The Vanishing Rabbit is moving!

From The Vanishing Rabbit:

We're moving June 30th to a new location.
1712 Edmonton Trail NE
But were not there yet!

Read more.

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Sheldon Casavant: Sizzler

From Edmontonians (PDF):

Ladies and Gentlemen, prepare to be amazed. Sheldon Casavant will delight and entertain you—like he has been doing for years.

Sheldon says that “most kids kind of go through that phase of being interested in magic... it was when I was 11 years old that I really got serious about it. So, from that point on, I would read about magic as much as I could, I’d practice as much as I could.”

Read more (PDF).

Trevor Moore: Top 40 under 40

From page 4 of Southern Alberta Newspapers Top 40 Under 40:

Most people are not Trevor Moore.

Moore, who quite convincingly passes himself off as a hard-working family man and successful entrepreneur -- with not one but two growing businesses -- has been shamefully fooling people for years.  The truth is, the 38- year old Moore is retired and has been for some time.
Read more.

Jay Olson in the Vancouver Sun

From Canada.com:

Ever since he was five and someone pulled a coin out of his ear, Jay Olson has been fascinated by magic.

Five's an early age to begin independent research but by the time he was seven - after much reading and studying - this sorcerer's apprentice had become a professional magician.

Read more.

Hot Docs Forum report: An Honest Liar

From Real Screen (about An Honest Liar):

Guy Lavie from Yes Doc, meanwhile, said, “I think it’s a wonderful project – do you think you’re going to have confrontations with those who he has confronted?” Measom replied that Randi “has ruined lives and made people question things they held most dearly.”

Also enthusiastic was DR TV’s Hoffmann Meyer, who said, “I love it – I’m very keen and I have a feature doc strand for films like this,” while PBS’s Vossen said, “We worked with Justin on Being Elmo [which Weinstein produced] – it’s a great team and we’re very keen on them.”

And in Canada, Catherine Olsen, exec producer of documentaries for Canada’s CBC Newsworld, was also interested. “I think it could be a perfect fit for ‘Passionate Eye,’” she said.

Read more.

Sorcerers Safari 2012 registration underway

From Sorcerers Safari:

We are accepting Camper/CIT registration forms for Magic Camp 2012. Sorcerers Safari will run for a week from Tuesday August 28th – Sunday Sept 2nd, 2012.

Read more.

If only there was a Sorcerers Safari for adults!

Harry Anderson in "Harry the Hat Tonight"

Anyone who has known me for any length of time, knows that I have a soft spot in my heart for Harry Anderson's three card monte routine, Monarch Monte.  Seeing his live show has been on my bucket list for quite some time.  (I even briefly considered finding my way to Regina in November of 2010 to see him perform there.)

Imagine my delight when I first learned that he was scheduled to perform and lecture in Whitby, ON.

And so, last weekend, I went to the Class Act Dinner Theatre for the very first time. The theatre itself is spacious.  It looked to me like there were no bad seats in the house.  The buffet was plentiful and delicious.  My dinner companions made more than one trip to the servery before their meal was done.  The roast beef and Yorkshire pudding were the highlights of my meal and the desserts were yummy!

There were quite a few familiar faces in the audience:  David Ben, Julie Eng, Suley Fattah, Mike Segal, Jen Segal, Lee Elliott, Michael Close, Lisa Close, Owen Anderson, Peter Mennie,  Michael Fisher,  Deborah Fallick, Sammy Jakubowicz, Scott Hood, Ken McCreedy,  Richard Forget, David Sutherland, Phil, Bob Johnston, David Lax, Philip Groff and Gordon Precious.  There were other faces to which I've been unable to put a name and some I've just plain forgot.  (It was a busy weekend.)  Apologies if I've left you out.*

Richard Forget was the opening act for Harry Anderson. Apparently, one must be at least 6 feet tall to get onstage tonight.
— Sammy Jakubowicz (@Doc_Sammy) May 19, 2012

For entertainment, we had Glenn Ottaway, David Merry (who was non-stop with fantastic zingers, "I've been happily married for six years ...") and Richard Forget to warm us up.  Richard performed many of the effects he discussed at last September's Ring 17 lecture.  (I've never been so happy, to not see a skipping rope on stage.)  Then it was time for the headlining act!

Harry Anderson, complete with signature Borsalino and hand-painted tie, opened with Wise Guy Monte, followed with a discussion of card counting, some reminiscing about his performance with Skippy the guinea pig on SNL, and a straitjacket escape I'll not soon forget.  He also did some snazzy dancing while demonstrating card memorization and card counting in real time.  He finished with a larger than life magic square.   For an encore, we were treated to his very special chapeaugraphy routine.

Hilarious show last night @ClassActDinnerTheatre #HarryAnderson
— Peter Mennie (@petermennie) May 20, 2012

As for the lecture, "Tipping the Hat," Harry took us through each of the routines in his show, discussed volunteer selection and regaled us with stories from his past.  (My favourite is how an expensive impulse buy started a chain of events which lead to his being cast in Night Court!)  Dave Merry was on the money when said (in April) that "the stories alone are worth the price of admission."  (And this weekend with Harry cost less than a round trip flight to Regina!)

Thank you Class Act Dinner Theatre and Harry Anderson for a wonderful weekend!


"There's just one f***ing rule!"

Poor Yvette.

--
* If I’ve missed listing anyone who was there please send me an e-mail or leave a comment below! Thank you to Owen, Deborah and Sammy for helping me put names to some of the faces.

The opinions expressed above are entirely my own.  I was not compensated in any way.

