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
It is a hot 107 degrees in Las Vegas as I write this, but we are keeping cool indoors at our Magic Mansion, going over notes from the Extended Master Class with Eugene Burger, Lance Burton, and Mac King. This was our most culturally diverse class yet! Students from Sweden, Japan, and from all over the USA attended. We’ve included some photos from the class. We spent ten hours a day with the students, going to shows, and working one on one building their performances.
FILM AND TELEVISION UPDATE
Last weekend, Dante and Blair Larsen came to the house with a TV crew to interview us for an independent film they’re making, called “Women in Boxes.” (as opposed to ‘men in boxers’, which would be another show entirely). The next day, Franz Harary
came to visit, and shared with us his vision of Planet Magic. I helped Franz design a show built around making the Las Vegas Stratosphere tower disappear.
MCBRIDE LIVE IN LONDON!
In a few days, we’ll be traveling to London for the Magic Circle Centennial Celebration. We’re looking forward to seeing the magicians in town, to doing our show, and to holding a Secret Session. Abbi and I will get to Stonehenge for a visit and weave some of our magic into the ancient site.
THE POWER OF CHEESE!
Shortly after we return from London, we will be going to Portland, OR, for The String Cheese Incident’s summer festival at Horning’s Hideout. Abbi and I will be teaching several workshops there, including “CULTIVATING A MYTHOPOETIC LIFE” and “ALCHEMICAL CREATIVITY”.
For more information, go to http://www.peakexperience.cc/ and click the SCI link.
SINGAPORE SPOOK SHOW!
Eugene and I are working with Lawrence Khong of Singapore to prepare his spook show, which will open soon. Apparently, August is the month of ghosts in Singapore. Last year Lawrence had over 20,000 people attend his shows in 3 days! I’m looking forward to going to Singapore to direct the magic and to help prepare the show, just before Abbi and I go to Burning Man.
BURING MAN MAGIC
After I return from Singapore, Abbi and I will be driving up to Burning Man. Burning Man is an incredible festival focusing on radical survival and radical self-expression. We’ll be hanging out at the Inner Mind art installation, along with wizard Gary Stadler, so do stop by if you’re in the neighborhood….
Yours in magic and mystery,
Jeff
Greetings Friends,
Thanks so much for the feedback we have been getting on the recent issue Bryce Kuhlman edited of our” Secret Arts Journal” and Abbi’s ” Bali journal” article! If you missed the recent issue you can get it for free at
http://www.secretartjournal.com
ON THE ROAD IN JUNE
We are heading east this June for a series of performances and workshops in NY, NJ and PA. If you check the tour schedule
http://mcbridemagic.com/calendar.php
you can see when we will be near you. Abbi and I enjoy connecting with friends while we are in the area!
WE LOVE DA’ FIRE!
When Abbi and I are not performing or teaching, you can find us near the magic fire circle making music and dancing round the flames, weaving our magic. We just concluded our Vegas Vortex – MayFire event in the Valley of Fire. It was an amazing weekend of friendship, magic, music and more! A highlight was seeing the Aurora Borealis in the night sky.
SUNSET AND SUNRISE MAGIC IN VEGAS
Abbi and I and our friends from the Vegas Vortex are converging at DARK SKIES LAS VEGAS. We’re really excited that my brother, Clay Patrick McBride, will be joining us for this adventure. This will be the largest fire and dance event in the history of Las Vegas!
We will be hosting the opening ceremonies as well as sunrise and sunset drumming, dance and magic each day of this Burning Man style event hosted by the Las Vegas Artists community. Cameron Grant and his group are doing extraordinary events that are not only pushing the envelope, but burning it! Check out the new magic and community fire scene in Las Vegas by going to
http://darkskies.vegasartists.com
The day after we get back from Dark Skies, I will be the first magician to perform magic at the new Wynn hotel! I’ve worked for Steve Wynn since I was his house opening act down at the Golden Nugget back in the mid 80’s, and I’m told he will be at the private party where I will be performing on Monday night, along with the governor and a lot of Vegas’ celebrities. Should be fun! Sorry to say, this is a private event, but I will notify you when I do a show there that is open to the public.
NEW BOOK ON MAGIC, MAGICK AND SHAMANISM
If you want to read more about our passion for fire and magic there is a new book just out called CONVERSATIONS ON THE EDGE OF THE APOCALYPSE, contemplating the future with Noam Chomsky, Alex Grey, Ram Dass, George Carlin, Deepak Chopra, Rupert Sheldrake and yours truly…. I’m honored to be in such progressive company. The new book, by David Jay Brown, is a series of interviews. The title of my interview is called: MAGIC, MAGICK AND SHAMANISM. Our conversation explores the relationship between performance, ritual and fire magic, and mentions the Mystery School of magical arts.
Here is a recent review of the book I think you’ll enjoy….
“Conversations on the Edge of the Apocalypse could not be more timely. These interviews of visionary thinkers, and the provocative interactions between those people interviewed, provide diverse road maps for navigating our way through an era of terror, conflict, and incipient disaster. Readers who are interested in novel paradigms, especially worldviews that will help humanity survive and even prosper, will find David Jay Brown’s book a source of delight, of wonder, and even of hope.”
–Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., co-author of Extraordinary Dreams and How to Work with Them; Co-editor of Varieties of Anomalous Experience
…from Conversations on the Edge of the Apocalypse By David Jay Brown
Palgrave Macmillan, 2005
www.mavericksofthemind.com/apocalypse.htm
FIRES RISING
Thursday June 2nd through Sunday June 5th, 2005
http://www.4qf.org/_FiresRising/index.htm
Join us for an amazing community experience in the Magic of Fire Circle. Three all night Fire Circles and many daytime playshop tracks. A conscious progression of ecstatic experience, and the Alchemical techniques of Symbol, Rhythm, Movement and Song.
STARWOOD
We are happy to be returning in July, to the Starwood Festival in Sherman, NY for one of America’s largest bonfire celebrations. This is held at the Brushwood folklore Center, where Abbi and I created the World Magic Festival in 1992 and 1993. We will be facilitating an all night Alchemical Fire Circle, as well as offering workshops and performances. For more info:
http://www.rosencomet.com/starwood/
MAGIC BEYOND WONDERDOME!
Later this summer, we are all getting together to witness and support the Gary Stadler and Bryce Kuhlman’s new mega-magic Dome at the Burning Man art festival in Black Rock City, Nevada. If you have not heard of, or been to, Burning Man, this is the year! http://www.burningman.com Abbi and I will be creating a special “illuminations” magic show to perform inside Gary’s “INNER MIND” installation. For a sneak peek of what Gary is creating, go look at http://www.heartmagic.com/inner_mind.html
We’ll be back from Spain at the end of June and will be home for a few weeks in July. If you are in Las Vegas drop us an email and we’ll create a time to get together. A bunch of us are going to visit Lance Burton at one of his shows; he’s added lots of new material, lighting and sets to his “New Wonders Await” show at the Monte Carlo. Also, Mac King has added a few new things to his show that we are going to check out as well in mid-July.
We’ll keep you up to date on things on the road and here in Las Vegas!
Love to you all, and see you soon!!
Jeff & Abbi