I will be performing and emceeing the “It’s Magic!” show at the Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara on Sunday, March 18th at 2:00 pm and that evening, Sunday, March 18 at 6:30 pm.
This show’s lineup also includes Murray Hatfield & Teresa, Michael Grandinetti, Victor & Diamond, Jason Andrews, Rob Watkins and more.
Tickets can be found here: http://www.lobero.com/calendar/index.php?display=event&id=753&returnto=list
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More information on “It’s Magic!” can be found at www.ItsMagicShow.com
I will be performing and emceeing the Milt Larsen and Terry Hill production “It’s Magic!” this Saturday, March 3, at the Norris Center for the Performing Arts in Rolling Hills, CA.
There are two shows on Saturday, a matinee at 2:00 pm and evening show at 7:30 pm.
Other performers include Jonathan Pendragon, Jason Andrews, Michael Goudeau, Chuck Jones, and Joel Ward
Tickets can be found at: https://www.choicesecure03.net/mainapp/EventSchedule.aspx?ClientID=NorrisCenter
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I will also be performing and emceeing the “It’s Magic!” show at the Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara on Sunday, March 18th at 2:00 pm and that evening, Sunday, March 18 at 6:30 pm.
This show’s lineup also includes Murray Hatfield & Teresa, Michael Grandinetti, Victor & Diamond, Jason Andrews, Rob Watkins and more.
Tickets can be found here: http://www.lobero.com/calendar/index.php?display=event&id=753&returnto=list
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More information on “It’s Magic!” can be found at www.ItsMagicShow.com
Richard Turner has a new Youtube channel featuring many of his card routines live at the world famous Magic Castle in Hollywood.
To watch Richard Turner live at the Magic Castle visit his new channel here: WWW.Youtube.com/CatchAThief52
Start with episode 1 above then move on to episode 2, 3 and 4.
Richard is up for “Close-Up Magician of the Year” this year at the Magic Castle. This is the act that won him the nomination. It is well worth checking out.
Sen Mitch McConnell -- "Hero of Conscience?"
Senator Mitch McConnell is pushing an amendment to the Affordable Care Act that would allow employers to deny coverage not just for contraception, but for any treatment whatsoever that they claimed was against their religious or moral beliefs.
This would mean that if you work for a Jehovah’s Witness, you may not have coverage for blood transfusions.
If you work for a Catholic, you may not get the benefits of stem cell research.
Meanwhile, I still expect them to make Quakers pay for military expenditures–even though they are pacifists and supporting war is against their moral conscience, and Catholics have to pay taxes for wars their Pope has called “immoral” and “unjust”–wars that are, or should be, against their religious conscience:
“In March 2003, just hours after the first American cruise missiles slammed into Baghdad, the Vatican proclaimed the nascent conflict a “defeat for reason and for the gospel.”
“It was a war, said papal confidant Cardinal Roberto Tucci, that was “beyond all legality and all international legitimacy.”
Do we really want to allow people to choose which taxes or public fees violate their individual consciences, and refuse to pay that part of what they owe to society?
During the Vietnam War, many tax resisters went to prison for refusing to pay taxes for an “unjust war.”
Where were the religious of conscience then?
Pop Haydn
I have been booked at the Magic Castle in the Palace of Mystery for the week of March 26th — March 31st.
April 1st the Castle will be closed for the Academy of Magicial Arts Awards Show party.
I will be performing the Teleportation Device, the act for which I have been nominated this year for “Stage Magician of the Year.”
Rosewood, ebony and silver wand by John Gaughn
I am excited to announce that I have been nominated once again for “Stage Magician of the Year” by the members of the Magic Castle. This is a very great honor, and especially considering the excellent performers who have been nominated this year. I am a big fan of everyone on the list.
I have won six performing “Magician of the Year” awards from the Magic Castle.
I won “Stage Magician of the Year” in 1979, “Parlor Magician of the Year” in 1995 and 2002, and “Close-Up Magician of the Year” in 2003 and 2004.
I was named “W.C. Fields Bar Magician of the Year” in 2005, an award that has only been given out twice in the history of the Magic Castle.
It is very exhilarating just to be in the running. I am looking forward until the 44th Annual Awards Show on Sunday, April 1st, 2012 at the beautiful Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.
Saban Theater, Beverly Hills
From the Magic Castle website:
“The elegant evening begins at 5:30 PM with a cocktail party in the theater lobby. The show starts at 7:00 PM, hosted by the star of the best magic show in Las Vegas, Mac King. There will be amazing magic acts (including some never seen here before), legendary presenters and recipients, plus comedy, surprises, music and much more. And the evening ends up at the Magic Castle, which will be closed to the public that night so that we can have our afterparty at our own club, with a lavish buffet dinner.
“This will be an inclusive event, and for that reason we’ve kept the ticket prices as low as possible. All tickets include the afterparty with dinner at the Castle. Prices are $30, $60, $90 and a VIP package at $180. Tickets are available at the Saban box office, 323-655-0111, or on-line at www.sabantheatre.org”
LIST OF FINAL NOMINEES FOR 2011 AMA (Magic Castle) SHOWROOM AWARDS
Below are the names of the final nominees for each showroom; listed in alphabetical order.
CLOSE UP ROOM
Jon Armstrong
Derek DelGaudio
Bill Goodwin
David Regal
Richard Turner
PARLOUR OF PRESTIDIGITATION
Chris Capehart
Michael Carbonaro
Mike Caveney
Paul Green
Helder Guimaraes
Mark Haslam
Kevin James
STAGE MAGIC
Rich Bloch
Mike Caveney
Farrell Dillon
Whit “Pop” Haydn
Rob Zabrecky
LECTURE SERIES
Dani DaOrtiz
Howard Hamburg
Kevin James
Shoot Ogawa
Rob Zabrecky
Congratulations and good luck to all the nominees!
