Phew – finally having a sit down after what must have been one of the most hectic Saturdays ever! Apart from doing our shows, Tamar and I were busy packing for our upcoming trip, preparing our presentations, assembling our presents and items for the show and tell sessions and generally trying to make sure we hadn’t forgotten anything. We were both up until 3am – Tamar proofing and tweaking her lecture notes and me adding new material to a powerpoint presentation I’ll be giving on Edwin’s Supreme years. We finally think we are ready, so just todays shows (1 each) to do and then we’re off to Heathrow to meet up with Gary Dunn.
I’ve known Gary for a while now, but only really got the opportunity to see him perform while filming and editing his ‘Keep Them Laughing’ DVD. Needless to say, I was blown away and have petitioned heavily for him to be invited to this year’s KGB meeting. My gift to the members last year was a copy of the DVD, so needless to say – not too much persuasion was necessary.
So what is KGB?
We are a group of children’s entertainers from all over the world who meet once a year to lecture, exchange ideas, try out new effects, perform together and generally hang out and have fun.
The group was started 10 years ago by DAVID KAYE and BRUCE BRAY – two giants in the field, who felt that children’s entertainers got a poor deal at most magic conventions and wanted to meet with like-minded individuals for an intensive 3 day workshop session. The name was a bit of a joke – the initials standing for Kidshow Guru Braintrust. Bruce thought it was hilarious to have such a fun group with a sinister sounding title. The KGB started with just 6 members, but now there are 22 worldwide, with new members being added each year. The aim is to keep the number of attendees at the annual meeting to around 12, so that the intimate nature of the gathering isn’t lost. Sadly, Bruce is no longer with us – he passed away in 2011, but his group carries on.
This year we will have 11 attending and will be spending 4 days at the Magic Castle hotel in L.A., then on Saturday we will all perform a theatre show in aid of a children’s charity.
Along the way I’ll try to make lots of little video clips, I’ll blog about what goes on each day – so if anyone is interested, you can follow me either on here or Facebook.
KGB7 – My first visit to the Magic Castle
Ok – gotta go and work. One more show and we’re done!
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