11 April 2014

Victoria: Victoria Tonight

From the Victoria Tonight Episode 1 Facebook event:
14 April

Featuring hosts Sam Lee and Patrick Boyle, Victoria Tonight's first show is April 14 at the Ratfish Lounge.

Our first guest is magician/podcaster Dave Attwood, with stand up comedy from Mark Robertson and Darcy Collins.

Shane Priestley is our man on the street looking for people to tell him jokes around town!

Read more.

10 April 2014

Toronto: The Ghost Experience with Jamie Stam

From Reality Based Magic:
On Friday nights, starting April 25, we will be premiering The Ghost Experience. Jamie Stam — who has appeared many times on Magic@theCage and Magic at the Winchester, one of our favourite presenters — is exploring a much more serious and mysterious side of the human experience; what happens with those who are no longer with us, yet remain behind. It’s a chilling, and yet somehow uplifting, affair.

The show will be every Friday night at a secret location in Downtown Toronto, which is only revealed to ticket holders (which means all tickets must be purchased in advance — you’ll never find the door!). Doors open at 6:30, with dinner served up until 7:30. After dinner, everything changes.

Read more and learn about the special preview performance.

07 April 2014

06 April 2014

Toronto: A Series of Unfortunate Effects

From Five Academy Magic:
Tuesday April 29th, 2014
The Revue Cinema (400 Roncesvalles Ave)

If you love magic, movies, and laughing this is the event for you. Combining a story-driven plot with a magic instructional, join Toronto's top magicians as they premiere their long awaited movie, A Series of Unfortunate Effects!

After witnessing an amazing magic trick performed by the Five Card Stud Lee Asher, Chris Mayhew enlists his friend Ben Train to help him discover Lee’s secret.

These two soon discover that uncovering the secrets to magic are not as easy as they once thought. Join Chris and Ben as they learn magic from underground magicians Jeff Hinchliffe, Glenn West, and Chris Westfall, all while avoiding destruction at the hands of crazed card collector Bill Abbott. Get ready for a wild story-driven magic instructional, filled with laughs and incredible card tricks.

Read more.

05 April 2014

Road Trip to see Jay Scott Berry

From The Doug Henning Magic Wand Club:
GOOD EVENING MEMBERS & FRIENDS OF THE DOUG HENNING MAGIC WAND CLUB HAMILTON IBM RING #49:

The Club Executive has unanimously agreed to make our April Meeting a “ROAD TRIP” to BUFFALO IBM Ring 12 on MONDAY APRIL 7th  to see the Jay Scott Berry 2014 Speed of Light Lecture. (normally our April meeting would be on Tues April 8th at Binkley Church) Paid up club members will have the lecture fee of $10 (US) paid out of our Ring treasury. Non-members must pay a $10 lecture fee at the door.  ****PLEASE NOTE**** ALL ATTENDING THE LECTURE MUST HAVE A VALID CANADIAN PASSPORT in order to enter the United States.

Read more.

04 April 2014

Lucas Wilson bowling for for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Grand Erie

Good luck Lucas and Kelly!

From YouTube: The Illusionist - Bowl for Kids Sake:
Check out this great fundraiser to support Big Brothers Big Sisters of Grand Erie. Did you know they served 498 local children in 2013! Bowl For Kids Sake is a lot of fun, a great way to raise money, and a long lasting investment in our community.

Help my team by donating today!



Read more and donate.


[via iTricks]

03 April 2014

Trevor and Lorena: Thursdays Live

From Brown Paper Tickets:
Thursdays Live always features Seattle's premier entertainers up close and personal, so on April 17th join us for an evening of laughter and mind-bending magic with Brian Cook Chris Bange and Canada's own Trevor and Lorena Watters.  You will not only be close enough to experience every detail, but you may even be asked to help make the magic happen, so get ready to participate in the fun. You will experience the wonder of new possible realities first had and have a great story to tell your family, friends and co-workers the next day.

Read more and buy tickets.

02 April 2014

Grateful for our April sponsors

Thank you to our sponsors for their generous support.  We're pleased 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.




01 April 2014

Rounding the Western rings in April

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


CityClubEvent(s)
Calgary, ABRing 66 (Calgary Magic Circle, Les Brocklesby Ring)- n/a
Edmonton, ABEdmonton Magic Club- n/a
Winnipeg, MBThe Magic Club of Winnipeg- n/a
Fraser Valley, BCIBM Ring 387 (Fraser Valley Magic Circle)- Magic flea market
- Parlour Magic with special guest stars Rod Chow and Steve Dickson
Vancouver, BCRing 92 (Vancouver Magic Circle)- Steve Brooks lecture
Vancouver, BCSAM 95  (Carl Hemeon Assembly)- n/a
Victoria, BCRing 183 (Victoria Magic Circle)   - Annual General Meeting
 
Please leave a comment or e-mail me about corrections or omissions.

Rounding the Ontario rings in April

Updated April 24th to add the following from the Doug Henning Magic Wand Club:
Mark your calendars for next Wed. April 30th. No, it’s not Tax Filing Deadline (CRA  gave a 5 day extension).  It’s the Tri-City Lecture (London,Kitchener & Hamilton Clubs) hosted by Kitchener IBM Ring#235 at 7pm. at

St.Andrew’s Presbyterian Church,54 Queen St.North @ Weber Street, Kitchener N2H 2H2.

