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Errors and Retractions from Inside Magic

Black Cat Fireworks[It is the policy of Inside Magic to provide notice of any revisions, updates, fixes or corrections to our posts; no matter how embarrassing.  We have been publishing since 2002 (on the internet) and before that in a paper format sent to readers of Boy’s Life’s display ads.  Bottom line: we have a lot of errors.  Here is the next installment.]

In the June 2, 1996 edition, we used the word “squeak” in a way that could offend rodents.  We apologize and note the trick described and reviewed is no longer available.

In the August 15, 1997 edition, we mislabeled a photo of Harry Houdini as Hairy Houdini.  We have apologized by means of Ouija® Board and still await his response.

In the January 23, 1998 edition, we described a trick as “the best trick in the world.”  It turned out it wasn’t a trick and certainly not the best trick and we apologize to those involved in the still unsolved criminal case.

In the March 17, 2001 edition, a guest columnist provided approximately 20 links to an off-shore casino and sports-betting site.  We received no income from this and deleted it  right around the time we figured out we weren’t getting any money.

In the December 25, 2002 “Christmas” edition, we mistakenly referred to Santa Claus as “Satan’s Claws.”  That was a spelling error forced upon us by unknown spirits and we have since moved from that spooky house up the lane, by the woods.

In the July 4, 2006 edition, we just totally messed up.  The whole issue was filled with errors, bad advice about fireworks, improper anime using fireworks in a way that was correctly described by readers as “bad” or “not safe.” Really that edition should have been scrapped but we had our first advertiser in it (Black Cat Firecrackers®) and since the off-shore casino thing fell through we were desperate and “sore afeared” that we let it stay up.  It is still available on Internet Archive, we think.  Don’t read it.

In the February 19, 2010 edition, we suggested ways to use rabbits in magic effects that readers found “unacceptable” and “gross.”  To be fair, it wasn’t our writing.  This was during our cut-and-paste just anything we found that had the word magic in it.  We learned there is a difference between the kind of magic Magicians do and the kind of magic performed by sorcerers.

In the September 3, 2015 “Back to School” edition, we incorrectly suggested that “all milk but skim milk” contained unknown ingredients sure to give consumers an unattractive humpback.  This was based on our misreading of an article in The New England Journal of Medicine, “Are Kids Putting too Much in their Backpacks?”  We have apologized to dairy farmers through our other website, InsideUdders.com.

In the May 13, 2018 edition, we provided instructions to build an effect called “The Time Travel Machine.”  Unfortunately, it turned out not to be a trick but an actual time travel machine.  We have apologized to the  Large Hadron Collider scientists and the Thompson family (including the darling little Emily) through our other website, Inside DIY Quantum Physics Machines.com.

In an upcoming edition (November 23, 2019), we will make a mistake involving the importance of oxygen for various activities (primarily breathing and allowing the propagation of fire – especially when it comes to lighting Black Cat Firecrackers®).  We will regret the error.

Magician Feature

Rob Zabrecky: From Rocker to Magician
Image of Rob Zabrecky's New Book - Strange Cures
Get it Now – Rob Zabrecky’s New Memoir

If you haven’t seen Rob Zabrecky perform, you should stop reading and find him.  Ask him to perform a trick and then  come back to read the about the latest from this inventive, creative man.

Mr. Zabrecky is famous (in our world and others) for  effortlessly and compellingly performing some of the best magic we’ve seen.

And remember, we have a mirror in our single-wide home parked on the lawn of a generous and unknowing rich family in Beverly Hills.

While we rarely use the mirror — it is cracked, but not by us so the bad luck is on someone else — when we do, we perform some pretty wild effects; some of which could be considered magic.

Most involve puppets we make from our used pot pie pans (our main diet) or … no actually we just have access to pot pie pans, so that’s about it.

The book is titled Strange Cures: A Memoir and is currently available on Amazon (the internet company).   From the press release:

In the book, the Possum Dixon rocker and magician pulls the curtain back on his wild upbringing and coming-of-age story, including everything from an uncle who impersonated an FBI agent to his days as part of the budding music-and-arts scene in L.A.’s Silver Lake neighborhood.

