Thank you to our January 2016 Friends!

Thank you to John Smithman, John Harrison, Richard Lyn and Joan Caesar for being Friends of Canada's Magic!

It's good to have friends like you.

You too can Be Our Friend for only $20 per year! 

Donations of any size are always welcome.

Thank you to our January 2016 sponsors!

Thank you to our sponsors for their generous support.

This site would not be possible without their backing.

We're grateful to have the support of:

• Clive Court - The Fun-da-Mentalist,
• Evelyn & Phil Matlin, owners of Perfect Magic and
• Jeff Pinsky, owner of The Browser's Den of Magic

The next time you see them, let them know you saw their sponsorship here!

For more information about purchasing Sponsored Posts or about our Platinum, Gold, or Silver level sponsorships, please visit our Sponsorship page.

Or you can Be Our Friend for only $20 per year! 

Donations of any size are always welcome.

David Ben's ‪#‎NoHairSelfie‬

World Cancer Day is February 4, 2016.

From James Alan's Facebook page:
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My friend David Ben is raising money for cancer research, and he's willing to shave off his glorious mop for the cause. Check out his campaign, the #NoHairSelfiehttp://www.nohairselfie.com/davidben
Posted by James Alan on Monday, 16 November 2015

More performers announced for Browser's Bash 2016

You already heard that Tom Mullica and Daniel Garcia are performing at the 2016 Browser's Bash.  And we know that Dan Morrissey will be there too.  Check out the other amazing talent recently added to the lineup:

In no particular order:

JAMES HARRISON
As Canada's pickpocket magician, James borrows pens, watches, wallets, and even belts from spectators watching. Before you can yell thief, James has returned the valuables to their rightful owners by making them reappear in unexpected places!

BEN TRAIN
Combining humor, psychology, and a little old-fashioned chutzpah, Ben Train creates an experience that will have you laughing out loud while your mind is being blown. Mystery and non-stop laughs follow where ever he goes. Luckily, he's at the Bash all day long!

LOUIE LEBETJIS
For those who love card table artifice, secret sleights, & serious advantage play - seek out Big Lou during this Bash. His chops are top-notch, plus he will astound you. Move over Charming Cheat, there's a new kid in town.

CHRIS MAYHEW
Some say Chris Mayhew is disarming, charming, and will make you laugh out loud with his uniquely entertaining brand of magic. Others say he's just plain crazy! We will let you be the judge.

JOE DENG
All the way from Changsha, China by way of Beijing, Joe Deng is a master of close-up magic. He's revered by every single magician in his homeland, and now it's time that you meet and spend time with him.

MICHAEL LAM
Multitalented and multilingual, the Hong Kong magician brings his specially honed sleight of hand across the pond specifically for our day of fun. Known for creating the illusion of impossible, be mesmerized by the artistic magic of Michael Lam.

The magic inside Canadian plastic bills

From BuzzFeed:

Apparently, built into the transparent maple leaf design on our Canadian bills is a diffraction grating technology…

That when you shine a laser light through the maple leaf…

An encoded value of the bank note can be seen projected onto a blank surface.

Read more.

Watch Steve Mould explain it on YouTube:

Rounding the Western rings in January 2016

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

City	Club	Event(s)
Calgary, AB	Ring 66 (Calgary Magic Circle, Les Brocklesby Ring)	- Junior club meeting
Edmonton, AB	Edmonton Magic Club	- TBA
Winnipeg, MB	The Magic Club of Winnipeg	- TBA
Fraser Valley, BC	IBM Ring 387 (Fraser Valley Magic Circle, Celeste Evans Ring)	-Third Monday Magic
Vancouver, BC	Ring 92 (Vancouver Magic Circle)	- TBA
Vancouver, BC	SAM 95  (Carl Hemeon Assembly)	- N/A
Victoria, BC	Ring 183 (Victoria Magic Circle)	- Annual dinner featuring Trevor and Lorena Watters

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

Rounding the Central rings in January 2016

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

Montreal, QC	Ring 62 (20th Century Ring)	- Rocco lecture. - Eric Jones lecture. - Monthly meetup.
Hamilton, ON	Ring 49 (The Doug Henning Magic Wand Club)	-TBA
London, ON	Ring 265 (London Magician's Guild)	- TBA
Kitchener, ON	Ring 235 (The Caesar Hat & Wand Magic Circle)	- TBA
Ottawa, ON	Ring 151 (Ottawa Society of Magicians)	- TBA
Ottawa, ON	Ottawa / Gatineau magicians	- TBA
Toronto, ON	Ring 17 (Sid Lorraine Hat and Rabbit Club)	- Auction.

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

Rounding the Eastern rings in January 2016

Does anybody have current information to share about the Magic Circle of St. John?


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

Halifax, NS	Ring 316 (Conjourer's Court)	- Party! - Visit their Facebook page.
St. John, NB	Magic Circle of St. John	- TBA

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

Who was the most watched illusionist of 2015?

The folks over at iTricks have been looking at back at the 2015 magic video stats.  They searched "for the most viewed YouTube video on 2015 featuring the keyword ILLUSIONIST."

The results?  A "video of Darcy Oake on the BBC that gathered about a million and a half views."  (Unfortunately, I could not find a link to the video to which they are referring.)

Way to go Darcy!

Speaking of Darcy, the CBC has video footage of his "'most death-defying' act to date at London's New Year's Day parade."

