TV News and New York City

Greetings, friends! This is Tobias writing in Jeff’s absence, in a bit of a hurry, because we have lots of news in, and it’s time sensitive:

We’ve just heard from Criss Angel that Jeff will be featured on the premiere evening of this year’s “Mindfreak” on A&E, on an episode airing at 10:30pm on May 31st (check local listings…it’s the second of a double-header). Jeff performs a surreal version of his popular mask-magic piece “Transformation.” Later in the series, Jeff will be featured in two more segments, and we’ll do our best to let you know when they’ll be on.

“The Mindfreak shoot was one of the more challenging I’ve been on,” said Jeff in a recent interview. “We shot in a dry lake bed outside Las Vegas, and while we were shooting there were 40 mile per hour winds gusting through the set. It was all I could do to keep the masks from flying away. If it weren’t for my years of performing in similar situations at the Burning Man festival, I don’t think it would have worked. Fortunately, what we ended up getting on tape was really spectacular.”

JUST IN: JEFF AND ABBI WILL APPEAR AT THE FANSTASMA STORE IN NEW YORK CITY ON JUNE 10 AND 11. THIS IS HIS ONLY SCHEDULED NEW YORK AREA APPEARANCE OF THE YEAR. Saturday will feature a commando-style show and lecture, and one Sunday, Jeff will conduct one of his “no-holds-barred” one-day master class workshops for up to 20 people. He is performing a similar event in Baltimore earlier the sane week, which sold out in two days! Contact Fantasma at (212) 924-8345 or by e-mail at: info@fantasmatoys.com for more information.

More TV news: Jeff is featured in a couple of other upcoming video projects, as well. We’ve just received a DVD of the “Las Vegas” episode of Franz Harary’s “Magical Planet,” which features Jeff’s full Kabuki suite. My understanding is that the show hasn’t yet be sold in the U.S., but that talks are under way. We hope it is sold soon so you all can get to see this terrific footage for yourselves.

Finally: Our friend Donald Zuckerbrot is in the final stages of editing his one hour special “Real Magic” for the Enigma series on Canada’s Vision Network. “Real Magic” is all about – guess who? Our most magical of magician friends, Jeff McBride! The documentary is set to air in Canada “mid-year” – we don’t have anything firmer than that at this point – across Canada. We’re talking with them now about being able to sell copies of the show in DVD format from our web site as soon as it has aired for the first time in Canada. Donald was here earlier this year, and shot lots of amazing footage. We’ll be interested to see what parts actually made it in once he cuts it down to an hour special!

Beyond the television projects, things are going strong at the McBride Magic & Mystery School. Our Extended Master Class in July is sold out, and the one in August is filling up quickly. After the great response we had after the first few of these extended classes, and always building on what we’ve learned, we’re expecting these classes to be our “best ever.”

In the fall we have three really exciting events, one of which is brand new for us: The first is the “Magic & Meaning” conference with special guest Robert Neale. This conference, in many ways, carries on the traditions of The Mystery School, which we haven’t done for several years now. The focus on the underlying meaning and reasons for doing our magic, on building our connections with our fellow magicians, and on a somehow deeper exploration of magic and what it means to be a magician all make this a truly special event.

Following Magic & Meaning we will have our second annual “Magic for Medical Professionals.” The response to this class last year was strong, and we learned a lot. We expect this year’s class, featuring special guest Dr. Jay Ungar, to be an even bigger success, with lots more hands on magic and applications for using magic in your practices. Finally, we’ve just added “21st Century Mentalism,” with special guest Ross Johnson. This is the one I’m personally looking forward to most, as I have a long and abiding interest in mental magic.

I’ve really only touched on what’s happening here – please go to www.magicalwisdom.com to learn all about each of the new classes.

Thanks for bearing with me for all the news while Jeff is away in Austria.

Best wishes.
Tobias Beckwith
tobias@yourmagic.com

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