A new season of Magic! Check out this month's issue of Magic Magazine! Practical tips and tricks from cover to cover. Gaetan Bloom shares an impromptu countertop production, Jeff McBride doctors your show, and David Starr tells the secret of his human 'wringer' illusion! PLUS, the latest on magic entertainment the world-wide!
Christian Chelman
Our story begins in a Belgian pub, late, after a magician’s gathering. The scene is familiar enough. Magicians are sharing magic, and between tricks they sip drinks. Only one man hasn’t performed, and now it’s his turn.Christian’s unusual, thick spectacles drift low on his nose. He adjusts them with only his right first finger. Now he lifts a delicate box from his lap to the table and begins to remove its contents.
A thick cloud of smoke envelopes the table. When the smoke dissipates, the magicians discover that — brace yourself — they are instantly a hundred years back in time, and five hundred miles east. This doesn’t seem like a fantasy or figurative interpretation. They feel as though they have literally been transported.
MAGIC LIVE
MAGIC celebrated a “sweet sixteen” anniversary by hosting the third in a series of “unconventional conventions.” Returning to The Orleans Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, the event produced memorable moments, and plenty of surprises. This month, we offer a sixteen-page overview of the sweet sixteenth anniversary party thrown by MAGIC.
MARKETPLACE- Items Reviewed This Month:
• Dean’s Triangle by Dean Dill
• Handcrafted Card Magic by Denis Behr
• Interlace by Richard Sanders
• Seven Effects from Jesse Feinberg
• LadyBug by Paul Vigil
• Levent’s Super Salt Pour Gimmick
• Digital Graffiti: the Sleight of Hand of David Peck DVD
• Brainstorm in My Pajamas by Ronald J. Dayton and Kotah
• Talk About Tricks DVDs by Joshua Jay
• Stuck! DVD by Greg Rostami
TALK ABOUT TRICKS
This month, Josh Jay features four original pieces from Christian Chelman’s repertoire. Each one shows a slightly different side of Chelman’s work. Among magicians, he is known for his bizarre magick presentations. But he’s also a busy professional and performs commercial magic — even gambling material — for his lay audiences. More often than not, he mixes intricate, bizarre presentations with more conventional styles.
STARRCRAFT
The premise for this month’s offering from David Starr is Squisher, which is based on the classic “wringer” effects and their variations that have been a staple in magic for many years. David has always liked the thought of a “human wringer,” and eventually came up with this very visual and fun approach.
BLOOMERANGS
Monsieur Bloom offers two tricks this month. In the first, you roll up your sleeves and show a cigar. “I have a good way to stop smoking in three seconds,” you say, then point to your empty wrists. “I’m sorry. I had to sell my watch to buy my last cigar, but you can time me, because it won’t take more than three seconds.” In a single movement, the cigar is gone. “And as I told you,” you say, “it didn’t take more than three seconds.” You point to your left wrist and the audience now realizes that a watch has appeared there.
For the second effect, imagine you are at the bar with some friends and spot a glass filled with straws. You ask someone to choose a straw and have him sign it on the paper wrapper or on the straw itself. The straw is returned to and mixed in with the other straws. The glass is placed on the bar, and very slowly a straw rises out of the glass. It’s the signed straw. You undoubtedly recognized one of the oldest tricks in the book, the wand in the bottle. But, if you do this version, no one will think of the old one. The objects are items logically present at the bar, and everything can be examined. Two tricks for the price of one this month.
