By Steve Cohen • Foreword by Guillermo del Toro

Published by

Featuring original photography and rare memorabilia, alongside a Foreword by Guillermo del Toro and text by Steve Cohen, Confronting Magic celebrates twenty years of Chamber Magic and the variety of guests that the lively, intimate show has attracted and stunned. Here we see stills and props from Cohen’s most praise-worthy tricks, including “Think-a-Drink” and the jaw-dropping Bullet Catch. At other times, the camera is turned to the audience, inviting readers to step into the magician’s shoes and see what he sees – the laughter and the outbursts; the silence and the hand-wringing; the collapsing-onto-your-neighbor’s-shoulder and the wide-eyed disbelief. These jubilant reactions illustrate just why audiences return to Cohen’s parlor again and again – music can make you dance; comedy can make you laugh; but only magic can make you wonder.

208 pages • hardcover with silk screen cover

REGULAR EDITION – $60

SIGNED EDITION PACKAGE – $125

Signed Edition is autographed, with Paul Stuart custom pocket square

assouline.com or our online shop: chambermagic.com/store

“What Steve Cohen does is flat-out impossible. Don’t believe me? Then go see him, and don’t believe him yourself.” – Peter Sagal, NPR host

“Steve Cohen presents a handsomely-balanced program of intimate magic in a legendary setting. It’s a pleasure to see an audience gasp in amazement over and over again.” – Teller

“Steve is the only magician to take his show to an elite and highly-select audience. It is a true one-off: an intimate caprice of parlor diversion by an enthralling and consummate master.” – Derren Brown

assouline.com or our online shop: chambermagic.com/store

The post CONFRONTING MAGIC: Book Now Available appeared first on Chamber Magic.

I’m excited to announce the following tour dates:

BEVERLY HILLS:

The Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills

9850 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

September 20 and 21, 2019

(4 performances: 7pm and 9:30 pm each night)

Click HERE for tickets

If you have friends or family in southern California who you think would enjoy Chamber Magic^®, please tell them to reserve their tickets now.

I look forward to welcoming them to the show!

The post Chamber Magic^® Tour: Waldorf Astoria BEVERLY HILLS appeared first on Chamber Magic.

I’m excited to announce the following tour dates:

BEVERLY HILLS:

The Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills

9850 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

March 2 and 3

(4 performances: 7pm and 9:30 pm each night)

Click HERE for tickets

If you have friends or family in southern California who you think would enjoy Chamber Magic^®, please tell them to reserve their tickets now.

I look forward to welcoming them to the show!

The post Chamber Magic^® Tour: Waldorf Astoria BEVERLY HILLS appeared first on Chamber Magic.

I’m excited to announce the following tour dates:

CHICAGO:

The Waldorf Astoria Chicago

11 E Walton St, Chicago, IL

October 28 and 29

(4 performances: 7pm and 9pm each night)

Click HERE for tickets

If you have friends or family in Chicago who you think would enjoy Chamber Magic^®, please tell them to reserve their tickets now.

I look forward to welcoming them to the show!

The post Chamber Magic^® Tour: Waldorf Astoria CHICAGO appeared first on Chamber Magic.

Think Federer’s tennis racket, Baryshnikov’s dance slippers, Perlman’s violin. For a close-up magician like me, an essential tool of the trade is a good deck of cards—and none measured up. So I created my own sleek, ultra-luxury deck and called them TYCOONS in honor of my exclusive clientele at the Waldorf Astoria.

Doing tricks with TYCOONS is like playing a Stradivarius. They keep me at the top of my game.

Now these gorgeous cards are available to you.

My newly minted TYCOON deck was designed in collaboration with theory11, the largest producer of premium, luxury playing cards. Theory11 has collaborated with Star Wars director JJ Abrams, and has produced cards that are available at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

TYCOONS include a debonair Joker sporting a cane and top hat; an elegant woman gazing out from the Ace of Spades; and lifelike Court cards licensed from Fournier in Spain.

These cards are a work of art, and they are going straight into my Chamber Magic^® show! Buy a deck or two for yourself, or give them as a gift to the card game or magic aficionado in your life.

Available in Crimson Red and Ming Blue, my new ultra-luxury TYCOON decks are packaged individually, and in groups of four nestled inside a handcrafted Luxury Edition Collector’s Box.

For more information, or to purchase your own deck or Collector’s Box of TYCOONS, visit http://www.tycooncards.com

Luxury TYCOON playing cards are available at http://www.tycooncards.com

The post Chamber Magic^® Luxury Playing Cards: TYCOONS appeared first on Chamber Magic.

I’m excited to announce the following tour dates:

ATLANTA:
Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta
75 Fourteenth Street NE
September 21 and 22
(Four performances – 7pm and 9:30pm each night)
Click HERE for tickets

If you have friends or family in Atlanta who you think would enjoy Chamber Magic^®, please tell them to reserve their tickets now. I look forward to welcoming them to the show!

The post Chamber Magic^® tour in Atlanta – 2 nights only appeared first on Chamber Magic.

