Magic New Zealand® E-zine

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* Magic New Zealand®
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Issue Number: #1717
Date: Sunday 28th May 2023
Editor: Alan Watson QSM
www.watson.co.nz
E-mail: Editor@magicnewzealand.com

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Hi here is the latest news
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1. Editor's Message
2. Penn & Teller UK Tour
3. June Issue Of Genii Magazine
4. The Magic Word Podcast Backlog
5. Magic Castle June Performing Schedule, Hollywood
6. KIDabra Conference News
7. No Stone Unturned - Paul Stone - Article #109
8. Magic Museum Bellachini - Episode 32
9. Tales From The Fantastic Magic Center - #42
10. Scattered! John Carey #200
11. E-zine Archives
12. Privacy Policy And Copyright Notice

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1. Editor's Message
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If you would like to read the Magic New Zealand e-zine in HTML format go to: https://www.magicnewzealand.com/ezine-archive/2023-Jan-to-Dec-2023/1717-May28-2023.html

If you would like to write a regular column for Magic New Zealand or
have some magic news drop me a line:
Editor@MagicNewZealand.com

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2. Penn & Teller UK Tour
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Just a little over a week until we start our 2023 #uktour !

A few tickets still remain and we will be doing special ticketed VIP meet and greets after the shows in London.

Link for tickets:
https://www.aegpresents.co.uk/events/detail/penn-teller-1

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3. June Issue Of Genii Magazine
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Message by Richard Kaufman - Editor Genii Magazine

The June issue of Genii, The Conjurors' Magazine, is now live. You can subscribe to Genii today for as little as $35 worldwide, and receive not only a new issue every month but also access to every issue of Genii going back to 1936 and all 300 issues of MAGIC magazine via our app and browser service. Subscribe at www.geniimagazine.com

To France for our cover story on Bernard Bilis, one of the elder statesman of French card magic. With hundreds and hundreds of television appearances, and a career spanning half a century, he does extremely hard card work with ease, yet his presentations are effective and commercial. This month you'll learn all about the man and his magic from Carl Mercurio, who also brings you three of Bilis's most famous card routines.

We're pleased to welcome Robert Ramirez as the new editor of "Magicana" with this issue. I've known Robert for quite a while and hired him to perform at the 2019 Genii Convention. He lives in Los Angeles, performs regularly at The Magic Castle, and is also one of the mediums there for the Houdini Séance. He's and all-around talented guy who will do a great job.

Don't let the second handling of the Spin Revealment by Ed Marlo described by Jon Racherbaumer in this month's "Exhumations" slip past you - it uses optics for the visible change of a tabled spinning card.

There's a particularly fine trick this month from Jonathan Friedman in "WWPD". The title, I feel compelled to remind everyone, is "What Would Paul Do" not "What Paul Does". The column embodies Jonathan's approach to card magic with a Paul Harris mindset. These are not Paul's tricks. But Paul does have a big new book of tricks coming out either this year or next! See, the pandemic was good for something.

Jim Steinmeyer provides a bit of clever no-prop mentalism for the poet in you this month in "Conjuring".

In "Material Concessions" Mr. Regal gets himself into a sticky wicket and vanishes a coin.
Krystyn Lambert passes along some excellent thoughts on consistency in your act in "Stage as Studio".

In "Dealing With It" John Bannon knocks it out the park without one iota of sleight of hand in a multiple climax trick with which he's been wowing his friends for the past few months; you have to visit "Bongo Alley".
Teller, monkeys, Debbie McGee, and a wax cylinder containing new recordings of the world's most famous magician's voice - Vanessa Armstrong gathers the notable and sometimes strange in this month's "The Eye".

In Shawn McMaster's coverage of The Academy of Magical Arts and the Magic Castle, he brings you the latest appearances by Dan Sperry, The Evasons, and The Sentimentalists.
The issue wraps with reviews of the latest books, videos, and tricks from Tom Frame, Bill Wells, and Tom Dobrowolski.

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4. The Magic Word Podcast
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Message by Scott Wells, M.I.M.C. with Gold Star (US)

This week we are back on the convention trail, but it's not really going to be a magic convention in any traditional sense. I will be traveling to Dallas, Texas, for Pebblepalooza which is more of a "super session" and intended for those who are members of the Pebble online forum. This group of dedicated card workers, organized by Lance Pierce, began about a decade ago but were delayed for the past three years due to something or other that prevented them from convening.

But now they are back with Pebblepalooza 8.3 (the three being the three years they didn't meet) with an intimate group of about 50 or so card people who stay up late around the lobby sessioning. There are no big shows, contests, nor frills of any kind, though there are a few lectures by people like Gary Plants, Erik Tait, Doug Conn and (I think) Jared Kopf plus a few performances, but mostly it's about the sessioning.

