Kickstart Leon Playing Cards

From the Leon Playing Cards Kickstarter page:

My name is Chris Mayhew. I am a magician living in Toronto Canada, and I love playing cards. For me, my interest in magic was inevitable. I grew up in Calgary Alberta, close to a magic shop that opened a few blocks down the street from my house.

As soon as I walked into that shop I was hooked. I would spend every chance I could hanging out at the magic shop, absorbing as much as I could from the local magicians that frequented it. I found the Dr. Leon Playing Cards at the magic shop, and fell in love with the look and feel of the cards instantly.

Read more and back project.

From Chris Mayhew's Twitter feed:

For the last year I have been working on this project to bring it to fruition. There have been so many obstacles,... https://t.co/CRsmYGVdNx

— Chris Mayhew (@SurrealMayhew) November 6, 2017

Congratulations to Luc Langevin!

Congratulations to Luc Langevin and his wife Esther Béland on the arrival of the newest member of their family!


From an article by Karine Paradis published in En Vedette (and translated through Google):

This is not an illusion!

Luc Langevin and his wife Esther Béland welcomed a new member into their small family ...

See the first post on Luc's Instagram account:

👶🏻👌🏻

A post shared by Luc Langevin (@langevinofficiel) on Nov 7, 2017 at 10:09am PST

A "Go Fund Me" for Gerard Dietrich

I remember Gerard from the Ring 17 club exchange days.  I think it was Gerard who first introduced me to the work of Bruce Posgate.  A a couple of years back, at the Browser's Bash I became acquainted with Gerard's son Scott, who set up this campaign to help out his parents.

Wishing Gerard a speedy recovery!


From the "Save Santa's Christmas (broken hip)" Go Fund Me page:

After 40+ years of delighting children with his holiday magic, and listening intently to their Christmas wishes, professional Santa Claus, Gerard Dietrich’s Christmas is in jeopardy.

On Sunday, November 5th Gerard accidentally fell and broke his hip, specifically his femur just below the ball joint. On Tuesday, November 7th he had a successful operation to mend his broken hip which included inserting a metal rod into the bone and securing it with screws and wire.

All though Santa is on the road to recovery, it will take an estimated 6 weeks. He cannot drive a car, let alone a sleigh for this length of time either. This means he will miss his main season of employment, which he and Mrs. Claus (my Mom) rely on. Without their supplemental Christmas income, it could be a very long winter for Mr. and Mrs. Claus; two kind hearted people who have brought joy to thousands.

The money collected will go to supplementing their lost income to cover basic bills, rent, etc. and any additional medical expenses.  This time of year Santa should be focused on making children’s holiday wishes come true, not how he will pay rent.

Read more and donate.

McCord Museum poster contest

From the McCord Museum Twitter feed:
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POSTER #CONTEST ★ Over $1,500 in prizes to win + your creation exhibited! Enter by November 12 ❯❯ https://t.co/F4IbCKMU6H #IllusionsMcCord pic.twitter.com/m87TcBNA14

— Musée McCord Museum (@MuseeMcCord) October 2, 2017

The Evasons make NBA history

From The Evasons Facebook page:

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Vote for Captain Corbin, Daniel Steep, Keith Brown, and Peter Mennie in the "Our London Best of London Awards"

Updated at 10:40am to add:

• Captain Corbin, Daniel Steep, Keith Brown, and Peter Mennie are all in the running for "Live Entertainment"
• Captain Corbin and Daniel Steep, are in the running for "Children's Amusement"

From Captain Corbin's Facebook page:

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From Daniel Steep's Facebook page:

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From The Agri-Magic Show Twitter feed:

Support Canadian Magic - vote for @petermennie @KeithHBrown @Captain_Corbin & @danielsteep in @OurLondonOnt Best of London Awards #ldnont

— The Agri-Magic Show (@agrimagicshow) October 20, 2017

Subscribe to "Vanish" for free

From Paul Romhany's Facebook page:

GREAT NEWS!!!!!!

