Inside Magic is not here to pressure anyone into any belief — other than magic is worth loving. I’ve opened the “Religious Magic” section to include articles and news that might not otherwise be noted in the other categories.
I have intentionally not named it “Gospel Magic” so as to encourage an inter-faith dialogue. I thought I would start it out with my experiences. I hope you’ll share your thoughts and ideas for stories.
Read On . . .
I had a friend in college who burned all of his great magic equipment ? including a very nice Sucker Sliding Die Box and a large Nest of Boxes. He was convinced that being a “magician” was to dabble in the darker arts and thus put him on the wrong side of the eternal balance sheet.“Magicians are going to hell,” he told me.
I sure hoped not.
I didn’t want to go to hell but I also didn’t want to burn my equipment or stop performing.
First of all, I didn’t have much equipment ? I was more of sleight of hand guy with cards and coins ? so I’d have to burn my fingers or destroy my half dollars.I was pretty sure destroying money was a crime and I had no desire to burn my fingers.
Second of all, I thought he must be wrong.God couldn’t want to send me to hell because I did “Cards Across” or Matrix or “Card to Wallet.”
God may have other reasons that I would be deserving of eternal damnation but likely not because of my magic performances.And fortunately, God sent his son to save me from what I truly deserved.
Scott, my friend, explained that magic was an act of deception, of lying.
We magicians were lying to our audiences and thereby inviting them into the realm of the Great Deceiver.
“Not the way I do it,” I said.“Most the time they can tell I’m palming my cards.No one is deceived.”
“You’re missing the point,” he said. “We are asking people to suspend their belief and for a moment believe that we have supernatural powers that allow us to do the physically impossible.”
I had to point out that even on my best day, my card to wallet looked like a guy with a really stiff hand taking too long to look for his wallet.
Hetold me that the Bible itself says magic is a sin.
He had me stumped.I am Catholic so we didn’t read the Bible that much.
I countered with logic.
If it is a sin, why did magicians come see the baby Jesus in the manger?”
“They were wise men,” he said.
“So you’re saying that you can’t be wise and be a magician?”I was puzzled.
Press Agent: Siegfried & Roy Will Never Perform Again. According to Claudia Dressler, Siegfried & Roy?s German Spokesperson, Roy has “good and bad days.” But she says nobody knows if he’ll ever be the same again — and that the one certainty is the duo will never return to the stage.
Read On . . .
The Las Vegas show was shut down last year after the attack. The Neue Post, a German weekly, reports Roy is still using a wheelchair, but is able to walk several hundred steps during therapy with a walker.
In March Roy said he was on the mend and was working hard with a physical therapist.
“You know, I almost had two feet in the grave, but now I’m doing better,” the weekly Bunte quoted Roy as saying in a telephone interview from his Las Vegas home.
Siegfried has downplayed Roy?s injuries from the attack. He said a stroke Roy suffered afterward resulted from blood pressure medication that sometimes made him feel faint.
Siegfried is working on an animated NBC series scheduled to debut in the fall about a family of white lions that perform in their show.
Congratulations to Chris Cochrane and the team behind the upcoming Houdini Days. The Governor of Wisconsin, Jim Doyle, brought support and significant funds for the festival. Mr. Cochrane has worked without a break with the single goal of establishing Houdini Days as the premier magic conclave. We can reward him as well by circling September 2 – 5 on our calendars and committing now to journey to Appleton, Wisconsin. Visit the Houdini Days site — it’s incredible. Click here.
Read On . . .
Tourism promotional efforts in the Fox Cities received a welcome boost today when Governor Jim Doyle delivered a $29,750 check from the Department of Tourism to members of Appleton Downtown Inc. The funds were awarded through the Department’s Joint Effort Marketing, or “JEM” program, and will help the organization promote the Annual Houdini Days Magic Festival scheduled for September 2-5, 2004.
