Magic In the News: Blotchy, Itchy and RawInside MagicMagic News Updated Daily for the Professional Magician

An Old News Tradition

There is an old tradition in the news business, that when there’s no news, put a picture of a “pretty girl and her dog on the cover.” We don’t need her today, though.

Sometimes the Magic news just isn’t there. I comb the wires looking for stories and if I don’t find anything, I just make it up. (See, November 12, 2003 edition of the page where the top story is, “Houdini Returns From Dead: But Cadaver-Like Appearance Scares Young Audience in Kid Show Debut” or August 3, 2003, “Uri Geller Opens Shop as Orthodontist: But Cadaver-Like Appearance Scares Young Patients”).

But today is special. Today the news is full of good stuff for people who love Magic. For instance, check out the Sarasota Herald Tribune ? where my father was a writer a few years back ? for a great article on Michael Barron and his ability to change his clothes in a quarter of a second. He tells the paper the theme of his act ? so it doesn’t appear to be just a regular strip off all your clothes and put on new clothes routine:

“It’s about a janitor, and I’m cleaning up after a birthday party and I find a birthday cake that is all mangled. I make a wish and it doesn’t happen, so I go away,” he said in a telephone interview from Chicago. “Then it explodes in a flash of light, and I become this hot-shot guy in a zoot suit with money flying everywhere. Literally, in a quarter of a second, I’m in a different costume.”

The article points out that the young Mr. Barron won the 2002 Gold Cups with the act.…

An Old News Tradition

There is an old tradition in the news business, that when there’s no news, put a picture of a “pretty girl and her dog on the cover.” We don’t need her today, though.

“It’s about a janitor, and I’m cleaning up after a birthday party and I find a birthday cake that is all mangled. I make a wish and it doesn’t happen, so I go away,” he said in a telephone interview from Chicago. “Then it explodes in a flash of light, and I become this hot-shot guy in a zoot suit with money flying everywhere. Literally, in a quarter of a second, I’m in a different costume.”

The article points out that the young Mr. Barron won the 2002 Gold Cups with the act. He clearly loves this stuff as much as we do. A friend says of him: “He’s very quick, very creative. He’s just so focused and so energized; when he starts talking about magic, you just see his eyes light up.”

But wait, there’s more news.

Indian Magician and movie actor A Alexander intends to set a new world record for the longest magic show. He is shooting for 24 hours and estimates he’ll perform over 3,000 different effects. Indian Magic Hobby Association (IMHA) will benefit from both the publicity and the funds raised by the marathon.

It should be noted, that I currently hold the record for performing a show that seems to last 24 hours. I performed one effect ? the Slydini Paper Ball Vanish over and over until everyone in the audience had a chance to sit in the chair and let me thrown wads of tissue over their head.

It was quite the affair. Local papers reported that “If Magic Isn’t Dead, Quinlan Is Trying to Change That.” I think that is a good review.

You can read about Mr. Alexander’s endurance test in the Deepika Global news here.

And some more . . .

If you’re like me, you love reading about Magic in Vegas and the politics that must go on. It’s not like we’re looking for dirt or nothin’. We just want to know who hates who and who is jealous of who and how a bum like Tony Spain can keep a job at a swanky hotel for as long as he has. Well, today’s Las Vegas Review Journal has the salve for our collective itch. (Ironically, I also have the Guiness Record for the largest collective itch ? it all started with an innocent ride on a crowded commuter train that was destined for glory and red-blotchy fame).

The Review Journal asks whether Magic is dead in Vegas. The paper links Magic with kid-friendly entertainment and so it runs contrary to the new public relations blitz, “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas.” Many recall that they had intended to go with the even more gritty, “What Happens in Vegas Can Be Cured with Penicillin.”

Check out the article for the run-down on where Magic has been and where it is going and then a love-fest for Steve Wyrick that takes up the last third of the piece. It is satisfying, though, that they did not knock Lance Burton and did not mention Tony Spain. Read the article by clicking here.

And then there is even better news . . .

Fox News is reporting that Roy Horn is coming home just in time for the holidays. The news network quotes Penn Gillette as saying “They’re putting a hospital room in his home. He’s getting better. He’s communicating somewhat and there’s some good news in the midst of a huge amount of bad.” You can read the full report here.

All-in-all a great news day for magic. If it keeps up, I won’t have to make up another breaking headline to draw attention. But I kinda like it.