Toronto: "Trick of the Eye and Sleight of Hand"

From David Ben's Twitter feed:

Looking forward to "Trick of the Eye and Sleight of Hand" w/ visual artist Alexander Pilis, Aug 30 @kofflerarts @2PM http://t.co/xP3RYVgAHq

— David Ben (@theconjuror) August 24, 2015

Summer magic

Julie Eng does tremendous things with Magicana's My Magic Hands programme.

From Sharing Wonder:

Today's Big Show at Holland Bloorview wraps up the last of three simultaneous sessions we had been running at the hospital. We worked in partnership with Hands2Hands and Helping Hands; and hosted a full session of My Magic Hands. We had 27 clients participate with nearly 1:1 magic coach support! Needless to say these kids blossomed beautifully with such encouragement. We are so fortunate to work with such dedicated staff and volunteers at Holland Bloorview.

Even though each program and client had a wide range of goals, we were pleased to see so many kids not only achieve their goals but to also discover new skills they didn’t realize they even possessed! There is power inside that kind of self-confidence and self-esteem - and we find it simply inspiring.

Read more.

Relaunching "Everything Erndase"

From Julie Eng's Facebook page:

Super excited to announce the relaunch of "Everything Erndase" www.everythingerdnase.com Had a lot of fun revisiting...
Posted by Julie Eng on Monday, 3 August 2015

Review: Michael Close reviews "The Experts"

Read Michael Close's thoughts on "The Experts" from the July issue of MUM Magazine.

From Sharing Wonder:

Mark Twain said a classic is a book that people praise and don’t read, a definition that certainly applies to The Expert at the Card Table by S.W. Erdnase. Dai Vernon was the primary champion of the book; his approach to card handling, shaped by Erdnase’s philosophy and techniques, astonished everyone. Vernon shared his insights to the members of the New York inner circle, and years later even offered personal lessons on the techniques (a project abandoned because of too few interested parties). Charlie Miller and Ross Bertram (in Canada) were also exponents of Erdnase.

Read more.

Congratulations to the 2015 Canadian Rising Star

The winners of the Allan Slaight awards were announced last Saturday.  Special congratulations to Mahdi Gilbert for winning the Canadian Rising Star award!


From Magicana:

Congratulations to the first-ever Allan Slaight Award winners, recognizing outstanding achievement in the pursuit of the impossible! 

 Lifetime Achievement Award ($15,000)  JOHNNY THOMPSON  

Sharing Wonder Award ($15,000)  PENN & TELLER 

Sharing Secrets Award ($10,000)  MIKE CAVENEY  

International Rising Star ($5,000)  HENRY VARGAS  

Canadian Rising Star ($5,000)  MAHDI GILBERT  

Read more.

The oldest trick in the book: The Story of The Cups and Balls

From a recent Magicana mailing:

Magicana is pleased to present a new, interactive exhibition on the story of the cups and balls. It features the trick's history, timelines, video performances, commentary - and much more!

If you have ever wondered what made this famous trick so memorable, or how it came to be, or who has performed it, come and visit our latest digital offering at:

www.magicana.com/cups

Breaking news: $250,000 For Excellence in Magic

I hope there's an award for best Canadian Magic Blog!  *fingers crossed*

From Magicana:

Magicana is pleased to announce on behalf of the Slaight Family Foundation the creation of the Allan Slaight Awards to recognize oustanding achievement in the pursuit of the impossible.

Initiated by the Slaight Family Foundation to honour Canadian media mogul and philanthropist Allan Slaight, and his lifelong passion for and contribution to magic, Magicana will distribute, on behalf of the Slaight Family Foundation, $250,000 over five years to recognize excellence in magic.

Read more.

Montreal: The McCord Museum magic acquisition

From the Montreal Gazette:

The McCord Museum has acquired a $3-million collection of 600 posters, 200 rare books and 200 documents relating to the golden age of magic – from the 19th to early 20th centuries. 