Robert Burns
We will be celebrating Robert Burns Night tomorrow evening from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm in the new Hat and Hare which is being first opened for this event–the first time opened since the fire.
The unexpected death of Mark Nelson, who seemed to put these things together effortlessly, and of course, the fire in October have complicated things quite a bit.
But we are set! There WILL be a Piper, AND yer Haggis! Neeps and Taters! Music and poetry! Scots Whiskey! Men in Kilts! Everyone is invited to wear Scottish costumes–they are good for the whole evening at the Castle.
Everyone is invited to participate! I have a limited number of spaces for non-member guests–please contact me at pop@pophaydn.com before 4:00 pm Monday (Feb 6) afternoon.
We would love you to bring something of Burns to sing or read or play. It is an easy-going, un-structured, single malt-centered kind of evening.
The photo of Burns you see here is a famous one. In our dining room, in the windows that line the outside of the Terrace, you will find the faint engraving of this portrait in the stained glass. These beautiful windows were taken from the Robert Burns Pub.
Great magicians have come from Scotland, including John Henry Anderson, the Wizard of the North, John Ramsay, Ron Wilson and many, many more.
This past week was Scots Week at the Castle, with magicians from Scotland performing. Burns Night tips a glass to them and to those that came before them, and to Ron Wilson who dedicated so much of his life to the Magic Castle.
Pop Haydn backstage of the Palace of Mystery
I will be performing and acting as emcee this week at the Magic Castle in the Palace of Mystery, beginning tonight!
We are back to a full week schedule at the Magic Castle, and the Hat and Hare will reopen on Monday the 6th for Burns Night.
With me in the Palace will be the wonderful puppeteer Scott Land and a two-man company from Scotland, who call themselves The Fifth Dimension.
In close-up this week, we have the incredible Paul Vigil–worth a visit just to see him.
This wonderful photo, taken backstage of the Palace of Mystery, is by Christiaan Lopez-Miro. More wonderful magician photos by Christiaan can be found here: http://www.christiaanlopez-miro.com/
Look under Smoke and Mirrors in Images.
Whit "Pop" Haydn, Richard Turner, Johnny "Ace" Palmer
Last night at the Magic Castle, the magic teachers of DC comic’s The Spirit got together.
In the December issue of The Spirit, 2008, the Spirit shows some card tricks and explains that magic is his hobby and that he had three magic teachers, Whit Haydn, Richard Turner and Johnny Ace Palmer. Also in the same magazine, our friend and fellow Magic Castle member, the lovely Misty Lee appears in the story as a character.
All of us are old friends, but none knew what had brought us together like this. It turns out that Mark Evanier, a writer for the comics, was a Castle member, and we were his favorite magicians. He had attended lectures and classes by all of us, and considered us teachers, so he just wrote us into the story with the Spirit.
It is a wonderful honor.
My life seems to continue to become more and more fictionalized…
Richard Turner
My friend, Richard Turner is working this week at the Magic Castle. He is the foremost card expert in the world today, even though he is legally blind. His discipline and perfection is stunning. These photos show him in 1986 when he received his first black belt, and then in 2012 when he is 58 years old. There is only four ounces difference in his weight.
As a measure of the type of skill Richard displays in his work, let me quote Jon Raucherbaumer, an internationally recognized expert who is writing a biography of Richard Turner:
“The action of perfectly alternating playing cards, 26 and 26, is not easily named if the goal is accuracy. Even the noun “shuffle” seems inexact because it suggests clumsy randomness and asymmetrical mixing. Sure, the relative positions of the cards change, but the changes are cyclically predictable and in this regard, perfect…
“…But there are two types of this kind of Interlace: The Faro Shuffle and what can be called a Volitional Faro Shuffle. The physics of the Volitional Faro Shuffle in terms of what happens with and to the cards is identical, but the means of making this happen is different. The Faro Shuffle is semi-automatic because the two 26-card sections are butted together in precise ways and the cards will then automatically alternate. The Volitional Faro Shuffle depends on the operator’s volition. He must will his thumbs to precisely and alternately release cards until all 52 of them are interlaced. This is not automatic. It is a matter of pure dexterity and unerring timing.
“Richard’s high-lift, soft interlace table Faro Shuffles are done in less than one second. Formerly a fantasy in MacDouggal’s mind, Richard can execute a Volitional Faro Shuffle in 8.1 seconds.
“If you think this is easy, try making love while standing up in a hammock and juggling seven ice-cream cones.”
Richard Turner, my good friend Johnny Ace Palmer and I were all named in the comic book the Spirit as magic teachers to the Spirit. It was very cool to be included in such incredible company:
Richard Turner is performing in the Close-Up Gallery at the Magic Castle in Hollywood until Sunday. It is worth your time to make an effort to see this incredible and unique talent.
Click for Pop's Website
Sorry for your loss. They leave such a huge hole when they pass...
Thank you for this beautiful thought! I lost my Diamond Girl, black collie shepherd Lab, and feel he
Next week.
when are you performing at the Castle?
No, it was sold some years ago.
Reblogged this on Pop's Soapbox.
Happy Birthday Neil - We are planning on coming back April 17 to celebrate our Anniversary. My wife
Nancy Magill
Pop Haydn
Pop's Soapbox 