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!

CBS recently launched a new television series, Same Name, which pairs up celebrities with average citizens who happen to share their same names. For instance, the actor David Hasselhoff and another fellow named David Hasselhoff switch lives and see how their namesake lives.

Although I don’t foresee ever watching a single episode, the program reminded me of some amusing guests who have come to visit at my Chamber Magic shows in New York.

One week I had a man sitting in the front row whose name was Sherlock Holmes. The very next week, there was a man in the audience named James Bond. Of course I asked both of them to show me their drivers licenses, and sure enough those were their actual names!

Another month or so passed, and a fellow in the audience was named Bruce Wayne. (Batman’s alter-ego)

Is there a trend of fictional crime-fighters that [...]

I read some good advice written by Lee Earle. I’m including it here on my blog to REMIND MYSELF, and also to pass it on to you.

An old-time vaudeville, burlesque and U.S.O. Camp Show entertainer named Don Seth told Lee:
“In every audience you entertain, there will be a little boy who had to save his nickles and dimes to be able to come to see your show. It may not be much money by your standards, but it is a lot to him. Give him his money’s worth.”

Don continued, “Every time you step on stage, there is a little boy in the front row who is seeing his first real, live magician. The image you create in his mind is the one which will stay with him for the rest of his life. Make it a good first impression.”

“And somewhere in every audience,” he continued, “is a little boy who could be playing in the park, or watching television, or doing his homework but instead has chosen to spend his one, precious, irreplaceable commodity – his time – with you and your show. You must reward his good faith with an equal effort of your own. You owe him the very best performance you can give.”

The next time you step on stage, look over your audience and, in each and every person present, be sure to see that little boy.

by Susan Lehman, Lexus Magazine

MAGIC SHOWS AREN’T JUST FOR KIDS anymore. In fact, master conjurer Steve Cohen prefers that children not attend the dazzling shows he performs at tony hotels around the world — where, instead of pulling rabbits out of hats, he turns one-dollar bills into hundred-dollar bills. Known to some as “the millionaires’ magician,” Cohen stunned an audience of top CEOs when he performed that feat on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Non-CEOs can witness Cohen’s miracles at his weekly magic show at the Waldorf Towers in New York. Here, in a gilt-ceilinged suite, Cohen reads minds, turns coins into bricks, stops his pulse, and, using only force of mind, moves watch hands forward [...]

I love stumbling across historical gems — here’s one from The Sphinx magazine (a well-known magazine for magicians) that ties together two of my loves: magic and the Waldorf-Astoria hotel. This hotel, now located on Park Avenue, was previously located at the corner of 34th Street and Fifth Avenue, but was torn down in 1929 to make room for the Empire State Building.

Editor William Hilliar reported this closing in the May 1929 issue, and wrote about one of the Waldorf’s most famous employees, Oscar Tschirky. If you’ve been to my Chamber Magic show, you know that I summon the ghost of Oscar nightly to assist with a magic trick. It turns out he was actually a bit of a magician himself, as you’ll see below.

Here is the text I found [...]