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Month: September 2014

Penn and Teller to keep judging magicians on Syfy’s Wizard Wars

Penn and Teller to keep judging magicians on Syfy’s Wizard Wars

The series premiere, which ran last month, was watched live or later that day by over one million people, a solid showing for a cable network like Syfy. Venerable magical comedy duo Penn & Teller are currently on the show’s judging panel; they will return next season, presumably to give feedback by way of either a booming voice that overpowers all others in the room or small nods.

Expect the new episodes to air sometime in January.

Welcome to Colon, Magic Capital of the World..

Welcome to Colon, Magic Capital of the World..

Very in-depth article by Kyle Chayka for The Verge..

On a high school auditorium stage in front of a packed house on the evening of August 6th, a goth magician named Dan Sperry dressed in ripped black jeans and platform boots swallowed a few razor blades, then pulled them from his mouth daisy-chained on a string. He picked up a grotesque baby doll, made it pee on his face, then spat the pee back on the baby before throwing it away. Doves appeared from nowhere, vanishing to bursts of flame and a grinding soundtrack of Incubus. During the finale, Sperry sawed through his own neck with a piece of floss. At some point during the emo-metal haze, it occurred to me that I might actually prefer a stuffy old man in a tuxedo waving a magic wand.

This surreal performance happened in Colon, Michigan, a sleepy, one-streetlight town somewhere between Detroit and Chicago that proudly bills itself as “The Magic Capital of the World.” (The name comes from a pair of nearby lakes shaped like the punctuation mark.) It’s home to around 1,000 residents and holds at least 30 dead magicians in its single small graveyard. The Colon High School mascot is a giant bunny rabbit. Though it lacks the soaring Gothic cathedrals of Hogwarts, it just might be the most magical place in the United States…

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‘AGT’ Season 9 winner Mat Franco: ‘I felt like David Copperfield for a moment’

‘AGT’ Season 9 winner Mat Franco: ‘I felt like David Copperfield for a moment’

By Robin Leach for the Las Vegas Sun

At 4 years old, Mat Franco dreamed of making it big in magic by starting to teach himself card tricks. At 12, he became the youngest student ever in Henderson magician Jeff McBride’s Magic Academy classes. One week ago, he made TV history as the first magician to win the $1 million “America’s Got Talent” prize on NBC.

This weekend, he headlines at Axis at Planet Hollywood, Britney Spears’ residency theater at Planet Hollywood. He’ll walk away from the two-night show with his fellow “AGT” Season 9 finalists with an offer to return for his own solo spotlight shows when Britney is on hiatus.

Read the Interview