Viewing entries tagged
magic
One of the most sobering sounds I’ve ever heard was the loud “CLANG!” as the door closed and locked firmly behind me the very first time I entered a prison.
I remember thinking, “How many people know that I’m currently in here?” As if that was going to make much of a difference.
I’ve read Cigar Aficionado Magazine since I first got interested in cigars - all the way back in 1995.
The magazine just does something to me. The photos and cigar artwork are beautiful. They always interview people I am fascinated to learn more about. The luxury items they introduce me to always grab my attention.
As they say on the cover, they are “The Good Life Magazine For Men.”
For many years now, I have worked with my VIP private and corporate clients to create unforgettable events and magic that their guests will talk about for years. That is a major goal for me.
One of the ways that I do that is by accepting commissions for special projects. These commissions include finding unique ways to combine my magic with their message.
For a private client, the goal with a commission might be to make their Father’s 80th birthday celebration extra special and truly magical.
For a corporate client, they may commission me to create a project for a social media campaign that combines my magic with their brand.
A few weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to celebrate my favorite magazine. I decided to do that by creating an extraordinary card trick that told the story of Cigar Aficionado Magazine and Marvin Shanken - the publisher.
I believe that the outcome is truly excellent. Enjoy the above video to see what I created for them.
If you would like to learn more about commissioning a project from me, please click here.
In 2004 I set out to create a piece of magic that I could take to magic competitions and, hopefully, start to build a reputation with. The result was this piece of magic. I’ve had the pleasure of sharing this routine with audiences all over the world and it is always one of the ones that people comment on after the show.
The routine has changed over the years. In fact, I completely retired it several years ago, thinking I would never perform it again. But it is too much fun to put away forever. It really is one of my signature pieces. This is the latest version (2021) of my Shakespearean Cups and Balls routine and this recording was made as part of a virtual magic show. I hope it makes you smile.
I would love to know what you think of it. Please leave a comment below.
Introduction - There isn’t any international travel happening at the moment so it’s the perfect time to revisit some wonderful memories of overseas adventures. This one is from 2016.
My Adventure - We touched down at Heathrow Airport and proceeded to grab our luggage and meet our tour bus. This was my first experience having my very own tour bus. Since we had to drive anywhere from 2 to 8 hours between shows it was far easier to do a European tour on a tour bus than any other way. Unfortunately the only time we spent in London that day was our bus driving us out of it to the first English city on our trip.
I was a little worried that our very busy schedule was going to keep us traveling every day with no time to visit London before we left Great Britain. As we spoke to our production team and reviewed our tour schedule we realized that we were, in fact, going to have a full day to visit London and do some sightseeing.
Several days later we left Alconbury on our day off and took the train to London. Woohoo!
Fellow traveler and video production guy Bart had contacted his cousin who lives in England and he found out that she was going to be in London the same day that we were. So, our first stop was to meet Bart’s cousin at the Prince Albert Memorial and Park.
After the initial pleasantries and some time for them to visit, Bart’s cousin and her family had an appointment to keep at a nearby museum, and we were on our way.
When we were planning what we should do while in London all the locals we spoke to had plenty of opinions on what would be fun. We finally decided on a “hop-on/hop-off” tour on the many buses that travel all over the metropolis of London. And while I don’t have any idea of what we may have missed, the hop-on/hop-off tour was brilliant! (as they would say in England)
Keeping in mind that we did get on and off the tour buses several times at different parts of the city to see things that interested us, it took us all day on those buses to see the entire city. Because we were there in April, the later it got in the day the colder we got. As the sun started to set, we started to freeze our tails off.
Since we spent the day as tourists we really just did touristy things. Personally, I love history and learning about all of the things that happened in the different parts of London was a blast. I mentioned to Kevin and Bart that I would love to spend about a month in London just being a tourist and taking it all in.
Since the United States is such a young country we just don’t have the history that a place like Great Britain does. I constantly found my mouth hanging open as I looked at the incredible architecture. Personal highlights included the Tower Palace, the Tower Bridge, and Buckingham Palace.
I think I’ll let that pictures tell the rest of the story…
I developed my LIVE B-I-G System to defy the naysayers who claimed I would never be able to live my dream life. Because of this system, I became a successful professional magician, traveled to twenty-five countries around the world entertaining hundreds of thousands of people, motivated and inspired countless audiences, and wrote a best-selling book.
I want to help you live your best life, too. Complete the form below and I will send you the LIVE B-I-G system as a beautifully designed PDF file as my gift to you!
