Ok, I’m making no excuses for posting this here 🙂 Many years ago, I created an online magic course called the Virtual Sessions (detailed in this post). One of the early lessons was how to tie a bow tie – a skill which I believe is vital to the upkeep of civilisation. So, in the interests of spreading the good word, here it is 🙂
Here’s something I wrote for the Evening News in 2009 to publicise my 18th Birthday Fringe show. I still stand up most of it 🙂
Five dos and don’ts about being a Magician. By Ian Kendall.
1. Do choose your performing name wisely. Uncle Chuckles may seem out of place if you do Bizzarre Magik or mind reading. Similarly, Zander the Knower of Men will make you stand out in the Kids’ Party circuit. And not in a good way.
2. Don’t force your magic on unsuspecting strangers. Yes, your family may be used to you starting every conversation with ‘pick a card’, […]
This is a clip from my 2008 Edinburgh Fringe show ‘The Golden Age of Magic’. It revolves around the Davenport brothers, who performed spiritualist seances in and around London in the mid-19th Century.
The slightly warmer rain tells us that Spring is approaching in Scotland, and that means the Wedding Season is about to start. Couples all over Scotland will be gathering in remote castles and inner cities, but luckily not to fight to the death with swords while shouting ‘there can be only one’ (although it’s tempting to fit in a ‘Kind of Magic’ link here, I’ll resist…)
While some people understand the role a magician can play in a wedding, for many it will be their first time experiencing a magic show on the big day. There’s a more detailed description on […]
A short history of the online magic course.
It’s just over ten years since I started producing educational videos for the magic market, so I thought it might be fun to talk about the Virtual Sessions, and all the things that went wrong.
For those of you reading who fall into the category of ‘real person’, there is an industry – however small – of teaching magic and its related skills to other magicians. It’s how we all got started, and some of us are passing things along. In 2004 I produced a VideoCD (remember them?) on coin magic. Called, simply, Basic […]
An everyday tale of vandalism and civil unrest…
In October 1993 I boarded a plane and embarked on what was supposed to be a two year round-the-world-and-finding-myself trip, but ended up as four months busking in Australia. One incident bookends this journey; beginning a couple of weeks after I arrived, and ending on my final night. It needs to be recorded, mostly because it happened almost exactly twenty years ago, but also because I’m getting on and don’t want to forget things.
Dramatis Personae:
Me. That is Ian Kendall, a magician from Scotland on the other side of the world.
JP. One of my […]
I know there’s going to be a lot of people commenting about the weather in Edinburgh today (and let’s face it, it is the Done Thing in Britain to comment on any and all weather) but this morning I got a call from Ben as I was taking Susie to school – our new trampoline (bought in the summer after much child based nagging for a larger one) decided that it wanted to go and live next door. The reality, after over an hour of dismantling with very numb fingers, is that I now have a twisted and slightly non functional […]
It’s been a busy week here, but for most of the wrong reasons…
There have been all sorts of panic in buying Panto tickets, made all the more fraught by having to liaise with the Spanish side of the family, who are mostly incommunicado halfway up a mountain in Andorra, and getting the last seats available for the date. But we did it. For my Spanish niece and nephew (who both speak four languages – English, French, Castillano and Catalan at eight years old!) it’s becoming a Crimbo tradition. I’ve just tried to explain what a Panto is to my kids’ […]
Well, the season for Christmas parties is almost upon us, and it’s never been a better time to book a close up magician to help everyone celebrate. At Christmas parties, a close up magician is able to move around the groups, or tables if it’s during a meal, and perform short and amazing magic shows for everyone.
Over the years I’ve performed in many different venues during the Christmas season, from top hotels in Glasgow or Aberdeen, Spa hotels like Creiff Hydro and Peebles Hydro, local restaurants here in Edinburgh and even a blacksmith’s in the Borders!
Maybe I’ll see you next […]
A couple of weeks ago I went down to Manchester for the wedding blessing of my insanely cool cousin Doctor Doctor David and Doctor Zaenab. Their one request of me was that I go down on a busman’s holiday and perform some close up magic for the guests; they had heard about what I do – performing close up magic at weddings in Edinburgh and Scotland – but had never seen me. It was a perfect opportunity to catch up with the Southern family and I had a great time performing close up magic for everyone there.
Zaenab is from Syria, […]