About two weeks ago, I sat down with Nantali Indongo in a studio at the CBC building in Montreal to discuss why magic continues to fascinate us. In advance of the interview I was asked to choose four songs that represent different parts of my life, which was both a fun and difficult exercise. Imagine being able to choose any of your favorite songs that will be played on a CBC radio show that anyone can link to and listen to, at anytime, all over the world. What a special opportunity to speak about my love for the performing art of magic, some of the people who continue to inspire me, and some exciting projects. Nantali, Amanda Klang, and the entire CBC team were lovely to work with and I’m happy with the resulting episode. (<– clicking this link, or the image above, will take you to the interview). Below, I’ve included links to some more specific information that you may want to reference while listening to the show and links to some other favorite versions of the songs you’ll hear in the episode:
Song #1 — Nina Simone, “I Ain’t Got No – I Got Life”, ‘Nuff Said (1968),
- Montreal’s National Circus School (NCS) is a state-recognized, degree-granting circus schools with a professional program.
- The NCS is also home to CRITAC (the Centre for Circus Arts Research, Innovation, and Knowledge Transfer).
- I wrote a visual essay for The Walrus about the Allan Slaight collection and conducted preliminary research for the McCord exhibition Illusions: The Art of Magic.
- Here is a link to the ten-episode web series, Houdini and Doyle: World of Wonders.
- For more about Philip Astley and the history of the bullet catch illusion read Jim Steinmeyer’s book The Glorious Deception and Katharina Rein’s recent article “Rupturing Illusionism: The Bullet Catch.”
- For more information about Cirque du Soleil’s C:Lab, check out this video and others.
- I am inspired by the experimental and avant-garde magic of the following artists who are mentioned in the interview (and many more too!) . . .
Song # 2 — Blackalicious, “Deception,” Nia (1999),
- Grand Illusions, is still bringing joy and wonderment to people every day. Shout-out to Steve, Leora, and Don Johnson.
- Workers #3, by Michael Close, is a specific magic instruction manual that I remember reading when I was 14.
- For more about the importance of respecting diverse cultural traditions of magic rituals, conjuring performances and proper terminology:
- See the discussion for the anglicized word “fakir” and the Hindi word “jadugar” in Reception and Adaptation: Magic Tricks, Mysteries, Con Games (213-214).
- See the introduction to issue 16.2 of Early Popular Visual Culture — “Toward a Historiography of Stage Conjuring: Are We Entering a Golden Age?”
- See fellow circademic and Concordia postdoctoral fellow Tracy Ying Zhang’s article “Enchanted Masculinities: Gender, Modern Magic and Nationalism in Early Twentieth Century China” (among others).
- David Ben, Julie Eng, and the charitable organization Magicana are constant sources of inspiration and learning.
- Here are a couple of their projects I’ve been lucky enough to be part of:
- Researching and writing for The Life and Magic of Stewart James web exhibition,
- Presenting at 31 Faces North,
- Volunteering with Magican’s My Magic Hands program.
- Here are a couple of their projects I’ve been lucky enough to be part of:
- Here’s a previous post about Jazz, Technique and Oliver Jones.
- More on
- David Ben’s mentor Ross Bertram.
Song #3 — Oliver Jones, “Hymn to Freedom,” Live in Baden Switzerland (feat. Ed Thigpen & Reggie Johnson),
- Patrick Boyle
- FISM 2021, the olympics of magic, will be held in Quebec City,
- Three world-class magicians to based in the province of Quebec:
- Luc Langevin,
- Alain Choquette, and
- Gary Kurtz
- For more, please see Giovanni Luliani book Les Magiciens du Québec.
Song #4 — Neil Young, Guitar Solo No. 5, Dead Man soundtrack,
Song #5 — Karim Ouellet, l’Amour, Fox, (2012)