Rod Chow special guest at Utah Magic Fest 2023

From the February 28th Facebook post by the Utah Magi Fest:

Rod Chow is the first ever Canadian to be National President in the 120 year history of the Oldest Magic Organization in the World, The Society of American Magicians. He is an international award winning magician with over 50 magic awards. Most recently he was MC and Stage Performer in the Palace Theater at the World Famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, California, completing 25 shows over a single week. He is from Vancouver, BC, Canada, and operates out of the Guinness World Record skinniest building in the world!

Most Illustrious President Chow will take some time to address the attendies of the Utah Magic Fest. We are honored to have President Chow and his wife with us this year!

President Chow will also be at the Welcome Party on April 6 at The Prestige. We only have 6 spots left for this for the next 6 registrants, so get your magic fest pass NOW! Details at www.UtahMagicFest.com

 

 

 

New Westminster: Cabaret of Wonders with Lester, Chow, and Hsueh [Mar 31]

From the March 20th Facebook post by Shawn Farquhar:

The next edition of the Cabaret of Wonders is coming March 31st. Tickets on sale now at CabaretofWonders.com

 

 

 

 

ICYMI: CBC Vancouver remembers Houdini on the 100th anniversary of his visit to Vancouver

From the February 28th article "Houdini's daring Vancouver escape was 100 years ago this week" by Michelle Gomez and Andrew Kurjata, on the CBC website:

He "furiously struggled" for three minutes and 29 seconds, according to the paper's report, and when he showed he was free, "a cheer arose and swelled into a roar."

And while it may have been showmanship, Houdini had praise for the audience, as well, calling it "the greatest outdoor crowd I have ever seen."

Houdini's final years
The visit was a part of an East-to-West tour through several Canadian cities, according to Pellatt. A few days earlier, the magician had made similar headlines in Winnipeg.

At the time of his Vancouver show, Houdini was 49 years old. He died from a ruptured appendix just three years later.

...

"He was trying to tell us that you can escape the boundaries of your own daily limitations in different ways ... I think, in many ways, it was a metaphor for people's own humdrum lives."

"And I think people then and now still need that kind of hero to look at and to maybe aspire to."

Read more.

 

From CBC Radio One Vancouver (On The Coast):

Rod Chow and The Magic Demon speak with Kathryn Marlow about the famous magician's stop 100 years ago.

Listen to the interview online.

 

 

 

 

 

Rod Chow and The Magic Demon to discuss Houdini in Vancouver on CBC Radio One Vancouver

Rod Chow will join The Magic Demon in studio today to discuss Houdini in Vancouver on CBC Radio One Vancouver (on line and locally at 88.1 FM and 690 AM) at 5:20 pm PT (8:20 pm ET)

Fraser Valley Magic Circle award winners

Congratulations to all of the winners!

 

From the February 11th Instagram post by Mike Nordon:

What a fun evening at the Fraser Valley Magic Circle meeting tonight!

Hosted by Gord Boyes we held a completion called “Poo Onna Stick” (POS for short) in honour of Steve Dickson ❤️

The theme this year was ‘impersonations’

The winner was …Gord Boyes with a Naughty Mr Rogers act!

We also did our awards night and congrats to:

• Wes Barker - for winning the Showmanship Award
• Rob Teszka - for winning the Creativity Award
• Glen LaBarre for being awarded the Celeste Evans Award
• And to Gord Boyes again for being award the prestigious Presidents Award!

Plus our Appreciation Awards were awarded to:

• Donna May Boyes
• Rod Chow
• Chuck Daniel
• Camille Atebe

Thank you everyone who attended!

Next month the meeting is moved to March 3rd and will also be helped at Gord’s house!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Norden the Magician (@nordenthemagician)

 

 

SAM #95 award winners

Congratulations to all of the winners!

From the February 8th Facebook post by Rod Chow:

SAM #95 dinner and awards night tonight at Stefanos.  Delicious dinner, wonderful company, great magic and well deserving recipients of all the different awards and recognition.  

Congratulations to Simon Cassegrain and David Parker who received their SAM membership pins and certificates, Lorena Watters, who was awarded the Lottie Hemeon Award for best assistant, Rod Chow who was awarded the Leon Mandrake Award for Magical Entertainment, and Glen LaBarre who was awarded the Carl Hemeon Award of Excellence.  All well deserving recipients. 

Special awards of recognition was also presented to Lon Mandrake and Rod Chow by President Chris Yuill, for their years of service to the club.  Rod Chow, National President of the SAM also presented a Presidential Citation to Lon Mandrake.  Congratulations to everyone.

We were very fortunate to have in attendance tonight, Lon Mandrake, SAM Canadian RVP, Shawn Farquhar, Dean of SAM #95, Rod Chow, National President SAM, Billy Hsueh, International President IBM, and Chris Yuill, President of SAM #95.

 

 

 

 

Rod Chow on CBC Radio and at CTV News

Updated at 10am to add:

• Listen to Rod's August 11th interview by Stephen Quinn on CBC Radio.
  

 

From the August 11th article "Vancouver man the first non-American to be president of magicians' society" by Kendra Mangione at CTV News:

A Vancouver man is the first outside of the United States to be made president of a very specific group: the Society of American Magicians.

