Surrey: TEDx with Gabriella Lester [Jan 18]

More information at TEDxSurrey.ca

 

From the November 21st Instagram post by Gabriella Lester:

Honoured and excited to announce l’ll be doing my first TEDx talk this January.

This opportunity has been in the works for a while, and involves several important topics - some passion based, some heartbreaking - but all near and dear to my heart.

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gabriella Lester (@thegabriellalester)

 

 

 

 

 

ON, QC, NB, NS, BC, &AB: Champions of Magic "Chasing the Unbelievable" [2024 - 2025]

The 2024 - 2025 Canadian tour dates for Champions of Magic "Chasing the Unbelievable":

 

 

 

 

• Nov 13 - 16:  National Arts Centre, Ottawa ON
  
• Dec 4 - 6:  Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, Thunder Bay ON
  
• Dec 8:  Sudbury Community Arena, Sudbury ON
  
• Mar 19:  Slush Puppie Place, Kingston ON
  
• Mar 20:  Place des Arts, Montreal  QC
  
• Mar 22:  Avenir Centre, Moncton NB 
• Mar 23:  Scotiabank Centre, Halifax NS
  
• Mar 25:  FirstOntario Concert Hall, Hamilton ON 
• Mar 26:  Performance Stage at Canada Life Place, London ON 
• Mar 27-28:  Pickering Casino, Pickering ON 
• May 8-9:  Royal Theatre, Victoria BC
  
• May 11:  Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary AB
  
• May 20-22:  Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver BC

Check the Champions of Magic website for updates and more information.

 

 

Read our thoughts about the 2023 Champions of Magic show in Toronto:

TLDR: So. Much. Fun!

Random thoughts about Champions of Magic 

 

 

Read our interviews with the cast:

Liberty Larsen 
Michelle Mazzarella
Sam Strange 
Fernando Velasco 

and
Richard Young   

 
Learn more about Champions of Magic at ChampionsOfMagic.co.uk and follow them on Facebook, and Instagram.  

 

 

 

 

Pentiction: Jingle and Mingle with Leif David [Dec 6]

From the November 18th Instagram post by the Penticton Chamber of Commerce:

🎄 Celebrate the Season at Jingle & Mingle! 🎄
Presented by @paradoxeventsco

📅 Friday, December 6, 2024 📍Penticton Lakeside Resort

Get ready for an evening of magic, laughter, and holiday cheer! This year’s Jingle & Mingle promises to be a sparkling night to remember.

Everyone’s welcome! Join us for an evening filled with FUN and CONNECTION!
🎟️ Jingle & Mingle Tickets $75 +GST
Purchase Online at PENTICTON.ORG
(attendees must be 16+ years of age and be prepared to provide ID)

🎩 Be amazed by Magician @alikzam and his incredible performance.
🎯 Compete in Minute to Win It games for some fun and exciting prizes.
📸 Capture memories in our photo-booth with friends and colleagues.
🍽️ Enjoy a festive dinner and stick around for the after-party to dance the night away!

 

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Penticton Chamber of Commerce (@pentictonchamber)

 

 

 

A peek behind the curtain with Liberty Larsen

The cat's out of the bag.  Champions of Magic welcomes Liberty Larsen to its cast!

We're delighted to interview Liberty leading up to the Champions of Magic "Chasing the Unbelievable" tour dates in Canada:

• Nov 13 - 16:  National Arts Centre, Ottawa ON
  
• Dec 4 - 6:  Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, Thunder Bay ON
  
• Dec 8:  Sudbury Community Arena, Sudbury ON
  
• Mar 19:  Slush Puppie Place, Kingston ON
  
• Mar 20:  Place des Arts, Montreal  QC
  
• Mar 22:  Avenir Centre, Moncton NB 
• Mar 23:  Scotiabank Centre, Halifax NS
  
• Mar 25:  FirstOntario Concert Hall, Hamilton ON 
• Mar 26:  Performance Stage at Canada Life Place, London ON 
• Mar 27-28:  Pickering Casino, Pickering ON 
• May 8-9:  Royal Theatre, Victoria BC
  
• May 11:  Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary AB
  
• May 20-22:  Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver BC

Check the Champions of Magic website for updates and more information.

 

Read our thoughts about the 2023 Champions of Magic show in Toronto:

TLDR: So. Much. Fun!

Random thoughts about Champions of Magic 

 

 

You may already know Liberty: 

• is a fourth-generation magician,
  
• is from the family that founded The Magic Castle, Genii Magazine, and the Academy of Magical Arts,
  
• is a singer,
  
• combines theatrical magic with original musical compositions, and
  
• was on Penn and Teller's Fool Us S04E04
  

What is your first memory of magic?