Originally our 3 clubs were having Mickael Chatelaine from France lecture, after his appearance at the 4F convention (this weekend in Batavia NY.) Unfortunately, Mickael broke his elbow a few weeks ago and will not be attending the 4F convention.  Our thanks to member Joan Caesar for arranging a substitute lecturer/performer/entertainer & multi award winner Michael Dardant, who coincidently was born in France, but calls his home in the “Big Easy” New Orleans.

Read more.


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


Hamilton, ONRing 49 (The Doug Henning Magic Wand Club) - n/a
London, ONRing 265 (London Magician's Guild)- Kitchener Club (roadtrip!)
- Mickael Chatelain lecture
Kitchener, ONRing 235 (The Caesar Hat & Wand Magic Circle)- Magic Auction
Ottawa, ONRing 151 (Ottawa Society of Magicians) - Literacy Magic
- Executive Nominations
Ottawa, ONOttawa / Gatineau magicians- Chris Westfall lecture
Toronto, ONRing 17 (Sid Lorraine Hat and Rabbit Club) - Kenton Knepper lecture
 

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

Rounding the Eastern rings in April

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


Halifax, NSRing 316 (Conjourer's Court) - n/a
St. John, NBMagic Circle of St. John- n/a


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

Going for it!

I've spent the past 3+ years posting notices of performances, lectures, awards and achievements at this blog.  At the back of my mind, a seed was planted.
"I can do that."

It was small and quiet at first.  A hushed whisper of a thought.  Easy to ignore.
"I can do that."

As the days and months progressed, the inner voice grew slowly but surely.  The everyday busy made it easy to discount.  There are bills and groceries and errands and accounting and schedules that need my attention. 

But with every post about a magical success story, the notion became more entrenched.
"I can do that."

Most recently at Ring 17 members night I was delighted to see so many members go to the front of the room and just go for it.  And so, the subconscious niggling finally asserted itself to the conscious mind.
"I can do that.  Go and do it!"

The time has come for me to put all of my free time towards mastering the craft of magic.  Toronto magician and five year producer of Abracadabaret, James Alan, has agreed to take me under his wing.  (I've watched him very patiently teach children.  He's going to need all of his patience to get me stage ready!)

To increase my motivation, a downtown Toronto venue has been booked in the middle of October, for my first solo show.  It is with tremendous gratitude that I thank James for clearing his schedule to assist with coaching me, as well as both producing and directing this project.  Accordingly, posting at this site will be infrequent to nonexistent over the next while.

Details of the upcoming performance will be released when the timing is right.  Timing, as they say, is everything.

And with that I remind you, dear readers, to check the timing (and especially the date) of publication of this announcement.







30 March 2014

Orlando: Bill Abbott

From Bill Abbott's Twitter feed:

28 March 2014

Random thoughts about Magic @ The Cage

Over March Break, we made our way to The Cage to catch Abracadabaret in action.   On tap were James Alan, Chris Westfall and Jamie Stam.
  • The Crimson Lounge at The Cage is a great venue for dinner theatre.  [This is a cash only venue.]
  • Performers who are aware that there minors in the audience, and adjust their script / set to accommodate for young people, win over the children's parents immediately.  Doubly so if the show wasn't billed as a child friendly show.
  • Performers who mind their language because of the presence of young persons with perhaps delicate ears, can be more entertaining than if they had ignored the fact entirely.  [Kudos and thank you to James Alan!]
  • Adults are surprisingly entertained by children volunteers on stage, as long as the children are enjoying themselves and especially if the children are laughing.
  • Kidlet has seen a balloon animal act before, a few times, more times than I can remember and was still well entertained by Chris's handling.  Impressive Chris!
  • I'm always delighted to see James on stage with a roll of duct tape in hand.  Because I know what follows is going to be wonderful.
  • Jamie presented some material I hadn't seen him perform before.  Very creative, visual and effective.
  • Most of the Sunday (and some of the Tuesday) shows this month have been sold out.  Be sure to purchase your tickets in advance to reserve your seats!  (If you have comps, do let James Alan know which date you're hoping to attend.)

26 March 2014

Montreal: Chris Westfall's Calculated Chaos

From Montreal Magic Jam:
April 3rd

One of the things we enjoy most about organizing these lectures is being able to introduce you to new up-and-coming magicians, so we’re very excited to be bringing Chris Westfall to Montreal. Chris is a true student of magic as well as a worker in every sense of the word. With thousands of performances under his belt in a multitude of venues, Chris has developed a style and repertoire suited for the real world. Chris’s material has been published in Magic, Genii and M-U-M, and he was an invited speaker at the acclaimed 2013 Magi-Fest convention.

Read more (également en français) and buy tickets.

I should also remind you that Chris is giving his lecture in Ottawa on April 1st:


25 March 2014

Wendy's missing seven

Earlier I mentioned that there were 7 missing videos from the “Wendy’s Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger Magic Show.”

Here they are!

Watch Extra Trick 4, Ken Margoe, on YouTube:





Watch Extra Trick 5, Baldini, on YouTube:





Watch Extra Trick 6Rob Testa, on YouTube:






Watch Extra Trick 7, Baldini, on YouTube:





Watch Extra Trick 8, Baldini, on YouTube:





Watch Extra Trick 9, Mark Lewis, on YouTube:





Watch Extra Trick 10, Adam Swaye, on YouTube: