(Photo by Lara Puglisi)
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
— Maya Angelou
Greetings from China!
Wow, what a bizarre job I have! Let me explain…
I got this email a few weeks ago: “Can you fly to Beijing and make a skyscraper vanish on national television?”
Click to Watch
How do you make a huge skyscraper vanish on TV? Yeah, that is what I was asking too! I needed EXPERT help! I am blessed to have good friends like Franz Harary who can help me make the impossible possible. He sure did! Franz and I were judges on the VH1 show CELEBRACADABRA (you can see a clip here).
It is wonderful to have friends who can mentor me through these challenging situations. Over the years I have cultivated friendships with my magic mentors. I am very blessed to be able to share their wisdom with my students.
Mystery School Mondays
“A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.”Â
Speaking of mentors:Â We had a couple of great episodes of Mystery School Mondays recently. First, was a wonderful look into the world of Magical Mentors, still available here: http://tinyurl.com/mcbmentor.
Our most recent episode on Music and Magic featured special guest Jay Atwood, and is still on line here: http://tinyurl.com/mcbmusic.
Remember: you can see great magic and learn the art of wonder 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on: McBrideMagic.tv.
A few of my favorite magic mentors: Eugene Burger, Larry Hass and the very funny Mac King at a recent Master Class.
“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” – Winston ChurchillÂ
WONDERGROUND
We were recently called “The coolest show in Las Vegas” by journalist Richard Abowitz. In an effort to keep that title, we have an impressive line-up of talent this month. Check it out here: http://www.vegaswonderground.com/
Jeff performs a new mask theater piece at WONDERGROUND
Photo Credit: Brian “Flash” Adams
IMX and a special one-day Super Session at The Mystery School!
I will be performing at THE ORLEANS HOTEL in Las Vegas May 20-24th as part of this year’s IMX convention, and hosting a rare one day session at the McBride House of Mystery just after the convention on May 24th.  For the first time in Las Vegas, I’m offering my four hour “Super Session†of hands-on magic, accompanied by a tour of our “House of Mystery,†where we hold most of our Master Classes. Those attending will also have time to browse my extensive library.
Thursday, May 24 from 12:30pm-5:30pm (wokshop 1-5)
THE ILLUSIONISTS
It is now official! I will be touring with this show in July and August throughout Mexico. http://tinyurl.com/mcbillusion
I love helping and mentoring others with my magic, so let me know how and when I can help you. Every week we have the class online at www.mcbridemgic.tv  I can also help you on Skype and here at the Magic and Mystery School at our classes and private sessions.
See you soon in Vegas or on the road!
Yours in the art,
Jeff McBride
From Bryce:
Just a quick note that I finally have Jeff’s “Manipulation Without Tears” booklet available at the Virtual School as a PDF download.
From Tobias:
As the month turns from May to June, many of our magical friends from the East Coast will be sponsoring our McBride Magic Experience. This is a two-day event featuring one of the world’s best full evening magic shows, followed by Jeff’s latest lecture “For Magicians Only,†and then, on the next day, a special 4-hour “Super Session†in which he teaches some of his most closely held secrets in the hands-on atmosphere only available in these workshops. If you’re anywhere near one of these locations, I hope you’ll bring a few friends to the show, attend the lecture and/or sign up to take the workshop. And by all means, be sure and stop to say hello to Jeff after the event.
May 26-27:Â Rumford, Maine
May 29-30: Denny & Lee – Baltimore, MD
June 1-3:Â Chattanooga, TN
June 5-6:Â Asheville, NC
June 8-10:Â Akron, OH
For all the Tour News, visit Jeff’s Calendar.
Best wishes for a magical Spring!
Tobias Beckwith
tobias@yourmagic.com
The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.
— Alan Watts
From the Associate Dean, Dr. Larry Hass:
Greetings Everyone,
In recent weeks and months the Magic & Mystery School has made several important announcements that relate to our offerings and programs. It has been a busy 2012! Â In this Museletter, we wanted to pull these together for your information and enjoyment:
1. BRAND NEW: Â CME CREDIT FOR MAGIC AND MEDICINE
We have just received word that our Magic and Medicine Class (November 8-12, 2012) has been approved to carry CME credit for health-care professionals through Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Visit the website for more information and to sign up for this exceptional experience.
2. SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS NOW ACCEPTED
Last week the second platform of our new Scholarship Program was put in place: Â we are now accepting applications from students for scholarships to our educational experiences in Las Vegas. Â For complete information about our scholarships program, to download an application, and to make a gift to the Scholarship Fund to support the magic education for someone who might not otherwise be able to afford it, please go to: Â http://www.magicalwisdom.com/scholarships.
