24 hour magic show year 5

This year Natalie & I chose to do our 24 hour magic show closer to home since Natalie was eight months pregnant. I did it in front of Walmart in Ruckersville, Virginia doing 72 magic shows in 24 hours to raise money for the Children's Miracle Network. The temperature has been much worse in the past, but this year I don't think it dropped below 50 degrees, however it did rain off & on the entire time. Natalie & I set up around 9 am on Nov 15th starting the event at 10am and by 4 pm our tent was leaking so badly we had to go into Walmart and buy a new tent. Not only were we getting wet but so was everything else. The turn out was good considering the rain and I had several friends & family members come out to visit, watch magic, and support the cause. Natalie & I only live about a mile away from this Walmart so Natalie was able go home during the event for hours at a time and take naps. We even had the local paper come out and take pictures and interview me. This event is hard and around the 20 hour mark the gravity of the situation hits; I get very tired and sore from standing. But this is also the time that Walmart starts picking up business wise with people shopping before heading off to work, so I get a little boost just by seeing more foot traffic and interacting with them. Our sponsor this year was Ericson's Eatery & Pub a new restaurant that opened the week of my event.

Wes Iseli's Karate Coin

This is a close up routine I perform a lot especially for magicians because this routine is way different from what they are used to seeing. I hope you enjoy it and remember to check out my other videos and subscribe. As always for more info check out my website at www.wesiseli.com

Wes Iseli's 24 hour magic show for charity, Year 5

Wes Iseli’s 24 hour magic show for charity

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) November 4, 2011 --
Wes Iseli Magician & Illusionist will be performing 24 hours of magic again this year to help raise money for the Children's Miracle Network. This will be his 5th year doing this and he says "It is my way of giving back at Christmas". The event runs 24 hours straight and Wes promises to do 72 shows in 24 hours, it all starts on Nov 15th at 10:00 am. This year the event will be held in front of Walmart in Ruckersville, Va and it is looking like it is going to be his biggest year yet. Wes said "Now with social media all the rage I should be able to get huge numbers of my friends and fans to all come out and enjoy a free show and hopefully make a small donation for a great cause." This years 24 hour magic show is also made possible by Ericson's Eatery & Pub a new restaurant opening in Ruckersville.

Please come out and enjoy the show while supporting a great cause at the same time.

For more info on Wes Iseli check out his website at www.wesiseli.com

Our 2011 Halloween

Natalie & I love Halloween, we always do it up big. We have a party, try to be creative with our costumes, make tons of food, carve pumpkins and watch tons of scary movies all month long. This year Halloween fell on a Monday so the Friday, Saturday and Sunday were crazy busy with shows.With all the baby stuff going on, (decorating her room, painting, buying furniture, Dr. Visits and birthing classes) we felt as though we were behind in decorating for Halloween and getting ready for the party. We invited somewhere around 30 people to our house for a costume party, some couldn't make it due to bad weather and the snow & ice that was accumulating outside during the party. The snow did not amount to anything here, but in near by counties we heard that some folks got 2-3 inches. Even with the ice & snow and freezing temperatures we still had a great time. Our costumes this year were inspired by baby Lana, so we decided I would be an alien who got an Earthling pregnant and the baby was coming on Halloween but through her belly.
Below are a few photos of Natalie & I and our Jack o lanterns from Halloween 2011.

Kirkwood's 65 years of Magic Gala Show

On October 22nd Natalie & I performed for Bobby "Kirkwood" Spencer's 65 years in magic gala magic show. Bobby has been performing magic for 65 years and says this is his last big hoorah in show business. We were honored to have been asked to be the headliner illusionists on the bill. We performed 2 shows that day in the historic Victory Hall theater in Scottsville, Va. The showtimes were 3:00 & 8:00 pm and they said they were super excited with the turn out. The matinee was sold out and the 8:00 pm still had a few seats left but they said for that venue in such a small town this was the biggest turn out they had had in years. There were several other entertainers on the bill but they were all part time guys or people who only do shows once in a great while. Since most of the guys on the bill are not used to doing shows that often everyone was asked to arrive around 12:00 pm to get set up. Natalie & I were only doing 15 minutes and we were set up in 10 minutes and hung out till show time. The shows went smooth and everyone seemed to have a great time. By the time everyone was packed up after the last show it was close to midnight and the man of the evening was super worn out after at least a 14 hour work day. He said he was going to sleep the whole next day. I called him a few days later on the way to a show and he said he was doing great and just finished filming a TV commercial for a local political candidate. He may be done with magic shows, but I think show business is in his veins...

Congradulations to Kirkwood the Magician for 65 years in Magic!

Pictures: Above Bobby & myself pre-show
Below Bobby performing his act from 1949
Natalie's silk & dove act
Bottom 3 pictures show us performing the Cube Zag illusion

Our visit to Salem Massachusetts

Natalie & I just got back from Salem, Massachusetts. While there we took in about everything they offered to us about how and why the witch trials happened. We went to the witch museum, the jail/dungeon, the cemetery, and story tellers who all have a different take on the witch trials. Some say it was a way to make profit off of the victims by acquiring their land and property, while others say it was a way to get rid of the other rival churches in town who were not puritan in their teaching. The main story told over and over was that it was all because of a couple of girls who were bored and enjoyed stories from their slave cook about voodoo, tea leaf reading and more. The girls started role playing that people put spells on them and that they were attacking them in their dreams and more. The whole town got caught up in the hoopla and it has been a black mark on the history of Salem. The whole thing was so crazy that people were being accused of being a witch without any evidence or apparent reason and they were brought to court and put on trial. The reasons for accusing someone of being a witch could be a birthmark, scratch or flea bite (which would have been known in those days as being proof of a Devil’s Mark), someone accusing you of sending them into fits, and/or possessing ointments, cruds dolls, or other tools of the trade. The main consensus of how everything was put to a halt was that the girls were invited to another town to see if they could spot any witches there. The girls pointed out the mayor’s wife and said she had an evil spirit surrounding her, the mayor then put his foot down. He demanded real evidence before accusing someone of being a witch. This is still demanded in today's courts.

Lesson learned: It is not for us to judge anyone and you need to learn from the past or you’re doomed to repeat it...

Wes Iseli's Magic in Salem Cemetery

This video was filmed in Salem's oldest cemetery. There are twenty benches in the memorial, one for each of the victims actively put to death (not counting those who died in prison).

In this video a nail turns over in my hand again and again as if being moved by a ghost. Was it a ghost? Was I using witchcraft? Was it just a cool trick? You be the judge...