Las Vegas Weekly

May 31, 2012 · 4:05 PM

Photos: Live broadcast and new jungle paradise at Criss Angel’s home

By Robin Leach

Criss Angel's jungle paradise Amystika at his home Serenity in Henderson.

Photo: TVT

TV cameras are being loaded into Criss Angel’s sprawling mansion Serenity today in advance of June 9’s live MagicPlace.com broadcast with the “Mindfreak” magician and his pals Lance Burton, Nathan Burton, Louie Anderson and perhaps Carrot Top and Flavor Flav -- plus, yours truly.

The pool party, with a battle of bikini babes with water guns, celebrates the launch of MagicPlace.com. I hope that they’ll be firing champagne at me!

Guests for the MagicPlace.com pool party also will get to walk the new jungle paradise Amystika that Criss has built into the hillside of his home to complement the Whimsical Way pathways in his estate gardens.

Vegas DeLuxe had a first look of the paradise with its running waters, unicorn and horse sculptures, love seats, swings and fire pits. It’s a flower-and-plant tropical oasis. “It became a larger and larger project once we started it,” Criss told me. “Now it’s turned out to be its own growing jungle with maze-like walking paths.”

The Magic Place family with Luke Dancy and Stu Stone is there for its changeover from a general magic site to a boutique operation specializing in exclusive products that more faithfully represent what Criss accomplishes onstage with “Believe” at the Luxor and “Mindfreak” on A&E.

It kicks off with “Kinetica” by magician Sean Fields, which makes a ring -- any ring -- float, fly as long as you want and then jump right onto your finger. I’ve seen the trick -- its mind-blowing and baffling!

Criss also will provide a first look at the Baroque card deck, a set of beautifully drawn cards for close-up artists of magic known as cardistry. “The number of tricks that can be performed with them are simply endless,” Criss told me.

His anti-gravity card, a 21st century yo-yo, arrives in 40,000 stores across the country as a follow-up to his bestselling Magic Kit gift set.

“I gave the mandate to Luke Dancy to unite the most brilliant minds in magic to create the most powerful products ever available for a great value, and he more than delivered,” Criss continued. In fact, over the next 12 months, MagicPlace.com has 24 of the best, original exclusive releases planned.

“Each is innovative and powerful to set the new standard in magic complete with amazing DVD step-by-step instructions produced in our own multimillion-dollar video facility. This is going to be an unforgettable launch party.”

The web cast also will include a magic contest with a trip to Las Vegas, where the winners experience David Copperfield, Nathan Burton, Carrot Top and Criss Angel complete with a meet-and-greet with each of them after their shows.

“We’ve only just begun to scratch the surface,” Criss summed up.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

Share This