The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported a story that brought back fond memories for us here.
A while back, Inside Magic reported on the comings and goings at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. You remember, don’t you? Dixie Dooley was losing his space at the hotel and another family of performers was discussing whether to stay.
The point of the article way back when was to note the incredible pressure upon magicians (and other acts) to “cover their nut” in the high-stakes world of “four-walled shows.”
Is it coming back to you now? Remember we talked about the Amazing Johnathan’s move from Downtown to the Riviera where he had a one-year contract essentially subletting a four-walled theater?
Well, it’s amazing how fast a year goes by. AJ is heading down the strip to the beautiful Sahara property and not looking back.
Why? Can’t he, like, you know, keep a job?
Imagine you were living on your own, your parents didn’t send you rent money, you barely made it by dancing on street corners and by pretending to eat Drano washed down by Windex. Now, imagine people liked you, they really liked you. They told their friends about you and soon, you had entire rooms full of people screaming your name, laughing at your jokes before you even say them, worshipping your creativity, trying to touch your hair when you were at a stall in the men’s room. (The last one may be unique to us — the point is made, though. You’re a hit!)
Now the man that rents the street corner from the real man; you know, The Man, gets jealous. The landlord doesn’t have to pay anymore for the street corner — some would say it wasn’t much of a street corner until you came along and stapled playing cards to the face of a beautiful and hysterical comedic psychic.
The landlord says, “Hey, love your act. I love it so much; I’m going to double your rent for this year.”
You say, “no way!”
The landlord says, “Way.”
You’re bumming. You are making more money because more people are coming to see you but that’s just paying for all the high-tech black art gear and advertisements.
You say to the landlord, “Dude, why would you go and do this to me? I’m pulling in tons of traffic past your other shows. That’s good all around. Don’t you care?”
Penny “Psychic Tanya” Wiggins
The landlord puts his Phillies Blunt out on your assistant’s blonde head.
“That’s just the point. You’re taking away from my crowds. They’re coming here to see either your show, Crazy Girls, or An Evening at La Cage. They decide to see your show and so my shows suffer. I know I don’t have to pay much for costumes to either of the nudie, adult extravaganzas and the music is all pre-recorded, but still, I have to… Continue reading The Amazing Johnathan Leaves Riviera for the Sahara
It is the policy of Inside Magic to provide prompt and full corrections, retractions, and apologies when caught. Rather than post ten to fifteen corrections/apologies a day for the errors made the previous day, Inside Magic posts the more significant notices as a group.
Inside Magic reserves the right to post these corrections on slow news days or when it suspects no one is actually reading. Inside Magic also reserves the right to post the corrections in a confusing manner — such as in the format of a "letter to the editor" or "question."
Inside Magic assumes no responsibility for anything or for anyone but does very much regret its so-called "stalking" or "autograph seeking" or "trying to grab or grapple" a certain famous magician (female) during a post-convention party on mainland Pennsylvania.
Inside Magic does admit the gender of the alleged victim of Inside Magic's zealous devotion is not relevant but mentions the magician was a "she" only to look less freaky.
Inside Magic also notes it has returned virtually all of the pairs of shoes it borrowed from the hotel room of the certain famous woman magician.
In the June 14th, 1999 European edition, Inside Magic inadvertently suggested a certain photograph had "scratch-and-sniff" properties. Inside Magic regrets the unfortunate frustration of tens of European readers as they scratched and sniffed their computer monitors. Additionally, Inside Magic apologizes to the estate of Oscar(r) Winning Actress Shelly Winters, the subject of the questionable photograph.
As part of a long-running advertisement on matchbook covers in the Southern United States, Inside Magic challenged users to "draw Hoppy and win a magic-art scholarship." While the contest was legitimate, and 'Hoppy – the Crystal Meth Rabbit' was easy to draw, Inside Magic should have instructed the contestant to remove the matches before sending in their entries.
While not admitting responsibility, Inside Magic has offered its apology and insurance policy limits to the central postal facilities of Mystic Hollow, Michigan for their unfortunate and unexplainable conflagration. Inside Magic also regrets its suggestion that rabbits in general, and 'Hoppy' specifically, are more 'attractive and enjoyable when hopped-up on Scootch.'
'Hopped-up on Scootch' is the trademark of Boarded-Up Crack Den, Inc. of Davison, California.
Thomas J. writes to Inside Magic: "Where has David Blaine gone? I'll tell you where. He's been disappeared by the forces that be, that's where! Check it out. Why would his last trick be him sitting in a glass box for 44-days?
The title isn’t really a negative. We are thanking you for sticking with Inside Magic despite receiving nothing in the way of newsletters this week.
Thank you to everybody concerned about the newsletter server.
Because we know the law like a backpalm, we paid six months in advance for the newsletter service and have learned a valuable lesson they must have skipped in law school.
Don’t pay in advance for services.
