Inside Magic

With admonitions to readers that its analysis may expose Criss Angel, a Spokane, Washington television station released footage of Criss Angel’s spectacular escape from an imploding building in Clearwater, Florida.

Inside Magic does not expose nor condone exposure and so has no comment on the validity of Fox Television’s analysis.

Still, Inside Magic loves a good story and really loves a good story with cool video.  So we suggest you check it out for yourself.  The footage comes from a news helicopter and the analysis pits the official Mind Freak video with the news tape.

The footage — especially the scene in question involving a baseball cap among debris — makes us long for the days of the Zapruder film analysis from the JFK investigation.  It is hard to believe we have come so far in technology but still have difficulty interpreting motion pictures.

Read more »

The Anchorage Daily News writes with great pride of Eric Giliam in today’s edition.  

Mr. Giliam admits he was more than a little nervous as he took the stage to compete in the Lance Burton Teenage Stage Competition.  

"Performing magic requires a certain
meditative spirit — the focus, form and fluidity to make showmanship
and illusion look easy despite one’s thundering heart.

"In April, West High School senior Eric Giliam of Anchorage proved his
cool at the Lance Burton Teenage Stage Competition at the World Magic
Seminar in Las Vegas, not only making the finals but also winning the
Siegfried and Roy talent award for the most creative and original stage
act with a prize of $500."

Mr. Giliam told reporters of his new found technique for keeping the butterflies in their place.

"The
morning of the show was crazy because I was so nervous," he said weeks
later, "and before I went out onstage my heart was racing so fast, all
I was doing was taking deep breaths."

He enjoyed winning but also the chance to hang with some of the big names in our business.  He told the paper it was "the time of his life" to meet with Master Magician Lance Burton and Siegfried and Roy. 

Mr. Giliam is planning for next-year’s competition as you read this. 

The Snohomish County News edition of The Seattle Times has a great article about some great folks in our great biz.  

Kevin and Cindy Spencer  bring their Theatre of Illusion show to the beautifully appointed Northshore Performing Arts Center in Bothell, Washington.

Bothell is just a Ring-Flite’s length from Seattle.

We are often asked, "How did you get in here?" or "When did you last bathe?"  

Almost as frequently we are asked, "What makes Kevin and Cindy’s show so special?"

Kevin Spencer answered the question for all of us in today’s article. 

About three years ago, magician Kevin Spencer was asked by his staff of illusion-makers, How would you like to walk through a wall?
"Gosh, how do you turn that down?" said Spencer.
"In 1914, Houdini walked through a brick wall on the stages of Broadway," he said. "He only performed it a few times, and then after closing on Broadway he never did it again."

Many younger magicians may think the Walking Through a Brick Wall trick is just another store-bought item available on the internets or through their local dealer.  Perhaps there is even a knock-off version of the trick also available on the seedier sites in the internets or at the morally challenged dealers.

Read more »

We read Make Magazine four times a year.

That is how often this gem of a journal is distributed.  It is a long wait between editions.  It seems like we have to wait about three months for a new issue of the quarterly publication.

We like Make Magazine because it makes us feel much less alone than normal.  Until Make Magazine came along, we didn’t know other people were obsessed with disassembling and rebuilding things.  We assumed — probably because our guidence counselor said it was true — we were just destructive. 

Make Magazine gave us the courage shared by members of any crowd, or mob.  We now admit freely that a trip to the hardware store, or to one of those craft barns is really an expedition for something new to be destroyed and rebuilt as a magic trick.

This quarter’s issue in on news stands now and gives detailed instructions for our similarly afflicted bretheren to build several very cool (and unfortunately also commercial) magic effects. 

They also have a couple of very neat ideas from Martin Gardner.

Check it out if destruction / construction is your thing. 

You can buy an issue at any major bookstore or at most enlightened news agents.  You can also subscribe on line here.

Scarborough Escape Artist Daniel Hunt barely escaped with his life during a recent performance for more than 3,500 in front of magicians at a festival in Blackpool, England.

The Scarborough (UK) Evening News reported on the close call. 

In the stunt, his own version of Houdin?s water torture cell, Mr Hunt was handcuffed with his hands secured at his waist.

He was then lowered head-first into a perspex box where his neck was held in place in place with two stocks, which his assistant Miss Claire secured with four padlocks.

The box then filled with water, leaving Mr Hunt with just a short amount of time to escape, but things did not go entirely according to plan and almost ended in tragedy for the former illusionist.

He said: ?We almost had an accident when I ended up being suspended upside down for longer than I should have been at the Blackpool Opera House in front of 3,500 magicians.

