St. Mary's ON: Peter Mennie's Mind Games

From  the Black Angus of St. Mary's website:

Friday April 15th, 2011 Mind Games Show starts at 8:30 – 10:30 Show $20.00 Dinner order off of the menu or the $20.00 3 course meal package.

Have a look at the PDF poster to learn more about Peter Mennie's show.

Links for 10-Apr-2011

• TODAY! Browser's Den magic auction
   
• Lecleric Show episodes on YouTube (I haven't been able to keep up with viewing, but here are links to last week's videos):
  90. Floating Fork Tutorial - Day 90 of 365
  91. April Fools - Day 91 of 365
  92. The Vanishing Coins - Day 92 of 365
  93. Incredible 4 Ace Trick in a Camaro - Day 93 of 365
  94. *NOT FOR CHILDREN (Julies Clothes Disappear) - DAY 94 of 365
  95. The Toad and the Princess' Clothes - DAY 95 of 365
  96. Origami Money - Day 96 of 365
  97. Floating Lego Magic wand! - Day 97 of 365
  98. Tha Amazing Beard Trick - Day 98 of 365
  99. One handed Card Trick Live on Stage - Day 99 of 365

Murray Hatfield and Teresa at MCW in Chicago

Murry Hatfield and Teresa will be headlining the Magic Collectors Weekend (MCW) in Chicago next month.  From the Magicol website:

The show will be hosted by David Charvet and, in addition to being the Master of Ceremonies, David will perform an interlude with Rag Pictures, the subject of his presentation the day before. Also on the bill, will be multiple Magic Castle Award Winner John Carney, presenting some of the classics of parlor prestidigitation with that light and playful touch for which he is famous. Headlining the show will be Murray Hatfield and Teresa, making their MCW and Chicago debut. 

Read more about their MCW debut.

To learn more about the MCW or to register, please visit the Magicol website.

Morton the Magician and his Magnificent Magic Show

From the Edmonton Journal:

... local writer Sheldon Casavant is vying for the Children’s Literature prize for Morton the Magician and his Magnificent Magic Show.

Read more.

Good luck Sheldon!

EXCITING NEWS: 'Morton the Magician' has been shortlisted for an AB Literary Award in Children's Literature!... http://fb.me/ZxwnsAZuless than a minute ago via Facebook Favorite Retweet ReplySheldon Casavant
SheldonCasavant

London: Keith Brown's "Feats of Mystery"

From Keith's blog:

Here are the showtimes for Feats of Mystery this summer for the London Fringe Festival.

Friday June 17                 5:00pm
Saturday June 18              8:30pm
Sunday June 19                5:00pm
Wednesday June 22          7:30pm
Friday June 24                11:00pm
Saturday June 25              7:30pm

Location: The Arts Project.

David Acer: "Never iron flash paper."

"A Superb Tip from David Acer. Comedian, Magician, TV Star, Author…." was posted by Perfect Magic today.  Along with some remembrances and photos of times gone by, David responds to the questions:

"Q: What was the first trick that made you think this is what you want to do?"

and

"Q: What advice would you give aspiring magicians?"

Go read David's answers now!

--
Editor's note:

My most indelible memory of David has to at CAMaraderie in 2001, where he performed the Cups and Balls with garbage bins and soccer balls as depicted below:

CAM/PCAM Combined Convention: Close-up artists announced

Close-up entertainers Jon Allen and Diamond Jim Tyler have been announced as appearing in this year's CAM and PCAM combined convention. 

For more information about the convention, please visit MagicianConvention.com



[h/t: CAM]

Remembering the Society of Canadian Magicians

Do you remember the Society of Canadian Magicians (SCM)?  If so, go on over the the Facebook page David Donoghue has set up for remembering the SCM.  There is a dearth of information on the internet about the SCM.  MagicPedia has only two lines on the organization.

Help document the history of the organization by contributing to the discussions or adding to the collection of online photos.


[h/t: John Pellatt]

Colombini Farewell Tour

[Edited May 24 to add Toronto date.]

