Tag: Nick Lewin

Nick Lewin
Magician Feature, Uncategorized

Magician Nick Lewin’s Western Swing

Nick LewinThe chances are you have seen magician Nick Lewin before.  But then again the chances are you have not.  It’s that way with chances – they can go either way.  Regardless of the side of the fates you fall, you need to take time to see Mr. Lewin for the first time or again as he begins his Southwestern swing.

Mr. Lewin is to magic what oxygen is to many people; at least us.  He is an essential ingredient that keeps life sustained.  We have seen him perform many times and each time end up with what feels like a broken rib from our laughing and enjoyment.

Mr. Lewin performs effects that we know well but cannot comprehend how he performs them so effortlessly.  He performs magic that we assume must be based on one of the magic principles but we don’t which one or ones and we don’t want to know.  But on top of all that, he is funny.  Not just funny for a magician, but funny in the real comedic sense.  Finally, he is an outstanding actor.  When he explains something from the stage, audiences (or we) believe it.  He could say the landing on the moon was real, and we would accept it without question.

He has opened for Tony Bennett, Reba McEntire, Charlie Daniels, Paul Anka, Fortune 500 companies, as well as private functions for David Bowie, Steve Forbes, Jimmy Stewart, Lee Iacocca, Tony Curtis, Orson Welles, Steve Wozniak and others.  If that wasn’t enough – and it should be for anyone – he starred for five years in his award-winning one-man show in Las Vegas called “Comedy Magic.”

On the 27th, Mr. Lewin will be substituting for Mac King at Harrah’s in Las Vegas, Nevada.  He will take the stage at 1:00 and 3:00 pm.

On July 29th, he will be headlining Magic at the Tavern in Austin, Texas.  Joining him on the bill will be Rolando Medina (close-up expert) and Little Jewford, musician.  You can purchase your tickets here.

At the end of the summer, Mr. Lewin will be at TAOM 2019.

He also offers (for sale) some of his great effects at Nick Lewin Enterprises – of which we have purchased many and been delighted with each one.

 

Do not miss your chance to see Mr. Lewin.  He is a true Inside Magic Favorite.

Magic News

Nick Lewin’s Ultimate Color Changing Deck

Nick Lewin's Ultimate Color Changing DeckWe first met Nick Lewin through Pop Haydn when Mr. Lewin was performing on the same bill with Mr. Haydn.  To be honest, we didn’t know what to expect.  Mr. Lewin took the stage with a befuddled look on his face and seemed to be overly relaxed in his approach to the magic.  Yet, he blew us away.

His Slow Motion Torn and Restored Newspaper was a thing of beauty, his Linking Finger Ring was a thing of beauty as well but also a thing of mystery.  We know or thought we knew how the routine should be done to achieve the effect but Mr. Lewin was doing something slightly different and yet achieving the same effect plus.

Since that experience, we have seen Mr. Lewin perform in various locals and he is the same.  Always smiling, slightly  befuddled, easy-going, and amazing.  He has the classics of magic finely tuned from years of practice and actual performances in his hands and is in no rush to perform them.

He is not being chased and so there is no need to run.  His jokes and humorous approach to the effects do not overwhelm or take away from the magic, they fit in the routines because there is time for them to fit.  He is going to amaze and there is no reason to rush to what will be a wonderful conclusion – he is a friend of the audience and we are all looking at it together.

We have bought several of Mr. Lewin’s routines and we will have reviews in the future but we received one just the other day that seemed perfect for our act – at least according to the advertisement.  The Ultimate Color Changing Deck is an effect that would be the right ending for our card routine as performed in the basement of the Magic Castle.  We currently end with the emotional equivalent of “Yeah, that’s about it.  No need to stick around, there ain’t no more.  Skat! Get!”

We order the effect and received delivery within a very few days.  We watched his DVD, checked out the props and smiled with the gleeful look of a very satisfied magician or someone in need of further attention by trained professionals.  It would work, it would work really good.  (When we become gleeful, annoyingly gleeful (“AG”), we lose our ability to think in proper English.  The effect could even be transferred to our pet deck and we already could do the relatively easy sleights to accomplish the apparently impossible.

There are other color changing decks on the market.  Some of them might be good.  We have seen many of them in person either being performed or explained in lectures but none of them come up to this standard.  Mr. Lewin credits Ken Brooke for the idea and effect and even provides an interlude that may or may not fit your style.  The last sentence makes sense once you receive and review the effect.

The cost for the pre-release is $65.00 and it is well-worth it.  This is a color changing deck that will really work in real situations for real magicians in front of real audiences and leave them really amazed.

Check out Mr. Lewin’s site today.  We do not know how long the deal will be available on the Ultimate Color Changing Deck he is offering so it is best to get there as soon as possible.  Go! Get! Skat!

Inside Magic Review: Five Out of Five – Our Highest!

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It’s Magical – We Enjoy Our Membership at Magic Castle

The Magic CastleThe Magic Castle bestowed on us a kindness that we will not soon forget.  The greatest magic club in the world, overlooked our nervous, shaking hand and sweat-covered brow to grant admission as a Magician Member Monday night.

It has been such a whirlwind since Monday night when we auditioned before the likes of Shoot Ogawa and Gay Blackstone that we have not had time to update this humble news outlet.  In the past few days, we have seen great magic performed by the best in our business like Whit “Pop” Haydn and Nick Lewin at the Magic Junkyard in Simi Valley Wednesday night and so many of the performers at the Magic Castle this weekend.  We are tuckered-out but it is a good kind of tuckered-out.

We anticipated the audition process for the Magic Castle would be difficult and it was.  The judges were kind and compassionate and tried to set an atmosphere to allow the performers to do their best.  Still, it is an unnerving process performing for such esteemed peers.

We were on cloud nine (or its Metric equivalent) all week and visited The Magic Castle Friday night – our first visit as a Magician Member.  There was a lot to take in.  We visited The William W. Larsen Memorial Library and met the very helpful and knowledgeable Lisa Cousins, our guide for all that the center had to offer – and it offers so much.

From instruction sheets to videos and recorded material, lecture notes to rare magic tomes, and just about every essential magic resource a studious magician could need populate the well-adorned library shelves and reading areas.   We camped out in the stacks, listened to the more experienced members discuss topics of interest and picked the brain of Ms. Cousins about The Magic Castle.

Tonight (Saturday), we decided to perform.  Magician members can show their stuff  in The Hat and Hare Pub and The Gallery by coordinating with the Host.  We performed the same card routine we used for the audition and the first show went well.  We were nervous but excited in equal parts.  The nerves got under control for the next two sets in The Hat and Hare and held together for our last set in the larger Gallery.  The audiences were enthusiastic and kind and we had a great time.

Our routine depends on our second deal, two false shuffles and a successful breather crimp.  We figured out just about half-way into our second set, the crimp had stopped breathing.  We lost control of the selected card but somehow managed to find it without too much embarrassment.  We tried to rehabilitate the breather but nothing was working.  Our last set was breather-less.  We kept the same routine but had to figure out a different method of control.

It is late at night as we type this on our old Remington portable typewriter here in the West Hollywood editorial office of Inside Magic.  The Olympic® Games are being broadcast silently on a television set we can see across the alley.  Life goes on around us and we feel fully alive having lived a dream harbored since our youth.