Read more »

Great News from Vegas.

Norm Clarke, the Norm of Norm Confidential, writes in this morning’s Las Vegas Review-Journal Siegfried & Roy will return to the stage.

The world famous magicians made their announcement this weekend at the 12th annual Alzheimer’s benefit for the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute at the MGM Grand Garden.

The two will leave retirement to perform at next years’ "Keep Memory Alive" Alzheimer’s fundraiser.

The appearance will be their first performance in almost five years. 
On October 3, 2003, a white tiger attacked and nearly killed Roy while performing at The Mirage Resort.

Read more »

From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

It has been a while since Lance
Burton, Louie Anderson or Carrot Top worked a lunchroom. But the three
entertained Monte Carlo cleanup crews during their last week "just to
keep everybody cheered up,"

Burton said. "Everybody’s working real hard
to reopen the place."

Beyond that, Burton was getting in a lot of treadmill time earlier
this week, "trying to stay in shape and not to gain any extra weight"
while waiting for the thumbs up to reopen. There was no water or smoke
damage to his ground-level theater.

The morning of the fire, Burton was safely at home in Henderson. "I
was just waking up having some coffee and my phone started ringing," he
recalls.

Read more »

Norm Clarke of the must-read Norm Confidential in The Las Vegas Review Journal tells us Lance Burton’s schedule portends The Monte Carlo Resort’s return.

The Monte Carlo has been closed since the January 25th fire that sent almost two dozen folks to the hospital for minor injuries.

Management has busied itself with the monumental tasks of relocting booked guests, repairing the fire-damaged upper floors of the resort, and staying alive and relevant on a very dynamic Las Vegas Strip.

Mr. Clarke says we can expect the Monte Carlo to announce the reopening date today. 

How does he know?  Inside information? Psychic?
Nope.  He gave a call to the Lance Burton Theater’s ticket office.
No date has been announced, but a call to the ticket office on Thursday provided this hint: Tickets to the Feb. 15 Lance Burton magic show were available Thursday, for the first time since the fire.

Quinlan’s Inside Magic Tags: Lance Burton, Monte Carlo, Magic News, Las Vegas

The Asbury Park Press (NJ) heaps well-deserved praise on Inside Magic favorite The Spencers.

The audience typically raises the roof when magician Kevin Spencer walks through a wall.

"That
is usually the showstopper," he said. "It’s a favorite. We bring
someone up from the audience to make sure that I really did it."

The
Spencers: Theatre of Illusion, which stops Saturday at the Count Basie
Theatre, features the husband-and-wife team of Kevin and Cindy Spencer.
The duo leads the second-largest illusion company in America (behind
David Copperfield’s organization), and delivers an eclectic brand of
prestidigitation.

The Spencers’ show shifts from the dramatic to the lighthearted to the emotional.

"We
try to bring it all," Kevin Spencer said. "We want the audience to feel
what we do. What we’re about is edge of your seat entertainment."

Kevin and Cindy Spencer view their approach to Magic as uniquely tied to the proud history of our art.

Spencer
and his wife, who appears for parts of the show and works behind the
scenes during the rest of the production, are old-school magicians
unlike David Blaine and Criss Angel, who deliver epic tricks such as
floating between buildings.

"We’re turning into a rare breed,"
Spencer said. "The younger generation is limited to people like David
Blaine and Criss Angel. They’re not as familiar with our type of
illusion. But when families do come out, they can’t believe what
they’ve been missing."

After witnessing magician Doug Henning’s ’70s television specials, Kevin Spencer, who grew up in Western Indiana, was hooked.

"I knew from when I was a child that magic was for me," he said. "There was never a doubt about it."

Check out the full article here. 

Visit The Spencers’ Home Page here.

Be sure to read our review of their DVD here.

As if we needed to tell you . . .

Tonight, Wednesday, January 23rd, at precisely 8:00 PM, ABC Television’s Wife Swap features a magician from the Toledo, Ohio area.

We have on very good authority brother magician Martin is a funny guy and outstanding magician.   We have no idea how he does with a brand-new, less relaxed wife.

According to ABC, Mr. Martin swapped his "easy-going Melissa, for the micro-managing Jennifer Galvan from California.
Mr. Martin’s wife was required to live with Jennifer’s hubby, Richard out in California.

Andrew is a full-time magician for 25 years, and Melissa, his  wife of eleven years, manages his career.

Their children, Eli and Emma, also perform; Eli has an act that his sister Emma assists him with.
Apparently things do not go so well. 
Watch for the magic.