Weekly Round-Up
by SCOTT WELLS
February 23, 2009

Howdy friends. The 81st Academy Award Show is history and Hollywood made a bold statement. It seemed to say that the underdogs who fight will emerge winners. "Slumdog Millionaire" took top movie and Sean Penn won best actor for "Milk" and, after many nominations, Kate Winslet finally won the coveted best actress trophy. This says to me that even though the economy is tough and getting worse, magicians who persevere will succeed. There were even a couple references to magicians at the awards ceremonies, too. While on this subject, an upcoming movie will soon be released on a mentalist who resembles Kreskin. But back to local news, the Lone Star Auction was held this past weekend in Ft. Worth. Thousands of dollars exchanged hands among a hundred magicians. Locally we will have our I.B.M. Ring meeting on a new night, plus more news from around Houston. (Read More...)

This is not a blog about movies, actors and the motion picture industry, but it is certainly an interest in film as evidenced by the high number of viewers to last night's broadcast. I mention it in this article because of a few reasons. First, as mentioned in the opening paragraph it is inspiring to see people who could easily wallow in their own depression actually get out and make a difference and change their lives for the better. "Slumdog Millionaire" was about a poor orphan from the slums of Mumbai who has a chance to pull himself out of poverty by winning a game show. "Milk" is about a gay activist who believes so passionately in a cause that he is willing to take risks to his life. Despite not winning in the past, Kate Winslet kept giving it her all until she has finally prevailed. And Mickey Rourke, nominated for Best Actor in the "Wrestler", fought battles both on and off screen that won him accolades from his peers. It just goes to show in these few examples that we should continue to do our best and not focus on the negative or doom and gloom but instead keep an eye on the prize and maintain positive thoughts.

Resul Pookutty, Award winner for Sound Mixing on "Slumdog Millionaire" said, "I share this stage with two magicians who created the very ordinary sounds of Bombay, the cacophony of Bombay into a soul stirring artful resonance called ‘Slumdog Millionaire'." I think any positive reference to a magician is good for us and good for the craft. So, thanks, Mr. Pookutty for your "shout-out".

While on the subject of movies, I received word this past week from a movie promoter of a new feature about a mentalist called, "The Great Buck Howard". It appears to be loosely based on The Amazing Kreskin's career who appeared on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" than nearly any other guest. He had booked full houses in Las Vegas only to fall from that stardom in later life to perform at much smaller venues such as gymnasiums and banquet halls. But then something happened to rocket him back into the public consciousness of pop culture.

"The Great Buck Howard" stars John Malkovich, Colin Hanks, Ricky Jay, Emily Blunt, Tom Hanks and Steve Zahn and will open in a limited release on March 20th. There will be a free screening of the film on March 18th at 7:30 p.m. at the River Oaks Theater in Houston. The promoter is sending me free tickets to distribute to the local magic community for the preview. They also asked that one of us consider performing a bit of mentalism before the start of the show to get the audience in the mood and create some excitement. For more information, hi-res images, trailers and production notes, please visit The Great Buck Howard.  This appears from the trailer to be a wonderful film; however, it was not mentioned in the final credits at last night's Oscars when they previewed clips from upcoming movies in 2009. I suspect it was because this will be an independent film from Magnolia Studios rather than one of the mainstream studios.

Now back to the rest of what's happening in the magic world;
first around the State . . . 

Sunday was the annual Lone Star Magic Auction in Ft. Worth. Like most magic auctions, this attracted magicians from around the state who were looking for great deals. This year brought in about 85 bidders and another 50-60 attendees who just enjoy the event. Food was available  throughout the day from Loys Catering so no one had to leave the premises to eat. Proceeds from this fund raiser went toward their son who is a fledgling magician.

