Shawn Farquhar: Cover Boy

Shawn Farquhar is the cover boy for Issue 21 of Reelmagic Magazine.  Visit their website to view previous editions or to subscribe.

[h/t: @magiChampion]

Broken wand: Walter Earl Hopkins

Found at ConjurersCourt.ca:

HOPKINS, Walter Earl, QC – On February 22, 2011 we said goodbye to Walter Earl Hopkins (1933-2011); husband of 44 years to Dorothy (Fleming); dad to Susan and Glenn; Hoppy to friends and family; and Grandpa to Sam, Savannah and Siena. Walter practiced law for over 40 years in the Halifax area. Before completing his law degree at Dalhousie (1966) he spent 7 years in the Air Force and right into his 70's he still loved to go to the Officer's Mess on Friday evenings. Most of all he loved performing, practicing, and dreaming about magic and being a magician. His first show was as a young boy, his last as a 75 year old man. Sam (6) described his Grandpa as gone to another world like Luke Skywalker, and Savvy (4) and Siena (3) waved goodbye to him in the sky while enjoying one of his favourite things – cookies. So as a family that is how we all choose to say goodbye and remember him. Thank you to the many wonderful family and friends who have supported us through this difficult time. We will honour Walter's wishes for a small farewell with family from the home he loved very much and never really wanted to ever leave.

Visit the online guestbook at legacy.com

CAM website: new look and feel

If you haven't already, drop by CAMmagic.org to have a peek at the new Canadian Association of Magicians website!

Edited to add:  CAM's also hosting a contest to win a free copy of The Unsinkable Titanic Thompson by Carlton Stowers.  Check the website for contest details.

Rounding the Western rings in March

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

City	Club	Event(s)
Calgary, AB	Ring 66 (Calgary Magic Circle, Les Brocklesby Ring)	- James Jordan lecture - Brush With Death - Chad Long lecture - Jr. Magic Club - Garden Variety Show with Yeats Wong and Gwyn Auger
Edmonton, AB	Edmonton Magic Club	- N/A
Vancouver, BC	Ring 92 (Vancouver Magic Circle)	- Executive meeting - Past Presidents and One Trick Night - Local SAM 95 lecture by Jason England
Victoria, BC	Ring 183 (Victoria Magic Circle)	- Tony Award competition - Teach a Trick: Colin Holt

Please leave a comment or e-mail me about corrections or omissions.

Rounding the Ontario rings in March

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

Hamilton, ON	Ring 49 (The Doug Henning Magic Wand Club)	- Oscar Munoz lecture
London, ON	London Magician's Guild	- Silk magic by Jon Akrey
Kitchener, ON	Ring 235 (The Caesar Hat & Wand Magic Circle)	- Annual auction
Ottawa, ON	Ring 151 (Ottawa Society of Magicians)	- An Old Favourite - Charity Show:  Rehabilitation Hospital Show - Oscar Munoz lecture
Toronto, ON	Ring 17 (Sid Lorraine Hat and Rabbit Club)	- Member's show and tell - Oscar Munoz lecture

Please leave a comment or e-mail me about corrections or omissions.

CAM/PCAM Combined Convention: First acts announced

Family entertainers David Kaye, David Ginn and Mike Bent have been announced as appearing in this year's CAM and PCAM combined convention.  Can't wait to see who else will be there!

For more information about the convention, please visit MagicianConvention.com

Links for 2011-Feb-25

• Shawn Farquhar set up his own YouTube channel on Feb 18
   
• Lecleric Show episodes on YouTube:
  49.  Caleb Wiles - Day 49 of 365 [cameo by Ben Train]
  50.  Eric Leclerc Street Magic - Day 50 of 365
  51.  Tic Tac Magic - Day 51 of 365
  52.  Non-Toxic Magic - DAY 52 of 365
  53.  Ping Pong Fun! - DAY 53 of 365
  54.  Inflation Coin Trick - Day 54 of 365

Max Vlassenko on CHCH in Hamilton

The 2007 World Extreme Card Manipulation Champion, 18 year old Ontarian Max Vlassenko's appearance on the CHCH morning show on from Feb 17:



[h/t: iTricks.com]

Sorcerers Safari at WMS XXXIV

Magic Mike will be at the World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas this weekend and will again be playing a supporting role in Lance Burton’s Teen Weekend!  Best of all, the organizers of the weekend will award a lucky teen with Mike's generous $1000 scholarship to attend Sorcerers Safari Magic Camp!  This is the fifth year a magic camp scholarship will be presented.

Other magic camp supporters from Canada will also be in attendance, including Dick Joiner, Majinx and many more!

Magic camp supporters and campers will also be at the February 28th screening of the magic documentary Make Believe (which includes footage of campers and staff from Sorcerers Safari Magic Camp)!

Questions about Sorcerers Safari Magic Camp?  Visit their website or find Mike at WMS this weekend!

Niagara Talent Search 2011!

The Greg Frewin Theatre is hosting the 2011 Niagara Talent Search!  From their website:

Do you have a special talent in Music, Dance, Comedy or Magic? This is your chance to showcase your talent! Don't miss out! Be part of the largest talent show in the Niagara Region! There will be judges from the entertainment industry, and Producers, Agents and Promoters will be on hand to help you take your talent to the next level!

