Cindy Margolis Secret Magical Talent

CBS has begun airing its' new reality/competition show "Secret Talents of the Stars," and "America's got Talentesque competition series in which celebrities compete to see who has the best hidden talent. Actress, spokesmodel and former Price is Right cast member Cindy Margolis will be demonstrating her skills as a magician during the show. Margolis is better known for her appearance in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery as a Fembot, and for several appearances in the pages of Playboy magazine. Other show contestants include country singer Clint Black, Boxer Joe Frazier, Star Trek cast member George Takei and Olympic athlete Sasha Cohen. The show airs on Tuesdays at 10PM.

Paris Hilton Cut in Half!

Many people have come up with their own ideas as to what they want to do with Paris Hilton over the years and magician Curtis Eugene Lovell II has had his wish fulfilled. On the Simple Life, he cuts her in half, or at least zig zag's her a bit. During the episode, Paris is casting for performers to participate in a birthday party and Curtis is selected to perform. "Poof You're a Magician" is the title of Lovell's instructional DVD in which you can "Learn magic with everyday objects." The content of the DVD was recently released by TrickPirates.com, a new video download service from which customers can purchase instructional video's and download them to their computer.

INTERVIEW: Brian Brushwood

The Magic Newswire was thrilled to have an exclusive opportunity to connect with Bizaare Magician Brian Brushwood this evening in order to discuss his new Revision3 show, "Scam School." As we posted earlier this week, Revision3  one of the leaders in professionally produced Internet television, has launched a new addition to it's lineup with a connection to the world of magic, "Scam School." Revision 3 is already well known for the production of such successful shows as Diggnation and the Totally Rad Show, each of which can claim 100's of thousands of listeners weekly. Scam School adds diversity to their already steallar Lineup by introducing viewers to the Dark slick and sticky underbelly of street scams, cons, bar hustles and magic. Brian and I spent an hour talking Magic in general as well as discussing what the future holds for his new project.  We know that you are going to enjoy "Scam School!" LISTEN-EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Scam School - Brian Brushwood (4/08/08)    

Magic's Dark Slick & Sticky Underbelly

From the PR Newswire we learn of Scam School, the title of a new video podcast from Revision 3 featuring self titled Bizarre magician Brian Brushwood. According to yesterday's press release, "Scam School" is a do-it-yourself guide to performing magic tricks guaranteed to entertain friends and strangers, and score you free drinks at the bar. To celebrate the launch, Revision3 will be releasing an episode a day for the first week of the show. The show is available for download at Revision3.com or by clicking here. Following the initial launch week, new episodes will be available weekly on Fridays at 4pm. Jim Louderback, CEO of Revision3 said of the new show, "We're actually lifting the veil on popular magic tricks, to teach our audience how to perform them just like famous magicians. But all of our tricks have a purpose: to help you score points -- and free drinks -- at the bar. What could be better for our 21-30 year old target market?" "If magic had a dark, slick, sticky underbelly, it would be 'Scam School,'" said host Brian Brushwood. Brushwood is a guest lecturer at Cornell University and is the author of three books about scams and magic, Cheats, Cons, Swindles & Tricks: 57 Ways to Scam a Free Drink, Pack the House: The Ultimate, Ever-Growing Guide to Increasing Attendance to YOUR Campus Events, and Professional's Guide to Fire Eating.

Veronica Grabowski : The Angel Connection

Magician Criss Angel has made his affection for his MIss USA contestant girlfriend Veronica Grabowski obvious to anyone willing to listen. It is therefore worth noting that she has been selected to remain among the 15 finalists for the 2008 Miss USA title. In his Luxe Life column, Robin Leach caught up with Veronica and asked her about her forced separation from the Mindfreak illusionist. According to Leach, "I couldn’t help noticing the major-bling ring now on the fourth finger of her left hand! She wouldn’t answer any questions about that but did tell me that they are both using email, text messaging and cell phones to keep in close touch while—like all the other contestants—she’s at the Planet Hollywood Resort and unable to get home to Henderson!" In connected news, the Las Vegas Review Journal has posted a story indicating that Angel's girl is not as popular with the Miss USA pageant as she is with him. According to Norm Clarke, the pageant has requested that invitations to a reunion party with Criss at LAX nightclub at the Luxor not feature her name given the pageantt's association with the Planet Hollywood Resort. According to the article, "organizers considered it bad form to have a contestant host a party at a hotel other than the host site, especially if Grabowski were among the top finishers."

