Thanks to John Houdi for sending this in.
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Thanks to John Houdi for sending this in.
File this under non-magic news prominently featuring those who otherwise busy themselves with magic. The team behind & Teller has a new flick which screened most recently at Phoenix Comicon this weekend. It’s called Dracula’s Daughters vs. The Space Brains and it’s about vampire chicks battling Neil Patrick Harris as a space alien.
Sign us up. Get more info on their Facebook fan page.
We can only hope this shows up online sometime very soon.
UPDATE: Shortly after we posted this, Magic Newswire confirms the news. Great stuff.
We are getting word that Mac King has re-signed at his current home of Harrah’s Las Vegas for another four years.
If true it’s good news for one of the true good guys in the industry.
Zen Magic is set to open at the new Saxe Theater. Here is the official description:
Love, Courage and Magic
Ai and YuKi vs TENGU
Aerial, Magic ShowJoin Japan’s “first ladies of illusion” on a journey where magic meets mysticism and good battle evil. Your heart will pound as the most highly-skilled aerial acrobats and martial artists in the world bring this diabolical legend to life! Critics call it a thrill ride centuries in the making with illusions so unique no other stage performers have been able to master them. Ai and YuKi is all that stands between good and evil. It’s entertainment for the entire family!
The only date for opening as of now is June 2010.
iTricks contacted the biggest names in magic to hear the stories behind their first paid gigs. Here is Rudy Coby’s Tale.
My first paid Magic gig was for a birthday party when i was 9 years old. It was for a friend of my Mother’s and all the kids were much younger than me.
Even then, I took my Magic VERY seriously – I wore a black turtleneck sweater so I looked like James Bond and I was doing a manipulation act that I recently beat Jeff McBride with at our local ‘Magician of the Year’ contest in Middletown, New York. He performed a far superior manipulation act using only coins and dollar bills and clearly was better than me, but I had a Zombie ball routine and a bit where a rabbit was stabbed with an appearing cane, so obviously I was the Magicians’ choice (I still don’t think he forgives me for this)
Anyway, the pre-school age audience were jabbering about during my Multiplying Billiard Balls into painted Zombie Ball routine – clearly these little bastards didn’t recognize that I was the ONLY Magician performing Ron MacMillan’s extremely difficult routine in the greater Upstate New York area.
I stopped my cassette tape mid-routine, took the 10 dollars that I was pre-paid out of my pocket and informed the pre-school audience that they didn’t deserve to see a Magic show because of their disrespect. I marched out with my little suitcase packed – despite the pleadings of the birthday part kids – and got into the car my Mother was sitting in outside waiting to take me home in.
My attitude hasn’t changed in 30 years: Magic deserves respect. If it isn’t there, you have your Mother drive you home.
ps – I’m currently working on something that will make people respect Magic. It is something so good my Mother won’t have to be idling the car outside in case it sucks.
Thank you very much Rudy Coby for sharing your story.
Dan Hauss presents Rise and Shine.
Two spectators freely select cards from a normal deck, sign them and place them back in the deck. You place the cards in your shirt pocket; close your eyes and concentrate. Slowly the first signed card rises out of your pocket from within the deck. The rise happens with your hands nowhere near your pocket and in full view of your audience at all times. If that wasn’t shocking enough, the second signed card eerily rises out. This can all be accomplished with a borrowed deck and uses no threads, no magnets, no weights or electronics. The rise is completely under your control. As an added bonus, the secret behind Rise and Shine allows you to rise many other items, such as, credit cards, business cards, licenses, pens, packs of gum and more.
Rise & Shine by Dan Hauss – $9.95 Download
Great job.