I’m excited to announce the following tour dates:

PHILADELPHIA:
Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia
One Logan Square
September 13 and 14
(Four performances – 7pm and 9pm each night)
Click HERE for tickets

If you have friends or family in Philly who you think would enjoy Chamber Magic^®, please tell them to reserve their tickets now. I look forward to welcoming them to the show!

The post Chamber Magic^® tour in Philadelphia – 2 nights only appeared first on Chamber Magic.

Last night I was booked to perform at a private show for just eleven people, in a Madison Avenue apartment in New York City. As always, I will not reveal the names or details of any people present, out of respect for privacy. Needless to say there were several billionaires in the room.

During the show, I asked the host if he had a favorite book. He answered, “Yes, it’s To Kill A Mockingbird.” I inquired if he had that book handy. His eyes darted to the corner of the room, and I followed his gaze. There was a hardbound copy of this book on display in a special place on a side table. He said, “I have another copy in the next room, but the one over here is a first edition, first printing. It’s in mint condition, and extremely rare.”

I took a deep breath and picked up the book. This would be my first time performing magic with a book that (I later discovered) is worth $25,000.

Instead of my usual routine, in which I handle the book, I opted to let the host hold onto the book himself. I could see he was concerned about it being used as a show prop.

He opened up the book to a random page, mentally chose any word on the page, and closed the book. Standing five paces away from him, I looked into his eyes and told him the word – “ammunition.” He and the others jumped out of their seats. It was a great moment.

After the show, I asked if it would be alright to take a photo of the book. And as you can see from the above photo, he graciously said yes.

Would you like to hear more stories like this one? I have many more to share, but don’t want to sound like I’m bragging. Let me know what you think.

The post Magic with To Kill A Mockingbird – First Edition appeared first on Chamber Magic.

I was invited to perform at a gorgeous English-style country home in New Jersey yesterday (video below), to celebrate my client’s 50th birthday. After the show was over, it was time to sing “Happy Birthday.” You can imagine the look of surprise on my face when I saw my magic teapot, “Think-a-Drink” decorated in icing on his cake!

Magician Jonathan Brown saw this photo of the cake, and wrote a lovely comment on Facebook: “You know, you can win awards, make a name for yourself, get on TV etc..but when a CLIENT loves your magic enough to put YOUR trick on THEIR OWN birthday cake…well I don’t know where you go from that!”

Here’s a quick video of the outside of my client’s house. (In order to maintain privacy for him and his family, no further details will be included here.)

“Think-a-Drink” has become a signature routine for me. As a result, I’ve become quite enamored with the trick and its history. You may be interested to read of a legal dispute that arose over its performance by two rival magicians in 1943: “Think-a-Drink Hoffman” and “Have-a-Drink Count Maurice.”

The post Icing on the cake! appeared first on Chamber Magic.

Last month I vacationed in Hawaii, and was happy to be reacquainted with my beloved Kona coffee. Kona is a district located on the west coast of the Big Island, and the volcanic soil is filled with minerals that are ideal for growing coffee. Kona coffee beans are among the most expensive in the world. (The most expensive that I’m aware of is Jamaican Blue Mountain.)

Mark Twain wrote in his book Letters From Hawaii (1866): “Kona coffee has a richer flavor than any other.” I couldn’t agree more.

Kona coffee sells for $29.99 per pound in New York City supermarkets (I often pick it up at Citarella on the upper west side), but I can also recommend a great online resource to you.

Go to the Greenwell Farms website. This is the same farm I visited during my last trip to the Big Island. I recommend the “Private Reserve” beans, which sell for $31.95 per pound. It is really the best coffee I’ve tried.

By the way, don’t be fooled by the Kona Coffee that is sold at retailers like Trader Joe’s. Although it is labeled 100% Kona coffee, the beans that they use for mass market sales are usually grown at lower elevations – closer to the ocean, and therefore the soil has more salt content. The beans are grown at many smaller farms, and then bought up by a consolidation house that purchases purely based on price. (This information was told to me by a local coffee farmer I interviewed.)

And don’t even think of a Kona blend. It must have this label on the package to assure that it’s 100% Kona coffee.

Order a bag of Kona coffee beans from Greenwell. You’ll be happy you did.

And speaking of happy, here’s a photo of a very happy magician on vacation. This picture was taken on the north shore of Oahu, in Haleiwa.

About 10 minutes drive from this beach, a farmer’s market is held on weekends. I picked up some locally-produced jams at this market. These jams are delicious (really amazing!). Coconut-pineapple jam, mango jam, and lilikoi (passion fruit) butter are the ones I liked best. If you scoop out the seeds from a fresh papaya, and drop a scoop of lilikoi butter in the middle of the papaya, you’ve just concocted one of the most intoxicating flavors ever. It’s like eating liquid gold.

And lucky for you, the jams are all available online at Homemade Jams of Hawaii.

Aloha! I can’t wait for my next visit to Hawaii. It’s where I plan to retire.

The post Aloha! Kona Coffee is the best appeared first on Chamber Magic.