I intend to release a podcast late Saturday night covering the one and a half day event in one report. That means that there is not podcast available now but this link https://www.themagicwordpodcast.com/scottwellsmagic/762-pebblepalooza-2023 will not work until I post something this weekend. But at least you have it and can try it perhaps on Sunday, depending on your time zone. All of this is really dependent on whether or not the organizer allows me to post anything about this rather underground, secretive event. Stay tuned.

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5. Magic Castle June Performing Schedule, Hollywood
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May 29-June 4, 2023

Close-Up Gallery
Cocktail: Sharpo
Early: Gianfranco Preverino
Late: Marco Aimone

The Parlour of Prestidigitation
Early: Aurelio Paviato
Late: Felix Jones

Palace of Mystery
Mortenn Christiansen
Pop Haydn
Dan Birch

Saturday & Sunday
Palace Show
Mortenn Christiansen
Pop Haydn
Dan Birch

Peller Theatre
Paid Programming with Dave & Tyler

The Hat and Hare
Nick Dopuch
Mike Pisciotta
Bob Gebert

Library Bar
HUBB

Friday Lunch
Marco Aimone

Saturday & Sunday
Parlour Kids Show
(Kids of All Ages)
Greg Wilson

June 5-11, 2023

Close-Up Gallery
Cocktail: Man in the Purple Suit Jonathan Molo
Early: Ed Ellis
Late: Mark Matsumoto

The Parlour of Prestidigitation
Early: Santiago Michel
Late: Shawn McMaster
Palace of Mystery
Jonathan Neal
Christopher Hart

Saturday & Sunday
Palace Show
Jonathan Neal
Christopher Hart

Peller Theatre
Chuck Jones
Fernando Velasco

The Hat and Hare
Nick Dopuch
Mike Pisciotta
Bob Gebert

Library Bar
Doc Eason

Friday Lunch
Ed Ellis

Saturday
Parlour Kids Show
(Kids of All Ages)
Shawn McMaster

June 12-18, 2023

Close-Up Gallery
Cocktail: Mike Elkan
Early: Michael Kaminskas
Late: Zabrecky

The Parlour of Prestidigitation
Early: David Stryker
Late: Rich Hurley

Palace of Mystery
Michael Dordant
Meadow Perry
Oscar Munoz
Saturday & Sunday
Palace Show
Michael Dordant
Meadow Perry

Peller Theatre
Bruce Gold
Dave Cox

The Hat and Hare
Nick Dopuch
Mike Pisciotta
Bob Gebert

Library Bar
Doc Eason

Friday Lunch
Marco Aimone

Saturday & Sunday
Parlour Kids Show
(Kids of All Ages)
Oscar Munoz

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6. KIDabra Conference News
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Message by Mark Daniel (US)

August 16 -19 2023 Chattanooga, Tennessee

Do you know a deserving young performer?
Please tell them about the Joe Leffler/ John and Joan McClenahan Legacy Youth Scholarship at KIDabra which is especially for young variety artists who are serious about pursuing KIDshow and Family Performing.

Applications are open for folks 15-21 years old to apply from anywhere in the world.

One scholarship will be awarded this year that goes toward KIDabra Conference Registration, Hotel and expenses totaling $1000.00. (Any additional expenses incurred are the responsibility of the scholarship winner.)

Deadline for Application Submission for this year is July 1. Find the scholarship application at www.kidabra.org/lefler-scholarship

The Legacy Scholarship is administered by The Davie Community Foundation and is endowed through contributions by KIDabra Supporters. It is open to youth throughout the world interested in the art and business of Family and KIDshow Performance.

This scholarship has seen some amazing young people come through KIDabra and go on to great things.

Joe Lefler was much loved in our magic and performer's community. For a long time he held the record of highest sales of videos for his Mr. Tricky balloon modeling videos, and they inspired many of today's terrific Balloon Artists.

His amazing show tables and props continue to live on through Showtime Magic with Christopher Weed & Cesar Cortes.

Joe loved helping and encouraging young performers and we're thrilled that his legacy of doing that continues!

John & Joan McClenahan were major supporters of the scholarship from its inception, although anonymously, until now.

They lived a life of service, and were well-known in Las Vegas for their hospital visits. John also owned a Magic Shop (the former Denny's Magic) for the last several years of his life. They were longtime KIDabra supporters and they loved Joe.

