“Indubitably, Magic is one of the subtlest and most difficult of the sciences and arts. There is more opportunity for errors of comprehension, judgment and practice than in any other branch of physics.”
— Aleister Crowley 1875-1947, British Occultist
Greetings Magical Friends,
THE SHOW DOCTOR IS IN!
Pictured here is Jeff, with Pamela Anderson and Hans Klok. Jeff’s reputation as “the Show Doctor,” is having a major impact on shows around Las Vegas. Recently, Hans hired Jeff on to consult on his new hit show, “The Beauty of Magic.”
If you’d like to read some tips on how you can improve your show, Jeff and Bryce Kuhlman have created The Secret Arts Journal, a free service to our readers.
Jeff was also a guest speaker for David Copperfield last week at his Project Magic conference at the MGM Grand Hotel, here in Las Vegas. Jeff’s talk at the seminar was called “Magic for Medical Professionals,” and was a highlight of the day. For more information on our annual conference for doctors who love magic, go to:
http://www.magicalwisdom.com/calendar.php
MAGIC AT THE EDGE
Here is a recent photo from a new book on Street Magic. Here, Jeff is shown just before he swallows a razor sharp steak knife. Tom Ogden is the author of this new book on urban conjuring, and it will be out in the Fall. For those who want to see our MCBRIDE MAGIC AT THE EDGE live, we will be on the East Coast, for the entire month of August, at the Trump Marina, in Atlantic City. For more information, go to:
http://www.mcbridemagic.com/calendar.php
MCBRIDE ON A&E MINDFREAK
Jeff will be a special guest star with Criss Angel on the upcoming TRIAL BY FIRE episode. Check your local listings for the air date. Criss told Jeff that he expects it to air “sometime in August.” Criss and Jeff are also exploring new magic for season 4. Watch for Jeff on upcoming episodes.
MAGIC LEGENDS
Next is a photo of Jeff at the Australian Society of Magicians 100th Anniversary Convention. In this photo, Shoot Ogawa, Lenart Greene, Ai, Jeff and Gaetan Bloom are shown outside the convention hall, preparing to go in and meet their fans. Jeff is looking forward to meeting all of you when we get to our next stop in Atlantic City. We always take time to meet and greet all of our friends and fans after the show.
PARTING THOUGHTS
Jeff and Eugene will be together for our August Master Class in Atlantic City. There are still two spaces available for the class. You can read more about it here:
http://www.magicalwisdom.com/school.php
We’ll look forward to seeing you soon!
Yours in magic,
Abbi & Jeff McBride
Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood…. Make big plans; aim high….
–Daniel Hudson Burnham
LATE BREAKING NEWS — Congratulations to master class alumni Sterling Dietz, Krystyn Lambert & Shayna Reed, all competition winners at this year’s annual International Brotherhood of Magicians Convention in Reno, Nevada! Sterling took 1st in the youth stage competition and Krystyn 2nd. Shayna won special honors in the adult stage competition. Bravo Sterling, Krystyn and Shayna! We are all very proud of you!
Greetings Friends,
Jeff and Abbi here, just back from our travels to Death Valley. On our way to the lowest valley in the western hemisphere, we stopped to visit Methuselah, the oldest living being on the planet. This is a 4,700 year old bristlecone pine tree. Imagine being in the presence of this ancient witness to humanity. This tree was a sapling when King Tut was ruler in Egypt! What we learned from these trees is that one of the reasons for their survival is that they can exist peacefully in the most stressful and harsh environment, a good lesson for all of us, who spend our time in cities….
Ghost Town
On the way home, we stopped at Rhyolite, a ghost town near Las Vegas. Jeff is considering doing a wild west magic DVD here one day. At one time, there were ten thousand people living, working and playing here…. Now, there is only the bones of buildings, and the occasional curious tourist. There is a small collection of strange art scattered about the town, which is definitely worth seeing if you’re in the area.
Vegas and Oz
This week, Jeff is teaching private students, and helping Hans Klok with a few new routines for his stage show and television. Next week, Jeff is off to Australia for the Australian national magic convention in Melbourne. He’ll be performing and teaching a Master Class, and he’s excited to be going, for his first time, to the land “down under!” Pass the vegemite, please!
Magic at the Edge!
We will see all of our friends on the East Coast during the month of August! We will be performing from August 3rd to Sept. 3rd at the Trump Marina in Atlantic City! Tickets can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-736-1420 or on-line at www.ticketmaster.com. For more information, call the Trump Marina box office at 1-800-777-8477.
This is our full evening show, and we will be presenting lots of new material for all of our friends and fans.
