Truth be told, I almost missed this week’s Forum Post of the Week. I was skimming this interesting thread about Daniel Madison, not really reading it. Then another user nudged me toward this post by user Medifro, saying it was well-written. Once I read it fully, there was no doubt.
The honor belongs to Medifro and his thoughts about what it means to be an “underground” magician:
“This is not to say that there are no cliques in magic. You can form one yourself. Just get together with a couple of friends and start snubbing other magicians. But that’s no way the same as an underground magic circle. Its easy to understand why most of today’s magicians can’t tell the difference because they weren’t there back when magic was really an underground.”
Medifro goes on to define an underground magic circle as a group that hoards certain moves, sleights and techniques, keeping it from public consumption for years. As he notes later in the thread, it’s not a knock against professional magicians who market themselves as “underground” (he, like many others in the thread, compliment Madison’s skills) but those who fall in love with the concept of being “underground” without fully understanding its meaning. That perception can lead us to exclude others or close our minds to certain areas of magic performance. Here’s a tip: Don’t do that.
He speaks for 30 minutes about a recent misquote in a Page Six Magazine story, gives personal thoughts on David Blaine and the recent special, “David Blaine: Dive of Death”, and speaks about the beginnings of Ellusionist and magic on the Internet.
The podcast is featured here:
Earlier this week, Page Six published the report about David Blaine and his feelings about the flubbed ending. Reporter Rachel Syme talked to Blaine, some fans and members of the magic community and wrote a story that Jonathan Bayme, CEO of Theory 11, told iTricks “was not a fair assessment at all.”
Christian was quoted in the story as saying Blaine was considered “a bit of a joke” among certain groups of magicians. His quote was used to suggest the magic industry feels betrayed by Blaine and his attention to stunts instead of magic. However, he told Justin Robert Young, of iTricks, earlier this week that he was taken completely out of context.
Today, Christian spoke at length with Magic Newswire about the story behind the story of the story. He also talks about the history of Ellusionist and more about David Blaine’s career.
This post if from one of our team members Adam Wilber. You may know him from his previous release Earbuds. I’ve had the pleasure of talking to Adam, and let me say, this guy is passionate about what he does and how he does it. He recently told me about a contest he won and how it allowed him to live out a dream. He wanted to tell all of you about it as well.
My name is Adam Wilber. I live and work in Burlington, VT at a company called Seventh Generation. On nights and weekends I perform close-up magic for adults as well as the occasional kid show. I have been working as a part time professional for the last 10 years.
My full time work with Seventh Generation is as rewarding of a job as one could imagine. The company produces house hold cleaning products that focus on sustainability as well as healthy living. The reason I bring this up is to put into context how working for this company landed me and my fiancé in the most inspiring magical theater on the planet, The Magic Castle.
Seventh Generation hosted an in-house contest that asked people to show how you speak for the trees. We had just partnered with Universal studios for the making of the movie The Lorax .
For those of you who don’t know what the Lorax is let me briefly explain. The Lorax is a Dr. Seuss book about a little orange critter who speaks for the tree’s as they have no voice of their own. It’s a beautiful story that will play a huge part in educating the children of today about the importance of living a sustainable lifestyle before it’s too late.
The rules of the contest were very simple. Be as creative as you can to show how you speak for the trees in your everyday life. The prize was two tickets to the world premier of the Lorax movie in Hollywood. Airfare, food, hotel and entertainment were all paid for by Seventh Generation to the one lucky winner. I decided to enter this contest with the goal of winning a chance to not only see this movie but also to secure the opportunity to visit a place I have dreamed about for many years …The Magic Castle.
My contest entry was a simple card trick with a voice-over added that showed how I speak for the trees.
Here’s the video if you choose to watch it:
Soon after entering I was approached by one of the judges who told me I had won and that at the end of the video 3 out of the 4 judges were literally in tears. This was a powerful moment.
It paints a perfect picture of how scripting a trick to your style and remaining honest and true throughout a performance can cause serious emotional connections with your audience.
This trick was in no way innovative, mind boggling or perfectly executed but the emotional connection it made with the judges struck a chord and in turn got me a trip to Hollywood!
The day had finally come when I would get to visit the place I have dreamed about for almost my entire life. We had late dinner reservations at the Castle so we ended up getting there 3 hours early so I could soak up as much of the experience as possible.
In a word I would describe the Magic castle as…Inspiring. This place was wall to wall, floor to ceiling, Magic! We got to see the close up performance before dinner and then had the privilege of seeing John Carney perform his after dinner show.
This was one of the best magic performances I have ever seen. It was elegant, funny, beautifully scripted and to top it off it fooled the hell out of me.
There are certain things in life that make lasting impressions and change the way you think about the direction your life is in. I can honestly say that this trip was one of those moments.
