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In Male-Dominated Sphere, Magician Jeanette Andrews Uses Science, Art to Make Her Mark..

In Male-Dominated Sphere, Magician Jeanette Andrews Uses Science, Art to Make Her Mark..

It took two men and a tiger to convince Jeanette Andrews of her true calling.

Just months after watching a Siegfried and Roy TV special, a 4-year-old Andrews was performing magic for her class. Two years later, she staged her first paid gig. Since then, she and magic have been virtually inseparable. At 14, she became a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians (with Siegfried and Roy sponsoring her membership) and now, at 25, she regularly performs her magic – which blends elements of philosophy, science and art – for audiences both corporate and casual.

On Tuesday, the Chicago-based magician will be at the Museum of Contemporary Art performing “Thresholds,” a show which pairs illusions with each of the five senses.

We spoke with Andrews on the magic inherent in science, the power of audience participation, and what it feels like to be one of the only women killing it in an almost exclusively male-dominated field.   Read more….

http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2016/01/25/male-dominated-sphere-magician-jeanette-andrews-uses-science-art-make-her-mark

Leading Magician killed when tree he was cutting down fell on top of him..

Leading Magician killed when tree he was cutting down fell on top of him..

  • By ANTHONY JOSEPH FOR MAILONLINE

  • Hugh Nightingale was chopping trees at his farm in Speldhurst, Kent
  • His family stated that the tree fell in a ‘bizarre way’ and crushed him
  • Mr Nightingale began performing 25 years ago and head of the Magic Circle
  • Tributes have today flooded in for the ‘lovely’ 62-year-old man

In a tribute to the magician – who had three children to his first marriage to Juliet – Robert, Lucy and Marianne – and two step-children, Felicity and Penny, with new wife Chloe, who he married in 2008, was remembered as a ‘gentleman magician for his unique charm, wit and talent’

A family tribute from his children read: ‘We have been so touched, hearing so many stories about our father over the last few days from his time as a farmer and as a magician.

‘We are exceptionally proud to have had such a diversely talented, loving and dedicated man as our dad.

‘He was loved by so many and we will miss him terribly.’  

A tribute on the Magic Daily website states: ‘We have just heard from the President of The Magic Circle, Scott Penrose, that Hugh Nightingale died in a tragic accident at the age of 62.

‘We understand that Hugh was cutting a tree on his farm and a branch fell on him.’

In a tribute to the magician, it stated: ‘Hugh could be seen at the most prestigious venues, working alongside top names in entertainment for world famous clients.  Read more…

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3401148/Magician-62-killed-tree-cutting-fell-farm.html

Kosmo – ‘Owego man is magician of renown..’

Kosmo – ‘Owego man is magician of renown..’

Kozmo had made Mark Nelson’s $20 bill vanish.

Just seconds earlier, Kozmo, a magician, also known as Ted Brainard, had asked Nelson, a Cayuga Heights resident, to volunteer for his next trick as he entertained on the Ithaca Commons.

Nelson obliged, producing a $20 bill and writing his name on it, just as Kozmo had asked.

Kozmo teased Nelson for not having a smaller bill and for breaking the law by writing on the bill as he folded it to the size of a postage stamp.

All the while, a circle of people, drawn to the downtown shopping area for its reopening celebration, watched closely.

Kozmo then set the bill on fire, all the time aiming a constant stream of put-downs at his audience and inviting passersby to come watch the show.

As easy as Kozmo made magic look that afternoon in August on the Commons, making a living wasn’t always this interesting for Brainard, 59, an Owego native, who grew up in the hills south of the Susquehanna River. Read more…

http://www.ithacajournal.com/story/news/local/2015/12/25/owego-man-magician-renown/76455706/

The New Masters of Make-Believe..

The New Masters of Make-Believe..

The crystal ball has crashed to the floor and nothing can fix its brokenness. There is no cloud of purple smoke billowing out of pandals erected in carnivals where carousels, pinwheels and soothsayers assisted by parakeets are the description of entertainment. The turbaned man, wearing a new shade of gem on each other finger who sat caressing playing cards as if they were the forehead of a leopard, has unrobed himself and disappeared into the crowd. Those mirror mazes now stand unexplained and the dolls he pumped life into can be declared dead, more dead than they ever were. Magic is no longer country-silly and India isn’t in toe-curling awe of it. Last month, the documentary by Kolkata-based IT professional Amit Sahai, Fading Magic: The Story of Kolkata’s Magicians, won a Gold Award at the IFCOM Film Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia.  The movie tells the story of the West Bengal capital’s stage magicians whose livelihood no longer shines under spotlight.

The suspense on Kolkata’s streets wasn’t the work of a coloniser’s suspecting imagination, for here is where the father of Indian magic Pratul Chandra Sorcar practiced his craft. With his pencil-thin moustache combed into twirls over his face and cheeks, and eyes dolled up like that of a Kuchipudi dancer, he sawed some women in half and made others float in air. His contemporary K Lal was given the title of the World’s Fastest Magician (1968) by International Brotherhood of Magicians in the US. He made his subjects disappear into boxes and brought them back safely within theatrical seconds. Sahai’s film talks about 3,000 other magicians who regularly performed at the city’s Mahajati Sadan theatre.

As the past is sinking into the sea, a bright new tomorrow is rising out of it; only in matters of magic can two such realities share light in the golden hour. Read more…  http://www.newindianexpress.com/magazine/The-New-Masters-of-Make-Believe/2015/12/05/article3161040.ece1