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A Box of Tricks, Studio Size..

A Box of Tricks, Studio Size..

SANDY KEENAN wrote this for the New York Times the last week of 2014. I had just begun my hiatus and missed publishing this nice article on the home, and magic, of Joshua Jay……..

Bondage devices have a casual place in Joshua Jay’s studio apartment in Chelsea.

Right there, out in the open, you can see metal thumb restraints, handcuffs of every ilk and a full-body straitjacket with leather straps.

“I guess I never realized how many sex toys we have around here,” said Anna Kloots, 25, Mr. Jay’s fiancée and assistant, “but these are all way too valuable to use.”

Mr. Jay, 33, is a magician whose home is also his archive for books and props that belonged to his heroes and predecessors.

He displays a pair of white gloves that were worn by Richard Valentine Pitchford, the British conjurer who practiced under the name Cardini. Mr. Pitchford honed his card tricks in chilly World War I trenches and became so accustomed to working with gloves, then unusual among magicians, that he continued to wear them throughout his long career. (Mr. Jay has his war medals, too.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/garden/a-box-of-tricks-studio-size-.html?_r=0

The world mourns the loss of two of it’s most inventive performers.. Rene Lavand and Dean Dill.. Watch this video of Rene performing his version of cups and balls. His version was very different, as Rene was missing his right arm.. 

Penn & Teller: Technology has morphed the magic act

Penn & Teller: Technology has morphed the magic act

From USA Today  –  SAN FRANCISCO — Leave it to Penn and Teller. Ask the fabled magicians about the impact of technology on their craft, and you’ll get answers as wonderfully disparate as the tall and garrulous Penn Jillette and the short and mute-on-camera Teller.

“There’s no doubt the Internet has made magicians better technically,” booms Jillette, 59, in town Tuesday with his partner to be honored at Sketchfest, the annual comedy festival.

He explains that in magic’s early days, secrets were passed down through mentors. “Now, the entry-level price is an Internet connection and a deck of cards,” he says. “You can teach yourself this stuff (through online tutorials), so what we’re seeing in terms of close-up and sleight of hand is breathtaking.”

Teller, 66, focuses his lens on the topic differently…

Read more and watch the video