IBM/SAM combined convention MUM article online for FREE! Check out the PDF download.

I came across the article “Hats off to B.C. magicians” today in the Province where they mentioned the Kelowna Magic Club. Cool!

The province has a thriving magician community. The Vancouver Magic Circle, which meets monthly at Sunrise community hall, is the largest magicians’ club in Canada, with 150 members, some from as far away as Hope. There are smaller circles in Victoria and Kelowna.

(its the last paragraph)

Last Comic Standing
Thursday, August 7th, 8 p.m., NBC
Penn & Teller are scheduled to appear on this, the Season Six finale.

So You Think You Can Dance
Thursday, August 7th, 8 p.m., FOX
Sixteen members of the cast of BeLIEve will be performing “Homage to the Rabbits” on the first of the two-part Season Four finale. The number, choreographed by Wade Robson, does not feature any magic or Criss Angel, but it should still give us a feel for this new Cirque du Soleil production, which goes into previews September 12th and is scheduled to officially open October 10th.

[ Thanks MAGIC eUpdate! ]

My online friend and fellow magician Alym Amlani has been getting some media attention lately in a big way.

“We’re not saying let’s explain exactly how magic tricks are done. We’re saying scientists should look at why they work,” says study co-author Alym Amlani, a magician who has been transformed into a researcher at the University of B.C.

Read the whole article over at Canada.com

More articles on the same topic over at google news.

David Copperfield is coming to Kelowna’s Prospera Place on October 22nd. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (July 19th) at 10:00am.

Go to SelectYourTickets.com to buy your tickets.

Event Date:
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
8:30 pm

Event Date:
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
8:30 pm

Onsale Date:
Saturday, July 19, 2008
10:00 am

Well the 2008 PCAM convention is over and the reports and photo’s are rolling in. I wasn’t able to make it to the convention this year because I decided to visit Vegas instead (more on that in future posts). There’s thousands of photo’s from the convention posted online over at magic4us.com. Thanks to Elton & Anne for letting me live vicariously through the pictures

[My friend Dean Hankey running sound at the convention]

[Dean Hankey workin' the audience]

Fun Day in Gyro Park in Trail, BC includes live performance’s all day long

Rossland, BC – July 3, 2008 – The West Kootenay Boundary Regional Spirit of BC committee is pleased to celebrate BC150 and YOUR Heritage! The committee has a fun filled day planned for Sunday, July 27, 2008 to celebrate the province’s 150th anniversary of becoming a crown colony, as well as the Kootenay Boundary’s multicultural heritage. The cultural celebration will take place in the West Kootenay Boundary city of Trail at Gyro Park on Sunday, July 27 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and will feature a performance by Rivers Edge Theatre Group, Can-Can dancers, magician Ali K. Zam (From 12:00-1:00pm) and Canadian Country music recording artist, Craig Moritz. “The West Kootenay Boundary Spirit of BC Community Committee is pleased to organize this event that will coincide with BC’s 150th anniversary of becoming a Crown Colony,” said Maritza Reilly, Chair of the planning committee. “Our event plans to celebrate the cultural diversity, community strength and widespread achievement of not only our province but also of the West Kootenay Boundary area.”

Wow I’m so excited to announce that it’s confirmed! I talked to Shawn Farquhar and booked his lecture for the Okanagan Society of Magicians on Sunday October 19th! Mark your calendars now, you don’t want to miss this.

You will see great effects like:

MatriXpress
Don’t blink or you will miss this lightning fast matrix!

MagiCd
Magic for the digital age …

Blown Away
A card effect with a commercial twist.

The Ultimate Invisible Deck
A deck of cards turns to glass …

Torn 2 Pieces
The torn and almost restored photograph

Signed Card in Wallet
It doesn’t get and easier than this …

Tagged
Signed card trapped by a security tag in your coat!

Photo Finish
A poker chip moves so fast it gets trapped in a photo

Deck Switch
Completely invisible deck switch!

Admission is going to be just $20 so there’s absolutely no excuses for missing this amazing opportunity to see one of the world’s finest performers give a magic lecture.

