For Siegfried & Roy – Good News, Bad News and Controversy
First, the good news . . .
The Associated Press issued great news last night: Roy Horn walked under his own power and unassisted into Steve Wynn’s new Las Vegas Resort to see Avenue Q.
Roy’s birthday on October 3rd, will also mark the two-year
anniversary of the terrible on-stage attack by Montecore, a 400 pound
tiger.
Siegfried attended the presentation with Roy and walked along side but did not need to help or support his partner.
The Duo’s manager said Roy’s rehabilitation and progress will make October 3rd even more special.
“We’re going to continue to celebrate his birthday and his life,”
Mr. Yuman said, emphasizing the inspirational elements of Horn overcoming
adversity.
Roy has been walking without the aid of a rolling walker after
months of six- to eight-hour days in physical rehabilitation.
Next, the bad news . . .
This news came at the same time word of Roy’s treating physician passed away following complications from Diabetes. The Insider suggests this will jeopardize Roy’s continued rehabilitation.
The UPI says the doctor treating Roy Horn since his near fatal tiger attack two
years ago has died, putting Horn`s recovery in jeopardy, ‘The Insider’
reports.
Dr. Albert Scheller removed cartilage from Horn`s knee and harvested
healthy stem cells to grow new ones, then re-implanted the new cells
into Horn`s damaged knee, the NBC celebrity news show reported.
Dr. Scheller, who suffered from diabetes, died last month while visiting Siegfried and Roy at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.
And finally, the controversial news . . .
A PETA press-release demands
Feld Entertainment – producers of Siegfried & Roy as well as the
Ringling Brothers Circus – release results of a necropsy of Gildah, the
duo’s long-time elephant star. Inside Magic brought you Siegfried & Roy’s statement marking the elephant’s passing last month.
PETA and Feld are in highly-publicized litigation over Feld’s
alleged mistreatment of animals in the circus and other productions. A
court recently awarded PETA $51,000.00 in sanctions after it found
Feld’s attorneys had intentionally obstructed discovery in their
lawsuit. You can read more about the judicial sanctions against Feld
in Inside Magic’s article here.
Feld did not issue any statement in response to PETA’s most recent demand.
For Siegfried & Roy – Good News, Bad News and Controversy
First, the good news . . .
The Associated Press issued great news last night: Roy Horn walked under his own power and unassisted into Steve Wynn’s new Las Vegas Resort to see Avenue Q.
Roy’s birthday on October 3rd, will also mark the two-year
anniversary of the terrible on-stage attack by Montecore, a 400 pound
tiger.
Siegfried attended the presentation with Roy and walked along side but did not need to help or support his partner.
The Duo’s manager said Roy’s rehabilitation and progress will make October 3rd even more special.
“We’re going to continue to celebrate his birthday and his life,”
Mr. Yuman said, emphasizing the inspirational elements of Horn overcoming
adversity.
Roy has been walking without the aid of a rolling walker after
months of six- to eight-hour days in physical rehabilitation.
Next, the bad news . . .
This news came at the same time word of Roy’s treating physician passed away following complications from Diabetes. The Insider suggests this will jeopardize Roy’s continued rehabilitation.
The UPI says the doctor treating Roy Horn since his near fatal tiger attack two
years ago has died, putting Horn`s recovery in jeopardy, ‘The Insider’
reports.
Dr. Albert Scheller removed cartilage from Horn`s knee and harvested
healthy stem cells to grow new ones, then re-implanted the new cells
into Horn`s damaged knee, the NBC celebrity news show reported.
Dr. Scheller, who suffered from diabetes, died last month while visiting Siegfried and Roy at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.
And finally, the controversial news . . .
A PETA press-release demands
Feld Entertainment – producers of Siegfried & Roy as well as the
Ringling Brothers Circus – release results of a necropsy of Gildah, the
duo’s long-time elephant star. Inside Magic brought you Siegfried & Roy’s statement marking the elephant’s passing last month.
PETA and Feld are in highly-publicized litigation over Feld’s
alleged mistreatment of animals in the circus and other productions. A
court recently awarded PETA $51,000.00 in sanctions after it found
Feld’s attorneys had intentionally obstructed discovery in their
lawsuit. You can read more about the judicial sanctions against Feld
in Inside Magic’s article here.
Feld did not issue any statement in response to PETA’s most recent demand.
The Village Voice reviews the new book on the debate between Harry
Houdini and Sir Arthur Connon Doyle over the existence of an
after-life. Harry Houdini: The Man From Beyond
Gabriel Brownstein’s new book will hit the stores next week but the review gives us watery chops.
We think it is fiction but based a little on real-life: sort of like cable news.
The novel tells the story of “one of the most publicized intellectual
debates of the time. The two argued over the skills of a medium named
Margery by staging seances and bickering over “real-life” photos of
fairies.”
The story is told through “eyes of a young, breathless
reporter named Molly. She follows the two men wherever they go with the
hope that she’ll eventually escape her usual beat: writing about
lipstick.”
