If you
like Mark Wilson, and we Love Mark Wilson, this will be the event for our West
Coast friends this weekend. On the East Coast, the big doings will be in
Columbia, South Carolina for SCAM.
Paul Gross owns the Hocus Pocus
Magic Shop and is the prime mover behind the Swap Meet and Get-Together.
"This year, we have expanded to Saturday and Sunday. What I would
like is to get enough people to attend where we would then go to three days next
year. What I would eventually like to do, if the magic swap meet keeps growing,
is to turn this into a convention. We would look at moving it to a larger
facility," he told reporters.
Surely he
must be insane, however. He is not charging admission to visit the swap meet.
He has already signed on more than 40 vendors for the area.
Doesn’t
Mr. Gross realize all magic conventions must make admission into the dealers’
room contingent on the payment of some enormous registration fee?
John Luka’s newest masterwork, Uncovered is a true magic book.
It feels and looks like a true magic book as well. The hardback cover contains the art and title information — just like the old days before publishers moved to the less-expensive dusk-jacket wrap around nondescript pressboard.
The images in the book are plentiful, clear, instructive, and are perfect for reading with one hand while the other hand learns the moves depicted.
Mr. Luka’s reliance on the images to teach his very special effects reminds one of Buckley’s approaches to teaching card and coin magic in his Principles and Deceptions.
Mr. Luka takes the teaching one step further, however. The text, the descriptions, the annotations, and meticulous crediting, evidence Mr. Luka’s devotion of time and energy. Uncovered is a finished product.
This is not an indictment of other magic authors, but recognition of the special care Mr. Luka devoted to Uncovered.
There are magic authors able to produce DVDs, books, lectures, and tricks constantly but their commitment to quality takes a backseat to their desire to stay in the dealer catalogs or on the lecture circuit.
There are seventeen effects in Uncovered and each of the effects are practical, commercial effects you will be able to use.
Mr. Luka wanted Uncovered to be a collection of unique effects, worthy of inclusion in the working professional’s act, and within the skill set of the amateur or semi-professional magician.
We love their effects for the quality, the innovation, the wonderful designs and fantastic story lines. We own several of their classics and our love for those specially packed props grows daily, show by show.
We do not love the often limited number of Wolf Magic effects made available. Sure, quality workmanship takes time and cannot be rushed. Yeah, the mass produced magic pales in comparison to the pieces of true art produced. But golly, sometimes it does not seem fair.
We do not receive compensation for our praise of their work over the years — heck, we do not even get a discount. So anyone who knows us, knows Wolf’s Magic must be great. We are, at our greedy heart, greedy and heartless.
We have it on very good authority there will be only thirty Phone-Ale effects produced in the First Run. Yes, the Phone-Ale will be a permanent item but there are only thirty coming out from the first batch.
Thirty of these sure-fire pieces for sale. If our math is correct, that means — assuming each purchaser buys only one of the effects — that means less than thirty-one people will get their hands on this gem.
You can be one of the select thirty by heading to the Wolf’s Magic site right now. Check out the description, the images, and their incredible story. Do not blame us if the effect is gone by the time you got around to reading this.
Breaking news from the UK. Kid’s fear clowns.
We thought there were plenty of children in the world who are not born with the apparently innate fear of clowns but apparently not as many as we thought.
We reported on one unfortunate case in an earlier edition of letters to the editor here at Inside Magic.
Nursing Standard magazine — a journal we read monthly but only for the pictures — reports on a University of Sheffield study.
The researchers wanted to improve the "decor of hospital children’s wards."
Of the 250 kids betwixt the ages of four and 16, "we found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable."
Indeed.
Apparently part of the problem is that adults (who may or may not like clowns) think kids should like them.
Our brethren in white face know only too well how some audience members react almost viscerally to them. Even Ronald McDonald spooks some kids.
One long-time reader of Inside Magic suggests the study was flawed.
"Our final quarter improved but won’t be good enough to
cover losses in the previous nine months" caused chiefly by the
cancellation of a show by magician David Copperfield, he said.
RS PCL is Thailand’s second largest entertainment promotion firm.
Mr. Copperfield canceled his planned Asia tour after the FBI raided his warehouse and magic studio in Las Vegas, Nevada. Published leaks from a grand jury in Washington state tied the raid to allegations Mr. Copperfield assaulted a woman at his Bahamian private island.
Robin Leach reported yesterday, the FBI has recently returned the items seized in the raid — a sign supporters hope there will be no charges against the magician.
The Fresno
John Luka’s newest masterwork, Uncovered is a true magic book.
We love Wolf’s Magic.
Breaking news from the UK. Kid’s fear clowns.
RS PCL told 
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