Perfect Magic deal for CAM JAM Spring attendees

From CAM:

Are you going to CamJam 2013 at Niagra Falls on April 28th? If you are, read on.

Perfect Magic is going to have a booth there..

If there is anything you want, we will bring it with us if you order it before 5:00 PM Monday April 22. Pay for it when you order and we will bring it with us to the Convention, Visa or Mastercard and you will get a 10% discount .

Read more.

Vote now for CAM Magician of the Year!

Voting is now open for The Canadian Association of Magicians' "Magician of the Year" award!  From CAM:

Below, in alphabetical order, are the four official candidates for the 2013 Canadian Magician of the Year. Each of the candidates were asked to submit a short biography outlining their accomplishments.  Voting comences today and will continue until April 23rd, 2013. The results will be revealed at the CAM JAM Spring edition on April 28th at the Greg Frewin Theatre.  In your eMail inbox will be a communication from the CAM offices via BallotBin.com  In this eMail will be a unique link created just for you to use to select your choice for the award.  Once you have voted it can not be changed.

Read more.

A recap of the process:

• a request for nominations went out in January
• official nominees were announced on March 2nd
• Shawn Farquhar declares on March 3rd, "it is my intention, having already won the award twice, to state in my nominee description that members should not vote for me in the final process."
• voting opens for the official candidates on March 16
• David Ben withdraws from the ballot on March 17

Official nominees: CAM Magician of the Year

Shawn recently posted the list of official nominees for the Canadian Association of Magician's, Magician of the Year award!

From the CAM website:

When adding the votes we ended up with a three way tie for fourth place.  Because we used an option 1 and 2 it was easier to determine a winner based on which of those three magicians had the most option 1 votes.  Below I have listed the top nine magicians.  It is in fact a very impressive list which includes three previous winners of the award.  In the next few days I will contact each of these nominees and ask them to submit a brief 500 words or less description of themselves and their accomplishments.  Once I have these biographies I will post them here so you can all read and make an informed decision.  I truly believe that all the nominees are fitting of this, our most prestigious award and wish to congratulate them on being recognized by their peers for their contribution to magic in Canada and around the world.

Read more and learn the names of all the nominees as well as the list of official nominees.
 

Congratulations to everyone on the nomination list, and best of luck to the finalists!

(I was delighted to see that at least one of my nominees made it into the top four!)

In which Mark Lewis reads my mind

Well, he did a pretty good job of reading my mind.  Though the question was not quite as general in my head as what he asked, and I may have had a few different words in mind to express the thought.

I'm back to othe question I asked earlier this week, Does Magician of the year mean the same thing as Perfomer of the year? (The comments to the post have started to sway my orginal stance.  I am also astonished that 93% of you that voted in the poll so far, have voted that amateurs should be eligible for the award -- I was sure there would be hundreds of "no" votes by now!)

But back to Mark Lewis.

On the Canadian Association of Magicians website post, Nominations for Magician of the Year, Mark asked:

The “proficient magician” part of things may cut possible nominees down quite drastically. Is it possible to nominate someone who is utterly useless as a performer (as most are) but has contributed in some other way ?

Go to the CAM post to read Shawn's answer.

And an update from Shawn in his latest e-mail to remind CAM members that time is running out to nominate someone for the award:

We have over 40 nominees and there is a clear first place and three very close contenders for the final spots on the actual ballot.

So there you go.  I can't wait to see who makes it to the voting round!

Does Magician of the year mean the same thing as Perfomer of the year?

When Shawn posted the list of current nominations for "Magician of the Year" on the CAM website, I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one completely floored to see the name of an amateur magician in the mix.  (I was floored because the name was mine.  But many of you were shocked, I think, because an amateur was on the list.)

I, like many of you reading, assumed that "Magician of the Year" meant, among other things, "Performer of the Year."  I am incredibly honoured to be listed with all of the fine performers nominated thus far. (Imagine my surprise, to receive messages from people in support of my nomination!)  A casual glance at the names on the list, informs me that I don't stand a chance.

But it has lead to interesting discussions.  I'm pretty convinced that to win Magician of the Year, you have to be a professional peformer.  What do you think?

Should non-professional performers be eligible for CAM's Magician of the Year award?

CAM Magician of the Year: Nominations for 2013

Last month, Shawn sent out an e-mail via Ballot Bin, inviting CAM members to nominate up to two people for the Magician of the Year award for 2013.  Recently, he posted this on the Canadian Association of Magicans Website:

As the time draws to the end I have been less than thrilled with the lack of interest in nominating magicians for our most prestigious award.  We have 400 members that are eligible to vote and 77 of you have participated.  That’s about 20%, which is dismal. I know you all care and want to have your own say, so what’s the problem?  Well I asked a few of you and found many didn’t know who to nominate.  With this in mind I have compiled a list of those already listed in the nomination process.  They are in no particular order, but will  help you to think perhaps of someone to name.  The four magicians with the most nominations will be placed on a the final ballot for the vote.  If you don’t see a name on the list that you feel is being missed, add it today!

