The Las Vegas Review-Journal’sMike Weatherford provides a lengthy piece on the how, what, and to some extent, the why of events leading to Rachel Jessee’s guilty plea and conviction for battery last month.

We reported on Ms. Jessee’s rapid rise to fame and attempt to become the preeminent female magician in Las Vegas.

We interviewed Ms. Jessee for the Inside Magic Celebrity Interview section as she began a three month run at the Riviera.

While it seemed unlikely anyone could make it to the big show with less than five years in the business, Ms. Jessee seemed to have the backing, momentum, and charisma to make it happen.

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Jerry M. Conklin, a regular at Abbott’s Get Togethers and lead of the long-touring Amazing Conklins lost his battle with cancer on Monday, March 29, 2010.   He was 82.

Mr. Conklin was born in Battle Creek and served in the U.S. Army’s Special Services Entertainment Division after high school.  He married his partner in life and magic, Shirley Robertson on June 24, 1951.  Shirley passed away in 1987.

From the Sturgis Journal of March 31, 2010:

“In 1961, Jerry moved his family to Colon and began working at Abbott’s Magic Company.  Soon afterwards, he became a professional magician, and the ”family of magic” known as The Amazing Conklins traveled throughout the United States, Nova Scotia, New Foundland, Quebec and New Brunswick.  In the 1960s they performed at the Boy Scouts National Jamboree in Colorado Springs, Colo.
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This may be apostasy or just dumb politics but a recent in-house poll of the Inside Magic staff reveals we’re over Criss Angel.

This regretful admission comes on news of Criss Angel’s purchase of a $25,000,000.00 home and plans for the next Mindfreak season.

Could we be vaguer in our description?

Is “vaguer” a word?

At one time, we thought Criss Angel was doing great things for Magic and while we were not big fans of hanging by meat hooks as performance art, we respected his willingness to try new directions.

We were psyched he hired so many talented magicians as he readied his Mindfreak show. Johnny Thompson, Banachek, Steve Daly, Milt Larsen and others. They were the real deal, folks who know our art and have experience in big theaters and small close-up venues.

Yes, Mr. Angel’s use of the camera trickery was unfortunate but to paraphrase Chinatown, “It’s Hollywood, Jake.” We pretended not to care. Still, Houdini did not use camera tricks – even when he was filming his own stunts for the Houdini Motion Picture Company. There is no evidence that Robert-Houdin used video editing either.

There could be an argument made that David Copperfield has used cameras in a less than transparent manner, but his choice of a camera’s point of view or field of vision pales in comparison to the Criss Angel method.

We refused to contemplate too deeply the serial dating of starlets and wannabes proclaiming his undying love for each publicly with the abandon we normally associate with teen crushes.
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