Rob also delves into his struggles with addiction, his recovery and pivot to magic, and his introduction to Hollywood’s Magic Castle.

In addition to being an incredible performer who engages audiences completely, he is an actor on a Delta safety video, on television and in the movies — plus and really nice guy. He has a riveting story to tell.

We cannot wait to read it.

Strange Cures is available now on Amazon.

Inside Magic Image of Lance Burton, Master Magician
Latest Magic News

Lance Burton Nails It

Inside Magic Image of Lance Burton, Master MagicianWe just got back from Indio, California and boy are our arms tired.

That joke doesn’t work unless one has flown back from the location in the first part of the joke but it is applicable in this case because we could not stop applauding like one of those monkeys that crash cymbals together until their battery wears out.

Our battery didn’t wear out until we got to our valet to drop off the car at our spacious Beverly Hills residence.  The valet, known as Officer Mike, always helps us out of our car when we return because he thinks that protects the public in some way.  Perhaps he is right.  Also, perhaps he has the authority of the State of California to enforce his decisions and respect that authority.

Officer Mike said, “Stop clapping.”

We said, “Oh, are we still doing that?”

Officer Mike said, “Stop asking stupid rhetorical questions and get out of the car.”

Officer Mike was concerned because he felt it would be difficult to drive our vehicle while clapping so vociferously or at all.

In hindsight he was probably right.

We were clapping because we went to see the Lance Burton show.  It was fantastic.

But it wasn’t just Lance Burton; it was Lance Burton and Friends.  And what friends he has.  Fielding West and Keith West performed magic as well. They were incredible as one would expect (and we are the “one” in that sentence even though we speak in the third-person).

We have never seen Mr. Burton more relaxed in his presentation and work with the audience.  He is always great with kids and this show was over the top.  He asked for “four or five” kids to join him on stage for the Vanishing Birdcage and was soon sharing the platform with closer to twenty-five kids; many of whom helped to hold the soon to be disappearing bird cage right before their astonished eyes.

There are great magic show and then there are shows that one will never forget.  This was the latter.  As he travels with his friends, make the trip to see him.  You will thank yourself and perhaps think fondly of us for urging you to go.

Image of Siegfried Tieber
Latest Magic News

Magician Siegfried Tieber Brings Limited-Run Red Thread to LA
Image of Siegfried Tieber
Siegfried Tieber

[Updated to correct the days per week Siegfried will be performing]

When we first joined the prestigious Magic Castle / Academy of Magical Arts in beautiful Hollywood, California, we were befriended by Siegfried Tieber.

He frequented the lower rooms of the Castle where performers could get time to be in front of real audiences.  He was kind and helpful in helping to shave the rough spots out of our pretty rough act.

But more than a nice and helpful guy, Siegfried showed audience after audience that he was a true magician.  He had skills – of course – but he had charm and charisma to make it appear that the audience and Siegfried were experiencing the miracles together.

He took his act to Downtown LA in his solo show See/Saw and it was consistently sold out.

Before we go any further, check out his website here.  It is one of the prettiest we have ever seen for a magician or any person.

The great news is that he is returning on October 3rd with a new show, Red Thread.

He’ll be performing for no more than 34 audiences members at a time and tickets will go for $74.00.    Siegfried will perform six shows a week in four nights with one show on Thursdays and Fridays; and two shows on Saturdays and Sundays.

Siedgfried has been seen not only by hundreds, nay, thousands at the Castle, but nationwide on Penn & Teller’s Fool Us show where he did in fact fool them.

He told reporters Red Thread is “an exploration of chance and chaos.  Every outcome is the starting point of further possibilities.”

“It doesn’t take long before this starts to look like a labyrinth: some paths converge, some run parallel to each other, some are dead ends. Like the Greek mythological princess, Ariadne — who gave Theseus a thread when he entered the labyrinth — my hope is to take the audience with me and guide them through this journey.”