Rod Chow follows in the footsteps of greats like escape artist Harry Houdini.

He said it all started with card tricks, then his act expanded to include money. His website describes him as a "master money manipulator" who is "sophisticated, stunning and sensational."

The magician who's often found performing at the Richmond Night Market or around Vancouver's Chinatown seems to have caught the attention of his peers.

Read more.

 

 

Congratulations Billy Hsueh and Rod Chow

Congratulations to:

• Billy Hsueh, incoming President of the IBM, and
• Rod Chow, incoming President of SAM

 

From Joe Turner's July 1st Facebook post:

Congratulations to the Vancouver Magic Circle, IBM Ring #92, and to my friends Billy Hsueh and Rod Chow for becoming International President of the IBM and National President of the SAM, respectively. Two great guys, and one fantastic Ring. This commemorative congratulatory ad produced by Ring 92 is wonderful. Well done, all!

 

 

Free Virtual SAM Gala Show [June 11]

From Michael Likey's June 8th Facebook post:

Via Anthony Darkstone, President of The S.A.M International Assembly :

Here is the Zoom link for our 11 June Gala Show. There is no charge and all are welcome to attend. Magicians and lay people. This is a historic Gala honoring Rod Chow & is jam-packed with superb talent and several notable International names as surprise Guests with cameo performances.

Get ready for an unforgettable experience. It will be Hosted by myself and incoming S.A.M President Rod Chow.

 

Alex Zander: Vancouver Magic Circle's 2021 Stage Magician of the Year

Congratulations IBM Ring 92 competitors!

• 1st Place: Junior Stage winner Gabriella Lester
• 2nd Place: Rod Chow
• 1st Place: Alex Zander
  

 

From the November 26th Facebook post by Alex Zander:

What an honour to be named “2021 Stage Magician of the Year” by the Vancouver Magic Circle, IBM Ring #92, one of Canada’s oldest and largest magic clubs.

After a multi-year hiatus from competing while producing conventions and lectures for our global IBM magic community, it feels great to showcase some of my own original creations.

Congratulations to all my fellow competitors for a great evening of strong magic, and honourable mentions to 2nd Place Rod Chow (soon to be at the helm of the The Society of American Magicians!) and 1st Place Junior Stage winner Gabriella Lester

Rod Chow: owner of the World's Narrowest Commercial Building

Updated at 9am to add:

•  Next year, Rod will be the first Canadian president of the Society of American Magicians!
  

 

From the May 25th article "Built on a bet. Owner of world-famous Chinatown building says, despite pandemic, he's here to stay"  by Ashley Moliere in the CBC News:

The Jack Chow Insurance building, also known as the Sam Kee building, was built on a bet, according to its owner Rod Chow.

In the early 1900s, businessman Chang Toy bought a standard 30-foot lot at the corner of Pender and Carrall streets.

But the City of Vancouver needed to widen one of the streets, so it expropriated 24 feet of the land leaving him with only six feet.

"No one thought he could do anything with it," said Chow.

...


The structure at 8 West Pender Street is also the world's narrowest commercial building, according to the Guinness Book of World Records


Read more and watch video.

 

[via Shawn Farquhar]

 

--

Which puts the total of Canadian World Record holding magicians to fourteen! 

• Doug The Great:  Heaviest Stilts Mastered.  [Guinness World Record]
• Scott Hammell:  Highest Suspension Straight Jacket Escape. [Guinness World Record]
• Lucas Wilson:  Fastest Suspension Straight Jacket Escape. [Guinness World Record - 2011]
• Carisa Hendrix:  Longest duration fire torch teething. [Guinness World Record - 2012]
• Michael Francis:  Most one-handed coin rolls in a minute. [Guinness World Record - 2013]
• Mark Correia:  Longest Amount of Time Wearing a Straitjacket. [World Record - 2014] 
• The Sentimentalists:  (Chris Mysterion and Steffi Kay) Most items transferred from one mentalist to another.  [World Record - 2017] 
• Gordon Precious:  Oldest heli-skier [World Record - 2019]
• Big Trick Energy: (Led by Chris Ramsay, Eric Leclerc, Wes Barker, and Alex Boyer) The largest online video chain of people performing a magic trick.  [Guinness World Record - 2021]
  
• Rod Chow:  Owner of the World's Narrowest Commercial Building  [Guinness World Record]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vancouver: "SEASONS: A Magical Musical"

From Rod Chow's post in the Vancouver Magic Circle, IBM Ring #92 Facebook page:

A note to subscribers: the content of this post is embedded from another website and is not available to preview. To view the content of the post, please visit http://CanadasMagic.blogspot.com. Some of the embedded code may be visible in this notification.

Rounding the Western rings in April

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	- n/a
Fraser Valley, BC	IBM Ring 387 (Fraser Valley Magic Circle)	- Magic flea market - Parlour Magic with special guest stars Rod Chow and Steve Dickson
Vancouver, BC	Ring 92 (Vancouver Magic Circle)	- Steve Brooks lecture
Vancouver, BC	SAM 95  (Carl Hemeon Assembly)	- n/a
Victoria, BC	Ring 183 (Victoria Magic Circle)	- Annual General Meeting

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