You wrote earlier asking us for an update of what we’ve been doing since we toured the USA earlier this year.
Well… after traveling the USA from January to March 2003 (see attached map) (You can see reviews of our ‘Driving U.S. Insane’ lecture tour here.) we got back into our usual routine of corporate gigs. Here in Australia, 95% of our shows are for various company private events. Sometimes we just do close-up, sometimes stage shows of comedy magic, most often it’s a combination of both with one or two illusions thrown in for good measure.
We also run a ‘Magic Night’ here in Melbourne, Australia, once a month where magicians get together to perform, workshop and learn from each other. It’s held in a typical Aussie ‘Pub’ called ‘Coopers’ and a typical night’s program runs like this:
5.30-7.30pm – Magicians try out new effects on the public (and each other) downstairs in the bar and restaurant area. Often we have over a dozen magicians working the room.
7.30-7.45pm – Workshop. This is where a more experienced magician will give those who are interested a quick lesson on a requested technique or move like the top change, or dice stacking.
7.45-8.00pm – Competition Time. Just for fun we run technique based competitions like: Card Estimation, Coin Rolling, Muscle Pass for height etc. Obviously magic is not technique, but these events really seem to encourage people to work harder on the technical aspect of their magic.
If you are like me, then you need a haircut and you love great card magic.You
probably can get a haircut anywhere ? although, if you?re like me, you
remember that the place at the mall near the pretzel kiosk across from
that place that engraves names on things you would never buy, even if
you could get them engraved, gives the worst haircuts.
I
don?t know how we got to engraving but if you?re like me, you know that
sometimes our mind wanders and we write things that don?t seem related
to the central point of our articles.
Anyway, we, or I, have one sleight that I do constantly: the Classic Force.I learned from a magic genius, Barry Gibbs of the Magic Fun Wagon Fame in West Palm Beach, Florida.I think he taught me because I was a demonstrator for the shop and because he was tired of me doing the Hindu Shuffle Force.
Mr. Gibbs is left-handed so I still do almost all of my sleights with the wrong hand for a right-handed person.That
has nothing to do with anything except to explain why my right hand is
whithered like a raisin and my left hand is larger than the Hulk’s.
Illusionist
Timothy Drake of Cambridge, Ontario, Canada has been booked to kick off
the United Way Campaign in Cambridge and has elected to perform what is
being haled as a brand new illusion.
This
is not a typo: Timothy is going to lift seven people into the air to
demonstrate there are no trap doors or hidden waysof leaving the
stageand then make them vanish.
He’s right, at least as far as I’m concerned, I have never seen anyone attempt such an illusion.
Here is how it is described:
“7
volunteers are placed on a platform and raised 10 ft in the air
allowing the entire audience to see completely under the platform at
all times. A cloth is draped over the volunteers and when the cloth is
whisked away……GONE! All 7 people are vanished in a split second
before the audience’s very eyes.”
Sounds pretty cool.Sounds like some pretty amazing logistics as well.Timothy’s website has some pictures of the illusion and some more info.If you’re in the area, check out his show and let us know how it looks.
Congratulations to Timothy for furthering our art by pushing the envelope.Good luck!
His web page will be in the Inside Magic Links of Fame as well.If you have a link you would like to offer, click the Links tab and contribute.
German Magic Legend Thorsten Strotmann – who looks too young to be a legend – will be doing a blindfold drive along 12 miles of mountain road in
Austria.
He’s been practicing the test for six months and hopes to have the winding path memorized so that when he dons a steel mask and black sack over his head, he’ll be able to negotiate the way.
The police will close the course for either his safety or the safety of other drivers.Formula One driver ‘Strizl’ Stuck will be riding shotgun but will not be helping the magician.
We wish him the best of luck on this ride and we can tell from the publicity he is already getting.
After all, we heard about here in Mystic Hollow, Michigan and we only get two channels on TV (both C-SPAN)– that it will likely be a big success.
On
the very same stage that Houdini performed his escape from a
burglar-proof safe, The International Brotherhood of Magicians of the
Philadelphia area will present their Cavalcade of Magic 2003 at the
famous Colonial Theater on Saturday.
Eric Paul ? President of Ring 6 ? will be the host of the 90 minute shows scheduled for 11:30 am and 3:30 pm.The price is definitely right: $7.00 gets you in and all kids get a free magic trick.
The
Cavalcade of Magic has been running for several years but this will be
the first time it takes place in the Colonial Theater.The Cavalcade will help celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the theater.Over a dozen magicians will perform on stage and there will be strolling magicians throughout the theater.
It was on this same stage in 1917, that the great Harry Houdini accepted a challenge to escape from a “burglar-proof” safe.
Check out Eric Paul’s website. It
is very well done and certainly supports the great news we’ve heard
about him: that he is not only one of the funniest magicians around but
certainly one of the busiest. We’ll put him in the Inside Magic Links of Fame.
German Magic Legend 
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