we're going to give you a complete unboxing, and we're even going to expose and explain the gimmick, how it works, and everything. This thing is genius. So simple but so clever. Um, beautifully made as well. Um, so that's happening this Thursday, 7 o'clock Facebook and YouTube. Um, and that's Sentinel by Adam Dadswell, which is part of a new initiative that Alexam is starting up called Alexam Spotlight, where we've had a lot of manufacturers approach us that want us to take on their products exclusively, and we're basically in the process now, each product's gonna be um handpicked, so we're not gonna have everything going through the Spotlight, but we're gonna choose products that we truly believe in, um, and we are gonna become sort of pretty much the exclusive representative for that product. Um, so you're gonna see a few of those happening um coming up over the months and years, hopefully.

SPEAKER_03 43:36

So we've talked to Blackpool, we've talked pretty much magic. Anything happening with the 1914?

SPEAKER_04 43:44

Um, yes, there is actually because one of the tricks we had at Blackpool that we did sell out on was Simon Lipkins. That's what he was demonstrating behind the stand, Simon's castle wallet. So that is due for official. Release probably mid to end of April. Um, we have if you're a 1914 fan and you like their Eclipse cards, we actually had a cheeky pre-release of the Eclipse GAF deck, they're available on the 1914 website. There's no instructions for them now, but it will explain to you exactly what you get in the pack. So it's double facers, double backers, and everything else. Um, the official release to those will be uh probably June, July. Um, but we have got a few packs left, they're gonna go by the end of this week. Once they're gone, we're gonna take it off the site until it's officially released. Um, but it's also already actually a review of them have gone up on the website. Someone uh bought a pack and done an unboxing and a bit of a review on them. That's already on YouTube, you can check that out. Um, but they're on the 1914 website. But there's a lot happening with the 1914. There's um the castle wallet coming out, there's a brand new effect by after the castle wallet, there'll be an effect by Harry coming out. Then there is another sort of peak device by the Christopher, um, which I absolutely love. I'm not sure if I've shown you it. Maybe um that's coming out at the end of the year, I think. Well, there's a couple, so anyway, but there's um we've got this year's releases for the 19 uh 14 pretty much sorted. We're always looking for new stuff as well. So if you are a creator and you feel that um your effect would suit either Alex Sam or the 1914, please get in touch. Um but there was a few questions come in actually. Uh uh when is the castle wallet available? Um, probably the end of April, and the bolt through deck, it's actually called the deck penetration, and we're hoping they're gonna be available at the end of June. So that's where we've penciled in uh the release. Um now the reason why it's so far away is because the decks just take so much work to make. Um, and I will say I had a a discussion, it's Steve O'Watson makes all the decks by hand. I think they take two hours to make, and we've been through three prototypes with Steve-O. The first one it was so perfect that it didn't work, or didn't work as well as it should, but that was because it was so perfect. The second one was the opposite, and I said to Steve-O, I I you've got to go back to the drawing board. The third one, which is the one we had at Blackpool, and I said this to Steve O this morning, I think it is better than Rob's. Wow, and that that takes a lot to say, you know how much I adore Rob's work, and Rob's was perfection. I think Steve O's pips it at the post. And that that's a hard thing for me to say, but I truly believe it, and there's one thing that makes me say that, which I'll explain to you after. Um but yeah, I I think I mean they're they're beautiful, they're absolutely beautiful, and the boxes we've had made um are now instead of just being a shiny black plastic, we've had them covered in like a faux leather. Um yeah, so they're they're really nice. The depth penetrations are beautiful, but they do take a long time uh to make, hence the the actual official release won't be till June. We may have a few, a handful, at the Alex Am convention.

SPEAKER_03 48:57

I think Steve O has pretty much established himself now as one of the best gimmick makers in the in the industry.