Special Atlantic City Master Class
We have moved the August Master Class to Atlantic City, NJ! Yes, Eugene will be with us, and other East Coast special guests to be announced. Students will share seven exciting days with us, and get special backstage tours and workshops on the “real inside work” of our full evening show! Of course, we will include show tickets for students and their guests as well as special lectures, workshops and parties.
If you’re looking for a summer vacation with a magical touch, you are invited…. Go to our website for the rest of the details.
Wishing you all a magical summer!
Jeff & Abbi McBride
All creative art is magic, is evocation of the unseen in forms persuasive, enlightening, familiar and surprising. — Joseph Conrad
Dear Magical Friends,
Tobias, here, writing again in Jeff and Abbi’s absence.
Lots of news this time!
Jeff and Abbi have just arrived in New York City after an SRO series of events at Denny & Lee’s Magic in Baltimore. Show, lecture and workshop were all overflowing, and already receiving
rave reviews from the attendees.
The good news for those of you in the New York City area are that Jeff is repeating it all at the Fantasma store this weekend – with lots of new material since last year’s appearance there — and there are still some tickets left. He is doing both show and lecture on both tonight and Saturday evenings, and a full workshop on Sunday afternoon for a select few really serious students. This is a great way to experience the workshop / master class experience without having to travel all the way to Las Vegas. You can read more and purchase tickets online by clicking here!
Which reminds me – this will be a great summer for McBride fans on the East Coast, because we’ve just signed for Jeff and Abbi to perform their latest show, “Magic at the Edge†at the Trump Marina Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City from August 2 – September 2nd. See all of Jeff’s greatest hits with masks, cards, coins, etc. – joined by lots of newer material you’ve never seen before – all in an intimate 500 seat showroom. We’ll have the links to the box office site up on Jeff’s calendar within the next week or two…be sure and check it out.
More great news for magicians on the East Coast: Because of the show at the Trump Marina, we’ve moved the August extended Master Class back one week, so it will now take place August 8-14, and, instead of being in Las Vegas, we’ll be in the showroom at the Trump Marina in Atlantic City. For those of you in driving distance from Atlantic City, this will be a great chance to participate in the first ever East Coast Extended Master Class, and to witness the workings of a big casino magic show from all angles.
As a final bit of news, before getting on this week’s special “Muse†piece, you should be aware we still have some spots available for this year’s Magic & Meaning conference, with special guests Robert E. Neale and Dr. Lawrence Hass. We’ve just confirmed our space at the Courtyard Marriott on Green Valley Parkway in Henderson, NV,and we have a special deal with the hotel for those who attend the workshop. Just call 1 (800) 583-0079 and tell them you have registered for “Magic and Meaning†and want to reserve your room at the “McBride Magic group rate.†I believe the rate is $125 a night, which is about a 10% reduction from their regular rates. We’ll be sending this specific information to everyone who has registered as a direct e-mail, as well, so don’t worry if you lose this Museletter.
Okay – today’s Muse piece is a quick optical illusion / magic trick I like to perform when I’m having lunch with a new potential client. Because I’m in the business of providing people with magical experiences, I’ve always felt that my approach to selling should also be magical, and this is just one example:
All you need is two coins. I like to borrow one and use one of my
own, for reason’s you’ll soon see. The two coins should be similar in size. Two quarters work just fine – if you can find someone with a Susan B. Anthony dollar and you have one, that’s even better. You hold the two coins between your thumb and finger, as shown in the image at the right. You can even have your new friend do this for themselves – it’s always more effective when the magic happens in their own hands. Just have them rub the two coins together, while observing them from the edges (their eye should be in the position the camera was to take the photo at the right). As they rub the two coins together, their minds will create the image of a third coin in between these two. It’s only an illusion – until you reach over and produce the third coin (using your favorite sleight-of-hand method – I just push the coin out from a finger-palmed position) right from the tops of the two moving coins.
“See what can happen when we pool our resources?†I say. A minute ago, we barely had two coins to rub together between us – now we’ve already made a profit!†And I give them the coin I produced, along with the one I borrowed from them. “Magic is a lot of fun, and it can really bring about some amazing transformation. I hope we’ll have a chance to make a lot of magic happen together.â€
I hope you all enjoyed this newsletter. We’ll have another one with photos from Jeff and Abbi’s current trip East out in another couple of weeks.
Wishing you a magical summer!
Sincerely,
Tobias Beckwith
Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Greetings, Magical Friends! This is Tobias writing from Las Vegas, as Jeff and Abbi are too fully
occupied with creating and performing new treats for the upcoming summer shows.
