"Our focus is sharp, but our light faded," so wrote the famous, or perhaps
infamous scientist and magician Derek Livingston in 1965. The man commonly
associated with the dangers of quack-science or a magician's claims of
super-natural powers, was born on this day in 1936.
Dr. Livingston's phrase had many possible meanings but all were tied to his
confusion of magic and science.
Dr. Livingston's fame and infamy arise from the same experiments in the late
1950s and 1960s with laser technology (Light Amplification by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation) as well as his life-long love for magic.
Dr. Livingston worked his way through the distinguished and ivy-draped halls
of the country's finest schools. He was not from a wealthy family or noble
ancestry but relied upon the kindness of others for his housing, food and
supplies. In 1955, the then Mr. Livingston, took up work at the prestigious Bell
Labs whilst he considered the question of light's structure. Was light made up
of waves or particles?
He supplemented his income by performing magic shows for co-workers and their
families in Murray Hill, New Jersey. He was known for his deft sleight-of-hand
and charisma. His show was billed as "lasts 20 minutes, more than an hour's
worth of magic, you'll remember for a lifetime."
It was an old question. Prior to Sir Isaac Newton's corpuscular theory, light
was thought to be made up of particles. Newton demonstrated his wave theory by
showing light could be reflected and refracted with mirrors and prisms.
So great
was Newton's legend that none dared to challenge his theory until early in the
1800s. Light is made up of waves, suggested some scientists. Their proof? When
light is split into apparent constituent parts, it can be made to interfere with
itself.
Just as waves going in one direction can be "cancelled out" by the same
size waves going the opposite direction, light properly cast on itself could
cause the lack of light.
Einstein postulated that as later proven by breath mint technology, light can
be made up of two things at once. Light is a wave when one is looking to test
its wave properties but exhibits particle characteristics when testing for
particles.
This postulation gave support for quantum mechanics and our modern
understanding of light, particle physics, and even scientific inquiry.
But back to Dr. Livingston. The good doctor studied light and its properties
with the single-minded determination of a man possessed. He was particularly
excited (pun intended) by the new field of lasers. In 1958, two Bell Labs
scientists released a paper demonstrating that it was possible to build a
functioning laser. (Physical Review v. 112,
issue 6, "Infrared and Optical Masers," A. L. Schawlow and C. H. Townes,
Bell Telephone Laboratories).
Dr. Livingston's loyalty for Bell Labs was evidenced in his public support
for their patent application over the later-vindicated claims of Dr. Gordon
Gould of Columbia University. (Dr. Gould challenged Bell Labs' patent claims. It
took 20 years, but he was finally awarded the patent rights -…
Mr. Kalita will attempt to escape from a straightjacket whilst hung upside
down over an orchestra.
On more than 100 occasions, magician Matt Kalita has donned a
straitjacket, hung upside down from hot air balloons, skyscrapers, cranes and
bridges and freed himself.
But he has never performed this feat during a symphony orchestra concert.
Until tomorrow.
While the LaPorte County Symphony Orchestra, led by music
director Philip Bauman, is playing circus-themed music at its “Under the Big
Top” family concert, Kalita will also do a levitation — make his wife float in
space above the Elston Theatre stage — and make birds, rabbits and other
animals appear from nowhere.
The paper notes “[m]embers of the orchestra will be in the lobby for a kind
of ‘instrumental petting zoo.’ Kids will be able to handle and play orchestral
instruments.
Michiana Clowns will create balloon art and do pocket magic and
face painting. Local artist David Russell will draw caricatures.” We wish Mr.
Kalita well and hope he has a successful escape effort.If you’re in the
Northwest Indiana area, check out the show tomorrow (Saturday) night.
“Under the Big Top,” family concert presented by the LaPorte County
Symphony Orchestra
When: 3 p.m. Saturday. Preconcert activities begin at 2 p.m.
Where: Elston Theatre, 317 Detroit St., Michigan City
Cost: $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, $25 for family (two adults and one or
more children), $5 for college students and free for children
(219) 325-0666
or www.lcso.net
Check out Mr. Kalita’s very cool
web site here. You’ll have a chance to see some of the insane escapes he’s
performed. Our hat’s off to this daredevil.
The
columnist describes him as “the only magician in Asia and one of the three in
the world who has established his identity in the field of magic through a rare
item ? catching a bullet by the teeth racing towards him from a 12 bore shot
gun.”
The paper points out the danger associated with this trick. Many magicians, it is reported, all over the world have accepted the
challenge of performing this feat and faced death so far.”
We are assuming the columnist confused a shotgun with a rifle. We are not
aware of any magician currently attempting to catch a mouth full of steel shot
propelled from a shotgun. Catching a single bullet is tough but mouthing 220
steel bb’s is something even a trained professional would wisely avoid.
The columnist reports Prince Sil was almost killed on January 26th while
performing the bullet catch. How? Here’s the description apparently provided by
Prince Sil.
His marksman, who generally shoots from a certain distance outside
the stage, made a blunder in measuring the distance.
Sil did manage to catch the
bullet with his teeth, but found the splinters kiss the area around his left
eyebrow. Senseless from the pain, Sil had to be admitted to a hospital. He
recuperated, and didn’t give up. Within 17 days of his accident, he again
performed the show, this time with the astounding precision he is known
for.
