Category: Magic Blog

This year we have been working hard developing our dinner theater “The Magic Soiree”. Only two shows left this season and then we take a well-earned break… by hitting the road!

First stop is The Dickens Parlour Theater in Delaware. One of our favorite theaters in one of our favorite places. Although it is a week of work, it is also a week at the beach, walks in the countryside, and great company with a theater crew who have become good friends. Come and join us if you can, July 4 – 10. They have a variety of great shows, and a rather mean jazz brunch on a Sunday!

Then we head straight to the IBM convention in Pittsburgh and this year may be the best ever. (Check the line up on www.IBMconvention.com). We will be there in various guises, the most important is that we are the official Newbie point people. So, if you have never been to an IBM convention before, our job is to make sure you have a great time. We are also providing some special entertainment in the after-Gala show, and we have some surprises planned.

August brings more fun and more travels. A flying visit to Colon for Abbotts Get Together. And then…

August 7^th – 14 takes us to Hollywood for a week performing in the Palace of Mysteries at The Magic Castle. It is always an honor to be asked to do our show and there is nothing like hearing those magic words “welcome home”.

Exhausted yet! I know we will be after 27 shows at the Magic Castle. Exhausted but happy. 

But that is not the end of our travels. We then head to the UK for a quick visit to the Magic Circle in London and, a return visit to the first convention I ever went to (40 years ago), The IBM British Ring convention in Eastbourne. One of the friendliest conventions we have been to. We are looking forward to the fantastic magic but sitting and catching up with old friends over a cup of tea is going to take the biscuit (digestive or rich tea?)

Then the work begins as we reopen The Magic Soiree, from September 16^th we will be running shows every week.

Please come and see us and say hello if you do.

And we all enjoy a little magic so here is a promo we did for our dinner show.

Thank you for being a part of our magical family.

Sarah has been reminding me to write a newsletter for the past 6 weeks and I promised to have it ready for the 6^th March (I was secretly working on “don’t put off till tomorrow what you can put off till the day after tomorrow”). Then I surprised her by having it ready early (brownie points for me). Only to realize that I had missed out two events happening between now and then that deserved a mention (double oops). Anyway that is my long winded excuse for the need of an addendum to my earlier newsletter 😉

So, what are these two things…

New England Magic Conference

We will be lecturing and performing in Connecticut in 15 days at NEMCON (the New England Magic Conference). If you are in the area this is a MUST. I am looking forward to seeing Stuart MacDonald and Eric Dittleman amongst so many others on this stellar list of performers. Check it out at CTNEMcon.com

The Magic Lab

The Boston Magic Lab is an exciting concept. A group of young creative magicians putting on a monthly show creating a space where they could explore and experiment with new material and polish their acts. When we heard about it, we really wanted to visit. When we told them we were going to visit they asked us to do 15 minutes in the show. We jumped at the chance! BostonMagicLab.com

Do you remember the first time you had that feeling of total amazement witnessing an impossible piece of magic?

Now more than ever, people need to experience the feeling of wonder and amazement that magicians can create. Let’s all pull together to spread some joy and laughter throughout the world.

We want to start by saying a big thank you to our magical friends and supporters, for helping us to stay positive. We never imagined how much fun we were going to have with our silly idea of ‘dropping in’ to magic clubs with a show and mini lecture,

We set a target of 100 clubs which we totally smashed.



Our final count approaching 130!!!

Really you folk made our lock-down a little more bearable as Lady Sarah and I ‘dropped-in’ virtually to IBM rings, SAM’s clubs, online conventions and more. It was a delight to see our friends in NZ and make new friends in the Philippines. What an honor to see my old mentor and friend Jack Delvin at my old club in SE London and regardless of the time difference our friends in OZ turned out in force. And we won’t mention the banter with our friends in Scotland. And….

We know that some of you watched our showlette several times and many of you complimented me on my work on the professors nightmare.

If you missed it, I produced a mini video of the lecture from a recording which you can see here: Drop-in video lecture notes

Another group who helped us through this virtual year was a weekly gathering of magic club/dinner theatre owners (the list is now up to 80 venues worldwide!) The covid pandemic hit our industry hard and as the year progressed this supportive group shared information as there was a lot to figure out – would we ever be able to open safely?

Well it is finally happening and we hope to open up The Magic Soiree in September. Although I look forward to continuing to spend virtual time and hearing what others are doing. Kudos to Danny Archer and Jay Alexander for putting this group together.

So the point is to say thank you and to encourage you to stay positive! Onward and upward

8 months and counting…
Yes! That is how long our magic clubs have been hosting zoom meetings!
Lady Sarah and me have been dropping in at a few magic clubs around the globe to perform part of our Magic Castle act and a mini lecture. 
Have we dropped in to your club yet?
Paul Romhany (editor of Vanish Magazine) was at a recent drop-in and as a result wrote this review for his magazine. It gives a little insight to what you can expect…

“Having had the opportunity to watch a lot of online lectures I can say that Keith Fields was by far one of my top favorites!! Not only did we all learn some real-world material– the balloon gag for me was something that is going straight into my act – pure GOLD! but he also presented one of the best online openings I’ve ever seen. With his truly talented and hilarious wife Lady Sarah they opened the lecture with a performance that we are all still talking about! Together they kept us entertained and it was one of the rare occasions that I actually felt like I was sitting in the front row to a live show. They have honed their online experience through more performances than anybody I know, and it shows. You can learn a lot from just watching a performance and this was a real masterclass in what can be done online.”

