26 February 2015

Festival de magie de Québec 2015

From the Festival de Magie as translated through Google translate:
From Thursday 3 to Sunday, September 6, 2015, the population of the Quebec City, Quebec tourists and magic lovers everywhere will be invited in the St-Roch Nouvo order to live magic moments. Indeed, several shows and events they will be offered by artists handpicked and only goal is to make them unforgettable and enchanting moments!
 For this 5th edition, will focus programming and animation at five locations to make the festival as accessible as possible to all. These will be: the square of the Saint-Roch Church, Benjo store, Theatre Lined, Little Imperial and Gabrielle-Roy Library. We expect more than 20,000 people.

Read more.

About the contest:
The Association du Festival de magie de Québec is very proud to announce the establishment the third edition of an international calibre contest in Quebec for amateur and professional magicians around the world.

We are also very proud that the first prize and the name of this contest bear the name of a legend and extraordinary pioneer of magic in Quebec. Many thanks to the Cailloux family for allowing us to use Michel Cailloux’s name.

Read more.


Watch a documentary about the 2014 experience from the Festival de magie de Québec's YouTube channel:




[via the Canadian Association of Magicians]

25 February 2015

Food drive by The Browser's Den

The Browser's Den of Magic is collecting food to donate to a Toronto food bank.
Starting today, until the end of the Bash on Sunday, April 12th, 2015, you're urged to bring a canned food good (non-perishable) with you to the Browser's Den or the Browser's Magic Bash and help fight hunger in Toronto. It's amazing what a can or two from each of us could do. And as magicians, it's our duty to amaze! 


From the Browser's Den Twitter feed:

Ken Margoe, Chris Westfall and Brian Roberts at "Magic Tonight"

Confirm details by visiting Abracadabaret.com


Mississauga (Thurs):  Ken Margoe

Pickering (Fri):  Chris Westfall

Toronto (Sun):   Brian Roberts


James Alan, over at Abracadaberet, has kindly offered the readers of Canada's Magic a coupon code for 50% off tickets to "Magic Tonight!"  Use the coupon code cmagic when you buy your tickets for Magic Tonight to receive your discount*.




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* Offer is subject to change without notice.  Canada's Magic earns a commission when you use the coupon code cmagic.

Behind the scenes at Wizard Wars

Also, go to Ellen Fox's website to find out which Canadian wizard has ink that reads "There is no hocus pocus"?

Three years ago Justin Flom and I hosted the first-ever "Wizard War" in a 2-bedroom apartment a block of the Vegas Strip. Against all odds, we parlayed it into a show on Syfy. (As a diehard Face Off fan, Syfy was always my #1 choice.) And against all further odds, they picked us up for more episodes. 
Read more and watch video.

24 February 2015

Brian Roberts on Rogers TV

Rumour has it that Brian Roberts will be on Rogers TV Toronto, tomorrow at 10am and 3pm.


Thirty seconds with Lorena and Trevor Watters

This is the sixth in a series of "Thirty seconds with ..." interviews, so called because I approached the interviewees at Sorcerers Safari Magic and Performance Arts Camp last summer with the idea that I would interview them for 30 seconds. It didn't always work that way.


Lorena and Trevor Watters are professional magicians from North Delta, BC.  They both love the beautiful scenery and friendliness of Canada.  They first heard about Sorcerers Safari Magic Camp when Magic Mike Segal and his wife Jen approached them at the World Magic Seminar.  This was  Lorena and Trevor's third year as camp instructors.

FUN FACT:
They're both big fans of the original Star Wars trilogy..

DID YOU KNOW?
- Lorena's most embarrassing magic moment was at the West Coast Fair when wind blew her skirt up!  (Apparently they had a much bigger audience the next day!
- Trevor's pre-show routine involves him doing push ups against a wall for 10 seconds to help him relax and psych himself up.
The Watters, like so many of the adults who pass through camp, wish that something like this was available to them when they were growing up.  When they think of camp they think of amazingly talented kids, fun times and unforgettable memories.  To them it's the perfect place to learn "magical performance arts."  They've loved camp since the first day and look forward to it yearly.  Lorena sums up one of their favourite things about magic camp, "It's awesome to watch how much kids grow (both physically and magically) in a year."

Trevor's first memory of magic goes back to the age of 12.  He remembers his dad coming home from Las Vegas with some magic tricks.  That's when Trevor fell in love with the craft.  As for Lorena, her first solid memory of magic was in the very early days of dating Trevor.  Trevor asked her if she'd like to come back to his place to see an illusion.  Lorena added, "He asked if I could fit into a box on the floor.  Then he said he was going to put 12 swords into it. The rest is history."

Lorena wishes that more people would think of magic as an art form.  Trevor agrees and would like people to respect magicians as much as they respect actors, or lawyers.  Both of them have the same advice for the young magicians out there:  Practise makes perfect.  Don't be afraid to fail; some of their best material comes from epic fails.

We wish them all the best as they represent Canada in the FISM World Championship held in Italy this July!

Visit their website at TrevorWatters.com .

From the Fireside Productions Facebook page:





Previously published "Thirty seconds with ..." interviews:



From the Sorcerers Safari Twitter feed:

23 February 2015

Sorcerers Safari Magic Camp Documentary 2014

If you've read my post "The secret to Sorcerers Safari's success," you'll know that Magic Mike Segal's magic camp is pretty awesome.  Words, however, cannot adequately describe the experience.  Check out Chris Mayhew's fabulous documentary filmed at camp last summer.  (If you look very carefully and don't blink, you'll even see me in the video!)

For those of you who want to go to camp, but are worried about being able to cover your costs, I encourage you to seek out the organizations and individuals who offer scholarships to Sorcerers Safari.


From Sorcerers Safari:
See what Sorcerers Safari Magic & Performance Camp is all about - from our campers perspective. 
2014 Sorcerers Safari Magic Camp ‘KIDS CUT’ Documentary from the Sorcerers Safari YouTube channel:  


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. 
Sorcerers Safari Magic & Performance Camp runs at Camp White Pine in Haliburton, Ontario, Canada for one awesome week every summer.  For more information, or to join us this August 15th - 19th, 2015, visit http://sorcererssafari.ca/about/register-for-magic-camp-2015/