Trivia! Quick: Who holds the world record for the most number of claps in a minute? If you said Kent “Toast” French, then you’re correct– and you need to get out more. For those of you who got it wrong, watch the video below.

Last weekend I went to Maple Ridge for a performance. I got to perform at “The Act” which was absolutely beautiful inside. I was performing in the Genstar studio as seen before. (the picture is from The Act’s website)

The staff there was wonderful to work with too. I spoke with them beforehand on the phone and arranged the details for setting up the room, lighting, and staging, and the gentleman that I spoke with was highly professional and when I showed up everything was setup exactly as promised. I love it when that happens

The event itself was a customer appreciation lunchon with a buffet and then some entertainment. I was hired to do some mingling magic during the lunch hour while everybody stood in line for their food, and while people were finishing up eating. After lunch I did a 45minute family stage show. The show was so much fun, and right from the start of the show they were captivated, and great to perform for. It was just one of those shows where you have instant rapport with the audience. I find performing mingling magic before a stage show helps so much because I already know the audience and little, and they’ve been given a change to get to know me and my personality. Here’s a photo from the event that my mom took for me. (Thanks mom!)

After the show I checked with the client and they thought everything was wonderful. All of the staff were super nice and very easy to work with. We took this group photo and they’re going to put it up on their office wall. Very cool.

After the show I like to mingle and hear people’s reactions from the show. I love hearing feedback from people and hearing stories about magic in other peoples lives. In fact, the next day after the show I received an email from a lady who was in the audience. She had this to say. (Name used with permission)

Thanks so very much for today (Saturday 2 Feb). Luncheon was lovely BUT YOU put the “icing on the cake” as the saying goes
Two deaths this past week… have pretty much made life miserable…YOU were just what I needed. I just can’t quite find the words to say enough on how grateful I am. Thank you for caring for people. Thank you for learning a skill that makes people feel great. What a wonderful world you help to make!

Thank you
June

Wow! Its great to be able to brighten people’s day’s like that. Magic has helped me so much in my own life, and I’m glad I’m able to pass it onto others as well.

I look forward to returning to Maple Ridge for another performance.

Over at Ellusionist they blogged about TOXIC PLAYING CARDS! According to their site some cards in China have toxic levels of formaldehyde residue…

To help the situation I decided to make this photo guide to help avoid any confusion.

Don’t: Eat cards from China. Do: Eat 1800 Series cards from Ellusionist.

Well, this might be starting to sound like a blog run by www.magic.org, but I want to let you know about just 1 more thing then I’ll shut up. Recently Aaron updated his best kept secrets page, and its a whole heck of a lot nicer and easier to read. The last design didn’t render properly in FF and for that reason alone I didn’t read it. Anyways, On that blog he’ll be pitching new items that have come out and other magic news. So check it out at http://www.magic.org/secrets/.

(I’m still waiting to receive an email before I’ll post about my magic show maple ridge, hopefully in the next few days)

This is a neat body trick that I’ve seen a few times. I always forget about it though! Try it out.

While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. Now, While doing this draw a number “6″ in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction and there’s nothing you can do about it.

[ source ]

Again, I love magic. I just have to shout it out to the world. This weekend I had a show in Maple Ridge BC. I’ll talk about the show itself in my next though.

Today I got a chance to visit Clownin Around Magic Store in Grandville Island. I’ve only ever been to just a few magic shops. We got lost on our way though and we made it there just before they closed. I was able to pick up a couple things I didn’t want to order online because of the size. There wasn’t really anything too special but Joe who was running the counter stayed a few minutes after closing and helped me with a couple questions. It’s sad that physical magic stores are a dying breed, I never got the chance to hang out in a magic shop like lots of the stories i hear about from the old timers It’s all web stores, newsletters, and hyped up media clips. Oh, don’t worry Aaron, I’ve still got an order for you too.

