Tag: magic castle

Magic News

Cruise to Magic Castle: Special Admission for Non-Members

Inside Magic Image of Magician Rich BlochIt is well documented that we love magic.  In fact, we challenge anyone to question our nearly fanatical obsession with all things magic.  As we said under oath during a U.S. Senate hearing recently:

“Senator, simply put, we love magic.”

Of course the question posed was not directly related to magic — it was about something related to alleged embezzlement of crop insurance premiums and we needed to stall — but still it was under oath and without ambiguity.

We also love cruising (not “cursing”) as our spell-check incorrectly substituted in the earlier editions of this post.  Given a choice, we would live aboard a ship sailing the smooth seas from port to port whilst we puffed on a fine cigar, sipped an appropriately aged and chilled Diet Coke and practiced our one-hand shuffles.  We have often offered to be a boy-toy to any rich matron with the resources to keep us in cigars, cards and Diet Coke but we are beginning to think we have signed up for the wrong social networking site.  We have received many offers but not one from rich widows.  The closest offer was from a sea captain working a trawler in the North Sea who thought the expression “boy-toy” meant “boy robot” like Astro Boy.  Once the translation was cleared up, he had no interest.

But we digress.

This morning, we read that the very ritzy “Crystal Cruises has pulled the ultimate rabbit out of a hat with a new, industry-1st program named ‘Magic Castle at Sea.'”

It was nothing less than amazing that the name of the program was virtually identical to the advertisement we had on PensionersPals.com.  Ours was “Tricks on a Boat.”  Pretty close.

The cruise line engaged fellow lawyer and magician Rich Bloch to perform aboard the Crystal Symphony.  Similar shows will be available on the stunning Crystal Serenity.  But wait, it gets better.

Once the passengers return to dry land, they will be given a special ticket for entry into the exclusive Magic Castle.

“Considering club guests might only get entrance if they’re in LA and invited by a member, Crystal’s Magic Castle at Sea secures rare admission to a truly spellbinding entertainment experience,” told in a statement Crystal’s Vice President of Entertainment, Bret Bullock. “We’re excited to suggest our guests yet another amazing opportunity in high-caliber vacation fun.”

This is a combination we cannot resist.  Great magic, outstanding cruise and a ticket into the the Magic Castle.  We look forward to seeing you on board. Read more about the deal here.
Latest Magic News, Magician Feature

Magician Burt Sperber Passes

Inside Magic Image of Burt SperberMagician Burton S. Sperber passed away last Friday at the age of 82 of complications from surgery at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California.

We read the sad news in the Los Angeles Times today.

He was not only an accomplished performer and lover of all things Magic, he was also the founder and chairman of the nation’s largest landscape services company, ValleyCrest Landscape Cos.

The Magic Castle and Inner Magic Circle member turned $700.00 into a company that today boasts more than 150 locations around the world, with 9,000 employees and nearly $835 million in annual revenue.  The transformation was performed not by magic but his tireless work and keen business sense.          He purchased the nursery business from the widow of the owner.  He was just 19 years-old.

ValleyCrest Landscape worked some of the most prestigious projects in the landscape milieu including the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida, Newport Beach’s Fashion Island and Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.  He preferred the title “Head Gardner” to CEO or “Boss.”

“Work is something you don’t want to do,” Mr. Sperber  told the Los Angeles Times this year.  “I love doing what I do, and there’s nothing else in this life that I’d rather do.”

Landscaping was not his sole passion.  His love for performing, watching, learning, teaching, inventing, sharing and chronicling Magic was evident always.

Mr. Sperber owned one of the largest magic book collections – with texts from the early 16th century.  His passion for our craft covered the spectrum from collector and preserver of classic magic books to inventing his own effects.  Nick Lewin posted a great story about meeting Mr. Sperber aboard a cruise ship and learning card effects from this remarkable man.  You can read Mr. Lewin’s post here.

