Magic News

Steven Cohen Performs in Miami – We Find No Dirt!

The Sun-Sentinel (FL) is the latest media outlet to cover Steven Cohen, The
Millionaire Magician. We’ve noticed a pattern in the coverage of Mr. Cohen. The
stories are always upbeat and complimentary. Whether coincidence or the work of
great press relations, we can find no article or review critical of his
performance, his publications, his approach to magic, or even him.

We’re not hoping to find negative info; we’re just surprised there isn’t a
single article out there given the tremendous amount of media attention.

Even if he had the best of all possible press agents, there would still be
one or two disgruntled or just formerly gruntled magicians or associates to
lambast him on some internet blog. But we didn’t find any.

While we certainly agree with St. Thomas Aquinas that “absence of evidence is
not evidence of absence” but statistically, when an event does not happen
over-and-over, that has to mean the thing causing the event to happen probably
doesn’t exist.

Assume every day at dawn you walk to work. During the course of that walk,
you don’t encounter an one-eyed pizza-delivery boy who asks for your help to
find an address. If that does not happen for 20 years in a row, you can safely
assume there are no one-eyed pizza-delivery boys in need of direction at dawn.
From that “truth” you can determine with less confidence, no one orders pizza
for breakfast.

Ergo: Steve Cohen must be as good as the press coverage suggests. Most
internet-savvy magicians agree the listserves, bulletin-boards, blogs, and other
rumor-spreading devices bring out the best and worst in us. If there was
something bad to say about anyone, we’d find it in one of these places.

[See, “Mother Teresa Doesnt (sic) Know How to Backpalm even 3 Cards!!”
Post on Mickey’s Magic Milieu (Bulletin Board) May 15th 2001; “Chris
Angle Should Be Criss Angel’s real name! He’s Cheeting (sic) with Cameras!” Post
on DELETED (Bulletin Board – Unnamed) October 9th 2005; “Youre (sic) Uncle Lied
to You! I invented the PULL MY FINGER gag!” Post on Magic Moans (Bulletin
Board) June 20th 2000].

Check out the article and if you are in the Miami area, make sure you make
arrangements to see Mr. Cohen’s acclaimed “Chamber Magic” show. [Steve Cohen
performs “Chamber Magic” at 7 and 9 p.m. Friday at the Conrad Miami Hotel, 1395
Brickell Ave. Tickets, $50, can be purchased at chambermagic.com].

Mr. Cohen strips magic to its core in the article:

Precisely how he did it, he’ll never tell. But Cohen is sharing what
he can in his recent book, Win the Crowd, in which he teaches how the general
principles of magic can be learned to become more charismatic in daily life.

“What a magician really is, if you strip away the tricks, is a very
persuasive person. They persuade you that things that aren’t true are true,” he
says.

Though the so-called millionaire’s magician performs all over the world,
often for wealthy VIPs on their yachts and mansions, the general public can get
a taste of what it’s like to have a private show at Cohen’s intimate hotel
performances of “Chamber Magic,”…

The Sun-Sentinel (FL) is the latest media outlet to cover Steven Cohen, The
Millionaire Magician. We’ve noticed a pattern in the coverage of Mr. Cohen. The
stories are always upbeat and complimentary. Whether coincidence or the work of
great press relations, we can find no article or review critical of his
performance, his publications, his approach to magic, or even him.

We’re not hoping to find negative info; we’re just surprised there isn’t a
single article out there given the tremendous amount of media attention.

Even if he had the best of all possible press agents, there would still be
one or two disgruntled or just formerly gruntled magicians or associates to
lambast him on some internet blog. But we didn’t find any.

While we certainly agree with St. Thomas Aquinas that “absence of evidence is
not evidence of absence” but statistically, when an event does not happen
over-and-over, that has to mean the thing causing the event to happen probably
doesn’t exist.

Assume every day at dawn you walk to work. During the course of that walk,
you don’t encounter an one-eyed pizza-delivery boy who asks for your help to
find an address. If that does not happen for 20 years in a row, you can safely
assume there are no one-eyed pizza-delivery boys in need of direction at dawn.
From that “truth” you can determine with less confidence, no one orders pizza
for breakfast.

Ergo: Steve Cohen must be as good as the press coverage suggests. Most
internet-savvy magicians agree the listserves, bulletin-boards, blogs, and other
rumor-spreading devices bring out the best and worst in us. If there was
something bad to say about anyone, we’d find it in one of these places.

[See, “Mother Teresa Doesnt (sic) Know How to Backpalm even 3 Cards!!”
Post on Mickey’s Magic Milieu (Bulletin Board) May 15th 2001; “Chris
Angle Should Be Criss Angel’s real name! He’s Cheeting (sic) with Cameras!” Post
on DELETED (Bulletin Board – Unnamed) October 9th 2005; “Youre (sic) Uncle Lied
to You! I invented the PULL MY FINGER gag!” Post on Magic Moans (Bulletin
Board) June 20th 2000].

Check out the article and if you are in the Miami area, make sure you make
arrangements to see Mr. Cohen’s acclaimed “Chamber Magic” show. [Steve Cohen
performs “Chamber Magic” at 7 and 9 p.m. Friday at the Conrad Miami Hotel, 1395
Brickell Ave. Tickets, $50, can be purchased at chambermagic.com].

Mr. Cohen strips magic to its core in the article:

Precisely how he did it, he’ll never tell. But Cohen is sharing what
he can in his recent book, Win the Crowd, in which he teaches how the general
principles of magic can be learned to become more charismatic in daily life.

“What a magician really is, if you strip away the tricks, is a very
persuasive person. They persuade you that things that aren’t true are true,” he
says.

Though the so-called millionaire’s magician performs all over the world,
often for wealthy VIPs on their yachts and mansions, the general public can get
a taste of what it’s like to have a private show at Cohen’s intimate hotel
performances of “Chamber Magic,” such as this Saturday’s event at the Colony in
Miami Beach.

The event harks back to the 19th century tradition in which
aristocrats invited magicians to perform in the parlors of their homes.

“That’s the wonderful thing about magic,” Cohen says. “It hits you on a very
deep level. A coin ending up in your ear doesn’t do that. But a really powerful
magic trick shakes the very foundations of your reality.”

That happens not because Cohen has magic powers, but because he has the power
to earn people’s trust and distract them from the tricks that create
crowd-pleasing illusions. In a way, he says, it’s not much different from
putting your most confident face forward in a job interview. Or creating the
best impression on a first date.

Of course, some people are born with charisma. For them, it’s easy to win the
crowd. While Cohen, 35, might be too modest to acknowledge his being “born” with
anything, he does admit to having the magic touch, of sorts, from a very early
age.

Visit the Chamber Magic web site for more
information about this amazing performer.

 

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