Heads up to all of our UK readership, Penn & Teller are going to hit London. The Boys are making a rare appearance across the pond with one of their Q&A shows.

So on the downside, if you are looking for magic, there might not be a ton there. Then again, even if it was the full show you could probably count out the Bullet Catch considering England makes Connecticut look like Duke Nukem when it comes to gun laws.

Here’s the info:

Penn & Teller: Bulls**t!

July 14-18: Hammersmith
Apollo (LONDON, England)

So is anyone planning on catching this? Disappointed it’s not the full magic experience?

Thanks to Andrew Webb for passing this along.

From Austin, we got the chance to see where the professional magic career of Brian Brushwood began. He shares his story as well as some tips one how to stay on the right(esqe) side of the law.

We’ve already seen David Blaine’s talk at TEDMED, but eagle-eyed readers will remember that Eric Mead also spoke at the conference. Now we can hear what he said.

Thanks to @magicjoe1 on Twitter.

Brian Brushwood is joining forces with mathematician James Grime to perform the biggest scale Twitter-based mind reading stunt ever conceived. Check out the video for details, but since we are going to be with Brian while this is happening, we will try and get some behind the scenes video.

And as always, your David Copperfield tour dates.

Newsmaker Interview: Mike Weatherford the author of the Las Vegas Review-Journals front page story about the backstage happening surrounding the Scarlett’s Las Vegas shows. It’s a must read and a must listen interview for all the behind-the-scenes details that didn’t make it to print. Read the story here.

LISTEN/DOWNLOAD HERE

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CAANDY is an amazing Any Card at Any Number that is DEVILISHLY CLEVER, easy to learn, uses a normal deck, there’s no memorized deck work and no difficult sleights so hopefully you can see why we are particularly excited about this great card effect!

We first saw Chris perform this amazing Any Card at Any Number at The Session 2010 where he fooled a room full of 100 magicians. Nobody had a clue how this clever routine worked and it became the hit of the convention. Now you can perform it too.

Here is the box art for the latest season of Penn & Teller’s Showtime docuseries BS. It comes from TVShowsonDVD.com where you can also see the version of the cover with dirty words.

Click the thumbnail to see today’s video amongst the luxurious number of other magic clips.

Today, the staff member is Nick and the video is Chris Brown 80 M.P.H. Card Trick…

“Chris Brown, the fastest magician in the world…. Well, at least he’s driving pretty fast. Chris magically changes a card while traveling an amazing 80 Miles per hour! He ends clean.”

This video is only one of nearly 2,000 available at the newly revamped iTricks.TV.

We are just getting in under the wire on this PST, so we will keep it short. Happy 50th Birthday to Lance Burton from everyone at iTricks!

When Scarlett closed her topless review show at the Riviera, rumors swirled about her relationship with manager and boyfriend, John Lewis. Whisper of alcohol abuse, domestic violence and rampant money problems poured forth anytime the situation was mentioned amongst those in the Vegas magic scene.

Which is why it is so impressive that the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Mike Weatherford was able to get all of the rumors addressed (if not confirmed) on the record, with first hand sources. But what really takes his front page story to another level are the additional details he unearthed.

First among equals in that department: the 67-year-old Lewis who was living with Scarlett all through her Vegas tenure… has a wife who he is again living with and who may have unwittingly partly financed both incarnations of the young magicians runs.

We don’t even want to quote the story here. You must read it. Now.

Also, on the Magic Stars podcast tomorrow, we interview Weatherford for more insight into the story.

We are proud to bring you the first ever official peak at Joshua Jay’s massive new tome, The Amazing Book of Cards. Much like his last book Magic: The Complete Course, this is aimed at lay folks and will similarly become a fixture in the magic section of Barnes & Nobles for the rest of eternity.

We are told Jay will again go on a whirlwind media tour to promote the release.

Cards are cool. The iPhone is cool. Real cards + iPhone = Cooler. The best effect on the app store for working with real live actual cards has just been completely re-written and is on sale now for the first time. Here’s one of the few tricks that involves an iPhone that actually works well table hopping or street performing.

Spectator picks a card and puts the card face down on the table. Spectator wakes iPhone from sleep and launches the camera app. You take a picture of their card and show it to them. They yawn. Undaunted, you shake your phone, slowly at first, and then faster, until suddenly they realize that the card is now face up in the photo– and of course, it’s their card!

