My favorite comment after returning from my Philadelphia tour was an email I received from a guest. He wrote, “Your show is a thing of beauty, a magical symphony.” Wow. What a nice compliment. But I must say that Philadelphia audiences – who came out in droves to the magnificent Four Seasons hotel last week – made my job a pleasure indeed.

Whenever I launch the show in a new city, there is considerable risk on my part. Will people show up? How do I get the word out? Do I have any fans in that city who can help drum up interest?

Fortunately, Philadelphia is close enough to my home base in NYC that the word spread quickly. I even got a little advance press on a cool blog that has a large local following. The four shows sold-out swiftly, even before I arrived in town.

Another part of the risk in performing in a new city is that [...]

I will be touring in September, and hope you can help spread the word. Tickets are now available for Chamber Magic performances in Philadelphia. That’s right, Philadelphia! The show will be identical to my long-running Waldorf-Astoria show in New York.

I’m excited to announce the following tour dates:

PHILADELPHIA:
Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia
One Logan Square
September 13 and 14
(Four performances – 7pm and 9pm each night)
Click “Read full post” below for tickets

If you have friends or family in Philly who you think would enjoy Chamber Magic, please tell them to reserve their tickets now. I look forward to welcoming them to the show!

Before serving dinner at a dinner party in Manhattan, my host asked that I do “a little something” for the guests. I declined politely — I don’t like to perform when I’m not actually working — but when people hear that there’s a magician at the table, they expect to see a trick. These were not children, mind you, but some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in New York.

I turned to the woman next to me and asked for one of her earrings. She was hesitant to remove one of her diamond studs for a magic trick. She thought I might damage it. But when our host nodded his approval, she allowed me to remove it.

“The Flying Earring Trick!” I announced, holding up my hand to silence the guests. The glittering diamond earring rested in my left palm, shining in the light from the chandelier overhead. I slowly closed my hand into a fist, and explained that I would make the earring fly – invisibly! – from one fist into the other. All of the guests looked at me with skepticism as I opened my left fist: empty. They craned their necks in closer. I then opened my right fist: also empty. The lady’s face turned pale.

“If the earring didn’t fly into my other hand, it could only have gone one other place.” I pointed to [...]

The magic wand is an ancient conjuring representation of mystery. To the uninitiated, it’s no more than a piece of wood. To me, it is a reminder of the joy and pleasure of an entertainment art that has existed since ancient times.

If you’ve ever dealt a deck of Tarot Cards, you’re familiar with “The Magician” card. It shows a magician pointing up to the heavens with his wand, and down to the ground with his finger. He serves as a human conduit between heaven and earth, his wand serving to draw energy from the universe and to harness it for practical use.

I have a collection of magic wands – some of them quite tricky with built in gadgets – but only one has the distinguished role of my “working” wand. It was custom-made to my specifications by [...]

One block away from the White House stands a glorious hotel from yesteryear – The Willard. It was the perfect venue for my recent Chamber Magic tour in Washington DC. I presented four sold-out shows in the Peacock Lounge, and was extremely pleased with the audience reaction. Washington audiences are fun!

I was honored to welcome a notable guest to the show, Julian Bond, the Civil Rights Activist and direct student of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Mr. Bond was impressed to hear that Martin Luther King wrote his “I have a dream” speech at the Willard Hotel. In fact, the room that King stayed in when writing this speech [...]

One of my heroes is legendary magician Max Malini. This morning I made a pilgrimage to his house in Honolulu, met the current resident, and was invited onto the property to take photos and stand in the Malini garden. It was, quite simply, a sublime experience.

Together with local magician Curtis Kam, I retraced the steps to many of Malini’s old haunting grounds.

Here’s a photo of us in front of Malini’s house [...]

I received a Hollywood welcome when I arrived in Los Angeles last week. Actors Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, How I Met Your Mother) and Chris Williams (“Krazee-Eyez Killah” on Curb Your Enthusiasm) both came out to my show at the Beverly Wilshire hotel, and director Steven Spielberg even bought tickets for himself and his [...]