3. MAGIC AND MEANING CONFERENCE, CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS AND PERFORMANCES
We are now accepting proposals for 20-minute presentations for the Magic and Meaning Conference (October 17-20, 2012) and proposals to perform a piece in one of the shows at the Conference. Â For instructions about how to make and submit your proposals, please go to: http://www.magicalwisdom.com/infopages/view/CFP2012.
4. SIGN UP FOR A LOCKED ROOM
Since launching the Locked Room online learning experiences in January 2012, we have been selling them out regularly. Â These Lectures and Training Sessions offer an extraordinary opportunity to have a magic educational experience with one or more of our faculty in the privacy of your own home. Â So far, we have had classes on Levitation for Parlor and Stage (Jeff), Card Magic for Parlor and Stage (Jeff), Marketing for Entertainers (Tobias & Bryce), Building a Successful Show (Larry), and Trade Show Magic (George). Â Our current plan is to offer at least two of these a month. Â I invite you to see what we have scheduled for next month and sign up to discover why our past attendees have been raving about their experiences:Â http://virtual.magicalwisdom.com/locked_rooms.
5. SIGN UP FOR A LIVE CLASS IN LAS VEGAS
As exciting as are the School’s online education programs, there is absolutely no substitute for having a live, immersive educational experience in Las Vegas with Jeff, Eugene, and the rest of the faculty.  Come spend some live time with us and reconnect with the heart of magic. For the list of classes this fall, please go to:  http://www.magicalwisdom.com/events.
Because of you and your involvement, the Magic & Mystery School is on the move! Â Thank you for being part of our magical learning community.
Larry Hass
Associate Dean
From Tobias:
As I write, Jeff has just returned from Italy at the Masters of Magic Convention in beautiful Saint Vincent, in Italy. Later this month, he will be at the IMX in Las Vegas (with a special Super Session at the House of Mystery immediately following! Click here to register!)
After that, he will be leaving on a whirlwind tour of the East Coast, presenting his McBride Magic Experience in Maine, Tennessee, N. Carolina and Ohio. Some of these dates don’t have full details worked out yet, to please check in on his calendar in a few days to get further information on the events nearest you. We’ll post direct links from the calendar as soon as we have them.
Wishing you a magical two weeks until we come to you again!
Sincerely,
Tobias Beckwith
tobias@yourmagic.com
“It’s impossible,†said pride.
“It’s risky,†said experience.
“It’s pointless,†said reason.
“Give it a try,†whispered the heart.
Greetings friends,
Hey, it’s Jeff McBride here in Las Vegas, writing you from the House of Mystery. I love quotes that bring me inspiration and motivate me to take on new challenges. When I look back on some of the recent projects that we’ve been creating here at the Magic and Mystery School, I realize how much incredible help I have, and how grateful I am for the team. You can meet many of them on our new web-shows. You can even interact with us online now. You’ll quickly see why I feel so blessed, to have these people in my life. Each month, we take turns writing you, sharing our experiences and our magic. Here’s a bit of what’s going on for me these days.
World Tour News
The League of Extraordinary Magicians
What an amazing day I had yesterday at the photo shoot for the new world tour THE ILLUSIONISTS! This summer I will be touring Mexico, and perhaps South America! Take a look at the current line-up and just imagine me in the show. They’re cutting a new commercial with me in it; I play the part of “The Shaman!â€
You can see the last version of the commercial here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-rhvUIY5fY
Masters of Magic in Italy
I’m really excited to return to Italy and join so many friends at the Masters of Magic Convention! It’s really an all-star line-up: Uri Geller, René Lavand, Juan Tamariz, The Great Tomsoni, Franz Harary, Topas, Danny Cole, Dani DaOrtiz, Double Fantasy, Dean Gunnarson, Jabba, Eric Jones, Xavier Mortimer, Fielding West, Asi Wind…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0rPaNfavJo
Locked Room Project
We’ve been trying out a new way of getting the Magic & Mystery School offerings to you. If you’ve not taken a peek into our new project called THE LOCKED ROOM, you will want to see what we’re offering you now! Here’s the place:
http://virtual.magicalwisdom.com/locked_rooms
New Secret Art Journal Essay: “Scriptwriting for Magiciansâ€
We are actors playing the part of a great magician and we need great scripts to keep us focused and theatrically potent.
Read more: http://www.secretartjournal.com/
On the set of the film shoot for The Show Doctor
How Prepared Are You?
The more you perform for people the better your magic will become. I am always ready to perform my show, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Learn some of my tips and tricks to be ready to make magic anytime and anywhere:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM0IPeTrgNE
“Magic is the shadow cast by the fire of the soul.”
– Michael Fraughton
MAYFIRE: Five days of Peace, Love, Magick & Fire
A desert vision quest or an initiation into the magic of alchemy & fire? May 2nd-6th
A Diamond Found at Wonderground!
