It’s probably fair to say that magic acts went through a period of being quite unfashionable in the “cool Britannia” nineties. Then along came U.S imports such as David Blaine, who turned the performance of magic on its head; connecting with the public on the street and giving the art form a sense of urban cool.

More recently, British acts such as Derren Brown and Dynamo have created a strong sense of style coupled with an innovative and creative approach to trickery. Derren’s demystification of psychic phenomenon and Dynamo’s hip-hop illusionism have captivated new audiences and brought magic back into the limelight.

This renaissance in magic is probably one of the reasons the BBC has commissioned its popular new series The Magicians; which now features on their primetime 7pm slot on Saturday evenings. Guest hosts this week included David Hasselhoff and Craig-Revel Horwood – adding a family “variety” feel to the show. However, the show is now beginning to make stars of its magic performers, including; Barry & Stuart, Latimer and Pete Firman.

Great performances from these acts, coupled with celebrity guests and audience interaction seems key to this show. With a new appetite for innovative magic acts emerging on the events scene, it’s likely that the stars of The Magicians will find themselves in demand by event planners looking to make an impact with their live shows.

At E3 we’ve noticed this marked increase in requests for innovative magic acts to perform at corporate and public events. We work alongside emerging talent and our recommendations include Kunal Mistry, Nathan Zorchak, as well as the big star names such as Derren Brown.

For advice booking an act suited to your event, you can contact our London office on 020 7836 4759 (option 1).

The 2012 series of Channel 5’s revamped Celebrity Big Brother began last week with notable stars including: Hollywood actor, Michael Madsen; Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas and former Corrie star Denise Welch.

However, it’s former Eastenders star, Natalie Cassidy, who appears to have taken an early lead as favourite to win the show. The 29 year old actress was first to enter the house but also first to be assigned a typically mean CBB secret mission. Miss Cassidy was presented with a hidden earphone, through which she was ordered to say awkward and embarrassing comments to other housemates as they settled in to the house warming party. Comments included telling Michael Madsen that she loved him “in Free Willy” and telling Nicola McLean, who she had a famous spat with, that she’s “ok” with her being in the house – 3 times in as many minutes.

Miss Cassidy dealt with the task incredibly well, winning praise from host Brian Dowling and supportive messages on CBB’s official Facebook page.

Other contestants on this year’s edition include X Factor rock rebel, Frankie Cocozza, Playboy twins Kristina and Karissa, and “triple threat” Andrew Stone.

Big Brother contestants continue to be in demand by event planners for public appearances, launch events and award ceremonies. For advice booking former BB and CBB stars, please contact our London agents on 020 7836 4759 (option 1).

The Christmas Reindeer is performed by Humanimal.

About the Christmas Reindeer:

It’s a tough job for Santa Claus, navigating the complex modern apartment blocks that have sprung up in recent decades. Which is why he has recently started to employ the help of the Humanimal. Humanimal’s Christmas Reindeer is rather nimble on his feet, which means he can navigate elevators and lifts with ease – and a sack full of presents to boot.

Christmas Reindeer is already a hit at Christmas parties and events, sometimes accompanied by Santa himself but often on his own. A sociable creature; he enjoys mingling with guests and meeting new folk. To hire Christmas Reindeer for your event, please call our London office before 23rd December on 020 7836 4759 (option 1).

In the days and weeks leading up to Christmas our booking agents in our London office often find themselves dealing with very last minute requests to book entertainment for office parties and private events. Frequently this is due to event organisers being let-down by acts they have tried to book elsewhere. Christmas being the busy season that it is for the entertainment business, there are many reasons why event planners may need to book a band or entertainer at very short notice.

If you are organising a Christmas or New Year event and the above sounds like your situation, our team can probably help you. If you’re looking for last minute bands in particular, take a look at our bands page – several of these acts still have availability over the next 2 weeks. For general entertainers, take a look at our gallery page.

Or for an informal chat about your event requirements, you can call our office on 020 7836 4759 (option 1) between 9am and 6pm. In the lead up to Christmas this year, our office will be open from Monday 19th December through to Friday 23rd December.

The graph above shows the increase in visitors to the E3 Group website following Pat Sharp’s appearance on ITV’s I’m a Celeb.

Pat Sharp Sends Rush of Visitors to E3 Site

Jungle adventurer, Pat Sharp, has sparked a storm of interest online following his appearance on the ITV show I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. The TV and radio presenter has provoked inquisitive viewers of the show to hit Google in the search for more information about the former Fun House star. E3 Group, who deal with live event booking enquiries for Pat, appear high up on Google’s results pages when you carry out a search for his name.

His appearance on the show is testament to the power of television – in the 9 days he appeared on I’m a Celeb, we experienced as much as 3 times the usual number of visitors to our website. Since his exit from the show, our booking agents have been dealing with a flurry of enquiries from event producers hoping to secure Pat for forthcoming live events.

If you would like information on Pat’s availability, please contact our London office on 020 7836 4759 (option 1).

Lorraine Chase is currrently attracting odds of 12/1 to win the 2011 series of ITV’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. Lorraine has proved a popular contestant on the show, with good her good humour and spirit. She has survived “Tedward”, Pat Sharp’s attempt to kidnap her teddy bear. However, Pat pointed out that he thinks “Lorraine is the nicest woman” he’s ever met – an opinion that much of the camp seem to share.