Magic Card is on sale for $2.99 (reg. $4.99) to celebrate the new release. Come on, good effects for $3 are hard to find, don’t wait for the sale to end to grab your copy!

Buy it now!

Jonathan Pendragon plead no contest yesterday as part of a plea deal with authorities, according to the Santa Maria Times. Pendragon will be sentenced to a year in jail on April 13th and will serve his time at the San Luis Obispo County Jail, he will also serve up to five years of probation and is charged with two strikes on his record.

His lawyer was surprised Pendragon decided to change his mind and plead instead of fighting the charges.

Yarbrough’s attorney, Ilan Funke-Bilu, said he didn’t know exactly why his client chose to change his plea and not proceed with a trial, but he assumed it had something to do with Yarbrough’s feelings for his wife.

… She was present in court Tuesday, when her husband of 33 years apologized to her for any harm he may have caused her.

Funke-Bilu said he has never had a client apologize to the victim at the time of a plea, which he believes shows Yarbrough is remorseful.

“It was something that he wanted to say,” Funke-Bilu said, adding the request by his client caught him off-guard. “It wasn’t something that I told him to say.”

We hope this is the last we post about this case and we wish the best for all parties involved.

Who wants to see LA Galaxy star David Beckham blown away by a disappearing bill trick? Well do we have the video for you!

Pop quiz: In Derren Brown’s special Messiah, the UK mentalist employed psychological chicanery, misdirection and showmanship to temporarily convert atheists into believers in… what?

The correct answer is god. Or is it God?

Either way it was the argument over the capitalization of the answer that raged behind the scenes on Wikipedia for so long it made a top ten list on Tech Radar.com of the wackiest squabbles ever in the history of the people’s encyclopedia.

9. Big G

Religion and politics are perennial flamebait – but few arguments are as silly or circular as one in the discussion section of Wikipedia’s Derren Brown entry.

It’s not about the beardy mind fiddler – it is, rather, about whether the article should refer to God or god. Big G is, of course, the Christian God, Jehovah. In the context it was used, a TV special where Brown temporarily converted atheists into believers, there was an argument that the illusionist meant a generic god or gods. Small g. The argument raged for a good nine months. Just thinking about it makes our brains go “ouch”.

For those keeping track, the page currently lists capital-G God.

What’s new at TrickShopMagic.com?



Due to the re-release of Psychological Subtleties 1, today’s ad is 100% Banachek! Expand your knowledge of mentalism today at The Trick Shop.



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Tune in next Tuesday for another look at what’s new from TrickShopMagic.com! See our entire new item category by clicking here.

How did David Blaine get booked as a last-minute guest for Magic-Con. We preview that convention and explain how you can experience it on iTricks if you are not going. Also, listen to Ludacris’ Criss Angel inspired song Mindfreak and much more.

As mentioned in the podcast, to submit a question for David Blaine to answer at Magic-Con, use the submission form HERE on the Magic-Con site

- Trick Shop Magic Find out what is new including great stuff from Matt Scone, Mark Elsdon & the classic Tarbell for a new low price.

Subscribe on iTunes

Download here

No surprises here, Copperfield and Criss Angel are among the Ticket News.com Vegas Top Ten again this week. With fixture Bette Midler now permanently vacated, the rest of Sin City’s entertainment should get a little more wiggle room until Celine Dion resumes her show.

Meanwhile, with big changes allegedly coming to Believe, one would be wise to see how much the reshuffling moves the needle from the numbers they are charting now.

Anyone hoping for a big illusion within the squared WWE circle by Criss Angel might have been a bit disappointed by the Mindfreak’s turn as host of WWE Raw on the USA network Monday. Criss performed three backstage segments but played it straight before the main event when he announced the entrances of John Cena and Vince McMahon.

In the first segment, Angel performed Wayne Houchin’s Thread, in the second he read the mind of underrated veteran heel William Regal and in the third he performed the smash and stab, which considering that particular effect’s dodgy success rate, might have been a big enough risk for live television.

So what did you folks think? Comment below and please try and keep it germane to this particular topic.

TheMagicFridayShowEpisode7.1 from Jamie D. Grant on Vimeo.

One of our iTricks Rave writers Jamie D. Grant of Magic Friday fame got the chance to sit down with Jason England and discuss the relevancy of legendary card sharp author S.W. Erdnase. Enjoy the discussion.

Check out the rest of Jamie’s Magic Friday blog here.