In this economy I expected there to be more people selling more items from their collections. There may have been some pretty good deals but the quality of items this year was not up to par with previous auctions. One never knows exactly what will be up for bid from year to year, but it's always great to congregate and see old friends regardless of whatever is on the auction block. Derek Kennedy, Ashley Adams and Mike Enz are to be commended for their enthusiasm and high energy throughout the day as they pushed up prices on even the small items; however, many of the cheaper and smaller items should have been in the silent auction which would have sped along the auction. Items sold in the live auction ranged from $5 to just over $200. There were no illusions, first editions or a lot of high end stuff this year. Check out began at 3 p.m. and the live auction was over at 6:00 with the final check out at 7 p.m.

As usual they did prepare a catalog of Live Auction items that were auctioned in some kind of surreal order rather than the one published in the catalog. So it was useless to try to follow along and see where they were and what item was going to be up next for bid. Thanks goes to the perennial Auction Manager, Arthur Emerson and all the rest of the staff and volunteer personnel who put together this fun event that professes to be Texas' Oldest Magic Auction. Next year's Lone Star Auction is already slated for the third Saturday in February which will be February 20, 2010. Mark your calendars now.

The next magic auction will be in Austin, TX on April 18th. You should mark your calendars now for both the auction and the Texas Magic Collector's Meeting at Richard Garriott's incredible house the night before. The weekend begins at Mr. Garriott's house (yes, that Richard Garriott who went into space and is the world renown video gaming guru) on Friday at 7:00 p.m. The doors to the auction open the following morning at 8:00 with the first item coming up for bid at 9:00 and then continuing until 6:00 p.m. or the last item is sold. David Hira, Kent Cummins and Scott Wells will be the auctioneer triumvirate for this seminal event. There are lots of reasons to sell your working magic items and props at this auction and lots of reasons to attend, too. Read about all of them at: www.austinmagicauction.com

While at the auction in Ft. Worth I heard that Richard Turner had hand surgery for an injury he incurred during his marshal arts class. He is supposed to have a complete recovery but it may cut into his scheduled lecture tour this coming April. I will report more on that as I receive more information. For those who want to send him good wishes for a speedy recover, you can contact Richard at: showdown.creations@sbcglobal.net

And on the subject of lectures, Houston will host Ed Ellis on Tuesday March 10th. Ed will be one of the featured lecturers at this year's I.B.M. convention in Nashville. He will also be performing in the International Close-Up Show at the 73rd I.B.M. British Ring Convention in September. In April and May he will be performing six nights a week at Hilton Head Island, SC at "Marleys". We are excited that we will get a jump on the rest of the magicians as he teaches us some commercial close-up. More on this as we get closer to the date.

The I.B.M. Ring #39 meeting is traditionally held on the fourth Monday of each month. But due to the remodeling at the usual meeting hall following a fire, the Ring will meet this month tomorrow night, Tuesday February 24th. The temporary meeting place will be the IATSE Meeting Hall where we hold our H.A.O.M. and S.A.M. meetings as well as our own annual magic auction (also professing to be the oldest magic auction in Texas).

And now to who is performing where: Scott Wells will perform magic "on the grill" this week at Tokyohana's Grill and Sushi Bar at 3239 Southwest Freeway (I-45) on Thursday night on February 26th from 7:00 to 9:00. Shane Wilson will perform there on Saturday February 28th from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. Eric Falconer continues as the house magician two nights a week at Sakekawa, a sushi restaurant in the Woodlands, a northern suburb of Houston. Eric will be performing tableside and "grill" side each Tuesday from 6:30 to 8:30 then again on Saturdays from 6:30 to 8:30.  You can call Sakekawa for reservations at 281-419-5988.

I will close this week's offering with a quote from the Oscars by Philippe Petit, star of the winning documentary of "Man on Wire" who actually performed a magic trick at the podium. He displayed a coin then performed a French Drop as he said; "Now it's time to thank the Academy for believing in magic."

Be sure to watch this space for ever changing news of what's happening in and around the Houston magic scene. If you have any information or reviews on magic happenings or events in our area, then please send it to me. You can leave a public comment, suggestion, advice, opinion or question on this week's article by clicking on the link at the bottom of this blog. If you prefer, then you can leave a private message by sending an email to: Scott Wells