Super Stars David Acer and Richard Sanders

We had a special visitor in the magic shop today.  I’ve written a few blogs about my 5 year old grandson who is into magic. His mother dropped him off at the shop today as he is between day care and kindergarten. We volunteered to look after him. He  became fascinated with the bang gun, joy buzzer and the magic light bulb and was practicing them ardently when who should walk into the store? David Acer  and Richard Sanders. I introduced them to my grandson and in less than a minute he asked Richard if he wanted to see some magic. How could Richard say no to that? So he showed him the light bulb which lit up in his hand.

“You wanna try?” asked my grandson.

” Oh, I could do that.” said Richard. He took the light bulb in his hand and squeezed it but nothing happened. He looked at the kid and said, How did you do that? and the kid took back the light and make it light up again. Richard said, now I know how and took it back and tried with all his might but the light wouldn’t go on. The kid was killing himself laughing. This continued for a long time with the kid just roaring. Richard finally gave up so he went to David. You wanna try, he asked. David said, Oh , I can do that. He took the bulb and tried, but no luck. The kid just had the most marvelous time fooling these guys, who anyone could see were trying their very hardest to light that  light. They went through all the theatrics

When all was said and done, they left and I said to my grandson. “You know, those guys are famous magicians and comedians. One has his own T.V. Show,” and I showed him the autographed photo of David in a shot from Mystery Hunters. And I told him he wrote books, and that Richard has made DVD’s, which I showed him. And what does the kid say to me? Really? I said yes, really. And he said. Hmmm, and they didn’t even know that trick! And I said, Maybe they’re not so great after all. And he said, Maybe not.

Phil and I were killing ourselves after for not taping it.

There’s Magic and Then There’s Magic

I’ve written a few posts about my little five year old grandson and his magic. He’s a sensitive kid and a thinker. He’s not aggressive or particularly sports minded, although he takes swimming lessons, skating lessons and plays soccer. He likes to play defense in soccer. He’s never out there eager to get the ball. They play 2 evenings a week. One night practice and one night a game with another team. His father happens to be the coach. This kid is terrific in practice. He listens to all the instructions and watches and does all the moves. Phil and I are there usually both nights to watch him or amuse his sister. Next year she’ll play too.

I must say, they whole team has improved so much from last year that its unbelievable. Some are really into it and are after that ball. My grandson, not so much. He runs with the pack. He likes the comeraderie and the oranges at half time and the popsicles at the end but…

The last game of the season was Thursday night and we watched and cheered him on as usual and then somehow he had the ball in front of him. He made a breakaway but was far from the other net. He ran with the ball, kicking it a bit at a time from one foot to the other, as he did so well in practice. Both teams were running after him, but he kept on going. One kid from the other team ran to guard the net, and I was praying that he wouldn’t kick it outside the goal post, where so many promising balls have gone before. We were screaming our lungs out, me, Phil, his mother and all the relatives and teammates’ parents. And he kept on going slow and steady manoeuvering this way and that way until he got to the net and just kicked it in right past the kid. I don’t care where you are. You must have heard us cheering. He turned around and was so overcome, we thought he would burst into tears. His father, the coach, gave him a high five and then swooped him up in his arms.

The big game !

I said to his mother later. “You know, when I revisit the scene in my head, I see it in slow motion.”

“Me too. I see it like the scene in Chariots of Fire.”  That’s just what it was like.

He just kept on going and put it right in there. That was magic!

Shawn Farquar

I first met Shawn many years ago. It can’t be that long ago because he isn’t that old, but it was probably in the 1990’s. We got to know him well as we had a Magic Shop in Vancouver then, across from MetroTown and Shawn lives in Vancouver. In 1993 Farquar and Felicity  (his lovely wife) performed at Magic Montreal. That was the same year Dave Williamson, Mac King and  Dick Zimmerman and other greats were there. I forget a lot of things these days, but I remember that convention well. It was a riot!

Shawn, as long as I’ve known him, was passionate about his magic and it paid off. He has transformed from a good magician to a top notch pro. He’s looks like he feels at home on T.V with the biggest stars, Penn and Teller, Ellen Degeneris, and the like.  He has won the most prestigious awards and has travelled world wide. All this takes time. But he gives of his time. He has taken the reins from Joan Caesar as President of CAM, The Canadian Associations of Magicians and is doing a great job. Since he has taken over Northern Peeks, which is a monthly magazine of CAM, it  has a new sleek look with terrific articles in it. And then of course there is a convention to run. This alone is a tremendous undertaking. I know, we did it for 19 years.