Do not miss this talented and delightful magician.  Tickets are available at http://atlasobscura.com/events

Inside Magic Image of Lance Burton, Master Magician
Latest Magic News

Master Magician Lance Burton Brings it Closer to Home

Inside Magic Image of Lance Burton, Master MagicianMaster Magician Lance Burton performed in Las Vegas for 31 years and yet looks to be no older than 30 — so there’s your first mystery.  The second is how this man who has performed more than 15,000 shows for more than five million people can make each show seem like it is all new and fresh.

We know the answer to neither of these two questions but suspect it has to do with good health care and talent.

He will be at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino this Saturday at 8:00 pm in Indio, California, performing his show for a no-doubt sold-out house.  Don’t get left behind or boxed out.  If  you are in the area (and we are) make the trip to Fantasy Springs for his show.  You will be glad you did and won’t regret it and will remember it for the rest of your natural life.

We have seen Mr. Burton perform more times than we can count — that’s due to the tremendous number of shows we have seen – not to our well-documented inability to count.

His show is what you (and by “you” we mean “anyone in the world”) would consider a real magic show.  He is funny, smooth without being hokey, and talented (his sleight of hand is the best we have ever seen — even better than the guys on YouTube that perform one part of an effect with questionable camera angles and techniques).

If you were to ask us who our favorite magician in the world is, we would have to say Mr. Burton.  He puts the “magic” in “magician.”

Check out the ticket availability to this weekend’s show here.  The tickets range from $29.00 to $49.00.  Even if he never appeared on stage but just showed his props, that would be a steal.

Check out Mr. Burton’s website here.

Magic News

Magical Guinness World Record

We have an inappropriate love for the Piddingtons.

Actually just the late Lesley Piddington.

They were a psychic team from a few decades ago but, boy howdy, did they do it up.  Ms. Piddington, our no-longer secret crush, once received a psychic transmission whilst flying on a Stratocruiser plane high above the military base at which her husband, Sidney, and other judges broadcast their thoughts psychically to his beloved.  You can read more about the dynamic couple here.

The Piddingtons never claimed to have psychic powers but for our money, they were the best (and our money isn’t much, we just invested in a company that is like 23 and Me but is just for people who like to send their DNA to people.  They don’t get results back but we figure there is a niche market for this service and we emptied our 401(k) to get behind it.  There are very little overhead costs since we don’t keep the DNA or even handle it but write back (in form letters) that their DNA is “pretty” or “handsome” or “smart” or “honest”.  We are starting a new affiliate for people who want to send DNA (salvia only) for their pets.  We write back that the DNA is “pretty” or “handsome” or “smart” or “honest.”  We’re thinking of opening a third affiliate to reach people who don’t want to send DNA but can send toenail clippings — personally, we want no part of that because 1) it is gross; 2) who is going to open the packages; 3) the smell; 4) how do we know they are not just sending random toenail clippings found at the gym or in a back alley where toenail clippers are alleged to “hang” and practice their art?)

Well, a long distance transference of information is one thing, but the transference of a person is something quite different.  The magician Scott Tokar  broke the world record according to our favorite beer company (it is a medical fact that one glass of Guinness has all the nutrients and protein needed for a day in Ireland and some islands off of Ireland) was just accomplished by Corteva Agriscience, A Division of DowDuPont & Tradeshow Magician, Scott Tokar (both USA) in Boone, Iowa, at the Farm Progress Tradeshow on 28 August 2018. By the way, we are well aware that the records book and the beer are not connected – but we can dream, n’est-ce pas?

“Magician Scott Tokar highlighted the many record yields achieved by customers of Pioneer by setting another record at the show – the Farthest Teleportation Illusion. Tokar wowed show-goers by transporting his assistant more than 936 feet from the Corteva Agriscience tent to the Pioneer tent. Michael Empric, Adjudicator with Guinness World Records, authenticated the record as did representatives of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.”

You can check out the very impressive information here.

Visit Mr. Tokar’s very impressive website here.

