Murray Hatfield in The Georgia Straight

From The Georgia Straight:

Murray Hatfield’s career trajectory was set back at his childhood home in Calgary, when he saw a 13-year-old magician perform at his younger brother’s birthday party.

“Well, I’m in my 50s now, and I still haven’t had a real job,” the Victoria-based magician tells the Straight over the phone.

Starting this week, Hatfield is producing and performing in Unbelievable! A Magical Experience, with nightly shows at the PNE’s Pacific Coliseum. He’ll be joined on-stage by colleagues Chipper Lowell, Shawn Farquhar, and Danny Cole—as well as his wife, Teresa, Hatfield’s on-stage partner and creative collaborator.

Read more.

[via The Magic Demon]

McCord Museum mentioned in Blouin Artinfo

From Blouin Artinfo:

“Illusions – The Art of Magic” an exhibition featuring the art of illusions is on view at McCord Museum, Québec.

The selection of works on display features magic show posters not exhibited before. These posters date back to the 1880s till 1930s. The exhibit consists of 71 chromolithographs and wood engravings few of them in large formats and highlights some of the most popular faces of the period such as Herrmann, Kellar, Chung Ling Soo, Thurston, and Houdini. The exhibit draws from the Allan Slaight Collection, acquired by the museum in 2015.  ‘Illusions – The Art of Magic’ looks at the Golden Age of Magic by creating an immersive and spell binding environment through sights, sounds, and colors.

Read more.

Camilo Dominguez at the Edmonton Fringe Festival

From the CBC:

Magician Camilo Dominguez travelled from Vancouver to perform in his second Edmonton Fringe Festival.

His magic show debuts on Saturday in Venue 8, the Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre. It's called "The Art of Magic."

He'll do card tricks with a camera and projector so that everyone in the audience can see, and then move on to bigger illusions like making things fly.

"It's a show where I do most of the old illusions that the magicians used to do. It's the kind of magic that I grew up watching so I'm going to pay a tribute to the old magicians in my show," said Dominguez.

Read more and watch video.

Owen Sound: Now with Michael Weber

Earlier this summer, we shared the news about a workshop retreat Michael Close is hosting with special guest Jason England.  Those in attendance at "Magic Theory, or Magic Fact? Let's Find Out." earlier this week at the Browser's Den of Magic heard Michael hint that he was hoping to add another special guest to the roster.

It's official!


From Michael Close's Twitter feed:

Michael Weber will be joining us in Owen Sound. Check it out: https://t.co/3J6p6Z0kOt

— Michael Close (@MikeCloseMagic) August 16, 2017

From Michael Close:

You are cordially invited to join Michael Close and Jason England on October 17-20, 2017, for a unique workshop in the beautiful cottage country of northern Ontario (Owen Sound, ON). You’ll be away from the physical and mental noise of the city, but you won’t be roughing it; the accommodations are luxurious.

You’ll fly into Toronto on Monday, October 16, Tuesday morning you'll be bused to beautiful Owen Sound, ON where you will spend most of Tuesday, all day Wednesday, and all day Thursday talking magic and receiving personalized instruction from two of the most knowledgeable magicians on the planet. You'll return to your hotel in Toronto on Friday, and fly home on Saturday.

Read more and register!

Winnipeg: Piff the Magic Dragon

Thursday Aug 17th - Sunday Aug 20th

From Piff the Magic Dragon's Facebook page:

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Random thoughts from "Magic Theory, or Magic Fact? Let's Find Out."

Updated August 16 to add:

• Michael Weber has been announced as an additional special guest for the October workshop with Jason England.
• Michael posted his thoughts about his lecture.

You may remember that I had the good fortune of spending time with Michael Close at Sorcerers Safari.  (I even snagged a mini-interview with him.)  I was always thoroughly impressed with the wisdom he shared with his advanced card classes. 

When I heard Michael was lecturing locally, I knew I had to make it if I could.


From the Canada's Magic Twitter feed:

Guess where I was last night?@theBrowsersDen pic.twitter.com/q6R8EZYofZ

— Canada's Magic (@canadasmagic) August 14, 2017

Sunday night, the stars aligned and I was able to attend "Magic Theory, or Magic Fact? Let's Find Out."


Also from the Canada's Magic Twitter feed:

It was standing room only for the @MikeCloseMagic lecture @theBrowsersDen pic.twitter.com/ADymaPhGnC

— Canada's Magic (@canadasmagic) August 14, 2017

Among other things, during the lecture Michael discussed:

• theory's place in performance arts (with wonderful music analogies)
• his wonderfully complete definition of magic
• how to find (and cure) trouble spots in performance
• the importance of emotion and intellect
• the importance scripting
• assumptions that laymen make
• control, repose, and chaos
• "The Big Lie"

We got to see some magic too!  Of note, he performed "Red Blue Mama Fooler" and then pointed out The Big Problem and how he fixed it.  I was also delighted with a yet to be published routine from his upcoming eBook "Paradigm Shift."

Attendees were provided a discount code for MichaelClose.com which includes The Workers series, and Closely Guarded Secrets.  We were also tipped to the great sale price of Magic in the Real World.  (And if you didn't already know, there's this little thing called "Magic In Mind" that you can get for free at Vanishing Inc, which includes an essay from Michael as well as 32 other highly regarded professionals.)

If you haven't seen the announcement, Michael is hosting a workshop with Jason England and Michael Weber (and perhaps an additional mystery guest) in October.  Only eight spots remain.

Bottom line, as with Phil Matlin's report from a 2014 lecture by Michael, I was very impressed!

Far out Magic Dude.

Read Michael's thoughts about his lecture.

The last Tweet from Canada's Magic Twitter feed:

"Magic Theory, or Magic Fact? Let's Find Out."

-- @MikeCloseMagic @theBrowsersDen pic.twitter.com/TXs6r6q4lr

— Canada's Magic (@canadasmagic) August 14, 2017

CBC interview with Matt DiSero

An interview from August 2016, where Matt thinks he said something that upset a listener.


From the CBC:

For Matt DiSero, the magic came first—and then the comedy followed.

His uncle was a sword-swallower and fire-breather who first introduced him to magic. Matt credits performing in comedy clubs with the help he needed to hone his funny magic act.

Read more and listen to interview.