The April Melbourne Magic Night was the biggest one yet with an almost standing room only crowd enjoying a huge variety of magic entertainment and education.
Starting at 5.30pm with only one Junior magician arriving for AIM Juniors… Tim Ellis, Les Cohen and Nicholas Johnson began providing feedback for his work as more and more Juniors trickled in until we had a full contingent. Lots of acts were explored and brainstorming began throughout the group. Lee Cohen and Nick Nickolas arrived and shared their expertise as the Juniors learned microphone technique and tried out the infamous “Sixty Second Speeches”.
By 7pm they reluctantly cleared the room as we prepared for the main event. Tonight we had a near capacity crowd with many people coming early for the two-for-one dinner offer (before 6pm). A friend said her bill for four people for dinner was only $43!
Tim Ellis was hosting and began with an untested version of ANY CARD AT ANY NUMBER which, impossibly, worked!
Following Tim was young Josh Staley developing some new material for his Melbourne Magic Festival show ‘Intrigued’.
After Josh Lee Cohen introduced a CRUISE SHIP PANEL with Nick Nickolas. Tim Ellis and risley artist Stef. Lots of fascinating insights into the world of the Cruise Ship entertainer were revealed during this session.
Tim Ellis has the audience supply three items each for himself, Nicholas Johnson and Simon Coronel to ‘Make A Trick’ with for the traditional MagicSports game at the end of the night. Tim was given headphones, a Working with Children’s Check and a Devil Cat. Nicholas got a playing card, a band aid and a key. Simon had a poker chip, an umbrella and a kayak bung! What would you create with these weird props?
Closing the first half was past Australian Champion of Magic, Tim Mason with a brand new stage act that the audience loved.
After the break it was THE HUMAN MICROSCALE Simon Camilleri making his magic debut with an act with enormous cards and two volunteers.
Next up was a rare appearance by comedy magic legend HARRY HOUDIDN’T who, in only a few short minutes, had the audience in hysterics.
After the act Harry became Adrian Kebbe and gave a brief but inspiring talk followed by and Q&A session on Comedy Magic.
Tim Ellis changed the mood with a piece from his show IN DREAMS he is restaging for his lecture tour of the USA next week. He told the story of an unrequited love to an interesting reaction.
Simon Coronel was the last “official” act and he premiered a brand new interactive THREE COIN TRICK that packed extremely flat but played very big!
Finishing off the night was MagicSports and ‘Make A Trick’
Tim Ellis had created a bizarre routine burning the Working With Children’s Check and, after communicating with a (very confused) Devil Cat via the headphones, finding it restored safe and sound stuck on the volunteers back!
Nicholas Johnson also communicated with the ethereal as he used the key to contact the departed caretaker of the Wesleyan Church and have him interrupt his eternal rest to help restore a torn card… which was eventually achieved with the aid of a band aid!
Simon Coronel returned to demonstrate the age old KAYAK BUNG SCAM, using an umbrella as a card shuffling device in the process.
It was an hilarious finish to a great night of magic with many more people signing up for AIM Associate Memberships so they could return free of charge for the rest of the year.
See you on May 13!