SPEAKER_04 49:03

Yeah, well, we there's only two that I trust, and there's two that we're working with now full-time, and that is Steve O. Watson and John Fox from Australia. Um, and both of those guys are both working on projects for us, both working on Bromley stuff and non-Bromley stuff for us at the moment, and they're both phenomenal because of the care they put in to what they're doing. John Fox makes the um sharpie through cards for me. Um you know, so you can see by the quality of those that and once again, you know, it it took four or five samples to get it right. And I think the big problem is people look at Bromley's thing and go, oh, I've got another way of doing this, it will be simpler, and it will be this, this, and this. But then they do it and then it doesn't work as well. And the thing that you have to explain, or I have to explain these people, is there is a reason why, believe me, Bromley would have tried everything you're trying. Do you know what I mean? He would have been there, he would have done it, he would have had the t-shirt. So just deconstruct what Rob done and do that because you know Rob was no fool. When it when it comes to there, there's never been a better card engineer than Bromley. You know, I I still maintain that his his stuff was phenomenal. Now, um people like John Fox and people like Steve O'Dissecting Rob's work and they're recreating it.

SPEAKER_03 51:08

They respect the original thoughts and work on that, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 51:13

Yeah, yeah. Um right, let me have a look.

SPEAKER_03 51:21

We are fast approaching the end.

SPEAKER_04 51:24

Oh. Dan Rag said he loved his deck penetration and fooled himself when he opened it in Blackpool. And it's true, you will fool yourself if you buy a deck penetration and watch the video before you perform it, especially the the first bit where I I tell you how to operate it. When you open the box and there's just a full deck in there with no hole, you'll yeah, you'll fool yourself without a doubt. Um it is honestly it's superb. Oh, uh Darren Bain said he's got the deluxe uh deck penetration, yeah. That so the deluxe one we released a few years ago, and it was with a beautiful wooden box and everything else. Um, they are very hard to get hold of now. I think it was only a hundred made or something like that. So they are a collector's piece, without a doubt, they were magic wagon. Um while you're looking at that, can I do a shameless plug? You certainly can do a shameless plug. What what would you like to um what would you like to plug?

SPEAKER_03 52:46

Well, we're fast approaching the Alakazam convention, but then after that, it's full steam ahead to the new market shindig, which tickets are on sale for now, uh, over at my my uh my page, wgmagicshop.com. Um, and um yeah, we've we've announced our first lecturer, so we've got Vinnie Sagou, who's going to be our first lecturer. Um not necessarily today. Um very, very pleased with that. I had a great chat with him at Blackpool. I'm looking forward to having another great chat with him uh very soon. Um we've got more dealers this year, uh only a couple more, but uh you know, more dealers, yeah, uh four lectures and a show. Um, and it's um yeah, it's shaping up to be the best one yet. So grab your tickets now.

SPEAKER_04 53:31

Well, I will say it was such an enjoyable day, so chilled, so relaxed, everyone just chatting to everyone. In fact, that's the feeling I want for the Alex Am convention. It's that sort of chilled-out vibe and everyone just being very welcoming to everyone else. Because, you know, if you're coming to the Alex Am convention or you're going to the Shindig, it might be your first convention. You might not know that many people, but don't be afraid to go up and start talking, join a group, or if you're too shy, come and find either me or Wayne or someone like that, and we'll introduce you to people. Um, because it is such a great place to meet like-minded people, it was great. We really enjoyed the Shindig, um, and like me and Jenny did. We loved it, it was a great weekend away. Um, and we'll definitely be attending this year if we're here. Um we are.

SPEAKER_03 54:48

Yeah. I just remember this. Can I just add my highlight of Blackpool? Yeah, my absolute highlight of Blackpool was at the Anakazam stand with Spellman, and I did my Batman impression for him. And the look that he gave me and what he said to me will live with me. I can't say it because it is a rude word there, but will be a moment that lives in my heart forever. It was just that it was so perfect, yeah. So it was just amazing.

SPEAKER_04 55:22

Jenny put up a picture while we were in India of Harry and Holly, and I don't know what she put, like, you know, my my gorgeous children, this and the other. And Spellman just posted it, he just commented, scum. Um, you've got to you've got to appreciate Mark's known them since they were very little kids. So um, yeah. But it was so funny just to see it. One word, scum.