We think Molly’s character was written with the intention of making
a perfect movie role for some young actress. She “exudes the
confidence of a sultry movie
star?she’s glamorous, pissed off, and usually smoking. Both Conan Doyle
and Houdini confide in her, revealing details about Margery, the famous
psychic, who oozes goo from her naked body while screaming in the
voices of dead people.”
Apparently the book is evenly-balanced in its description of the debate between the two public figures.
Conan Doyle, like his most famous literary character, works like a
detective; hoping to “get to the bottom of the mystery.”
The reviewer particularly enjoys the scenes of Conan Doyle’s interaction wth the spirit world.
“These scenes of spiritual contact are slow and
poetic, with many floating tables and blobs of slime. In careful prose,
Brownstein evenly portrays both the beauty of these bizarre “miracles,”
as Conan Doyle calls them, and the intellectual desperation it takes to
believe that they’re real.”
Will get you a full-review when it comes out. But mark our
words, this was written for some Hollywood film treatment.
Jeff McBride amazes us but not just as a magician. We
can’t even light the candle at one end and he’s traveling the world,
doing shows, teaching magic, operating a school, and is still a real
nice guy. Franky, we wouldn’t be so nice when some punk-internet-magic
-blog-reporter tried to hone in on our dinner to ask a stupid
question. He was, though, and so he’s different and amazing.
So when we received Mr. McBride’s note about his newest venture,
we took another B12 shot and tried to think happy thoughts.
Mr. McBride announced important work to
reduce medical patients’ fear.
That is so much better than anything we’ve ever done.
“Aside from pain, fear is one of the most important concerns for patients,
according to Lee Grotte, M.D. “I believe that creating confidence is the primary
method for overcoming fear.”
Dr. Grotte is working with Mr. McBride to develop techniques to help patients
overcome fear. The release describes Mr. McBride’s considerable talent as
reducing or eliminating fear with techniques he’s developed as a professional
magician.
Mr. McBride quelled fear of a young child brought up onto the stage during
one of Mr. McBride’s performances. He instilled the needed confidence in the
young man to eliminate the fear one would expect to see.
How does McBride overcome the natural fears of a young volunteer to
step before hundreds of strangers? “It isn’t even an issue,” he responds. “With
magic, I can take a child to a place where there is no fear.”
Perhaps modesty prevents McBride from revealing the real secret of his skill,
suggests Lee Grotte, M.D., who was watching from the audience that night and has
collaborated with Mr. McBride and Eugene Burger, the Dean of the McBride School
of Magic in Las Vegas, to create a workshop teaching magic to doctors.
“Jeff
has mastered many of the aspects of interpersonal psychology that make rapport
possible. He shares his confidence with his young assistant, and this allows an
inexperienced child to literally take center stage in a major production. It is
an amazing demonstration of the power of a relationship to transform a
potentially scary situation into one of delight and opportunity.”
Fear only exacerbates (not a bad word, we looked it up)the patient’s
symptoms. “Pain and other symptoms of disease can be very frightening, as can
the realities of treatment.” says Grotte, “Fear creates physiologic changes
which interfere with the healing process, so if we can reduce a patient’s fear,
that is a major accomplishment.”
“Is it possible to find solutions to problems of 21st century medicine in
methods that may date back to the Greek mystery medical schools? Jeff McBride is
one magician who has moved beyond trickery and the limits of stagecraft to
explore the interface of magic and medicine.”
The Magic for Medical Professionals workshop will be offered at the
McBride School of Magic in Las Vegas from November 4 to 6. Check it out
by going to Mr. McBrides’ web site:
http://www.magicalwisdom.com/calendar.php
The premier mentalism convention, Mindvention, is closer than a stinky guy on
a bus, and more exciting than being the stinky guy and sitting next to someone
like you.
Robert Allen and Danny Archer reminds us — as if we needed a reminder — the
convention will take place November 13th through 15th (we’re flying in Saturday
the 12th and leaving the 16th) at the local’s favorite, Palace Station Hotel
& Casino.
Banachek is one of the few people about whom we worry — not in a
overly-paranoid way — but just a little more than Kreskin and a little less
than most carnival dunk-tank clowns.
He may just want us to believe he is pretending to be a psychic but maybe he
really is and the doctors in Indiana were right. We fear sometimes he can really
read our thoughts.
With Kreskin, we didn’t worry so much about mind-reading. We figured if he
could, he was too old and near-sighted to do anything about it. Plus he always
wore suits about three sizes too small so we could run up a flight of stairs and
he’d be half-naked in a freshly torn, brown suit.
Carny dunk-tank clowns probably can read our minds but even if they couldn’t,
the still have to know how much we loathe them and their cigarette/bourbon
intoned taunts attacking our manhood or Mother’s fidelity to Father, the U.S.
Army, or even our species.
It doesn’t matter what he thinks we think of him.
He’s right and if it costs us $24.50 in bacteria-laden baseballs, we’re going to
hit the target and sink “Bozo” right in the midst of his attack on our date’s
facial hair.
First, the good news . . .
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