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Modern Magician Turns To Tech For New Age Of Illusions..

Modern Magician Turns To Tech For New Age Of Illusions..

The excerpt below comes from Forbes/Wolfe Emerging Technology Report’s recent full-length interview with Marco Tempest, a Swiss magician based in New York who is known for his use of multimedia and interactive technology. A Director’s Fellow at the MIT Media Lab, Marco travels the world astonishing audiences with his “technoillusions” and shares with us the cutting-edge techniques that he uses to continually push the boundaries of his craft.
Tell us a bit about your background and how you first became passionate about magic.

I grew up in Switzerland and I did what all Swiss kids did: I spent a lot of time in school and a little bit on my hobby – trying to become a magician. During my vacation time, I was part of a circus that was made for children by children, and would tour Switzerland. When I was 10, I had an audience of 3,000 kids watching me perform magic. When I was 12, I saw a magician at a street fair and I went back stage and said “Hey! I’m a magician, too! We should work together.” This was my way of asking “Can you teach me?” Fortunately he agreed, and he came to my house and taught me the basics of magic every two weeks.

I had a really lovely path for easing into magic, and had lots of opportunities to perform and to explore. After completing the standard 12 years of school in Switzerland, I decided that I wanted to focus on becoming a professional magician. Read the rest at:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshwolfe/2015/07/06/modern-magician-turns-to-tech-for-new-age-of-illusions/

David Blaine puts on magic show for dangerous inmates

David Blaine puts on magic show for dangerous inmates

By Jamie Schram, Frank Rosario and Danika Fears for the New York Post.

Daredevil magician David Blaine dazzled a packed house at a Manhattan show with his illusions, card tricks and the timeless yanking a rabbit out of a hat.

But the spectators were not the usual theatergoers shelling out more than $100 a pop for tickets.

The escape artist performed his Houdini-like tricks for some of the city’s most dangerous inmates, who were treated to the show by the Department of Correction, The Post has learned.

“How the hell does a killer get to watch a rabbit get pulled out of a hat?” a source asked of the hour-long show for high-security inmates on the sixth floor of the Manhattan Detention Complex, known as The Tombs.

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A Mystifying Night With Illusionist Ivan Amodei At The Beverly Wilshire Hotel..

A Mystifying Night With Illusionist Ivan Amodei At The Beverly Wilshire Hotel..

image  While there is no making people disappear or sawing of an assistant in half, illusionist Ivan Amodei’s show “Intimate Illusions” at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel does offer a lot of mind-boggling acts.

His show weaves his own original illusions while combining a unique “magical” experience that’s humorous, but also dazzles with a live cellist in an elegant candle-lit atmosphere.

Amodei said he set out to create a different type of illusion show.

“I talk about inspirational things like facing your fears, overcoming obstacles, and what are the most important things in your life,” Amodei said. “I talk about finding your destiny. It’s a really unique show because people walk away with more than ‘He fooled us.’ ( article by Brenton Garen for WestsideToday.com )

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Also, see a nice interview in The Magic Roadshow…      http://streetmagic.info/emagic144.html

Magician Nathan Burton tell competitor Sawchuck to buzz off..

Magician Nathan Burton tell competitor Sawchuck to buzz off..

By NORM CLARKE – LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Comedy magician Nathan Burton made one of his competitors disappear Thursday.

Minutes after Murray Sawchuck and his wife, Khloe, arrived just before Burton’s 4 p.m. show at Saxe Theater in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood, they were escorted out, he said.

“I had texted Nathan when we got there to let him know I was there. I think it’s respectful to let someone know,” said Sawchuck, a headliner at the Tropicana for almost two years.

Sawchuck said he was informed by a theater manager that “Nathan personally called me to have you escorted out.”

They left without incident, he said.

“I didn’t know we had a problem,” said Sawchuck. “We do now.”

Sawchuck said he loaned Burton a prop “from one of my illusions for a couple of months.”

Both Burton and Sawchuck were participants on different seasons of “America’s Got Talent.”

“This kind of thing is a shame, a little classless, but that’s just me,” Sawchuck said.

Calls to Burton for comment were not returned by deadline.