KIDshow & family performers are invited to join us August 16 through the 19th in Chattanooga, Tennessee featuring lectures, workshops, shows and more with:
David Ginn, GA, Maga Gaia, Italy, Christopher T. Magician, So Cal
Niels Duinker, TN, David Kaye (Silly Billy), NY, Jozo Bozo, Croatia
Mago Mai, Venezuela, Greg Britt, New Zealand, PeeWee Morales, NJ
Cris Johnson, NY, Dean Carnegie, TN, Barry Mitchell, TN
Ken Scott, GA, Steve Axtell, TN, Buster Ballon, So Cal
Annie Banannie, So Cal, Chris Weed, AZ, Tim Gaines, LA
Nathan J Roberts, MO, Gary Shelton, NC, Glenn Strange, SC
Tim Pressley, TN and your hosts Mark & Tami Daniel

However we're never truly complete until you're with us too!

Full info at kidabra.org

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7. No Stone Unturned - Paul Stone - Article #109
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Message by Paul Stone (US)

In last week's article I mentioned that I was due to visit Marvyn's Magic Theater in La Quinta. I had once previously visited there, it was before the pandemic and was in the process of being built.

At that time Marvyn Roy was living in a Care Home nearby and I took the opportunity of interviewing him. It was, as you would expect, a fascinating interview, and Marvyn was on top form. In fact, he outlasted the camera batteries and we had to call it a day after three hours!
I was only looking at the footage a couple of days ago, and it is an interesting insight into one part of Marvyn's life. I have other interviews that I've done with a few magic celebrities who are sadly no longer with us, and one day I should probably release them for magicians to see. I'm a big fan of anything that preserves the legacy of the great performers who have tread the boards before us.

Back to Marvyn's Magic Theater! I knew it would be an impressive venue, but I hadn't expected it to be as outstanding as it has turned out to be.

From the moment you walk in the front door it oozes class. Punters are welcomed by both Yvonne and Jeff Hobson before magically entering a superbly designed bar area, which also houses a piano and informal seating where Jeff performs a 30 minute pre-show Close-up set.
Although Jeff is known predominantly for his comedy stand-up act and emceeing expertise, his close-up or rather parlour set, not only features strong magic, but also manages to weave in the same comedic moments that are his trademark.

The theater itself is intimate, with every seat in the house a good one, and the sound and lighting is state of the art.

Marvyn's, is open on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday and features a different magician every week, which is no mean feat in itself. I can attest to that from my own experience producing 'Vegas Magic Theatre' at the Gold Coast Hotel & Casino here in Las Vegas for a year.
The challenge is to keep a high level of performer, and build a regular clientele. And Jeff has definitely achieved this, bringing in some stellar performers to appear at Marvyn's.

Not content to just fill the pre-show slot, Jeff also becomes the emcee and best 'warm up' act you could find anywhere. To be honest, he's almost too good for the week's 'headline' performer to follow!

On this occasion the headline act was Peter Samelson, from New York. I had never previously seen Peter work, although of course I was aware of his excellent reputation. I'm sure he won't mind me calling him a veteran performer as he's been a successful magical entertainer around the magic scene for many years.

I couldn't begin to describe Peter's act except to say that it was packed with some great magic, creative mentalism, and cleverly used musical sound bites to enhance every routine. The many years of performing was very evident throughout Peter's act, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Sitting next to me at the show was another top magician, Eric Buss, who was in the area to perform the following night in Gay Blackstone's 'Masters of Illusion' touring show with Ed Alonzo and Tommy Wind.

I hadn't seen Eric since he performed at Vegas Magic Theatre for me, and it was good to catch up.

If you haven't visited Marvyn's Magic Theater yet, you should definitely put it on your bucket list. For your information, Marvyn's is for over 21's only, Doors open at 5pm, when you can get a drink and listen to the excellent jazz pianist, before Jeff's Close-up set at 5.30pm. The main show starts at 6pm and is finished by 7.30pm.

Marvyn's Magic Theater has been a huge undertaking to get off the ground. A project like this is tough enough at the best of times, but when you throw in the effect of the pandemic, it is something of a miracle that it came to fruition.

This is testament to both Yvonne and Jeff Hobson who run this exceptional venue superbly, and of course also to Gary Beutler who made the dream into a reality by supporting Jeff from day one. Long may it continue to flourish!

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8. Magic Museum Bellachini - Episode 32
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Message by Wittus Witt (Germany)

Today I would like to present you another rarity in my museum. First some history. At the end of 1980, beginning of 1990, the famous American collector Ken Klosterman (January 26, 1933 - October 21, 2020) visited me. He looked at my magic boxes with much interest. There were also some in his collection.

After a while he said: "But you are still missing one special magic box! Aha, and which one is that? It's a magic set on cufflinks? Cufflinks?? I was dumbfounded and could imagine absolutely nothing about it.
Ken promised to send me such a set and give it as a gift. But it took time. Whenever we corresponded, he would write at the end: I have not forgotten about the cufflinks. They will come.

