Rounding the Ontario rings in December

Confirm details about dates and locations by visiting each club's website.

Hamilton, ON	Ring 49 (The Doug Henning Magic Wand Club)	- n/a
London, ON	Ring 265 (London Magician's Guild)	- n/a
Kitchener, ON	Ring 235 (The Caesar Hat & Wand Magic Circle)	- Christmas Dinner.
Ottawa, ON	Ring 151 (Ottawa Society of Magicians)	- Michael Close lecture - Christmas Party Pot-luck dinner
Ottawa, ON	Ottawa / Gatineau magicians	- n/a
Toronto, ON	Ring 17 (Sid Lorraine Hat and Rabbit Club)	- David Regal workshop - David Regal lecture

Please leave a comment or e-mail me about corrections or omissions.

Rounding the Eastern rings in December

Confirm details about dates and locations by visiting each club's website.

Halifax, NS	Ring 316 (Conjourer's Court)	- n/a - Visit their Facebook page.
St. John, NB	Magic Circle of St. John	- n/a

Please leave a comment or e-mail me about corrections or omissions.

Top 5 posts in November 2014

It's been a busy month for news with 50 posts! Here are the most viewed posts at Canada's Magic this month:

5. Who's where November 2014 - Don't forget to add your appearance to our December "Who's  where" post!

4. [Guest post] Watching the Magic Unfold - Thank you Erin for your guest post!

3. Keith Brown at TEDx University of Windsor - This young man is making great strides.

2. A Q&A with Erin Thomas - It's not often I get to ask questions of an author.

and the most viewed post this month  ...

1. Win a copy of Forcing the Ace - Thanks to everyone who played!  A special thanks to Amy Collins from Orca Book Publishers for generously making this book available to you!

Toronto: Kainoa Harbottle lecture

From the Browser's Den of Magic:

Sunday, December 21

Currently known by most magicians as the coin guru for Reel Magic Magazine and Sleight School, Kainoa just wowed the audiences at the Magic Castle with his all coin close-up act. You may have seen him on Curtis Kam's Palms of Steel series, on the New York Coin Magic DVDs, or even read his many publications on close-up magic. Seeing him live is an entirely different experience.

Kainoa’s lecture will feature magic designed with visual impact, cleanliness of method, and modular climaxes. The material and techniques were developed in the strolling and table-hopping environments of Waikiki. He will also be discussing how to transform your close-up pieces into stand-up material using before and after examples from his repertoire. 

Read more and buy tickets.

Montreal: Michael Close and Kainoa Harbottle

From Montreal Magic Jam:

We are excited to announce that we have two amazing magicians coming to Montreal in December. Michael Close, author of the Workers series and one of the top close-up magicians in the world, will be presenting both classic and brand new material in his Dec 10 lecture. The next week, Kainoa Harbottle, one of the most skilled and innovative coin magicians around, will present both a lecture and a workshop. As a thank you for making this an incredible year for the Montreal Magic Jam, we have an ealry Christmas present for you. While individual tickets will be available at the usual price, we’re offering the following specials:

Read more and buy tickets.

[via Magic Information Canada] 

11/2014 update to the Johnny Giordmaine tribute site

From the curator of the Johnny Giordmaine tribute site:

John Giordmaine tribute news. 

JohnGiordmaine.com, the online tribute to Canada's most beloved children's magician (1898-1974), has posted an interim update to welcome new visitors from the Society of American Magicians who have read the featured article about Johnny in MUM's December 2014 issue.

All other visitors are also very welcome!

This update features Doug Henning's 1989 "retirement from magic " letter published in GENII. Visitors may be surprised to read that Doug thanked "the late John Giordmaine" first and foremost for helping him "so much over the years" - even before Dai Vernon, Slydini or Jay Marshall!

There are now over 50 pages about Johnny and his inspiring legacy in magic. Remembrances are always very welcome; contact information is on the site, which is:

http://www.johngiordmaine.com  

Murray SawChuck on "Extreme Escapes”

Updated at 6:45am to include the link to the Las Vegas Sun article which mentions his recently received Career Achievement Award in the Magic Arts and his Best Comedy Variety Act of 2014 award.  Congratulations Murray!


From Vegas News:

“Extreme Escapes” is a new original reality series with death-defying stunts premiering on REELZ, Saturday, November 29 

Each one-hour episode of “Extreme Escapes” brings the shock, wonder and danger of escapology to television with astonishing performances by artists including Las Vegas headlining comic magician Murray SawChuck, America’s Got Talent contestant Spencer Horsman, Masters of Illusion LIVE! performer Farrell Dillon, Las Vegas Illusionist Jan Rouven and Hungarian escape artist David Merlini.