 

My first memory of magic is on my fifth birthday, at the Magic Castle, on stage with the one and only – Ireland’s Largest Leprechaun, Mister Billy McComb. I believe he did the vanishing birdcage that day. He eventually got me on stage as a volunteer and I was in heaven. I thought he was the bees knees. And as I got older, he just got funnier and funnier. One of my favorites ever. Rest in peace, Billy.

 

Other than your family, who were the first professional magicians you remember seeing?

I was lucky enough to see the Siegfried and Roy show as a young kid, and that show was truly mesmerizing, larger than life. It felt like being in another world. I remember the electricity in the room. It was thrilling and kinetic, and they were so graceful. They seemed to have walked onto the stage from the clouds.

 

On "Penn and Teller’s Fool Us" you mentioned that you 'resisted' the call to magic in your early years.  Do you remember the specific moment when you knew you could or wanted to perform magic full-time?

Well, I always loved to perform, since I was very young. But I think everyone goes through a phase where they want nothing to do with what their parents (or grandparents, or great-grandparents!) want them to do. My family didn’t push for magic too hard, but I still rebelled against it on sheer principle. I can’t say that the decision to “give in” happened in a single moment. It was more gradual – the result of seeing some truly amazing performers who were really coming on the scene with a very different approach to magic. That was very inspiring, because it showed me that magic is more versatile than I may have imagined. But more than anything, I really came to appreciate the gift magic gives people – the feelings it produces – and I realized I wanted to continue in the legacy and be a conduit for those feelings, because they’re so wonderful.

 

 

 

By what mechanisms did you begin learning magic? 

I learned magic at Magic Camp as a kid (that’s right, folks!) in Idyllwild, California. I also learned from dear family friends, and from books.

 

Liberty Larsen

 

 

 

Who inspires you that is not a magician?

Outside of magic, I’m inspired by Joanna Newsom, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen (two very special Canadians who almost dated!), Jesca Hoop, Martha Graham, Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, Peter Brook, Carmen Amaya, Kate Bush, Harry Nilsson, Tom Waits, Remedios Varo, Robert Moss, on and on… I love people who make worlds out of their dreams and stubbornly insist on living inside them. 

 

 

 

Who inspires you magically?

I’m inspired by Rob Zabrecky, Michael Carbonaro, Jared Kopf, Voronin, The Swedish Monkey Opera, René Lavand (rest in peace) and many other gems.
  

 

 

 

In addition to performing magic, we understand that you are also a musician. Have you studied anything else magic-adjacent? How have these studies informed your magic performance?

Though I can’t say I’ve officially studied art, film or photography, I’ve definitely been influenced by my own rogue education in all of those realms. Everything that inspires, everything that lights up the circuitry, everything that gives goosebumps, can translate into magic, I think.

I draw from music more than anything else, because I look to magic to create strong feelings. I’m not really drawn to cerebral stuff, or puzzles, it’s not how my mind is wired. I can appreciate them but they don’t motivate me to get on stage.

On stage, I don’t want to be clever. I want to feel connected to people When I’m in an audience, I want to feel like the performer is cracking my heart open like a walnut, and melting me. So, I look to music for how to do that, because that’s how I’m wired. So I often sing, because it’s a quick cheat to shift things from intellect into feeling. But even when I’m not singing, the same elements of music – rhythm and pacing, tone and resonance, harmonics and dissonance, dynamics and flow – all these things go into good theater, and satisfying magic.  

 

 

What, if anything, makes you nervous about joining the Champions family?

Giant theaters! Exciting, but not something I’m used to. I’ve performed in a lot of very small, cabaret style venues. This is a whole different ball of wax.

 

What are you most looking forward to about joining the Champions of Magic family?

The adventure of it! I love the electrical current that’s running through this project. It’s got a strong pulse. It seems like I’m hopping on a train that’s changing platforms and going to a whole new dimension. This is such a fantastic group of people, and it’s an ambitious risk we’re all taking together, which is a truly exciting challenge.
 

 

 

 

If you could go back in time to study (magic or otherwise) under anybody, who would you choose to be your mentor?

I think I would go back in time and study dance with Martha Graham. I devoured her autobiography and am so inspired by the way she lived her life. She was a genuinely magical person, and a profound teacher. I feel like what she taught could translate beyond dance into just about anything. She taught people how to be deeply in their bodies, truly themselves and radically open to their own source of inspiration.    

