magic is about honesty
everything here is true
except for the bits I made up
This Friday, I'll be performing at the Centre for Inquiry's Winter Solstice Party.
Friday, December 20, 2013 Tota Lounge - 592 Queen Street West Doors open at 7:00 Tickets $10 - online
CFI works to combat the harm of superstition, pseudoscience and religion by advancing the values of reason, science and secularism through education, activism and community. So join us for a special secular soiree and help us celebrate reason this season.
While catching up on sleep, I'm coming down from the high brought on by spending five days with Dani DaOrtiz. He was a guest, visiting from Spain, here to do a series of seminars and shows with Abracadabaret, The Hat & Rabbit Club and The Browser's Den of Magic. I remember first hearing about Dani and his magic four years ago. I remember not believing what I heard. After all, this is an industry built on misleading people (for entertainment) and we have no shortage of hype. Imagine my surprise when, earlier this year at Magi Fest in Columbus, Ohio, I saw Dani live. He wasn't just as good as they were saying, he was somehow better.
There is a feeling that comes with spending time with truly great magicians. It's a sense that anything is possible that seems to ooze out of their pores and seep into you by osmosis. Or maybe it's disorientation brought on by too much time in nice restaurants and not enough sleep. Who knows? But several other magicians that spent time with us mentioned a similar feeling… almost a religious experience. Apparently those can be brought on just as easily by card tricks!
More than a few people asked me how I was able to pull off organizing these events - the sold out show, sold out workshops and the lecture packed to the rafters with local magicians. The secret is, as usual, I cheat.
It takes a lot of people to coordinate large projects and these were no exceptions. Top of the list is the executive of the Hat & Rabbit Club: Chris Harvison, Pete DiLisi, Eric Simmatis and Andrew Goss (along with our secret cohort of learned advisors). Our partners in crime at The Browser's Den: Jeff Pinsky, Lisa & Michael Close. The crew at the Wychwood Theatre: Beth Brown, Dean Johnston, Joe Culpepper and Ivan Bekcic. And for being generally magical: the loveable Ben Train, the resourceful Chris Mayhew, the dependable Bobby Motta, the generous Daniel Zuckerbrot, the incomparable Mahdi Gilbert and the hunky Joshua Jay.
Now I'm going back to sleep, then to the gym. In the meantime, you can look at pictures:
Coming up in just over one week, we will be hosting a special event with renowned Spanish card magician, Dani DaOrtiz. The show takes place on Saturday, November 9 at 8:00 PM at The Wychwood Theatre. This is our third time at the Wychwood - an elegant and intimate space built into the old streetcar barns just off of St. Clair. Asi Wind performed there in 2011 and I had the premier of my show there in 2012. The venue is ideally suited to the performance. There are no bad seats in the house and Dani is a superlative performer. I first saw him live earlier this year in Columbus, OH performing for a room full of knowledgable magicians. Having seen a lot of magicians, I can tell you that few magicians can delight and entertain a room that size for an extended period of time. And even fewer can fool a room full of magicians. You could probably count the number of living magicians in the world who can do both on your fingers and Dani is one of them.
Tickets are now available online for $30 (fees and taxes already included) with discounted tickets for groups of five or more. Scroll down to purchase through Eventbrite using PayPal or your credit card. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the show.
I hope you can join us for what is sure to be an unforgettable event.
for
Dani DaOrtiz - Magic from Spain
powered by
Performances are family friendly but not recommended for children under twelve.
Produced in association with
,
The Sid Lorraine Hat & Rabbit Club
and the
.
As I've written previously, Abracadabaret (formerly Friday Night Magic) used to be a weekly show in downtown Toronto. Over the past five years we've presented a variety of special events and a number of different venues, but scattered throughout the year. After arriving at the Winchester earlier this year for a short run of Lies, Damn Lies & Magic Tricks, we began offering a monthly show. Now, we're formally declaring The Winchester in Cabbagetown our new home and we'll be presenting a weekly show every Sunday night at 7:00.
The Winchester is perfect for a magic show. Their stage has remarkable sound and lighting for a venue that size, there is free parking on the street, the menu is wonderful and it has just the right amount of magical weirdness: it features fireplaces in the middle of the walls, extra high ceilings which hold strange mysteries and the iconic Canadian magician Doug Henning used to live in the neighbourhood - there is even a small floral garden commemorating him around the corner!
As we did in years past, we will rotate through our favourite performers so that every show is different, and guests are free to come back as often as they like. To sweeten the deal, The Winchester has included a complimentary dinner buffet along with any ticket purchase (you'll still have to pay for your drinks, and you can still order off the regular menu... which is superb). We've also added discounts for groups purchasing tickets online, and additional discounts for groups of five or more.
To kick off the new series this Sunday (October 20) I'll be teaming up with the lovely and charming Rob Testa. I worked with Rob most recently on the Wendy's Canada #ExpectToBeAmazed online ad campaign. There were a lot of magicians on the set, but Rob was certainly the funniest and most personable on camera. His shows are extremely energetic, exciting and entertaining. I'm looking forward to being on stage with him this weekend.
I've received a few calls this week from people asking if the show is appropriate for children. That's a tough question to answer. While the show is certainly not designed for children, there's nothing particularly mature or offensive involved. We say officially that the show is not recommended for children under twelve, although we've had plenty of eight and nine year olds pass through over the years who have been perfectly delighted. So maybe kids are more mature than we give them credit for. I'm not sure.
Currently, we've signed on to perform weekly through the end of 2013, although we hope to continue that into 2014. If you're in the Toronto area, we'd love to see you at one of our shows. Come join us for an amazing night of magic.
We are also always looking to expand our roster of performers. The details are available at www.abracadabaret.com/secret-stuff/ Those are interested are welcome to contact me for the password.
This weekend, I finished the first round of shows for Illusions of Grandeur with my friend, Tyler Wilson. The goal was to create a true close-up magic show, instead of a show on stage that people had to watch from a distance. The worst seat in the house was 12 feet away from the "stage". The feedback we've received so far has been extraordinary. Tyler and I would like to thank everyone who was able to make it out. Putting together the show was an amazing experience. We had to assemble and script everything by email and there were several of Tyler's in the show that even I didn't even have the chance to see until the day before when Tyler arrived in Toronto.
At the moment, we don't have any concrete plans to remount the show anywhere, but I've spoken with Tyler and it's not entirely off the table... so keep an eye open for the possibility.
Here is the first round of photos from the show:
These are just the iPhone photos. The Abracadabaret elf, Chris Mayhew, is busily working on the nice ones.
The September instalment of Abracadabaret is coming up this weekend: Sunday, September 29 at the Winchester. The show starts at 7:00 with tickets available online or at the door.
I'm off that night, leaving the performance to three extremely capable individuals:
Nick is a gifted 'practitioner of the art of astonishment'. I've been a devoted fan of his work for years. He has been a fixture at the Hamilton Fringe festival, where I performed last year, winning Best in Fringe multiple times. He produces magnificent shows that are elegant and minimalist while at the same time being extremely enjoyable and making your brain hurt. Honestly, I've been trying to get him on one of the shows for years!
Jason has appeared at Abracadabaret and Friday Night Magic several times. He's an extremely funny and energetic comedy magician. I describe him the way Watterson described a tiger: He has no setting between high and off.
He is also the winner of the Canadian Event Industry's Entertainer of the Year award.
Chris arrived on Toronto's magic doorstep three years ago after leaving his native Calgary. When he showed up, he had a note pinned to the front of his shirt which read
Please take good care of Chris. If you give him a fresh deck of cards, a selection of Thai restaurants and good wifi, he won't leave you.
And he never has!
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