The photo leading this post is one of my new favorites. It may look small, but you MUST click it to view an amazing panoramic view of the gorgeous St. James room in Boston’s Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel. It was taken minutes before the doors opened to the public. As you can see, the mahogany walls and soaring window drapery provided the perfect backdrop for a classical magic performance.

Boston Celtics president Danny Ainge brought his whole family to the show, and even [...]

I will be touring later this month, and hope you can help spread the word. Tickets are now available for Chamber Magic performances in Boston and Los Angeles. The show will be identical to my long-running Waldorf-Astoria show in New York.

I’m excited to announce the following tour dates:

BOSTON:
The Fairmont Copley Plaza
September 17
(2 performances: 7pm and 9:30pm)

LOS ANGELES:
The Beverly Wilshire
September 24 and 25

My friend Peter Greenberg, the travel expert for CBS television, created and narrated this Chamber Magic promo video. My 10 year old son said, “It looks like a movie preview!” Have a look, and please leave comments…

I am honored to be the recipient of the 2010 National Arts Club Gold Medal of Honor for Magic. The award will be presented at a dinner ceremony on October 5, 2010 at the prestigious National Arts Club in Gramercy Park, NYC.

Tickets to this special event will be available in August, and I’ll post information here when I know more. Distinguished guests and presenters will be in attendance to present my award, and I plan to give a special performance! [...]

Vanity Fair Daily talked with me about the history of salon magic, the connection between certain tricks and the internet, and where this ancient art might just be headed. This intensive interview took place at [...]

The Essential Magic Conference will be held on July 15, 16 and 17, in Portugal. I was asked to participate in one of their “passion videos.” This video just went live today on YouTube.

I have not mentioned this in print before, but since the very beginning my goal has always been to perform Chamber Magic for twenty years. There aren’t too many shows that have staying power. Not only magic shows, but theatrical shows in general. Ten years have flown by, and I want to keep Chamber Magic alive for ten more. Maybe I’m crazy, but I love performing this show. I’ve molded my life around it.[...]

I’ve long been a fan of magician John Carney. His latest book, though slim, is a true gem. It’s a love letter to magicians for generations to come. Weighing in at only 91 pages, Magic By Design offers the growing magic student a practical overview of how to grow and improve as a performer. How [...]

Listen to an audio endorsement from a charming Kentucky businessman who invited me to entertain his group in Louisville. Also, have a look at the personalized Louisville Slugger bat that has my name engraved – what a great gift! Finally, a few words about The Greatest (Muhammad Ali) who hailed from Louisville [...]

Crains NY ran an article about me today: “Nothing Up His Sleeve.” A lovely article, but I want to clarify one fact: though my uncle did meet Houdini, and was inspired by him, he didn’t actually study with the Master himself. He did, however, inspire me to pursue magic as my life’s work. Read on… [...]

Billionaires, millionaires, media personalities, and other distinguished guests joined forces to support the Mercy Corps Action Center to End World Hunger on December 8, 2009 at the Magic4Mercy Benefit.
I presented a one-hour show that was well-received by business and community leaders, actors, fashion designers, and other luminaries including billionaire Steven A. Cohen, Founder of SAC Capital, and his wife Alexandra, who both served on the Honorary Committee for the event.

Just as singers have their favorite songs, magicians have our favorite tricks.

One of my all-time favorites is Think-a-Drink. The proper title of this routine is Any Drink Called For, and has also been known as The Bar Act. I’ve been performing this routine in my shows for the past eight years, but it has existed in various forms for over a century. The trick is so old, it’s new again.

Well-known magician, author, and all-around bright guy Joshua Jay wrote a lovely review of Chamber Magic on his blog today.

Here is a television interview I did with Mike Schneider on his Night Talk program, on Bloomberg Television.

PR Newswire ran a press release about my upcoming Magic4Mercy charity event, and as a courtesy, put my publicity photo and website information on the Thomson Reuter’s billboard in Times Square. It cycled several times each hour for several days. Talk about larger than life! My show is pretty small-scale, and never in a million [...]