Magic Castle For Sale... Make That SOLD!

According to a thread that appeared on the Genii Magazine Forums today, the land on which the Magic Castle resides has been sold. As discussed on previous podcasts and here in the Magic Newswire blog, the property has been on the market since 2007 with an estimated asking price of $70 Million. All indications have been that the contract for purphase would have terms to insure the long term survival of the Magic Castle as a home to the Academy of Magical arts and the Castle as a private club and hotel will survive the sale. While in LA for the Magic Castle Awards banquet, Richard Kaufman, the publisher of Genii, responded to inquiries in the forum with confirmation of the sale saying, "the word is, indeed, that the land and Magic Castle have been sold for $70 million dollars. I have also heard that the Castle will and the AMA will stay."As previously posted here, the Magic Castle itself was protected as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument since 1989. Efforts are underway to see that Yamashiro's Restaurant received similar protection.   

Is 21 a "Bust?"

Of interest to many in the magic community are films involving gambling and scams. Currently on the marquis is the movie "21" based upon the book "Bringing Down the House" by Ben Mezrich which tells the inside story of six MIT students who took Vegas for millions. The film was recently reviewed on the Revision 3 video podcast "Totally Rad Show" which discusses Movies, Television and Video Games targeting an audience in the 20's and 30's. Kevin Spacey's performance as the mentor of the crew seems to have been the highlight of the film for these reviewers who generally felt the film to be so contrived as to "make a true story feel fake." It seems apparent that none of the reviewers had read the book which confirmed the essence of the story in spite of some elements which felt staged. View the complete show in the video below. 

Magic Moments For a Brooklyn Boy

The Brooklyn Eagle salutes one of their own with a profile of David Blaine today, his 35th birthday (April 4th.) "At the age of four, he saw a magician perform magic in a subway and he decided to buy his first trick from a Disney shop — the pencil through the card trick," says the author of Blaine's budding interest in magic. In 1996, "He made a tape of his magic performances and sent it in to ABC-TV. They were astonished and requested an interview, the result of which was their special “David Blaine: Street Magic,” a one-hour, prime time special which aired on September 14, 1997." Happy Birthday David!  

Article:: Magic Moments For a Brooklyn Boy 

Johnny Thompson - Laughing Matters

Johnny Thompson is the "Godfather of Magic" accoring to an article from the Niagra Falls Review whic promotes his participation in this weekend's Niagara Comedy Magic Seminar at the Greg Frewin Theatre. Thompson is joined there by Frewin and David Acer where they will attempt to help magicians understand the importance of humour in their performance. Thompson discusses the development of "The Great Tomsoni" in the piece when he relates the details of a performance at the NY Playboy VClub in which he based the act on the materian of Tom Palmer's character, "an arrogant performer who screwed up everything he did." "You fill another man's shoes, you don't know why he did what he did," explains Thompson. " 'You don't know what the subtext is. It was uncomfortable. It was OK, but I didn't get real laughs out of it.' He slowly put his own spin on it - walking on stage with the fly open, with two mismatched shoes, etc. He then created the persona of The Great Tomsoni - Poland's Finest Magician. Crowds ate it up and Thompson had his meal ticket. His wife Pam Hayes became part of the act playing his assistant and Thompson became a Vegas institution." Article:: Laughing Matters 

Jeff McBride & Kevin James Among Six Illusionists to Perform in Istanbul

Jeff McBride, Kevin James, Lee Alex, Erix Logand and Aaron Crow will headline "Stars of Magic 2008" which will show from April 16th - 20th in Istanbul. Accoring to an article promoting the event in the New Anatolian, "Alex will celebrate the 25th anniversary of his performance life in Istanbul. Logan has won the best illusionist award for three times, while James will perform his "cutting" show in Istanbul, and Crow challenges danger using his sixth sense."  Article:: World Famous Illusionists Gather in Instanbul Watch the Video Trailer: