Derren Brown is very strict about his live shows. He implores his audience not to chatter about it. He requests reviewers not reveal details. The result is that until they are produced as television specials (which most of them are), Americans like me know very little about them.

But this little gem came through today describing the opening moments of the show.

Starting with the master of mystery sitting alone on a wooden chair, in front of a gothic, brick wall, there’s immediately a sense of unease. But then Derren puts you back at ease by telling the audience some personal details about himself – how he came out as gay – and how we should all be more open with each other because, afterall, we’re not that different.

Derren has been very open about his sexuality to the press in the past but this the first time we’ve heard it as a centerpiece in his theatrical work. We look forward to seeing it.

Feel the magical and emotional effect Peter Samelson’s Gypsy Thread routine has on audiences.

http://www.murphysmagic.com/Product.aspx?id=50864

Heartstrings is the most exhaustive work on Gypsy Thread from a single performer ever committed to video instruction.

This isn’t just playing around with thread.

http://www.murphysmagic.com/Product.aspx?id=50864

Heartstrings includes everything you need to truly understand the magic of a Gypsy Thread routine:

• Studio and Live Stage Performances

• Origins & Influences

• Method Overview

• Various Thread Types Analyzed

• Pre-Show Set-Up and Preparation

• Wardrobe Considerations

• Lighting Considerations

• Music Considerations

• Full Routine Walk-Through

• A Conversation with Bill Abbott & Peter Samelson.

In Addition:

• A beautiful royalty-free music theme written and performed on the piano by composer Scott Turk specifically for the Heartstrings routine – as used by Peter over the past couple decades. Included as an mp3 file easily accessed on any Mac/PC.

• Printed Script written by Peter Samelson

• Further reading & study recommendations

A diabolical switch that allows for the seamless and constant change of cards as they are dealt onto the table.

Flux Deal is designed for the most challenging tasks: Switch one card or many cards, cause cards to visually change, force cards, and more. The Flux Deal is great for mathematical tricks, gambling demonstrations, and transpositions. The possibilities are endless!

“An ingenious utility move bound to take your card magic to a whole new level.” – Dave Buck

The deal is not only imperceptible, but indistinguishable. With practice, the switch will even fool you.

“This sleight is inspired. I couldn’t wait to start using it.” – R Paul Wilson

Alex Moffat has attributed years of research and development into the Flux Deal, borrowing inspiration from Lennart Green, Edward Marlo, and Gene Maze – just a few of the greatest inventors of card magic of our time.

We are proud to present this debut release from Alex Moffat and look forward to seeing where it takes your own magic. Available exclusively at shop.dananddave.com

Magic Camp, a documentary following one summer at Tannen’s famous summer enclave for kids and teens will have a brief theatrical run before being available on VOD services including iTunes and cable.

If you live in the NYC area, make sure you’re at the reRun Gastropub Theater in Brooklyn between June 28th and July 4th. Meanwhile, the rest of us will wait until July 9th when it hits the on demand vehicle of your choice.

A debilitating illness kept me from posting much last week, so it is with full knowledge of my tardiness that iTricks would like to wish a happy birthday to Siegfried of Siegfried and Roy fame.

Truly one of the pioneers of this art. Siegfried and Roy redefined big spectacle magic. On June 13th, Siegfried turned 74. We wish him 74 more.

Party to celebrate the 38th birthday of the self-crowned “Michael Jordan” of music“: Kanye West. It’s attended by Jay-Z, Beyonce and others. The party goes well into the wee hours of the night.

So which magician was in the midst performing?

According to InTouch:

“Kanye and his crew did shots and partied hard. David Blaine did special magic tricks for Kanye and his friends, and then Kanye rapped.”

Was there really any other option? Of course it was Blaine. West’s new album Yeezus drops tomorrow.

It Is Pronounced FEE-TAKE

He played Broadway, toured with Pearl Bailey and played 200+ cities and towns a year but few magicians today know of Fetaque Sanders.

A consummate showman and master of advertising, Sanders forged a successful career. Instead of booking the big shows, though, he concentrated on helping poor African American schools raise desperately needed funds.

Fetaque Sanders probably deserves to be much more well known today. He had a long and successful career that stretched from the Chicago World’s Fair into the early 1960s, even after a stroke prevented him from traveling. He chose to spend the bulk of his working years doing fundraisers throughout the South and Midwest so he did not leave much, if any, film or video of his act. Although he was more than willing to help other magicians, he also did not produce a huge volume of effects or books. However, in a time when America was still segregated, he was the most successful black magician in the country and praised by many of his contemporaries.