The Virtual Magic Show has proven itself to be a perfect escape from the pandemic. While COVID has wrecked havoc on traditional in-person entertainment offerings, it has opened up new opportunities for forward-thinking entertainers to provide laughter and fun to their audiences. The Virtual Magic Show is an excellent example of that. This is why…
Magic is incredibly versatile. The different styles of magic (sleight-of-hand, illusion, mentalism) offer a variety of ways for a magician to connect with his/her audience.
Magic translates through the screen. At the beginning of the pandemic magicians scrambled for unique ways to connect with their audience in ways never attempted before. The result - we found that entertaining audiences on Zoom was a brand new and fun way to create a magical experience…and that it works!
Magic is timeless. No matter how technologically advanced we get, magicians are masters of surprise and amazement - audiences NEVER get tired of that.
Companies are still planning meetings, virtual cocktail parties, awards ceremonies, holiday parties, and more. A virtual magic show spices up an event and provides a fun diversion in an otherwise busy day of serious programming. Besides, it’s fun to turn the “Grinch” of the office - the one who didn’t think it would work - into a believer!
Theaters need a way to reach their subscribers and have relevant programming. Since most theaters are not able to produce in-person shows, partnering with a magician who understands the virtual arena can be a very successful union.
Colleges still need to build community with their students. With unique virtual programming they can entertain, educate, and build rapport & camaraderie in their student body.
Associations are holding fundraisers, virtual meetings, and conferences. While the pandemic put everything on hold initially, pretty soon people pivoted to online, virtual events. Associations need great speakers, emcee’s, and entertainment to have successful events. Some magicians are excellent speakers, masters of ceremonies, and more.
Churches are hosting events to connect their followers and celebrate holidays & other special occasions. Virtual Magic Shows have proven to be a fun way to engage families and youth audiences.
Families are keeping in touch with each other for special events. Just because the world is in the middle of a pandemic doesn’t mean that people are going to stop celebrating birthdays, thanksgiving, and more. Magic shows through Zoom are a way for families who are in different parts of the world to gather online, visit, laugh together, and enjoy seeing each other.
The bottom line is this…finding a virtual magic show/magician that understands who you are and what you are trying to accomplish with your event is the key. Take a good hard look at the promotional material and the performance clips, and then don’t hesitate to request a Zoom meeting with the artist in order to get your questions answered.
When I started designing my virtual magic show I knew that I wanted to have a piece of magic in it that spoke directly to the needs of people suffering through the pandemic. While most of my show is comprised of jaw-dropping sleight-of-hand and interactive magic, this beautiful piece of magic is poignant and inspiring.
I hope you enjoy it.
-J.
P.s. - For more information on my virtual magic show, click here.
Introduction - Since the COVID-19 pandemic has stopped virtually all international travel, I’m remembering and reporting on some wonderful memories of trips and adventures I’ve taken over the years. This one is from 2016.
My Adventure - Well, there’s no feeling like flying and living in airports for a little over twenty-four hours until you get to your destination. And as much as I enjoy the adventures this lifestyle affords me, non-stop travel with no breaks to actually let down and chill is definitely not one of the best parts.
With that said, I had some excellent travel partners – Kevin and Bart – to enjoy this adventure with.
We landed at the Pristina Airport and proceeded to travel another hour by van to our destination. Look, I’ll be honest with you…I wouldn’t have picked Kosovo for a vacation spot. In fact, if I hadn’t been performing my show there the following night, I would have never circled this place on the map. But that is part of the fun, isn’t it?
Fortunately, when we arrived we had the day to relax and get acclimated to a completely different time zone. This was our first stop on an eleven city tour of Europe. Kevin and Bart crashed hard and I spent the day noodling around our surroundings because I was so excited about getting this thing kicked off.
The next day our host showed us around the base and then took us to one of his favorite spots for lunch. Kevin, Bart, and I spent several hours walking around the city and then we had a great steak at a very nice restaurant.
Part of the fun of performing a show on a military base is getting to experience a tiny flavor of what it is like to live that lifestyle. We definitely got a kick out of all the activities that were planned for us that day!
Our show that evening was great. We had a spirited audience who was ready to have fun and we gave them a monster of a show. Since we were in the middle of nowhere our setup was a little more modest than all of the other stops on our tour. My sleight of hand got great reactions, and Kevin’s insane mental feats drew gasps and left people wondering how such mysteries are possible.
As is normal for show business we went to bed late that night and had to wake up less than four hours later to drive back to the airport and head to our next destination. I’m just glad to still be alive to type these words. Our driver decided he wanted to audition for the Indianapolis 500 that morning. I’m pretty sure he set a land speed record for the little rickety van that we were in.
I developed my LIVE B-I-G System to defy the naysayers who claimed I would never be able to live my dream life. Because of this system, I became a successful professional magician, traveled to twenty-five countries around the world entertaining hundreds of thousands of people, motivated and inspired countless audiences, and wrote a best-selling book.
