Reporter Patricia Villers of theNew Hampshire Register reports on what will either be an incredible magic event or a very awkward start to the upcoming Midsummer Fantasy Renaissance Faire.
Actually, Mr. GreenWolf is hoping to escape before being consumed in flames before attendees.
The event is set for 8:30 p.m. June 23.
In an interview with the New Hampshire paper, he admitted the obvious up-front. “It’s definitely a little stupid,” GreenWolf admitted in a phone interview Wednesday. “It’s something that has been in my head for a very long time.”
As we know from our latest probation hearing, just because you think something, you don't need to do it.
Nonetheless, Mr. GreenWolf plans on being locked affixed to a 12-foot wooden stake on a raised platform in an open field. He will be secured by more than 100 feet of chain, locks and rope.
Shortly after the binding, the logs and tinder at his feet will be doused in gasoline. An ignition source in the form of a burning torch will be rigged with a "medieval-style timer" and set to fall on the platform when time has expired.
While there will be folks with fire extinguishers surrounding the platform, it is unlikely they will be able to save the magician from serious injury should things go afoul.
He admitted the plan is “crazy, but with a very specific message.” Mr. GreenWolf claims inspiration comes from his study of magic history and stories of magicians burned at the stake just for doing their job. "They were wrongfully accused” of being warlocks.
The town's mayor and fire official were not able to comment on the stunt. They were just hearing of Mr. GreenWolf's plans.
Fire Marshal Ralph Tingley said he had not yet heard about the stunt. “(GreenWolf) needs to talk to me,” Tingley said. “I need to know what’s involved here.” He said state permits may be required.
Mr. GreenWolf said 10 percent of the event’s proceeds will go to the Against Malaria Foundation, which provides underdeveloped countries with much-needed supplies to combat malaria.
If you are in the area, you can check out the escape attempt as well as the The Midsummer Fantasy Renaissance Faire on weekends from June 23 to July 8.
Penn & Teller joined the select few included in the UNLV Entertainer & Artist Hall of Fame this weekend. Siegfried Fischbacher and Lance Burton attended, showing their support for the magic duo.
Former Nevada Lieutenant Governor, lounge singer and hall of fame member Lorraine Hunt-Bono presented the team their beautiful and pointy crystal trophies. Teller broke his silence to say "thanks" to the attendees.
I'd joked that 2012 was shaping up as the Year of Penn, given his ubiquitous-ness in the first 4 months of this year. Jillette even showed up at Marty Allen's 90th birthday party celebration at Palace Station on Saturday afternoon, joining a similarly odd collection of celebs and newsmakers onstage at Louie Anderson Theater that included Allen, Mayor Carolyn Goodman (presenting Allen with a key to the city), former mayor Oscar Goodman, Anderson and Allen's wife, Karon Kate Blackwell.
It does seem Penn is appearing in more places and garnering more television time. We have seen him on political talk shows, British stump the magician series and of course The Celebrity Apprentice. He survived last night's episode and thus continues his fund-raising for Opportunity Village, a Las Vegas foundation providing vocational training for our fellow citizens with intellectual disabilities.
"If I worked all the time I was on 'Celebrity Apprentice,' and gave all that money instead to Opportunity Village (laughs), they would do better," he says. "But I give them a lot of attention, no question about that, I have raised awareness. So you can't be too cynical about it."
Penn & Teller continue to entertain capacity crowds at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and offer the best magic per dollar spent in town.
The big time professional magicians spend buckets of moolah hoping to entice just one more customer in the door. And these are magicians who have talent far beyond even the best of the best in our local Rings or Assemblies.
The advertising consultants we've consulted unanimously agree the best type of advertisement is also the toughest to create, word of mouth.
We were impressed by the praise heaped upon Inside Magic Favorite Mac King in a pithy review posted on Trip Advisor this morning.
Under the title, “Better than David Copperfield” a traveler from the Midwest penned just a few sentences that likely has more power than any paid-for advertisement Mr. King could muster.
Mac King, who looks like a blonde Paul McCartney, is much more genuine and entertaining than David Copperfield, who comes off as jaded and almost contemptuous of his audience. I laughed at King's silly jokes in spite of myself because he seemed like such a nice guy. This show is definitely worth the money and time spent. Go see it!
We hate to see two fantastic magicians compared against each other in this way and hope that readers of the Trip Advisor site are able to overlook this poster's negative impressions of Mr. Copperfield's act. Not to sound too much like your mother, but we love both acts and each magician equally. They are each special.
Additionally, we never saw Mac King as a "blonde Paul McCartney" but have noticed that each time we have seen his show at Harrah's in Vegas, Paul McCartney was not to be seen. We're not saying this is like a "Dancing Bear – Captain Kangaroo" situation where the Captain would always just miss seeing the much-heralded dancing bear thus leading some to suggest that it was the Captain within the costume. Still, it seems more than a coincidence and perhaps this citizen poster has a point.
