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  From The Editor
Here is a peek at the September issue, marking the 20th Anniversary of MAGIC Magazine. We've expanded to 116 pages to allow special coverage of our last decade of publishing.
If you're not a subscriber, please give us a try. Check out our risk-free, one-month-at-a-time subscription plan at the bottom of this email. Of course, we still offer our annual subscriptions as well.
MAGIC is also available for your iPad in the App Store. The cost is $3.99 and it arrives within a few minutes. And best of all, you only buy it once, then you own it forever and can enjoy it wherever you want (Internet connection not required!).
Whether you're a year-round or month-to-month subscriber, whether you download us to your iPad, or whether you just read a friend's copy — I hope you enjoy our 20th Anniversary Issue.
Stan Allen
Stories in MAGIC this month:
 COVER: A Second Decade of MAGIC
Ten more years; 122 more covers. Continuing on from the display of MAGICfront pages included in our 10th Anniversary issue, here is a look at all our covers from the past decade.
In His Words: Stan Allen
By Shawn McMaster
Twenty years after launching MAGIC, the publisher looks at past and future trends in magazines, digital as well as print, plus ten years of producing unconventional conventions.
 Cover Story 2
By John Moehring
Every picture tells a story, and the cover of a magazine also holds a tale of its own, beyond the feature it represents. Former MAGIC editor John Moehring delves into some of the history and trivia behind ten years of the images on the front.
Piff the Magic Dragon
By Charlie Burgess
You may have heard of his older brother, but it is Piff people are talking about now — a skilled, funny, conjuring creature. There is a man inside that dragon, and he is award-winning close-up magician John van der Put.
Tales from the Phone Room
By Mike Straka
For roughly forty years, from the 1950s to the '90s, touring magic shows used an effective method of promotion: the phone room. Often colorful characters, the phone promoters are remembered here by a man who worked with them for two decades.
 Musical Chairs
By Steve Daly
Too many people, not enough places to land when the music stops. Magicians in Las Vegas not only keep appearing and disappearing, but swapping places, running around town to find a venue.
SAM in the Steel City
Over 500 registrants attended the 2011 Society of American Magicians convention in Pittsburgh this past July. Headquartered at the Wyndham Grand Hotel, the event boasted a strong lineup of talent.
 Magic Never Dies
Dutch illusionist Christian Farla is currently enjoying a seven-month engagement at the Phantasialand amusement park in Brühl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. His large-scale illusion show, Seven: Magic Never Dies, opened on April 1 and plays through November 6, with performances daily — a run of 650 shows in the 1,100-seat Wintergarten Theatre.
A Moment With... David DaVinci
Dave Womach, a.k.a. David DaVinci, has been performing magic for the past 15 of his 28 years. From theme parks to cruise ships, his own show in Saipan to a two-year stint starring with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, he has accomplished many of his magic career goals, yet he recently announced that he will soon retire from performing.
Plus...
Joseph Atmore brings his Dunninger radio show to life in San Francisco, Scott & Muriel take their "slapstick magic" to the Big Apple Circus, Richard Garriott gets married with a magical ceremony, and we bid farewell to Bill Andrews.
Tricks and advice this month:
    TALK ABOUT TRICKS: My Tenth Anniversary Issue
By Joshua Jay
This month marks Joshua Jay's 120th installment of "Talk About Tricks" — its ten-year anniversary. That's 720 tricks so far, and more to come. As we dive into the second decade of trick talk, we'll explore some unpublished material from Joshua himself, including magic with cards and bills, and a strange effect that requires a body of water!
FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH: Succinctness
By Mark Kornhauser
Performing is fickle. You never really know what the audience is thinking. You can never really think like the audience members. You want to. You think you can. But you can't. One group of performers — let's call them "narcissists" — always think audiences love them. Their narcissism is reinforced when they judge themselves on video. But enough about narcissists, what about us?
COFFEEHOUSE CONJURING: Paid Under the Table
By Gregory Wilson and David Gripenwaldt
The performer introduces an inverted coffee cup, places a quarter underneath and proposes that he can grab the coin without touching the cup. He does so in a very clever wordplay kinda way, and thus wins a free cup of coffee. Offering to go double-or-nothing, he repeats the effect and grabs the coin from under the cup in a magic kinda way. That's when the sleight of hand/con artist lifts the cup slowly to reveal the indebted second cup of coffee in the form of a Starbucks "Double Shot" can.
CLASSIC CORRESPONDENCE: Silent Mora to Mrs. Edward Maro
By Mike Caveney
September's installment offers a very sad story, not only because this letter was written a few days after Mrs. Maro's husband died, but because of the guilt that had consumed Silent Mora for years. The first bit of irony concerning this letter is just how well known Silent Mora is today, while Edward Maro is completely forgotten. One hundred years ago, the exact opposite was true.
DIRECTIONS: Slow Down, You Move Too Fast
By Joanie Spina
Dr. Shigeru Tashiro, president of the Japan Close-Up Magicians' Association, recently brought two of his young students to Pittsburgh for the FISM North American Championships of Magic hosted by the SAM and then to Las Vegas for an educational vacation. Joanie Spina had the opportunity to work with the students, and what transpired was most impressive.
Click here to see the entire list of what's coming in the September issue of MAGIC Magazine.
Seventeen products are reviewed this month by Michael Claxton, Farrell Dillon, Peter Duffie, Jason England, Gabe Fajuri, Will Houstoun, and Francis Menotti:
 Open Triumph by Dani DaOrtiz
Devious Standards by Jamy Ian Swiss
Invisible Pass by Chris Dugdale
Tug's Tales: My Magic Life in Variety
by Tug Wilson and Christopher Brinson
Bruce Bernstein's Linking Pins
incREDiBULL by Eric Buss
Streets by John Archer and Ivan Markovic
Pop Art by Mark Southworth
Adventures in Magic by Henry Ridgley Evans
Gambling Scams by Darwin Ortiz
A Cut Above by Msgr. Vincent Foy
The Dixon Drop
A Lifetime of Magic by Charles Gauci
Visible Chinese Coin Mystery System by Marcel and Tango Magic
Jumbo Backstage Monte by Devin Knight
BOLD by Russ Andrews
CHOP by Craig Petty
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