From WildColumbini.com:

DO NOT MISS OUT ON THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE THE COLOMBINI'S DURING WHAT WILL BE THERE FAREWELL TOUR OF THE CONTINENTAL US AND CANADA. After careful thought and deliberation we have decided that this will be our final lecture tour of the US and Canada.

Canadian dates include:

• Vancouver, May 12th
• Victoria, May 13th
• Edmonton, May 14th
• Toronto, June 1st
• Montréal,  June 5th

For more information, visit Wild Columbini Magic.


[h/t: MagicInfo.ca]

CBC: Joan Caesar and Julie Eng talk about women in magic

As a follow-up to the previous post "CBC: The Amazing and Astounding Invisible Women of Magic", John Pellatt pointed me to this Mary Ito interview of Joan Caesar and Julie Eng on the CBC program "Fresh Air" back on October 31st, 2009. 

Listen to Joan and Julie talk about magic, the Canadian Association of Magicians and Magicana.

CBC: The Amazing and Astounding Invisible Women of Magic

[Edited April 4 to add link to interview with Joan and Julie.]

Prompted in part by the recent death of Dorothy Young (Houdini’s Stage Assistant), today CBC Radio One reran "The Amazing and Astounding Invisible Women of Magic" a documentary by Frank Faulk.  You can listen to it from the The Sunday Edition website (it starts at about the 22 minute mark).

Listen to Mary Ito interview of Joan Caesar and Julie Eng on the CBC program "Fresh Air" back on October 31st, 2009.   Perfect Magic has a post on women magicians at Magie Montréal.

Recent articles on the subject of women in magic from:

• Slate: "The Next Queen of Magic -- Does magic need more female performers to be cool again?"
• Miller-McCune: "Why Have Women Magicians Vanished?"
• About.com: "Women in Magic - Interview With Krystyn Lambert", "Why Are There So Few Female Magicians - Interview With Suzanne", "Women in Magic: Margarette Le Claire","Women in Magic - Interview With Farrah Siegel"
• About.com: "Documentary: Women in Boxes", "Have Women Magicians Vanished?"
• About.com: "Readers Respond: Why Are There So Few Female Magicians?", "Article Asks: Does Magic Need Females to Be Cool Again?", "Readers Respond: Does Magic Need Females?"

[h/t: John Pellatt]

Doc Eason: June lectures

Doc Eason will be lecturing in Canada this spring.

The according to to the X-elent Lecture Series website Eason's lecture dates are:

• Ring 183 (Victoria Magic Circle) on June 6th
• Ring 28 (Edmonton Magic Guild) on June 7th [contact e-mal can be found at magicinfo.ca]
• Ring 66 (Calgary Magic Circle) on June 8th
• The Magic Club of Winnipeg on June 9th
• Ring 92 (Vancouver Magic Circle) on June 10th

He'll be wrapping up the lecture tour with dates in the US (Seattle, Eugene and Portland).

Please confirm details about dates, times and locations by contacting each club directly.

April Fooled

I only saw one major Canadian magic prank yesterday.  The Vanishing Rabbit posted this on their website and Facebook page:

After very long negotiations, I would like to annouce that The Vanishing Rabbit Magic Shop has SOLD to a private Magic Shop Chain out of the United States. Although the shop will stay open and the Name will change, I will remain as a Manager and consultant, I would like to thank all who have supported my Magic Shop business the last 10 years and hope that you will remain customers of ours.

While not Canadian, this prank is certainly worth a mention!  From The Magic Newswire this post from The Magic Circle:

The Magic Circle To Mount Legal Challenge 

The Magic Circle is considering mounting a legal challenge to proposals which would see the composition of packs of playing cards dramatically altered from April 2012.

The proposals announced under European Union Directive 27745 / 3665 include the removal of the twelve Jacks, Queens and Kings from every pack of cards manufactured within the EU to reflect modern Republic Member States. A new suit of 'Stars' is to be introduced alongside the traditional Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades making the total number of cards exactly 50 in the new 'metric' packs.

Spokesman for The Magic Circle states "We are very concerned by these new rules. We very much value our Royal connections and cannot accept such a scandalous interference from the EU. The standard pack of 52 cards embodies a long legacy of cultural and magical history.”