This dragged on for many years. Until I actually received a small package in the early 2000s. In it were two cufflinks. On the top of the cufflinks they are each a small container, about 2 x 1 x 1 cm in size. A lid closes the container. On each lid there is a mask with a devil's face.

In one container there are 52 small playing cards. In the other container are two tiny dice, a wand in two pieces that can be put together to make a large wand, and a tiny ball vase. It has to be the world's smallest ball vase.

I feature these magical cufflinks on my YouTube channel.

https://youtu.be/GQPjf8p3KV0

Finally, the question remains, has anyone ever heard of these magic cufflinks? Please let me know.

See you next week.

Wittus

www.hamburger-zaubermuseum.com=

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9. Tales From The Fantastic Magic Center - #42
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Message by Kent Cummins, Director (US)

The Mysterious Gonzales Light!

Last week I told you about the JSPR: Junior Society for Psychical research which I started in my home town of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was basically just me and a few of my buddies at Baton Rouge High School (Go, Bulldogs!), but we were intrigued and inspired by the work on parapsychology of Dr Joseph Banks and Louisa Rhine at Duke University.

We were also inspired by a new television show, in which host Rod Serling told us:

"Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone."

What could be more like the Twilight Zone than the infamous "Gonzales Light?"

Gonzales, Louisiana, was about a half hour drive from Baton Rouge, and it was a popular place for teenage boys to take their girlfriends…parking in the dark woods while waiting for the mysterious light. (We might have to hold the girls tightly to keep them from being terrified at these ghostly happenings!)

It would be dark and quiet…and then out of nowhere, we would see a light in the distance!

A recent internet article concludes, "This mysterious light appears around Gonzales, LA and is generally assumed to be luminescent swamp gas given off by decaying organic matter. Sorry, not buying that one after my experience with it."

But the JSPR was convinced that it was just the reflection of automobile headlights off some metal scrap in the woods. Nobody thought it was ghosts. You don't think it was ghosts, do you?

Bottom of Form

The Fantastic Magic Center is dedicated to preserving and sharing the art of magic. But I can't do it without your help. My Patreon account is the same place as my free weekly podcast:

www.FantasticMagicCenter.com
kent@magichotline.com

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10. Stealth Prediction - John Carey #200
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Message by John Carey (UK)
http://www.johncareymagic.co.uk/

I've had much fun of late exploring the old '9 force'. I wish I knew who to credit? In case you don't know it, the spectator thinks of a number between 10 and 20. Then they add the two digits together to form a smaller number. Then just for 'fun' they subtract the smaller number from the number they thought of to form what appears to be a randomly generated number. In fact it will always be 9.

Here's an application: The magician brings out a deck of cards and riffle shuffles it. He then asks a spectator to turn one half face-up and shuffle it into the face-down half creating chaos. A number is thought of and the spectator deals and counts down to the face-down card at that number and removes the card. It is turned over showing the 7 of Spades. An envelope that has been in full view is opened and a card is removed. It's the 7 of Spades!

Method:

Preset the 7 of Spades at 9th from the top of the deck. Put a stranger 7 of Spades in an envelope. Bring out the deck and riffle shuffle, retaining the force card at its position. Turn the top half of the deck face-up and set it next to the other face-down half. Ask your helper to riffle shuffle face-up into face-down and square up. Pick up the deck and spread it showing a mess of cards and then flip the deck over and spread again, showing more chaos. Table the deck and then execute the '9 force' on your spectator.

"So Mick, you are thinking of a random number and at the same time you shuffled earlier creating a mess of face-up and face-down cards. What number are you thinking of? Ok let's deal down to the ninth face-down card, a card that nobody can see. Turn it over please. The 7 of Spades. But it could have been any card and remember, you shuffled and you merely thought of a number. Please open that envelope and take out the contents. Impossible!!!"

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11. E-zine Archives
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Back issues of the Magic New Zealand e- zine go to:
www.magicnewzealand.com

Click on the red button centre right "Archives"

When you enter the archive the e- zines are in issue order in folders for each year and are Coded, e.g. 001 Nov06 1999.txt first three numbers (001) denote issue number, then the date (Nov06) and the last figures the year (1999)

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12. Privacy Policy And Copyright Notice
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Our subscriber list is NOT made available to any other companies or individuals. We value every subscriber and respect your privacy.

You can subscribe to or unsubscribe from the Magic New Zealand® E- zine at: www.magicnewzealand.com

Magic New Zealand® E-zine is published each Sunday.

The opinions and statements expressed therein are those of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of Magic New Zealand®. Neither Magic New Zealand® nor Alan Watson QSM vouch for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, message, statement, or other information reported via Magic New Zealand® E-zine.

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