We’ve all been enjoying an unusually creative time here in Vegas this summer – and I have a lot of news for you! There’s also something fun for you to try out for yourself at the end of the letter – if you dare. Whether you’re a creative artist yourself, or would just like to experience your own life a bit more creatively, you should have fun with it!
First, allow me to take care of a bit of business: We’ve all heard that word of mouth – also known as “buzz†– is the most effective kind of advertising. Part of the reason we do these muse letters is to generate that buzz — but also to stay in touch with friends, fans and colleagues, and, I hope, to give a little something back for all the inspiration, ticket sales and other ways you’ve supported us over the years. But we can do better. We can reach more of you if you’ll help us. Can you think of someone else you know who would enjoy this Muse letter? Please let them know, and suggest they sign up. You can just forward this to them and if they like it, they can click here: http://www.mcbridemagic.com/magic/contact.html, then fill in their e-mail under the “McBride Mailing List†option.
Jeff continues his popular series in MAGIC MAGAZINE, “Ask the
Show Doctor,†and he’s been busy BEING “The Show Doctor,†as well! Most recently he has been coaching Hans Klok to help him build new manipulation routines to be featured in Hans’ new show, The Beauty of Magic, soon to open at the Planet Hollywood Casino, co-starring Pamela Anderson. It promises to be the biggest magic show in Las Vegas since Siegfried & Roy.
In the meantime, Jeff and Abbi are working hard on a new version of Magic at the Edge, which will be touring extensively this summer, with lots of new material. If you have a chance, do come see it! Just in the next few weeks, the show will be at the Rhinebeck Performing Arts Center in upstate New York (May 25, 26 & 27), Denny & Lee’s Magic in Baltimore (June 5), and the Fantasma Store
in New York City (June 8 & 9). We’ll be taking it
down to the Edgewater Casino Resort in Laughlin from June 15-23, as well – if you’re near Las Vegas, give yourself a treat and make the drive down – the 300 seat showroom in Laughlin is a perfect venue for this intimate but powerful show! You can find more about each of these appearances by clicking their calendar entries at the right, or going to Jeff’s calendar online.
And now, this month’s MUSE offering. I’ve been putting the finishing touches on my first book, (as yet untitled – why is the title always the hardest part?) which is designed to help magicians and other independent performers develop their own creativity and make their presentations more unique and magical. I present many different ideas and exercises in the course of the book, but the following is a basic acting exercise that can bring breakthroughs in many areas of life – not just the creative performing ones. I call it “Putting on the Mask.â€
Think of something you’ve been working on that’s giving you trouble. Maybe your job requires you to make cold calls, and you hate it. Maybe you’re a teacher, and there’s one particular thing you teach that your students just can’t seem to get. Maybe you’re a student, and have been having problems with math, or with history. Just think of some simple thing you know you should be able to do, but, for some unknown reason is giving you trouble. Write it down.
Okay…now think of someone you know, or know of, for whom
this problem would not be a problem at all. Maybe you’ve been having trouble getting inspiration for an art project – and so you think of Pablo Picasso, one of the most innovative and creative artists of all time. Picasso was short, sturdily built but never fat. He was balding from a young age, and notoriously irreverent. He was passionate about life – about great food and beautiful women, often having several mistresses at one time. His work was eclectic and always changing, ranging from Ingress-like classical realism through his blue and rose periods, both analytic and synthetic cubism, which he pioneered, African inspired periods and surrealistic experiments. He created continuously.
Could you step into the persona of Picasso? Try it! See if you can match his facial expression, or perhaps hold your body as he would. He spent most of his life living between Barcelona, where Catalan is spoken – a lovely language with hints of Italian, French & Spanish all mixed in, but a flavor all its own, and in Paris. Can you imagine what his accent must have sounded like? Try and imitate it. Try and get into Picasso’s body, voice…and mind. It doesn’t matter if you’re like the real Picasso. Use your imagination and become the Picasso of your dreams. What must it have felt like to BE Picasso? Imagine you ARE Picasso.
And now, as Picasso, create your own art. Allow yourself to be inspired by his passion, his experience, his approach to life. Picasso was famous later in life for scribbling on a napkin and signing it when presented with the bill for a
particularly lavish meal he was having with friends in a restaurant, and offering it in lieu of cash payment. “That’s worth at least $1,500 in the art market right now, just because it has my signature – do you want that, or shall I just give you money?†That’s confidence, and Picasso had it. Many of those napkins are now on display in major art museums of the world. What will you create now, knowing ANYTHING you put your name on can be priceless?
