Genii Speaks Richard Kaufman Contact us by calling 301-652-5800, e-mailing [email protected] or surfing our website at www.geniimagazine.com OUR COVER THIS MONTH features returning trick critic Danny Orleans, Joe M. Turner, and one of the most creative young magicians I’ve the ever-eloquent Eric Mead. seen in decades: Arthur Trace. His stage act, which has won the I.B.M. Gold Medal, is origi- On the Road: The weather is fairly cool here in Las Vegas in nal, ingenious, and refreshing. It centers around late February, but the World Magic Seminar has kept me an abstract painting, involves the manipulation inside the Orleans hotel pretty much from the moment I of cards and balls, and has a pretty funky jazz arrived and so the chilly nights have gone unnoticed. I did soundtrack in the background. John Lovick tells manage to sneak out and, with Walter Graham, went to us all about Artie, then David Acer describes see Penn & Teller’s show at the Rio the other night. It was seven of Artie’s clever routines using ropes, cups and balls, a lot of fun and except for two or three pieces, complete- a paintbrush, and some very fine card magic. Arthur has ly different than the show I saw several years ago when placed video demonstrations of the tricks that appear in they came through Washington, D.C. Teller performed a Genii on his website at www.the-doppler-effect.com. • Ice remarkable version of “The Miser’s Dream” where he McDonald has been a fearsome force in the world of stage scooped small handfuls of water from a large clear aquari- magic and we’ve all seen the cool image he presents um and the water turned into coins, first one at a time and onstage—Paul Critelli takes us behind the performance then handful by handful. Charming and mysterious. persona on p.40. • At the Los Angeles Conference on Tonight the AOI Filmfest, magic’s first short film festival, Magic History in November, 2005, British psychologist will be presented, with Chris Kenner hosting and it looks to Richard Wiseman (co-author with Peter Lamont of Magic In be fabulous—whether I’ll get to see it is another story. Theory) lectured on the first magician ever recorded on a On Thursday I fly out of Las Vegas in the morning and, moving picture. It was not, as many believed, David after connecting through San Francisco, settle in for the Devant, but the French prestidigitator Raynaly, pre-1894, 10-hour plus flight to London. Having a laptop computer captured by Parisian photographer Georges Demeny makes these long flights a piece of cake. In addition to using a process known as chronophotography where the working on the May and June issues of Genii, I plan on images are captured on a strip. Professor Wiseman tells us spending a good deal of the long quiet hours working on all about how he made this remarkable discovery on p.34 Mr. Jennings Takes It Easy. This will be the first book that and then on p.37 we present the very first film of a magi- I’ve both published and written since taking over Genii in cian ever recorded so you can make a flip book from the January, 1999. Many people have asked repeatedly, since images and see the movie for yourself. Professor Wiseman the publication of Jennings ’67 in 1997, when the second has also placed a videoclip of the film on his website at volume of the Jennings trilogy would appear—this year, I www.psy.herts.ac.uk/wiseman/research/magic.html. • In hope. The scope of the book is enormous: between 300 the fall I had the pleasure of visiting Bangkok, Thailand, for and 400 pages, and it will revolutionize the basic way in the first time at the invitation of the Asian Magicians which many magicians handle a deck of cards. It’s exciting Association to perform and report on their second annu- that the project is finally nearing completion, yet bitter- al convention. With a pretty large turnout I could count sweet because Larry Jennings isn’t here to see it. In addi- no more than six Westerners, and that included Jonathan tion, Michael Albright is days away from completing the Neal Brown, Henry Evans, and me—and we were all per- layout of The Vernon Touch, a 700-page book that will col- forming and lecturing. I hear people in the United States lect all of Dai Vernon’s columns in Genii into one compre- complain constantly about how they always see the same hensive, fully-indexed work. In addition, hundreds of pho- people at convention after convention. Well, you’d shake tographs of The Professor, many previously unpublished, that malaise in a moment if you go to the next AMA con- adorn the pages. We’re going to start taking orders