Alexander the Great; Ottawa Magician

By Alexander the Great Magician

Hey everyone,

In my last blog post I was talking about my magic show for Harvest House in Manotick, Ottawa. I know that I promised to post video from that day, but I have been so busy with school I haven’t had a chance to edit the videos. Perhaps as the weather gets colder I’ll find myself with more time on my hands.

My magic show in the Glebe went really great. There were so many kids!

That’s always really good for me because the excitement level of the crowd is so high. I always leave shows like that with a little extra bounce in my step

It seems like just yesterday that I was performing magic at last year’s Recovery Cup Fundraiser but I’m about to perform again this year . . .

Harvest House is happy to announce that Alexander the Great Magician will be performing at the 24th Annual Recovery Cup Softball Tournament on Saturday August 27, 2011!

This is one show you will not want to miss.

For more information on the Recovery Cup, please visit our website: www.harvesthouse.org

The magic show will take place at around 1pm on Saturday, August 27, 2011 at Centennial Park in Manotick.

By Alexander the Great Magician

It’s been a few months since I made my trip to California for Magic-Con and I’ve been really swamped with writing, working behind-the-scenes at my Ottawa Record Label, and taking out Ottawa’s new Bixi bikes.

I have been writing on a variety of subjects, mostly updating my websites, which include my Ottawa Restaurant reviews blog, this magic websites, my record label website and also my music and technology blog. Phew, thats a lot of websites, considering not all that much goes on in Ottawa. While not very many bands and DJ’s touch down in Ottawa, it does allow for some excellent opportunities for me, Alexander the Great Magician to perform my magic show around Ottawa.

One of these events this month was for a community association that was celebrating the revitalization of the Bingham Park. This park can be found just down the street from the Royal Canadian Mint off Sussex Drive at 145 Cathcart Street. On Monday August 1, 2011 I will be performing a short outdoor magic show for the Lowertown Summer
Festival at 4pm. You can read more at the main page for Bingham Park.

Thats all for this update, except I wanted to share with you a panoramic shot I got of the Museum in Civilization in Gatineau, I just love this shot, there’s so much sunlight.

Until Next time!

By Alexander the Great Magician
November 12, 2010 Ottawa, Ontario

I have been really busy lately with my studies at Carleton U and driving out and about across the city. But enough bragging, where’s the proof? Well it just so happens that my iPhone has a geotagging feature that maps out places I have taken pictures. Sometimes, such as the Harvest House magic video that I just put together, and other times its weird locations or sights along the road that I’ve bothered to stop and take a picture of, either way here are the maps from this past season:

and for proof that I’ve been studying here is a closer view of showing Carleton:

I have also been collecting a few testimonials over the past few months and plan to display a page on my website with those soon, so keep your eyes peeled, and if you have enjoyed some of my magic please post in the comments section of this site.

By Alexander the Great Magician

This weekend has been very busy in terms of shows. Yesterday I performed for the Harvest House 23rd Annual Recover Cup and I was able to get a few videos of my performance that I will post shortly.

Today I was performing for a private party and the father of one of the children came up after the show to tell me that he used to be a magician in the Ottawa area like me. Very cool to have so many magicians locally.

Earlier this weekend on Twitter @LeeAsherMagic was talking about the arrival of the Buck twins in Canada for some workshops and lecturing. His reply to me was the following: “Agreed 100%! @alexandermagic @LeeAsherMagic it’s exciting to have so many young, talented magi in Canada right now!” Indeed so much young (and old) talent in Canada right now.

Magically yours,
Alexander Massaad

P.S. Here is a few pictures of my show where I performed for a crowd of over 50 this weekend, videos coming from the show soon UPDATE: Videos Online here:

Kids are notorious for having a short attention span and an insatiable curiosity. I am always amazed at the depth of a child’s curiosity. This tends to cause some problems during weddings and parties where kids get BORED.

If you consider the average television program is only 22 minutes long and is broken up with breaks in between its incredible that we ask children to sit through a six hour wedding, listening to speeches, waiting for waiters and . . .waiting for a magician.

It’s such a great idea to hire entertainment no matter how large or small your group. I remember performing at a wedding where there were only three children. At first I was worried; I was expecting more people. After I was all set up I recognized that these three kids were SO excited for my show.

They knew that they were facing a real magician. They also knew that they had front row seats to his show. I became more relaxed and started my show and then something strange happened.

All of the adults became excited during the tricks. My small audience of three was actually a room full of adults. Even though I was performing for only these three children, I realized I was actually performing with these children. Another great event in Ottawa thanks to somebody having the bright idea to call a professional Children’s Entertainer.

By Alexander the Great Magician
The video is finished editing and music stages and it’s online! You can find it embedded on my homepage and at this special page about the Halloween Magic Show. It was a great crowd in Ottawa for my magic show, I would have to say probably one of the best crowds of 2009 . . . but its so hard to choose favourites!
See you soon!

By Alexander the Great Magician
I have finally had enough of a break at school that I can concentrate on these old dusty magic videos! I am editing together a short, 2 minute video from a Halloween magic show that I performed in Ottawa last fall. Stay tuned!

By Alexander the Great Magician
I have finally saved enough funds to purchase my registration for the Magic-Con convention in San Diego in March 2010. I’m very excited to be travelling with a group for 3 other magicians from Canada.

Also, the warm California weather will be perfect for the final terms season stress. Hopefully some time will be spent in a pool and in the warm weather, let’s hope it doesn’t rain, and if my success continues, an extended vacation after the convention! It would be great to connect with some people from Carleton that I knew from residence that moved back to California, a perfect excuse for a road-trip or excursion!

Also Friday concluded my December season at 3pm when I finished my last corporate gig downtown Ottawa, minutes from the Parliament. I am so happy for everyone that found me and booked me this year because it helped me develop my magic and make my show stronger.

Some first’s this year:
-getting gigs for adult magic
-1 hour act of close up magic
-print advertising
-page 1 results on google for being an “ottawa magician”

Not to mention I have learned dozens of new tricks that I can drop in and out of my walk-around sets.

By Alexander the Great Magician

In a few hours I’m going to have the pleasure of mingling and mystifying the nice lovely folks checkin gout the Guerilla live event this month. Along with the re-opening of the Loft on Elgin Street in Ottawa, this combined event should expect a turn out of over 400 people. Ambitious card and avoiding magic-haters are going to be big ones tonight.

Details on how to see me perform magic tonight can be found on the flyer below. There should be a photographer present and photos will hopefully soon follow. most likely on Facebook

As Jay Sankey once said, Ambitious Card, you pay my bills once again. In more ways than one this is true, and I’m gladly willing to take all the credit that this card trick generates me. Last night after entertaining the kids at a christmas party I started on a few card tricks as I was waiting to get picked up from the venue. The man was truly amazed at the skills I apparently had with cards, and it also led me to organically lead into a disappearing card trick when his son showed up minutes later. A great core to any magicians routine, I’m hoping that by next year I’ll learn a few more phases to really help me build the best magic routine based on the Ambitious card.