Discourse in Magic with Matt Johnson (plus 60s docs)

Via iTricks, Matt Johnson featured on the web series "60 Second Docs" in the episode "The Bittersweet Ache of Escaping." (embedded at the bottom of this post)


From Discourse in Magic:

On episode 158, Matt Johnson joins Jonah to discuss escapology, adding human elements to your magic, and recreating your brand. You may know Matt for his water tank escape on Penn & Teller: Fool Us or for his semi-place finish on Britain’s Got Talent.

Matt remembers a wind-up box at his grandmother’s house sparking his initial love for magic. While not a magic trick, it still gave him this magical feeling and caused him to want to know how a little box could play music. At the age of twelve, he started learning tricks and, after performing for Matt’s siblings’ birthday, a magician took Matt under his wing. Soon, he was attending his local shop every weekend right through his teen years.

Read more and listen.

If you do what other people do you will be one step behind ANYONE. Dare to be different. Do something new! @likemattjohnson https://t.co/FUJWcj0DnY pic.twitter.com/WprQ7ew6So

— Discourse in Magic (@discoursenmagic) April 29, 2019

From the 60 Second Docs YouTube channel:

The Evasons NBA halftime show

From The Evasons YouTube channel:

The Evasons Mentalist Duo - NBA halftime show Charlotte Hornets and Toronto Raptors, April 4, 2019 at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC. 

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Mahdi Gilbert in CBC Arts

From the March 18th article "People told Mahdi the Magician his body would make his dreams impossible — but he refused to quit" in CBC Arts:

"One of my teachers told me I shouldn't use my body because my body 'isn't any good,'" the Canadian magician, who was born without hands or feet, tells filmmaker Jason D'Souza. "[They said] that I should use my mind because my mind is still good."

But then, at 17, he found something to be passionate about: slight [sic] of hand. Despite discovering that most of the literature about his newfound passion were written by two-handed magicians for other two-handed magicians, Gilbert would make it work for him and practice through the night.


Read more and watch the video by Jason D'Souza.

Aaron Matthews and Rosemary Reid: She Gets Me

Watch the music video for The Washboard Union's "She Gets Me" featuring Aaron Matthews and Rosemary Reid!

(How many Canadian magicians have been in professional music videos?  James Alan was in Summerworks Song, Ray Chance had a cameo in Shawn Desman's video for Stuck and JRDN's video for Like Magic.  And for honourable mention, from The Music Show.  I'm sure there are more though.  Send the deets my way!)



From The Washboard Union's YouTube channel:

Paris: Luc Langevin

Luc Langevin returns to Paris with his show "Maintenant Demain"  March 21 to March 31, 2019!

He is also touring through Europe through May 2019.  Visit Luc's European website for details.

#Parispétille: l'illusionniste @LucLangevin était l'invité de Bonsoir Paris pour nous parler de son nouveau spectacle "Maintenant Demain" pic.twitter.com/noVRIjeErz

— BFM Paris (@BFMParis) January 24, 2019

.@LucLangevin - Maintenant Demain
Du 21 au 31 mars 2019 au @leCasinodeParis de Paris
MISE EN VENTE : LUNDI 25 JUIN
> https://t.co/Cfq326BkTS pic.twitter.com/02szF9vWxo

— Caramba Spectacles (@Caramba_Prod) June 19, 2018

Eric Leclerc in season 2 of Tricked

Unfortunately, the videos on BYU TV appear to be geoblocked.  Anyone out there know how we can watch this in Canada?


From the Tricked Facebook page:

Join us as Season 2 returns to #BYUtv on February 25th at 6:30 pm MT. Will you be watching? #TrickedTV

David Ben: U of T Featured Alumni

From the January 22nd article at the University of Toronto Alumni website:

“The news of my retirement is greatly exaggerated,” says David Ben (UC 1983), a Toronto-born conjuror, historian of magic, writer and consultant.

Ben, a renowned expert in sleight-of-hand magic, is in the midst of creating a new show that will revisit some of his old tricks and add a selection of new ones. Each time he creates a show, he is a writer, director and set designer all in one, weaving together a story that incorporates each of his chosen tricks.

“I believe that to be an artist, you need great technique, a great understanding of the past and a vision for the future,” he says.


Read more and watch video.

Derek Selinger performs in Magic Tricks with Ian

From Derek Selinger's YouTube channel, Magic Inspired:

Many years ago I had a young man named Ian attend some of my live magic shows. He bought posters and I even had a picture taken with him. That picture has hung on my wall ever since as a reminder of why I do what I do.

