Vanish magazine AMA | Page 13

When it comes to Parlour magic the first name that comes to my mind is always Steve Cohen . Simon Helberg from “ The Big Bang Theory ” presented a Parlour Performing Fellowship to Steve for his wonderful work in this field .

One of Jon-Paul ' s favorite performers for the night was ' The Orange Magician ' Jimmy Delp . It reminded me of Slyvster the Jester with his visual cartoon style magic . He was one of the favorites on the second night and got a huge ovation from the audience at the public show we saw on Saturday .

One thing I ' ve noticed is the importance the AMA and The Magic Castle both give to junior members . The Junior Achievement Recognition went to Day Mori .

The Lifetime Achievement Fellowship went to The Davenport Family from England . They have a very rich history in magic which dates to Davenports & Co . established in 1898 by Lewis Davenport . Fergus Roy Davenport was there to accept the award and I also highly recommend his

book The Davenport Story – Volume One : The Life and Times of a Magical Family , 1881-1939 .

A Performing Fellowship for Stage Magic went to Jorge Blass who also performed and wowed the crowd in the public show the next night .

Anna DeGuzman shared her cardistry skills , and despite a slight slip with instructions to an audience member pulled off a great routine . With the use of cameras everybody in the 1800 seat venue was able to see her .

Two more Special Fellowships went to Curtis Kam from Hawaii and Mike Miller . Both have been instrumental in magic and sharing their knowledge and skills with so many from around the world . Mike has given more people work than anybody I know , and Curtis ' s work as a performer and teacher of magic is unsurpassed .

The next performer was Remi Lasvenes a juggler whose combination of theatre , mime and juggling is perfection . I love European acts because they have a very artistic vibe that we don ' t often see at North American conventions . It was a nice change of pace from the previous comedy acts .

The final act of the night , Filiberto Selvi got a deserving standing ovation . There are certain acts that can make magic an art form and Filiberto is one of them . His combination of music , skilled sleight of hand and the right amount of technology made this one of the highlights of the night for me . I was very moved by his performance and was excited to see him perform the next night .