Born in Nashville in 1915, Fetaque (which, according to his posters, is pronounced FE-TAKE) was the only child in his family to survive infancy. His father was an insurance salesman with a college education and his mother was an active community volunteer. Although not wealthy, the family was comfortable enough to be able to attend vaudeville shows at the Bijou, Nashville’s black theater. Fetaque fell in love with the theater and in addition to shows at the Bijou he found he was able to see shows in the city’s other theaters in exchange for hanging their posters. It very well could be that this would fuel his later interest in advertising. As a child he saw a magician named Tricky Sam (Tatum) and began to focus attention on magic. Starting with a dime store magic set acquired in a swap with a friend, he soon graduated to neighborhood shows. Luckily, a few magic books and Science and Invention, with its regular magic column, at the local library allowed
young Fetaque to continue his magical education.

By the age of 16, despite his parents’ hopes that he go on to a more prestigious career path, Fetaque Sanders decided to become a professional magician. He took it upon himself to contact every professional he could to get advice. Instead of asking for trick handlings or other technical tips the young magician instead polled the working professionals to find the best courses he should take in college to further his career in magic. Drawing from his responses he decided to take drama, sociology and speech classes. This style of direct, personal contact would serve Fetaque well throughout his career.

With the Chicago’s World’s Fair approaching, Fetaque Sanders set off from Nashville with a thick book of testimonials and press coverage to land a position at the Fair. After several attempts, he finally secured a two week position as a magician in a concession called The Enchanted Island. Shortly after his booking he sent a program to Frazee, who wrote the Squawks column in The Sphinx. In the November 1933 issue Frazee mentions the program, stating: “A few years ago he was a kid. At that time he wrote me and confided that he wanted to become a magician. I advised him the best I could and he made good. He proved it by being booked at the Fair.” The young man impressed management so much that his two weeks stretched into two years! Years later Sanders would say that at the Fair he was approached by Guy Jarrett, Thurston’s illusion builder. Angry at Thurston, Jarrett offered to team with Fetaque, promising to make him the world’s greatest magician. The
young performer had little faith in the older man, though, because Jarrett did not have a car like the successful Sanders!

After the World’s Fair ended, Fetaque was working his way through Tennessee State University performing magic. A friend convinced him that while college was beneficial, it could not teach him everything he needed to know as a performer… but the circus could! The friend said that a circus tour for a performer was like boot camp for a soldier. He connected Fetaque with the Mighty Haag Circus, which would only hire the young man if he worked as an Arabian magician or blackened his light skin and did a minstrel act! Grudgingly, he donned the colorful robes of an Arab conjuror. The circus did not pay a wage, allowing performers to instead earn money with pitch projects. To supplement this income, the industrious magician learned to give tattoos.

Even in his early days, Fetaque Sanders impressed his peers. In a 1934 report on Assembly 3 activities in The Sphinx, Jack Hazlehurst mentions a visit by Fetaque who “presented a great big show practically from his vest pocket.” Hazlehurst also reports that the modest Sanders felt that he “was far from the world’s greatest magician, thereby giving me heart failure.” Preston, who wrote regularly in The Linking Ring, mentioned in the January 1938 issue he had just had a visit from Fetaque, “the inimitable Hindu magician,” who had been finding success in Washington DC. Preston describes him as a great believer in showmanship who is, in the author’s opinion, “one of the finest showmen in magic.” A couple of months later Preston would mention that Fetaque was adding vent work to the act (he had picked up Punch and Judy puppetry during his circus stint). Preston had gotten this information via a letter and many of the mentions of Fetaque Sanders in magic periodicals through the 1930s and 1940s are the result of visits or letters from the man himself. Later in 1938, The Sphinx would run one of the few articles (possibly the only article) penned by Fetaque. In the September issue appeared a short piece entitled “What Part Do You Play?” In it, Sanders guides the reader through a few questions designed to help determine what character the reader should play while performing. Even though it was written 75 years ago, it is as valid today as the day it was first printed. It also highlights Sanders’ view that showmanship is as important as technical skills. In it he states “What is the difference between a magician and a trickster? The magician is an actor who does tricks and a trickster is a fellow that does tricks and does not act.”

Fetaque continued to tour and eventually moved from Nashville. He even earned a spot in the 1941 show Magic on Broadway, which was sponsored by Orson Welles and Richard Himber. When the War came to America, Fetaque Sanders signed on with the USO. Unfortunately, his wife and assistant Irene fell ill and passed away in 1943, just days before his first tour. He had met Irene after selecting her as a volunteer in one of his shows. This led to dinner, a courtship and marriage. Undoubtedly heartbroken, Fetaque Sanders still went out to perform for the troops and by the end of the War he was thought to have entertained over 3 million soldiers, much of the time also serving as the tour’s manager. Sanders married a second time and for a while his new wife Mildred toured with him. After the birth of their daughter, though, she soured on the show business life and eventually left Fetaque. He returned home to Nashville and continued to specialize in school shows.

