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UT alumnus shares secrets behind magic tricks on YouTube channel..

UT alumnus shares secrets behind magic tricks on YouTube channel..

UT alumnus Brian Brushwood closes his eyes, leans his head back and lowers a flaming metal skewer down his throat. A few seconds later, he pulls it out, ready for his next trick.

Brushwood is an entertainer known for his “punk-rock-blood-and-guts magic show” in which viewers watch him eat fire, hammer nails into his nose, read minds and stick skewers through his tongue.

“Some of [my stunts] are totally real, and some are totally fake,” Brushwood said. “But my favorite part is that middle ground when you’re not really sure what’s what. I want people constantly guessing what’s real.”

Until 2014, Brushwood toured colleges across the country with his magic show and has since settled down in Austin, producing three podcasts, running a YouTube series and occasionally performing live. Last month he starred in “Dance Showdown,” a YouTube spin-off of “Dancing With The Stars.”

“I did it because it terrified me,” Brushwood said. “There is something great about the abject terror of stepping outside your comfort zone.”  Read more..

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2015/10/19/ut-alumnus-shares-secrets-behind-magic-tricks-on-youtube-channel

Controversy follows ‘America’s Got Talent’ winner to Vegas..

Controversy follows ‘America’s Got Talent’ winner to Vegas..

By Mike Weatherford –  Las Vegas Review-Journals  Photo:PeterKramer/NBC 

There’s an old entertainer’s joke: Put three magicians in the same room and they’ll start a convention. Put three ventriloquists in the same room and they’ll start a fight.

The Strip proved to be big enough to hold the small niche’s biggest stars, Jeff Dunham and Terry Fator.

But even a three-night run by Paul Zerdin, the recent winner of “America’s Got Talent,” continues to draw objections to his victory from a ventriloquist who headlined Las Vegas for years.

“I feel very righteously ripped off and plagiarized,” Ronn Lucas said this week, echoing comments he has made since Zerdin won the NBC talent show Sept. 16. “He had some damn good material. I’ve been breaking it in for a while.”

“It’s a shame we all can’t get on and support each other,” says Zerdin, who headlines “America’s Got Talent Live!” Thursday through Oct. 24 at Planet Hollywood Resort. “There are loads of magicians, but there aren’t many ventriloquists, and we’re all doing stuff in our own way and we want to be friends.”  Read more at:  http://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/shows/controversy-follows-americas-got-talent-winner-vegas

How does he do it? Watch fingerless magician’s incredible card tricks that will leave you amazed..

How does he do it? Watch fingerless magician’s incredible card tricks that will leave you amazed..

A magician with no fingers has become an internet sensation after a video of him performing incredible sleight of hand cards tricks went viral.

Dean Lahan, who calls himself the Fingerless Magician – jokes that his fingers move so fast you can’t see them.

The 18-year-old could barely hold a pack of cards before he started learning tricks, but has now performed at magic festivals and become a popular attraction in his home town of Stockport. read more…

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/how-it-watch-fingerless-magicians-6655308

Britain’s Got Talent’s Chloe Crawford ‘leaves magician husband Murray Sawchuck and starts relationship with £65million Las Vegas rival Criss Angel’

Britain’s Got Talent’s Chloe Crawford ‘leaves magician husband Murray Sawchuck and starts relationship with £65million Las Vegas rival Criss Angel’

By JJ NATTRASS FOR MAILONLINE   –   She wowed Simon Cowell and the rest of the Britain’s Got Talent judges with her disappearing act.But now Las Vegas showgirl and aspiring illusionist Chloe Crawford has pulled off her biggest vanishing act to date, by switching her magician her husband for his biggest rival. The former Playboy model, 27, and Murray Sawchuck, 41, reportedly ended their three-year union in September, with the busty blonde soon finding romance with Las Vegas legend Criss Angel.

Talking to The People, a source revealed their blossoming romance, saying: ‘It’s early days, but Chloe and Criss are very happy. They hit it off from day one. Although Murray is putting on a brave face he’s absolutely devastated. It’s a real slap in the face because Criss is his biggest rival.

‘He is more famous, his show is ­bigger, he takes more money and now he has Chloe as well. Their relationship is the talk of the town in Las Vegas.’ read more at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3278029/Britain-s-Got-Talent-s-Chloe-Crawford-leaves-magician-husband-Murray-Sawchuck-starts-relationship-65million-Las-Vegas-rival-Criss-Angel.html