Read more.

More on "Extreme Escapes" from the Las Vegas Sun:

There’s no denying that magician Murray Sawchuck is on a roll as he gets ready to take on a new run at Sin City Theater in Planet Hollywood after nearly three years at the Tropicana’s Laugh Factory.

He’s just completed four months of filming “Extreme Escapes,” which starts broadcasting on Reelz for 26 weeks as of this Saturday. He was asked to do the “Blind Drive” illusion and wound up being invited to do more than 21 “escapes” for the series.

Read more.

[via iTricks] 

Phil Matlin's ragtime tour 2014

Phil Matlin, owner of Perfect Magic, will be playing ragtime and touring through Ontario (Elmira, Kitchener, New Hamburg, and Waterloo) at the end of December.

• Dec. 26 - Lanark Place 44 Lanark Place, Kitchener
• Dec. 29 - Chateau Gardens 11 Herbert St., Elmira 
• Dec. 30 - Nithview Home 200 Boullee, New Hamburg
• Dec. 31 - Parkwood Mennonite Homes, 726 New Hampshire, Waterloo
• Dec. 31 - Bankside Terrace 71 Bankside Drive, Kitchener 

Watch Phil play Carolina in the Morning below:
  

Toronto: Bill Abbott at "Magic Tonight"

From Reality Based Magic:

This week on the show we have Canadian Magician of the Year Bill Abbott. He’s been on the show many times (as evidenced below). Normally you have to go all the way up to Vaughan to see his show Every Trick in the Book at Dave & Busters. But he’s here downtown Sunday, November 30!

Read more and buy tickets.  

Receive a 20% discount* at Magic Tonight with coupon code cmagic 



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

Mark Correia: World record holder

From Mark Correia's Twitter feed:

As a fun little thing to celebrate the record set, I'd love if people could tweet something they liked about the stunt, or a question!
— Mark Correia (@Mark_Correia) November 26, 2014

From the Record Setter Twitter feed:

Canadian magician @Mark_Correia wears a straitjacket for a #worldrecord 14 DAYS, raises $ for @MichaelJFoxOrg: http://t.co/G1hNx14ABs
— RecordSetter (@RecordSetter) November 25, 2014

By my count, that puts the total of Canadian World Record holding magicians to five! 

• Doug The Great:  Heaviest Stilts Mastered.  [Guinness World Record]
• Scott Hammell:  Highest Suspension Straitjacket Escape. [Guinness World Record]
• Lucas Wilson:  Fastest Suspension Straitjacket Escape. [Guinness World Record]
• Michael Francis:  Most one-handed coin rolls in a minute. [Guinness World Record]

Toronto: David Regal workshop

From the Sid Lorraine Hat and Rabbit Club Facebook page:

The day before his lecture (Wednesday, December 3) David Regal is doing a performance workshop at the Browser's Den Of Magic. It's limited to a very small group - you get the chance to perform a piece you're working on and get feedback and help. An extremely rare opportunity for that kind of one-on-one attention. Information and tickets are on the club page www.ibmring17.com

Happy fourth blogiversary to me!

Four years ago today, this blog was born!

Thanks to you wonderful people who have supported this project!  More than 1,770 posts have been published, and well over 67,000 page loads have been served.  Ninety-two of you have given us your thumbs-up on Facebook, more than 680 of you are following along on Twitter (8800 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, Ireland,United Kingdom, France, Japan, 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!

A special thanks to:

• All of my early supporters.  Special shout outs to Ariel, Doug, James, and John for your continued  encouragement.
• All of you readers, Likers, RTers, submitters, guest posters, contest prize providers and all other manners of promoters of this site.
• All of my sponsors, past and present.  That means you: Magic Information Canada, Ryan Pilling, Clive Court, Perfect Magic, and The Browser's Den of Magic!
• My family for their support of this bloggy experiment.

My continued thanks to all of you!

Watch Keith Brown's TEDx lecture

Missed Keith's talk at the TEDx University of Windsor earlier this month?  Not to worry, you can watch it online.

From Keith Brown's Facebook page:

Post by Keith Brown - The Official Fan Page.


Watch the video on the TEDxUniversityofWindsor YouTube channel:

BT Calgary interviews James Randi

Watch the BT Calgary interview of James Randi from November 21.

Broken wand: Kevin George

We were notified by Dennis Schick, the editor of the Broken Wand in the International Brotherhood of Magician's magazine, The Linking Ring, of the passing of Kevin George.

From Legacy:

GEORGE, Kevin William
1946 ~ 2014

GEORGE, Kevin William

GEORGE, Kevin William
1946 ~ 2014 

It is with great sadness that the family of Kevin George announce his passing on May 4, 2014. Leaving behind is his mother Henrietta, son Ryan and his family, brother Kerry and his family.  

