David London

New City Chicago has a great piece titled “The Magical City: A New Generation of Magicians Mesmerize Chicago” in this weeks edition.

The article’s thesis that Chicago was once and will again be “a magical city” is supported by its review of the town’s historical and current love for the art.

Fifty years ago, Chicago was a magical city. Literally. It was the bustling center of magic in the United States and the unlikely birthplace of what would become known as close-up magic, in which magicians would mesmerize and mystify viewers in lounges and restaurants, stepping off the stage and right up next to their captivated spectators.

Home to many magic bars and numerous restaurants that featured magical performances nightly, not to mention a plethora of downtown magic shops that were located within blocks of one another, there was definitely magic in the Windy City air.

Magic hasn’t passed on, though. It is not relegated to “simple, sleight-of-hand tricks that often incorporate playing cards, rubber balls and paper cups, linking rings or–most notably–rabbits being heaved out of hats much too small to hold them and the shouting of nonsensical words like ‘Abracadabra!’”

The author credits magicians and the audiences who love them for keeping the flame of magic alive. Magic in the Windy City is not simply “a quirky form of entertainment that’s best left to kids’ birthday parties.”

The article profiles Eugene Burger, David Parr, Arthur Trace, and newcomer, David London.

Mr. Burger recalls the old days, when “there were nightclubs and the hotels like the Hilton and Palmer House that had shows all the time. There were many magicians in town that would come to perform at these shows. Then, people started moving to the suburbs and things all changed.”

(By the way, if you haven’t checked out Mr. Burger’s website, do yourself a favor and do it now.  His essays are outstanding.  We really enjoyed Brief Meetings with Gifts that Last Forever. Our sister seminary in Evanston, Illinois was one of the many homes for the theologian and great thinker, Alan Watts.  Mr. Burger observed Mr. Watts truly enjoyed being “Alan Watts” and took this revelation as a gift from the meeting.)

The tradition of the Chicago magic Roundtable is again returning to support the magic community in the city. David Parr, magician and co-host of the revitalized gathering held the last Thursday of every month, notes magicians may perform in the…
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Patrick Hubble

This morning’s edition of the Lynchberg News and Advance asks the musical question, Magician or Mortician.

The paper comments on the similarity in costume between the two professions as modeled by “dignified funeral home director” and magician, Patrick Hubble.

Mr. Hubble is a member of the Society of American Magicians with a keen interest in magic in most of its forms.

Mr. Hubble has loved magic since he was just a young boy, through his years in the Navy, and while he studied mortuary science at L.A.’s Cypress College.

His hands are agile and skillful. Apparently those qualities make for a great mortician as well as a great magician. Mr. Hubble told reporters, “I had the disposition for it, to be able to handle being around death,” he explained. The amateur magician enjoyed his hobby and profession for similar reasons. “I like working with my hands and the restorative art came naturally to me. There’s a quirky, eccentric side to a lot of undertakers, too … I guess I’ve got a little of that kookiness in me as well to deal in an industry like this.”

The job of a full-time mortician is “challenging and stressful,” but “rewarding. After you’ve had to pick up deceased loved ones, when someone comes up and gives you a hug and thanks you, to know that you’re helping to give closure and are part of the healing process is a reward.”

“Patrick the Practicing Magician” works at local nursing homes to provide balance in his life. Makes sense: “I have a job that deals with death, so I gravitate toward something happy. Everybody enjoys magic and I like to give back to the community.”

Mr. Hubble receives accolades from his peers in magic shops and funeral homes. He believes compassion makes a difference in dealing with people as a magician or mortician.

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Paris Hilton: Might Sue

Fresh off signing a new deal with ABC to produce four more specials, David Blaine announced he’ll help re-define magic to mean whatever he thinks it is.

The 32 year-old magicians will perform a high-wire act in Manhattan on Halloween for the first of the new specials. Mr. Blaine describes the stunt as “easy and fun.”

“Basically, it’s something that’s been done in the circuses, based on the old high-wire acts,” Mr. Blaine told the Associated Press on Tuesday. “It’s like family entertainment, this one. It’s my easiest one. I want it to be simplistic and reachable for everybody. I was even going to call this one ‘Easy and Fun.’”

There was no word on whether Paris Hilton, the Hilton Hotel heiress, will sue for trademark infringement over Mr. Blaine’s use of the title “easy and fun.”

After leaving his 44-day fat farm experiment over the River Thames, Mr. Blaine has fallen from the media’s radar. His re-entry into our lives will begin this Sunday on the cable network TLC as they broadcast Mr. Blaine’s past three specials.

The programs include, David Blaine’s Vertigo, when he stood on a small platform atop a 30-metre-high pillar for 35 hours in midtown Manhattan, and David Blaine: Frozen in Time, when he suspended himself inside a 6-ton block of ice for 62 hours in New York’s Times Square.

Mr. Blaine bristled at the suggestion his stunts “no longer constitute magic in the traditional sense.” He believes that is too narrow a perspective. “I think magic is whatever the individual defines it to be. I say it’s all magic.”

Yes, but is it also entertainment?

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