Kent Wong: Those magic moments

From the Canada.com:

Kent Wong and I talked about magic for three hours one day this week, and I noticed that for most of that time he looked me straight in the eye. It made me a bit uncomfortable, until it finally dawned on me that he’s spent a lifetime looking people in the eye, because when he does they tend to look back, and therefore aren’t watching his hands.

Which brings us to those deep, dark secrets Wong was kind enough to share with me.

Read more.

I have one question after reading the article:  who is Kevin?



[h/t: CAM magic]

David Merry: Featured in MAGIC magazine

David Merry was featured in the April 2012 edition of MAGIC magazine.

 See the complete article, written by David Peck, at DavidMerry.com.

Greg Frewin in conversation

From metroWNY (interview by Melanie Hulick):

HULICK: Which award surprised you the most?


FREWIN: Well, to be honest with you, there are several that are kind of important to me, but the one that surprised me the most was the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM). They have a contest every year with magicians from all over the world. They give away a first, second and third prize but they also give away a gold medal, which isn’t given out every year. When I won, it was the fifth one ever in about 80 years. I think it’s now up to seven or eight. That was the surprise one I look at now and appreciate the most.
Read more.

[h/t: Johnny Ferrara]

Peter Mennie: Rogers Daytime appearance

Watch Peter Mennie's May 9th Rogers Daytime appearance:

Tony Eng Youth Fund bursary winner and IMX competitor

From Sharing Wonder:

Sawyer reached out to us through the Tony Eng Youth Fund. At 16, his passion for magic appears to have no bounds and magic has enriched his life for the last four years. We provided Sawyer, a community-driven young man teeming with leadership qualities, a bursary to help him attend the Canadian Association of Magicians (CAM) 2012 convention. In his application, Sawyer expressed a heartfelt desire to meet Vancouver-based magician and President of CAM, Shawn Farquhar. We were pleased to provide  Sawyer with the grant to achieve this goal and to also compete in the magic competitions at CAM.

Read more.

From the CAM website:

This year there is a special addition to the convention where youth were invited from around the globe to compete in a contest that is endorsed by FISM.  This is the first contest of it’s kind and representing Canada is Sawyer Bullock of Ontario.

Read more.

Wishing Sawyer the best of luck at the 2012 International Youth Magic Championships!

Toronto: Paul Wildbaum workshop at Clown Alley

Paul Wildbaum Workshop Meeting-  May 22, 2012
Doors open at 6:45pm
Meeting starts at 7:30pm - 10:00pm
Location: Herbert Carnegie Centennial Centre, 580 Finch Avenue West
(West of Bathurst on North Side) ... in the Skaters Lounge


[h/t: Deborah Fallick]

One handed CUT- A-THON winner!

From Sharing Wonder:

Congratulations to Sebastian Dagenais, winner of the Canadian Association of Magicians (CAM) 2012 One Handed CUT- A-THON contest.

The young and talented Sebastian hails from Montreal and performed 119 one-handed cuts for three rounds.

Read more to find out what Sebastian won!

Victoria: Mirth and Magic

From Murray Hatfield's Facebook page:

Come on out May 27/12 for some family fun entertainment. Special acts, as well as the first half of the show is a competition for the best “Comedy Magician” which is voted on by the audience. Following intermission the audience will be treated to some of Victoria's finest entertainers.


Read more.

When Magic Tom was king of English TV...

From The Suburban:

For kids my age (six in 1969) and for Montrealers in general, one of the kings - if not the king- of Montreal English TV was “Magic Tom” Auburn. Not only was he a skilled magician, but he had an appealing, gentle manner which put children and their parents at ease. Numerous local children appeared on his broadcast, performing a song or skit, and helping with his tricks.

(I have a vague memory of being on the show myself, but I seem to have blacked it out - apparently, I was a little clumsy.)

And Auburn was not only a TV institution (in French, as well, by the way). He made numerous live appearances throughout the community. I myself saw him in the late 1970s at the YM-YWHA in Chomedey, where he put on a wonderful show. And an issue of The Suburban on June 18, 1969 carried a Van Horne Shopping Centre ad promoting an appearance by him there “for the kiddies,” followed by a Hawaiian trio.

Read more.

2012 FISM contestant update

From Shawn Farquhar's comment on the post Shin Lim: FISM contestant:

A note of correction. Canada has both Shin Lim and Hyun Joon Kim as representatives for the FISM championship in Blackpool, UK. Under the current regulations for FISM, the representatives had to be selected from the finalist of the NACM that was held in 2011. Shin Lim and Richard Forget were the only two magicians with Canadian citizenship to be finalists. Richard chose not to compete and the CAM selected an alternate to allow another deserving magician the opportunity to champion for Canada.

Thank you very much Shawn for making the time to share this information with us!

Best of luck to Shin Lim and Hyun Joon Kim!

Christian Cagigal in Montreal

From The Charlebois Post:

Some shows, like Christian Cagigal’s Now and at the Hour, presented by Beyond the Mountain Productions and the Rialto Theatre in benefit of the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation, are best understood in terms of the magical, inimitable ambiance they create. In the spirit of that magic, forget that this is a review for a few lines, and do as Cagigal asks his audience: “Humour me.”

Read more.

Toronto: Haim Goldenberg

From Facebook:

Sunday, 10 June 2012

Ready to play mind-games? 

Then you should see Haim Goldenberg’s show!
With his captivating personality, and sense of humor to boot, celebrity mentalist Haim Goldenberg transforms the predictability of everyday life into an enchanting fantasy which grips and entangles.

Let the star of GoldMind take you to a Voyage to your Mind and uncover phenomena like mind reading, suggestions, telekinesis and much more…
It is a high energy, interactive, utterly funny, inspiring and mind-blowing show you don’t want to miss - it is an experience that will leave you breathless


Read more.

[h/t: Deborah Fallick]