The First Day...So Far, Anyway

The opening day of MindVention is better than half over. Sheree is posting her photos to the MindVention page on Facebook...and this seemed as good a time as any to let you know a little about what's happened today.

The Attendee Show is always interesting to watch. It's rare that I get to watch another mentalist perform, so it's an ongoing fascination to see these guys from all over the planet perform their art. Usually there are some very good acts and some not so good acts taking the stage. This year it was a little more like a dealer show...which isn't necessarily bad.

We saw Cobra Magic demonstrate a mentalism chair that makes PK Touches a remote control proposition. Vancouver mentalist Eric Samuels showed off an interesting routine using "thought slices" long with an intuitive jigsaw puzzle routine. We saw a demonstration of the voodoo dowels from New Orleans mentalist Tim Pratt. It was a show worth watching...and i like to keep up with the latest/greatest props as much as the next guy.

ParaLabs made the first of two lectures scheduled for today. They revealed some of their philosophies about mentalism and told the group about something that is a potential game changer for mentalism.

Want to hear about it? Okay: the volunteer puts on a blindfold. When the blindfold is on, they literally hear a voice in their head. Did you get that? I'm not talking about something whispering in their ear...I'm talking about a voice conducted through the bones in your head. It literally is a voice you hear in a completely new way.

The example given was of a girl on stage in Cologne...hearing the voice of her boyfriend in her head asking her to marry him. In this case, one half of ParaLabs is on-stage...the other half is in Berlin, speaking into a microphone...doing the very voice she hears.

(I asked what it sounded like...and Ranier hooked me up to this blindfold. It's like a voice that is heard vibrating in your mind. Sorta kinda creepy in a way.) These guys are onto something powerful. They were plagued by technical challenges...but ultimately the concepts they are working with are the kind of props that could change the whole face of mentalism.

This was followed by a panel discussion regarding the issue of mixing magic and mentalism. The problem with the construction of the panel was that all three panelists: Paul Draper, Paul Vigil and Joe Atmore -- all felt mixing the two was fine. It surprised me that most of the audience agreed with this. I don't.

Up tonight: Michael Weber at 7:00 and one more lecture from ParaLabs on Theory and Presentation.

Then...well...the pub. Of course.