Showing posts with label David Ben. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Ben. Show all posts

06 February 2016

David Ben raised over $220,000 for #nohairselfie !

Congratulations David!

From Magicana:
David Ben’s #NoHairSelfie campaign concluded yesterday, February 4, 2016 with a public shaving at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. With some last-minute donations arriving by mail, the total has now passed $214,000 raised for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.

As promised earlier, donors who requested our Unusual Collectible your hair will be in the mail very soon. We’ve also learned that the cards will be signed by Pat Lyons, the artists who designed them.
For those wishing to verify the authenticity of the hair, you can watch it being severed below. The shaver is Gary Slaight, son of Allan Slaight.

Read more and watch video.

05 January 2016

David Ben's ‪#‎NoHairSelfie‬

World Cancer Day is February 4, 2016.

From James Alan's Facebook page:
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My friend David Ben is raising money for cancer research, and he's willing to shave off his glorious mop for the cause. Check out his campaign, the #NoHairSelfiehttp://www.nohairselfie.com/davidben
Posted by James Alan on Monday, 16 November 2015


23 December 2015

More "Tricks" to be had

From Magicana:
We've been having a wonderful week full of magic with Tricks at Soulpepper in Toronto. In fact, Sunday's matinée is now sold out.

To accommodate the demand, we've added one more performance to the schedule on Saturday, January 2 at 8:00 PM. Tickets just went on sale, so there are some excellent seats still available so you can be right up close to the action. Don't forget, we have special discounted family packs for groups of four or more (with at least one child).

Read more.

Read this review from Toronto Stage:
As a youngster, I remember my father once cautioning me to watch out for people who ask you to share a secret, used car salesmen of any kind and smooth talkers who want to show you a good card trick.

Falling into the latter category, of course, is David Ben.

That’s because he’s the kind of guy who could make a lot of money hanging out at Union Station mingling with stop over travelers with a little extra time on their side. He may not have anything up his sleeve but he’s definitely got something, somewhere.

The return of Tricks, is anti-pomp and pageantry. The stripped down production relies on basic furnishings to accomplish what great all tricksters need to put on a smoking good show.

Read more.

15 December 2015

David Ben on CBC's "q"

From the CBC:
Three decades ago, David Ben left a career in law to pursue his passion: magic. Now he's one of the top sleight-of-hand artists in the world, performing over the years at Shaw Festival and Luminato.
His new show, simply called Tricks, is now playing at Toronto's Soulpepper theatre. Ben talks to Shad about the surprising array of people that inspired the program — from Frank Sinatra to Glenn Gould — and how he straddles several decades with his performance.

Read more, watch videos and listen to the interview.

09 November 2015

Reviews: "The Experts at the Card Table"

From Magicana:
The reviews are starting trickle in on our latest publication, The Experts at the Card Table
"This book is a pleasure to page through, and is an important and welcome addition to Erdnasiana." / John Lovick  
"David has made the once-daunting material more accessible than ever. For my first time, I read the text cover to cover, and it all made sense." / Steve Bryant  
"...if you have some card technique under your belt and if you’ve wanted to plunge into the Erdnase pond, this is a great way to experience the material…" / Michael Close
Read more.

18 October 2015

California: David Ben at A "Day of Lectures 2015"

The Magic Apple is proud to present the 8th annual A Day of Lectures, back at the beautiful Sportsman's Lodge in Studio City, CA! 
NOVEMBER 8TH 2015    
This year's A Day of Lecture is one of the most diverse ones we have ever produced!  Three COMPLETELY different styles of magic and teaching!  All 4 of the guests have perfected their own style of magic and you will learn magic and routines no matter who you perform for!  If you are a full time pro and are looking for new routines, if you simply perform for friends and families, or just kids or are a fan of flourishes and unique card magic this is the event for you!    
Read more and register.

20 September 2015

Toronto: David Ben's "Tricks"

Shamans, ravens, jesters, jugglers, conjurors, and magicians come in all shapes and sizes. In Tricks, David Ben - Soulpepper's resident trickster - presents a concert of magic inspired by an eclectic range of people and events: Frank Sinatra and Telford Fenton; Glenn Gould and Charles Bertram; Harold Lloyd and Harry Houdini; Tom Waits and Erik Satie; Hammer Studio Films and Southern Baptist preachers; and Dai Vernon and the cherry blossoms in Japan.

