Hello Magical Friends!
Jeff and I have been enjoying being at home these past few weeks. I’ve heard it said that things speed up as they fall down. This Fall, as Visionaries in presenting Fall Fest, a special weekend of magic, music, movement, and mystery…. Exciting events included our sixth annual BoneDance, a dusk til dawn Alchemical Fire Circle, one hour away from the city lights of Las Vegas, under the vast desert starlit skies, and the Witches and Wizard’s Costume Ball. To see more photos, click here and look in the photo gallery.
We immediately went into our Magic for Medical Professionals conference here at McBride’s House of Mystery. Fifteen doctors and medical professionals from many fields joined Jeff, Eugene and Dr. Lee Grotte, for a weekend exploring the connections between magic, medicine and healing.
While the conference was going on, we were joined by Daniel Zuckerbrot and his team. They were here for a week, making a documentary about Jeff and McBride’s Magic and Mystery School for a new television series called ENIGMA. 
It was a challenging and creative week. Jeff and I were filming all day, in addition to hosting the seminar, and Jeff was performing on the Las Vegas strip at night. This unique television event will chronicle the many diverse aspects that fill our lives, like drumming, dancing, teaching, performing as well as an inside look at our life at home.
This past weekend, Eugene and Jeff (and the crew) were engaged in a Master Class, and Jeff was also performing at the World’s Greatest Magic show. The show is playing at the Greek Isles Casino, and has been running for two years. It has more high quality, “A List” magicians than any other show in Las Vegas’ history. Jeff and Eugene hosted the Master Class students at the WGM show. The students were treated to meeting the stars of the show, and a special “after-party” was held on the Las Vegas strip, where Abbi and Jeff filmed special “street magic” segments for the upcoming ENIGMA project. Next Spring, when his tour schedule permits, Jeff will be returning to the WGM show. You can always check our World Tour Schedule to see where we’ll be.
Coming up next, we’ll be at the Magic Castle in West Hollywood, CA for the week of November 20-27th. Then, we’re heading out to sea with Holland America, to perform on board, en route to Oahu, Hawaii, and then on to Taiwan, Spain, and Mexico. We’ll have more stories to share soon….
Until then, as Fall turns toward Winter, may magic keep you warm!
Abbi & Jeff
“Magick is most vivid (strongest) when practiced on the edge, on the boundry of reason and paradox, in those places where the known leads into the unknown and unknowable.”
— from The Principles of High Magick
by Forrest Glen Landry
See the magic through our eyes, and let me tell you of our most recent adventures….
This last trip to Europe was pretty spectacular. I
slept most of the way from Las Vegas to Newark, NJ, which is no surprise, given that we had to be at the airport by 8 am, and you know “magician” and “morning person” are antonyms. My secret? Earplugs and a scarf over my eyes– dark and quiet, sweet dreams, no matter where. In terms of travel, I’ve gotten to the point where I can catnap just about anywhere. Once we got to Newark, we realized we had a twelve, (count ’em, twelve), hour layover. In the airport. In New Jersey. So, we had a little lunch, and found a quiet lounge where we could check email, drink tea, and snooze… and then we were on our way to Nice, France. They pronounce it “Neese,” which was news to me. I have to admit, my French is really not very good at all, even though I studied it for a year in high school. My guesses about vocabulary pronunciation in French, in my attempts to read signs or menus out loud, were pretty amusing to the locals. For instance, I often share a bit of magic where I ask my participant to make a wish, which, in French is “fait une veux.”
If, however, you say “fait une vaux” you are asking them to make a cow….
We were met at the airport by Mssrs. Jerome Trouslard and Eric Roumestan, and driven through rolling, green, mountainous countryside, through a couple of tunnels into Monte Carlo. We had arrived in the province of Monaco, on the Southeast tip of France. It’s politically separate from the rest of France, being a Principality, and is ruled by Prince Albert, who, as it turns out, happens to love magic. He also likes car racing, which explains the annual automobile race “The Grand Prix.” That race runs through the extremely winding, narrow streets, up and down the face of the mountain, all the way down to the beach of the Ligurian Sea. Mostly millionaires live there, because, (unless one is a citizen of France or of the US), one doesn’t have to pay taxes there. Most of the cars we saw driven around the area were either BMWs, Bentley’s or Benzes….
Each day, on our way to the Princess Grace Theater, Jeff and I would
stop and look at all the yachts in the harbor. The biggest one there used to belong to Mr. Onassis. Last year, his claim to “biggest boat in the bay,” was usurped by a Sheik from Saudi Arabia. Well, that’s what Rodger Moore told us on the balcony of the Prime Minister’s place, during that champagne reception. Who would have known that James Bond’s real life dad was an amateur magician known as “The Hazy Wizard,” and that 007 had a few tricks of his own to share….
When the Grand Prix of Magic was started, it was a competition, with special prizes awarded by the previous prince, Rainier. It was a very high-end contest, like the Olympics of Magic. As the years went on, instead of a competition, the Grand Prix became more of a celebration with a full week of shows, sponsored, in large part, by the Royal Family.
Yes, we all stand up when the Prince or Princess enters the room, and we don’t sit until they do. If we’re all at dinner together, no one eats until the Royal one begins. Yes, if you speak to them, you really say “Your Majesty.” Royal etiquette, you know.
For one week, marking the 20th anniversary, many of the winners from
past years competitions were invited to return. We
were happy to be in the show, along with Mirko from Argentina, Norbert Ferre from France, Vic and Fabrini, from Brazil, who do a wonderful act involving a mechanical man and magic. Also on the bill was Tommy Wonder, from Holland, performing his classical magic with cups, balls and class. Rein Weindong, from China offered his clock act. Otto Wesley and Christa, from Austria were hysterically funny and a little out of control, both onstage and off, and delightfully entertaining to be around. Voronin brought his brilliant “Count” to do several different segments in the show. Topas, from Germany, presented his toy act, and illusions were performed by Dani Lary and also by Paul and Ajna Philippart. The Tarmac Co. did a great job as the MCs of the show with their combination of comedy and magic.
After the last reception was over, and the last show completed, we took a short nap, and were on our way to Belgium.
We flew from Nice, up to Brussels, Belgium, where Rafael picked us up. (http://www.magic-Rafael.com) The flight was only about an hour and a half, Brussels is just east of the northern tip of France. We arrived in Leuven a short while later and checked into the Ibis hotel, right in the center of town.
Magical Greetings for October!
Hi, this is Tobias again. Jeff and Abbi are just winding up their European Tour, and will be home this week to prepare for some exciting events here at home in Las Vegas. More about these in just a moment.
First I wanted to share this photo of Jeff and Abbi “Bonding” with 
Roger Moore in Monte Carlo. They performed there at the 20th anniversary of the Monte Carlo Festival of Magic, along with some 20 other top acts who have appeared there. One of the highlights was a command performance for Prince Albert, after which the Prince requested that Jeff show him some close-up magic, of which he is a big fan. Monte Carlo is always a fun and rewarding experience for Jeff. This was his fourth time there, and every time he seems to bring home another award! I’m not even certain what this one was for, but a very large box arrived here from Monte Carlo just a few days ago.
From Monte Carlo, the McBride’s traveled on to Belgium, to appear
with Jeff’s student and friend Rafael (recent winner of the Golden Lion at the World Magic Seminar). Rafael was celebrating his own 20th anniversary in magic, and hosted a fabulous show in which Jeff starred along with Avner the Eccentric, Rafael himself, Hans Klok and Michael Goudeau. Following the shows in Belgium, Jeff, Abbi and Rafael headed to Strasbourg, France for a 3 day Master Class AND the French National Convention, at which Jeff delivered two lectures and performed on the gala show, for which he received a double standing ovation. I’ll let Jeff and Abbi fill in the details of their experience in France themselves when they do their next Muse letter in about 10 days time.
For now, I wanted to let you know of several events here in Las Vegas we’ll all be involved in over the coming weeks:
Next weekend is our annual “Fall Fest,” with a “Witches and Wizards Ball” being held at Studio Open on Friday evening, and “Bone Dance” in the desert on the following evening. A fabulous time for all, and you can learn more by visiting www.vegasvortex.com.
The following weekend we’ll be hosting our first ever “Magic for Medical Professionals,” with Jeff, Eugene and special guest Dr. Lee Grotte. The event is nearly sold out, and promises to be a most fascinating exploration of just how magic and medicine have been and continue to be intertwined in many ways. From exploring ways of using magic and performing techniques to improve practitioners’ relationships with their patients to learning of the historical relationship of the medical and magical arts, the weekend should be a fascinating one. We do still have two slots available for the class, so if you’re interested, please go to http://www.magicalwisdom.com/details.php?id=336, read more, and sign up!
You’ll be hearing more from us over the coming weeks. I’m dying to read Abbi’s write-up on the whole European trip, and I’d watch here for more pictures, as well.
Til then, we wish you all the best in magic.
Sincerely,
Tobias Beckwith
Greetings Magical Friends!
Abbi and I have recently returned from the Burning Man art festival in Northwestern Nevada. How can one convey, in the space of an email, the experience that is Burning Man? This year, more than 40,000 people attended, from all over the world. We drove the ten hours from Las Veags to the playa. In Spanish, playa means beach, but there’s no swimming or surfing to be found here. At one time, millions of years ago, this whole area was under water. These days, the water is long-gone for most of the year, and the ground is a fine, packed, deep layer of silica dust.
Once we got to the Burning Man entrance, we followed the burma-shave style signs. Their messages were all about the mind, the brain, the ego, the selves within. The theme for this year’s Burning Man was “Psyche,” and most of the art installations were related to the theme. Our first stop was the security checkpoint, where the RV was inspected carefully inside and out to make sure we didn’t have any stowaways, and to confirm that we had enough water for ourselves… At the greeter’s station, we were given maps, booklets of information, and a cool sticker, told “welcome home!” and sent on our way. We found our friends already set up at Easel Park Camp, and parked the RV.
We spent our time exploring interesting art installations, meeting old and new friends, and making music and magic throughout the camp. We had a great time out on our bikes, zooming around from place to place, seeing all there was to see. On one of our nights, we went through the Maze located at the base of the giant neon Man who would burn. There were at least thirty rooms, little revolving cubicle doorways, unexpected dead ends… and finally, after a long search, the staircase leading up…. to an open platform, looking down on the top of the Maze — where you could call words of encouragement or confusion to those in the Maze — and then more stairs leading up to the Man. If you had enough people working cooperatively together, you could turn the Man to face a different direction, further confounding the people in the Maze. The Maze was only open a few nights and they had to take it down on Friday night since the Man was going to burn on Saturday amidst a huge array of fire spinners and pyrotechnics.
Light Wizard Gary Stadler, along with our webmaster Bryce Kuhlman — with their amazing crew from Arizona, Las Vegas, San Diego and more — set up the Inner Mind: a humungous air inflated pointy-topped dome containing a smaller inflated dome inside. The top held a huge bright light shooting out of the top (ala the Luxor in Vegas). Inside the inner dome was a huge, interactive brain made of nearly 3000 microprocessors. There were thousands of little LED lights zooming around, representing thoughts, in all different colors, which you could control…
“Passage” was the name of a large metal sculpture of a mother and child. The installation started about fifty feet away from the sculptures, with cement footprints in the playa — and filled with fire — representing where they had walked. Looking at them, mid-stride, we could see that water flowed down from their hands, and that the mother was passing a handful of fire to the child. The mother was probably about thirty-five feet tall, and the child was about twenty feet tall, all made out of scrap metal (bike chains, horseshoes, little horses…). The couple who created it were welding on it for the first few days, and had it completed by Friday night.
The Flaming Lotus Girls brought out their Angel of the Apocalypse: a propane-shooting, flame throwing sculpture of a gigantic bird, about fifteen feet tall, partially buried in the playa with its beak, 12 distinct wing tips, and part of its belly sticking out… the amount of flame coming out of the wing tips could be controlled just by pushing a button, and they let everyone push it!
And there was so much more. We brought out the Alchemical Fire Circle and did one all-nighter on Wednesday night. The music, the drumming, the singing, the magic, the ritual and spontaneous co-created ceremony went on through the night until well after sunrise. It’s such a gift to be able to share this magic at such a special place.
Jeff’s favorite quote from Burning Man is: “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much room!” To see event more astounding images… check this out —
Gary sent this great graphic novel style comic book report of the
Burn.
Since we’ve been home, Eugene has been to see us. We taught a three day Master Class here at the house. Consistently, our students emerge from the Master Class with better acts, new effects, and good friends they’ll know for the rest of their lives. Our next event, Beyond Bizarre will have a special focus on story-telling and magic, and is completely sold out for this year.
Abbi and I are preparing to go to Monte Carlo, France, and Belgium for the next few weeks. We will be performing our full-evening show, teaching Secret Session Seminars, and re-connecting with old friends. When we return, we will be getting ready for our Vegas Vortex event called Fall Fest. All the information about the event, which includes community celebrations, all night sacred fire circles and playshops with Isaac Bonewits, is online at VegasVortex.com
If you’re planning to be in Las Vegas during November 6-20th, come on down to the Greek Isles Casino, where I will be headlining in the World’s Greatest Magic Show. Be sure to say hello when you come to see the show; I’ll be in the lobby after the show to meet and greet you!
We’ll be in touch again soon…
Magically,
Jeff McBride
Greetings from Las Vegas!
Jeff and Abbi are just back from London (more about that below), and off to a weekend making magic and music with the String Cheese Incident at Horning’s Hideout up in Oregon. The great “World Tour of 2005” continues!
Realize this is from my perspective, and I’ve only heard it second hand. If we’re lucky, we may get Abbi to write from a more personal perspective in a couple of weeks. (Digression – we’ve just heard that Richard Kaufman will run Abbi’s write-up of the Spanish Convention in Bilbao last month in the October issue of Genii, along with photos. Don’t miss it!)