There will be 4 Grand Prize Winners chosen from our Talent Shows that will have the opportunity to perform in our Niagara Talent Variety Revue on May 19th. Not only will the winners be awarded in prizes, but they will also be exposed to agents, producers, and promoters in the audience!  

 
Drop off or mail your completed application form to their box office with enclosed payment before the deadline of March 10th with attention to: Shelby Ciamarra.

For more information, visit GregFrewinTheatre.com .

Magic 101 at UBC

Vancouver magician Jamie D. Grant will be teaching a four week Magic 101 course at UBC in March!

I wish they had courses like this when I was in school!

[h/t: @KeithHBrown]

Shawn Farquhar at British Ring Convention

The British Ring Convention taking place at Southport from September 22nd to 25th includes Shawn Farquhar.

To register or for more information, please visit the Magic Convention site of Ring 25.


[h/t:  Magic Convention Guide]

Links for 2011-Feb-18

• Shawn Farquhar launched Palmer Magic on February 11
    
• Aaron Fisher at Browser's Den in March
     
• Lecleric Show episodes on YouTube:
  41. The Penetration Trick - Day 41 of 365
  42. Ripped Card Stunt! Day 42 of 365
  43. Poker Night Trick - Day 43 of 365
  44. Three Card Full Monty - Day 44 of 365 
  45. Strat-O-Spheres Informercial - DAY 45 of 365
  46. Chop Stick Stunt - DAY 46 of 365
  47. The Disgusting Bead Trick - Day 47 of 365
  48. Criss Angel Trick - Day 48 of 365

Toronto: March Break Magic Camp for Kids

From Sharing Wonder:

Are you 9 to 12 years old?  Do you love magic?  Ever wanted to know how to make movies? Then what are you doing this March Break?

Make Movie Magic with Magicana and TIFF!

To find out more visit the TIFF website or call their Box Office at 416-599-TIFF (8433).

Calgary: The Garden Variety Show

Tip of the hat again to The Magician's Assistant for letting me know about Calgary's Garden Variety Show.  The vaudeville variety review takes place the last Thursday of every month and is hosted by comedy magician, James Jordan.  It features a cast of local and international variety performers: magicians, jugglers, ventriloquists, comedians and musicians who create an experience of vaudeville and late night chat.

The line up for this month's show includes magician and balloon sculptor TD Sparks.

Thanks again Gwyn!

Updates: Rounding the Calgary ring in February

The Magician's Assistant has kindly informed me that Calgary also has a Junior Magic Club with guest lecturers as well as a monthly venue for performers at the Garden Variety Show!  Which also led me to discover that the ring is having Michael Berends lecture this month too!

To see what the other rings are up to this month visit Rounding the Rings in February.

Thanks Gwyn for reading and for commenting!

Links for 2011-Feb-11

• Toronto: Roy Kueppers at Browser's Den in March
   
• Lecleric Show episodes on YouTube:
  34. Post office Magic - Day 34 of 365
  35. Zone Zero Hole - Day 35 of 365
  36. PURE COIN MAGIC - Day 36 of 365
  37. The Chill Pill - Day 37 of 365
  38. MOM WATCHES 1 GUY 1 JAR! - DAY 38 of 365
  39. Hyper Visual Twisting the Aces - DAY 39 of 365 (New contest announced!)
  40. The Floating Laptop - Day 40 of 365

Looking on the bright side of things

At a time when it's almost de rigueur to find fault and complain about how badly things are broken, it's refreshing to see someone consciously focus on the positives within their domain.  Imagine my delight to see that Andrew Musgrave, in the course of his own 365 project, has declared February to be his "favourites" month.

From his first post in February:

The ironic thing is that if you get really good at being the opposition, however, and embracing that mentality, it can almost have a paralyzing effect upon you. It becomes that much harder to commit to an idea because you can almost start automatically seeing both the flaws in the idea, and the merits in competing ideas in dealing with those flaws. Unfortunately, if you shift to a new idea, then the flaws of that idea start making themselves known, and still more ideas occur to you as being superior (including potentially the one you abandoned earlier on). It can become the psychological equivalent of MC Escher’s “Treppauf und treppab”, and, if you’re like me, that can have a paralyzing effect on one’s development as a magician.

 
Andrew's favourites so far include:

• Favourite Torn and Restored Card Routine
• Favourite Triumph Presentation
• Favourite L&L Performance
• Favourite Approach to “Be Honest, What Is It?”
• Favourite Cups and Balls Routine
• Favourite 2 Item Transposition
• Favourite Fictional Depiction of Magicians
• Favourite Cheap Magic Trick

I can't wait to read about the other favourites he has in store for us!

Tax lawyer transforms self into conjuror

That's the title of Michael Rappaport's article about David Ben in the January 28th issue of The Lawyers Weekly.

To access a PDF version of the article, visit Sharing Wonder.

Eleven years ago today

The hard must become habit. The habit must become easy. The easy must become beautiful.
-- Doug Henning

Eleven years ago today, at the age of 52 Doug Henning passed away five months after being diagnosed with liver cancer.

Last October 16th he posthumously received Canada's Walk of Fame Legends Award.

View the tribute to Doug presented by Howie Mandel at Canada's Walk of Fame Tribute Show:
 


Read more about Doug at Wikipedia, the Canadian Magician Archives, or purchase the book Spellbound: The Wonder-filled Life of Doug Henning.