Legendary magician, sleight-of-hand master and actor Ricky Jay (who’s aligned himself with the prestigious likes of Paul Thomas Anderson, David Mamet, Steve Martin, Bob Dylan, and David Milch, among many others) doesn’t perform much magic these days. But fortunately, NYC residents will get a chance to catch him later this year, as its recently been announced that he will be performing 3 NYC shows, his first appearances in the city in over a decade.
Ricky Jay is one of the greatest sleight-of-hand artists in the world, which is to say that he deals in deception, misdirection and the seemingly impossible. His shuffles can leave aces congregating at the top or the bottom of the deck depending on his requirements, and he will even deal from the middle if needed. Once asked, in a New Yorker profile, if there are people who still play cards with him, he replied, “Sure. Silly people”, and plenty of his most honest skills are so astonishing that they still have a touch of artifice to them. For many years, the climax of a performance has seen Jay throwing playing cards with such force that they will penetrate the “thick, pachydermatous outer layer” of a watermelon – a fruit that he often prefixes with the term “his majesty”. It should not be too surprising, then, that having finished Jay’s latest book, a biography of the 18th century magician, musician and calligrapher Matthias Buchinger, I raced online to see if there was any truth in the tale I had just read. Read more…
The magician Ricky Jay, considered by many the greatest sleight-of-hand artist alive, is also a scholar, a historian, a collector of curiosities. Master of a prose style that qualifies him as perhaps the last of the great 19th-century authors, he has written about oddities like cannonball catchers, poker-playing pigs, performing fleas and people who tame bees. But probably his most enduring interest is a fellow polymath, an 18th-century German named Matthias Buchinger…
Buchinger (1674-1739) was a magician and musician, a dancer, champion bowler and trick-shot artist and, most famously, a calligrapher specializing in micrography — handwriting so small it’s barely legible to the naked eye. His signature effect was to render locks of hair that, when examined closely, spelled out entire Psalms or books from the Bible. What made his feats even more remarkable is that Buchinger was born without hands or feet and was only 29 inches tall. Portraits show him standing on a cushion and wearing a sort of lampshade-like robe. Yet he married four times and had 14 children. Some people have suggested that he also had up to 70 mistresses, but Mr. Jay says that’s nonsense.
A new issue of the Magic Roadshow Journal of Magic has published. For those of you who don’t know, this ‘little’ newsletter is the largest free newsletter in all of magic. This issue is 28 pages and 10,000 words long. Here’s the table of content…
– FINDING EEYORE – Propless mentalism by Mick Ayres – Flipper Revisited – An Effect of Sorts – Nick Trost’s Eight Card Brainwave Tutorial – Eight Card Brainwave tutorial by Juan Fernando – The Emperor’s New Sleight – Advice from Francis Menotti – Candle To Ball – An Effect by Jeff Hobson – FAIR PLAY – A Card Effect by Paul Lelekis – CHILDRENS MAGIC SHOWS – David John O Connor – THE ENGAGING RING – David John O Connor – Tricks Without Names – Werner Miller – How to Learn Magic – A PDF ( Freeware For the Young Magician ) – New book by Professor Solomon: “Lives of the Conjurers, Volume Two.” – Brian Brushwood Live Video Q&A with Full Circle Magic – Johnny Thompson – Live Q&A with Full Circle Magic – Banachek – Live Video Q&A with Full Circle Magic – Harry Anderson’s “Hello, Sucker!” – Original Showtime Telecast – Ricky Jay Plays Poker – Video – 121 Easy To Perform Magic Tricks.. Tutorials Ideal For New Magicians – An Idea For Jay Sankey’s 3 Free Magic Gimmicks – Gospel Magic Gaff – Cardini Performing on the First TV Magic Show -1957 – 10 Things No One Tells You About Being A Magician – Article – How to Book Restaurant Gigs – Audio Interview – A Reminder – Lu Brent’s Exclusive Card Mysteries – Free PDF for Roadshow Readers – Reminder .. A Flea Market for Magicians – Blur – A Great Little Resource – Free eBooks For Subscribers….