The large return on investment is just one reason why Houdini Days was chosen to receive the state promotional grant. Organizers estimate the number of visitors expected to attend the two-day event will double from last year to 15,000 to 20,000 people. It is anticipated that the total economic impact for the event will top $571,500, benefiting businesses throughout the Fox Cities area. The Fox Cities Convention & Visitor Bureau estimates the economic impact of room nights alone will be $144,000.
“The Houdini name still has a very broad appeal, and has become linked with Appleton, Wisconsin,” Governor Doyle said. “The celebration of Houdini’s amazing life will give families, magic lovers, and visitors a new and exciting reason to come to the Fox Cities and have a significant impact on area businesses.”
The grant money, matched by local promotional dollars, will help cover the cost of marketing the event through advertising and public relations. These promotional efforts will target travelers within 90 minutes of the Fox Cities area as well as other major markets in Wisconsin and northern Illinois.
The JEM program is available to non-profit organizations for promotion of their Wisconsin tourism destinations or events. The state funds up to 75 percent of a project’s first year of advertising and marketing costs. The program also offers grant support during the second and third year of a new project, but in decreasing amounts each year in hopes that the project will eventually become self-sufficient.
For more information about the Houdini Days Magic Festival:
As my mother used to describe our bidet, it?s not to be missed. But here we are talking not about some piece of plumbing; we?re talking about two new features here at Inside Magic. The Inside Magic Club House and the Inside Magic Classifieds are ready to move from beta to wherever one moves from beta; non-beta, I guess.
Read On . . .
A Fun Place to Play and Learn.Inside Magic?s Club House features general topic areas, some previously identified categories and a special Magician?s Only Section. We tried to do a Magician?s Only Section in the old days of Inside Magic but found the technology a little intimidating.At that time, I knew nothing about MySql databases and PHP. Now I know more but only enough to keep things running.
If you are a magician, you will know the answer to the password question that is posed before entering.The question will change weekly but once you?ve answered correctly, you should be able to enter without having to answer again ? providing your browser allows for cookies.
A Neat and Free Place to Make Serious Cash. The Inside Magic Classifieds takes the place of the former Inside Magic Yard Sale.We sold the software for the Yard Sale to a young woman trying to start her variant of eBay that sells only used, knock-off Beanie Babies. If you do a Google search for ?Snot-Nose the Cold-Giving Bear? you?ll find her site and our software.
There are few things we won’t discuss on the pages of Inside Magic.We do avoid politics but talk about religion.We try not to criticize but do offer suggestions for improvement.We do promote new magic but are ever-mindful of the property rights of inventors.
We received a note from George Robinson, Jr., owner / inventor / manufacturer behind Viking Magic of McAllen, Texas.Mr. Robinson cares about quality as much as he cares about the ethics of magic.Along with Walter “Zaney” Blaney, he has fought the good fight to stop those who would profit from another magician’s idea.
Mr. Robinson wanted to bring to our attention that he believed his “Badlands Bob” effect had been appropriated and renamed as “Obedient Die.”I owned a Badlands Bob and thought the world of the effect.It is well-made, has a great story, and works well in intimate close-up and the prop itself looks aged and authentic.
I looked for the Obedient Die and found it listed on the magic producer, Magic Makers, website.I found a dealer who was selling the effect in the retail market.I contacted the retail dealer and asked if it was a rip-off of the Badlands Bob, and if it was, that he stop selling it.He wrote to me that it was not a “rip-off” and that he had proof that he had rights to sell the effect.
Mr. Robinson told me that he too had rights to sell the effect.He had purchased the rights from the original manufacturer ? a gentleman with failing eye sight ? a while back.The website, on the other hand, listed the new “Obedient Die” as an “Age Old Magical Puzzle” and therefore, the logic would follow, outside of the proprietary rights of one inventor and in the public domain.
The Obedient Die sells for $12.95 and is manufactured by Magic Makers of Carson City, Nevada.Mr. Robinson’s Badlands Bob costs $45.00 and is made through his Collector’s Workshop in McAllen, Texas.
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