THE BUZZ - Latest Links
To Magic Info...
by MEL KIENTZ

There is certainly a ton of magic information floating around the Internet this month. I made it a point to miss Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed (MyNetworkTV). If you have something to say about this other than it's a shame to reveal a secret you may want to hit  the comment button at the bottom of this blog. Meanwhile there are other stories that have come across my desk and I pass them along to you. Ellis & Webster, • Kent Wong • Partick Page • Criss Angel • Greg Bordner • El Duco •  Elizabeth Warlock • Dorothy Dietrich • David Blaine • Mark Wilson • Dan Morrissey and Pheobe Hancock...have a look... .(read more)

Here is a great blog by Magic Unlimited with Ellis & Webster
The ongoing adventures of a pair of married magicians
Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Magic is not a vanishing art! And, who says people don't like magic? The numbers are in for our first Melbourne Magic Festival and they look pretty good to me! Here is the info on Two weeks of magic - filled with 58 performances of 10 different shows starring 25 different performers. Also 3,000 people came to see the shows buying almost $30,000 in tickets! (read more)

Magically Balancing Two Careers   
By Karen McDougall - The Lawyers Weekly, Edmonton
October 10, 2008
 
Do you ever wish you could turn a bad day around? Maybe by pulling a rabbit out of a hat? Or amazing and delighting the naysayers with smoke and mirrors? Well, you could — literally — if you were Kent Wong, a sole practitioner at Edmonton’s Highfield Law Office. That’s because Kent is a professional magician. He travels to many destinations — local and international, spreading good feelings and astounding audiences. (read more)

Patrick Page: From Seuss to Shakespeare
By Stuart Miller, Published: October 6, 2008
International Herald Tribune

Since coming to New York in 1993, Patrick Page (The Actor) has been known mostly for cartoonish roles, including more than three years as Lumiere in "Beauty and the Beast" and three more as Scar in "The Lion King." But in regional theater he is known as a Shakespearean leading man. Page's path was set at age 3, when he watched his father, Robert, play Encino in "Twelfth Night" and Antonio in "The Merchant of Venice" at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. "I remember it vividly," he said. Page staged plays in his basement and tackled any children's roles in shows directed by his father (who also taught college-level acting). As a teenager he added magic to his repertory; he was even named the International Brotherhood of Magicians' "best teen illusionist" in 1979.(read more)

Check out Wayne Kawamoto's notes on  the "CRISS ANGEL Believe," Show in Las Vegas. The long awaited spectacular and collaboration between Criss Angel and Cirque du Soleil, has been seen by a select few during recent previews. There are plenty of comments... For instance..."I Give the Show Two Months. Tops.  A group of us in town from Boston saw the Criss Angel show last night. I had a free ticket and I still felt ripped off. It is sad to watch Cirque, which I generally have enjoyed over the years, put their name on something so awful. There hasn't been a great Cirque show in Vegas since "O" and that was 10 years ago..." (read more)

We have received word that Greg Bordner (Abbott's Magic) has in fact received a heart transplant. I am certain each of you will keep him in your prayers as he recuperates. For more about the famous Abbott's Magic Factory in Colon, Michigan, please click here. Abbott's Magic has been serving the magic community since 1934. In 1974, Greg was brought into the family business. He has since pointed Abbott's towards the 21st century by combining the best of the old with the latest technology of today, thus keeping Abbotts Magic a place where magical illusion are not only bought and sold, but also designed, and created

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Here is a link to Elizabeth Warlock's British Ring Convention write-up in THE STAGE 
(Published Tuesday 30 September 2008)
Las Vegas came to Eastbourne for the 72nd annual convention of the British Ring. Never in the history of this famous organisation have so many magic stars from Las Vegas appeared, varying from card flingers like Jon Armstrong and Jason England to the spectacular illusions of Kalin and Jinger. (read more)

Magician Dorothy Dietrich, is in the news again this month...
SCRANTON, Pa. — Pioneer magician Dorothy Dietrich is the first woman ever to catch a bullet in her teeth. She did it in a specially designed metal cup. This was recently done by David Blaine in a special devoted to Houdini. Prior to this magicians caught the bullet in a plate, in a handkerchief, in a box or in their teeth. This new presentation was pioneered by Dorothy Dietrich bringing the classic stunt into the modern age. It’s the one stunt Houdini said he’d do, that he backed away from. This stunt has killed over twelve men in its history (read more)....

Best Close-Up Magic Class:
Mark Wilson and Nani Darnell's Magic III
by N. JENSSEN - October 02, 2008 - LA WEEKLY
The magazine Magic calls Mark Wilson one of the 10 most influential American magicians of modern times, in the same crowd as Houdini. And The New York Times says he's "probably this nation's leading authority on magic." Yet for the price of a couple of decent tickets to a ball game, you can enroll in a small advanced magic class taught by Wilson himself. Said to have been the first Western magician allowed into China, Wilson created the first magic series on network TV, 1960-64's The Magic Land of Allakazam, and authored the best-seller Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic. He and his wife and longtime onstage assistant, Nani Darnell, are among the premier teachers of the art of close-up magic.(read more... )

Kin keeps magic alive
by Kelly Gadzala Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Toronto Town Crier

It’s not even noon on a Tuesday morning in mid-September at Morrissey Magic shop, and already there’s been a phone call for something called a wolf whistle. Husband and wife co-owners Dan Morrissey and Pheobe Hancock take it all in stride. As they ease into their day — Hancock sweeping the floor and answering the phone, Morrissey performing various card tricks for the couple’s Sheltie Sky — a steady stream of customers come into the Dufferin St. store (read more...)