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Winter Magic Festival in Full Fete Mode

Steve DalyWith Magician Stars (and Inside Magic Faves) Murray SawChuck, Gazzo, Steve Daly, Michael Kent and Kevin Burke performing, this week’s Winter Magic Festival promises to be your best bang for your magic dollar.  Shows begin tonight at 7:00 pm (Thursday) at the Indy Fringe event in, coincidentally, Indianapolis, Indiana.

The performers bring their fantastic comedy and magic to the heartland for four days only.  There is no excuse if you live within the seven states and regions surrounding Indy and fail to attend.

Mr. SawChuck is more than a television and YouTube star, he is a great magician who pushes the limits with his boundless energy and able engagement of the audience.  We have seen him in Vegas and The Magic Castle and been astounded – that’s tough for us.  We don’t astound all that easily.  His credits include a Hollywood F.A.M.E. award for Career Achievement in The Magical Arts, the Best Comedy Variety Show of the Year from the Los Angeles Comedy Festival, and Comedy Show of the Year by the Fans Entertainment Hall of Fame.

Mr. Gazzo (we’re not sure if we should say “Mr. Gazzo” or “Gazzo” and so opt for the more formal over the casual term) does one of the very best Cups and Balls ever.  That is not an overstatement to encourage you to see him at the festival.  It is verifiably true and has been evaluated by NASA scientists.  When someone brings up the topic of Cups and Balls, we immediately think of Mr. Gazzo.  He is funny, disarming and works a crowd evidencing his years as a busker in the UK.  Teller said of him, “When you are watching Gazzo you feel like you are watching a show biz Legend.”  We cannot disagree and wouldn’t even if we could.  We’ve seen Mr. Gazzo many, many times and always walk away feeling inadequate with our cups and balls routine (note small caps to underscore our inadequacy) performed in the very same way we did when we were a 12-year-old demonstrating the $1.25 version of the effect in a mall that no longer exists.

Steve Daly (link to his YouTube Sizzle Reel) has been featured on Inside Magic many times and has more than 10,000 appearances in Las Vegas (Nevada).  His act is hilarious and Mr. Daly is one of our favorite people in our art.  He began on the streets of  San Francisco and moved to being one of the leads of Amusement Park Entertainment Companies where he helped design and performing in theme parks across the our big country (USA).   From there he moved to Vegas and was, in our opinion, the true star of the Magic Revue Show called “Showgirls of Magic.”

Mr. Daly  was with that amazing ensemble for more than 11-years and followed up with more appearances on the Strip in “V – The Ultimate Variety Show”, “Buck Wild” and a 2-year run at the Riviera Casino with the Strip’s only family-friendly, clean Comedy Hypnosis Show.  He is not only creative but a wonderful person.  As if performing in Vegas was not enough – and in our book (yet to be published) it should be – but he has appeared in Aruba, Hawaii, Atlantic City, as well as Mexico, Canada, London, and a Command Performance before Prince Charles, Margaret Thatcher, and the Beijing Government in Hong Kong for the 1997 historic changeover of English Rule back to the People of China.  He was a a key player on Criss Angel’s MindFreak on A&E and even had a documentary made about him by the BBC’s Channel 4 Television.  Basically, he has been everywhere and done everything a performer can do.

Have we mentioned that we like him very much?

Michael Kent was awarded Entertainer of Year by Campus Activities Magazine and Magician of the Year by The Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities. Let that sink in.  Remember that there are more than one magicians performing the college circuit and this man won two awards.  He has travelled with his comedy magic act to more than 500 college campuses and performed everywhere, including for US Troops serving overseas. According to his press bio, he performs in “a style reminiscent of a late-night talk show, and invites the audience to laugh with him at the absurdity of a modern-day magician.”

 

Kevin Burke serves as emcee and performer for the festival.  His experience and vitality is proven as a mentalist and actor in “Defending the Caveman” at Harrah’s in combination with his magic and mentalism.  He was named the Las Vegas Entertainer of the Year and has starred in the great one-man show “Defending the Caveman” since 2003.  A quick calculation shows that’s more than 3,000 performances.  He also set the Guinness World Record for “Most Theatrical Performances in 50 Days.” That beats our record of one show every 55 days set in 1999.

We talked with a professional counselor (about other issues) but did ask if there could be any serious sequelae from missing this line-up.  While we didn’t get a direct answer – her response was “What do you think about that?” we feel safe in saying that there would be serious regrets likely.

Performance Times

Thursday Feb 21st, 7:00PM

Friday Feb 22nd, 7:00PM

Saturday Feb 23rd, 7:00PM

Sunday Feb 24th, 7:00PM

Learn more at www.indyfringe.org

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