Latest Magic News

Mental Madness on Display August 24th

Garrett Thomas

Magicians Garrett Thomas, Kozmo and Joe Maxwell will be performing at the Coolidge Theatre in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania on August 24th.   This is a must-see show and not just because it is being shown in a “theatre” and not a “theater” but because of the line-up.

You have everything you could want in a magic show.  Illusions, great comedy and close-up magic to mess with your mind.

In fact, the messing with your mind part is covered in the title of the show.  Magic Beyond Imagination is presenting “The Mental Madness Show.”

We’re pretty sure you can’t say something is a “Mental Madness” show if it is not truly mental madness.  We think that’s the law.  And the cast will bring you incredible magic in addition to messing with your mental madness quotient.  Ours is currently 7 but has been as high as 12.

As a special treat, magic enthusiasts can pay extra for VIP tickets for a 45-minute meet-and-greet with these magicians, including an up close and personal magic session with cards and coins that begins at 6 p.m. VIPs will be admitted early to the theatre and be given their choice of seating.

Kozmo told reporters, “we consider it a work in progress. We are doing material we’ve been doing for 15 years but not in this configuration. We use cameras and screens so people in the audience can see all of the details of our magic.”

As magicians and magic fans know, Mr. Thomas is more than a great performer, he is a fantastic magic inventor.  He has created effects for David Blaine – including the high-profile feats of endurance that make us squirm.

(We do squirm normally so this is additional squirming over and above our natural snake-like involuntary movements we do when watching television magic whilst sitting in our antique bean-bag chair.  The guy on Antique Roadshow said it was worth $1,200 but then he re-examined it and determined it was likely not made for George Washington the first president but someone named George Washington and then he started to re-examine us on how we got it.  It was as if he was implying we stole it.  We didn’t but at that point we didn’t feel like explaining ourselves if the amount was going to drop from $1,200 to “a buck two-eighty.”   Plus the Mark Wahlberg that is the star of the Antique Roadshow isn’t even the real Mark Wahlberg).

Kozmo is a great magician who has taken his craft from Bourbon Street (New Orleans) to China (not New Orleans).  He is a joy to watch because he seems to enjoy what he is doing and he does it well.

We have not met Joe Maxwell but if he is hooked up with Kozmo and Mr. Garrett, he has chops by association.  He will be the master of ceremonies for the Mental Madness Show and, according to the newspaper “is one of the world’s most sought after drummers, having toured the world with Grammy-nominated recording artist, Moby.”

If you are anywhere near Wellsboro on the 24th of August, you have to see this show.  Outside of the Magic Castle, you will never have an opportunity to watch the performers who have entertained Johnny Depp, David Copperfield, Olivia Wilde, Willie Nelson, Scarlett Johansson, Seth Rogan, Jay Leno, Trace Atkins and others.

Purchasing tickets in advance is strongly recommended.  For tickets and more information, visit www.deanecenter.com or call 570-724-6220.

Read the article about the show in the Wellsboro Gazette.

Latest Magic News

Magicians Flock to Colon

Inside Magic Image of Favorite Melvin the MagicianEvery year for the last 82, Colon (pronounced “Colon”) Michigan is the site of the Midwest’s largest celebration of magic in West Michigan.

Colon is the home for magicians live and dead – their cemetery is incredible.  It is a tracing of magic history with wonderful stories to be told.

The 82nd annual Magic Get Together lasts from Wednesday, August 7th (today), until Saturday, August 10 (a day in the future – herein in identified as “a few days from now”).  The event has been held in Colon, the magic capital of the world, since 1934.

B.J. Mallen, a magician and employee at Abbott’s, says, “We only have 1,100 people or so year long. We get just as many magic enthusiasts that come through on these 4 days.”

It is wonderful festival.  We visited often whilst stationed in Mystic Hollow, Michigan, as part of an elite magical team with one less than elite member – we never figured out who or she was – ready to engage in card throwing, flash paper attacks, and the tearing and restoring of enemy maps.  Of course the enemy and non-magic community denied our existence – as one would expect.

