Happy Halloween!

It's been an exciting week here, including a visit from Mark and Nani Wilson the past 2 days. Due to storms in our area today, the ghosts and goblins have already wreaked their havok here at Hocus Pocus. This morning, we were without power in a portion of our building but all is up and running fine now.

Allakazam Comes to Fresno


Me, Nani and Mark Wilson with the Allakazam Hat

What a great thrill it was to have Mark and Nani Wilson here for the last two days! They arrived Wednesday afternoon, spent time together at my house, we had a nice dinner, and talked and reminisced about magic, business, and everything else until almost midnight. To my surprise, they gave me a package of several vintage Genii magazines that they appeared on the covers and featured articles written about them and their magical career. I've had a great time pouring through the magazines the past few days. What memories they've brought back... Thursday, Mark and Nani spent the entire day here at Hocus Pocus, working with Mike on a special upcoming project and overseeing the packaging of the Allakazam Egg. Their visit was undoubtedly the high point of the entire week!


Mark and Nani with the classic Allakazam Egg


Allakazam Eggs ready for shipping for all pre-orders

If you pre-ordered the Allakazam Egg, yours should be on its way to you very shortly. Again, thank you all for your support on this fantastic project.

Hot New Exclusives



There have been some pretty cool exclusive items in stock this week, and a couple we're especially excited about. I'm really pleased that we were able to work out an exclusive arrangement with Todd Karr of the Miracle Factory for the Shakespeare Experiment. Perhaps the finest mind reading book effect ever printed, it's the ultimate luxury in mentalism. If you ever wanted to perform a book test, this is a must-have! Absolutely gorgeous to behold and limited to only 1000 copies and not to be reprinted, it has garnered rave reviews from such esteemed performers as Max Maven, Peter Morrison, Michael Weber, Lee Asher, and Andy Nyman! Do yourself a huge favor and check it out HERE!

Other products of interest that just arrived this week are Lit, which was featured on the last David Blaine special. Quite a bit of buzz about this one, gang, but it's in stock finally and ready to ship. We're also excited to receive this week the new Methods in Magic DVD by Joshua Jay, which features his live lecture filmed in the UK. Hocus Pocus is one of the first dealers in the USA to have it in stock for immediate delivery. Two other exclusives we have are Angelux and Cigarette Miracle. Both are guaranteed to shock your audience as well as a group of magicians! Make sure you check them out as well on the web site.

Get Out & Vote

Only four days left until Election Day Tuesday, November 4. Make sure you do your civic duty and vote. Remember, no one can tell you the right or wrong way to do it, as long as you do it. It's more important than ever to make your voice heard. And remember, every vote does make a difference! OK, I'm off the political soapbox. Now on to other things:

Passings


Ted Lesley

It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of one of mentalism's greatest contributors and a good friend, Ted Lesley, this week. Ted was one of the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. A true gentleman with a huge heart and a real passion for his craft. A wonderful sense of humor kept our conversations exciting and lively, and I will never forget the opportunity we had to bring him with us to the second MAGIC Live Convention in Las Vegas. What a great time we all had, and especially the laughs we shared in Robert Baxt's car on the way to the World's Greatest Magic Show as they one-upped each other with one-liners. I laughed so hard, my sides were cramping. The last few years, Ted fought very hard against many different illnesses, but for him, the long battle is now over, and he can rest in peace. We'll miss you, Ted. You left not only an indelible mark on the world of magic and mentalism, but on my heart as well.

So now we're back to Halloween. The weather here is perfect: dark, rainy, and gloomy. It won't be long now until those trick or treaters will be knocking on our door. So Happy Halloween to you and yours.

Until next time,

Paul