Ian's mom reached out to me to buy a new poster as his old one was falling apart. We of course got him that and more. In the discussion with Ian's mom we learned that Ian has some significant health challenges. Being a young man with Down Syndrome he is not eligible for heart transplants and so he has a rather arduous routine.

We decided to visit Ian's home and perform a show with magic tricks, including a box illusion, in his kitchen for his friends where the magician... was Ian. This is that story, and this is that show.

I hope meeting Ian encourages you as you face the challenges and opportunities in your life. Ian is one of the greatest magicians I have ever met. While he may not have the technical skill I have developed... he changes peoples worlds by his smile, enthusiasm and kindness. Welcome to "The Magic of Ian".

Video at the bottom of the post.


From Derek Selinger's Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

While on the road we stopped at a small town where my number one fan lives. Ian and I performed the very first “Magic of Ian and Derek” show in his dinning room for his friends, family, teachers and care workers. He was amazing and the whole thing was entirely magical. In tough times this reminds me why I do what I do! #magicinspired #magic #magician #touringmagician #magicallaround #inspired #motivated #grateful

A post shared by Derek Selinger (@derek_selinger) on Dec 7, 2018 at 11:02am PST

From Derek Selinger's YouTube channel, Magic Inspired:

Matt Johnson on World's Best and in Vanish

Congratulations to Matt Johnson on advancing on CBS' The World's Best and for recently being featured on the cover of Vanish Magazine!


From Brent Smith's Facebook page:




From Clive Court's Facebook page:




From Matt Johnson's Facebook page:



From Paul Romhany's Facebook page:

Peter Mennie unpacks his TV archive

From Peter Mennie's blog post "That’s a Lot of Magic!":

Way back when (about two years ago), I did a lot of television. Every month for 11 months, I had an appearance on a local TV chat show. I did two-three routines every time (that's 20-30 tricks) for nearly twenty years!

Over the next few months, here are some of the greatest hits - in no chronological order - and with apologies for the video quality of some of the segments.

Read more and watch video. [1 - Straight Ahead]

Peter's also posted:

• Television Magic Archives – Part 2 [2 - No Cards Required]
• Television Magic Archives – Part 3 [3 - Never Play with Matches]
• Television Magic Archives – Part 4 [4 - The Cards Know Everything] 
• Television Magic Archives – Part 5 [5 - A Dual Reality Card Trick]

Random thoughts from the Kayla Drescher lecture

I should start with congratulations to Kayla for keeping her energy up through the evening after having just completed a grueling 41 show run with the recent Champions of Magic tour!

• Hurray for Loblaws, Roots, and Canada Canadian Tire!
• And beer, ginger beer, and Brio!
• Colour changing bottle caps are very cool.
• How do you define magic, art, and craft?  (Definitely not the same way I used the term "arts and crafts" in my earlier report of the show!)
• Because ... science!
• And bar towels!
• Kayla gave Rosemary Reid a shout out for her video:
  (You may remember that Rosemary delighted us all with the first iteration of this speech which she shared at the 2017 Browser's Bash.)

• Chris Westfall made a memorable entrance.  (How many elastic bands do you wear on your wrists?)
• There was a mini Sorcerers Safari reunion with Rosemary Reid, Lee Asher, Chris Mayhew, Chris Westfall, and Jonah Babins!  (Which made Kidlet doubly regret the decision to not attend.)

  @MagicinHeelsKD Toronto lecture with @LeeAsherMagic @chrismayhews @jonahbabins & more! pic.twitter.com/S0b08IBkes

  — Rosemary Reid (@RosemaryReid) January 8, 2019

• Staff appreciation and lessons from street performers.
• Described a fabulous pseudo-controlled study on colours that increase tips! (Also pseudo-controlled for gender with surprising results.)
• Demonstrated a fabulous tip for bar magicians to increase probability of receiving a big tip.  (I wonder how one could design a study to see if that methodology gives the same % tip increase for a man using the technique as for a woman using the technique?)
• Something spontaneously happened at the 1 hour 15 minute mark that Kayla was totally expecting.  (I'm not entirely convinced that it wasn't just a case of a poorly worded question.)
• If you aren't already, subscribe to Shezam, the feminist podcast that hopes to make itself obsolete.  The podcast has great tips and strategies for young women starting out in magic (No pockets? No problems!)  Carisa Hendrix and Kayla also share entertaining anecdotes about performing and lots of pro-tips too!
• After the break, Kayla gave a fabulous hands-on lesson for colour changing bottle caps using a technique even I can master!
• Good times, good fun, good magic.
• Thank you Kayla!

