Matt DiSero - Live from my Bedroom

Ok, that sounded wrong... Last week, while the irritatingly photogenic Keith Brown was busy swallowing sewing needles at Magic Tonight (long story), there were doings transpiring backstage at the Crimson Lounge. Adam Pal was interviewing Matt DiSero for the PalmCast "Live from my Bedroom".

I have no idea what they were talking about, but at some point in the middle, I got talked into performing a card trick for a ten-year old child who happened to be there. Of course it's radio, so for all you know, I was just shouting at an innocent child while riffling cards next to a microphone. We'll never know for sure.

You can listen to the whole interview below:

Magic Tonight is performed weekly in Toronto, Mississauga and Pickering with a fabulous assortment of special guests — including Matt DiSero on Sunday March 8! Readers of this blog can use the code reality when buying tickets online for a special discount on the price of tickets and dinner.

Mar 8 DiSero

Face 2 Face

Last year at Magic Tonight, we hosted a special fundraiser dinner for the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Following the show, in an effort to add some educational content to our programming, we did an extended interview and Q&A with Michael Close and the host of Face2Face, David Peck. We were allegedly discussing "Wonder in the 21st Century" or "The Role of Magic in a Modern Secular Society", but it was in front of a live audience with Q&A and tangents galore, discussing the history of magic, the theory behind why magic works and a few other things. The audio from that interview is now available online for the world to listen to. Stream or download over at DavidPeckLive.com, or look for Face2Face on Rabble and iTunes. 

Magic Tonight has weekly performances in Toronto, Mississauga and Pickering with a variety of special guests. Readers of this blog can use the code reality when buying tickets online for a special discount on the price of tickets and dinner.

Because sometimes words aren't necessary

Taken yesterday evening at Magic Tonight at The Bear in Pickering.

The show runs weekly in Toronto, Mississauga and Pickering. Readers of this blog can use the code reality for a special discount on show tickets and dinner when ordering online.

A week of Funny Faces

Any time we have a show, we try to preserve the memories with photos — smiles, shock, astonishment, bewilderment, wonder. The gallery over at Abracadabaret.com has a substantial collection. I've shot some myself. Other times I hand off the camera to see what someone else captures. Sometimes the photos are gorgeous, and other times the lighting is substandard, or the background is just strange. But through these photos — sorting them, cropping them, shooting them myself — has taught me a great deal about the performance of magic. Magic is an extremely difficult thing to photograph. Magic isn't static; it's based almost entirely on transformation and change. If a woman vanishes and I take a photo, a woman not in a photograph is not particularly impressive. It's the change from woman standing there to woman not standing there that makes for magic. Even mind reading, which some now consider to be magic in its purest form, is categorically unphotogenic. If I take your secret thoughts and speak them out loud, the resulting picture of our faces might be indistinguishable from the photo we'd get if I had just told you an exceptional "Knock-knock" joke.

And as I'm fond of telling young magicians, if you make cards magically spew from your mouth (a cool trick if ever there were one) don't take a picture of it. To the outside world, it simply looks like you are chewing on a fan of cards.

Most of the people who appear on the show are "talking acts". That means that a large portion of the photos taken will capture the face in the middle of a word. Not the most flattering position. This week, I was sorting through photos and the strange and funny faces seemed to jump out at me. So here, without anyone's consent, is a collection of The Funny Faces of Magic Tonight.

Thanks to Ron Guttman, Jason Palter, Brian Roberts and the irritatingly photogenic Keith Brown for not punching me.

Magic Tonight happens every week in Mississauga, Pickering and Toronto. Readers of this blog can use the code reality for a special discount when buying tickets online.

This week on Magic Tonight

I'm incredibly excited. We have a special guest visiting this week (and spilling over into next week) from England. The legendary comic performer, Wes Zaharuk is a true artist and his work is truly an exhibition of the trans-mundane! Which is to say it's some pretty freaky stuff. We also have a dear friend, Ben Train. Ben doesn't normally perform for the public. He's normally consulting and creating magic for other magicians - now with a company dedicated to that aim, Five Academy.

Chris Mayhew is a comedic performer from Calgary who recently performed at the world famous Magic Castle in Hollywood.

Ben will be at the Franklin House in Streestville Thursday (Feb 12). Wes will be at The Bear in Pickering (Feb 13)and at The Franklin House the following Thursday (Feb 19). Readers of the blog can use the code reality when buying tickets online for a special discount. Chris will be a the Crimson Lounge in Toronto Sunday (Feb 15)

For more information, visit www.MagicTonight.ca

Feb 12 Train

Feb 13 Zaharuk

Feb 15 Mayhew

Feb 19 Zaharuk

Last week on Magic Tonight

Things are going quite well. Audience sizes are steadily growing at our new venues in Mississauga and Pickering. If you have friends outside of the city that you would enjoy the show, send them our way. They can use the code reality when buying tickets online for a special discount. Last week featured performances from Jason Palter, Brian Roberts, Keith Brown and some dude named James Alan:

There's more great magic coming this week so stay tuned to see who's on the lineup. We also love when the audience posts photos from the show (this is one of the few performances where we let people take photos). Mark them with the hashtag #MagicTonight so we can find them!