Alexander the Great; Ottawa Magician

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

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:

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.

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
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.