We have been promised it will be up and around later today (Saturday). And we were just getting on a roll. We will be looking for a new system — perhaps bringing the whole project in-house to our own servers.
We’ll keep you updated.
In the category of positive, exciting news: Inside Magic’s Garage Sale Area is coming back. We have it customized and ready to roll. You’ll be able to load pictures of your items, write your own text, set your own price, and even take payment through Paypal. This magic-oriented classifieds area will be live at midnight, April 17th (Saturday night/Sunday Morning). Get your items ready.
Snazzy New Logo
We gave a lecture on Magic and the Law to our local magic club. It went alright, we think. For some reason we were more nervous talking about law to magicians than talking about magic to lawyers, or performing magic for an audience, or arguing a case to a jury.
Go figure.
The lecture notes are loaded on our new Magic Wiki and a link will be set up so you can access, add to it, edit it, and comment.
Thank you again for your kind words during the newsletter outage. We are fortunate to have readers like you.
The title isn’t really a negative. We are thanking you for sticking with Inside Magic despite receiving nothing in the way of newsletters this week.
Thank you to everybody concerned about the newsletter server.
Because we know the law like a backpalm, we paid six months in advance for the newsletter service and have learned a valuable lesson they must have skipped in law school.
Don’t pay in advance for services.
We have been promised it will be up and around later today (Saturday). And we were just getting on a roll. We will be looking for a new system — perhaps bringing the whole project in-house to our own servers.
We’ll keep you updated.
In the category of positive, exciting news: Inside Magic’s Garage Sale Area is coming back. We have it customized and ready to roll. You’ll be able to load pictures of your items, write your own text, set your own price, and even take payment through Paypal. This magic-oriented classifieds area will be live at midnight, April 17th (Saturday night/Sunday Morning). Get your items ready.
Snazzy New Logo
We gave a lecture on Magic and the Law to our local magic club. It went alright, we think. For some reason we were more nervous talking about law to magicians than talking about magic to lawyers, or performing magic for an audience, or arguing a case to a jury.
Go figure.
The lecture notes are loaded on our new Magic Wiki and a link will be set up so you can access, add to it, edit it, and comment.
Thank you again for your kind words during the newsletter outage. We are fortunate to have readers like you.
We look forward to Mike Weatherford’s Thursday column all week. He usually has some of the bird’s-eye-lowdown on the magic-skinny in Glitter Gulch.
Mr. Weatherford did not disappoint this week. Actually, he may have disappointed fans of Dirk Arthur with his review of the magician’s new show.
Before we turn to the review, let’s get a lay of the land.
Mr. Arthur has taken over the Tropicana stage recently vacated by our friend Rick Thomas. Mr. Thomas moved up the strip to The Stardust where he shares the Wayne Newton Theater with Wayne Newton. So far, it all makes sense.
Melinda Saxe, the First Lady of Magic and our all-time favorite magician who happens to be beautiful, was produced by her brother, David Saxe. (By the way, Melinda beat out several other beautiful magicians including Francis Willard, Jinger Kalin, and David Copperfield).
Mr. Saxe produces V The Ultimate Variety Show and our favorite The Show Girls of Magic starring Steve Daly as Tiny Bubbles. Mr. Saxe agreed to produce and direct Mr. Arthur’s new show at the Tropicana.
Wayne Newton also appears in the Wayne Newton Theater.
Everything is in order now.
So, what does Mr. Weatherford think of the Xtreme Magic starring Dirk Arthur?
His review’s sub-head gives it away: “Sleight of Hand, Slight of Stature. Dirk Arthur covers up his lack of stage presence with leggy dancers, big cats and bigger contraptions.”
Mr. Saxe and Mr. Arthur worked together to play up the show’s strengths while minimizing is apparent weaknesses. “To compensate for what the star lacks in stage presence, they substitute leggy female dancers, big cats and bigger stage contraptions.”
The pace is quick, very quick. The show is scheduled to run 55 minutes but lasted just 45 minutes the day Mr. Weatherford watched.
Mr. Saxe knows how to put on a great show. He claims he developed an axiom proven successful with his sister’s show. “If you can’t say anything clever, don’t say anything at all.”
Mr. Weatherford was discouraged by Mr. Arthur’s lines. For his final illusion, the magician tells the audience, “I would like to present our final illusion.” When Mr. Arthur appears in the place of another character, he accentuates the moment with the classic, “Hey-Hey!”
(As all die-hard Chicago Cubs’ fans know, “Hey-Hey!” was invented by Jack Brickhouse of WGN to describe home-runs).
Mr. Weatherford observes:
Arthur’s play for headliner status has been hampered by just this inability to create a distinctive star presence. It’s not that he’s unlikable. Just that he’s not memorably assertive.
With his short stature and nasal voice, he comes off more like a cheerful stage manager, guiding the cabinets in and out of position.
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