Happy third blogiversary to me!

Three years ago today, I published the very first post at this website.  Thanks to you wonderful people who have supported this project!  More than 1,303 posts have been published, more than 46,000 page  loads have been served.  Eight-one of you have given us your thumbs-up on Facebook, more than 500 of you are following along on Twitter (5940 tweets and counting!), and approximately 80 of you have subscribed to this site's feed.  The bulk of you are Canadian, and I'm delighted to see visitors from United States, France, Spain, the United Kingdom,  Hong Kong, Portugal, Germany, and the list goes on.

There are so many of you doing such a fabulous job of making magic a priority in this great country!

Many thanks to all of you, for reading, subscribing, re-tweeting, liking, sharing, submitting news, corresponding, making me aware of typos, guest posting, sponsoring and especially for your wonderful feedback and continued support!

Broken wand: Harold Black

From the Ring 17 newsletter:

We are sad to report the passing of one of our members, Harold Black, passed away Wednesday at the age of 89. He joined the club in 1949 (as reported in the Linking Ring by then secretary Bruce Posgate.) He was a lifetime member, who as the club librarian and was the president in 1974-75. While health concerns kept him from attending club meetings in recent years, he was actively involved in the magic community in Toronto and performed as a magician and a clown for decades.

Read more.

From The Star:

BLACK, Harold E. (Buster) - Past Patron, Eastern Star (Scarborough Chapter 231), Masonic Lodge (Coronati 520), IOF (Court Futura), Hat & Rabbit Association - Linking Ring 17 (Kambla the Magician), Circus Fans Association (Buster the Clown), CN Railway - 37 years service (Blackie). After a recent leg amputation, at the age of 89 Harold peacefully passed away at Scarborough General Hospital on November 20, 2013 with his loving family by his side.  

Read more.

Do you remember Le Grand Marcis of Magic?

From Perfect Magic:

Le Grand Marcis, Maurice Choquette, was one of these people. He had a little magic shop on de Bienville when we met him and he gave weekly magic courses and had a great following. We were friends with him and he was kind enough to translate many of the popular card tricks for us when we first went into business.  I have a copy of Wild Card  ”Les cartes “frimées” which  he did for us “Traduction et adaptation française faite par “Le Grand Marcis” 1977 and many others as well.

also:

It would be great if his students could write in and provide us with information about him, anecdotes, when he started, when and where he moved his shop to. I think it was Park Avenue. If you were a student of his, let us know. Maybe you should have a reunion. Let’s hear from you. let’s get a little history going here, and if you want to write it in French, ça va!

Read more.

Sorcerers Safari Magic & Performance Camp Documentary

Back in 2012, I posted about my experience at Sorcerer's Safari Magic and Performance Camp.  The article was later republished with awesome photos by Carey Lauder.

This year, Chris Mayhew created a wonderful 30 minute documentary about the camp. 

From Sorcerers Safari:

After watching this documentary you’ll see what makes magic camp so special and why campers keep coming back year after year. While the grounds are amazing, the teaching is top quality and the nightly shows are stellar, magic camp is much more than the sum of its parts - this documentary helps explain why.

The video captures much more about the camp than can be communicated through text alone.




Don't have time to watch the full video?  Watch the 3 minute teaser.  It'll make you want to watch the full documentary!




Or you could just watch the dueling cardicians:




For more information visit http://sorcererssafari.ca/

Arthur Poon: recipient of the 2013 Len Cooper Memorial Award

Congratulations to Arthur Poon, who was this year's recipient of the Len Cooper Memorial Award! 

Watch as Arthur receive the award at the Browser's Den of Magic 38th Anniversary Party, on YouTube:

Paul Pacific interviews Mark Lewis

Watch Paul Pacific interview Mark Lewis on YouTube:





Or watch on YouTube, Paul Pacific chat with Mark Lewis in a coffee shop:




[via Ring 17]

Ontario: Tiny Talent Time casting call

From CHCH:

Tiny Talent Time – Casting Call

TORONTO, OCTOBER 1, 2013….Parents and kids are invited to join in the celebration of CHCH’s 60th Anniversary with the return of the iconic Tiny Talent Time. One of the longest running and most-loved family shows in Canadian history, Tiny Talent Time takes us back to a refreshing era of tap-dancing tots and pint-sized magicians sharing their developing talents, just for the fun of it.

An Ontario-wide casting call to children under 12 years old begins today and runs until November 30th through online video submissions at www.chch.com/tinytalenttime. Single and group acts of all kinds of talent are welcome, but submissions are limited to one per discipline per child/group. Only the producers will be able to see the video submission and none will be posted for public viewing.

Read more.

[via Sorcerers Safari]