Ten more years; 122 more covers. Continuing on from the display of MAGIC front pages included in our 10th Anniversary issue, here is a look at all our covers from the past decade.

By John Moehring

Every picture tells a story, and the cover of a magazine also holds a tale of its own, beyond the feature it represents. Former MAGIC editor John Moehring delves into some of the history and trivia behind ten years of the images on the front.

By Charlie Burgess

You may have heard of his older brother, but it is Piff people are talking about now — a skilled, funny, conjuring creature. There is a man inside that dragon, and he is award-winning close-up magician John van der Put.

By Mike Straka

For roughly forty years, from the 1950s to the ’90s, touring magic shows used an effective method of promotion: the phone room. Often colorful characters, the phone promoters are remembered here by a man who worked with them for two decades.

By Steve Daly

Too many people, not enough places to land when the music stops. Magicians in Las Vegas not only keep appearing and disappearing, but swapping places, running around town to find a venue.

Over 500 registrants attended the 2011 Society of American Magicians convention in Pittsburgh this past July. Headquartered at the Wyndham Grand Hotel, the event boasted a strong lineup of talent.

Dutch illusionist Christian Farla is currently enjoying a seven-month engagement at the Phantasialand amusement park in Brühl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. His large-scale illusion show, Seven: Magic Never Dies, opened on April 1 and plays through November 6, with performances daily — a run of 650 shows in the 1,100-seat Wintergarten Theatre.

Dave Womach, a.k.a. David DaVinci, has been performing magic for the past 15 of his 28 years. From theme parks to cruise ships, his own show in Saipan to a two-year stint starring with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, he has accomplished many of his magic career goals, yet he recently announced that he will soon retire from performing.

Joseph Atmore brings his Dunninger radio show to life in San Francisco, Scott & Muriel take their “slapstick magic” to the Big Apple Circus, Richard Garriott gets married with a magical ceremony, and we bid farewell to Bill Andrews.

Seventeen products are reviewed this month by Michael Claxton, Farrell Dillon, Peter Duffie, Jason England, Gabe Fajuri, Will Houstoun, and Francis Menotti:

Open Triumph by Dani DaOrtiz
Devious Standards by Jamy Ian Swiss
Invisible Pass by Chris Dugdale
Tug’s Tales: My Magic Life in Variety by Tug Wilson and Christopher Brinson
Bruce Bernstein’s Linking Pins
incREDiBULL by Eric Buss
Streets by John Archer and Ivan Markovic
Pop Art by Mark Southworth
Adventures in Magic by Henry Ridgley Evans
Gambling Scams by Darwin Ortiz
A Cut Above by Msgr. Vincent Foy
The Dixon Drop
A Lifetime of Magic by Charles Gauci
Visible Chinese Coin Mystery System by Marcel and Tango Magic
Jumbo Backstage Monte by Devin Knight
BOLD by Russ Andrews
CHOP by Craig Petty

This month marks Joshua Jay’s 120th installment of “Talk About Tricks” — its ten-year anniversary. That’s 720 tricks so far, and more to come. As we dive into the second decade of trick talk, we’ll explore some unpublished material from Joshua himself, including magic with cards and bills, and a strange effect that requires a body of water!

Paid Under the Table
The performer introduces an inverted coffee cup, places a quarter underneath and proposes that he can grab the coin without touching the cup. He does so in a very clever wordplay kinda way, and thus wins a free cup of coffee. Offering to go double-or-nothing, he repeats the effect and grabs the coin from under the cup in a magic kinda way. That’s when the sleight of hand/con artist lifts the cup slowly to reveal the indebted second cup of coffee in the form of a Starbucks “Double Shot” can.

Succinctness
Performing is fickle. You never really know what the audience is thinking. You can never really think like the audience members. You want to. You think you can. But you can’t. One group of performers — let’s call them “narcissists” — always think audiences love them. Their narcissism is reinforced when they judge themselves on video. But enough about narcissists, what about us?

Slow Down, You Move Too Fast
Dr. Shigeru Tashiro, president of the Japan Close-Up Magicians’ Association, recently brought two of his young students to Pittsburgh for the FISM North American Championships of Magic hosted by the SAM and then to Las Vegas for an educational vacation. Joanie Spina had the opportunity to work with the students, and what transpired was most impressive.