Based out of his trailer, which also served as a traveling workshop, Fetaque Sanders traveled throughout the country offering his services to African-American schools. He did not, however, try to get himself booked to perform for the school’s student body. Instead, he presented his show as a fundraising opportunity for the (almost always impoverished) schools. Sanders provided the school administration with free posters and a shortened version of his show to the student body to generate publicity. He was later quoted by Jim Magus in his Linking Ring series “A History of Blacks in Magic” as saying “Advertising does not cost, it pays” and “A good magician’s best advertising is a preview of his act.” Despite the fact that Fetaque Sanders had many opportunities, thanks to his light complexion, to pass as a Latin or Asian performer to gain entry to larger venues he never seemed to regret his decision to focus on the school shows. He relished the fact that he
was able to travel around the country “like a millionaire,” even if he did not earn the huge sums he could have probably commanded at traditional entertainment venues. Instead, he said (again in the Magus’ Linking Ring series) “My successful career was based on a sincere love of humanity; I helped hundreds of needy Negro schoolchildren raise funds that greatly helped their limited budget.”

A stroke in 1958 forced Fetaque Sanders to give up traveling. He suffered damage to his vision, among other after effects, and could no longer maintain his schedule, which saw him in 200+ towns every year. Although he is widely reported to have retired at this point, period magazines mention that he was still performing locally into the 1960s. Even after his formal retirement, Fetaque Sanders continued to collect magic (particularly ephemera related to the African-American magicians that came before him) and offer his counsel to younger performers. Not only did he continue to preach the gospel of showmanship, he also concentrated on the power of proper advertising. He was so influential in this phase of his career that he made the cover of The Linking Ring about a decade after retiring from the stage. Unfortunately, a car accident in 1983 furthered deteriorated his physical condition and forced Sanders to move into a nursing home. He passed away in 1992.

via Derren’s twitter. Taken from a recent visit to Parrot Zoo in Lincolnshire.

Big Blind Media has done it again!

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NONE of these tricks require sleight of hand, but they will BLOW your mind.

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Some of the methods are so devious that you will fool yourself as the performer.

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IN HER HAND THE WHOLE TIME..

..which is why she’s STILL SCREAMING

Ready to see it?
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/3536

There are 3 reasons why Hair Tie Coloration is one of the best close-up miracles we’ve ever seen.

1. The magic happens RIGHT IN THEIR HANDS.

2. It has one of the cleverest secrets we’ve EVER seen.

3. SUPER EASY TO DO. And I’m not kidding, you can be doing this 5 minutes after you get it, just throw a couple ties in your pocket and forget about them. You’ll be glad you did!

Watch the demo:
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/3536

PROFESSIONALS: This trick takes up almost no space, and is GUARANTEED to delight. Particularly the ladies in your audience. If you do walkaround or restaurant work, Hair Tie Coloration is a must-have.

You’re going to love doing this everywhere.
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/3536

Mick Wilson is a Winner, he won the Golden Ticket issued by Murphy’s Magic in the System 6 competition.

Mick took part in the “Everybody Wins EFL Style 2013 Trade Up” which is been held within the magic and illusion community in the UK, to raise money for the charity “Help for Heroes”. EFL is a private fundraising charity that picks one charity to support each year (this year Help for Heroes). EFL has some of the top escapologists, magicians and illusionists who perform and raise money for the designated charity.

www.escapeforlife.org.uk

Mick opened his new DVD thinking he was going to sit down with a coffee and start watching and found the Golden Ticket in side. Mick said “this was just a massive shock and been part of the EFL trade up was great but to win the ticket is just fantastic”.

Mick Wilson pictured on the left with the winning ticket.

Mick Wilson from the Newcastle Magic Circle in Newcastle upon Tyne entered into the trade up with Escape for Life Creator Antony Britton who at the same time was in the middle of a Trade Up with Martin Hunt from MAPro’ Magic near York. Martin traded a brand new copy of System 6 with Antony which then allowed him to complete the trade with Mr Wilson.

“There are only 6 tickets world wide, now there are only 5!” Antony Stated, “When Mick told me and showed me the ticked my face was a picture, I was so happy for Mick and having this Ticket in our Trade Up just made my day”. he continued “this is what it’s all about fun and making people smile, I couldn’t wait to call Martin at MAPro’ Magic and give him the great news regarding the ticket”

Martin Hunt from MA Pro says “I am so happy that the ticket was found and by one of the Everybody Wins EFL Style 2013 Trade Up, Well done Mick”.

www.mapromagic.co.uk

Unfortunately Mick can’t travel far as he cares for his ill wife and it was difficult for him to claim his winnings. So Antony Britton decided to take Escape for Life to Newcastle upon Tyne to deliver the prize in person.

