I recently made a whole bunch of cool new friends. No kidding. You see, one of the best-kept secrets in the world of prestidigitation is that the biggest little magic convention on the planet takes place in Toronto every summer. It’s called “31 Faces North” and before you start to argue that you went to a swell convention too, name me another convention where there is an open bar, the laughter is non-stop, and the trophies come in the form of a bottle of 12-year-old scotch. The guest list reads like a virtual Who’s Who in magic. This year it included, among others, Max Maven, Eric Mead, Michael Weber, Patrick Watson, Bob Sheets, Charles Reynolds, Roberto Giobbi, Stephen Minch, John Carney, David Solomon, John Bannon, Norman Beck, Kostya Kimlat, Bill Kalush, Richard Kaufman, Gabe Fajuri, Jamy Ian Swiss, Steve Beam, Ricky Smith, Jared Brandon Kopf, and a host of other great magicians. They came from all over the world to this little gathering, and it was a blast! Ton Onosaka traveled from Japan to be there, but a talented young magician named Sean Mergard traveled even farther—all the way from Australia. More knowledge on the subject of magic was present in Toronto on this weekend than anywhere else in the world—with the possible exception of Patrick Page’s house in England when he’s home alone. One of the essential rules at 31 Faces North is that you leave your ego behind, because everyone there is something of a wit, and the participants don’t hesitate to comment on any miscue to the delight of all. Only 31 lucky people get to attend the festivities because that’s the limit the hotel and little theatre can accommodate. David Ben, Julie Eng, and Allan Slaight throw this invitation-only convention, that’s really more like a four-day party with lots of great magic and laughter thrown in. The people there are all friends, or become friends instantly upon arrival. There’s a large goodie bag given to all the attendees that is worthy of the Academy Award presenters.

I was happily invited to join the gang at 31 Faces North this year and give the first public reading of my recently completed book, BEATING A DEAD HORSE—THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JAY MARSHALL, which is due out in December. The response was beyond my wildest expectations, and my elite audience howled with laughter (in all the right places) as I read several passages from the book on the opening night of the gathering.

In my goodie bag I was surprised and delighted to find a book written by Patrick Watson for the occasion layout and design by Gabe Fajuri, with a series limericks using the names of the people there, and everyone got their own limerick. It was too cool for school. The limerick Patrick wrote about me went:

Well, Sandy’s the living rendition
Of a classic essential magician
We sure miss his dad
But we’re terribly glad
That he’s carrying on the tradition

There were four challenges that took place over the course of the gathering and one of them was a limerick contest that was judged by the Poet Laureate of 31 Faces, Patrick Watson himself. I entered several trashy five-line verses and happily won the event with:

Eric Mead, David Ben and Steve Beam
Are magicians—or so it would seem
But I watched them French kiss
My friend, Jamy Ian Swiss
Please God—let this just be a dream!

A clever and talented magi named Derek Delgaudio was the runner-up in the Limerick Challenge, but got to take home the First Prize of the Johnny Walker Black Label because I only take carry-on luggage with me when I fly, and no liquids over three ounces are allowed. Truth to tell, I also had an 18-year-old bottle of Macallan Single Malt waiting for me back home in Chicago, so everybody was happy.

A couple of the other limericks I wrote are too naughty for print in this fine and tasteful publication, but they managed to give the assemblage a good laugh. Needless to say, I look forward to my next trip to Toronto with great relish.

Here at Magic Inc. we just finished presenting Carny Week with the spectacular Aye Jaye performing his brilliantly conceived show, CARNY TRASH. Aye Jaye played to full houses for the entire run and people came from as far away as Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Michigan to see it. In addition to being Jay Marshall’s best friend (along with John Fisher) for the past thirty-five years, Aye Jaye was born into a carnival, and grew up to become the boss Ronald McDonald. This was the guy who taught all the other clowns how to be Ronald for the big bucks in corporate America. He even married the Hamburgler. (Really). Aye Jaye has met six presidents, and has been around the world five times. He says he has enough money for the rest of his life, as long as he doesn’t want to buy anything. His show, CARNY TRASH is honest, and moving, but mostly it is just plain hilarious. When he performed it out in Hollywood, the show was held over for three and a half months. The fact is, we could have held over CARNY TRASH here in Chicago too, but Aye Jaye had other commitments, and we’d already bought his plane ticket back to California. The man always flies First Class, and if you don’t know how he does it, you haven’t read his book “The Golden Rule of Schmoozing” published by Sourcebooks Inc.

Jay’s grandson (my nephew) Chris Marshall played the Geek in CARNY TRASH and made the family proud by biting the head off of a live chicken at every performance. Before I start hearing from PETA about this, rest assured that no chickens were hurt in the presentation of this show.

In any event, Aye Jaye points out that the money all goes to Charity… and even introduces Charity, played in our production by Ashley Little. The Gorilla, played by Craig Newman (our newest demonstrator at Magic Inc.) rounded out the talented cast.

If you missed CARNY TRASH in Chicago, be sure and catch it when it comes to a theatre near you. San Francisco looks like the next stop on the tour. We miss you Aye Jaye. Come see us again soon.

Stick it to the man, sister. Rant on!