“Believe it or not, I am actually better known in the world of magic than I am in the landscape world,” he said in a 2008 interview with C-Suite Quarterly business magazine.  We can vouch for the truth of this statement.
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Magic News

Go-Go Gal Getter: The Magic Castle
Inside Magic Image of Magic Fan Samantha PadillaThe overpaid  Inside Magic editors and unpaid interns peruse all media constantly for interesting leads.  We wish we could say that was how we stumbled upon the Samantha Padilla  interview from the July, 2011 edition of Low Rider Magazine.
Actually, we read Low Rider to get the latest news on the pneumatic lift technology used in the creation of God’s gift to body shop artisans, Hoppers.
The big Phoenix Hopper Contest sponsored by Low Rider magazine just left us lusting for more of the great PSSSWhtchhsss Clunk sounding goodness that is a high-quality lowrider hopper.  We did not enter this year because the elders in our familial unit loathe a good hoppin’ ride.
But the magic aspect to this story comes from the insightful interview of the young and physically attractive, Samantha Padilla.
(We would say she is attractive but we haven’t seen her inside.  Outer beauty if fleeting and subjective. We’re big on the inner beauty.  We’re not shallow like those who put a premium on how someone looks on the outside.  In fact, we seek women with large mouths and few teeth so we can get an unobstructed look down their esophagus whilst we pretend to be fixing a light or painting the ceiling — we need to explain why we’re on a ladder and need them to stand just under our perch).
Ms. Padilla calls herself a “Self-Made Hundredaire” and describes her profession as “Go-Go Dancer.”  We haven’t heard the expression “Go-Go Dancer” in years.  She is clearly an old soul or renaissance woman interested in the rich history of dancing for drunk guys.  (See, Introductory chapter of our best seller The History of 3D: Dancing for Drunks in Dives, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010).
The interviewer asks how he could interest the Low Rider beauty:

LRG: How does he keep your attention?
Samantha: If I knew there would probably be a guy out there that would still be holding my attention.

LRG: So you have a hard time finding a guy to hold your attention?
Samantha: Ummm. Nam. Nam. Nam. I don’t know. I don’t know the correct answer to that one. Maybe B? What’s the question?

We thought the Hundredaire comment was classic but this passage convinced us Ms. Padilla has an Inside Magic kind of humor.

So, where would one take Ms. Padilla if one wanted to have a successful first date?

LRG: Where should he take you?
Samantha: I got asked out yesterday and he took me to the Magic Castle. That was fun. If a guy can’t make me laugh we have a problem.

We knew there had to be someone out there who would understand.  She’s just 40 years too late.

How to not impress the young hopping car enthusiast?

LRG: What’s the best way for a guy to get your number?
Samantha: Show genuine interest in me and don’t holler at me like a dog.

That could explain our dating years / involuntary celibacy era.
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Magician Feature

Is Neil Patrick Harris Really One of Us?

Inside Magic Image of Neil Patrick Harris“Neil Patrick Harris, magician? And, president of the Academy of Magical Arts?” So begins the great profile piece on the actor in today’s Philippine Daily Inquirer .

That is the kind of question that piques our interest.

We follow magic closely and had noticed the former child star and now prominent force on stage, screen and television was appearing more frequently in magic related stories. The pattern we discerned over the last few years: when there was a magic related event in or around Los Angeles or Hollywood, Neil Patrick Harris was there.

It was starting to get eerie.

Our uncle was photographed at many suspicious building fires in and around the greater Mystic Hollow, Michigan area but that was because of his affection for “the glorious lover that is flame.” We were sure Neil Patrick Harris was not afflicted by the same sense of misguided and painful love as Roland “Flame” Hardy.

Perhaps he was working on a project that called for a magician’s touch. We dismissed this theory. Edward Norton (“The Illusionist”), Michael Cain (“The Prestige”), Anthony Hopkins (“Magic”) all starred in magic-oriented films but we never saw any of them attending functions usually reserved for the insiders.

His was one of the three individuals photographed for a 2009 article on The Magic Castle’s It’s Magic performance. (The other two were Lance Burton and Hannah Montana co-star Romi Dames). We don’t think the lovely Romi Dames is a magician so perhaps Neil Patrick Harris was appearing in his capacity as a star.

Neil Patrick Harris was also named in an article on the rededication of Houdini’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But again, he was not the focus of the story.

The mention comes about half-way through the Entertainment Today piece. “The bad boys of magic Penn and Teller were on hand for the ceremony, along with Neil Patrick Harris, Tippi Hedren, JoAnne Worley and Irene Larsen.”

Take a look at the article in the December 6, 2008 edition of Entertainment Today article here.
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