SPEAKER_03 55:58

Um I always thought Jamie was very cheeky. You know, he's very cheeky behind the camera. Yeah, when we were with Tommy Burnett, he was flicking sweets at me. You know, he's very, very cheeky. He's nothing compared to Spellman. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:17

Spellman's got zero filter. Zero. Yeah. Um, oh, so a few good comments coming in about Andy's um Cups and Balls course, which has just gone live on Unlimited. Um, yeah, that's great. Uh, someone's asked if we're going to be carrying replacement bands for fast and loose. Um, no, we're not, because in the booklet, I believe he tells you where to get them, and you get like a massive bag. I'm sure I saw Nemid post up a picture of a bag this big he got from Amazon for a couple of quid or something. So they tell you exactly the size and what to look for. Um Tracy said her highlight was the picture on the stand on the very first day. You didn't really spot that from up there, did you? From up on the balcony.

SPEAKER_03 57:17

Hold on, but we've got to go back a moment here, right? So I'm in the I'm in the cafe outside the dealer halls, and I'm doing my Alakazam work. Yeah, and I found a really nice table where nobody could see what I'm doing on the screen, but they can sit around the table with me and chat. And I've got, I think it was Andrea and um Gary Williams who sat with me, and one of them said, Oh, have you seen this picture they've got? I didn't oh yeah, um, have you seen your picture on the Alakazam stand? And I was like, What are you talking about? And I thought they were joking. So I text Tracy because I couldn't leave where I was, and I said, Have you seen this picture on the Alakazam stand? And she was with Jamie, and Jamie just started going, nothing to do with me, it's all Jenny, you know what she's like, it's nothing to do with me. And Tracy saw it and she took the picture. So the first time I saw it was I don't know if I can get it up here, um, was the picture that she sent me. Um hold on. Uh I don't know if I've got it on here, but yeah, from across the so she was on the balcony and she sent it across the um, no, I haven't got it on here. Um from across the across the the hallway, um she sent the picture down to me, and I was like, genuinely like, what is that? Um yeah, very funny though, very, very funny. Loads of people.

SPEAKER_04 58:34

That was actually um your engagement card. So that was the image. Yeah, that was the image that was on the engagement card that she lost on the way down. And then um when we got home, I said, Oh, you're gonna order another card. She said, Well, there's no point ordering a card now because it's too late. I'm gonna get them a poster.

SPEAKER_03 59:01

It's at the shop, I suppose. Oh, there it is. There we go. So that's from the balcony, there's Harry working, and there's the picture.

SPEAKER_04 59:12

So it's you as Captain America and Tracy as Miss Marvel, Mrs. and Captain Marvel.

SPEAKER_03 59:20

Yeah, two captains, and for some reason I've got I think I've got a sword. Um, but I um I um I had loads of people come to me going, Oh, I love the picture, I love the picture. I'm like, I cannot believe it, and then and then it disappeared, and Jenny kept telling me she'd sold it.

SPEAKER_04 59:38

Yeah, no, it was a it was a great black pool, and uh a big shout out to the two Russies and Chris Strickland as well, who looks after the dealers. Yeah, Chris is fantastic. Um and obviously a big shout out to everyone that came to the Alexam stand to say hello and to have a look at what was new, and um not long now till the Alexam convention. So we're really looking forward to seeing you lot there as well. Are there tickets still available, Pete? Uh not many. I think there's probably four or five. If that we we're not publicising it because I I I don't want to hit the limit. I always I'm very cautious with stuff, even with products. You know, we get 25 in, I put 20 on the site. I always think I don't want to oversell, I don't want to do this. So, and it's the same with these tickets. I I'm sort of not pushing it, I'm not really talking about promoting it. It don't go out on emails and stuff like that. I'm quite happy where we are. Um, there might be a final push later on. We got another meeting with the the venue uh next week or the week after, so there might be a final push for another 10 tickets or whatever, but that's gonna be it. Um, but yeah, it's gonna be here before you know it. And remember, if you are coming to the convention and you're staying overnight on a Saturday night, the Alexam shop will be open from 10 o'clock till two o'clock on the Sunday as well. So if you haven't been to Alexam HQ, you can pop in. Um, I believe Wayne's gonna be there.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:22