When you visit the WONDERGROUND, you will meet one of the sparkling characters of Las Vegas: Christian Diamond. He is easy to spot; he is, by far, the best-dressed person in the room… always!  Diamond is known as “the Gem of Sin City,†and has been one of the Wonderground players since the very beginning. He helps many performers in Las Vegas to create their dream shows. I’ve found Mr. Diamond’s advice and expertise to be a great addition to our productions. You can learn more about the mysterious Mr. Diamond here: http://www.christiandiamond.com/
NEWS FLASH!
Take a look at our new video “The McBride Stage Magic Trilogiesâ€
Do you like Stage Magic?
Here is a “must see” episode recently aired on MondayNightMysterySchool, with magician inventor Kevin James.
Remember, Monday is a School Night!
I’ll see you on: McBrideMagic.tv
Magic 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Magically yours,
Jeff McBride
Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee,
And I’ll forgive Thy great big one on me.
~Robert Frost, “Cluster of Faith,” 1962
While there are several stories of how April Fool’s Day came into being, I like to think it is a successor to the medieval “Feast of Fools,†which, in its turn was successor to the Romany Saturnalia fests. At the Feast of Fools, the social order was inverted, for a single day. A “Lord of Misrule†or “Pope of Fools†– often a beggar — replaced the reigning bishop for the day, and the traditional rulers of both church and secular society were widely ridiculed. Society was, for a single day, turned topsy-turvy, with those normally at the top of the social network now at the bottom, and those normally at the bottom – beggars, thieves and cripples – suddenly at the top. Originally celebrated around the first of January, the Feast of Fools apparently traded place with “New Years,†with the advent of the Gregorian Calendar, which shifted the “First of the Year†from March 25 to January 1 in the year 1582.
Today, we celebrate April Fools by playing pranks…tricks and practical jokes that serve to puncture our complacency about the “reality†of our world. And so the trickster magician has long adopted April Fool’s Day as his or her own. For the Trickster, every day is a “fool’s†day, meant for doing and playing tricks that will cause the rest of society to think twice about the “reality†they accept so easily….but April Fool’s Day celebrates the acts of the trickster!
I don’t know about anyone else…but I’m not particularly fond of tricksters. They make me uncomfortable. You never know when they’re serious about something, or when you should be expecting the unexpected. I suspect the real Tricksters among us are quite comfortable with that. Causing discomfort is their job. Leaving people off-balance and questioning the status quo is their prime function.
No one I know does this better than our friend Bob Neale. Bob creates and writes up magic pieces that don’t have a nice, neatly tied up ending. He dares to puncture our smug bubbles of comfortable belief, and to question things we think of as unquestionable. He dares to be dark – not in the blood and gore theatrical or the “romantic spooky†ways of so many bizarre magicians – but by being unafraid  to deal with the social and psychological issues that make us all a bit uncomfortable. Issues like making the decision of who gets to live, and who will die. Issues like what happens when we make bad decisions and must live with the consequences. Issues like, what if there is no happy ending at the end of my story?
We like to think of the Trickster as a “merry prankster,†happily oblivious to the reality of what goes on in the world, or the consequences of their indiscretions. I suppose that, on one level, that is the role of a certain kind of fool…the innocent who treads, blissfully unaware, through life. I have to say, I find Bob Neale’s kind of Trickster to be far more potent – and, to tell the truth – fun, than those blissful innocents. Bob’s trickery often does make you laugh – but it never lets you off the hook to forget about the subjects it mocks. Instead of distancing us from our troubles, this kind of tricksterism helps us experience life directly and honestly. He’s really my favorite kind of Fool!
And so, on this April Fool’s Day, I salute Bob Neale…and urge those of you who don’t know his works already to do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of any of Bob’s books. At first, you may find yourself distraught by the magic he presents there. If you do…well, dig a little deeper. Try performing some of the pieces and watch what happens. Pay attention to the intensity of the experience for your audiences and the discussions you find yourself having afterwards. If you have the courage to really engage with Bob’s magic, I think you will find it to be a truly life enriching, deepening experience.
Bob is truly “my kind of Fool,†and I’ll bet he’ll be yours, too.
So: Happy April Fool’s Day, Bob!
And on to business:
April and May will find Jeff McBride on the road…possibly to a venue near you. We are particularly excited that he will be featured at this year’s Saint-Vincent Magic Convention from April 19th to April 22th. In addition to Jeff, this year’s convention will Juan Tamariz, René Lavand, The Great Tomsoni, Xavier Mortimer, Dean Gunnarson, Fielding West, Eric Jones, Danny Cole, Andrew Mayne, Mark Mason, Dani Da Ortiz and more. And, if you’ll be there, you can attend one of the Jeff McBride Super Sessions (find here more information: http://www.mastersofmagic.it/2011/12/jeff-mc-bride-super-session-2011/).
Wishing you all a delightful and trick-filled April!
Tobias Beckwith
PS: You can buy several of Bob Neale’s books at our http://shop.yourmagic.com.