Included are objects linked to Harry Houdini, including personal correspondence and scrapbooks. Houdini performed in Montreal four times, including the event in 1926 where a McGill student punched Houdini in the stomach before he was prepared for it, rupturing his appendix. Houdini died a week later.

“It’s the second-largest collection of Houdini material held in a public institution,” said David Ben, artistic director of Magicana, an organization dedicated to the study of magic. Ben served as an adviser to the museum and was there on Monday as journalists were invited into the museum vaults to view some of the artifacts.  The Library of Congress in the U.S. has the largest such collection, making this the most extensive in Canada. “The collection is significant,” Ben said.

Read more.

From Julie Eng's Facebook page:

Post by Julie Eng.

More media links:

La magie entre au musée - La Presse+ http://t.co/Wl9al8mkMr via @lp_lapresse
— Julie Eng (@anjusan) February 10, 2015

Thrilled to be present at @museemccord announcement of its new magic collection. See video and hear interview here: http://t.co/TQgWdXrC3Q
— David Ben (@theconjuror) February 10, 2015

Acquisition majeure pour le Musée! RT @LeDevoir: #Houdini surgit au @MuseeMcCord http://t.co/rE0k1UazT3 pic.twitter.com/B3f0evCpMt
— Musée McCord Museum (@MuseeMcCord) February 10, 2015

Montreal’s McCord Museum gifted largest cache of magic-related memorabilia in Canada - The Globe and Mail http://t.co/LXMmbexcvl
— Magicana (@sharingwonder) February 10, 2015

Toronto: The Conjuror

Updated at 7:20am to include (at the bottom of the post) a link to the Michael Coren interview as well as a link to a new short film. 

More details about the Conjuror!

From Julie Eng's Facebook page:

Post by Julie Eng.

Also from Julie Eng's Facebook page:

Post by Julie Eng.

More from Julie Eng's Facebook page:

Post by Julie Eng.

Even more from Julie's Facebook page:

Post by Julie Eng.

Interview link from Julie's Facebook page:

Post by Julie Eng.

From Magicana's Twitter feed:

http://t.co/rRF2dWQerq Merry Xmas! A present from Magicana. @theconjuror @dzuckerbrot present a new film! See it now pic.twitter.com/IoMSxrxVQA
— Magicana (@sharingwonder) December 24, 2014

Luminato round-up

From The Star:

At a magic show, audiences wonder if they can trust their eyes. But are the conjurers themselves believable? As part of the Luminato Festival, we ask some magicians if they can be trusted.

Read more.

From The Globe and Mail:

Sitting at a table covered with a red felt cloth in his Toronto studio, magic producer David Ben demonstrates how a magician shuffles cards.

To the spectator sitting across from him, it looks innocuous enough, but lean up beside him and he’ll show you that he can see the face of every card as he fans through the pack with his fingers. Oh, there’s a queen. He stops and cuts the deck, placing the queen on the bottom.

Read more.

David Ben on CP 24.


Magicana blog posts in reverse chronological order:

• CTA -Now or Never
• CTA – On Stage
• CTA – Sense and Sensibility
• CTA – Connect the Dots
• CTA – Going Global
• CTA – A Subtle Shift
• CTA – A Lousy Magician
• CTA – An Erdnasian Allusion

Take On Me with Rob Zabrecky

From Magicana:

Magicana is pleased to announce that one of our guest artists, Rob Zabrecky – the opening act for Card Table Artifice – will be a participant in Luminato’s Take On Me visual arts programme.

Take on Me is a partnership between the Luminato Festival and PATTISON Onestop as part of their ongoing Art in Transit program. Artists from outside Toronto (such as Rob Zabrecky from Los Angeles) are asked to create short videos that represent their work. In turn, artists from Toronto are asked to create a “response”. The video dialogues will be presented on platform screen across the TTC subway station platform screens before and during the Luminato Festival.

And when Rob Zabrecky is involved, you can be sure it will  be something worth watching!