It is one of the most family friendly conventions we have ever attended.  In fact we would bring our family eyery year with or without their consent.  “Every year, Abbotts Magic Shop hosts a long list of family-friendly events for the get together. Street performers, stage shows and lecturers will all be on hand in 2019.”

Our favorite location – other than the Pizza Parlor where all things magical happen or the VFW Hall where all things magical also happen but with more crowded conditions – was the dealers’ room.  There guests can purchase magic tricks and commune (now legal in Michigan) with visiting magicians.  Fox 17 of Western Michigan points out that Inside Magic Favorite Bob Little has been making the trek for more than 50 years.  He is now 87-years-old but still just as spry and inventive.

“Magic has changed tremendously. It’s not the hobby it used to be,” he says. Little says he has noticed people’s attention move away from magic in recent years to electronic devices.”

They’ll come back, they always do.  We had electronic devices back in the 30’s, 40’s and so on.  We predict, and you can write this down – or just take a picture of the screen on one of your new-fangled ePhones:  “Magic will be a part of society as long as there is curiosity and invention.”  We didn’t make up that quote but it seems to fit well right about here and we’re certain the true author, statesman and magic lover Harry Truman wouldn’t mind.  We’ll check our ePowered Ouija board this evening to make sure.  Yes, he was talking about a different thing and he didn’t use the word “Magic” or “curiosity and invention” but it was the midst of the famous coal strike and he didn’t have time for such niceties.  But we knew what he meant.

Where else can you see magicians on the street, the bright sunlight, eating a hot dog from the gas station and filing into the Dealers’ Room to see the latest tricks from the best shops our Art.

“The get together dates back to the 1920’s when two world renowned magicians, Harry Blackstone and Percy Abbott, moved to Colon.  Mallen tells FOX 17, “He (Blackstone) was looking for lakefront property to purchase because he likes to fish.”

The two magicians would form Blackstone Magic Company. After a falling out between the two, Abbott would open what would become Abbott’s Magic Shop.”

See a list of all the performers here.

Escape Artistry News, Magic News, Magician Feature

Harry Houdini Exhibit at Bremen Museum

Harry HoudiniThere are two things we cannot get enough of: Harry Houdini and anything related to Harry Houdini.

So, if you have an exhibit that features images of Harry Houdini and takes attendees through the life of Harry Houdini, you win the golden ticket in our book.

Just to be clear, we have neither golden tickets or a book in which to collect said tickets, but we will remember you fondly until the day we pass to join the great card table session in the heavens.  We’ll tell  Dai Vernon and Ed Marlo about you and your organization and they will both likely teach us moves that will take an eternity to perform – but that will be okay because we will have an eternity to learn.

The Breman Museum (William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum) is based in the Atlanta area (likely within a mile of a street with the word “peach” in it).  We see that Inside Magic Favorite Joe Turner is assisting in the presentation so you know it will be without flaw and have integrity.

The museum tells visitors that the world’s most famous magician and escape artist wasn’t born but invented by the talented mind of Erik Weisz (later translated into Erich Weiss when he and his family immigrated to the United States).

The exhibit it curated by magician David London and shares the story of how this immigrant, growing up in Wisconsin became Harry Houdini – the world’s first international superstar.

Continue reading “Harry Houdini Exhibit at Bremen Museum” →

Uncategorized

Inside Magic Letters to the Editor

Topo GigioLetters to the editor are published on an infrequent basis due to the infrequent receipt of correspondence we receive requiring a response.  We think the issues regarding our weight, loss of hair, inability to speak without a noticeable slur after five in the afternoon have been well-debated and do not warrant further exploration in this semi-public forum.  The tens of readers of Inside Magic have spoken and we have listened.  They want letters to the editor that are about substantive issues of the day in the world of magic.  And so, we turn now to those letters received in the very recent past.

Dear Tim:

You were in West Hollywood, before that in Mystic Hollow, Michigan and now you say you are in a town called Mystic Hollow, California.  Is it possible that you are making this all up or are you in some kind of witness protection program for magicians?  Also, is Mac King’s name short for something?

