Magicians spread out, take over other venues

August 2, 2010

One is in a casino commercial. Another is in a cab. Another is making cupcakes. Another is investigating a friend’s death after a fight with a rock musician. I don’t remember a weekend where magicians got so much coverage for non-magical things. Only way to break something like this down is with bullets:

We knew Rich Ferguson was good with poker chips and cards. But he’s also good as a commercial actor. He appeared in a casino commercial standing in a wine cellar and, like the Old Spice guy, on a horse. They used his hands for some commercials to air in the future; we can’t wait to see them.
Lance Burton will be a competitor on Cash Cab sometime next week on Discovery Channel. Dodd Vickers at the Magic Newswire reports that he is also to appear on a new show called “Restorations.”
Justin Kredible, the magician who can be made to dance with a simple command from Ellusionist’s Shawn Mullins, is hosting Cupcake Wars on the Food Network. Justin Robert Young at iTricks found the promo.
Scottish magician Jerry Sadowitz is getting involved in a mother’s campaign to find out what happened to her son after a fight with Pete Doherty. Specifically, he will auction the secret of one of his famous card tricks to help the mother fund an investigation. This Daily Record report has the details.

At least Criss Angel is sticking to magic. The new season of “Mindfreak” starts Wednesday.

Posted by Joe Hadsall | Filed Under Criss Angel, General | 6 Comments

EMC registrants to receive free E download

July 9, 2010

It’ll really be here next week, won’t it?

The Essential Magic Conference will be held from July 15-17. You already know you have to be there: 33 speakers for $75? You kiddin’ me? On top of that, Ellusionist is sending a free download to EMC registrants. When you register before the deadline, you’ll get instructions on how to download your free video.

Here’s the latest two videos from EMC, featuring two incredible magicians:

Cyril Takayama:

Paul Draper:

Posted by Joe Hadsall | Filed Under Criss Angel, General | 9 Comments

Bullets: Fisher’s ‘Engine’ session, Blaine’s stunt, Mindfreak’s next season, Letterman features magic

May 12, 2010

Justin Robert Young over at iTricks is the man. He gives this blog and others credits and links for breaking the occasional story, but we don’t see anyone else giving him props for the stories he breaks three times as often. Dude put two and two together for a couple of biggies this week:

We don’t know about you, but we know where we’ll be on Saturday: Glued to our monitors. Aaron Fisher will be joined by Wayne Houchin and Steve Johnson for a special session about the book “The Paper Engine.” According to an e-mail, the free session should have plenty of time for questions and comments. The session starts at 12 p.m. Pacific on Saturday at aaronfishermagic.com (we’ll post a more accurate link closer to the session).
David Blaine was featured in this great interview with Interview Magazine. A bunch of people have forwarded this to me, but iTricks spotted the golden quote — namely, what Blaine’s final stunt will likely be. Although he isn’t forgetting about sleep deprivation, he plans to cross an ocean in a glass bottle. We suspect that the interviewer didn’t know the value of that quote.
Criss Angel’s Mindfreak will return to the A&E Network for a sixth season. iTricks made the connection that it would keep the hourlong format, although there was speculation otherwise.
We love Dodd Vickers over at the Magic Newswire, as well. That’s where we read that David Letterman is hosting a close-up magic week. We’re talking appearances from Steve Cohen, John Carney, Johnny “Ace” Palmer, Jason Randal and Michael Ammar. Consider us geeked. Guess Ellen DeGeneres is starting to get more influential than Oprah.

Posted by Joe Hadsall | Filed Under Criss Angel, David Blaine, General, Magic on TV | 3 Comments

Houchin: Binding breaks trigger delay of book

January 6, 2010

Wayne Houchin reports that a book-binding error has pushed back the release of Sinful: A Graphic Novel for a few weeks.

Houchin made the announcement in a daily update on his Web site. The video includes a painful demonstration of how the covers peeled away from the main book.

“I’m really not looking for a whole lot of things when it comes to a book,” Houchin said in the update. “A book is a book, it’s a pretty simple thing. But one of the things I’m not looking for is the cover to come off. It shouldn’t be detachable.”

Because quality is paramount to Houch, another run of books is in the works. Which means we have to wait another few months for this incredible book. Darnit. We’ve been stoked about this project ever since we heard about it.

Sinful: A Graphic Novel goes a step beyond the Sinful you learned back in the day — the original coin through soda can that helped make Criss Angel legendary. Drawn by artist Josh Funk, the book re-imagines a performance of the effect at a fictional club, then goes into incredible detail to teach the effect — including new ideas, alternate moves and a rare look into the creative process. The book also comes with a DVD that features new performance footage and an interview between Wayne and legendary close-up magician Paul Harris.

We know that the final product is going to be awesome. Until then, this behind-the-scenes with Funk will have to tide us over.

Posted by Joe Hadsall | Filed Under Criss Angel, General | 4 Comments

New routines, ideas, interviews part of Houchin’s Control: Director’s Cut

December 14, 2009

Magic evolves. A sleight or effect, once created, doesn’t just remain the same. It grows and learns, like a living creature, and we learn from it.

Wayne Houchin has been in the process of evolving two of his creations. We already told you about Sinful: The Graphic Novel. But another project he has coming out takes a heart-stopping (literally) effect and expands it in several different directions.

In Control, you make your heart stop at your command as a spectator feels your pulse slow, then stop. Control: The Directors Cut features everything in the original Control DVD, but also includes new presentations, ideas and interviews, including:

An effect called Stop by Daniel Garcia, which allows a spectator to hear your heart slow, then stop, as if you were knockin’ on heaven’s door.
An interview with Dexter, of Criss Angel’s Mindfreak.
Remember Randall? He’s back. We’ll leave it at that.

Control: The Director’s Cut features more than 143 minutes of Houchin’s teaching, performances, tips and more dealing with this death-defying effect. It is impromptu and chillingly convincing. It requires no gimmicks or gadgets under your arm. It will be available from Ellusionist very soon.

Posted by Joe Hadsall | Filed Under Criss Angel, Ellusionist Products, General | 3 Comments