Greetings Magical Friends,
Here’s the hot news from the sizzling hot Summer streets of Las Vegas….
Street Magic in Las Vegas!
We’re hearing lots of buzz in the news about the current political situation in Vegas concerning civil liberties and street performing. The ACLU is involved with protecting the rights of street performers to perform in public spaces, as part of our first Amendment rights.
ACLU Backs Street Performers in Las Vegas
Some of our students here in Vegas have taken action and are demonstrating with their magic on the streets. One of our WONDERGROUND players can be seen nightly weaving magic into the tapestry of Las Vegas night life:
Tim Wise is working on Fremont Street as “Wise, the Good Luck Genie.” Tim is doing a very interesting show where he gifts people with magical objects. People come up to him and “make a wish;” as the genie, he grants their wish by making a magical gemstone appear. Tim’s approach to “gift magic” reflects some of the philosophy of our Magic and Mystery School. Learn more about Tim Wise.
If you’d like to really take a deeper look into Gift Magic, enjoy Dr. Larry Hass’ talk “Giving and Magic” from a recent Magic and Meaning conference in our PEP Talks Online.
What is the Secret of Street Magic?
Watch this video and learn the real secrets behind this timeless style of conjuring.
England’s top street busker, Mario Morris will be a guest teacher at our Focus on Street Magic class, which runs October 8-10. We will take all the students out on the streets of Vegas to watch the pros work and learn the inner secrets of the trade.
More New Magic in Vegas
Paul Vigil is at KING INK at the THE MIRAGE hotel doing his formal close-up magic show. Paul is one of the finest sleight of hand workers on the planet. See his show when you get to Vegas.
Getting Back to My Roots
I’m just back from my High School reunion, where I did a show for my schoolmates and a show for family and friends near my hometown in Goshen, NY. I won the “he still has the most hair” contest for my class!
Don’t forget to drop by The Wonderground this week. See you this week at our fantastic new show, either in person, if you’re in Vegas, or on www.streetofcards.tv if you’re not!
www.vegaswonderground.com
Your friend in the art of magic,
Jeff
“The process of maturing is an art to be learned, an effort to be sustained. By the age of fifty you have made yourself what you are, and if it is good, it is better than your youth.”
— Marya Mannes
Greetings Magical Friends,
I feel like I’ve just completed an epic cycle. Turning fifty turned many things over in my mind and in my life this year. Some men who turn fifty buy a sports car. I built a library and a movement studio onto my house. I feel that many more people can take turns “driving their inspiration,” in the new Magic School rooms, than could take turns behind the wheel of a “lambie.” Besides, my library gets better mileage than any car, and can take our students to the edges of the universe at the speed of light.
“Books are a uniquely portable magic” … Stephen King
At fifty, I feel it is my halfway point in life, (yeah, I’ll take a hundred years, thank you). At this halfway point, I can reflect on fifty years of past experience, and project fifty more years of extraordinary magical living. I hope you will join me on the next fifty year ride!
At fifty, I’m learning what’s really important in my magical work. It’s not about buying a new big prop; it’s more about using my talents to prop up other people who have dreams and visions that need help. I find great joy in mentoring magic students of all ages, and the more I give, the more I seem to get out of life.
Touring the world with my magic show has given me many rare experiences that I can now pass along to you, my friends. I am blessed to have the faculty at our School to help spread our magical visions in new ways.
McBride Magic School Students in the News
Bill Koch has been studying at our school for many years, and his appearance in the new documentary MAKE BELIEVE is outstanding. This film won Best Documentary at the Los Angeles Film Festival! Here is a video profile about Bill’s magical work:
I will be home for most of the month of August, working with students both here at the House of Mystery and worldwide, via Skype. I hope to see you here in Las Vegas, or online soon!
Jeff
Photo by Anthony Muir
P.S. For any you that may have missed the recent media blitz about our magic school and WONDERGROUND, here are the links:
Vegas Seven Magazine on Wonderground
http://weeklyseven.com/ae/2010/july/01/man-many-masks
Dear Friends:
I know this is sooner than you’d normally expect another Museletter from us, but we’ve had so much news in the past 5 days, Jeff really wanted to make sure you all had it while it still IS news. Here goes:
As of yesterday (and perhaps still today), the CNN story on Jeff’s workshop in Atlanta was on the front page of CNN.com, in the “Living Section. The story is headlined as “Man Travels the World Teaching Magic.â€Â You can view it at:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2010/06/29/natpkg.magic.school.cnn?iref=allsearch
For Wonderground aficionados (and who isn’t?), don’t miss the feature article in the weekly “Seven†magazine:
http://weeklyseven.com/ae/2010/july/01/man-many-masks
You’ll learn more about Jeff’s thinking behind the creation of the Wonderground, and why it is rapidly becoming THE underground performance scene in Las Vegas.
