I am happy to be among the first to announce that my friend and fellow Atlantan  Joe M Turner has been elected to membership in The Magic Circle in London, England, with the unanimous approval of the organization's governing Council. His election carried the distinction of an immediate advancement to the degree of Associate of the Inner Magic Circle (A.I.M.C.) with Silver Star, an elevation only awarded to the rare applicant who demonstrates advanced levels of performance skill and professional accomplishment."I am honored to be elected to membership in The Magic Circle," says Turner. "The organization has long been a force for excellence in this industry, championing the highest standards of professionalism and scholarship. I am doubly honored to have been awarded an advanced degree upon my entry, and will continue to do my best to prove worthy of such a credential."

Hypnotist Bill Gladwell wraps up his coverage of the 79th Annual Magi Fest in Columbus, Ohio by interviewing Tony Miller, Terry Ward, Mike Segal, Jamie Schoolcraft, Danny Garcia, Dan Harlan, Geoff Williams, Caleb Wells, Tim Hall, B Smoth and Ryan Bosley.    In his coverage of the first day at the convention, Bill spoke with MagiFest Executive Director Jep Hostetler, David McCreary, Michael Kent, Aaron DeLong, Shane Black & Carroll Baker. Join us again tomorrow for Day Two. Other featured presenters include Danny Garcia, Arthur Trace, Geoff Williams, Terry Ward, Mark Wood, Arthur Stead, Victor and Diamond, Ed Ellis, Jon Allen and many more.  

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It has been just over one year since I discussed the launch of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus's first magic themed show when the red unit hit the road with magician & "Zingmaster" Alex Ramon blazing the trail with "Zing Zang Zoom." In December of the last year the "Greatest Show on Earth" demonstrated its' confidence in magic's role in the circus by launching the Gold Units' new show "Illuscination," with "Thrillusionist" David Davinci in the role of ringmaster. Formerly known as David Womach, Davinci brings his experience as a touring performer to the show and shares his experience with us on this episode of the "Spirit of MagIc" podcast.

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LISTEN TO MY CONVERSATION WITH DAVID DAVINCI:

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The Miller-McCune Magazine online speculates on the scarcity of women magicians in an interesting article entitled "Why Have Women Magicians Vanished" that is subtitled "Working magicians conjure up rationales — both beneficial and baneful — for why so few women perform magic."  According to the article, their research is based upon a "survey posted on various magic Web sites and boards (and thus not meant to generalize all magicians), 220 male and seven female amateur and professional magicians answered the question: Why aren’t there more women magicians?"  I'll leave it for you to examine the sample responses that were cherry picked for the article, but the author summarizes his thoughts by saying:

Looking at the increased number of women in other traditionally all-male occupations, such as medicine or law, obscures how many still view gender differences in areas characterized by issues of power and control. Perhaps only when magic’s gender imbalance changes can we declare that discrimination based on sex has truly vanished.

As America's Premier Corporate Presentainer Paul Gertner has performed for more than 500 corporations in more than 20 different countries, has lectured at MIT and has been featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal... twice. A frequent guest on the Tonight Show Paul has also appeared on NBC's World's Greatest Magic, HBO, That's Incredible! In 1998 he wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed one-man theatrical production... "Paul Gertner-Ten Fingers." Now he's reached the pinnacle of his career by being a guest on the Magic Newswire's "Spirit of Magic" podcast.

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LISTEN TO MY CONVERSATION WITH PAUL GERTNER:

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Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus seems so pleased with the success of the Blue Unit's magic themed "Zing Zang Zoom" show, that it has launched another with the Gold Unit. "Illuscination" appeared last night in Albany Georgia to begin its' tour of Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, Maryland, Mississippi & Texas.  The show originally debuted in December during its' tour of Florida. According to the Ringling Website, "Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey ® Presents ILLUSCINATION℠, a fantasy-filled world where thrills, wonderment and magic intersect with unparalleled powers of imagination. Young thrillusionist, David DaVinci invites audiences to join him in this awe mazing, mystiflying adventure as he bridges the believable world in which we all live and the seemingly impossible one of the circus."   For those wondering why he looks like Dave Womach, it's because Davinici is his new stage persona.  “I love the interaction with the audience!” DaVinci said with a smile, “It’s all about putting smiles on the kids faces, and the toucan card trick does just that, by making the child the star of the illusion.”  Alex Ramon remains on tour with the Red Unit as the show's "ZingMaster." I'm certain that you'll be hearing more about this here, but if you missed it the first time around, you can listen to our interview with Alex below.

For anyone curious about the differences between the Red, Blue & Gold Units., the Red and Blue travel the country by train on more that 110 train cars. The Gold unit was designed to travel to cities with facilities that would not accommodate the larger units or which have insufficient rail service in the area.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO OUR INTERVIEW WITH ALEX RAMON:

We are joined by two special guests on the February 1st episode of This Week in Magic. Morgan Strebler is a well known creator and performer of magic and has toured Asia as a substitute performer for Hans Klok. In mid-January, it was announced that Morgan had been signed to a five year contract as the headliner of the new Pat Boone Theater in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. Our other guest is Mike Jacobson who recently came to the attention of the magic community after a surprise appearance on the Ellen Degeneres show, an appearance that he has alredy been asked to repeat.

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Just because it is always fun to watch Max perform, here's a vintage performance clip with Harry Blackstone Jr. doing the introductions:

My guest on this episode of the "Spirit of Magic" podcast is comedy magician and February 2010 Genii cover-boy Michael Finney. Michael talks about hs unique path to discovering magic as a career and how he developed the personality that works so well for him on stage. Michael also reflects on some of the people that influenced him over the years including Charlie Miller, Dai Vernon, Carl Ballantine, Karrell Fox Johnny Thompson & Billy McComb. If you've ever wondered if a kidnapping could lead to a career in magic, then you'll be very interested in what Michael has to say.

THE MAGIC NEWSWIRE IS SPONSORED BY:

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LISTEN TO MY CONVERSATION WITH MICHAEL FINNEY:

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As he mentioned when he was my guest on the podcast, Paul Vigil is working on a new close-up show and presented a private preview of the show in December.  Thanks to Mr. Gresham for forwarding the following video clip from that show which is now on YouTube. If you missed my chat will Paul, you can listen to that after the video below.

THE MAGIC NEWSWIRE IS SPONSORED BY:

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 LISTEN TO MY INTERVIEW WITH PAUL VIGIL:

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