From the CBC:

Oake, who was born and raised in Winnipeg, pulled off what he calls "literally the most death-defying escape that I've ever done or ever attempted" at the end of the 30th annual parade, performing for hundreds of thousands of spectators in the U.K.

Before bringing to life the parade's theme — 30 years of magic — Oake explained how he would escape and avoid drowning.

Read more and watch video.

[via Clive Court]

 CNN has video of Darcy talking about the stunt.

And here's a great photo taken by Carey Lauder of Darcy doing the same stunt in Winnipeg!

From Carey's Facebook page:

Fiona Gourlay has added me to the landscape and nature challenge, I will work on that right away. But for now here is a shot from Darcy Oake's Edge of Reality tour that finished in Winnipeg this last Friday.
Posted by James Carey Lauder on Sunday, 6 December 2015

Toronto: David Merry at "Magic Tonight"

Confirm details by visiting Abracadabaret.com

Toronto (Sun):  David Merry








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*.



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

Toronto: Free magic club

From the Browser's Den of Magic Facebook page:

This Saturday, January 2nd at Browsers' Den is our next Free Magic Club meeting from 2:30pm to 5:00pm. All interested in talking magic are welcome.

Chris Westfall's "15 second miracles"

Join Chris Westfall as he begins his Project 365 (+1) on Instagram!

From the Chris Westfall Magic Facebook page:

On January 1st I will begin a 365 day + 1 leap year day project of 15 second Instagram videos of Magic Tricks, Sketches, flourishes & skits. The project is called #15secondmiracles and you can follow this adventure on Instagram @ChrisWestfallMagic

Happy 2016!

Wishing you and yours a year filled with awe and wonder!

To start things off, here's a video from Murray Sawchuck's YouTube channel:

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[via iTricks]

In memoriam 2015

Updated 2016-01 to include Paul Bradshaw.

Bradshaw, Paul ( - 2015)

Chervin, Alexander ( - 2015)

Lenz, Eric (1935 - 2015)

Silverman, Larry ( - 2015)

Ward, Joe (1932 - 2015)

Please e-mail additions or corrections to "canadasmagic at gmail dot com"

Thank you for a great 2015!

We couldn't have done it without you!

Thank you to our readers, our fans, our followers, our wonderful guest posters (The Magic Demon and Kidlet), people who have offered up prizes for contests (the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, Gwyn Auger, Sheldon Casavant, Marion and Ted Outerbridge, and the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema), those who sent news our way, and last but not least, thank you to all of this year's friends (John Smithman, John Harrison, Richard Lyn, and Joan Caesar) and sponsors (be sure to support them!):

For more information about purchasing Sponsored Posts or about our Platinum, Gold, or Silver level sponsorships, please visit our Sponsorship page.

Or you can Be Our Friend for only $20 per year! 

Donations of any size are always welcome.

Top 5 posts in December 2015

Here are the most viewed posts at Canada's Magic this month:

5. Murray's escape from being dragged behind a car -- Here's hoping 2015 didn't feel like Murray must have felt doing this.

4. Darcy Oake's TV special -- What did you think of it?

3. Toronto: Save the date for Magicana -- April 2016  is a busy month for magic in Canada.

2. Shriners' Holiday Magic Shows -- A lot of folks looked you up before going to the show!

and the most viewed post this month  ...

1.  Searching for military paramedic Nathan -- Does anyone have leads for finding Pick Pocket James' guardian angel?

Five deadly magic tricks

From Metro (Toronto):

Scott Hammell did the unthinkable. He asked someone to load a gun, point it at him and pull the trigger. He doesn’t have a death wish, he’s a magician and the subject of a new documentary, The Trick with the Gun, that details the planning and performing of the most dangerous illusion ever devised, the Bullet Catch.

Fourteen magicians have died attempting it and the most famous conjurer of all time, Houdini, never even tried it. Hammell says the trick is risky but, “there are safe ways of doing things that are seemingly extremely dangerous.”

He adds, “obviously things can go wrong and that can have a catastrophic chain reaction.”

There is always room for error and sometimes magicians get hurt or even killed on stage.

Hammell gave Metro an exclusive list of the five most dangerous — and potentially fatal — tricks ever performed on stage.

Read more.

Vancouver: Magic Dinner Show Live 2016

From Event Brite:

Fri, 22 Jan 2016

Your MC is the Award Winning Jeff Christensen. Featuring the North American FISM Champions of Stage Magic Trevor & Lorena Watters and their Comedy Magic Variety Act - Steve The Pretty Good! Pre-dinner Close-Up Magic by the Society of American Magicians #95! Fabulous 9 course Delicious Chinese Banquet Dinner!

Read more and buy tickets.

Darcy Oake at London's New Year’s Day Parade

The lucky audience in Winnipeg got to see this stunt performed!

From the Evening Standard:

Escapologist Darcy Oake is set to attempt the “pinnacle of his career” at the New Year’s Day Parade in London.

Oake, 28, will be suspended with a box locked on his head filled with water. With his hands tied and on one gulp of air he will try and pick locks to escape. 

Writing on his Facebook wall, Oake said the stunt, which he performed for the first time at the end of his 2015 tour on December 5, was "Single handedly the most dangerous thing I've ever done in my life".

Read more.

And now for something completely different

Not magic, but magical in its own way.  Sorry.

From JB's YouTube channel:

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[via Shawn Farquhar]