Calgary: Call for magicians

From WowFest:

The inaugural WowFest Magic Arts Festival is now seeking performers for a slate of shows happening on Friday the 22nd, and Saturday, February 23rd, 2013.

The goal of the festival is to showcase magic in an ideal environment, covering all genres from close-up to parlour and stage. For magicians, this is an opportunity to aspire to new artistic heights, working under optimum settings to an enthusiastic audience of magic fans.

Read more and apply.
 

Deadline: January 4, 2013.

John McLachlan's new e-book

From the Ring 17 newsletter:

Lybrary.com has recently released a new eBook filled with stand up (no table) coin material from Toronto performers. The 112 page PDF includes twenty-five routines and sleights dealing exclusively with coins. Written by JohnMcLachlan, it includes contributions from:  

• James Alan
• Luis Castro
• Ariel Frailich
• Mysterion the Mind Reader
• David Peck and
• Phil Pivnick  

Read more.

Rayn interviewed on CP24

On YouTube, Arun Rayn being interviewed on CP 24, Hallowe'en 2012:





Part 2:

Greg Frewin in Embrace Niagara

From Embrace Niagara:

So, with the help of Greg’s expert hands, Dan and I went on a grand adventure of illusion. Our minds were blown.

The show is an entertaining mixture of magic, music and comedy. During the course of the performance, Dan and I kept looking at each other with our mouths firmly agape. The experience was literally jaw-dropping. Our rational brains couldn’t wrap around how he was carrying out these spectacular feats of illusion.

Read more.
 

The article goes on to describe the wonderful work Greg does with the local food bank and soup kitchen.  Those efforts are especially important at this time of year.

Keep up the great work, Greg!

Toronto: Tony Chang event

From Ben Train via The Browser's Den:

After spending FOUR YEARS trying to find a way to bring him in, Tony Chang, one of the best sleight of hand artists of our generation (and a super cool guy) is coming to Toronto to do a special event- “An Evening with Tony Chang”. This event is almost completely sold out, but don’t worry: if you want a chance to meet Tony and experience his magic you can do so FOR FREE this Saturday December 29th, at 3pm, only at the Browser’s Den!

That’s right! This Saturday, Tony Chang will be visiting the Browser’s Den of Magic to hang out, perform some tricks, and answer questions about how you can make your magic look, well, like real magic.

Read more to find out about the additional “Evening with” event.

David Peck and Matt DiSero in M-U-M

There's a nice write up by James Alan, of David Peck and Matt DiSero's show, "Mosquitoes Suck," in the December issue of M-U-M.

From Scribd:

Two Canadian magicians deliver a magic show that sucks...on purpose.

Three-hundred-fifty high school students from tendifferent schools filed into the auditorium at David SuzukiSecondary School for a new show that blends magic, comedy, and social justice:  Mosquitoes Suck . It was designed as a way to createawareness among youth about international and social justice andto offer them a call to action. The goal is to raise money for Spread the Net, which provides insecticide-treated bed nets that provide nighttime protection from mosquito bites. The show was written and created by David Peck and Matt DiSero.

Read more.

Houdini's 1896 Canadian tour

From John Cox at Wild About Houdini:

In The Metamorphosis: The Apprenticeship of Harry Houdini, author Bruce MacNab has combined his passions for Houdini and Maritimes history to create a book that is not only a terrific day by day account of Houdini's 1896 Canadian tour, but also a vivid snapshot of everyday life at the turn of the century. It really is one of the most remarkable books ever written about Houdini, as well as being a marvelous chronicle of what it was like to be a traveling magic troop in the 1890s.

Read more.