Mick Wilson (Winner) and Escape for Life Girls charity

The Everybody Wins EFL Style 2013 Trade Up is still going strong and you are able to take part by joining the “Second Hand Magic” FaceBook group founded by Dani Le that made this trade up possible or by visiting the escape for life website

www.escapeforlife.org.uk

David Copperfield is even further putting his stakes down in Las Vegas. Not only will a new three-year agreement keep him at the MGM Grand (and off the road) for the foreseeable future, he’ll also do it in style. The theater he calls home will be renovated and renamed The David Copperfield Theater come the fall.

Meanwhile, the hard work done behind the scenes over the last few years in his warehouse will begin to make it’s way to the stage en mass come September. The bulk of the new illusions will hit simultaneously and the stragglers should be incorporated by the end of the year.

In an earlier interview with Mike Weatherford of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, DC described a few of the new illusions including one featuring a cartoon character named Attila:

An inanimate foam version of Attila is already in the act, but Copperfield’s tablet computer shows test footage of an animatronic version more fluid than any Disney ride. Attila will walk, he promises, and “magic will happen to him and around him. He helps solve life’s problems for all of us.”

A scarier, “Jurassic Park”-sized surprise is being developed in the warehouse as well. “Every five-minute piece takes two or three years to work out. It’s not fast food to me, it’s really hard work.”

The new show will be entitled “Live the Impossible”.

In this 2006 David Blaine interview the magician discusses his feeling after failing to complete his live finale for the special Drowned Alive.

What a great look back in time. It’s an interview that puts Blaine apart from so many other performers. I can’t think of another magician that would be able to speak with such candor after a public failure.

Of course, Blaine later broke the record on Oprah.

Fun stuff from Stuart Edge.

Former education minister of Iceland Katrín Jakobsdóttir has joined her local magicians guild after a performing at various private parties during her political career. When asked where the two overlap she had this to say…

Katrín said that magic could be useful: “In one show we lifted the currency restrictions of the Icelandic króna and got a lot of foreign currency for only a few krónas. So maybe politics and magic are closely related after all.”

Iceland is just recovering from a massive financial collapse that decimated the local currency. Considering the size of the banks that failed and the population of Iceland, it’s considered to be the largest financial disaster on country has ever suffered.

But, it apparently also makes a great set up for a Hundy 500!

One huge element of the Penn Jillette mythos is going up for sale. “The Slammer” the massive, colorful compound Jillette calls home is officially listed at $2.1 million. No word on why the larger, louder half of P&T might be selling his iconic abode but here is the official listing:

“Fabulous Modern Style SW Las Vegas Compound with over 8.5 acres. This is one of the most unique and private homes in Vegas, commercial quality const. ,14 seat movie theater, prof. recording studio, Creston system, double gated w/ security system & cameras all over. Colorful, Modern style w/ great features, Master Suite w/ private office, seating room, rooftop balcony w/ amazing Mt/Strip views, and access to the courtyard.”

The house has seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms.

Murray Sawchuck will be popping up on your television a few times in the next few weeks. As you see above, he will be cooking and doing magic for Marie Osmond on her Hallmark Channel talk show June 17th. It should be a fun time as Osmond is fan of magic and shared a stage with Nathan Burton while he was at the Flamingo.

Sawhuck also appears on “4 Houses” on TLC on June 24th.

The first magic-oriented act of the night was found in San Antonio of a man by the name of Brad Byers. This flamboyantly dressed 53 year old is a sword swallower. Sword swallowing acts haven’t been as popular on AGT as magicians with only 6 being televised. But Byers put not 1 but 2 twists on it. First, he swallowed 9 swords. Second, he did it while being hooked up to a x-ray machine for authenticity.

Doesn’t Brad look familiar? Here’s a refresher from Season 4.

Then came 16 year old Collins Key. He is a close up magician, which is different for AGT. The last 2 people to do close up magic both got eliminated in Vegas, but Collins, Collins is different. Being a young magician close to his age and his story, this guy really hit home for me. His 90 seconds consisted of a bill flight from being burned to inside a bag of popcorn. And even though the judges were a bit distracted by money and food, Collins won them over and went straight to Vegas.

And lastly is Alexandria the Great, a 51 year old female escape artist. For her act she chained herself up at the bottom of a pool and escaped in less than 2 minutes.

See you next week!

Recaps are written by Brandon Parnes.