Read more.

From the Edmonton Journal:

EDMONTON - Wanda Karstens met Kevin George when she was a mall rat at Bonnie Doon and he, the head of security and the object of Karstens’ teenage crush.
George was a compassionate man, even at age 23, Karstens said: hard on shoplifters and drug dealers, but fair and friendly to mall rats like herself, arranging for an empty store front to become a teen centre.

George remained in the security world, eventually opening his own security firm and training guards, correctional officers and jail riot squads, but also training dogs to track criminals, and to find missing people as part of Alberta’s first Search and Rescue team.

Read more. 

The following will run in the December issue of the Linking Ring:

KEVIN W. GEORGE

Recently the I.B.M. headquarters learned that Kevin William George, 67, of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, died May 4, 2014 from a massive stroke, after several heart attacks and problems with diabetes. He was a former member of the I.B.M. (1994-2013). He was a member of Ring 28 (Edmonton). He developed a love for dogs and helping other people in his youth, which led to his life’s work. He opened his own security firm, training guards, correctional officers, and jail riot squads, as well as training dogs to track criminals and search and rescue dogs to find missing persons in storm-damaged sites. His animal-training skills even led him to train the elephant at the Edmonton Zoo. He used magic throughout his life, both to teach and to lighten tense situations. In addition to magic, other interests and skills included ju-jitsu (including teaching self-defense classes for women), conga drums (in bands), and rodeo clowning. Survivors include his mother, Henrietta; brother, Kerry; son, Ryan and his family; and granddaughter, Carmen.    

Luc Langevin: spokesperson for la fondation sur les leucodystrophies

Congratulations Luc on the fundraising success!

From Luc Langevin's Twitter feed:

Un immense merci du fond du coeur à la Fondation @sthubert pour son don à la Fondation sur les Leucodystrophies ! pic.twitter.com/Vj4iMjda9R
— Luc Langevin (@LucLangevin) November 12, 2014

Watch the video Luc made with St. Hubert to raise awareness:

Fundraising for Breath is Alive

I know I'm not the only one in this community who has had the pleasure of instruction from David Smukler ....

From Equity Showcase Theatre:

This documentary project chronicles the important work of Canadian theatre artist and master voice practitioner David Smukler. It is intended as a moving archive of the voice and David’s remarkable ability to see into the soul of the artist. The film follows him into the studio where humanity is revealed through the process of voice work, a process to which the audience is rarely privy. Studio scenes are woven together with intimate interviews with David, artists and colleagues from across the country and framed within a natural environment. External shots of trees, water and sky contrast the subjective internal world or the artist with a more objective, natural environment. The natural world fuels David’s practice and reflects the organic process of the work emphasizing David’s connection to earth, breath, heartbeat and light. Too often we allow the contribution of our senior artists in Canada to go undocumented. The directors Laurel Paetz and LJ Nelles, both trained as voice teachers with David and offer this film as a legacy to his enormous and lasting contribution to the artistic community in Canada.

Read more and donate.

Peter Marucci wins second Howard Bamman trophy

Congratulations Peter!  

From the Wellington Advertiser:

FERGUS - Retired Fergus “magicomedian” Peter Marucci has been awarded the Howard Bamman trophy for the second time by the International Brotherhood of Magicians, in recognition of his 28-year contribution to the organization’s magazine The Linking Ring.

The Fergus resident is the only Canadian ever to receive the award and the only magician to receive it twice.

In his Showtime column, Marucci would outline a new illusion every month and give detailed instructions on incorporating “patter” into performances - his trademark.

Read more.

Greg Frewin et al vs the NHL Alumni Stars!

From the Greg Frewin Theatre Twitter feed:

It'll be a spectacle on ice tonight! Come out and support #HelpAChildSmile and watch #Celebrities vs #NHL alumni. pic.twitter.com/rbkb0eSGw8
— Greg Frewin Theatre (@FrewinTheatre) November 20, 2014

Toronto: "Magic Tonight" with Keith Brown, Jason Palter, and James Alan

  

Receive a 20% discount* at Magic Tonight with coupon code cmagic







From Keith Brown's Twitter feed:

This Sunday I will be opening for Jason Palter at #magictonight ! We have a new location near College & Spadina.... http://t.co/0itXSYq83a
— Keith Brown (@KeithHBrown) November 19, 2014

From the Abracadabaret Twitter feed:

This Sunday on #magictonight @paltergeist & @james_alan Advance tickets online at http://t.co/Y6UJWzgeN3 #toronto
— Abracadabaret (@Abracadabaret) November 17, 2014

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