Ben, recognized as one of the top sleight-of-hand artists in the world, will showcase some of the most challenging and seldom-seen pieces of magic, all completely different than last year’s The Conjuror. There is no timeline or plot - just great tricks - comical and mysterious, beautiful and visceral - performed with twists and turns.

Read more and buy tickets using their promo code.

02 September 2015

Rounding the Central rings in September 2015

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


Montreal, QCRing 62 (20th Century Ring)- TBA
Hamilton, ONRing 49 (The Doug Henning Magic Wand Club)- Mark Mason lecture.
London, ONRing 265 (London Magician's Guild)- What you learned this summer.
Kitchener, ONRing 235 (The Caesar Hat & Wand Magic Circle)- TBA
Ottawa, ONRing 151 (Ottawa Society of Magicians)- TBA
Ottawa, ONOttawa / Gatineau magicians- TBA
Toronto, ONRing 17 (Sid Lorraine Hat and Rabbit Club)- David Ben lecture.


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

24 August 2015

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

From David Ben's Twitter feed:

03 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.

21 June 2015

Random thoughts from the Ring 17 year end banquet

  • The year end comes far too quickly.
  • People drive a long distance to come to these events.
  • A group of magicians is very good at entertaining themselves and each other during delays.
  • The young people today spell llama differently than I was taught.
  • The even younger people have a totally different approach to llamas.
  • La llama es una quadrupido
                                                   ... but I digress.
  • In their show "Sketchy Magic," Chris Mayhew and Chris Westfall give a crazy and high-energy performance as one would expect with individual lecture titles like "Calculated Chaos" and "Mayhew Mayhem."
  • Rumour has it that Chris Harvison, Andrew Goss and James Alan are back on the executive next year.  And that Phil Pivnick will be joining them.
  • Next season opens with a David Ben lecture.
  • Thank you Ring 17 for another great season!

03 January 2015

Review: The Conjuror

Reminder: The Conjuror ends on January 4.

The Conjuror David Ben showed off some family-friendly hocus pocus at Toronto’s Young Centre for the Performing Arts. Watching The Conjuror in action was a enchanting way to welcome the new year for me and my little companion.

Set in 1909 at London’s St. George’s Hall, the show was a mesmerizing series of magic feats typical of the Golden Age of Magic: we saw a person being sawed in half (ouch!), a handkerchief playing hide and seek, and an egg being thrown around without breaking.

The set was simple. We did not see a flashy David Copperfield-style spectacle, but instead saw classic acts performed against a relatively plain background. No neon lights or booming music. As a result, we were successfully transported to an early 20th century London stage.

Read more.

25 December 2014

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:






Also from Julie Eng's Facebook page:





More from Julie Eng's Facebook page:



Even more from Julie's Facebook page:




Interview link from Julie's Facebook page:




From Magicana's Twitter feed:


02 August 2014

Corey Mintz makes dinner for David Ben

It's hard to choose a playlist for dinner with a magician.  Just "Final Countdown" on a four-hour loop?  I settle on the early '70s smooth jazz sounds of Bob James.

I don't know a lot about magic but I feel that this could be the soundtrack to a Doug Henning television special.

Planning a menu for David Ben was easier.  I only had to figure out how to execute the most obvious food allusion, to pull a rabbit out of a hat.

23 June 2014

Toronto: Return of The Conjuror

December 30 
Embark on a voyage of imagination and wonder as David Ben brings his critically acclaimed The Conjuror to Soulpepper. Be transported back to the year 1909 and the legendary St. George's Hall in London where audiences came to be enchanted by paradox - the Golden Age of Magic!

Read more and buy tickets.

21 June 2014

Review: Card Table Artifice

From The Star:
Ever wanted to be a card sharp or a Mississippi riverboat gambler? Then S.W. Erdnase’s The Expert at the Card Table is essential reading.

Known in magical circles simply as Erdnase, this much admired Bible of card manipulation was published in 1902 and, in detailed, polished and unemotional prose, exposes many tricks of the trade, including blind shuffles, bottom dealing, stocking and locating specific cards, palming and legerdemain.

The work inspired a string quartet with narration, written by composer Gavin Bryars and Spanish poet Juan, which premiered in 1997. And now Toronto magician David Ben has added yet another layer for the 2014 Luminato Festival.

Read more.

13 June 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:









10 June 2014

David Ben on CP24

From David Ben's Twitter feed: