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Picture: Dirk Arthur performs in Las Vegas. Fred Rosenbaum & I saw his show out there a year or so ago. He was performing in a casino "off the strip" but did a great show. See the article below for more details. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE MAGIC CORNER - RALEIGH'S GREAT MAGIC SHOP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COMPLETE MAGIC, CLOWN & COSTUME SUPPLIES . On a recent visit to The Magic Corner (Capital Blvd in Raleigh), Jon took me through loads of new magic he has just received… some of it just being put on his shelves! . He carries a huge number of magic effects and accessories for the beginning conjurer to the full time professional. If by slim chance you don't find what you are looking for at his shop, it's a good bet that he can get it for you! . The Magic Corner has been recognized as a Reliable E-Commerce Merchant by The Better Business Bureau so you never have to worry about your online or walkin orders: TheMagicCorner.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DIRK ARTHUR - LAS VEGAS ENTERTAINER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (This preview article was provided by Magic Magazine) After thirteen years working afternoons in Las Vegas, the last five of which have been at the Tropicana, Dirk Arthur is moving into the night with a 7 p.m. show. He's still doing a 4 o'clock performance, as well, but this new schedule gets him halfway to his goal of doing two shows a night on The Strip. In our cover story this month, Jaq Greenspon reveals exactly how Dirk has achieved such longevity, starting with how he went from a menagerie of birds to quite the assortment of exotic cats. . Dirk was part of the very first group of Junior Magicians at the Castle and the first recipient of the Junior Magician's Achievement Award. "They were surprised that I was constantly working on my act. Constantly, constantly. We'd do our act and then it would be critiqued by the professionals, which was awesome! Then I'd come back a month later with a whole different version of the act, with all this new and improved stuff, and they were all, 'Wow, what's this guy doing?' I'm working constantly on the act." . Which means the act has been in a state of continual evolution since the days of cards and candles and multiplying eggs and billiard balls. Manipulation and sleight of hand were good enough for the early teen years, but by the time he was in his late teens, Arthur knew he needed to have the act grow and expand. Just being able to back palm cards with both hands wasn't going to hold his attention for very long. So, at that time, with that budget, that meant birds. And again, Dirk surrounded himself with the best in order to learn what he needed to learn. . "Ken Whitaker was famous for having a really spectacular and unique bird act that was styled after Marvyn Roy's light bulb act. They actually had a lot of the same tricks — they had this formula for making an act. You'd start out with the hat and whatever your object was – Marvyn's was light bulbs, Kenny's was birds – you'd have six to ten birds come out of the hat. And then you you'd do another trick where maybe the milk would disappear and appear inside of a light bulb; well, Kenny had a bird that would disappear and appear inside of a light bulb. Marvyn would produce twenty light bulbs from his mouth; Kenny had the Cone Trick, where you'd roll up this paper cone and twenty birds would come out." . Sometimes, though, there are things that can't be taught, and you have to learn to adapt in order to get what you want. "I kind of took my old bird act to the extreme level, but I realized Kenny's act was a lot better, so I purchased his. I bought the equipment and rights to all the tricks when I was still a teenager. So I had that act, a really successful act with the birds, and I kept expanding and enlarging it. At one point there was everything from a parakeet to an ostrich traveling around that stage, and all manner of avian creature in between — chickens and doves and ducks." To Arthur, the large birds were the big finale, but audiences didn't know what to make of them. "The big emus and ostriches didn't go over as well as Siegfried & Roy's tigers. So I just decided to add cats to the act. That kind of opened up the whole field to me – the cats." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OCT 2 CAROLINA CLOSE UP CONVENTION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scott Robinson has a GREAT convention lined up in Charlotte for October 2 & 3rd! Ring 199's own Steve Beam will be among the great talent booked for the convention! More information will be published here and in our newsletters soon, but check out the details on their website: Web |
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