A spokesman continues: “Frankly many of our Members are hoping to make these new rules disappear!"

Read the original post (complete with image of the new deck) here.
 

What April Fool's day pranks did I miss?

Montréal: May 1st, 2011 - Magic Day

From the Magie Spectram website:

Sunday May 1st 2011 from 12:00pm to 10:00pm, Spectram Magic in association with Alain Choquette invites you to a Magic Day featuring: Jay Sankey, Jon Allen, Boris Wild and Richard Sanders.

For more information, contact Magie Spectram.

[h/t: magicinfo.ca]

Website: Magic Information Canada

If you're looking for a nationwide calendar of magic events, have a peek at Doug Cuff's website Magic Information Canada.  Events can be seen in agenda or calendar formats.  You can also follow Doug on Twitter (@magicinfo_ca).

Doug also has comprehensive lists of magic shops and clubs for you to browse.

Keep up the great work Doug!

Links for 1-Apr-2011

• Wayne Kawamoto's review of Shawn Farquhar's MatriXpress
   
• Lecleric Show episodes on YouTube (I haven't been able to keep up with viewing, but here are links to last week's videos):
  82. Making Money From Money! Day 82 of 365
  83. The Blushing Card - Day 83 of 365
  84. Poker table Magic - Day 84 of 365
  85. Three Coins & a Toilet - Day 85 of 365
  86. Transporting Cigar - Day 86 of 365
  87. One Handed Rubiks Cube- DAY 87 of 365  
  88. Linking Pull Tabs - DAY 88 of 365
  89. The Magic Castle - Day 89 of 365  

Jay Sankey: April 1 live party on the new Bending the Real channel

From JaySankey.com:

Starting at 9:00PM EST on Friday April 1 I’m hosting a live party on the new Bending the Real channel on YouTube. This is where we are going to host the $5K ‘Bending the Real Competition’ and we thought we’d start things off with a couple of exclusive videos from the ‘Bending the Real’ project. I’m also going to be giving away 12 FREE ‘Bending the Real’ DVDs and hanging out on the channel to answer questions and share bending tips.

Subscribe to the Bending the Real channel on You Tube to find out more!

Calgary: Card Magic Essentials with Brent Smith

From The Vanishing Rabbit:

When:  3 Saturday Nights - April 2, April 9th, April 16th
Time: 7-9pm
Where: The Vanishing Rabbit Magic Shop

Join Award Winning Magician BRENT SMITH for 3 Nights of Essential Card Magic Sleights. Learning card magic is like building a house. Everything starts with a strong foundation of basic building blocks. These won't we your Grampa's Card Tricks.

This 3 night course will start you at the beginning of card magic and take you to a working professional level.

Learn the core skills (the ones that get used over and over again in thousands of tricks) from a well trained Award winning Magician

For more information, contact The Vanishing Rabbit.

[h/t: Gwyn Auger]

Toronto: Ghost Stories at the Panasonic Theatre.

From the Ghost Stories website:

After breaking all box-office records on its opening at Liverpool Playhouse and the Lyric Hammersmith, Ghost Stories burst onto the West End in June 2010 & has been playing to packed houses ever since. Now it makes its North American premiere - with an all-Canadian cast - at the Panasonic Theatre.

Be prepared for 80 minutes of thrills, laughs and scares that you will never forget!
The totally unique West End show comes from the truly talented and dark minds of The League of Gentlemen's master of the macabre, Jeremy Dyson, and Andy Nyman, co-creator and director of Derren Brown's television and stage shows and star of Dead Set and Severance.

Visit the Ghost Stories website if you're brave enough to want more information.

[h/t: @SorcerersSafari]

Edmonton: Sheldon Casavant speaking at LogiCON

From the LogiCON website:

LogiCON is a daylong event bringing members of the scientific and skeptic communities together with the general public to celebrate logic, critical thinking and the scientific method. LogiCON is for everyone: there will be talks from a variety of speakers for both the longtime science enthusiast and the curious beginner alike.

Sheldon Casavant will be speaking about magic and deception.

Visit the LogiCON website for more information.

[h/t: @Sheldon Casavant]