Paul goes on for several paragraphs but you get the drift. You will have to read the rest in Vanish Magazine😊.

We are available worldwide and we don’t have to leave our house! The session lasts about 30 minutes and is free of charge for magic clubs. Below is a video montage taken from a zoom recording of an actual drop in…

We would love to drop-in to your club so please pass this information on to whoever organizes it and we hope to see you very soon, even if it is only virtually!Stay safe and wash your hands
Best wishes
Keith Fields

“Your drop in at our club was so awesomely fun. You have such shining personalities, and it shows in what you do. This was something much needed to add to our Zoom meeting and our members are still talking about it. You and Sarah were exactly what our club needed.”Chris Yuill – Canada

“Keith Fields and Lady Sarah dropped in on our local club meeting this month. Not only were they hilarious and knowledgeable, but they brought energy to the meeting, despite it being virtual. I highly recommend inviting them to “drop in” if you would like to add some life to your club’s meeting!”Jake Austin – USA

“Keith Fields and Lady Sarah are wonderful. Their attention to detail was superb, and everything had been thought through. What shone through was Keith’s passion and enthusiasm for magic, and he was willing to answer any of our questions. The lighting, sound and backdrop were all superb. It was a pleasure to watch true professionals in action.”Steve Price – UK

Sleep when you are dead!
We are great believers in being positive, finding new ways to get the magic out there, and spreading a little happiness We all need to smile and laugh more, its good for us! It releases endorphins and helps us cope with stress.
Here is a little educational segment that we produced for WXYZ TV, the second in a series we are doing for them. We hope it makes you smile.

And because we have too much free time of our hands you can now join us twice a week (yes twice!) on our new talk show ‘A Cup Of T’ – Tuesdays and Thursdays at Two from Troy where you can join in with the chat and see a bit of magic. Watch LIVE at 2pm EST or 7pm BST (UK) at The Magic Soiree.com. Or check out The Magic Soiree facebook page for LIVE and past episodes.
Stay safe and wash your hands
Best wishes

Keith Fields

Regular readers will know of our ambition to visit and perform at as many magic venues around the world as we can, here is the next installment of this amazing journey…

Nashville is the home of country music but hidden away beneath the Johnny Cash Museum is a restaurant from a different world. It’s a place where you will see country music stars, but they will be relaxing and having fun.

There are no signs, no advertising, no neon lights pointing to the entrance. The only way to get in is to wander up to the security man (who is wearing a small badge that says ‘House of Cards’), and he will unlock a door, and let you in.

The stairs lead down to a basement, the stone walls feel like a castle dungeon. Then you suddenly enter an extravagantly decorated restaurant. Magic posters adorn the walls (all original!), there is a collection of ancient playing cards (dating back to 1490), the furniture is antique, and the bar is stocked with many fine and rare bottles. I would show you some photos but there is a strict rule about that!

The food is excellent and even though the House Of Cards has only been open a short while it is already listed as one of Americas 100 best restaurants

But what about the magic I hear you ask?

There are 2 close-up stations running continuously and the standard is high. I watched in utter amazement as a rotating group of magicians entertained a dazzled audience.
There is also a 65-seat theater (which is where Lady Sarah and I were working).  A charming venue with comfortable seating and great sight-lines for the audience. 4×30 minute shows a night makes it a grueling week for the performers (and there are an extra 3 shows for the brunch on Sunday). However, it was such a joy to perform for an audience who are there to see a magic show. 

Nashville is a party town, so a couple of the shows were quite rowdy, but even then, the emphasis of the audience was to have fun, and have fun we did! AND we always knew that Joey (the Director of Operations and Entertainment who used to work The Magic Castle) was on hand and keeping an eye on things.Joey gets it. He knows what magicians need to do a great show and he works hard to make that happen

Did you meet any country stars I hear you ask?

I’m sure we must have done because everyone is a country star in Nashville. They are just driving the Uber till the record comes out! Then on the Thursday night an entourage walked in, and they wanted to meet us after the show. We had a wonderful time talking to a chap who was obviously getting the ‘star’ treatment. We chatted for about an hour… we had no idea who we were talking to!!! When I looked him up on google, I discovered that Randy Travis was a huge star who had sold over 25 million records. And won 7 Grammys! Yes, Lady Sarah and I need to brush up on our knowledge of country music. We thought he was a super nice guy, as were the rest of his party.

So, if you like great magic. Great food, great wine and a great atmosphere, do yourself a favor and go to the House Of Cards. You never know who is going to be sitting on the next table.
Cheers

Keith Fields