While the back story doesn’t hold too much water — after all, how was the
marksman hoping to moderate the bullet’s velocity to adjust to distance — but
it’s a great piece to bring out the crowds.
Prince Sil tries to break the mold set by legendary PC Sorcar.
You can say the other name of Indian magic is PC Sorcar. And there
are more than 2000 registered magicians in our state. Most try to copy this
legendary magician and only a handful has involved creativity in their
performance.
I have always tried to establish my identity by presenting offbeat
tricks, the bullet-catching item is one of those.
[We note Quinlan's Inside Magic has always opposed all attempts to require
magician registration in the United States. In fact, our political action
committee (Magicians and Allied Artists Political Action Committee "MAAPAC")
recently assisted in the defeat of H.R. 2143 and S. 22, The Omnibus Variety
Artist Registration Act.
If you are not already a member of this important lobby group, you really
should check it out. Under the applicable IRS and FEC rules, we can't offer a
full prospectus here but when you receive our solicitation in the mail, consider
becoming a member to help keep Magic free from unnecessary governmental
regulation and inspection.
We'll ask the smarter folks in the PAC office whether we can even give out
the web site address for MAAPAC and if so, we'll update you later.]
Russian white magician Yuri Longo, who became famous in Gorbachev's times for
raising the dead, has died much to his few fans' surprise, local media reported.
But several hours after his death he was again a star — now among Russian
Internet users.
No more than a dozen people used to visit his official web-site daily before
Feb. 19, the day of his death. But now the web-page is on the top of the Rambler
web counter's 'health' section with 1,766 visitors per day.
Probably, the man who had to be immortal, aimed to live a little longer. His
site registration expires on 06.06.06. He died of an aorta aneurism, while his
fans claim it was an "energy stroke".
Longo became extremely popular after millions of Soviet viewers saw him
reanimating a man in the evening news on a state TV-channel. However, later it
was revealed that Longo directed a piece of reporting himself and paid a bribe
for its translation.
He also hired an alcoholic to play a "part" of the man
raising from the dead.
Last year he tried to revive his fame, saying in an interview with a U.S.
immigrant Russian-language newspaper that he was the one to blame for Viktor
Yushchenko's disease as he reanimated him too late.
The Ukrainian president's
skin went off after his body spent six days in a grave, Longo said. However, he
also said that he has never seen the "real" Yushchenko and, thus, reanimated a
man to replace him at the request of a certain "Polish biological center" that
finally refused to pay him for the procedure.
Nevertheless, "operation Yushcehnko" did not claim Longo so much popularity
as his own real death."
We were breezing through this morning’s edition of The Malaysian Star
while we waited for Mr. Lazybones and his son, Mr. Lazybones, Jr. to open the
Mystic Hollow Dough-Nutz Cafe and Bistro. All they had to do was open the
drive-thru window but that was apparently taking too much effort or planning, so
we waited in our gas-guzzling ’82 Ford Granada and tried to find a decent
channel on the factory-equipped AM radio.
Unlike the Lazybones family, the young courier for The Malaysian Star
delivers to the home daily and well-before anyone is awake or aware that we are
borrowing the paper for a few hours.
Chris Korn and J.B. Benn filmed their presentation of street magic on the
beach in the island nation. Whilst it makes for great shots of well-tanned
bathing buddies, it makes the use of pulls or Toppits impossible or awkward.
Mr. Korn and Mr. Benn had to rely on their own talent and skills, therefore.
Their work is nothing short of amazing!
The
Malaysian Star met with the magicians at the beautiful Silosa Beach on
Sentosa Island, Singapore.
The reporter described the two thusly:
Korn goateed and lanky, dressed the part in a white T-shirt and
shorts, sporting a visor cap. Benn, who is about a head shorter and beefier than
Korn, was in T-shirt and jeans.
My suspicions were that Benn, whose dark brown eyes held secrets beyond my
experience, was mostly quiet and a tad introverted unlike his partner who was
just the opposite. It was a good fit and their differing personalities matched
their talents although they were both in the same field.
“Benn’s style is
slightly more intense and it shows with the tricks he does,” said Korn.
We think Mr. Korn is an outstanding magician. His easy-going style belies his
incredible abilities and makes the experience all the more exceptional.
Still with all the skills, Beach Magic presents challenges:
It was Korn who combed the beach mostly and wowed the crowd with his
sleight of hand, card and coin tricks. He met with some difficulty though with
some of the card tricks mainly because of the humidity, which made the cards
damp and rather slippery.
One trick in particular, where Korn asked a bikini-clad sunbather to pick a
card, then place it back in the deck and he would shuffle it and send the entire
deck flying in the air while attempting to catch the card with his toes, just
proved too trying.
Korn gave up after three attempts. But he made it up by
drawing the card from his mouth instead.
Beach bunnies and bums were impressed by both magicians and the journalist
was amazed the show required no additional equipment or “sexy girl assistants.”
What I love about the magic we do is that it is organic; I could
have nothing with me, absolutely nothing. I can show up at somebody?s house and
just borrow a cup and just do it. People really freak out when it?s with their
own stuff. If I bring my own cup, somehow … even though it’s… Continue reading Chris Korn & J.B. Benn in Mondo Magic Singapore
Recent Comments