dgmagic - UK magic blog by magician Dan Gifford

In a couple of weeks I will be joining hundreds of magicians at the International Brotherhood of Magicians convention in Southport.

I’m really looking forward to it. What with moving house and the arrival of my son, I haven’t attended a magic convention since the IBM in 2005. This year, like in 2005, I have entered the close-up magic competition, so I am busy practicing and tinkering with my routine.

Details of the convention can be found on the IBM website. I am particularly looking forward to lectures by Bill Malone and Lennart Green who I haven’t seen perform live before. And the David Williamson Experience is bound to be brilliant.

As you can see, there have been a few changes to the design of the site.

I wanted to get a bit more space for extra bits and pieces on the right so I’ve expanded the width of the layout.

I hope this doesn’t hamper anyone’s viewing of the site. It should fit nicely in any screen resolution above 800×600 and hopefully no-one has their screen that small…. (famous last words? Let me know!)

I’m also going to add a contact form, email notification and other subscription options. When I have a moment.

One of my favorite magical effects is ‘Holey Moley’ by Jay Sankey.

For those who don’t know it, you show two washers (metal discs with a hole in the middle of each) the spectator chooses one to hold in their closed hand, you take the other and magically remove the hole. The spectator opens their hand to find their washer now has two holes.

It doesn’t form part of a big routine, it’s just a quick bit of magic that I show people when they want to see ‘just one more’.

So, I performed it for a couple towards the end of a gig last night. They were suitably stunned, so much so that the man (who was the booker) said it alone ‘was worth the fee’.

Maybe I’ll drop all my other material! I’ll just walk in, perform Holey Moley, pick up my cheque and go home……