31 July 2019

Top 5 posts in July 2019

There were 34+ posts at Canada's Magic last month.  Here are the 5 most viewed posts in the past 30 days:



5. Video: Shawn Farquhar Fool Us REVEALED - Proving time and time again that "reveal" videos really do attract attention.

4. Kitchener Waterloo Secret Show V - How exactly does one market a secret show?
3. Review: Indulgence with Lucy Darling - Read all about Magicana's most recent Canadian Rising Star.
2. Saint John: Kent Axell Lecture - Should be a great lecture!

and the most viewed post this month  ...






1. Exciting news from Chris Ramsay - Look out Hollywood!  Here comes Chris!

30 July 2019

Charlottetown: The McSorley & Chung Magic Hour PLUS!

From McSorley & Chung:
August 1-4, 2019
Charlottetown, PEI

Award-winning magicians Grant McSorley and Derrick Chung are bringing their magic to the island. Their show Magic Hour was a sensation at Montreal’s 2016 Fringe festival, selling out five shows. But never willing to leave well enough alone, they’ve updated the show with new magic, and are joined on stage by the multi-talented Marc Trudel.

The show features McSorley & Chung, two eccentric characters who don’t always see eye to eye. But they realized long ago, that despite it all, they need each other. This time around, they’ve reluctantly taken on an intern (2-time Canadian magic champion Marc Trudel). And the results are as absurd as they are magical. Watch McSorley & Chung (and Marc) dazzle you with their offbeat original miracles and their modern takes on old classics, in a show that you just don’t want to miss.


Read more.

29 July 2019

Toronto: Honouring the life and magic of Romaine

From the Browser's Den of Magic:
On August 11th, LUIZ CASTRO will be giving a FREE magic show here in our shop in honour of Romaine. AND SHOULD HE BE UP TO IT ROMAINE MAY PERFORM AS WELL!

Luiz who does not drive a car, has traveled many times over the years to Kitchener to visit and learn from this master.

In addition, Romaine will be available for a meet and greet, taking photos and signing autographs. We will have cake (who doesn't want cake?) and Romaine will be offering a Q&A segment, so please prepare questions to ask! Whether your question is about the ins and outs of the business (remember he performed regularly for over 4 decades, all over the world) or it's a question about a specific manipulation technique, Romaine will be here to answer any questions you have.

We look forward to seeing you all on the 11th!


Read more.

28 July 2019

Sleightly Sketchy: Magician trading cards [MTC190728]

Imagine if magicians had trading cards.

Did you need all three hints to guess whose trading card back this is?


Magician trading cards [MTC190728]


Previously posted:

27 July 2019

Saint John: Seeing is Believing at the Fundy Fringe Festival

The Fundy Fringe Festival runs August 19 - 24, 2019.


From the Magic Circle of Saint John Facebook event:

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26 July 2019

Did Houdini own a Canadian made organ?

From the June 30 article "Ottawa organ linked to famed magician Harry Houdini" by Charles Stanley in My Web Times:
Could the legendary magician and escape artist Harry Houdini (1874-1926) have owned and touched the keys of an organ built in Ottawa?

It is a tantalizing thought — but undocumented. The provenance chain for the organ since leaving the Ottawa factory is missing crucial links. It is likely the possibility may, in fact, just be an illusion.

Read more.





[via John Cox]

25 July 2019

Gordon Precious in the Hamilton Spectator

From the July 18 article "Jeff Mahoney: Gordon Precious, Hamilton’s own, is in the Guinness World Records as oldest heli-skier" by Jeff Mahoney in The Hamilton Spectator:
He enjoyed skiing, as well as tennis, from an early age. "As I got better (at skiing) we'd go to Cedar Springs, but I was 15 and not allowed to drive so I'd go with 16-year-old friends who were. Once there were four of us in the car. Our names were Precious, Love, Darling and ... Anguish."

Gordon's conversation, fed by the springs of a terrific memory, is full of such delights, and when he tells me that, in addition to skiing and tennis, he practised the art of magic, I am not surprised, as there's a general feeling of magic about the man.


Read more.

24 July 2019

Julie Eng in Business Class magazine

From the June 17th article "Magician Julie Eng conjures wonder" by Keith Norbury in The world from here:
Magic has played a leading role in her life for as long as Julie Eng, BCom ’95, can remember.

“The story goes that I wasn’t delivered by the stork,” the Toronto-based Eng says. “I was pulled out of the hat.”

She learned her first magic trick from her magician father, Tony Eng, when she was just a toddler. He later introduced her to a secret world that would eventually permeate every aspect of her life and lead her to networking with the likes of Las Vegas showmen Penn and Teller.

Read more.