This lecture features Shawn’s most amazing real world close-up material. But- there’s more. On Saturday October 18th Shawn will be performing a public stage show in Vernon. Tickets will eventually be up for sale on http://www.ticketseller.ca. Right now the website is only promoting shows up to August and the show is in October. I’ll let everyone know once tickets are available.

If your a magician from the Okanagan area and you’d like to be a part of the Okanagan Society of Magicians please give me a call at 250.575.SHOW(7469) or email me at alikzam@gmail.com.

With all the people who are watching Celebracadabra in Canada now it seems like there’s more and more people talking about the judges that were on the show.

I saw Rocco perform live once in Calgary several years ago, but I was too young to know anything about him. I did pick up a couple of d’lights though and I remember playing around with them in the hotel room. The only trick I remember Rocco doing was something where he takes a dice and slams it between his hands and it goes flat. I can’t remember if there was more to the routine or anything. I seem to recall something about it appearing on somebodies shoulder a few times, but I honestly can’t remember.

I’ve looked for videos of Rocco performing online but most of them are really bad quality with poor lighting and camera work. I came across this video today of Rocco’s award winning act. He won “Most Original Magic Act” in 2006 at FISM.

Great stuff. I love the smoke in the glass, the appearance of the popsicle, the fruit, and the glass filled with confetti at the end. Just fantastic!

It also looks like all of the Celebracadabra episodes are available as a digital download from amazon now. If you missed an episode then it might be worth it to check it out:

Well there’s be lots of talk on the blogs about how amazing Wall-E is. But, here at the magicblog we’re more interested in the short film before the movie called “Presto”. Well if you haven’t seen the movie (like me) you can still buy the short film online for $2 from iTunes. Or you could spend $5 more and go see the short film and Wall-E in theaters. Although… I’m sure that was their master plan all along!

You can find more wall-e tid bits over at kottke.

As many of you know, Dirk Losander and family are in need of our help. Here’s the letter Losander wrote to the magic community:

“I Need Your Help. Our little baby “Ione” was born 6 days ago. Today we found out she needs a heart operation and our insurance is not going to pay for it.

I am not writing you this to beg for money but if you need to buy something from my website now would be the time to help us out. Every Dollar counts and we really need all the support we can find right now! So if you feel like supporting this cause, go to my website and find your self some great magic and make this operation happen for us.

Click here!

Even if you are a non magician, we just came out with a new dvd “Las Vegas Greatest Magicians” which teaches you easy to learn magic. You can find it right here
or if you just want to donate some money for us please send it via PayPal to: losander@mac.com or just keep us in your prayers. Thank you so much for your support”

This is what Steve Brooks from the magic cafe had to add:

Now, since this letter was written little baby ‘Ione’ has had her surgery and is in revovery and doing very well.

That said, the bills continue to pour in to the Losander family on a daily basis. Not only has surgery been performed but many more visits requiring medical attention will be required.

So PLEASE, I emplore you to take a moment and seriously consider this very worthwhile cause. You’ll feel better for doing it and literally change lives in the process.

Thank you all and God bless.

If you’d like to support Losander but can’t find anything on his site that you’d like, check out the Vanishing Rabbit in Calgary Alberta.

The Vanishing Rabbit Magic Shop is donating 1% of all sales in July to Losander, Luna and their NEW Baby. So come in and by something.

I’ll be performing at Westside Daze on Sunday Night (June 29th 2008) at 7:00pm at the Johnson Bently Stage. Park behind A&W, you’ll see the signs and the shortcut to the park.The show runs till about 7:45pm. After me ABBA Again, an ABBA Tribute band, will be performing after me. So come on out and check it out.

You can see the event on Facebook by searching on facebook for “Ali K. Zam performing at Westside Daze!”. Apparently I can’t directly link to it because you need to belong to the “Kelowna” network before you can see it *shrugs*

For more information on the Westside Daze events check out their site for the full schedule.

PS: Tomorrow there’s a parade at 10:30am and tomorrow night in the Fireworks as well.