Magic Roadshow

The son of the late magician Paul Daniels was arrested after police reportedly found a cannabis factory in his home.

Paul Jnr is understood to have been arrested on suspicion of producing cannabis and abstracting electricity at his property in Wigan.

In recent months the 56-year-old has been embroiled in a bitter war of words with his father’s widow Debbie McGee, who was handed his £1.5 million estate when the magician died last March.

Paul Jnr has now been released on bail, alongside two other people, according to The Mirror.

A source told The Mirror: ‘Police attended the house and found a cannabis factory.  Read more…

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4120474/Paul-Daniels-s-son-56-written-magician-s-1-5million-arrested-police-cannabis-factory-home.html

David Blaine is running into some serious competition as the most viewed street magician on YouTube with Saint-Sauveur’s Chris Ramsay edging his way into top spots.

Ramsay said his love of magic started as a child and blossomed when he noticed he could make extra tips performing tricks while he worked as a bartender.

Now, he performs bigger and better tricks for millions of YouTube viewers.

It all started with a street magic video shot in 2014 with the help of a friend, much like Blaine’s, but “in my own way, with my own flare, and obviously my own budget,” Ramsay told CBC Montreal’s Homerun.

The video took off, and what was at first a “mildly viral” YouTube channel turned into a go-to resource for wannabe magicians and up-and-comers alike.

“It’s become everything from vlogs, to teaching, to a little of everything,” he said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/chris-ramsay-magician-youtube-montreal-1.3935619

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is a United States traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth. The circus, known as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, was started in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth, a circus created by P. T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey was merged with the Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows. The Ringling brothers had purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. following Bailey’s death in 1906, but ran the circuses separately until they were merged in 1919.

On July 16, 1956, at the Heidelberg Race Track in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the circus ended its season early, with President John Ringling North announcing that it would no longer exhibit under their own portable tents and starting in 1957 would exhibit in permanent venues, such as sports stadiums and arenas that had the seating already in place. In 1967, Irvin Feld and his brother Israel, along with Houston Judge Roy Hofheinz bought the circus from the Ringling family. In 1971, the Felds and Hofheinz sold the circus to Mattel, buying it back from the toy company in 1982. After the death of Irvin Feld in 1984, the circus has been a part of Feld Entertainment, an international entertainment firm headed by Kenneth Feld, with its headquarters in Ellenton, Florida.

Citing declining attendance and high operating costs, Feld Entertainment announced the circus would close in May 2017 after 146 years. (Wikipedia)

(Photo credit: Carole Segal/Syfy)  

Last season, while touted as a success story, The Magicians never scored over 1 million viewers outside of its second episode (which was the highest rated episodes of the series). The majority of its audience discovered the show through non-linear means. This is a big explanation why the series is moving away from Monday nights in 2017.

It’s not tied to a time slot. People will watch when they want to watch. This, of course, makes analyzing its value to Syfy difficult, as only the network knows its true numbers. But, if less than 1 million viewers is enough to keep a new, high-concept cable series on the air these days, more power to it.

Review:

On the basis of fandom reception, no new show on Syfy’s 2016 slate fared better than its urban fantasy romp, The Magicians, following the tale students attending an American take on Hogwarts in college form. However, while the show did well with fans, that’s not to say it’s without problems. Sadly, these problems are not much improved in season two, despite the show gaining a heavy amount of confidence based on the first four episodes. Read more..

http://www.forbes.com/sites/merrillbarr/2017/01/10/the-magicians-season-2-review/#2c28411561c3