I will be there.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:23

Um, I'm gonna be there.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:25

We've got some unofficial stuff might be happening on the Friday night as well.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:28

Yes, we have well, we're definitely meeting up at the venue. So the registration desk, if you're coming down to the convention, we're gonna be open for registration from 5:30 to 7:30. So you can come register, get your lanyards and everything else, so you don't have to queue up on the Saturday morning. So if you're coming early, even if you want to go somewhere else and eat or whatever, it'll be worth coming in and registering. But myself, Wayne, um, I think Spellman, Tom Wright, I think all the artists will be there on the Friday night just chilling out, so you'll be able to sit down with us, have a chat, um, get to meet everyone before the day starts the next day. Because even though you know we're saying it's gonna be this big friendly day, which it is, we are gonna be running about. You're hosting the whole day. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:26

So, you know, you're gonna be running about like nobody's here there and everywhere, yeah. And trying to get set up for the evening as well, which is the the big part. Yeah, I have got a brand new gag for the comparing in the evening. I told you about it. You did tell me about it. It's a WG original, um, and I'm gonna be premiering it uh at the convention, and it is very, very funny. I hope.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:55

I can't wait. I can't wait. Um right, Robert put that unfortunately the bands are not available in the US. Robert, if you're getting stuck, shoot us over an email um and we will get them for you. All right, so um, yeah, just let us know. Um, so I presume this is a comment about your gag.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:24

Uh look at that, the love of my life supporting me as always. When I say to her, I've got something to tell you. She'll go on. Let me brace myself. We all say that, Wayne.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:39

Right. That is it, mate. That's it for this week's Alex Am live podcast thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:46

So really we just got to recap a couple of things. One this Thursday, yes, the Adam Dad 12 spotlight. Next Wednesday is Stampa live launch. Anything else happening? Um, I don't think so. Now that you're back. Has Jamie been doing the review shows and everything else?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:11

Yeah, so well, we should have a review show, I believe, going up this week. Jamie's down tomorrow, so Jamie's day in the shop is Wednesdays. Um so we may have a review show this weekend. It depends whether we've had you know enough new product coming in and whether we've had time to learn it because we do like to perform it on the review show, so we'll have a look. Um but if not, we are filming socials, so we will have social content going up. Obviously, we haven't had that much because we've been away. Um, I know Harry filmed a lot before he went, but um we will try and film some tomorrow. But I'm not sure if there's anything else happening in the evenings. Um, but we will have a live launch for the castle wallet as well, that will be in a few weeks' time. Um, Jamie's been working, he's knocked out a few trailers for future releases, so a lot of the stuff you saw us do at Blackpool will soon be coming out as well. The first of which is Stamper, which is probably one of my favourite packet tricks ever. I will say that because I am carrying it. It is in my jacket pocket, and I've actually gigged it.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:27

Do you know what I've got that I absolutely love? Well, go on to be Blackpool. The Castle Wallet I absolutely adore so much. Just got me so excited about getting it out again and performing. It's in my bag, it goes everywhere with me. Yeah, um, two, also by Simon Lipkin, uh bottom dollar, yeah, which fits perfectly in the castle wallet strap.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:50

So I've got that on me at all times well. But one card in my pocket has got to be it's so clever, so easy, and so amazing. I absolutely love it. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:04

Well, they're all they're all coming out very soon. So on that note uh we will say goodbye. Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:15

Well good bye-bye everyone.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:17

Yeah, and we will see you uh this coming Thursday, 7 pm GMT on Facebook and YouTube, and uh next Tuesday on the Alex Sam Live Podcast thing.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:30

You gonna come and say goodbye then?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:38

Right, see you later Lee. Right, Wayney. I'll speak to you later.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:42

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