Liberty Larsen

Many magicians have a Canadian connection to magic.  Tell us about your Canadian magic connection(s).

Dai Vernon and Doug Henning are masters in their own right, but I didn’t have any direct connection with either of them. So, I would say my first Canadian magic connection in this life is one Mister Christopher Hart. I saw his act many, many times growing up, and it was striking for a young imagination to watch. I love Christopher. He also played “Thing” in the (more recent) Addams Family movies. Go Canada!

 

 

If you could prevent other performers performing an effect forever, what would it be?

I read a truly terrible “gag” in an antique magic book about having your Thanksgiving turkey get up and walk off the table. It involved using a real chicken, plucked, and doing some terrible things to force it to be still, and painting it brown as if it was roasted. I would outlaw that turkey trick, punishable by tarring and feathering.

If you could only perform one effect for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I am not sure I could ever be up to that challenge. But if I could shapeshift into a bird while singing, and land one someone’s shoulder, maybe deliver a secret message that only they would understand and that would inspire a huge gasp, it would be that.

 

 

What’s your go-to Karaoke song?

“Get it While You Can” by Janis Joplin. Not because of the lyrics, necessarily, but because her emotional range is just so great to sing.

 

 

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about performing in Canada?

The Louise Bourgeois spider sculpture.

Just the fist thing that came into my mind…  

[Editor's note: "Maman" by Louise Bourgeois can be seen at the National Gallery of Canada.]

 

 

From the October 31st Instagram post by Young Hollywood, Liberty Larsen, and Fernando Velasco (one of her Champions of Magic co-stars) are interviewed about the Magic Castle:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by YOUNG HOLLYWOOD (@younghollywood)

 

 

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

I just learned that, “The first reference to throwing rotten vegetables at bad stage acts came in an 1883 New York Times article after John Ritchie was hit with a barrage of tomatoes and rotten eggs by an unpleasant audience in New York. A large tomato thrown from the gallery struck him square between the eyes and he fell t the floor just as several bad eggs dropped upon his head.” The more you know…!

 

 

Thank you Liberty, for making the time to answer our questions!

Learn more about Liberty by visiting her website LibertyLarsen.com, and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

 

  Champions of Magic  

Catch Liberty in Champions of Magic touring in Canada 2024-2025:

• Nov 13 - 16:  National Arts Centre, Ottawa ON
  
• Dec 4 - 6:  Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, Thunder Bay ON
  
• Dec 8:  Sudbury Community Arena, Sudbury ON
  
• Mar 19:  Slush Puppie Place, Kingston ON
  
• Mar 20:  Place des Arts, Montreal  QC
  
• Mar 22:  Avenir Centre, Moncton NB 
• Mar 23:  Scotiabank Centre, Halifax NS
  
• Mar 25:  FirstOntario Concert Hall, Hamilton ON 
• Mar 26:  Performance Stage at Canada Life Place, London ON 
• Mar 27-28:  Pickering Casino, Pickering ON 
• May 8-9:  Royal Theatre, Victoria BC
  
• May 11:  Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary AB
  
• May 20-22:  Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver BC
  

    Check the Champions of Magic website for updates and more information.

 

Read our 2023 interviews with the rest of the cast:

• Michelle Mazzarella
• Sam Strange 
  
• Fernando Velasco and
• Richard Young   
  

 
Learn more about Champions of Magic at ChampionsOfMagic.co.uk and follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. 

 

 

 

Victoria: Murray Hatfield, Syd Bosel, and Ken Pham [Oct 5]

From the September 17th Facecbook post by Sin City Illusions:

Get ready to be amazed and amused at Laugha-Cadabra: A Comedy Magic Show! Join us for an evening filled with laughter and mind-blowing magic tricks, featuring the one and only Murray Hatfield.

You won't want to miss out on this hilarious and entertaining event featuring some of Canada's top magicians and comedians. Get your tickets now while you can!

 

 

 

 

Granville Island: Really Definitely True Tour [Sep 5 - 15]

From the September 4th article "Coquitlam showman wants you to question Granville Island tour" by Janis Cleugh in Vancouver is Awesome:

With Mike Norden, an award-winning children’s magician from Mission who is also with the Fraser Magic Company, of which Teszka is president, Teszka scripted a narrative that takes visitors around Granville Island — home to the annual Vancouver Fringe Festival.

Titled the Really Definitely True Tour, the 90-minute walking excursion combines fake storytelling with magic that’s suitable for all ages; the capacity is 20 people per show, which opens Thursday, Sept. 5 and runs for the full length of the VFF with 14 iterations at various times, starting at the Alder Bay Dock.

