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Today I helped out setting up for Westbank’s Westside Daze Festival. I love helping out because normally I get to an event or a festival and everything is already setup and everything just runs like clockwork. I think its important for me to get “behind the scenes” and see what REALLY happens during an event.

I was helping setup the main stage today and they just got brand new chairs for the festival. In past years they had old wooden chairs but they’re getting pretty beat up these days. Well anyways, So I guess they ordered the chairs through Canadian Tire. They were told that it wasn’t a problem to order 250 of them and they could ship them to them in the next week. Well, it took them over a month to finally arrive. Half the lot of chairs ended up in Winnipeg somehow! But that’s not the bad part. Every chair had a sticker on it from the manufacturer. But get this, when Purolator sent the chairs by air shipment, they added one of those tracking stickers to EVERY SINGLE CHAIR. On top of it all, they added a “shipped by air” sticker too! So we had to setup all the chairs, and remove 3 stickers from every single one. And let me tell ya, those little tracking stickers are made out of some industrial strength glue because they’re designed to never come off! We tried our best to take them off but it just wasn’t working. We ended up having to buy a few bottles of that “goo be gone” stuff, soak the chairs, then remove the stickers, then we had to hose down all the chairs to get all the “goo be gone” residue off. It was just a nightmare.

Next year remind me not to help out. I’d rather just show up and see everything running like clockwork

Over the years I’ve received gifts from my audience. Sometimes though its a drawing of me (as seen here).

Recently though, Ceara did this charcoal drawing of me based on the photo that I have on my business card.

Not bad at all

For my newsletter I decided it would be neat to teach a magic trick. Now, I know the old saying that a “magician never reveals his secrets”. Well, that’s only half true. There are lots of tricks in magic that have been around for a long time that just keep getting passed on. The linking paper clips effect can be found in many beginner magic books, and has already been exposed online. For those reasons I don’t feel bad about putting together my own instructional video. I’ve also included it in my beginner magic trick section in the menu on the side.

I hope you liked the video. What do you think?

I hope everyone had a great day

“Young entrepreneur and magician Leif Thordarson of Westbank, aka Ali K. Zam, recently spoke- and did magic- at the B.C. Chamber of Commerce annual general meeting in Whistler.

Thordarson won the young entrepreneur of the year at the Westbank chamber’s most recently Key Business Awards.

He was invited to the B.C. chamber event to give his entrepreneurial success story.

[ Click for large version ]

Thordarson, now in his 20s, relayed how he started when he was height doing magic at birthday parties and corporate events.

His goal is to make magic his full-time job.

The illusion that impressed the B.C. chamber crowd the most was his bending and twisting of forks using only the power of his mind.”

*Article from the Saturday, June 14, 2008 The Daily Courier

You’re invited to the Annual Sunshine Festival in Vernon BC on June 14th (This Saturday)

Don’t miss the largest street fair/sidewalk sale in the North Okanagan with an upwards of 10,000 people in attendance. Downtown truly comes alive with block after block of outstanding bargains, entertainment, children’s activities, outside street cafes, art and cultural performances and much more!

This festival includes and is not limited to a rock climbing wall, 2 entertainment stages, 2-3 bounce and plays and face painting.

On the Main Stage (2900 Block) I will be performing a 30 minute family show at 11:30 AM.

On 3400 block at 1:10 PM I will be performing a 20 minute street show, along with another street show at 2:10 on 3100 block. Don’t miss it!

I’ll be performing at a number of other public festivals and events over the summer and I’ll update you as the dates get closer.

Shop & Experience the Westside, 50% off Goodie Bags

From June 23rd to July 1st, the entire city of Westbank will be on sale! For more information on the event goto www.comeonover.info

Ali K. Zam Productions will be offering 50% off goodie bags for your birthday party show if you book the show between June 23rd and July 1st. For more information on Ali K. Zam’s birthday party show, goto www.HassleFreeBirthday.com.