I don’t really get a chance to see other performers very often. It reminds me of the PCAM convention. They had 2 big screens so everybody in the room could see fine. Even though sometimes I couldn’t tell what was going on, or my visability was limited, I chose to watch the people live instead of the screens. I can watch magicians at home on DVD or on my computer, but I dont get to see them live. Often the routines were things I had already seen on Tv/DVD before, and I didn’t go all the way to Calgary to watch it again on a screen, even if it was “live footage” heh.

Anyways, thats all for now. I’m posting from the hotel room right now, but once I get back home I have some photo’s I”ll show of my show and some other stuff that happened on my trip.

Hey guys, If you’re new to my site you’ll notice a new script that puts little box above the posts asking if you’d like to sign up for my RSS feed. Please sign up, and I’ll post often, and I promise you lots of delicious magic news. Yummy!

To show you I’m serious, here’s a picture of a cake…

I made a post earlier today about Penn and Teller and a few of their online clips. I was going to search for some clips of Teller speaking, but I ended up getting sidetracked and working on something else. Anyways, on the Ellusionist blog they posted a video of Teller explaining the psychology of magic.

I remember reading an article about this presentation about a year ago on reddit.com I thought, but I can’t seem to find it now. Anyways, it’s much better to see the video of it anyways.

I also found some other videos of Teller speaking as well.

Here’s a clip of Teller speaking in a deleted scene from “Fantasticks”

Online magic friend David Garrity was featured today on Boston.com!

“This isn’t your grandfather’s magic show,” says Comedy Studio owner Rick Jenkins. Every Tuesday at the club’s long-running Mystery Lounge, top magicians from throughout the country perform their mysterious arts. Tonight catch the magic of special guests David Garrity (below) from Six Flags New England, Erik Starkey from Pittsburgh, and David Oliver from Broadway’s “Monday Night Magic.” “Such a big show in such a small, cozy room,” says Jenkins, “is a rare spectacle.” 7:30 p.m. $10. The Comedy Studio, 1238 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge. 617-661-6507. thecomedystudio.com

To learn more about David Garrity goto his website.

I must say I’m continually impressed with the magic depot – www.magic.org. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been slowly adding items to my shopping cart but I haven’t purchased anything yet. Well today I received this email.

Hello Leif! Aaron Smith here from http://www.magic.org I noticed you have a
couple of items in your cart but haven’t checked out yet. Is there anything
I can help you with?

My 20% OFF Sale ENDS Wednesday! http://www.magic.org/secrets

How very cool! Now thats a great marketing lesson. If you shop for magic online, I’d check out The Magic Depot- great service, free shipping, and if you sign up for their newsletter they have specials every few weeks or so.

PS: If you live in Edmonton/ Calgary check out http://www.vanishingrabbit.com/. Brent Smith will take your online order as well and shipping is probably next to nothing. I think I heard he also gives you a deal if you’re an IBM member. Check out their site for more info. But, if you’re from that area, you probably already know this.

I’ve always been a fan of Penn and Teller’s magic, and recently on YouTube I found a couple clips I had never seen before. Check em out, they might be new to you too.

As we all know it’s hard to distinguish the good from the bad when buying magic. I’ve put together a list of recent purchases that I enjoyed and thought to be worthwhile. Although these won’t suit everybody, I certainly enjoyed them. You can find more information about all of these by doing a quick search on the magic café.

• Exploring Magical Presentations by Eugene Burger (“Fading Coin” is much better live!) [review] [ Buy ]
• Bill Malone – Here I go again. Vol 1-3 [ Buy ] (Great card magic for any level)
• Paul Potassy – World Renowned Magic [ Buy ] (A living legend!)

I’ve also been going back and practicing some things that I had once started to learn but then forgot about. Its nice to pick a slight back up and start practicing again because you aren’t fumbling quite as much as before, its a good feeling! I’m trying to put down my cards more often and practice other stuff, but cards just have this magical allure about them, I can’t seem to put them down for any length of time. Between handling cards and the weather my hands are super dry too, arg.