EVERYBODY that reads VANISH you can now subcribe for FREE and each issue will be delivered to your mail box each month. Just click on latest edition and press SUBCRIBE on left hand side (do this on computer) - this is a really cool feature I just added. PLEASE SHARE THIS NEWS with the magic community

Greg Frewin Theatre: Winner of 2017 Top Performing Arts Award from Attractions Ontario

Do you remember, back in May, when I was bugging you to vote for Greg at Attractions Ontario?  Enough of you did!

Congratulations Greg, et al! Well deserved!

And you can wake up with Greg on Friday the 13th! From the Greg Frewin Theatre Facebook page:

WAKE UP WITH GREG-
 Greg & Nick from the #GregFrewin Theatre LIVE #610AM - round table with #TimDenis tomorrow at 7:30am

From the Greg Frewin Theatre Facebook page:

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Ariann Black's "The Volunteer Network"

From The Volunteer Network:

The Volunteer Network empowers Volunteers by building dynamic relationships between fellow volunteers, philanthropic organizations and worthy sponsors in a way that is simpler and more effective than ever before, all with the goal of making a positive impact on the world.

To accomplish this we are creating a platform unique to the altruistic world.

Read more and sign-up to be notified of the official launch.

From Ariann Black's Facebook page:

What do you call a group of magicians?

An interesting question posed by James Alan while posting a photo of the attendees of Ring 17's first meeting of the season.

Seriously though, what term do you use to refer to a group of magicians?

I look forward to your answers in the comments below.  (Or email them to me and I'll add them to the comments for everyone's enjoyment!)

From James Alan's Facebook post:

McCord’s Camp ABRACADABRA

From Joe Culpepper:

It’s not the magician who teaches the children. It’s the children who teach the magician.

I had a great time working with the McCord Museum’s education team to teach over 100 different mini-Montrealers how to perform magic onstage this summer as part of their ABRACADABRA camps.* This series of week-long summer camps was inspired by the ILLUSIONS exhibition. The exhibition contains beautiful chromolithograph posters from the Allan Slaight collection acquired with help from the Emmanuelle Gattuso Foundation. Each week, the ABRACADABRA kids took a tour of this magnificent collection as part of their discovery of Montreal’s entertainment history. They then worked with me and their camp counselors (Skippy, Scala, Echo, Stein and Marc-André) to learn a new effect or two each day as preparation for their “Grand Spectacle” at the end of the week. As part of preparing for this big show for their friends and family, they learned fine motor skills, creative brainstorming techniques, performance vocabulary, public speaking skills and how to interact with audience members onstage.
Read more.

YouTube: Spotlight Canada

From the CBC:

​YouTube is putting a bigger bet on its most successful Canadian creators with a channel dedicated to promoting local talent.

The video streaming platform unveiled "Spotlight Canada" on Monday, a curated page that highlights some of the nation's standout videos. It's the first time a country has been singled out with its own curated content section.

The debut of the page features a selection of past viral hits, including astronaut Chris Hadfield's collaboration with the Barenaked Ladies from space, the Tragically Hip performing Bobcaygeon in Kingston, Ont., last summer, and a selection of trending music videos from Canadian artists.

Read more.

From Clive Court's Facebook page:

Michael Kras wins the 2017 Voaden Prize

Congratulatiosn Michael!


From Michael Kras' Twitter feed:
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Deeply humbled and honoured that my play has been awarded the 2017 Voaden Prize. pic.twitter.com/8mCNuH9uN0

— Michael Kras (@KrasMagic) July 25, 2017

Sid Lorraine at Black Creek Pioneer Village

Ken McCreedy has posted some wonderful photos of Sid Lorraine performing at Black Creek Pioneer Village.

From Ken McCreedy's Facebook page:

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Toronto: Free magic jam!

From Ben Train's Facebook page:

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That's all she wrote

With the publication of yesterday's piece on Murray SawChuck meeting The Twins, I've officially published that last scrap of new news about Canadian magicians and magic happening in Canada.

