The Television Critics Association conclave promoted new cable shows recently
and Criss Angel made quite an impression:
Swishing the foreign objects (needles in a glass of wine) around in
his mouth for added effect, the “edgy illusionist,? whose new TV show begins
Wednesday on A & E, swallows hard. Then he pulls a long piece of thread off
a spool and downs that, too.
“You’re probably wondering where I’m going with this,? Angel said.
Heck no. Everyone in the room knew where Angel was going: to basic cable,
where he’ll join all the other freaks with television shows. If you watch any
reality TV on cable, you know that “reality” is as fungible a concept to, say,
Britney Spears and Kevin Federline as it is to a professional magician.
On one episode of his show “Criss Angel Mindfreak,” Angel makes himself and
other people appear to float in mid-air. It’s a trick he says he’ll do anywhere
there’s a crowd; indeed, his willingness to perform on street corners, in food
courts and at other everyday venues is part of his shtick.
But someone at A & E must have alerted Angel to the deeply cynical nature
of journalists, because we’re getting a safer, less thrilling variation on the
old Harry Houdini needle trick instead.
Angel inhaled, pulled at his belly button and extracted a long piece of
thread, with five needles neatly tied to it, one every few inches.
Dangling the string, he said, “Whoever does the best review of the show gets
to keep this.”
GRRRRROOOOOOOSSSSSSSS!!!!!!
It was interesting to get a non-magician’s view of not only Mr.
Angel but also magic today.
The world of magic is certainly mystifying to the outsider. Not least of the
mysteries is why so many magicians hate David Blaine. Penn and Teller, the
thinking person’s magic act, will be appearing on “Criss Angel Mindfreak”
(starting Wednesday on A & E) this season. They hate Blaine, too.
“The guy has been very successful in what he has done,” Angel said, “but he’s
never done a live show in his life. I’ve performed 600 times on Broadway and
Times Square. I’m not a creation of television.”
Unfortunately there isn’t any further discussion on why Penn and Teller
feel so strongly about David Blaine.
The Green Bay Gazette reports
this morning some expected but still disappointing news.
The Houdini Days Magic Festival has been on and off since Chris Cochrane –
organizer of the incredible event – was critically injured in an automobile accident on the
final day of last year’s very successful event.
?This is a phenomenal event I would like to see continue ? but personally and
physically, I won?t be able to (do it this year),? said Mr. Cochrane. The car
accident crushed both of his legs; requiring operations, 17 screws, two metal
plates, a steel rod and constant rehabilitation. He has at least moved from his
wheelchair to using a cane.
?To put on a world-class level festival like this takes approximately a year
to plan,? Mr. Cochrane said.
In the run-up to last years festival, Mr. Cochrane spent almost every waking
moment promoting, organizing, re-organizing, scheduling, cajoling, and creating.
His efforts were tireless and it seemed unreasonable to expect him to keep up
the pace this year when he needed to dedicate his energies toward rehabilitation
and combating the incredible pain.
Still, we were selfish and hoped against hope it could be done.
If there was anyone who could pull it off it would be Mr. Cochrane.
Mary Ann Wepfer, marketing director of Appleton Downtown Inc., which
co-sponsored the event for the last two years, shared our sentiments. “It was a
very positive experience, and I feel the businesses enjoyed Houdini Days and the
people it brought downtown,” she said. “We hope that in future years, we can
bring Houdini Days back.’”
A scaled-down tribute to the master of illusion ? Halloween with Houdini ? is
planned Oct. 29 at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel.
With wrists and ankles shackled, Mike Schroeder of The Comedy Magic of Mike
(Cochrane?s former partner in The Comedy Magic of Mike & Chris) will be
submerged in the Radisson?s swimming pool trying to free himself before he runs
out of breath. The event also will feature the magic and escape artistry of last
year’s first prize winner Trevor Motycka,Marv Roth, Bruce
Hetzler, Danny Magic, Lou Lepore, Lee
Haushalter, Stephen Weis and Nate Nygren. Proceeds will benefit the Fox
Cities Children?s Museum.
Mr. Cochrane issued a public
statement on the Houdini Days website:
The Green Bay Gazette reports
this morning some expected but still disappointing news.
The Houdini Days Magic Festival has been on and off since Chris Cochrane –
organizer of the incredible event – was critically injured in an automobile accident on the
final day of last year’s very successful event.
?This is a phenomenal event I would like to see continue ? but personally and
physically, I won?t be able to (do it this year),? said Mr. Cochrane. The car
accident crushed both of his legs; requiring operations, 17 screws, two metal
plates, a steel rod and constant rehabilitation. He has at least moved from his
wheelchair to using a cane.
?To put on a world-class level festival like this takes approximately a year
to plan,? Mr. Cochrane said.
In the run-up to last years festival, Mr. Cochrane spent almost every waking
moment promoting, organizing, re-organizing, scheduling, cajoling, and creating.
His efforts were tireless and it seemed unreasonable to expect him to keep up
the pace this year when he needed to dedicate his energies toward rehabilitation
and combating the incredible pain.
Still, we were selfish and hoped against hope it could be done.
If there was anyone who could pull it off it would be Mr. Cochrane.
Mary Ann Wepfer, marketing director of Appleton Downtown Inc., which
co-sponsored the event for the last two years, shared our sentiments. “It was a
very positive experience, and I feel the businesses enjoyed Houdini Days and the
people it brought downtown,” she said. “We hope that in future years, we can
bring Houdini Days back.’”
A scaled-down tribute to the master of illusion ? Halloween with Houdini ? is
planned Oct. 29 at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel.
With wrists and ankles shackled, Mike Schroeder of The Comedy Magic of Mike
(Cochrane?s former partner in The Comedy Magic of Mike & Chris) will be
submerged in the Radisson?s swimming pool trying to free himself before he runs
out of breath. The event also will feature the magic and escape artistry of last
year’s first prize winner Trevor Motycka,Marv Roth, Bruce
Hetzler, Danny Magic, Lou Lepore, Lee
Haushalter, Stephen Weis and Nate Nygren. Proceeds will benefit the Fox
Cities Children?s Museum.
Mr. Cochrane issued a public
statement on the Houdini Days website:
Mark Twain writes at the end of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
So endeth this chronicle. It being strictly a history of a boy, it
must stop here; the story could not go much further without becoming the history
of a man. When one writes a novel about grown people, he knows exactly where to
stop — that is, with a marriage; but when he writes of juveniles, he must stop
where he best can.
Somber prose for those of us past the amorphous line between boy and
man.
The Washington
Post featured an article on some young magicians for whom the luster of the
art is fading. It begins with recollections of a train trip back from magic camp
last summer and ends with teenage magicians now finding interests other than
magic.
Nathan Lefkowits of Columbia provides the recollection of the train ride home
from magic camp. He recalled for the author the bewildered stares of the other
passengers as the boys and girls boarded with doves, color-changing
handkerchiefs, and cards from nowhere.
“The reality is that the life of a real, young magician is much more
prosaic than that of Harry Potter and his wand-wielding crew.”
The reporter joined Mr. Lefkowits around his kitchen table to view some of
his collection:
There were topsy-turvy bottles as well as a squared circle and
change bag, which are used to make things disappear. He had a book titled
“Prethoughts — Mentalism” and another by legendary magician Harry Houdini. Also
on the table was a DVD called “The Self-Levitation Video,” which Lefkowits
dismissed as not worth the effort.
The young magician learned to love the art during an after-school program in
elementary school. He found the Harry Potter books, began to practice, and meet
up with other young magicians in the appropriately-named Society of Young
Magicians.
Mr. Lefkowits moved on to purchase effects, enter contests, and then
performing for birthday parties at a healthy $30.00 per half-hour show. It was
intoxicating for the young man. “I get completely lost in it. I don’t even think
while I’m doing it.”
Mr. Lefkowits now uses the hours formerly devoted to practice to perfect his
driving skills, pack and listen to his iPod, and studying. “It seems that for
ordinary Muggles, magic loses its luster when you don’t need it to fend off an
evil wizard who obliterated your family.”
Lest anyone think the world of magic is all fun, games, and neat props; The Dallas Star-Telegram gives us the depressing nit and grit of the working magician’s life.
We usually refer you to the stories we find but this one may be too intense. Please, do not read the article if you have any doubts about your role in the fun world of Magic. Even then, read it with a buddy so you can thwart any attempts at self-injury or worse.
The article purports to be a profile of the working magician in these times of video magic. It is not an upper.
We are introduced to three magicians working and working it. One of the three is changing his name to fit his new character. James Veltrop is a salesman at Dallas’ Magic Etc. and is quoted as saying he hasn’t met someone working magic full-time in his eight years at the shop.
Performers change their names to fit market niches that may or may not exist in a desperate attempt to be booked. The reporter notes:
Names are ephemeral in the incredibly shrinking community of working magicians. Professor Moon, who also goes by Gran-Da-Dee, knows he has to be willing to change his name, his act and his whole approach to magic to appeal to kids in the Age of Harry Potter. The 72-year-old Arlington native has tried to make a full-time living as a performer ever since he left Tandy Corp. in 1985. But it hasn’t been easy.
“Not too many can manage that, and we all do just about anything legal,” Earl Warren says, chuckling. “When I have to, I even do singing telegrams. At various times I have as many as 15 agents looking for business for me. You really have to be constantly on the lookout for work. It doesn’t just come to you.”
Okey Doke. Hang on while we get this noose fixed up good and tight.
The blame lies not on magicians per se; but the world in which we practice. At least that’s the article’s hook.
For a generation of kids raised on Harry Potter and David Blaine, sophisticated special effects and video games, not to mention TV specials that spell out how tricks are done, the old-time magician is becoming as pass? as, well, pulling a rabbit out of a hat. The fraternity of dyed-in-the-wool magicians is being forced to change with the times — or simply fade away.
And yet, amidst the nuclear winter, a flower grows. The article describes with what seems to be a pitying tone Ken Stewart’s decision to go into magic full-time.
“A couple of months ago, I had something almost like a revelation,” he says. “I’ve worked as ‘Uncle Ken & Topper’ — Topper is my bunny rabbit who lives in a top hat — and I thought, ‘Uncle Ken doesn’t have any punch.’ Working here, I’m around wigs and costumes, and I started trying on hats. I thought I’d remake my act to have a different hat for each trick. I’ll be ‘The Magical Glad Hatter.’ ”
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