I want to help you live your best life, too. Complete the form below and I will send you the LIVE B-I-G system as a beautifully designed PDF file as my gift to you!
Virtual Magic Shows are a new, and surprisingly, exciting service that magicians started offering corporate groups shortly after the COVID pandemic shut down all live events.
If I’m being honest, at first I didn’t think that a virtual magic show delivered via Zoom would work. I’m quite thrilled, though, to admit that I was wrong! Very wrong.
Virtual magic shows on Zoom have proven to be excellent and popular entertainment for corporate groups, college and university groups, for virtual cocktail parties, birthday parties, and as a ticketed public event.
Here is why…
UNIQUE - Corporate groups, associations groups - even family celebrations - are meeting on Zoom and similar platforms. Because of that, we’ve learned that there is such a thing as “Zoom fatigue.” It happens when too many hours are spent in Zoom meetings with speakers that drone on and on and never stop.
A virtual magic show is a unique way to spice up an event, awards ceremony, or celebration. The art of magic is something that most people don’t see very often. I’ve had clients remember magic they saw me do years before.
By booking a virtual magic show for your event, you can grab people’s attention, wake them up, and give them an extremely unique experience that they will remember forever!
INTERACTIVE/ENGAGING - In a time of quarantine, lock-downs, and mandated social-distancing, people are yearning to feel a connection with others. By booking a virtual magic show for your meeting or virtual cocktail party, you are engaging an interactive type of entertainment.
When your guests participate directly in the show, there is a sense of connectedness that only happens when people experience something together. Magic is an extremely interactive art form, and a virtual magic show builds greater community within your group.
FUN - Let’s be honest, the pandemic has made 2020 a very dark and depressing year. The art of magic is uplifting because it shows us that there is incredible possibility in the world that we haven’t considered.
Joy, laughter, and the experience of amazement are the most common responses to magic. A virtual magic show is lighthearted fun in a year that desperately needs it. It is truly a wonderful gift to give your guests.
If you are interested in learning more about my virtual magic show, please watch the video below.
“A demonstration of superb card manipulation.”
“#BESTZOOMEVER”
“Off the Hook! Jason was the Bomb Dot Com! Jason is your guy for magic!”
“It was both refreshing and relaxing to just sit back and be entertained by a truly ‘Vegas’ quality show.”
“It is my pleasure to recommend Jason Michaels to you as a terrific magician and entertainer. Jason was engaging with our employees, and we enjoyed not only his talent, but also his sense of humor.”
“I would recommend Jason to anyone looking to increase value and excitement to their event. He will not let you or your audience down.”
The Newspaper is a beautiful and classic illusion with an object that used to be as common as anything. With the proliferation of personal devices, a huge number of people now get their daily news from digital sources. That doesn’t take away from how simple and easy to understand this piece of magic is.
What appears to be three minutes of eye candy has much deeper meaning - if you choose to see it. At its magical core, this is the act of destruction and recreation. A common item that everyone is familiar with is destroyed and then, in the blink of an eye, is recreated or restored to itself.
From a philosophical standpoint, this is the act of rebirth - much like a phoenix is recreated from its own ashes. The theme of what is happening, however, is very topical - it is the idea that the news of the day can be manipulated in ways that the common reader may not understand. Heavy stuff, indeed! Or, then again, maybe it’s just a cool trick. That’s up to you to decide!
I developed my LIVE B-I-G System to defy the naysayers who claimed I would never be able to live my dream life. Because of this system, I became a successful professional magician, traveled to twenty-five countries around the world entertaining hundreds of thousands of people, motivated and inspired countless audiences, and wrote a best-selling book. I want to help you live your best life, too. Complete the form below and I will send you the LIVE B-I-G system as a beautifully designed PDF file as my gift to you!
I’ve performed this stunning illusion for audiences all over the world. My favorite part of performing it is the first few seconds, when the table starts to levitate , defying the law of gravity.
The reason I love those precious few seconds is because of how impactful and visceral this experience is. I’ve seen true believers watch in wonder and I’ve witnessed the most difficult audiences react with the awe and amazement often attributed to children.
I hope you enjoy the beauty and grace of this incredible piece of magic.
I developed my LIVE B-I-G System to defy the naysayers who claimed I would never be able to live my dream life. Because of this system, I became a successful professional magician, traveled to twenty-five countries around the world entertaining hundreds of thousands of people, motivated and inspired countless audiences, and wrote a best-selling book. I want to help you live your best life, too. Complete the form below and I will send you the LIVE B-I-G system as a beautifully designed PDF file as my gift to you!
