So here it is. Jeff McBride’s early Mask routine in honor of All Hallow’s Eve:

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Do you have a favorite magic routine for Halloween? Do you perform it? Do you have a video? I’d love to see/hear about it in the comments.

The second lecture followed a show by none other than Jeff McBride, my favorite magician. His show was more amazing in person than any recording I had seen, even if it was in a more intimate setting than a Masters of Illusion taping. In fact, the intimate setting and the fact that I’d seen some of these before made the show better. I had the chance to see, well…nothing. The routines and effects which I was unaware of how he accomplished them left me still unaware – though very entertained. Much of the audience were magicians and I can say that we were all entertained. He actually did sorcerer’s apprentice on stage with a teenage magician and it came out quite funny without deviating much from any time I’ve seen it performed on video.
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As if that show and the following lecture weren’t enough I was lucky enough to be part of a 4 hour ( turned into 4.5 hour ) master class taught by Jeff Mcbride the following Sunday. In this class I was able to get a little taste of what it must be like at Mcbride’s Magic and Mystery School out in Vegas. I learned a lot from this master class and I feel very lucky that I was able to attend.

However, this post is not about me gloating that I got to see my magical hero in person and learn from him. Instead I want to teach a lesson I learned from the weekend. If you want to learn to be a master you need to seek masters to learn from. For some that means making it out to Vegas to attend a Master Class at the Magic and Mystery School. For others it means heading to South America to learn from Juan Tamariz ( mentioned several times by Jeff ).

It may not be ( or at least it may not seem ) possible for you to do any of this right now. However, thanks to the power of the internet, the Magic and Mystery school can come to you. Now there is a Virtual Magic and Mystery school available for you to learn from the masters. I’m not sure how long they’ll be doing this but you can sign up for a free trial and get a free lesson in magic from Jeff to see how the system works.

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Feeling a bit disheartened in my quest, I almost gave up. Then I remembered something I had heard from one of Jeff McBride’s videos. Magic is a gift. Then I searched for ,”The Gift Of Magic”. One of the first things I found was this video which shows how much of a gift it has been for one magician by the name of Bill Rollins. It seems he had the good fortune to attend McBride’s Magic and Mystery School and decided to write a poem and share it via youTube as a thank you.

This poem is awesome, and could almost move into one of my Wednesday Warriors posts. The issue of mentors is often a big missing in this world. But as they say

When the student is ready the teacher appears

For any of you interested in magic, here is a little Hogwart’sesque advertisement video for the school.

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And for those of you buying gifts for the magician in your life ( eh, hem – I think my family knows who I am talking to ) and wish to give them the gift of magic they do have gift certificates available. For those of you more magically inclined though, remember that magic is a gift that we bring into people’s lives. So give joyfully this holiday season.

Have a magical season