Back in August 2007, the popular radio host Joan Hamburg did an extensive broadcast about Chamber Magic at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel. She and her daughter Liz spoke about the show for about 8 or 9 minutes. I recently figured out how to record and edit an MP3 file, and am delighted to offer this broadcast [...]

A recent guest at my Waldorf show introduced himself as a relative of the great old-time magician, Max Malini. According to the gentleman, his great aunt’s second husband was Malini. A few weeks later, he sent me a piece of memorabilia from their family scrapbook – Malini’s calling card.

This image was drawn by the world-famous tenor, Enrico Caruso.

Please visit my fully-redesigned website: chambermagic.com We’ve tweaked the user interface, and added three new pages: Media Appearances, Win The Crowd Book, and Multimedia Gallery. I still have many more media articles and performance photos to upload – they will be coming soon. In the meantime, there’s still a lot to see, and you can [...]

I am in the early stages of organizing a tour of my show Chamber Magic. In 2010, I plan to tour the show to several cities around the world, in addition to my regular schedule at the Waldorf-Astoria in NYC. What other cities/countries would you like to see me in? Please click HERE to take [...]

You are cordially invited to attend Magic4Mercy, a benefit performance for the Action Center to End World Hunger (http://actioncenter.org), December 8, 2009

I have fond memories of Sunday mornings as a boy, searching the Arts page of the NY Times for the “Nina’s” hidden in Al Hirschfeld’s illustrations. It was a clever game of hide-and-go-seek, since Hirschfeld hid his daughter’s name so well, and in such whimsically obscure spots – in the folds of a coat sleeve, [...]

The Waldorf-Astoria hotel has, over the past 100 years, had many magic acts play within its hallowed walls. Thanks to the Conjuring Arts Research Center, I have located many references to the famous magicians who have entertained in the Waldorf. The hotel used to be located at 34th and Fifth Avenue (the current site of [...]

Once you’ve flown on a private jet, there’s no going back. I just landed in Cancun, on a Bombadier Challenger 605. And it’s all thanks to card tricks. My flight bag is loaded with six decks of Tally-Ho cards, a purseful of antique silver dollars, one red silk hanky and two false thumbs. Try explaining [...]

A major highlight in my performing career took place on April 26, 2009. The Waldorf-Astoria’s Director of Diplomatic Affairs invited me to entertain Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, of Saudi Arabia. The Crown Prince and his royal court were staying in the Waldorf Towers during an extended visit to New York. After [...]

Here are some of the places you may have met me. My manager compiled a long laundry list of places I’ve presented Chamber Magic. For those who care to read, here is a list of: luxury hotels, resorts, yachts, mansions, private clubs, 
museums, opera houses, and restaurants where I’ve “magished.” RESORTS Boca Raton Resort & [...]

I lost track of time at my dinner with David Berglas. So did he, apparently, as he shared wonderful stories of his lifetime of experiences in magic, and also several amazing card tricks. I had brought my own deck of Tally-ho cards, and David performed a rapid-fire series of think-a-card tricks, the likes of which [...]

I’m holding an important benefit event on Tuesday, December 8th at 7:00 p.m. –    Magic 4 Mercy.  Proceeds from the evening, generated by tax deductible ticket sales, will benefit Mercy Corps’ Action Center to End World Hunger, opened one year ago in Battery Park City. The Action Center’s parent is Mercy Corps, an international humanitarian [...]

In 2007, I was invited to be the featured performer at a high-society fundraiser in Manhattan. Two hundred very wealthy people were gathered in the ballroom of a private Park Avenue clubhouse, and I performed a modified version of my Chamber Magic show. Having presented this show over 2000 times by that point, I felt [...]

Over the past ten years, I’ve met nearly a quarter of a million people (!) in my little show at the Waldorf-Astoria. Now you and I can finally talk to each other – I’m opening the doors to my magical parlor to you. Please follow my new blog – this is the first post. I’ll [...]