23 July 2019

London: Waterbark with David Acer

WaterBark! Heads to London, Ontario September 6-15.


From David Acer's Twitter feed:
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22 July 2019

Saint John: Magic Circle family BBQ

SUN, 11 AUG

3rd Annual Magic Circle of Saint John family BBQ

21 July 2019

Sleightly Sketchy: Magician trading cards [MTC190721]

Updated July 22 to replace the second fact with an "ON SCREEN" item.


Imagine if magicians had trading cards.

Did you need all three hints to guess whose trading card back this is?

Sleightly Sketchy: Magician trading cards [MTC190721]




Previously posted:

20 July 2019

Content creation and magic

From the July 9the article "How to Create Captivating Content Using the Secrets of Magic" by Laura Mingall in CMF Trends:
Masters of cinema, such as Georges Méliès and Orson Welles, were also master magicians. Magicians are storytellers that harness the science and art of constructing captivating illusions. And storytellers have the ability to leverage these secrets of magic when creating all forms of content.

My experience with magic began in preschool. I learned firsthand both the thrill of watching the impossible become possible, as well as the thrill of understanding how it can be done. My grandfather is Henry Gordon, an acclaimed magician and debunker whose career spanned over thirty years and is a fascinating story in and of itself. He appeared on various media platforms, such as a range of CBC programs, through to The Oprah Winfrey Show. He often performed or taught the art of magic, or unapologetically debunked those using it to take advantage of people. He authored regular articles for publications such as the Toronto Star, as well as multiple books. And he would lecture for those fully immersed in the skeptic and magic communities, including at the iconic Magic Castle—the private clubhouse of The Academy of Magical Arts, in Hollywood.

Read more.

19 July 2019

Calgary: Jeff Newman at the Fringe

The Calgary Fringe Festival runs August 3 to 10, 2019.


From the Calgary Fringe Festival:
Mentalist Jeff Newman will mess with your head. In the award-winning magic show MIND GAMES, Newman will influence your thoughts, make impossible predictions, and even read your mind while revisiting classic games with a mentalist twist. 

Read more.


From Brent Smith's Facebook post:

18 July 2019

Toronto: Mark Correia at Buskerfest

Buskerfest runs Friday August 30 through Monday September 2.


From Broadway World:
Mark Correia (Canada): His show COINCIDENCE is a magic show performed by a comedian, and a comedy show performed by a magician. Watch as Mark Correia escapes from a straitjacket, makes your phone vanish, and finds your card using only...his tongue?

Read more.

17 July 2019

Exciting news from Chris Ramsay

Congratulations Chris!


From Chris Ramsay's Twitter feed:
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16 July 2019

Kitchener Waterloo Secret Show V

Catch "Secret Show V" on August 2nd at the Kitchener Waterloo Little Theatre.


From Graemazing Reed's Facebook page:

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15 July 2019

Toronto: The Sentimentalists Midtown Residency and AGT audition video

Updated at 8:15am to add:
  • Catch The Sentimentalists on AGT Tuesday July 16th!  


Looking forward to learning more about this!  (AGT audition video is at the bottom of the post.)


From the The Sentimentalists Midtown Residency Facebook event:

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From the America's Got Talent YouTube channel:








14 July 2019

Sleightly Sketchy: Magician trading cards [MTC190714]

Imagine if magicians had trading cards.  Did you need all three hints to guess whose trading card back this is?


Sleightly Sketchy: Magician trading cards [190714]

13 July 2019

Review: Indulgence with Lucy Darling

From the July 2nd post "MMF 2019 Review: Indulgence with Lucy Darling" by  Tay Around Town:
We giggled and snorted with laughter, followed Lucy along in her games and marvelled at her wonderful magic. Each time I see Lucy Darling’s shows I become even more enchanted – as does her audience, I’m sure. She has a supreme stage presence and personality, which the audience just revel in. Despite a ‘larger than life’ personality, Lucy (Carisa) is careful to have this aspect not diminish the magic and storytelling. Everything in this show is within perfect harmony.

Read more.

12 July 2019

Las Vegas: Jay Sankey presents 'Being More Believable'

Catch Jay's 'Being More Believable' lecture October 4-6 at the Rediscover Event in Las Vegas.


From Jay Sankey's Twitter feed:
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11 July 2019

10 July 2019

Toronto: Patrick Redford lecture

From the Browser's Den of Magic newsletter:
SATURDAY, July 27

Patrick Redford (aka George Tait) is known throughout the magic community for his exceptional creations in both mentalism and magic. He has a huge assortment of miracles that he will be performing and explaining!

His 2016 book 'Applesauce' containing a slew of different impromptu impossible effects has nearly sold an incredible 10,000 units worldwide!  A number rarely reached in the magic world marketplace.

