By John Armato

While you might not know his name, Jon Petz is a busy corporate magician who has found a way to work true miracles, bringing magic to children facing serious illnesses.

By Joanie Spina

When National Guardsman Scott Anderson goes on a tour of duty overseas, he takes along his magic, promoting goodwill among Iraqi and Afghan civilians, as well as with the military units in which he serves.

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By David Meyer

Known simply by his middle name, Anthony Nelmar Albino was a publisher of magic instructions, somehow staying in business despite not getting along with his customers or his authors.

By Adam Fleischer

The seventh annual SuperMagic festival recently took place in Rome, featuring a sold-out ten-day run of an international magic show for the public.

Best Kept Secrets
Rich Bloch’s one-man show Best Kept Secrets is scheduled for one-week runs throughout the year in the ninety-seat rehearsal hall at the Woolly Mammoth Theater in Washington, DC. “The show,” Rich explains, “is partially autobiographical, playing heavily on my onstage persona of an arrogant guy who makes a lot of mistakes but refuses to acknowledge them.” The next performances are March 31 – April 4 and June 9–13, Wednesday through Saturday evenings and Sunday matinees. Tickets are $20.

Terrorized By Magic
Canadian magician Peter Loughran recently starred in his first feature-length film, Plaster Rock. Not only does Peter play the main antagonist, but he also created and produced a number of magic effects for the character, an insane magician. The micro-budget film, shot in only eleven days in New Brunswick, Canada, by Global Universal Pictures, and is scheduled for release in Spring 2010.

Twenty products are covered this month by Jason England, Peter Duffie, Gabe Fajuri, Brad Henderson, and John Lovick:

Card College Volumes 1 & 2
Anomaly by Bob Solari
Locked in a Room Without Coins by Craig Petty
S3RIAL BILL3R with Rich Ferguson
The Magic Interview Series No. 2: Anthony Owen
Kosher Products; Short, Punch and Mental; and Fight Dirty by Andy Nyman
An Evening with Jack: The Seattle Sessions Night Two with Jack Carpenter
Titan’s Finger by Titanus
Magick edited by Bascom Jones
Spot On by Wayne Dobson
Magic’s Most Amazing Stories: a Collection of Incredible Stories from World Famous Magicians compiled by Ivan Amodei
Chapter One by Asi Wind
Fu Manchu’s Mysteries: The Magic Films of David Bamberg
One-Hand Popover by Aaron Fisher
Law and Magic edited by Christine A. Corcos
Hand Out 500 by Steve Haynes
Modosu by Sean Scott

This month, “Talk About Tricks” features a blockbuster card effect by Caleb Wiles. Remember the Magic 8 Balls that would tell fortunes when asked questions? This is the theme of Caleb’s trick, All Signs Point to Yes. Following this, we have five other exciting card routines, including a Color Changing Deck, an Ace routine, and effects by two of card magic’s brightest lights: Roy Walton and J.K. Hartman.

DEAR SHOW DOCTOR: I’m a 25-year-old magician working at various venues. I enjoy performing in comedy clubs and colleges, and I usually wear casually hip attire. I like to dress like my audience, to be “one of them.” Recently, I got a booking to perform at an after-dinner event, and I felt a bit underdressed. Everyone was in formal attire. I was in a T-shirt and jeans. I felt uncomfortable, and I also felt like I was being judged by my audience. Is this the right kind of outfit for me to be wearing? I want to be true to myself, but I’m not sure of what sorts of costumes I should have for my show. — Derek C.

The author asks that we don’t feel shortchanged by this month’s one-sentence letter. He assures us that the story behind this simple sentence and its author represents a historic moment in the story of magic’s past. And what’s remarkable about it is not so much the sentence itself as the stationery it is written upon: England’s House of Commons.

It’s absolutely true: in watching other performers, we can see ourselves. We sometimes make the same mistakes or the same brilliant choices, but don’t recognize them until we observe them in someone else. Through this series of articles, enhanced by the accompanying videos you can find at www.MAGICmagazine.com, you can learn from watching other performers as I gently point out ways that their material can be improved, as well as the aspects of their acts that are working well. Although they refer directly to the video in question, these points also carry over as general principles of performing. There are many right ways of doing things, and these are a few options.