Do you have children? New booster seat law in BC

New laws in effect July 1, 2008
All children must use booster seats until their 9th birthday unless they have reached the height of 145 cm (4′9″) tall. For more information goto BCAA Traffic Safety Foundation.
http://www.tsfbcaa.com/boost_bc

The FUN corner

Optical Illusion (Image)

1. First open up: First click here doesn’t look like to much does it?
2. Stand up and goto the back of the room. Look closely and you should see a famous painting!

“Magic is about transformation. It reminds us that everything changes – including ourselves.” - Jeff McBride

Sign up for the Magical Moments Newsletter!!

Saturday morning started out with a buffet breakfast, then CEO and Foundder Brian from 1-800-Got-Junk? spoke and it was really quite interesting. Then there was another panel discussion, then finally the Best and the Brightest panel where I would be speaking with 3 other entrepreneurs. The others were Christopher from Mow & Snow Land Care, then Bob Wells and Scott Swanson from My Tech Guys.

15 minutes goes by really fast when you’re up there speaking, so I didn’t get a chance to cover everything I wanted to. Still though, I think everybody got the message I was trying to convey.

In the afternoon there was another policy session that I didn’t need to attend so I decided that I’d go out and explore what Whistler had to offer. Somebody was telling me about the “Zip Line” tours you could go on where you zip from tree to tree. I’d never really heard of anything like that before, but it sounded fun so I signed up for the Ziptrek Ecotours. Unfortunately I went by myself (although you go out in groups of 10), I had a blast and it was so much fun. If you ever get a chance to go, do it! The entire trek took about 3 hours, just in time to make it back for the final big dinner party back at the hotel.

At the dinner my mom found out that her chamber received a certificate for honorable mention for Chamber of the year. She was soo excited and that single moment was the highlight of the entire event for me!

After dinner I had a bunch of people come up to me and ask me to perform for their tables with I happily agreed to. A little later the band March Hare performed and they were excellent! They were high energy and kept everyone on the dance floor until 1am.

The next morning we were set to go back home, but before we left we decided to explore Whistler a little bit more. My mom and I decided to take the gondola up to the top of Blackcomb mountain.

Then we drove for 6 hours all the way back home. The end

If you read my last post then you know that last weekend I was invited to speak at the BC Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting. My mom works at the Westbank Chamber of Commerece and she was attending the event that I was going to speak at! How cool is that? It worked out well because we drove down together, and were able to share a hotel room.

We left a day early so that we wouldn’t have to rush or leave really early in the morning. The drive from here to Whistler was amazing. We went up through Merritt, up to Spenders Bridge, down to Lytton, then up through Lillott, and finally through Pemberton to Whistler.

The 5 hour drive took us 6 hours, but we made it safe and sound. We stayed at the Delta hotel. The room was pretty nice, had a washer/dryer, dishwasher. The extra blanket for the room was lumpy though, the lid for the coffee machine was missing, and the ironing board was broken but everything was fixed as soon as we asked. The service was top notch, as I would come to find out was standard everywhere I went in Whistler. This next photo is the view from our room.

We settled in then left the hotel to do a little exploring. This village is gorgeous, and we quickly found a little sushi restaurant that was fairly busy so we stopped for dinner.

The next day was registration. We were early, but my registration package hadn’t been put together yet because I was one of the speakers. I ended up getting it later on the same day. My mom went around networking with people that she hasn’t seen since last years event. I pulled her away for a moment and got somebody to take this picture of us.

The first day started out with a lunch, routine opening ceremony type stuff for the AGM, in the afternoon there were a few speakers, followed by a fancy dinner and a few more speakers (Detecting the theme here?).

The next morning started off with a breakfast, then the first policy session. This is where Chambers submit policy that the BC Chamber will pass onto the Government. The Westbank Chambers resolution was to increase the number of campsites. There were a few small language changes that had to be made so it wasn’t passed. In the afternoon there was a lunch, more speakers, then dinner, and more speakers. At night there was a little party where I took the time to break out the magic and perform.