We have taken the liberty of requesting DNA from Paul McCartney and will compare it with that which we have sampled from a goldfish we perloined from Mac King's show. Once we have the former Beatle's scrapings, we will post the results.
If Paul McCartney provides a sufficient amount of DNA, we will divide it into smaller bits and sell it on eBay to pay for the rather expensive DNA Comparator 3000 Plus we purchased for this journalistic investigation. Why not just sell the DNA Comparator 3000, some may ask.
We read with great interest an article on the incredibly reliable Weekly World News web site, “Houdini Speaks from Beyond the Grave.” The article is probably not totally true but says Houdini has made contact through professional medium John Edward. ; Houdini provides several predictions to prove his authenticity. ; Like we said, it is probably not true but still interesting. ;
We live by few rules as magician / magic writer persons. ; First, "if it bleeds, it leads." ; The shocking and graphic stories go to the front of the line. ; In this way, we are very much like Disney World. ; The more grotesque or disgusting a person is (either in mannerisms or odor) the more likely he or she will be permitted to cut ahead of others standing in the Florida Sun. ;
Our second rule gets us in trouble, sometimes. ; “When in doubt, don’t leave it out.” ; Some news sources will pass on stories that have only a single source, seem self-serving or seem highly unlikely. ;
If it wasn’t for Inside Magic, you would never know what got passed over. ; We publish the stuff others won’t because they have “standards” or insist on “some basis in reality.” ; Not this major magic periodical. ; If it wasn’t for this policy, none of the following would have found a voice on the endless maze of copper tubing we call the internets.
1. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; President: Magic Will Be Criminalized
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; This seemed within the realm of possible when we printed it several years ago. ; Our source assured us that the hobby and profession enjoyed by millions was about to be made illegal and practitioners would face jail time. ; Imagine how embarrassed we were to learn that the headline was technically true but just barely. It was the president of a local fraternal lodge that made the statement. ; And that he actually said, “Magic should be taught to criminals as a practical skill to boost self-esteem and confidence.” ; Whether he intended jail birds to learn escape techniques is still the subject of litigation and debate within the lodge.
2. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Ching Ling Foo: Not Who He Seemed
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; For pure volume, this article should rank high on our Google search results. ; Unfortunately, we were wrong. ; Ching Ling Foo was actually a magician from China and not really Billy Robinson, former assistant to Kellar and Thurston. ; Mr. Robinson used the derivative name Chung Ling Soo to hide his Anglo identity and perform until he was killed performing the Bullet Catching Trick – not the Cups and Balls as we also erroneously reported. ; We agree now that it did not make sense that a person could be killed when his or her Cups and Balls routine went “Horribly Wrong” and that we should not have guessed at what happened.
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; We had to go with it. ; Yes, we could have immediately verified the story by looking at the live web cam showing every second of the 44 days of boredom induced and experienced by the American magician’s endurance test. ; But we were writing from our phone ; while waiting in line at the 7-11 convenience store. ; We note that several of the letters in Mr. Blaine’s name alone take forever to type out on a cellphone key pad. ; We were lucky to get the story out at all. ;
We received the sad news today. This was one of the best conventions on the calendar.
Dear Friends:
The Columbus MAGI-FEST has had a great run of 80 years (81 conventions). And while we hoped to see the 100th, for now we’ve decided it’s time to retire the convention.
This decision did not come easily; there were several factors. The Redcoats have a strong friendship—we are like a second family to each other. We’ve all watched our kids (and even some grandkids) grow up at MAGI-FEST, and we thank you for being a part of their lives and for the wonder that we and they got to experience these many years. We finished the convention in the black, able to pay all our bills and refund money to those who pre-registered for 2013.
While we wanted to have our 82nd convention in 2013, we decided to change those plans after further reflection. We see some potential headwinds that could affect the quality and financial health of future conventions. These include:
Long-time, loyal attendees who are aging out faster than younger registrants are coming in
The downturn in the economy over the past few years
Financial pressure on the convention due to increasing costs and insurance requirements, while keeping registration, food, and lodging costs affordable to attendees
We are all very sad to retire MAGI-FEST, but we want to do so on our terms as a quality, family-friendly convention, at an affordable price, that was fair to all who participated.
We also wish to thank our wonderful staff: Tony Dolciato, Randal Fath, Mike Heniken, Steven Kline, the Krech kids, Glenn Mackie, Red Penley, and Mike Sanderson. We appreciate their tireless dedication and support more than they know. They are the ones who made it happen at “show time”.
Thank you again for all your support, love, and friendship for these many years. We hope our paths will cross again in the future and that perhaps we’ll see many of you at other magic-related events.
With warmest regards,
The Board of Directors of the Columbus Magic Club, Inc.
Reporter Patricia Villers of the New Hampshire Register reports on what will either be an incredible magic event or a very awkward start to the upcoming Midsummer Fantasy Renaissance Faire.
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