short- vention in Shenzhen, China, this coming fall. There was ly: keep an eye on the Genii website for a pre-publication superb magic to be seen in Thailand, most notably the special, and also watch for ads here next month. The female stage magicians from China, Thailand, Korea, and Vernon Touch will only be available directly from Genii. Japan. It was refreshing and greatly enjoyable. So, take a look at what we saw in Thailand on p.76 and when there’s We’ve been writing about the coming of e-book “readers” news about how to register for the 2006 AMA convention since the Millennium and Sony is about to take a step clos- in China we’ll be sure to let you know. • Speaking of er to making it a reality this month with the release of the China, Mark Wilson was one of the pioneer Western per- new Sony Reader. Priced at $299 to $399 (depending upon formers to enter the “Bamboo Curtain” and, on p.26, he accessories), this little marvel weighs about half a pound continues the story of his unique adventure. • Finally, and is a half-inch thick. The six-inch screen is not backlit so we’re happy to bring you new pieces from two of our there is no flicker, and it uses new E-Ink Display Technology most popular columnists, Al Cohen and Paul Osborne, so the page reportedly looks exactly like paper. It holds and we have our usual fine reviews—this month from about 80 books and has a hefty battery life of “7,500 page 10 GENII Now Performing turns” on a single charge. One of things that makes the Sony THE MAGIC CASTLE LAS VEGAS Reader more user friendly than previous versions is that you MARCH 27 TO APRIL 2 Compiled by David Neubauer Close-Up Gallery (www.dnmagic.com) can download Microsoft Word documents and PDFs into it. Amazing Johnathan I’m telling you, folks, once the school systems start ordering Early: 7:00, 7:45, 8:30, 9:15 Etienne Pradier 10 pm, (Dark Thurs.), Sahara these things in bulk and downloading student’s textbooks Late: 10, 10:45,11:30, 12:00 Jason Bird onto them, the days of the printed book are numbered. Johnny Ace Palmer The Shops in Desert Passage— The Parlour of Prestidigitation Aladdin. Main stage, near the “V” Early: 7:30, 8:45, 9:30 Theater, Thurs.-Mon. Various times Chris De Palma from 1:15 pm to 8:15, Free Late: 9:45, 11:15, 12 Buck Wild Dick Barry Nathan Burton (as a redneck Palace Of Mystery magician), 7 pm covered shows 8:30, 10, 11:15 Mon.-Wed. & Sat. 9 pm Topless Aye Jaye shows (Over 18), Sahara (Dark Fri.) Skilldini Lance Burton, Master Magician Losander 7 pm Tues.-Sat., APRIL 3 TO 9 10 pm Tues. & Sat., Monte Carlo Close-Up Gallery David Copperfield Early: Taiga Endo 7:30 & 10 pm, 4:30 Sat. & some Late: Flip Sun. MGM Grand. The Parlour of Prestidigitation March 30-April 12 ebster Early: Aaron Fisher Collin Foster—Quicker Than The Eye Late: B.J. Hickman 4 & 6 p.m. (Dark Mon.) Palace Of Mystery Comedy Zone, Plaza Kerry Pollock Tyas Frantz, Chris Karpiak Daniel Chan Beacher's Madhouse 10 pm, Photo by Damon W Kenneth Havard Hard Rock APRIL 10 TO 16 Haunted Vegas Tour & Show The online moderator of The Genii Forum, Dustin Stinett, Close-Up Gallery Robert Allen & Jac Hayden & Tim decided to play “Make a Funny Caption” to a potentially Early: Daryl "The Torture King" Cridland ,9 pm Late: Daryl tour and show (Dark Wed.-Thurs.), humorous photo of himself and Jamy Swiss which Damon The Parlour of Prestidigitation Greek Isle Webster snapped at the Los Angeles Conference on Magic Early: Dave Cox Illusionary Magic of Rick Thomas History last November. Here’s the photo: Late: Kerry Pollock 2 & 4 pm, Stardust (Dark Wed.) The winning caption, provided by Craig Matsuoaka from Palace Of Mystery La Femme Hawaii, is: “No Jamy; I will NOT pull your finger.” Al Lampkin Stephan Vanel, 8, 10:30 pm Runners up included: Brian Gillis & Sue (Dark Tues.), MGM Grand “Look, buddy...there’s only enough room for one verbose Goldfinger & Dove Mac King Comedy Magic Show APRIL 17 TO 23 reviewer in this magazine!” (From Jim Maloney) 1 pm, 3 pm, (Dark Sun. & Mon.) Close-Up Gallery Harrah's Clint Holmes Theater “Wait a minute: You actually *watch* all those DVDs?!?” Early: David Stryker Penn & Teller (Anonymous) Late: R. Paul Wilson 9 pm, (Dark Tues.), Rio “What’s that on your shirt? GOTCHA!” (Anonymous) The Parlour of Prestidigitation V, The Ultimate Variety Show Early: Dennis Forel Jeff Hobson, Nathan and Sarah, For Fans of Ricky Jay, the following was posted on Ain’t it Late: Woody Pittman 7 pm and 9 pm, Aladdin Cool News: “I’ve come across an interesting project that the Palace Of Mystery World’s Greatest Magic Show amazing Ricky Jay is involved in.