Alexander the Great; Ottawa Magician

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

I’m very excited today! I just booked the last part of my trip to Toronto to see a very special magician.

Juan Tamariz will be performing shows in Spanish, French and English, all on separate nights. I will be attending his English performance on June 19. I’m super excited to be able to see this legendary trickster as I was blown away at his performance and lectures at Magic-Con 2010 in San Diego last March.

If you ever get a chance to see this man perform don’t miss out. I’ll be sure to post a review after the event.

Until then I must be off practicing magic in Ottawa.

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.