Great turnout for a great lecture at the first @IBMring17 meeting of 2019! Thank you @MagicinHeelsKD

I hope you can finally get some well deserved rest! pic.twitter.com/g7keN6Dxlk

— Canada's Magic (@canadasmagic) January 8, 2019

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The Champions of Magic did 41 shows in 17 days in Toronto this holiday season! Well done!

A post shared by @ starvoxent on Jan 6, 2019 at 6:10pm PST

MagicTube

Canadians include Shawn Farquhar, Luc Langevin, and Shin Lim.

From MagicTube as translated through Google Translate:

Do you like magic? Looking for the video of a magician ? MagicTube gives you categorized access, by menu and keywords, to the best videos of professional magicians (conjurer, illusionist) published on the web via hosting sites such as YouTube, Dailymotion, etc ...

The site is for magic enthusiasts or anyone who wants to discover through magic videos of the best current or past numbers.

The site references more than 400 magicians' videos from 26 countries.
 
Read more. 

View untranslated site.

Gambit "Smiles Across India"

From Gambit's Facebook page:

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The Outerbridges in go/be Weekly

Catch them in Niagara on December 29th!


From the article "Ted Outerbridge: Clockwork Mysteries Tour Delivers Holiday Magic" by David DeRocoo:

“I was in a restaurant eating a bowl of spaghetti when this guy pulled an egg out of my ear and it blew my mind,” remembers Outerbridge, who shares the stage with his wife and partner, Marion Outerbridge. “From that moment on I wanted to be able to create a sense of wonder for others.”

By the time he was 12, Outerbridge was already being paid to perform magic at neighbourhood birthday parties, delivering 15-minute sets of slight-of-hand tricks and small-scale illusions. At 19 he was earning his living as a professional magician, developing illusions that would eventually be used in such sold-out tours as Magical Moments In Time and the Time Capsule Tour.

Read more.

From Marion Outerbridge's Facebook page:

Julie Eng on Pop Life CTV

From the Pop Life CTV Facebook page:

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McIlhany Film Archive acquired by Magicana

From the October 11th article "McIlhany Archive Moving to The Screening Room" by Julie Eng at Magicana:

Imagine it… Houdini, Alexander, Buckley, Buckingham, Blackstone, Dunninger, Kreskin, Charlie Miller in rare, stunning performances… and right on your computer screen.

Magicana is delighted to announce the acquisition of the McIlhany Film Archive of historical magic film and videos.

In September, it was confirmed that we were the successful bidder for the collection through a sealed-bid auction conducted by The Magic Auctioneer David Goodman in cooperation with Owen Magic Supreme.

And what a collection it is!       


Read more.

Help Neil McNally fund “Doug Henning’s Magical World”

From the September 24th post, '“Doug Henning’s Magical World” Indiegogo Funding Begins Today!' at The Doug Henning Project:

Hello Everyone, 

It’s been a long road, but here we are!

The funding for my documentary “Doug Henning’s Magical World” begins today on Indiegogo and I hope you all will consider donating.

As I mentioned, this will be the first feature length documentary regarding Doug’s life and work and features many of Doug’s close friends and collaborators. Please share the links with anyone you may know. Doug deserves a project of this scale, and I’d love for you to contribute to its creation.

The links are:

Official Doug Henning Indiegogo Page

Official Movie Website

With Magic and Wonder, 

Neil McNally

Read more and donate.

 From the YouTube channel of Doug Henning's Magical World:

Congratulations to Shin Lim!

From the September 19th article "Magician Shin Lim Crowned Season 13 Champion of America's Got Talent" by Karen Mizoguchi in People:

“When you told me at 16 that an awkward, shy kid would one day be performing at the Dolby Theatre performing on America’s Got Talent, I wouldn’t have believed them. To compete on AGT, it means the world to me,” said Lim, who opened up about his carpal tunnel syndrome due to a career-ending injury to his thumb tendons.

The 26-year-old self-taught magician, who was born in Canada and currently lives in Acton, Massachusetts, wowed audiences through sleight of hand magic and close-up tricks. For his final trick, Lim performed a card trick with host Tyra Banks and American Ninja Warrior co-hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila.

Read more.

Watch the announcement from the America's Got Talent YouTube channel:




Watch his final performance on the America's Got Talent YouTube channel:

Shin Lim smoking the semifinals of America's Got Talent 2018

From Shawn Farquhar's Facebook page:
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From the America's Got Talent YouTube channel:

Chris Funk on Masters of Illusion season 5

From Chris Funk's Twitter feed:
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Chris Funk The Wonderist - Masters of Illusion s05e04 https://t.co/iizcw4zU0c via @YouTube is up!

— Chris Funk (@chrisfunkmagic) July 24, 2018