Wednesday, April 30, 2008

David Blaine: Breathtaking

David Blaine set the world record by holding his breath for 17 minutes and 4 seconds on Oprah Winfrey's TV show today in Chicago. The previous record, which was 32 seconds shorter, was set in February.

Blaine has followed Houdini's style by having the ability to perform difficult feats by remaining in excellent physical and mental condition. He has refined his techniques and has already mastered and continues to develop new and more daring escapes and challenges.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Sidney Crosby, Intern at Tannen’s Magic Shop

Risto Pakarinen is a Finnish freelance writer, and an entrepreneur. He is a regular contributor to The Hockey News, nhl.com, and SAS's in-flight magazine Scanorama. His stories have appeared also in, for example, Fast Company, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine.

He has published two non-fiction books: Joukkue vailla vertaa, about Finland's first hockey world championship in May 2005, and Off the Post: hockey stories from across the world in November 2007. He is currently working on a Finnish translation of Ken Dryden's The Game.

He has just posted a blog at the nhl.com titled 'We All Have to Start Somewhere' where he talks about where some hockey players might intern. Here is what he says about Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Sidney Crosby, intern at Tannen’s Magic Shop

“The world’s premier magic shop is pleased to announce the recruitment of Sidney Crosby as an unpaid intern through the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2008. As intern, he will not be creating grand illusions, but he will be doing sleight-of-hand and other regular magic tricks.”


Sidney Crosby, NHL, Pittsburgh Penguins

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Eric DeCamps Pure Magic

After the success of the parlor show, 'An Evening of Intimate Magic with Eric DeCamps' at the Lincoln Room in Rockefeller Center, Eric Decamps is in a new production directed by Bob Fitch, 'Eric DeCamps Pure Magic – A Performance of Contemporary Conjuring'.

The performances will be at the elegant Metropolitan Room, located at 34 West 22nd Street in New York City. The ambiance of the Metropolitan Room is that of an intimate and stylish 1940’s jazz club. New York Magazine chose it as the city’s “Best Cabaret” for 2008.

The show, a limited engagement, will open May 3, 2008 and will be repeated every Saturday evening through the end of June. Please join him at one of his performances. His last show sold out. So, catch this one... before it disappears!

Saturdays at Midnight
May 3, 2008 thru July 26, 2008

The Metropolitan Room
34 West 22nd Street
New York, NY 10010
(Between. 5th & 6th Ave.)

Tickets are $25.00 Cover + $15.00 Minimum per person. To purchase tickets: Call 212-206-0440

The reviewers all agree!

“Eric DeCamps is a master of sleight-of-hand, and his show, one of the best you'll see of this kind of magic,
is entertaining from start to finish."
Richmond Shepard
Performing Arts INSIDER


“Eric DeCamps besides being an excellent sleight of hand artist, is debonair and appealing to a sophisticated palette.
A beautifully paced show that delivers all that it promises.”
Ryan Oakes
Magic Magazine

“Eric DeCamps enchanted us with majestic stories and kept us laughing with his quick wit. Even in this rough and tumble city, it turns out all it takes is a little magic to turn even the most hardened New Yorker into a kid again.”
Jane Marie
Glamourite

"Eric DeCamps establishes himself as a gentleman who could casually cause the impossible to happen and happen often. Visitors to the Big Apple are fortunate to have one of the finest practitioners of the art of magic in a public setting.”
Tom Gaudette
M-U-M Magazine

Monday, April 14, 2008

Rich Kameda's Five Foot Shelf

In the 21st century there will always be the ongoing debate of which is better to learn from books or DVDs. My personal opinion is that books are better to learn from.
I will make this point: Whom would you rather learn from? Someone who learned from a book or someone who learned from a DVD? Yes, it is harder to learn from a book.
Another great thing about books is that several great tricks get hidden in them. There’s also the old adage, “If you want to keep it a secret put it in print.”
While everyone is rushing to get the latest and greatest new trick, its even more rewarding to find ‘old wine in new bottles’(Greater Magic). There’s nothing better than breathing in new life into an old trick to fool your fellow magician. Chances are they will think you bought the new trick. It’s amazing to see how many new items are just reincarnations of tricks created decades ago.

Here are twenty book recommendations in alphabetical order that everyone should have. This is not ‘THE LIST’, so I may have omitted your favorite book. This list is just a good starting point to building a solid magic library. At some point I’ll discuss some hidden treasure buried in the books.
BTW feel free to weigh in on the poll, ‘How do like to learn magic?’ on the right hand side of the blog.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Orson, The Ring and the Soldier...

Dressed in a magic man's outfit, Orson Welles feigns surprise when a soldier the audience steps onto the stage and finds his missing ring high upon the garter of Orson's beautiful assistant. It's all part of the actor's magic show where he reveals his feats of legerdemain and prestidigitation. His second wife, Rita Hayworth, is seen here assisting him at a USO event in the 1940's.

Photo courtesy of the Doug Edwards Collection