Patrick's work on the Memorized deck took the world by storm a couple of years later with the release of 'Temporarily Out of Order'. His stack "The Redford Stack" forever changed how people think about the potential of the stacked and memorized deck.

Read more.

Michael Close: The Truth About Lying Webinar

From Michael Close:
The Truth About Lying Webinar
Sunday, July 21, 2019 - 4:00pm (EDT)

Magic depends on disseminating misinformation – in other words, lying. Learn to use this important tool with rapier-like precision in this informative and fun webinar.

What You'll Learn:
  • ​​​​​​​The whole truth and nothing but the truth
  • Conditional (transitional) truth
  • Verbal vs. non-verbal lies
  • Sleight of hand as a non-verbal lie
  • Sustaining a non-verbal lie Lies of omission
  • ​​​​​​​Lying to distort memory Strategic placement of big lies
                               ​​​​​​​...AND MUCH MORE

This webinar is for card magicians of all skill levels. It will save you hours of time by guiding you in the right direction..

Read more and register.

Michael Close: Three-Trick Set Webinar

From Michael Close:
How to Design a Three-Trick Set - Live Webinar
Sunday, July 14, 2019 at 4:00pm (Eastern Daylight Time)

After studying magic for a few years, most enthusiasts acquire some repertoire – effects they can perform competently. While we spend a great deal of effort learning new tricks, we rarely take the time to organize our tricks into an effective act or “set.”

This webinar covers:
  • Several strategies that will start you on the path to developing a strong, effective, three-trick set. Using material from Michael's own repertoire​​​​​​​
  • Michael will explain his thought process in assembling several different acts designed for various venues ​​​
  • Suggestions for further study and analysis​​​​​​​
Webinar is designed for magicians of all skill levels.


Read more and register.

09 July 2019

Chester: Michael James in “Smoke and Mirrors”

From Chester Playhouse:
Sunday, July 21 at 7:30 pm 

Magician Michael James presents “ Smoke and Mirrors”. For all, you Hocus- Pocus fans, James does not disappoint. He is an excellent showman and all his acts are guaranteed to amaze! Michael has a natural rapport and ease when interacting with the crowd, and his ample opportunities for audience participation ensure a great night out!

A fundraiser for Zoe Valle’ Memorial Library

Read more and buy tickets.



From Michael James' Instagram:




08 July 2019

Derek Selinger on Fool Us and Breakfast Television

Derek Selinger's performance of "The Deadly Gallows" from Penn and Teller Fool Us Season 6.



From the Magic Inspired YouTube channel:

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From the Breakfast Television Twitter feed:


07 July 2019

Fredericton: Broken Wand Ceremony for Perley Palmer

From the Magic Circle of Saint John:
Saturday, 27 July 2019

To honour our fallen magician Perley Palmer we will be holding a broken wand ceremony at RH's house. It would be greatly appreciated if all of the members of the club could attend.

06 July 2019

Toronto: Nathan Coe Marsh lecture

From Eventbrite:
Tue, 23 July 2019

Over the course of a career that has included television, corporate events, cruise ships, casinos, trade shows, and comedy clubs, Nathan Coe Marsh has wowed audiences in 13 different countries with incredible original magic. And now, for the first time, he's going to share that magic with you.

Every item in Nathan's lecture has been featured by him in real world, professional performance - and he'll teach you everything you need to know so you can perform them too. The first half focuses on stand-up magic (with an emphasis on strong stand-up magic that 1. does not require on-stage assistants and 2. packs small and plays big). The second half focuses on close-up magic.

Part I: Stand-Up Magic
• A Spirited Opener
The startling visible vanish of a silk followed immediately by the production of a full shotglass. This is a 1-2 punch that, in under 90 seconds, grabs the complete focus of an audience while also setting the atmosphere of fun for everything that follows.
• Nathan’s Chop Cup
Nathan’s stand-up chop cup routine that incorporates a Michael Kaminskas touch (with permission) in a new way to dramatically increase the impact of the final loads.
• Bare-Handed
Any card called for is caught out of mid-air. The spectacle of a card sword without the cost, and Nathan’s new technique for controlling a named card from a memorized deck has many applications for both close-up and stand up (for non-memdeck users, this revelation is also powerful with a chosen card).
• Balloons
Stage-filling, astonishing, comedy mentalism that packs small and involves no on-stage volunteers.