Read more.

Toronto: Transgressive Magic at Luminato 2014

From Magicana:

Transgressive Magic: Magic that violates a law, command or moral code. Card Table Artifice and Bullet Catch do just that.

Card Table Artifice – puts the con into concert, combining techniques employed by professional card cheats with a sumptuous musical score. It is a window into the world of advantage players, and the machinations they employ when they place their livelihood, and sometimes their life, into their own hands.

Bullet Catch blurs the lines between conventional plays and magic shows, addressing an act that violates both civil and moral codes – the asking of a member of the audience to point a gun and pull the trigger that sends a bullet towards a performer quite confident he can defy death, all under the guise of entertainment.

Both productions challenge form and function, and place magic and the audience outside the traditionalist’s comfort zone of top hats, bunny rabbits and family-friendly fare.

Read more and buy tickets.

Card Table Artifice and Rob Zabrecky’s  TURN ON THE DARK!
WORLD PREMIERE: June 13 and June 14

Bullet Catch
CANADIAN PREMIERE: June 14 and June 15

Sharing wonder with the help of Magicana

From Magicana:

Through our Tony Eng Youth Fund, Magicana sponsored two young people to attend the John Carney Lecture in Toronto on Feb 15, 2014.

The pair are actively part of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Toronto – an organization near and dear to Magicana as past partners in our My Magic Hands program. Through a happy coincidence, Big Brother, Mike Johns, happened to hear about the lecture and thought it would be the perfect outing with his Little, Wes.

Wes is a budding 12-year old magician with a huge interest in magic and his Big, Mike – equally interested in magic – thought it would be the perfect outing for the two of them. But, limited funds proposed a challenge. Resourcefully, Mike reached out to Magicana and through our Tony Eng Youth Fund, we were able to make their attendance possible. After all that’s what the fund is all about – to motivate and inspire young people who are passionate about magic.

Read more.

Magic and rehab help transform kids with disabilities

From The Star:

Presto! Change-o! Magic is all about transformation.

We are mesmerized by what we cannot explain, enthralled when hands deceive our eyes.

So it was on a recent afternoon in a compact auditorium that’s part of Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and was filled with an audience of 50 facility staff, clients, friends and family of the small performers who individually sat in front of the proverbial magician’s table with black cloth and fringe.

Read more.

Nine years of My Magic Hands

Congratulations Julie, on the continued success of this fabulous project!

From Sharing Wonder:

It is hard to believe that My Magic Hands was originally launched nearly a decade ago.

Magicana applied for funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation(OTF) to develop a pilot program version of  ”Magic Hands”.  In 2004, the program was designed and tested during the year in four different at-risk communities around the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), including Canada’s top children’s rehabilitation hospital, now known as Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. The response to the pilot program was excellent and Trillium agreed. Magicana was then awarded a multi-year grant to expand  My Magic Hands program (and, to simultaneously develop Senior Sorcery – a program designed specifically for the senior population). My Magic Hands continued to evolved and developed through funding from private foundations and donors. Today, this program is funded solely by the Slaight Family Foundation.

Read more.

Magicana's Helping Hands

How wonderful to see magic making such a big difference in these patient's lives!  Well done Julie, keep up the great work!


From Sharing Wonder:

For the past few weeks, lead by magicienne Julie Eng, we made one of our favourite stops to Holland Bloorview Kids Rehab to bring some magic to the Helping Hands program.

Helping Hands is a modified constraint induced movement therapy (CIMT) for clients with hemiplegia (paralysis on one side of the body) secondary to an acquired brain injury or stroke. Participants are required to wear a splint or cast on their non-affected hand. Activities that encourage the functional use of their hemiplegic arm, such as magic, help participants in their physical therapy.

Read more.

