Alexander the Great; Ottawa Magician

By Alexander the Great Magician

Hey everyone,

My last magic show wasn’t quite in Ottawa. We were in beautiful Manotick about 35 minutes down the Ottawa river (by car, or magic carpet).

My next show is next week and its a private magic show for an Ottawa Daycare based in the Glebe neighbourhood. I always love a morning daycare show as the kids seem to really enjoy the exciting things I perform in my show.

Stay tuned for some video footage from the Harvest House magic show and an update about how the Daycare magic show was!

By Alexander the Great Magician

Hello everyone, I’m back in Ottawa after my recent trip to Magic-Con in San Diego. Since I left I’ve noticed many people have been looking for magic shows in Stittsville, Arnprior and farther away. I do travel so this is not a problem.

Back to San Diego, here are some pictures from the balcony where I was staying:

While this convention doesn’t specifically contribute to my main work, children’s magic shows, it was a great opportunity to improve my more advanced magic by hearing all the great ideas and also meeting with magicians from around North America and the world.

One of these great thinkers was Lennart Green who is an old favourite of mine. Green is card expert from Sweden who specializes in what I would call “chaotic sleight of hand.” His work is incredible and he is the closest thing magic has to a living legend these days. I was very excited to hear see him speak and perform a little.

I think these types of events are massively important for magic. These types of meet ups are very infrequent (only a few times a year do this many magicians gather centrally) and they tend to have a lot of creative people in one place. They often have very late night meetings all over the hotel with magicians exchanging ideas late into the night, its an exciting time for creative card magic.

Lennart Green entertains the crowd of magicians

What other sorts of things go on at magic conventions? Well aside from all the stuff I can’t tell you about, crazy things like this: an attempt at the worlds largest ribbon spread using everybody’s cards.

By Alexander the Great Magician
Ottawa, Ontario

It seems like just yesterday I was blogging and taking pictures on my way to San Diego for Magic-Con 2010. Today I’m enjoying planning my second trip for the same legendary magic conference.

At Magic-Con 2011 I will be spending some time in the sun, but more importantly I will be hearing some very informative lectures and demonstrations. Last year I remember being revived with a sense of amazement and this really encouraged me to begin reading more magic and studying its history more thoroughly. I’ve been fascinated with magic since I was a child and have learned quite a bit about performing through my years of doing magic shows at children’s birthday parties yet I still love finding out new stories and techniques from other magicians.

Hopefully I’ll follow with a few more stories when I’m en route, along with photos of sunny San Diego, stay tuned for my next update soon!

By Alexander the Great Magician
Ottawa, Ontario

I just finished performing for a fantastic crowd in Quebec. This is a group of adults, young and old, that meet every few months to share food at a local restaurant and share in some local entertainment.

These fun-loving art patrons hired me in February for one of their lovely dinner parties and Victoria and I were lucky enough to be invited for the meal and pre-show entertainment as well.

To start the night there was lots of conversation and new people to talk to, but the big entertainer was Bouchon le clown (contact Bouchon at his website) who provided music from his accordion and entertainment from his balloon sculpting.

After the meal I was to perform my act. I began with a few card effects that do a good job of demonstrating why nobody should play poker with me. I shifted my performance by performing some of my fire effects which always gets a reaction and a shock. After some ropes and a few more miracles I shifted into some of my more complex effects.

By the end of the night I had already spent a fair amount of time with this lovely group and they were more than receptive towards my magical entertainment.

If you’re planning a dinner party or similar event in the Ottawa Gatineau area consider hiring local entertainers; the mood of a real artist always improves the mood of the party.

By Alexander the Great Magician
Ottawa, Ontario

I’m coming up to my first busy weekend of 2011 and I’ve been reading up on some of my favourite magicians. At work tonight I just breezed through a book by some real experts at entertaining children: Steve Taylor, Sammy Smith and David Ginn. I have read a bit of Smith and Ginn before but this was the first time I heard of ventriloquist and magician Steve Taylor.

They all managed to give lots of advice as the book was formatted as a discussion between the three upon various topics. Some of the greatest information was a story Sammy Smith told about Influence in the last chapter which I’ll paraphrase here:

Many years ago a young teenager who worked at a magic shop was working the store alone while the owner was out on an errand. All of a sudden the door opened and into the shop walked Harry Blackstone, Sr, the worlds greatest magician. He was performing a show in town and stopped by the shop as a courtesy.

The boy was shocked and astounded, here he was in a magic shop alone with the greatest magician in the world.

Blackstone spoke to him for a few minutes then said, “So, what’s new?”

Still quite shocked the young boy said, “Well we have the Color Changing Knives.” (which is a very well known magic trick)

“I’d like to see that,” Blackstone said.

The young boy hastily and nervously demonstrated the simple trick for the Great Blackstone. When he finished, Blackstone said the most wonderful thing for the boy which he never forgot.
“I’ll take one,” he said.

Fifty years later that boy would still tell the story of how he sold Blackstone a set of Color Changing Knives. No wonder Blackstone was one of the most loved magicians around. Many well-known performers have said that he was the most wonderful magician they had ever met.

Why? Because he knew he had the power to influence his admirers, and he used this ability to make them feel truly important.

After every show that I perform as Alexander the Great I am very cognizant that I have the same power. Often times my magic show will leave a lifelong impression on the children just the same way great performers have left a lifelong impression on me, and this is truly influence.

It’s my hope that the children I affect through my entertaining magic shows will continue to spread the positive influence that has inspired me.

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

There are many reasons why you might want to hire a magician.

Some people who hire my services were browsing for sweet 16 party ideas, or just looking to rent entertainment in Ottawa. Very quickly they are drawn into the mystery and prestige that is intrinsic to the conjuring arts.

If you are looking to rent a magician in Ottawa, or just looking for any type of entertainment consider how much fun a magician would be at your next event or kids birthday party.

By Alexander the Great Magician

Many magicians have also risen to fame within Hollywood as directors. It seems that there is some sort of common link between magic and film since I also chose to study Film at Carleton University even though I have been doing magic for over 15 years. The famous filmmaker Orson Welles was a magician and also the turn of the century filmmaker Georges Méliès. M. Méliès directed the “Trip to the Moon” short film that was seminal to fiction film.
As a filmmaker he filmed one of the earliest motion pictures, made around 1900, of a cigarette vanish act. He was the owner of the Theatre Robert-Houdin in Paris. He performed there between 1914 and 1918 and I most recently read up on him in the introduction to a manipulation book that I have been studying this spring.
Recognition of his work came late in his life, well after his work in magic and in film. Most of his films, sketches and paintings were saved late in his life and can now be seen at the New York Museum of Modern Arts.

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!