First, Jeff and Abbi’s flights were all on time, and they arrived safely at Gatwick airport about 10:00am on Friday morning, July 22nd. They had left their home in Las Vegas about 9am the previous day, and so were a bit tired upon arrival.
Unfortunately the driver sent to meet them got lost, and their first job on arrival was to find a taxi big enough to hold them and their luggage – not an easy job if you’ve seen the number of cases they have to travel with when doing multiple events, as they were. This international touring is definitely not for wimps!
Fortunately, there was nothing else pressing on their schedules that day. The following day, however, was a killer. There was a special luncheon for the teen members of the Magic Circle, at which Jeff and the other celebrities attending were to sign autographs. Immediately following this were the all afternoon technical rehearsals for the gala show that evening, the centerpiece of the Magic Circle’s Centennial Celebration. Rehearsals finished just in time for the show itself to begin. In an unusual twist, Jeff, who is generally hired to close this kind of a gala, was asked by producer John Fisher to open the evening. He wanted to kick off what promised to be a rather long show with something that would really wake up the crowd – and of course, Jeff delivered just that. Later in the show he came back and roused them all again with his “Sorcerer’s Apprentice†miser’s dream routine. After the show, John wrote me:
“Incidentally, Jeff was phenomenal both on the show and during rehearsals (he’ll explain the latter).”
I haven’t heard the story about the rehearsals yet – Jeff and I were only able to manage about one hour of time in between his return from London and leaving for Oregon, and we had a lot of business to cover!
In any event, following the busy celebration day, Jeff and Abbi had a day off to enjoy London. The following morning, though, the BBC sent a car to pick him up and whisk him off to do their “Midweek” radio talk show, talking about the celebration at the Magic Circle, and, even more, about his upcoming appearance at the London Science Museum. You can actually hear this show online by going to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/midweek.shtml and clicking the “Listen Again” button to hear the most recent week’s show!
After the BBC show, the car whisked Jeff back to his hotel to prepare for his sold-out lecture, sponsored by The Magic Circle. James Fortune, who organized the lecture on behalf of The Magic Circle, wrote me afterwards: “Everyone who was there said that the one-and-a-half hour lecture was one of the best they’d seen at TMC and, indeed, Jeff received a standing ovation at the end. Quite rightly.” James went WAY out of his way to make this a successful event for all, and we send him our sincere thanks.
For most folks, the Magic Circle gala, lecture and BBC appearance would have been enough for one short trip – but Jeff has twice the energy of most of us, so at this point he and Abbi were only halfway through the events of their week in London. The next morning found them back at The Magic Circle for a video taping session for Asahi TV, from Japan, who was making a special about the centennial celebration, and wanted Jeff’s act as a part of the show. All went well, and we’re looking forward to seeing the video they got. I understand the show will air (only in Japan) later this year. This was the only “business” event of the day, so they were free to see friends and sight-see for the rest of the day.
The following day, July 27th, was the day of Jeff’s interview and performance at the Dana Center, a part of the London Science Museum, with Professor Richard Wiseman and Dr. Gustav Kuhn, in which the three explored the psychology of magic and perception, and the “science of showmanship.” The event was sold out well in advance, and from all reports was a huge success. Jeff was so excited about it that we are now exploring ways of bringing the event to the US. More about that in a later issue! Oh…if you’d like to read a really fascinating article interviewing Professor Wiseman on the subjects that were covered in this event, check this out: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4726547.stm
The 29th was a Friday, next to last day in London, and, like so many of the rest, jammed full! Jeff started at noon, teaching his first of two “Secret Session” workshops, to some 17 students in the small theatre at the Magic Circle. At 6pm he and Abbi had to pack up fast and run back over to the Dana Center for that evening’s edition of the show/interview with Professors Wiseman and Kuhn…again sold out.
The following day was for packing up and conducting the second “Secret Session,” again filled to capacity with 17 students. The day was apparently a success, as we’ve already begun hearing from some of the students about coming to Vegas to take one of our upcoming master classes.
So…that’s the story of Jeff and Abbi’s London adventure – at least from my long-distance point of view.
We do hope you’re enjoying our ongoing series of Muse letters. Let us know if there’s other information you’d like to see, or have any other ideas we might use to improve them. And don’t forget to tell your friends to sign up for our future editions. Much as we like keeping certain secrets – this is one we’d love to have more people know about.
We send our magical best wishes to all of you, and hope to see you soon, in Las Vegas or one of the many other parts of the world our travels take us to!
Sincerely,
Tobias Beckwith
McBride Management
tobias@yourmagic.com