Click through to read the list of current nominations.
 

The last date to submit nominations is February 28th.  What are you waiting for?

The very observant of you, after reading the list, will haved noticed a certain, ummm, magic enthusiast's name!  What an absolute honour to see my name listed there, with all of those fabulously deserving performers!  Thank you!

Introducing CAM-JAM 2013. And it's FREE!

Updated April 2nd to change the date of the Summer Event to June 30th, as per Shawn's comment at the CAM website.

From Shawn Farquhar's Twitter feed:

My latest side project:An unbelievable FREE event for all members of the Canadian Association of Magicians.... fb.me/28pa6RYQ0
— Shawn Farquhar (@magiChampion) February 4, 2013
 

From MagicianConvention.com:

Spring Event - Niagara Falls, ON on Sunday, April 28th:

The Canadian Association of Magicians is breaking all the rules. Who has ever heard of a FREE convention? Well membership has it privileges… join us and a whole lot of other magicians for the first ever CAM-JAM… the best part of any magic convention is always the JAM sessions, so why not an entire day just filled with lots of jamming plus lectures and close up shows? To top it all off the incredible Greg Frewin will be offering us all discount tickets to attend his newest edition of his show in his spectacular showroom… it just doesn’t get any better than this. Did I mention the CAM-JAM is FREE!

Summer Event - Port Coquitlam, BC on Sunday June 23rd Sunday June 30th, 2013

Read more and register.

CAM Magician of the Year: Vote early, vote often!

Well, maybe not often...

From the Canadian Association of Magicians:

It’s that time of the year to nominate your favourite Canadian magician for the most prestigious award we offer. We are using a new system to tabulate results and in fact you can nominate two magicians. In your email box you should have a notice from BallotBin giving you a unique link to vote and instruction to do so before February 28, 2013. Once all nominations have been tabulated the four top finalist will be named and we will once again vote to find the 2013 winner.

Read more.

CAM has a new webmaster!

Shout out to Jeph Stahl, who has kindly offer to volunteer his time to be CAM's official new webmaster!  Jeph hails from Hamilton Ring 49 (The Doug Henning Magic Wand Club) and is doing a fabulous job with their newly revamped site!

Thank you Jeph for taking on that role!

Spotted in the wild ...

If you receive the CAM publication, Northern Peeks, you'll notice that this edition (Vol 15, Number 3) features Sorcerers Safari!  Tucked inside, is the article "The secret to Sorcerers Safari's success" written by yours truly!

Shawn had the nicest thing published below the article:

"Originally published on August 11 at CanadasMagic.blogspot.ca, which is the finest location for up to date information on magic in Canada."

Gwyn took a nice photo of it ....

@canadasmagic spotted! twitter.com/magicassistant…
— Gwyn Auger (@magicassistant) October 17, 2012

Thanks Gwyn!

And thanks to Shawn for his kind words about this site!

On the cover of Northern Peeks

Congratulations to Trevor and Lorena Watters who are gracing the cover of, and are featured in, the most recent issue of Northern Peeks, the publication of the Canadian Association of Magicians!

Reminder: CAM membership renewal

From the Canadian Association of Magicians:

Please check your membership card for your renewal date. Over 100 members will be required to renew this coming July 1st. To make it easier for everyone you can visit: MEMBERS RENEWAL where a handy renewal PayPal button has been constructed. Make sure to have your membership number handy to speed up the process.

Read more.

One handed CUT- A-THON winner!

From Sharing Wonder:

Congratulations to Sebastian Dagenais, winner of the Canadian Association of Magicians (CAM) 2012 One Handed CUT- A-THON contest.

The young and talented Sebastian hails from Montreal and performed 119 one-handed cuts for three rounds.

Read more to find out what Sebastian won!

CAM Awards

With thanks to Doug Cuff from MagicInfo.ca for live tweeting the awards presentation at the convention!  (And for live tweeting the rest of the convetion too!)