Shawn’s goal to increase the membership by at least 100 people during his 3 year term as president. Are you a member? If not, join! This is the organization that put Canada on the map as far as magic is concerned. Prior to the existence of CAM if a Canadian wanted to enter F.I.S.M. he or she had to do so under another country as there was no international magic organization  in Canada to sponsor that person. We have Joan Caesar to thank for that. She got it going. Shawn is carrying the torch. Let’s get that flame a little bigger and join up now.

Magic in His Blood!

My grandson is 5 years old. As I mentioned in a earlier blog, that when he graduated from day care I gave him a magic kit that I assembled. He now gets an allowance for doing chores around the house like letting the dogs out into the yard and letting them back in again.  The yard door is in the basement  so it saves his  parents a trip up and down the stairs. What does that have to do with anything? He was on the sidewalk in front of his house, about to go to the dollar store to buy something with his allowance. His next door neighbour, a little boy about a year younger than him came out onto the balcony.

My grandson saw him and said, “Hey, you wanna see a magic trick?”  My daughter and her husband looked at each other with question mark looks? ” He doesn’t have any magic tricks on him. But they didn’t say anything, they just waited to see what would happen.

“Yes”, said the little boy.

“Well, come down the stairs.”

The little  boy came down the stairs.  When he reached the bottom stair, my grandson reached over to his ear and pulled out a Toonie, ( A Canadian $2.00 coin) which was his allowance that he had been holding in his hand to buy something at the dollar store. The kid was amazed. His parents were amazed. Yes, we had pulled sponge balls out of his ears, but we never taught him how we did it or even told him how. He had a coin in his hand, he saw an audience and took advantage of it. It makes me smile every time I think about it.

World’s Greatest Magician and the World’s Greatest Magic Trick

So just who is the world’s greatest magician? Of course you know there are different categories. There are stage magicians, close-up magicians, children’s party magicians, street magicians, bar magicians,  corporate magicians, comedy magicians, illusionists, mentalists and the list goes on. Who is the world’s greatest? Who is the world’s most sought after magician. And what is the greatest trick known to mankind?

At one point, I thought I had the answer. Let me explain. Phil and I spend a lot of time working on the web site. I do the banners and the blog, some  facebook, and other stuff as well. About  3 weeks ago I looked up a product on our site and I noticed that some of the words ran into each other. So I started looking at some more and noticed that some of the writing was very small.  I then saw some write-ups which were long, without breaks or spaces, just one word after the other. I was embarrassed. After all, our name is Perfect Magic. How perfect was that? So I started to edit the write-ups one by one. I started with the DVDs. I may have missed some, not many. Now I’m on the books. I may even go back and redo them, ( I redid some already), because as you go along, you learn things. But that’s beside the point.

The point is in order to edit them, you actually have to read them and read them I did. You have no idea how many “greatest close-up artist that ever lived” there are, or maybe you do.  Logically speaking, there should only be one.  Also this one is bewildering. Dozens claim,” If you only know one trick in magic this should be it”! How about this one, “This is one of card magic’s best kept secret – until now” or  how many have claimed that their trick is the “most visually stunning and commercial ever!”

So what is the customer to believe? In my editing, I took out most of the hyperbole. Sometimes, when I saw the author made an attempt to be original I left it in. My aim is this. To let you see at a glance what the trick is about, and to make it easier to read, and if you like it, fine. I admit I found it just a little annoying to have to read about eye-popping, unbelievable, exciting, breathtaking, best ever in the whole world, etc, to get to the meat of the matter. To the people writing up the tricks I say this; because you say its exciting, doesn’t make it exciting. I still say a trick is a trick and its the magician that makes it exciting or not. True, some tricks are better than others, but if you read my last blog, you’ll know what I’m talking about. We know you are trying to sell the tricks. So are we, but please… Tell us what the trick does. Show us what it does. Tell us if  its easy or hard,  or for stage or for close up, or if its a quick reset, examinable, etc. These are things the buyers want to know.

So now I’m taking out the BS before a new product goes in and I’m working hard on the items already in to make it easier for you to read. I’m sure you’ll recognize the ones I’ve attacked. Let me know what you think. Maybe you like the hyperbole, and I’m just wasting my time.