For For Immediate Release

May 27, 2008

Local Magician Inspires with Entrepreneurial Message

Kelowna, BC - Leif Thordarson, better known as Ali K. Zam the magician, spoke at the BC Chamber of Commerce AGM during the “Best and the Brightest Entrepreneurial Success Stories” panel this past weekend in Whistler, BC.

The speakers for the panel were nominated by their local Chamber of Commerce’s after winning a Young Entrepreneurial award in their local communities. Thordarson was nominated after winning the 2007 KEY Business Young Entrepreneur award.

Thordarson who started his career at the young age of eight, highlighted the importance of loving what you do, recognizing that challenges are an opportunity for further growth, and that motivation is paramount to being successful. According to Thordarson, “I absolutely love magic. It’s Amazing. It’s easy to stay motivated when you love what you do.” His future goals include continuing to perform at birthday parties, family events, and corporate dinner parties. His ultimate goal is to continue to perform magic professionally for the rest of his life.

Thordarson mesmerized the audience when he performed his popular “Metal Bending” illusion, where he bends and twists a fork using only the power of his mind – this routine won him second place at the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians Convention in Calgary. “The convention hall later asked me not to bend their cutlery” says Thordarson jokingly “Everyone got a real thrill out of it.”

-30-

For more information:
Leif Thordarson
Ali K Zam Productions
Tel: (250) 575-7469
www.alikzam.com
High res pictures available at: http://www.alikzam.com/presskit.html

[Performance at the BC Chamber AGM during the Inaugural Chair's Dinner]

Download the files of pictures from the 2008 Valley Wide Afterhours

This past week I performed some mingling magic at the Valley Wide Afterhours event at the Cove Lakeside Resort. Once a year all the Okanagan chambers get together and host a networking event with trade show style booths, wine tasting, and entertainment. This years theme was “A New Beginning” to mark the birth of the newest city in the Okanagan Valley.

As you can see by the photo’s below, it was gorgeous out with approximately 600 people!

I also helped setup for the event, which was fun because I got to help people bring in their equipment with a golf cart. I had never driven one before, so it was kind of exciting.

This week I was fortunate to perform on Kelowna’s Executive Houseboat The Boardroom once again. I was hired to perform some mingling close-up magic during the cruise on Okanagan Lake for a group of Lawyers and Accountants from all over Canada who were in town for a conference.

As soon as I started performing I knew it was going to be a great group. Everyone was in such a great mood since it was absolutely gorgeous out. A perfect day to be out on the lake for sure. Right at the start of the cruise we went up along the new bridge construction and I took a few photo’s for my dad to see. He loves that kind of stuff. These photo’s don’t really do it justice. It was a perfect day to be out on the lake.

Here’s a testimonial from the event coordinator, the event manager, and some of the guests.

What a great show. I’m looking forward to working on Kelowna’s Boardroom again!!

Over at iTricks today there was a wicked interview with Chris Martin who’s the creator and executive producer of Celebracadabra. If you’re interested in the show at all check out the interview, its quite funny and he even reveals some information about upcoming shows.

I was sad to hear that they snuck in some decoy footage into the opening to mislead you on who stays or gets eliminated. I was totally checking it to see if I could tell who was going to get eliminated

Chris said that he’d answer any questions about the show, so I’ve sent an email to him with the following questions:

• Who were other possible celebrities?
• Who were other possible judges?
• How did Ellusionist become the sponsor for the show?
• Do you have future projects in mind?
• I’m amazed by the quality of magic that has been performed and the thought that the judges put into it. The judges have been brilliant and come up with effects that are both visual/powerful for TV, and yet can be taught with very little time. Did the judges ever get together before shooting the show to share ideas?
• What’s a funny story that happened on set when cameras weren’t rolling?
• Will the series come out on DVD? Will there be bonus material on the DVD’s?
• Can you send me some Celebcadabra stuff for free?
• What was the biggest obstacle in putting together the show?

I’ll post the answers once I get them back. They might do another interview apparently, so I’ll post the link once its online