Bill Abbott is Canadian magician of the year! #hamCAM2012
— Doug C. (@magicinfo_ca) May 5, 2012

This year, the lifetime achievement award (not always given out) was given to Micky Hades. He couldn't be present, alas. #hamCAM2012
— Doug C. (@magicinfo_ca) May 5, 2012

The Sid Lorraine award went to the very deserving Nick Sacco. #hamCAM2012
— Doug C. (@magicinfo_ca) May 5, 2012

Michael Dardant won the close-up and stage competitions! Only other person to win both (in separate years) is @LeclericShow. #hamCAM2012
— Doug C. (@magicinfo_ca) May 5, 2012

CAMaraderie: One day passes

From the April 20th CAM newsletter:

Want to come to CAMaraderie but can't take the time to come for the whole conference? We have a solution for you.

Although it hasn’t been widely advertised, we now offer 1-day convention passes. These passes costs $95.00 and deliver a whole bunch of magic.  Each day there are many fabulous lecturers as well as a variety of other events. Choose the Friday pass and you can attend the Close-up show. Choose Saturday and you can attend the Gala Show!

Read more.

Day passes are a wonderful way to make the convention more accessible to those on a shoe-string budget and those with scheduling constraints.  Thank you CAM for this opportunity!

Train and Mayhew: Playing with your pack

From Ben Train:

Whether you do magic for hundreds of people or just for yourself, we are all looking for the same thing- powerful magic that’s fun to do. Using material from their critically acclaimed books, DVDs, downloads, and numerous magazine contributions, Ben Train and Chris Mayhew will help you discover strong magic that’s not just fun to watch, but fun to perform as well!

also:

Upcoming dates:

• CAM Convention: May 3rd to 5th, 2012
• Ottawa, ON: Tuesday May 15th, 2012
• Montreal: Thursday May 17th, 2012
• Quebec City, QC: Sunday May 20th, 2012
• Boston, MA: Tuesday May 22nd, 2012
• New York, NY: Saturday May 26th, 2012
• King of Prussia, PA: Tuesday May 29th, 2012
• Baltimore, MA: Wednesday May 30th, 2012
• The TFD Convention, Ohio: July 13-14, 2012
• Columbus, Ohio: Monday July 16th, 2012

Read more.

[h/t: magicinfo.ca]

CAMaraderie: The Paul Gertner Super Session Workshop

From the April 6th CAM newsletter:

In the Super Session Workshop Paul Gertner will teach four of his favorite routines straight from his professional close-up show and his corporate speaking program. These are routines that are audience tested that Paul has NEVER taught before. At the Workshop you will be learning routines that Paul has used to make a living as one of the world’s leading corporate magicians for the past 35 years. These routines are not part of Paul’s standard magic lecture and are featured only as part of his Super Session Workshop Series. The only thing we ask is that you keep the routines you learn in this workshop for your use only.

Read more.

From the April 7th CAM newsletter:

Interested in registering for the Paul Gertner workshop?

Well you have to be registered for CAMaraderie first - you can find registration details here: http://cammagic.org/camaraderie/registration

Need to check out the line-up before you register? There's a link for that too! Just click here: http://cammagic.org/camaraderie/acts


P.S. We've just heard that the winner of the one handed cut-a-thon will receive the book 'A Cut Above', compliments of Magicana.

CAMaraderie update

From Browser's Den of Magic Facebook page:

A dear customer and amateur magician has made arrangements with Joan Caesar of the Canadian Association of Magicians that for the next 50 people who register for the CAMaraderie Convention there will be a draw to win a $250 Gift Certificate to Wendy’s Restaurants.  And for those who have already registered another $250 Gift Certificate will go to one lucky winner.

Many magic conventions have shut down because of poor attendance. WITH ALL THIS HAPPENING, CAMARADERIE CONTINUES TO OFFER THE BEST VALUE IN MAGIC IN CANADA. Joan and Shawn Farquhar and the rest of the magic community needs your support SO THEY CAN CONTINUE TO BRING IN NAME PERFORMERS FOR YOU TO ENJOY AND LEARN FROM.

Read more.

What are you waiting for?  Register now!

CAM: Dealers room

From the CAM website:

The CAMaraderie is really doing great and the registrations are starting to stream in as the new year begins. With our new location in Hamilton, Ontario and the stellar line up of talent that rivals any major convention in the US .. what are you waiting for to register?

The latest announcement is that the Dealers Room for CAMaraderie is now fully booked!
 
Read more to find out who's in the room!

CAM: membership growth!

From the Canadian Association of Magicians website:

I am thrilled to announce we are just five members away from hitting the magic number of 400! This is super great news. This is a growth of nearly 75 members since July of 2011.

Read more.

Shawn also reminds us that it's membership renewal time for many members.  If your membership is up for renewal, you should have received a notice in your recent editions of "Northern Peeks."  If you aren't sure when your membership expires, please contact Shawn at "CAM @ CAMmagic . org" (without the quotes).