Back to the real world

After more than two years of hiding on Zoom, I’m delighted to be back in front of a live audience. This week, I’ll be appearing on The Newest Trick in the Book.

Thursday, May 26, 2022 at 8:00 PM
Royal Comedy Theatre
1051 Bloor Street West Toronto

This is a jam-packed show featuring ten magic and mystery performers to celebrate a return to face-to-face magic in the real world. Tickets are free, but must be reserved in advance.

I’ll be appearing alongside Jonah Babins, Ryan Brown, Mark Clearview, Michael Craig Francis, Chris Mayhew, Patrick Nemeth, Lukas Stark, Ben Train, Chris Westfall and The Sentimentalists.

 

Tonight - With An Extra Helping of Magic

I’d like to invite all readers to join us this evening for a special virtual magic show. I will be hosting the show along with over a dozen magicians from the Sid Lorraine Hat & Rabbit Club, a (not so) secret society. Our goal is twofold. First to share some magic and have a little bit of fun this holiday season. Second, we are raising money for the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto.

As of this moment, we have already raised $3,000 and the show hasn’t even started yet. Please consider joining us below for a nice fun show. (The show will be live at 8PM Eastern on Thursday, December 9, but we will leave the recording up for at least a few weeks for those

A Virtual Holiday Magic Fundraiser

Coming up in two weeks, I’ll be hosting a special holiday magic fundraiser online raising money for the Daily Bread Food Bank. Since it’s still not a fabulous idea to get together in person, we will be performing virtually. Over a dozen members of our local (not so) secret magic society, The Sid Lorraine Hat & Rabbit Club will be sharing some fun holiday magic from home.

Last year’s fundraiser raised over $7,000 and we’ll try our best to beat that this year. If you’re free, please consider joining us on Thursday, December 9 at 8PM Eastern to watch the show. We are already accepting donations for our campaign. All funds go directly to the Daily Bread Food Bank.

David "Baldini" Grosfield (1966-2021)

Remembering our colleague David “Baldini” Grosfield, who passed away suddenly last weekend. Baldini was a force of nature. His enthusiasm for magic - and for life - filled the room from the moment he walked in and there was no hiding from it.

We worked together several times over the years. He performed and hosted on shows that I produced and was a master networker who was often able to find just the right venue for whatever our next project was.

He went on to host a long-running series of performances at the Ontario Science Center presenting on The Science of Magic. Those later spun off into a series of extracurricular workshops offered to schools through the GTA. In addition to performing and teaching magic, he also had a profound impact mentoring a number of young performers.

His influence and enthusiasm will be deeply missed.

A Magician and an Economist walk into a Bar

Although these days, it’s probably not a bar, it’s just a zoom call. The University of Chicago economist, Steven Levitt, who wrote the wildly popular Freakonomics and its various sequels, recently started a podcast: People I (mostly) Admire. His most recent guest was magician Joshua Jay.

Joshua plays a prominent role around the world bringing magicians together. For over a decade he was the editor of the tricks column for one of the largest magic magazines in the world. Later he co-founded a magic publishing company which shares secret material around the world and organizes conferences both in the US and the UK. (Picture a hotel filled with nine hundred magicians for a weekend….)

I enjoyed the discussion about how magicians think and create. Many professions are known entirely through cliches and stereotypes and magic is certainly one of them.

A Person Sized Optical Illusion

Happy New Year!

It was certainly a strange holiday season but hopefully everyone found some safe enjoyment and an opportunity to connect with loved ones, even if that might not have been in person.

Here’s a little bit of magical “eye candy” in the form of a person-sized optical illusion from Derek Muller and Veritasium:

Optical illusions present some of the most magical experiences. That’s because the magic remains even after they’ve been explained. That whole thing about magicians swearing never to reveal the secrets? That’s usually because most magic secrets trigger a response of “Wait?!? That’s it?” which generally leads to disappointment and also pretty much guarantees that you’re never able to enjoy the same trick in the same way. (Unless, of course, you learn to do it yourself, then you derive enjoyment from giving that sense of wonder to others, even if you can’t experience the “magic” yourself.)