Hello fine friends of Four Suits —

We had quite the ride for 2019, with members of our collective sharing our distinct brand of magic all the way from Los Angeles to New York City: DEFCON, the Houdini Estate, Spyscape, Black Rabbit Rose, and more.

In 2020 we aim to reprise and embiggen (just made that one up) all of our recurring events from 2019, choosing to primarily build on our projects and partnerships in place of beginning new ones. Of course, there will probably be a number of new projects that come our way, which we’ll deal with in turn.

Right now we’re thinking about Spectokular, our cannabis magic extravaganza, and we’ve got a couple venues on the line, but nothing set in stone quite yet. Adding some bits to the formula of the experience to spice it up. Cannabis has had a wild roller coaster of a time in LA lately, with Lowell Cafe being the first consumption cafe in the United States, and then the parent company suddenly shutting down and selling the license. But, you bet when the industry gets more situated and stabilized, we’ll be the first ones in that space doing our work.

We’re also thinking about DEFCON 28. Arguably a lot more work logistically and planning-wise than the above. We’re making some big asks that we’ve been wanting to make for a while, and making things we’ve wanted to do that haven’t reached maturity until this year. I still don’t quite understand the people who don’t understand the connection between magic and security, Steve Forte literally wrote a book on this years ago, if anything this sector should be more exploded by this point. We’ll carve out that space for everyone else then. Maybe we’ll do a Q&A to get the answers out there.

Just a ramble as we prepare. Stay tuned…

— J.R.

Dear Reader -- 

    The Spring of 2017 saw our founding as the Four Suits Magic Collective. At our very inception, our core team consisted of magical thinkers/practitioners who all approach magic from a similar perspective. We collaborated remotely at first, staging some performances at Uptown Bourbon in New York City and creating a traveling seance show (currently under its second iteration), with some of us collected at different cities across the United States, spanning from New York City to Los Angeles. In the Summer, deciding to continue work together in person, our East Coast team members travelled across the country by car, visiting various magic establishments along the way.

    One notable visit during this trip would be with some of the folks at the Chicago Magic Lounge (one of the most forward-looking and promising magic venues in the country, in our opinion) where we look forward to performing at as soon as we get our act together (get it? “act”? Ha.  ha.) (….. ) Another notable stop would be at the residence of a promising young sleight-of-hand mechanic, D.R., one of the best we’ve ever seen, who we look forward to further collaboration with in the future. It was great to see old friends and make new ones during this mini epic of a road trip.
    Arriving in Los Angeles, our core member group would find more time to meet in person, as well as meet other groups and individuals in magic. We regularly attended the Monday and Wednesday “Night Jams” where many magicians would meet to share ideas and otherwise collaborate (shout out to Jeremy and Byron, respectively, for heading those up), in addition to the never-ending sessions at the Magic Castle Club (shout out to the whole Larsen family and membership). Some of the ideas we’ve generated this year have ended up in front of some people in magic we very much respect, such as in JAMM #11 of Andy’s “The Jerx” (world-class magic creator and 2016 Tarbell Award Winner) and with our very first product, the MO Wallet, listing on Penguin Magic online (one of the largest magic distributors worldwide), not to mention the friendships we’ve made with other magic creators in Los Angeles and places along the way.
    We would’t stay in LA for long, traveling to Magic Live and other magic-related conferences throughout the Summer season (also Art of Play's warehouse party in the Fall). In the Fall, some of us travelled to NYC to stage The Woman Illusion, a play that Four Suits Magic produced and provided magic consultation/performance for. The full-length gender-based theatre and magic performance was greeted to sold out audiences at Theater for the New City on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. 

    Returning to LA, in addition to performing our magic at Black Rabbit Rose, the new magic bar & lounge in LA by The Houston Bros., we begun to shift some of our energy to magic on the screen, and have begun production on a series of magic vignettes for distribution later in 2018. In the spirit of putting more of our magic on television/online, at the very close of the year, our team received an invite to audition for Penn & Teller: Fool Us’ 5th season.
    As we take this moment to reflect on 2017 and look forward into 2018, we aim to audition for said show, to generate more meaningful on-screen magic, to continue our performance & creation of new material & products, to visit and/or compete at the following conferences: Magic Live (Nevada), PCAM (California), and Cardistry Con (Hong Kong), to continue creating and performing momentous magic at an expanding list of venues in greater Los Angeles, and, most importantly, to keep making friends, collaborators, and magical experiences along the way. 

    We hope to see you soon.

    We are Four Suits Magic,

    J.R. Z.Y. T.N. H.A.