Read more.

 

 

 

 

Lost in the Shuffle coming to a theatre near you!

Check back at the Lost in the Shuffle website as new dates are being added regularly!

 

As of this posting, screening dates are listed for:

• Hot Springs, Arkansas
• Castle Rock, Colorado
• San Francisco, California
• Los Angeles, California
• Santa Ana, California
• St. Petersburg, Florida
• Columbus, Ohio
• Vancouver, British Columbia - at the Rio.
  
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
• Toronto, Ontario - at the Revue.  Afterparty at The Commoner.
  
• London, England
• New York, New York
• Three Oaks, Michigan
• Dallas, Texas
• Arlington, Texas
• Mt. Vernon, Washington
• Chicago, Illinois
• Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Cherry Hill, New Jersey
• Whittier, California
• Llandudno, England
• Portland, Oregon
   

Read the Lost in the Shuffle website indicates which screenings include a Q&A and / or afterparty with the filmmakers Shawn Farquhar and Jon Ornoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richmond and Coquitlam: Piff the Magic Dragon [Sep 5 & 6]

Tickets at Ticketmaster.

 

Catch Piff at The Laugh Shop Aug 8 & 9

Read our "Random thoughts about Piff the Magic Dragon in Niagara Falls"

 

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by River Rock Casino Resort (@riverrockcasinoresort)

 

 

 

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A post shared by Great Canadian Casino Vancouver (@grtvancouver)

>

 

 

Victoria: Save the date for PCAM #91 [Nov 7 - 10]

From the July 22nd Instagram post at CAM:

The 91st Annual Pacific Coast Association of Magicians convention is happening Nov 7-10 2024 in Victoria BC

https://pcammagic.com/2024-convention-2/

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by CAM 2.0 (@cammagicorg)

 

 

 

Penticton: Ty Reveen at Peach Fest [Aug 8 - 11]

For more information visit Peach Fest.

 

From The March 30th Facebook post by the Penticton Peach Festival:

✨ Get ready to be mesmerized! Reveen The Legend Continues is bringing mind-bending hypnosis to our festival lineup Don't miss out on the mind-bending fun!🌀Thank you to presenting sponsor RPR Heating and Air Conditioning for helping us bring the amazing Reveen to our stage!

 

 

 

 

[Guest post] Peculiar Curt Spotted Busking in Vancouver

The following is a guest post from an author who wishes to be known as The Magic Demon.

--  

SPOTLIGHT ON UP & COMING TALENT

Peculiar Curt Spotted Busking in Vancouver This Summer

Exclusive to Canada’s Magic

One of the friendliest magicians busking this summer in Vancouver calls himself Peculiar Curt.

But Curt isn’t really all that peculiar at all.

He’s a fine magician, musician, teacher and family man who’s spending more and more time out and about again this summer busking in Vancouver.

Curt does low-key fun routines with regular cards, coins and (especially for the kids) an original specialty utilizing Pokeman cards.

Curt told this reporter the invaluable experience he’s gaining by expanding his busking chops again this summer should greatly enhance his magic repertoire which already includes performances at kids’ parties and all kinds of social events.

So far this summer Curt has been spotted busking near or around the always popular Science World on False Creek.

If you ever should see him, go up and say hi to one of the nicest magicians you will ever meet. Enjoy Curt’s set and, hey, share the wealth if you can.

For more information, check Curt’s website: www.peculiarcurt.ca

— The Magic Demon (with thanks to S & D who met Curt first!)

 

 

Thank you The Magic Demon for guest posting at Canada's Magic!

 

 

 

 

 

Rounding the Western rings in May 2024

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)	- N/A.
Edmonton, AB	Edmonton Magic Club	- N/A.
Winnipeg, MB	The Magic Club of Winnipeg	- SYM.
Fraser Valley, BC	IBM Ring 387 (Fraser Valley Magic Circle, Celeste Evans Ring)	- Sean Taylor lecture.
Vancouver, BC	Ring 92 (Vancouver Magic Circle)	- N/A.
Vancouver, BC	SAM 95  (Carl Hemeon Assembly)	- N/A.
Victoria, BC	Ring 183 (Victoria Magic Circle)	- N/A.

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

 

 

 

 

 

MB, SK, BC, ON: Wes Barker [May - Sep]

From the April 25th Instagram post by Wes Barker:

This is what we have so far! More dates being added soon. Can’t wait to see you out there 🍻

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Wes Barker (@stuntmagician)