Between you and me, I'm surprised we covered it all in just over six short years!  I thought it would have taken longer.

A shout out to all of my sponsors, past and present.  That means you: Magic Information Canada, Ryan Pilling, Clive Court, Perfect Magic, The Browser's Den of Magic, The Amazing Corbin, and Michael Close.

Thanks also to all of the blog's official friends, past and present.  That's you:  John Smithman, John Harrison, Richard Lyn, Joan Caesar, and Ted & Marion Outerbridge.

And of course thank you, dear readers, for your company on this fabulous journey!
















I kid!  We've only just seen the tip of the iceburg.

It's Saturday April 1st and I'm spending the day at the 3rd annual Browser's Bash.  Keep your eye on the blog and Twitter for updates on how the day is progressing!

Shane Cobalt on Erdnase

From Shane Cobalt's Facebook page:

I just wrote this as a comment to someone asking "Who's Erdnase" and thought it might be interesting to a wider audience.

Let's pretend this is a real question.

The first answer, which will assume you know about the book and are just looking for the identity, is still a mystery. As it stands, I am of the mindset that Marty Demarest has found the most current convincing candidate with Wilbur Edgarton Sanders. However, everyone is speculating and as Erdnase never actually came to get the books from the printer, I believe we are in a position where we may never truly know with 100% certainty who Erdnase truly was. Unfortunate really.

That being said, let's assume you are asking the greater over arching question that many new to the field ask. What/Who is Erdnase (all about).

A relatively small book was published in 1902 under the name S.W. Erdnase. A pseudonym name we assume of the author.

While there is a lot of mystery and searching going on regarding who he was, let's discuss what the book is, why it's important, and what you can expect from it.

Read more.

Introducing "Magic Convention Bingo"

• Have you ever been at a magic convention and found yourself with 17 seconds where there's nothing to do?
   
• Have you ever searched for a distraction so that you wouldn't have to make eye contact with the humans in your proximity?


• Do you fancy yourself to have Sherlock-esque powers of observation?

We've got just the thing for you!

Canada's Magic is proud to introduce Magic Convention Bingo!

Click here for your Bingo card (or make an Unofficial #BrowsersBash2017 edition) and click refresh until you generate a card you like. Simply print it off and bring it to your next magic convention!

Stay alert and keep an eye open for the items on your card. See how long it takes for you to get your first bingo or even fill your card!

Remember to be respectful and don't shout out "bingo" during presentations or performances. And don't bother the conference organizers with questions about Magic Convention Bingo -- they might not even know it's going on!

Stream "Houdini and Doyle" until 2021

From the Twitter feed of HouDoyle:
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Good news for Canadian cable subscribers. Thanks to @Global_TV you can now stream #HoudiniAndDoyle until 2021! 🎩🖋️https://t.co/yaNBxkXnWx

— HouDoyle (@HouDoyle) February 3, 2017

The Great Boomsky: Truro magician Isaac Willis

From The Chronicle Herald:

In the 1920s, a popular “professor” worked as a porter at the Truro train station. However this porter wasn’t a moonlighting academic.

Under the stage name of Professor Boomsky, he once mystified full houses at the world’s finest theatres. And before that, he worked at the White House.

Isaac Willis was born on Christmas Eve, 1879 in Alexandria, Va. By the age of two, he was living in Washington, D.C., where his father, a former cart driver, was a doorman at the White House. Eventually, Isaac joined his father, working there as a messenger boy.

By a twist of fate, Isaac caught the eye of Alexander Herrmann, a millionaire magician who lived a glamorous lifestyle befitting a modern-day rock star, complete with a yacht, private railcars, and a seaside mansion.

Herrmann, who often gave command performances for presidents and royalty, took notice of the charismatic Willis. In a flash, the White House needed a new messenger boy. The teen had signed on as Herrmann’s apprentice, assuming the role of Boomsky, the magician’s beloved stage assistant.

Read more.