— A concerned reader

Dear Concerned:

Thank you for your close attention to our peripatetic nature and concern for our alleged involvement in bringing down one of the biggest cartels in fanning powder and roughing liquid black market history.  We do not consider ourselves to be heroes; although that title has been bandied about where things are normally bandied.  Despite the offer of witness protection from the federal and state authorities, we elected to remain in the public eye.  Now that those who perpetrated the horrible acts that resulted from poorly constituted fanning powder or inconsistently mixed roughing fluid have been locked up, we can again emerge to accept the accolades normally accorded folks of our ilk.  Of course, that was about ten years ago and we’re still waiting.  In fact, we’re starting to think the accolades are not going to come other than some random bandying in the bandy parlors that still exist (virtual and otherwise).

To be honest, we are beginning to doubt the praise for our heroism will ever arrive at the front door of our double-wide here in Mystic Hollow, California.  We have more information we are willing to share about Magician’s Wax being illegally imported from farms that abuse the poor magicians from whom the cultivated ear wax is extracted.  Tales of generic Q-Tips and over-farming will leave juries in abject horror but will remain in our vaults until we can be assured that the nation’s law enforcement officials will be ready to take on this anathema.

As for Mac King’s name, we think that’s his name.  Maybe Mac is short for something or a nickname.  Like how people call Santa Claus, “Santa” but it was “St. Nicholas.”

 

Dear Timmy:

How much does it cost to get into magic?

—  Earnest Questioner

 

Dear Ernie:

The best thing about Magic is that it costs nothing to start.  You can do magic with cards, coins, toilet paper tubes, paper towel tubes, other peoples’ cards, coins or tubes.  We heard a story of a magician who started with literally nothing and ended up with a full evening show by learning the magic he could do with borrowed items and doing them well.  He was tipped for his work, saved his money and bought props; eventually hired an assistant (and later married her) and found an agent to book him into shows around the Midwest. True, his agent ended up marrying his assistant and left him destitute but he still had his skills.  We heard from him last week.  He worked his way back up and will be doing shows again.

So Magic costs nothing but time and perhaps your livelihood and personal happiness (but that is a worse case scenario) and it is something you will always have with you.  In many ways it is like riding a bike.  You never forget the skills you learned.  The ability to perform sleights of hand or how to engage and entertain an audience remain forever.  And unlike riding a bike, you don’t need a bike.  People will lend you a bike to watch you do tricks with their bike and pay you money for the pleasure of watching you do things with their property.  Harry Houdini once said – in quote we are now making up – “Magic is the one art that rewards the artist’s practice and preparation by making his work invisible.”

 

Dear Tim:

What is your favorite Magic-film to watch?

—  D. Dugger

Dear Addy:

We love the movie Houdini starring Tony Curtis.  It was the film that really got us hooked on the Houdini myth and later Houdini history.  We weren’t disillusioned to learn that the film took liberties with the true story but more intrigued about the man that lived a life so large that films would be made about him.

It is interesting that you qualified your question by asking our favorite film “to watch.”  We have several favorite magic films that we do not like to watch.  We like to look at the posters, read about them on IMDB and dream about what they could have been.  Most of the recent magician-oriented films fit that bill.  The posters and promotion looked so wonderful that we just knew a great movie could be made.  It was a pity in almost every case that the producers, writers and directors did not agree with us and decided to make movies that seemed to stray from the magic theme that made them enticing.

We also like movies based on the life of Topo Gigio; focusing on his time after his success on the Ed Sullivan show.  He went on to open two nightclubs in Miami (one is still standing) and had an infamous running feud with former boxing great Jake LaMotta – although they were very good friends in real life.  Many people still don’t know that he was a great inventor and developed a way of making more predictable kidney dialysis protocols.  He received a patent in 1974 for his work on the modern milling of whole grain.  He was a prolific writer and many credit him for the Harry Potter story idea first penned for a literary quarterly published by the University of Mississippi.