As many of you know, I am not just the owner of a fabulous website dedicated to making self-centered claims about itself.I have a second job, the one that pays the bills in my non-magic world.I am a claims adjuster for a Swiss insurance company that specializes in insuring ?non-traditional and non-stationary entertainment? events and on-going concerns.
Basically, The Basil Insurance Group underwrites carnivals, circuses, side-shows, trade-shows, and stuff.We had a fire in a small town outside of London when a trade-show performer was presenting a new idea for copy paper and demonstrating how it couldn?t catch fire even when the copying machine is over-heating.
It burned down the presentation booth and allegedly destroyed his collection of diamonds that he just happened to have with him.So the booth was going to set back B.I.G. just over $1,200 (₤850.00).No biggie.Heck, we had the booth as evidence.We knew it really existed.The diamonds, however, were gone ? they allegedly burned up, like coal.
Anyway, who cares what I do in my non-magic world?
David Blaine is featured in the Oxford Cherwell today.Actually, he is more than featured, he is beatified by the author who asks at the conclusion:
?Watching Blaine preaching as he exited his box, black scarf and beard billowing in the wind, and listening to the lone voices crying out his name outside the Union, where he speaks tonight, it?s hard not to wonder: David Blaine ? our new graven image??
The article contains some interesting pseudo-psychological analysis asking if everything is a performance piece for Mr. Blaine.The question may be asked by the essay but it is never answered.
The Press Enterprise features an incredible program at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside.The students assembled a group called ?Extreme Magicians? and have taught each other the skills necessary to not only perform a few tricks but to put on a show.The goal of the club is to build self-esteem, and bring community involvement into the school.It sounds like the reason all magic clubs… Continue reading Latest Magic News – January 19, 2004
There?s been a ton of tension around the Inside Magic studios here in Mystic Hollow, Michigan.Those we once considered friends and family have turned into utter animals with large knife-like fingernails (claws) as each pushed for their favorite name for the Inside Magic Mascot.
Well, now we have a winner. We have no friends or appropriate working relationships but frankly, the relationships were kind of shallow and fake.
Paw Lawton?s selections were all in some manner based on bartenders he had known and to whom he owed money.
Missy Rochelle picked just one name and I am guessing she probably sent it in herself.I won?t publish it because: 1) as an employee, she?s not eligible to win Card College Volume One; and 2) it?s either blatantly pornographic or a horrible double entendre.
Kathleen Lakeland selected a couple of good ones and in fact the winner came from her final five.
The winner, after much deliberation, comes from Mickey Ayers and incorporates both the rich history of magic and the dignity every magician deserves ? plus it is something the audience never sees.
Sir Paul McCartney continues to receive press in the UK for the fracas he allegedly began while watching the David Blaine in a Box stunt.The Telegraph ? which seemed to take great joy in attacking Mr. Blaine during the 44 day of endurance ? reports the law enforcement officers want to speak with Sir Paul.
Read the story of the original incident as reported by the Telegraph here.
Read the Mirror?s slightly more ?blue version? of the story here.
David Copperfield has the publicity thing down cold.As we?ve watched him traverse the Southern U.S., we?ve appreciated how he focuses on a different effect for virtually every newspaper article.Today, The Tennessean, quotes Mr. Copperfield on why the Lottery Ticket effect is so special to him:
It is nice to be home after traveling to Las Vegas for the World Magic Seminar.There are so many benefits to being home in our small mansion on the now iced- over LakeMystic just two miles from the Mystic Hollow, Michigan village limits.Here I am graced by family, friends, and familiar faces.
But I also met wonderful new friends and saw some faces that will be familiar the next time we meet.
(I do not believe I have any family in Vegas.I may later though because I ?liberated? a cup full of Sea Monkeys into the canals of the Venetian Hotel and Casino.)
Earl Chaney is a name you will not find on the World Magic Seminar schedule of events or even in a list of the many essential personnel responsible for the Seminar?s smooth running. In fact, he wasn’t even associated with the Seminar but meeting him was one of the highlights of my trip to Vegas.
I was introduced to Mr. Chaney by Steve Daly after we attended the incredible Showgirls of Magic.He joined us all for breakfast and we picked his brain for hours.Somewhere along the line, perhaps when I was finishing my steak and eggs, Mr. Chaney dropped in a Circus shibboleth.It told me that this guy was legit.He was from the inner-sanctum of the circus.He mentioned he was at one time a ?First of May? ? Circus Talk for ?rookie? and usually applied to a rookie clown.
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