As I sat in the hotel room waiting to leave Hollywood to go back to Vermont, I couldn’t help but think of the opportunities and experiences that would come my way if I were to leave the state I know and love to move out west and join the community of this breathtaking place called The Magic Castle.
I would like to leave you with the idea that it doesn’t take much to connect with an audience, the best thing I have found to ring true over and over is:
Being yourself while performing your magic is what will allow your audience to be emotionally engaged and delighted by your magic.Nobody can be you just as none of us can be Slydini or Marlo or Malone but each and everyone one of us can be the absolute best representation of ourselves and that is magic in itself.
I would personally like to thank Adam Wilber for sharing this story with me and everyone in the magic community. I’m proud to call this man my friend and I look forward to continue working with him. Please leave your comments below on how magic has helped you accomplish one of your dreams, or how your using magic to get there.
Magicians laugh at the guys struggling tirelessly to get digits with crappy pickup lines, as we walk away with the phone numbers of girls they’ve been trying to get all night.
The truth is that magicians are much better suited to play the dating game than most guys. Magicians have advantages over regular guys because they are better listeners, charismatic and can react to a wide variety of situations. They also know how to engage attention and create mystery.
Here we will show you examples of sure-fire ways to get that hottie’s number using five of our favorite tricks tweaked specifically for the task… but be warned. These are not methods to trick or fool a girl into giving you her number. These just make the exchange something she’ll remember for a long time — and that’s a good thing. So use these sparingly, and only when she knows that digits are coming:
VH1 has given a big green light to a new TV series, “Celebracadabra”.
Stay tuned to the HOME PAGE of this blog for videos and shocking footage that not even VH1 has. We filmed the celebrities on their own terms doing and saying things you won’t believe…. you FOUND the underground Celebracadabra page. Own it by simply bookmarking it NOW.
Comedians, pop stars, and film actors learn amazing magic from top pros, then perform and shock others in various venues. From street magic, to a children’s birthday parties, to a Vegas stage with showgirls – these celebs now know what “practice” means.
Below, Pussycat Doll Kim Wyatt on location for Celebracadabra wearing an Ellusionist Beanie:
Seven TV, music and film stars study, learn and practice hard so they can battle for the title of“Best Celebrity Magician” and a $100K grand prize when they gather at the famous Magic Castle (the world’s most famous club for magicians) and other venues in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and attempt to learn and perform magic tricks and illusions normally left to the professionals.
Celebracadabra celebrities are C. Thomas Howell, comedian ANT, Hal Sparks, Chris Reid (Kid from Kid n’ Play), Lisa Ann Walter, Carnie Wilson, Kim Wyatt from The Pussycat Dolls.
Ellusionist sponsors the Series and will provide downloadable magic tricks for people to learn, tie-ins with the VH1 web site, contests, and additional rare pictures, info and footage shot by Ellusionist while on the Celebracadabra set. STAY TUNED TO THIS BLOG, BOOKMARK IT NOW —– NO KIDDING.
Guided by veteran magicians, the competitors face tough crowds and a master panel of judges (including Max Maven, Jeff McBride and Jonathan Levit who also plays host) who determine which celebrities get to advance to the next round and a shot at a $100,000 grand prize provided by the Ellusionist.com Street Magic Training Center.
Executive producers are Michael Hirschorn, Shelly Tatro, Karla Hidalgo and Chris Martin.
Currently, the Series is slated to debut on Sunday April 20 and run 9 weeks. Sunday is VH1′s biggest night of the week… Celebracadabra will be hot, filled with drama, magic, comedy and pretty faces. Check it.
Hal Sparks & C. Thomas Howell on location with Ellusionist:
Olá, ótimo post, outra opção seria tentar como mediada alternativa a criação de brindes promocionais como estrategia de marketing tanto na area mencionada no post quanto em outras areas. Temos o exemplo de algumas empresas de BH, que fizeram e está dando certo.
hey there and thank you for your information ? I’ve definitely picked up anything new from right here. I did then again experience several technical issues the usage of this web site, since I experienced to reload the site many times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been puzzling over in case your web hosting is OK? No longer that I’m complaining, but sluggish loading cases times will sometimes affect your placement in google and can damage your high-quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords. Well I am including this RSS to my e-mail and could look out for a lot extra of your respective fascinating content. Make sure you update this again very soon..
Thanks for another informative web-site. The place otherwise could I am getting that sort expertise written in this sort of excellent technique? I own a assignment that i’m just now managing for, we are actually for the seek out such information.
Truth be told, I almost missed this week’s Forum Post of the Week. I was skimming this interesting thread about Daniel Madison, not really reading it. Then another user nudged me toward this post by user Medifro, saying it was well-written. Once I read it fully, there was no doubt.
Brad Christian, President and founder of 
