Tuesday
Apr012008
Warning for David Blaine
David Blain has been getting an earful of advice from Rolling Stone's rocker Keith Richards. After hearing to Blaine's plans to attempt to break the world' record for sleep deprivation later this year, Richards offered a warning to the magician by telling reporters that he thought that he had managed to stay awake for more than nine days back in the 70's thanks to some chemical assistance. He reveals, "On the ninth day I was putting a tape into a tape deck. In 0.3 of a second I fell asleep and crashed head-first into a JVC speaker, smashing my nose apart. I just lay there and let it bleed. It was a chemical thing. (No kidding Keith!) Blaine plans to attempt his next stunt as part of an ABC special scheduled for release in September. SOURCE ARTICLE:: Richard's Sleep Warning for Blaine
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On April 1st, Brett Daniel's will open his new show at the Sahara. Presented almost as a broadway production, Wohscigam (pronounced wo-see-gam) is described as a historical murder mystery sleight-of-hand magic show. According to an article in the Las Vegas Sun article, the show is based upon an act by turn of the century magician Lester Tiband who was murdered before opening Night. Brett Daniel's says that he has tired of large scale illusion shows and started planning a show that focused more on sleight of hand. Brett goes on to say that the success of recent period piece films focused on magicians as The Prestige and the Illusionist convinced him that he was on the right track during the shows development. “In the last 10 years Las Vegas has opened up to anything new, so long as it has quality,” Daniel's says. “This is a visually based show, very eye-popping with dramatic sleight of hand.” “The Brett Daniel's Magic Show: Wohscigam,” is staged at 3 p.m. Mondays through Saturday at the Sahara.
It is no secret to the magic community that the land on which the Magic Castle rests is up for sale Mr ayers relates his efforts to gain admittance to the Castle and shares a bit of his experience after doing so with bogus credentials. Leading with a few antidotes about the secret entrance and talking urinals, he highlights the concerns that many have for the future of the castle as it is today. Reportedly, the asking price for the land on which the castle and Yamashiro's Restaurant are situated is $70 million. The castle building itself is protected as "Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument since 1989 and efforts are underway to have Yamashiro's receive the same protection. The castle was originally built in 1908 by Rollin B Lane who owned much of the land that would become Hollywood. It was taken over in 1961 by Milt Larsen whose father William Larsen Sr. published Genii Magazine. The Castle has since become the world-famous "home" to the Academy of Magical Arts and their invited guests. 
It will come as no surprise to anyone that is as big a fan of Ricky Jay as we are here that the new Mamet film features magician Ricky Jay. 
Among the 850 pieces recently of the Pugliese pop culture collection recently auctioned by Guernsey's of New York was this floor length canvas and leather straight jacket style bag originally brought to market by Butterfield & Butterfield in 1999. According to the article from ABC News, "This burlap, leather-front jacket was used by legendary magician Harry Houdini in his straightjacket escape act, but the buyer could not escape the five-figure auction price: It sold for $26,950." 
Jon Hirschtick may have performed magic to make a few bucks while growing up in Chicago, but he's not known for saying "Pick a card.. any Card." He's more likely to have been heard in Vegas casino's saying "Hit me!" His Vegas adventures as a member of the MIT Blackjack Team were documented in the Ben Mezrich book "Bringing Down The House" which has been made into a film starring Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne opening on March 28th. In an interview published in the Daily News, he says of the book and film, "Generally, they're both very well done, if you don't look at them too closely. They tell our story, and I'm grateful for them telling our story in a very professional way. As for '21,' I think it's a really good movie in terms of the quality of the production and the quality of acting." He is less complimentary of the lack of factual information put forth in the film with regard to the manner in which they put their knowledge to work. "(The filmmakers) wanted to create tension so they invented some things," he says. "I understand they wanted to add dramatic fiction; fine...but characters doing weird things like playing slots, shopping and sleeping with strippers? Then there's drinking and playing - that's a no-no - and the way they lose control and bet without counting - no. It's
Students at Muhlenberg College in Allentown Pennsylvania were pleasantly surprised by the appearance of street magician David Blaine during a lecture hosted by his friend William Kalush on Wednesday. Kalush, the author of the 2006 book "The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero," was present at the school to deliver a lecture on his, and Blaine's favorite topic, Harry Houdini. The lecture was part of a program presented by Dr. Lawrence Haas entitled ''Theory and Art of Magic 2008." Blaine has often been compared to Houdini for his ability for self promotion and stated during his appearance that Houdini had been a lifelong role model. Several articles from the Allentown Morning Call presented details on the lecture and quote Blaine as saying, "Houdini's stunts verged on believability" and that they influenced the nature of his own undertakings, which he summarized as ''being able to survive on nothing in an age of excess.'' Kalush calls Houdini ''an absolute master of publicity'' and pointed out that he ''manipulated and created'' the challenges that made him famous. That's why his name will be in our language for hundreds of years. According to the Morning Call, "Blaine said he probably would try to surpass the record for staying awake -- more than 11 days -- in mid-September. He added the Guinness Book of Records stopped listing the mark because of concerns the effort carries the risk of permanent brain damage."
Much like the many challenges faced by Houdini during his career as an escapologist, British magician Danny Hunt was dared by a local fabricator to escape from a contraption or original design. In an article from the Scarborough Evening News, Chris Deighton, manager of Nor-Wal Fabrications said, "I thought I could make something which he would find hard to get out of so I made the mask for him. It is very heavy and when I made it I thought there was no chance he could get out of here." Hunt was first padlocked into the mask then handcuffed. He agreed to wear the mask for a full twenty four hours if he failed to free himself from all constraints in under five minutes. Two minutes and forty five seconds later, he was free.
Magician Penn Jillette was revealed as one of the first competitors to be eliminated from the popular celebrity competition Dancing with the Stars. During the episode, the Las Vegas Magician staged a mock protest in front of the audience saying, "I want to be clear, we are not giving up. We're going to rehearse all week, and we will be back there dancing in the parking lot." In an interview on Good Morning America, the 6 foot 6-inch-tall Penn joked, "It's very odd to be doing this the best way you can with somebody and not be able to see them. You know, Kym's here"pointing to his chest. In other articles he discussed physical limitations which he felt contributed to his loss. "Both of my feet are broken and that's true. I broke one in high school. And I broke one in '83 on stage at the Roxie; so, each of them is broken. I'm also huge. I'm the biggest person that's ever been on the show in terms of weight and height." Penn lost fifty pounds before joining the show's cast.