More Luminato 2013 reviews

From The Globe and Mail:

Monday evening: George Brown House, an Ontario heritage building situated just south of the University of Toronto, is named, of course, after the distinguished Father of Confederation and founder of The Globe, the newspaper that became the newspaper you are reading. Normally off-limits to the great unwashed, Brown’s stately home was the venue chosen by Luminato’s go-to magic man, David Ben, to showcase the extraordinary legerdemain of American magician Steve Cohen.

The setting proved an apt backdrop for Cohen’s act, which owes a considerable debt to Johann Hofzinser, the 19th-century Austrian known as the father of card magic. At New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Cohen’s unofficial home, he typically entertains audiences of no more than 50. For the Toronto cohort, only slightly larger, the diminutive Cohen – nattily attired in morning coat, waistcoat and striped trousers – deftly stick-handled his way through a series of jaw-dropping tricks, each seemingly more difficult than the last.

Read more.

From Mooney on Theatre:

I straightened my bowtie and tucked in my pocket square this evening to see Steve Cohen perform his show Chamber Magic at George Brown House for Luminato, where the dress code is as fancy as the attendees (let’s just say that for this evening anyhow, his sobriquet The Millionaires’ Magician was well deserved). The show, a classic parlour magic display designed for close audiences, sent me running home to the interwebs to try to figure out how some of his tricks had been performed. I’ll say only this: even online, magicians are pretty tight-lipped.

The pleasure of a magic show is in allowing yourself to be amazed – and it’s nice to be able to stay amazed. Cohen’s skills are really a pleasure to watch as he performs of variety of tricks that are indeed bewildering and delightful. You understand that, on some level, something must be happening somewhere you can’t see it, but that feels beside the point for a moment (except to the gentleman sitting a bit in front of me, who murmured his guesses to his companion frequently). When the card is turned or the glass fills with the correct colour of liquid, we in the audience both expect it and cannot fathom it.

Read more.

From Opus One Review:

We enjoyed being fooled. We pay good money to people who can trick us. We long for the impossible, and what Miguel Puga does is impossible, but there it is.

To help us catch him in his onstage trickery while we are seated in an auditorium, Sr. Puga shows some of his illusions live on a big screen, so we can scrutinize his hands. For openers,  he mixes a deck of cards, draws the Ace of Hearts out of the deck, mixes again and draws again, until he has ‘randomly’ drawn out all the hearts in sequence from deuce to King. While his assistant at the piano, Ms. Paz Sabater, plays Manuel de Fallas’ El Amor Brujo (Love, the Magician), Puga turns the cards face down and their backs spell out EL AMOR BRUJO. Impossible! How did he do it? I’ve no idea, but I want to see him do more ‘magic’. And he does.

Read more.

[Guest post] Steve Cohen Performs at Luminato

The following is a guest post from Ian Crawford.

--

For years I have wondered what it would be like to attend one of Robert-Houdins' Soirée Fantastic.  Steve Cohen brought the essence of Robert-Houdin to life last night at his Luminato performance in historic George Brown House in Toronto.  First you must understand the setting.  George Brown House is a national historic site, the home of a father of confederation and founder of the Globe newspaper.  The Edwardian house has been perfectly restored to its former glory and is the ideal setting for a performance that celebrates parlour magic.  And Steve Cohen is one of the few magicians with the presence, experience and passion to bring the parlour magic experience to near perfection.

Steve performed a mix of classic magic and mentalism that honoured past masters while acknowledging a twenty first century sensibility.  A lifetime of study, 16 years of performances combined with an engaging intelligence and perfect diction makes Cohens' performances ideal for the Luminato audience.  He expected an intelligent audience, and the tickets even suggested that suitable dress was "cocktail attire".  In return Cohen performed 90 minutes of witty, engaging magic.  He was also suitably attired in a modern morning suit with yellow waistcoat and aqua tie.

Cohen's magic was direct, simple, elegant and completely fried many of the magicians and all of the rest of the audience of more than 60.  Beginning with a multiple card selection, he immediately engaged his audience.  He invited the back rows to stand and others to come and surround him while he performed some coin vanishes culminating in a solid, real brick appearing under his hat.  Appropriately, it was a reclaimed brick.  He performed a classic linking finger rings with style and grace and engaged the audience with some predictions about the inscriptions inside the rings.

One of Cohen's trademark tricks is based on Hoffman's Think a Drink.  While performed part way through the show, this could have easily been the closer.  Five different drinks were predicted, poured and enjoyed by audience members, the last being poured by a volunteer.  Cohen went out of his way to acknowledge and thank the volunteer for dressing appropriately, nice touch.  His message was clear that an evening out should be an experience for all, in keeping with the setting.

Cohen finished his set with a map prediction and then went into some mentalism using billets and an unusually large journal.  The mix of magic and mentalism was clearly a salute to Robert-Houdin, and Cohan engaged his audience constantly.

For his finalé, Cohen asked the audience to come closer and gather round to watch as he performed what I can only describe as a a two deck Triumph.

If you missed Cohen, you can always catch him in New York at the Waldorf Astoria in Chamber Magic.

Toronto is blessed to have a magic benefactor in the Slaight family who sponsored the evening.  And David Ben and Julie Eng of Magicana should be thanked for bringing some of the best magic to Luminato year after year.  Together they have elevated magic to a respectable place.  Robert-Houdin would have been proud.

Ian Crawford

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Thank you Ian for guest posting at Canada's Magic!

Reviews: Luminato 2013

From Musical Toronto:

Luminato failed to show its hand with the first of its magic-themed shows, which opened at Mazzoleni Hall on Friday night. The title is Concerto for Piano and Pasteboards. It’s a fine show.  But it has almost nothing to do with pianos and everything to do with card tricks.

It’s a short, sweet magic show where the assistant doesn’t mutely stand at the magician’s side in a sequined suit but plays a grand piano instead.

Read more.

From Torontoist:

When Miguel Puga first spoke after performing a couple of introductory card tricks, it was in part to apologize for his broken English. The Spaniard, known also as MagoMigue (yes, that’s pretty much Spanish for Magic Mike), may not have the greatest command of the language, but he then proceeded to prove his assertion, as trite as it may sound, that magic possesses a universal power that can transcend ordinary communication. Blessed with a naturally funny presence and an undeniable gift for showmanship, Puga’s expert card manipulations were every bit as impressive as the apparent telepathic abilities he put to good effect on more than one occasion.

Read more.

From The Star:

By Miguel Puga & Miguel Aparicio. Presented by Luminato. To June 16. Mazzoleni Hall, 273 Bloor St. W. 416-368-4849 (luminatofestival.com) 

The piano gets equal billing in Miguel Puga and Miguel Aparicio’s show Concerto for Piano & Pasteboards, being presented in the opening days of Luminato. But this is really all about 90 minutes of Puga’s magic tricks, not the art of the keyboard.

Read more.

[via Sharing Wonder]

Magical Mentorship: Tony Eng Youth Fund

From the Tony Eng Youth Fund:

The goal of the Tony Eng Youth Fund is to promote and support youths as they pursue the art of magic. We believe that mentorship is an essential part of being a magician and that it is vital to form relationships with people with whom you can learn, grow and exchange information with. Our Tony Eng Educational Bursary program is dedicated to matching up-and-coming magicians with rich resources and opportunities to help jumpstart their career.

On April 2013 Magicana’s Tony Eng Youth Fund sponsored a one-week mentorship program for Trevor and Lorena Watters to study and learn from legendary magician and consultant, Johnny Thompson (The Great Tomsoni & Company) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The couple received invaluable advise from Mr. Thompson, who graciously accepted them in his home and gave them the “experience of a lifetime”.

Read more.

Read Trevor's thoughts on the experience:

• Day 1: Saturday, April 13
• Day 2: Sunday, April 14
• Day 3: Monday, April 15th
• Day 4: Tuesday, April 16th
• Day 5: Wednesday, April 17th

It certainly sounds like it was an amazing, life changing, opportunity!