In other late breaking news, the documentary on teen magicians “Make Believe†has been a huge hit at the LA Film Festival. You can read about that now at these locations:
http://www.makebelievefilm.com/pdf/MBPressKit.pdf
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/23/entertainment/la-et-makebelieve-20100623
And, while I have your attention, be sure to check out the latest additions to The Virtual Magic & Mystery School at:
http://virtual.magicalwisdom.com/
That’s all for now. Jeff is off on a well-earned vacation at a festival, and will return just in time for the next Wonderground on July 15.
Best to all!
Sincerely,
Tobias Beckwith
President – Tobias Beckwith, Inc.
Management to Jeff McBride
tobias@yourmagic.com
(702) 697-7002 (Las Vegas & Everywhere)
(415) 889-9491 (Bay Area/ Silicon Valley)
| Hot Las Vegas Greetings!
Here’s some recent press we’ve generated for our own projects: MAGIC AND MYSTERY SCHOOL ON CNN! This is one of the best pieces on the school yet! |
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2010/06/29/natpkg.magic.school.cnn?iref=allsearch
WONDERGROUND IN THE NEWS!
Bravo to all the WONDERGROUND Players for this great piece! http://weeklyseven.com/ae/2010/july/01/man-many-masks
Please plan to arrive early to get a seat this month… we will be sold out again for sure!
Our August class is SOLD OUT! Fall classes are filling fast. Be sure to register, so you are not disappointed!
Your friend in magic,
Jeff
From Larry Hass
Associate Dean, the Magic & Mystery School
In my recent Museletter titled “What is Education?” I promised to be back soon with some suggested summer reading. But first, I want to remind everyone about the Magic and Meaning Conference in Las Vegas, October 20-23, 2010.
Since my move to north Texas, many people have written me to ask when I will be holding another one of my Theory and Art of Magic Conferences. The fact is that I am already holding one because the Magic and Meaning Conference we create every year through the Magic & Mystery School is its equivalent.
For those of you who have not attended the Magic and Meaning Conference, let me tell you that its mission is to create a genuine learning community about magic. The conference includes first-rate magic performances and works-in-progress opportunities, but the heart of the event is three days of presentations on magic from conference attendees and special keynote speakers.
So this is your opportunity: if you would like to submit a proposal for a 20-minute presentation at this year’s conference, please click here to see the details (the deadline is August 1). Whether you submit a proposal or not, I encourage you to think seriously about joining us for the conference in late October. Come see why so many people return to this event year after year. (To register, visit http://magicalwisdom.com/events/view/416)
As I said above, I promised to suggest some good books for summer reading. I have already taken one shot at that exercise in one of my MAGIC columns (August 2008, p. 19), so what I want to do here is provide the names of some of my favorite books to re-read.
Let’s think about this for a moment. Popular culture moves at a breakneck speed. The news cycle is now instantaneous. Countless new magic products arrive every month. We try to keep up, but it is impossible to keep up. So we bounce from this to that, to some “new this” to the next “new that.”
I know this is just the pace of modern life, but I also know something else: that rarely does “pursuit of the new” bring the best and deepest experience of something. On the contrary, my very best experiences of a good film, piece of art, or novel come when I view or read it again. For it is only then, when I already have a baseline of understanding, that I am able to really appreciate the work’s deeper levels of significance or achievement.
So here is a partial list of some favorite magic books I didn’t mention in my previous column — books that I find myself being enriched by again and again. If you haven’t read them yet, then you have a real treat in store for you. If you already have read them, then I invite you to pick one of them up again on some lazy summer day so you can get reconnected with something good and deep. In no particular order:
1. Jim Steinmeyer, Conjuring. This book is a dazzling array of great material from one of the most creative people in magic.
2. Harry Lorayne, Close-Up Card Magic. The material remains fresh and stimulating thirty-five years after publication; the revised edition in The Classic Collection includes better credits and many fine touches and improvements.
3. Max Maven, The Lisp Series (Thequal, Doth, Amperthand, Fifth, Thavant, Thabbatical). The Color Books are more famous, but a lot of material in these books is every bit as good, and they are a blast to read.
4. Lewis Ganson, The Dai Vernon Book of Magic. This classic work remains an exemplary lesson in how to construct deeply magical routines with invisible sleight-of-hand. I re-read “The Vernon Touch” chapter on a regular basis.
5. Theodore Annemann, The Jinx 1-50, 51-100, 101-151 (three volumes). Read one issue a day for a month and notice at the end how many great new ideas you have.
6. Eugene Burger and Jeff McBride, Mystery School. I realize that including this may seem nepotistic, but the truth is I have read certain sections of this book at least seven times. There is a lot going on in here of extraordinary value and intelligence.
So happy re-reading this summer! And be sure to let me know your favorite books to re-read. I look forward to being with you at one of our Master Classes or at the Magic and Meaning Conference in October.
Eugene Burger, Larry Hass and Tobias Beckwith, Abbi and I just wrapped up a great week of classes and shows here at the Magic and Mystery School. We send all our students home with a press release to help THEM get in the news, and it works! I love collecting their news clippings and I keep them all here in the school archives. There are over a hundred of them there now. If you are one of our former students and used the press information from the class to get in the news, please send along your clippings!