This seems such a simple thing, but you’ll amaze yourself at the talents you have, well suppressed within your “normal†character, which can be released by the simple act of putting on the mask of another. In playing role games in the class, it’s amazing what fun we’ve had – and what new bits we’ve discovered with such simple things as “Now do it as Daffy Duck. Okay…now you’re Heavy D, the hip hop star. Great.
Now you’re Tony Soprano…and so on. Each performer will do each character differently – and in the context of that character, will discover entirely new and different ways of presenting their magical pieces. Some are great, others not. It doesn’t matter, because by putting on the mask of the character, we’ve broken out of our own ruts and made new creative discoveries.
Oh – I nearly forgot, and promised Jeff I’d remind you – if you enjoy this kind of creative exercise and want more; it’s just one of the things we offer in our Master Classes. There are only three general Master Classes scheduled for the rest of this year: July, August & September. That means only 45 spots available, and over half of those are gone already – so it’s really more like 20. Don’t wait, go to http://www.magicalwisdom.com/ choose a class and register now!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this Muse letter. I’ve certainly enjoyed bringing it to you. If any of you have ideas for a really creative title for a book about creating magic, and would like to give them to me, please send them to tobias@yourmagic.com.
Have a great summer!
Sincerely,
Tobias Beckwith
tobias@yourmagic.com
From Jeff & Abbi:
For deep mystery seekers only!
(You know who you are…)
Fires Rising, Artemas, PA, May 31st – June 3rd
Experience three days and nights of ancient and modern mysteries. Join us for an alchemical blend of fire, drumming, dance, magic, storytelling and song at Four Quarters Farm in Artemas, PA.
Read all about it at http://www.4qf.org/_FiresRising/index.htm
If you’ve been wondering about
what, exactly, happens at one of these gatherings, we’re happy to share this great video on YouTube showing the Alchemical Fire Circle. The video is from a documentary, ENIGMA, produced by Vision TV about Jeff’s magic profession and his work with alchemical fire circle with Abbi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSjnq_ALNVY
Please, tell your friends about it! If any of you have a YouTube account, we’d appreciate you linking to it.
We’ll see you in the spotlight, or by the firelight!
Your friends in mystery,
Jeff & Abbi McBride
“The profession of magician, is one of the most perilous and arduous specializations of the imagination. On the one hand there is the hostility of God and the police to be guarded against; on the other it is as difficult as music, as deep as poetry, as ingenious as stage-craft, as nervous as the manufacture of high explosives….”
— William Bolitho 1890-1930, British Author
Greetings Friends, and Happy Spring!
Abbi here, sending magical greetings and good wishes from warm and sunny Las Vegas!
Playing with Fire
Jeff McBride will be appearing on the third season of Criss Angel’s MINDFREAK show soon! Several years ago, many of you saw Jeff on ABC’s Champions of Magic, where he performed the world’s largest fire stunt at that time, called “Burned Alive!” When Criss decided to do his own version of the burning man, he called Jeff and asked him to consult and appear in this exciting episode of MINDFREAK. Check your local TV listings to see Jeff playing with fire!
Jeff and I both love fire and magic. We’re excited to be hosting a special event called MAYFIRE during the first weekend of May. Read more information about our passion at http://www.vegasvortex.com
McBride Live on the Las Vegas Strip
Jeff returns to the World’s Greatest Magic Show for one week only, from March 25th to April 2nd! If you’re going to be in town, come to the Greek Isles Casino and see Jeff live! Be sure the stick around after the show to meet Jeff and the other performers, including Joseph Gabriel, Kozak and many others!
Home at Last!
Our full evening show, The Secret Art of Magic returned to the United States after a successful performance in Canada! Jeff, Eugene and I had a great time in Edmonton, Alberta, presenting our full evening show and teaching a four day Master Class. Sheldon Casavant helped produce this inspiring weekend, and we three enjoyed Canadian hospitality and the s-s-snow!!
Student Spotlight on Sheldon Casavant
We met Sheldon Casavant at a World Magic Summit teen weekend several years ago. Sheldon attended the teen weekend for five years, then came to a Master Class, and has just returned to Canada after six hundred performances of his illusion show. He is an extraordinarily talented performer, and also has a knack for production. You will be seeing a lot more of Sheldon in the future, or right now, at his website http://www.sheldoncasavant.com/
See you soon?
I don’t know about where you are, but here in the Vegas Valley, it’s 85 and sunny, and the roses are starting to bloom! We have two spots left open for the Special Extended Seven Day Master Class coming up in April. You are invited to join Jeff, Eugene and me, along with Tobias Beckwith, Lance Burton and Mac King for a truly magical week!
Yours in the art of better magic…
Abbi McBride