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Lance Burton Featured on FTD Float at Rose Parade

Lance Burton

FTD is offering an incredible package for magic and football fans. 

In connection with NBC’s broadcast of the Rose Parade, FTD will provide you and a companion with behind the scenes access to the Rose Parade float  featuring Master Magician Lance Burton. 

Oh, yeah, and also tickets to the National Championship game. 

We love the Rose Parade but have never seen it in person.  Sure, we’ve tooled our rent-a-car down Colorado Avenue and tossed candy to people on the sidewalks, but that wasn’t related to the Rose Parade nor, as we will prove at the upcoming hearing, a crime.

But this year’s edition of the Rose Parade will be different depending upon your vantage point. 

The Pasadena Star-News (CA) begins the pre-Rose Bowl hype with news of a first for parades.  The parade will be “television friendly.” 

Organizers hope to avoid the mishaps televised live from this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Regardless of the route, Master Magician Lance Burton will be aboard the featured float.

“For the Tournament of Roses, this is the Year of Home Entertainment. With the national audience down by 20 million viewers in just the last three years, parade officials have urgently sought new ways to attract eyeballs to their sponsors’ floats.

The result: three floats will stop cold at “TV corner” for a minute of singing, dancing and magic. While spectators farther down Colorado Boulevard scratch their heads, living rooms around the world will be treated to a made-for-TV spectacle unseen at any previous Rose Parade.”

The last and featured place in the parade “will be the last entertainment float, sponsored by the floral company FTD and featuring Las Vegas magician Lance Burton.”

“It’s tying in with the Tournament of Roses theme this year: ‘It’s Magical,”‘ said Megan Buchanan, spokeswoman for FTD. “I definitely think it’s a great add-in to the parade, and I definitely think it’s going to attract more viewers.”

FTD offers two vacation packages tied to the magic theme and the National Championship game set for the Rose Bowl.

We note one of the packages includes a “behind the scenes” visit to the FTD float and presentation but it is not clear whether this would include a chance to meet Master Magician Lance Burton. 

We commend FTD on a great choice of themes and representative. 

Check out their press release here.

   Continue reading Lance Burton Featured on FTD Float at Rose Parade

December 18th, 2005 | Category: Magic News | Leave a comment

Sad Summary of Shooter: Siegfried & Roy Attacker’s Story So Far

Cole Ford Then and Now

The Contra Costa Times (CA) has the epilogue to a story we’ve been covering throughout the year at Quinlan’s Inside Magic. 

(“Las Vegas Police Arrest Siegfried & Roy Shooter“, Nov. 4, 2004; “Siegfried & Roy Shooter May Plead Insanity“, Nov. 6, 2004;  “Would-Be Assailant’s Hearing Postponed” Nov. 23, 2004; “Would-Be Siegfried & Roy Assailant Competency Hearing Set“, Dec. 18, 2004;  “Judge: Siegfried & Roy Shooter Too Unstable for Trial“, Jan. 19, 2005; “Siegfried and Roy Would Be Assassin Shooting to Stop Magic Conspiracy“, April 9, 2005).

“Ex-Raiders kicker Ford in mental facility after shooting.”

The story gives flesh to the skeletal accounts other papers have
provided about Cole Ford, his college and NFL career, his struggle with
mental illness and finally the imprisonment for firing his shotgun at
Siegfried & Roy’s Vegas estate.

In 1996, Mr. Ford was called upon to kick the winning field goal for
the hapless Raiders.  Despite their terrible record (4-5) they had a
shot at making the play-offs.  With nine seconds left in the final
quarter, Mr. Ford pushed the 28-yard kick to the left and Oakland lost
in overtime. 

“From that short a distance, I’d better make it,” Tampa
Bay kicker Michael Husted said, “or not plan on showing up here on
Monday morning.”

Ford would make it back the next day and for one more dismal season.
And then the bright lights of the gridiron faded, and Ford would fall
further than anyone could imagine.

Mr. Ford moved almost involuntarily up through the football ranks
from high school star, USC Trojan stand-out, NFL Draft-Choice, and NFL
Pro to living in a van, drifting throughout the Southwest, and finally
to the drive of Siegfried & Roy’s palatial Vegas estate.

By all accounts, Mr. Ford was a stellar student, one of the
strongest kickers in college and the NFL.  He was so driven to
succeed he suffered injuries from over-training. 

His release from his
final professional contract funded his later world-travel to
contemplate his life.  As the money ran-out, his travels left him
living out of a van in the Southwest.

His travels took him to Las Vegas, where he turned his
focus to sports bookmaking operations at casinos.

In January 2004, Ford
filed a $5 million suit against the Monte Carlo hotel-casino, claiming
the casino industry took advantage of athletes.

“Sports gaming is placing…
Continue reading Sad Summary of Shooter: Siegfried & Roy Attacker’s Story So Far

December 18th, 2005 | Category: Magic News | Leave a comment