Our booking agents in our London office anticipate a surge in requests for Lorraine to appear at live events, once she has left the show. For advice booking I’m A Celeb contestants, please call our London agents on 020 7836 4759 (option 1) or send us a message via our contact form.

Free Band Promotion

Are you a member or manager of a talented band or group of musicians? If so, E3 Group are offering free band promotion space on this very blog and would love to hear from you. We’re looking for good quality original bands, cover bands and function bands who are seeking paid gigs at live events across the UK and overseas.

E3 Group is an established entertainment production company and booking agency. Our website and blog is visited by both our influential event planning clients and by people searching online for bands and musicians for hire. Exposure on this blog could potentially generate interest and bookings for acts featured here. Our aim is to make this blog a great resource for event planners who are looking for talented, unique, up-and-coming bands.

Getting Featured Here

If you would like to take advantage of some free band promotion and be featured here, you’ll need to send us an email containing the following:

1. A link to one of your performances on YouTube
2. A 200 to 400 word description of your band specifying your style, influences and what sets you apart
3. Your contact details (for internal use at E3 only), where you’re based and areas you’re prepared to cover
4. A promotional image of your band

PLEASE DO NOT SEND US: MP3 or other music files (the files sizes are too large and take ages to download). If you don’t have a video uploaded to YouTube, please send us a link to your MySpace page or to a webpage where we can listen to your demo. Also, please don’t send us hundreds of images. Again, depending on the file sizes, they take too long to download. Just the one image is enough.

Email Us

Please send your band promotion material to: bands@e3grouponline.com

Completely Free?

Promoting your band here is completely free of charge. We only ask that if our blog generates a booking for you, that we either split the agency commission with your current managing agent or that we take a standard agency commission if you don’t have an agent.

Busy periods

E3 Group is regularly approached by entertainers, musicians, bands and other performers looking for promotional services. At busy periods of the year it’s not always possible for us to reply quickly. In addition, we can’t guarantee inclusion on the blog for every band that approaches us. If you have not heard back from us after 2 weeks, unfortunately this may mean that we won’t be able to feature you. However, feel free to send us a follow-up email to check we received your details.

If you have any further questions about our band promotion offer, please include them in your email and we’ll try our best to get back to you as soon as we can.

Just ten acts now remain in the live finals of X Factor 2011, following the departure of Sami Brookes, Nu Vibe, Amelia Lily, 2 Shoes, James Michael and Jonjo Kerr. Of those still in the competition, there seems to be an emerging consensus that Janet Devlin and The Risk are frontrunners to win. Janet’s performance of the Guns ‘n’ Roses track Sweet Child O’Mine appeared to have one of the most obvious connections to the night’s “rock theme”, however, despite its less obvious connection, The Risk’s interpretation of Crazy was also received well by the audience and judges alike.

Other acts touted as potential winners include Misha B and Craig Colton, whilst the sometimes controversial and widely reported on & off-stage behaviour of Frankie Cocozza and Kitty Brucknell has cast some doubt over their potential to make it through to the grand final, despite some strong and often standout performances.

As always, our booking agents here at E3 Artists are keeping a close eye on the competition in anticipation of requests by our clients to book acts from the show. For advice booking X Factor acts for live events, please contact our London office.

It is late September and the sun is shining brightly outside our Brighton office today, so it’s quite hard to compute the fact that winter is only just around the corner. For people planning a winter wedding, things are looking quite promising. So we thought we’d present our current top 5 winter wedding entertainment recommendations for 2011 and 2012.

The Wedding Pianist

Ed Alexander‘s broad range makes him an ideal booking for almost any wedding occasion. His repertoire includes classical, jazz, swing, pop and show tunes.

The Wedding Harpist

Harpist duo The Cool Kats re-work classic tunes including everything from Jazz to Pop and even Post-punk! They’re an ideal booking for a modern, stylish wedding.

The Wedding Singer

Trained opera singer Kathleen Garner (pictured above) is an award winning vocalist who brings a great deal of charm and tranquility to wedding ceremonies. Kathleen currently has availability for winter weddings in December.

The Wedding Band

FUNKification continue to blow away our clients with their high level musicianship and professional conduct. Scalable from a 5 piece to a huge 11 piece band, this act is the one for you if you’re looking to make a big impact on your big day.

The Wedding Caricaturist

Whilst Mr Sketchum captures personalties on paper, he has a great deal of personality himself and would bring a lot of warmth to wintry weddings. For availability, please contact one of our agents.

For further options, please view our weddings page or give us a call on 020 7836 4759. If you’re also looking for someone to capture your special day, we’d highly recommend West Midlands photographer, Marc Hubbard.

Linda Lusardi has made it through to the semi finals of Masterchef. She recently told us “it was one of the most stressful programmes I have ever been involved with. I didn’t ever think I would cry over cooking but I did”. The E3 Artists team, who exclusively manage Linda, are all keeping our fingers crossed and hoping she progresses even further in the contest.

Enquiries regarding Linda’s availability for events, public appearances and cooking demonstrations can be made via our London office on 020 7836 4759 (option 1) or by completing our online form.