Part II: Close-Up Magic
• Smart Coins
Featuring a charming, motivated, topical, and original presentation that steers clear of what Eugene Burger termed “the adventures of the props in the magician’s hands” script that is typical of coins across, Nathan’s version blends brilliant work from Roger Klause, Larry Jennings, and Mike Pisciotta to create a strong routine that gets gasps.
• Card Divination
Inspired by a single sentence in Juan Tamariz’ Mnemonica, this is the card routine Nathan has performed every single time he has done close-up magic professionally since 2004

Seating is extremely limited to this special lecture and seating arrangements are made based on the order in which your tickets are purchased - so act fast to save your spot!

-THIS EVENT IS INTENDED FOR MAGICIANS AND ASPIRING MAGICIANS WITH AT LEAST A BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF MAGIC'S SECRETS.

Read more and buy tickets.

05 July 2019

Victoria: Lukas Stark

Catch Lukas Stark at the Victoria Buskers Festival July 3 – 7, 2019.


From Downtown Victoria:
LUKAS STARK

This “Mystery Entertainer” has trained his body and mind to perform incredible feats of magic, mentalism, and skill. Like a modern-day Sherlock Holmes he’ll get inside of your head, display his superhuman memory, turn an audience member into a body language detective, and last but not least reveal the childhood dreams of one lucky subject all while juggling knives and walking through broken glass.

Read more.

04 July 2019

Top 5 posts in June 2019

There were 25+ posts at Canada's Magic last month.  Here are the 5 most viewed posts in the past 30 days:


5. Congratulations to the 2018 Canadian Rising Star - Congratulations Carisa Hendrix!

4. Laval: David Acer at Le Cabaret C - Life is a cabaret, old chum.
3. Billy Kidd in the Vegas News - Congratulations on the success of "Making Magic."
2. Gander and Cornerbrook: Piff The Magic Dragon - Are you going to the show tonight?

and the most viewed post this month  ...






1. Nick Wallace on AGT 2019 - Looking forward to seeing what else Nick has up his sleeve.

Thank you to our July 2019 Friends!

Thank you to John Harrison, Richard Lyn, Joan Caesar, The Outerbridges, Ian Crawford, Matt DiSero, James Renoire, Gwyn Auger, Jason Maiuri, and Doug Hunt for being Friends of Canada's Magic!

It's good to have friends like you.

You too can Be Our Friend for only $20 per year! 

Donations of any size are always welcome.

Thank you to our July 2019 sponsors!

Thank you to our sponsors for their generous support.

This site would not be possible without their backing.

We're grateful to have the support of:

The next time you see them, let them know you saw their sponsorship here!





For more information about purchasing Sponsored Posts or about our Platinum, Gold, or Silver level sponsorships, please visit our Sponsorship page.

Or you can Be Our Friend for only $20 per year! 

Donations of any size are always welcome.








03 July 2019

Kickstarter: Authentic Jerry's Nugget Playing Cards

With over 27 day still to go, this Kickstarter has already raised over $400,000 Cdn!


From Kickstarter:
In 1970, Jerry's Nugget Casino printed what would become one of the most collectible playing card decks ever manufactured by United States Playing Card Company (USPCC). They made them for the tables but opted not to use them and put them in storage for 20 years! Almost thirty years ago they started selling them in their gift store with the final price of $2 a deck!
'
Playing card expert, Lee Asher, recognized the unique quality and feel of these cards and began evangelizing about them. In due course, Jerry's Nugget playing cards became legendary. 

By the fall of 1999, these cards sold out, yet the demand continued to grow. Today, authentic Jerry’s Nugget cards are among the most desirable and expensive modern decks on the market.

But finding an authentic deck presents a real challenge. Due to their considerable value and the immense demand, knockoffs proliferate eBay and other outlets.

This prompted Asher to suggest Expert Playing Card Company try and get the exclusive license to print these iconic decks again. And after more than three years of pursuit and negotiation, we finally made a deal with Jerry's Nugget Casino! 

Read more and back.


From Lee Asher's Twitter feed:

02 July 2019

Toronto: Magic and Martini

From James Alan's newsletter:
We just completed our 150th sold-out performance of Magic & Martini. We are thrilled for all of the support and incredible feedback we've received. We can't thank you enough.

While our show is normally off during the summer, we will be having a small number of performances on a limited summer schedule at Suite 114 (Bay & Dundas) in Toronto:

Saturday, July 6
Saturday, July 20
Saturday, August 10
Saturday, August 17
To take advantage of the long summer days, we've also moved the show slightly earlier in the evening to give people a chance to go out for dinner afterwards downtown.

Read more and buy tickets.

01 July 2019

Rounding the Eastern rings in July 2019

Confirm details about dates and locations by visiting each club's website.



Halifax, NSRing 316 (Conjourer's Court) - Visit their Facebook page
St. John, NBMagic Circle of St. John- One handed magic (perform a trick with one hand behind your back).


Please leave a comment or email me about corrections or omissions.