It may be the summer heat finally making its way up I-75 to Michigan or my new sense of peace that comes from any sort of 30-day regimen of psychotropic medicine, counseling, shock therapy, aversion therapy and aroma therapy.
What ever the cause, though, as I sniff my small flask of elderberry and violets, I have found a great truth. I prefer newsletters or catalogs for magic over the electronic version. Maybe you are like me, and if you are, we should form a support group and embrace right before we bang a drum and declare our freedom from negativity. We should also indulge in three of my favorite paper newsletters.
Read On . . .
Hank Lee’s EXTRA, Laflin’s Magic HAPPY MAGIC and, a new entry, FAB Magic’s THE DECEIVER, illustrate all that is good about paper versus electronic magic advertising.
The benefits of a non-computer based newsletter should be obvious to anyone who does their reading in the restroom of truck stops, McDonalds or their own home. I used to bring a mini-computer with me into the bathroom but had an unfortunate misunderstanding where others in the facility objected to me plugging the wire on one side of the area and stretching it under three stalls to get to my reading area. I think they were also upset because I was in the ladies room. (It’s cleaner and they have more stalls).
Hank Lee asked his customers last year whether they preferred the EXTRA in paper or on the Internet. According to his research, the votes were almost dead even. In fact, in the case of IN RE HANK LEE v. ACLU, the United States Supreme Court stopped his recount of the votes before he could verify the final tally. He decided to proceed with both media.
Hank does a bang-up job with his newsletter. Each trick is described in words that are actually written by someone at his company. Often, magic shop owners will use whatever text they receive from Fun Inc., Murphy’s or Robbins. As a consequence, you can find the same typo in the ad copy from eight different retail dealers. Hank takes it a step further.
He has line drawings produced for each effect. You won’t see the same, worn-out, over-exposed, gimmick-hiding pictures with some guy or gal with dirty fingernails holding the prop against the eight close-up pads assembled to represent a background. The drawings are true to the actual appearance of the effect and usually highlight the thing that makes the trick special.
Before we get to the serious magic news, I wanted to bring to your attention a really neat article in this month?s Genii. Trixie Bond has recorded her experience at the famous and exclusive 4F conclave. Trixie included the observations of three other female magicians to provide several perspectives on the close-up convention held this year in Batavia, New York. Check it out.
Do Not Smell This Casket
One of the questions we get here at Inside Magic is, ?What?s the longest anyone has ever spent buried underground with only a breathing tube, turban and a ruby??
Well, we don?t know the previous record holder but Zdenek Zahradka ? known to his fans as ?Fakir Ben Ghan? ? made it ten days through sheer willpower. His reward may be a Guinness World Record or at least a Guinness.
Zdenek Zahradka
Fakir Ben Ghan has received incredible press for his buried underground stunt.Newspapers and Internet sites around the world covered the event with far more reverence and less skepticism than they did David Blaine?s 44 days in a plexiglass box or his buried alive illusion.
Bill Martin received excellent coverage for his historical portrayal of Harry Houdini as part of the Ohio Chautauqua circuit or tour. He was one of several entertainers on the traveling show to take on the persona of an historical figure to both entertain and educate audiences.
Chautauqua 2004 runs Wednesday through Sunday at the Ohio State University Marion campus. This year?s Chautauqua is an impressive continuation of the century old tradition. The tour is named for the turn of the century when chautauquas were known as a national forum for the open discussion of politics, economics, international relations, literature, science and religion.
Bill Martin is a magician, illusionist, escape artist, mentalist, hypnotist, behavioral therapist, and full-time entertainer. Bill performs comedy and magic shows for adults and children such as, “The Great and Magnificent Swami Salami.”
He has performed as Harry Houdini many times for the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities and the Michigan Endowment for the Arts and humanities. He has spent his life studying Harry Houdini and has learned to duplicate the famous escapes and illusions from that era.
We are hoping Mr. Martin will bring his historical show to the Mystic Hollow area of Michigan this summer. As you know there is an intense rivalry between Ohio and Michigan and even though the border is no longer monitored and checkpoints have been virtually removed, there is still the deep-seated antipathy that makes traveling to either state a dangerous trek. But we are willing to make that trek if it means seeing Mr. Martin?s show. How is that for love of magic?
Inside Magic had a very nice article on Andre Kole and I applaud him for the work he has done and continues to do. The article did bring to mind a point that is argumentive to some minds: That Christ was a magician.
It is interesting how many people claim that Christ was a magician, and many of them, it seems, do not have the credentials to do so, including some “famous magicians.”
Of course, often times a “little knowledge,” can make for inaccurate assumptions, and without a thorough study of the scriptures concerning Christ, it would be easy to make certain assumptions about “some” of the miracles He did.
The simplest way I can state this is by comparing a “lay person’s” description of a magic effect they witness, and their “explanation” of how the trick was done. As magicians, we have all heard these “explanations” many times. If we took these “explanations” of the modus operand, and attempted to do the effect, naturally it would not work, and the effect would not be the same.
Example: “A magician can change water to wine just like Christ did.” It would be a natural assumption, after seeing a magician do the water to wine trick, until you read and study the passages concerning Christ’s first miracle.
First, Christ was reluctant to change the water to wine as “his time had not yet come“, and he only did the miracle at his mother’s request. A reading reveals that the wine was the “finest.” Saved until last, which was not a common practice. It was fresh water poured into 6 ceremonial water pots, which held 30 to 40 gallons each, which changed to the finest “aged” wine. It was not a performance. It was a request by his mother that Christ complied with reluctantly.
Nowhere in the passage does it indicate that the wedding guests were aware that Christ had performed a miracle, only that they were shocked to find that the “finest… Continue reading Jesus Christ, The Greatest Magician?
Today we get a taste for the extreme in our Art and the relative fuzziness of the border surrounding magic.There were a couple of stories in the news today that blended in with the cold blooded beheading of three innocent men by terrorists.
On one side of the globe, we have a Pakistani ?Black Magician? convicted of murdering one child and soon to be charged with two more child murders.Here in the states, a very interesting concept hits the tube with the premier of T.H.E.M. (?Totally Hidden Extreme Magic?).The show promises to be a combination of ?David Copperfield and Hidden Camera.?
Finally, we have the venerable Head Chopper or Guillotine illusion now seen in the reflected glow of the over-played video of beheadings.Sounds like an uplifting article?It gets better right at the end.
Read On . . .
The question before the house: is there some common thread between a story of a child murderer who uses and teaches Black Magic, the new show T.H.E.M., which premiered on NBC last night, Bizarre Magic and violence in mainstream magic.
Before we connect the dots between these strange islands of thought, let’s define our terms.Murder is the taking of a human life. (Note, Murder is not defined here as the taking of “an innocent human life.”One may justify the murder by suggesting there was an absolute need to kill but it is a justification not nullification.Killing Hitler was justified but it still would be murder.)
Black Magic is not Magic.It is more a kin to necromancy or witchcraft or spiritualism than Magic as magicians use the term.Bizarre Magic is not Black… Continue reading Mind Numbing Magic
Recent Comments