"PRINCESS OF MAGIC" TAKES ON THE STRIP

Scarlett, "The Princess of Magic" will open at the V Theater at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas this friday in a show produced by David Saxe, the brother of female illusionist Melinda. "I feel there’s some bias against women in the business. But I’ve been lucky. Everyone I’ve spoken to has been very receptive, although I feel a lot of established magicians like the male dominance of it." says 22 year old Scarlett in an article from the Las Vegas Sun. Scarlett replaces Nathan Burton after his move to the Flamingo. Watch Scarlett in action in this video montage:  Scarlett the Deciever from Wizard on Vimeo.  

CRISS ANGEL'S "LAST" ESCAPE

Mike Donilia of the St. Petersburg Times quotes the A&E Mindfreak as saying that he plans to take fewer risks in the future and to focus more on his magic. Discussing the implosion escape planned for the live show on July 30th, Angel said the escape will be among his "biggest and baddest," and live or die, he says it's going to be his last because he want his Mom to stop worrying. The article also talks about the arrival of Angel fans to the area who hope to get a good look at the event. "Already, visitors throughout the Southeast are booking hotels, and city officials say they expect people to camp out the night before, just to get a good spot on the beach or Pier 60. "He suspends belief and suspends reality and your perspective of what reality is," said Lynne Sutcliffe, 52, a waitress from Lake County who has watched the past three seasons with her daughter, Tess.  

SAM STOPS TALKING WITHOUT COMMENT

Without comment from the leadership or prior warning, the "Official Bulletin Board" for members of the Society of American Magicians, SAMTalking.com has closed its' doors. This action has proven to be a topic of intense discussion with some saying that the leadership realized that there was no way to control the content and others opining that it may just be a temporary closure with a restructured board opening soon with stronger guidelines. Of greatest concern to many appears to be the fact that there was no comment on this from SAM leadership at the National convention ad that there was little or no warning prior to the closing of the forum. 

MNW :: IRENE LARSEN :: INTERVIEW

“Princess” Irene Larsen,, Magic Castle Co-founder and trustee joins us on the Magic Newswire. Irene tells us of her days as a magician’s assistant, her role in the origins of the Castle, talks about the many celebrity magicians she has known and much, much more.

LISTEN TO MY CHAT WITH IRENE LARSEN: OTHER WAYS TO LISTEN: VISIT ITUNES :: MP3 DOWNLOAD :: VISIT SOUNDCLOUD

HTML 5 PLAYER ::

MAGIC LIBRARY MAY VANISH

Britain's largest library of literature related to magic and the supernatural may be broken up and sold. The Independent reports, "The Harry Price Library of Magical Literature, based at the University of London, is the UK's largest of its kind and contains letters between Price and the legendary illusionist Houdini. It also has detailed correspondence between Price and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a believer in the paranormal. Titles such as The Hammer of Witches, a 1486 treatise on witchcraft, are among its 13,000 items, which include pamphlets and hand-pressed books as well as photographs." Because of dramatic budget cuts, John Fielden, who heads Chems, the consultancy carrying out the review, admits that selling off collections including Price's is under consideration. 

MAN ON WIRE :: THE ULTIMATE HIGH

Ingredients: a 3/4" thick wire; the newly constructed World Trade Center towers; the pre-terrorist attack security of 1974; no safety net, and a quarter of a mile fall to Earth. The result? A new documentary by director James Marsh portraying French born acrobat, tight rope walker and magician in a heist style film which tells the story of the staging and execution of his unauthorized rope walk between the Twin Towers in 1974. Several news outlets, including the most recent from the Irish Independent describe the event and the executioner. "Born in Nemours, on August 13, 1949, Petit developed a fascination with magic, the circus and most particularly funambulisme, or trapeze-artistry. An accomplished unicyclist, magician and street magician (he was one of the first street performers to appear in 60's Paris), Petit's great love was walking the tightrope, and the sense of freedom and weightlessness it entailed. Working on circus wires, though, a mere 20 or 30 feet above the ground, seemed not much of a challenge to Petit, who considered himself something of a performance artist and wanted to turn his highwire walks into 'events'. And what better way than walking between the tallest manmade structures." WATCH THE FILM TRAILER:

CONVENTION MAGICALLY TRANSFORMS CITY

"Las Vegas is unofficially considered the "Magic Capital of the United States," but this week Louisville has been transformed into the 'Magic Capital of the World' as the city hosts a passel of prestidigitators from around the world," begins another article from the Louisville Courier Journal reporting on the IBM/SAM 2008 Combined Convention. John Archer, pictured above, is among tonight's featured performers. Read the complete article here.

WHY IS CRISS ANGEL LOSING SLEEP?

According to the Tampa Tribune, Criss Angel's not sleeping a lot. "He's got a few things on his mind, like how he's going to get out of the Spyglass Hotel in Clearwater Beach in the 3 1/2 minutes before 450 sticks of dynamite explode and bring the old building to the ground. 'If I wasn't concerned about it, I would be a very stupid person,' Angel said during a conference call Thursday." The complete article can be read HERE. A&E's Mindfreak goes on to say, "For me, the biggest challenge is staying calm, cool and collected," said Angel, noting that picking a lock is easy, but not when you know time is running out before an explosion. He's also worried about the weather and whether the pilot will keep the helicopter in the right place. More on the planned escape can be read in the press release here. 

CRISS ANGEL LUXE LIFE PART 2

The second part of Robin Leach's Luxe Life profile of Criss Angel is now online and contains additional images from his upcoming Cirque De Soleil show to tantalize the public. In the article, Angel tells Leach, “Rehearsals are going amazingly well and its fantastic to see an idea that I first had 15 years ago finally coming to fruition and taking shape. It began with prototypes being drawn on a napkin all those years ago and now its becoming a reality right in front of my own eyes. Now that’s magic! Its so extraordinary to be able to execute the art of my illusions with the art of Cirque. Everything about the special effects, the costumes and the story line is intensified ten fold. We have succeeded in creating an experience that hasn’t followed anybody else’s previous path. It will definitely be one now that everybody else will follow for years to come.”

THE SON OF JOHNNY THOMPSON HAS PASSED

From a post my Michael Close on the Genii forums: John Thompson, Jr., son of Johnny and Pam Thompson, passed away last weekend in Las Vegas. John had battled brain cancer, which had left him debilitated and in a great deal of pain. He was 41. A memorial service will be held in Las Vegas. The date, time, and place of the service will be announced. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to the Nathan Adelson Hospice, 4141 Swenson Street, Las Vegas, NV 89119. The Magic Newswire sends our thoughts and prayers to the family during this time of loss.