Mike Weatherford is a straight-shooter — although we have no idea why one's sexual identity should matter, especially if you are using a gun or any firearm.
He stays up on the Magic scene in Las Vegas better than most. He even knows the names of our illusions; which is disconcerting. It kind of creeps us out when lay people know the jargon of our biz.
We much prefer audience members to talk about our "scarf trick" or "hanky trick" rather than "a really nice routine with a silk ball."
Of course, we take the audience as we find them and if they happen to know the jargon, we deal with it like a professional. Still, we feel weird performing for closeted magicians who act like they don't know but they really do. They take the force card because they think they are helping; and yes, while it is nice to pull off a Classic Force once in a while, we would much prefer to do it on our own. We don't need charity — especially because most of our routine is based on screwing up the Classic Force. We don't know what we would do if it worked.
Anyway, we digress.
Secrets was the topic and coincidentally, secrets is the theme of Ariann Black's new show in Las Vegas.
Let us be very straight shooting here as well: Ariann Black is beautiful. She is the kind of beautiful that you don't want to look at because you become nervous, paranoid, and incontinent. Maybe that's just us. But she is not bad looking for a woman.
But we have never judged male magicians on their natural or enhanced beauty — except Darren Romeo and Lance Burton. They are good looking guys, we suppose.
Mike Weatherford's take on the amazingly attractive Ariann Black's new show is luke-warm. He appreciates her incredible skill set; ranging from close-up to big stage illusions. But he wants more.
He riffs off one of Ariann Black's lines in the new show. She reflects on her start in our art and recalls being told that "magic is for boys."
Should a pageant judge known for his public outbursts be allowed to pack heat to the Miss Universe finals?
The Miss Universe judge in question is magician Criss Angel. The heat he is packing is a firearm, not Jim Pace's iconic (and often knocked-off) Electric Hot Leads.
He has a license to carry. By the way, the cool way to talk about concealed weapons is to not provide the noun. So, one would say, "I have a permit to carry; you have a permit to carry; he,she,it have permits to carry."
We don't know what type of weapon Criss Angel carries. We also don't know why he carries. There were rumors a couple of years ago that because he was living at the Luxor whilst he worked on Believe! and his Mind Freak series, fans would have an opportunity to flock him.
We have always been against shooting flocking fans. In fact, Harper Lee confessed on an old Dick Cavett Show the original title of her Pulitzer Award winning novel was titled To Kill a Flocking Fan. Apparently because lead character Atticus Finch had a heavy southern drawl, there was concern this line could pose censorship issues.
Norm Clarke credits Richard Abowitz for bringing the issue to the fore. You can read the blog post that got it all started at www.goldplateddoor.com.
The dancing girls in Lolita’s Cantina and Tequila bar may look real enough, but in reality they’re conjured out of thin air using holographic technology. The entertainment in the bar, owned by veteran nightclub developer Eric DeBiasi, is created using the same technology used by Damon Albarn’s virtual band the Gorillaz and Live Earth Tokyo to project former US vice President Al Gore onto the stage.
No more dressing rooms, stench of flop-sweat, or real-world salaries. The performer appears real but can be brought to the stage whenever the whim hits.
Digital Illusions, the company behind the technology, says that the DJ will have total control over both the music and the dancing, creating a seamless audiovisual performance that will look totally realistic to the audience.
“Imagine having a library of hundreds or thousands of clips of entertainers, magicians, comedians, dancers,” asked one of the Digital Illusions folks in a rhetorical fashion.
“Each one is ready to perform at a moment’s notice. Each one is surrounded by special effects and magical appearances and disappearances. But most importantly, each one looks totally real.”
Why the possibilities abound. You could do six or seven birthday parties at one time. Magic Club lectures could happen over and over and over — if such was the desire of the club.
Yes, the equipment to build a holographic stage is expensive but the price will drop. Remember when calculators cost $17,200.00 and took up an entire room? Remember how back in those days, you would have to literally turn the entire room of computer equipment upside down to show friends that the letters 9009 was a secret word produced by the calculator?
The new trend in horror film stars are described by Cinematical today as “brooding, pale-skinned, sparkly, fangless, vegan vampires.”
The on-line movie site longs for the days of real horror icons. Cinematical wants real vampires, real, carnivorous creepy types trolling the earth for victims, not lovers.
Take, for instance, the 1980′s classic Fright Night. There were no pale, blotchy, moribund slivers of human flesh to be found in the film. The men were men and the women were victims and usually half-naked, according to the author.
To provide artistic balance to the wimpy, dysthymic, translucent-skinned, after-picture-for-a-weight-loss-plan-marketed-to-anorexics, boys and girls made fashionable by the ponderous paper-doll dramatis personae of Twilight, Hollywood is producing a remake of Fright Night.
The producers wanted a creepy, scary anti-hero and determined the best fit would be a Las Vegas magician.
David Tennant of Doctor Who fame will play Peter Vincent, a Vegas illusionist known for his horror-themed stage shows, who presumably overcomes his fear of vampires to become their worst enemy.
In an earlier piece on the pre-production gossip, Cinematical offered its hope for remake’s choice of characters.
The only concern with the new plot information is that the remake may stray too far from the original. The addition of Charley’s Chriss Angel mentor proves that even if our hero lives in a cozy abode off The Strip, we’ll eventually find ourselves under the Vegas lights . A straight remake was never the answer, but let’s hope (script writer) Noxon doesn’t push this too far.
We could see a Criss Angel type playing a vampire and a vampire hunter but think it would be so much better to have Lance Burton for either role. Lance Burton is classy, healthy, and has the beguiling smile sufficient to hide the horrific fears and emotions felt by the Vincent character. Or, maybe if they want to go contrary to all stereotype, why not use Carrot-Top?
After Memorial Day, one may wear white pants and white shoes. After Mac King Day, plaid jackets may be adorned with impunity.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman declared yesterday, May 4th to be “Mac King Day.”
In our book, everyday is Mac King Day except for October 31st, held for our solemn observation of Houdini’s death.
“Growing up in a family of magicians, magic has been my life,” Mac said. “I am truly honored to be celebrating 10 years with my show at Harrah’s Las Vegas. This is an exciting time for me, and I can’t wait to celebrate with the audience this afternoon.”
Mac King performed 5,200 shows for more than 1 million people at the main showroom at Harrah’s. He told Robin Leach of the Las Vegas Sun “that translates into 2,600 days of wearing his trademark plaid suits; 15,600 feet of rope used for his rope trick; 270,400 playing cards; 15,600 magically appearing Fig Newtons; and 26,000 audience volunteers pulled up onstage.”
The nice man and great magician comes from a family of magicians — both grandfathers were performers. He fell in love with the craft after checking out a library book — presumably about magic.
Check out Robin Leach’s complete article on Mac and his life in the spotlight at The Las Vegas Sun.
Mike Weatherford is a straight-shooter — although we have no idea why one's sexual identity should matter, especially if you are using a gun or any firearm.
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