181: Wayne Houchin - Real to Surreal

Wayne Houchin's work as a performance artist, magician, and dare-devil has made him one of the most popular and exciting mystery entertainers in the world. He has performed in more than 30 countries, appeared on NBC’s Today Show, headlined the world-famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, and he made history in the Dominican Republic by stopping time during a live, nationally televised stunt.

Houchin currently stars in the Discovery Channel's "Breaking Magic: The Magic of Science" which has been watched by more than 100 million people worldwide. The second season has aired nearly everywhere but in the U.S. It is unknown when it will be broadcast here though they are in pre-production of the third season.

Wayne has been on a 30 city lecture tour of the U.S. bringing in large numbers of attendees who are fans or immediately became fans after seeing him perform and teach some of his original, signature effects. He entitled his tour the "No Blessings" Tour because he does not want a repeat of the "fire blessing" he received in the Dominican Republic in 2012.

U.S. magician Wayne Houchin was hospitalized after a prank by a Dominican TV host. For more on this story, click here: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-magician-burned-dominican-tv-show-17863363

In this podcast, Wayne talks about his work with the Discovery Channel and the success the show has experienced. He also discusses how different it is to perform magic on television and what you should consider before the cameras start rolling.

At time stamp 00:19:38 Wayne talks about his surreal experience during a live morning show in the Dominican Republic when a bowl of flaming oil was poured over his head. He talks about his horrific experience, his surreal ride to the hospital from the TV station, what happened in the two hospitals, his road to recovery and the status of the lawsuit.

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Magic & Martinis' Thursday

I've gotta hand it to Wayne. He is one creative guy!

Ken Scott brings back the Atlanta Harvest of Magic on September 11-15, 2014. It is not too late to sign up for this convention. It should be awesome. Ken Scott has put together a great group of talent for this event. Click the logo above for more information. Registration price is MUCH less than most other conventions. Check it out!

180: Epilogue - Abbott's Get Together 2014

As a performer, we were provided lodging in the home of one of the local residents. Many of us were given a room (and breakfast) at the home of Mary Jo and Randy Sharp who lived on the lake. My wife, Kathy, and I shared the home with John and Mary Lynn Shyrock, Ted and Marion Outerbridge, Losander and Brenda, Tim Cripe, and George and Nina Shindler. What wonderful stories we shared over breakfast.

One of the "must do" things while one is in the area is to travel about 40 miles northeast of Colon to Marshall, Michigan. There you will find the American Museum of Magic. I have made several pilgrimages to this hallowed place, but as they say, "there is nothing like your first time." I recently found a recording I made in August 1984 that takes you inside the Museum and given a private tour by its curator, Bob Lund.

Also appearing in the early part of this video, you can hear Obie O'Brien's laughter and catch a glimpse of Michael Weber and Dana Daniels. At the time, I was more interested in the building and its artifacts than I was in capturing people's images and chatting with them.

In this podcast, I turned on the microphone during our final day's breakfast on Sunday morning. John and Mary Lynn Shyrock had already departed earlier in the morning (we were all up until around 4:00 a.m. regaling each other with tricks and stories). But George Shindler had an amazing amount of stories about, well, just about everything.

179: Day 4 - Abbott's Get Together 2014

Day Four...this is the day everyone has been looking forward to but no one wanted to see come because we knew it would be the last day. And what a day it was. Shoot Ogawa kicked off the day with his lecture. The afternoon matinee was spectacular with lots of fun moments, especially by illusionist, John Hudy, who had a crying child as a volunteer during his "Wiz Kote" routine. But he handled it professionally and all ended well. The evening's show was with a cruise ship theme (the S.S. Abbott) featuring Fred & Bobbi Becker, John Shyrock, Chris Blakemore, Chris Mitchell and Howard Mincone. It concluded with a hilarious "fountain" routine that had everyone in stitches and many comparing to the old "Foxy's Foollies" of yesteryear with Karrell Fox and Duke Stern, Dorny and others. What a show!

John Shryock won the Bill Baird/Neil Foster manipulation trophy. And the entire crew from this evening's show was presented with the Senator Clark Crandall Comedy award. And the Jack Gwynn award for presentation went to Losander.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:02:43 John Sturk arranges the schedules for the "spontaneous" street performances. He tells us a little history about busking in Colon.

00:13:04 - The Outerbridges, (illusionists) Marion and Ted, are fairly new to the magic convention scene but not to magic. They have been touring professionals in Canada for a number of years and have a unique perspective of magic and dance. with a "time lord" theme.

00:22:25 - Triple threat, Shoot Ogawa, performed in close-up, stage and as a lecturer this year. He tells what he has been up to and what his future plans are. It must be fun living just a few blocks from the Magic Castle.

00:32:33 - Patrick Thernes won the stage magic awards and at last year's MAGIC Live! convention, he won our hearts with the passionate story told by Joanie Spina. Here "Sir Patrick" tells us a little about himself and how that event changed his magic life.

00:46:06 - Randy Wakeman gives us the 411 health update on Simon Lovell's current condition in England and his prognosis.

00:57:01 - Gay Blackstone rounds out the day with a few stories from her perspective "inside the box".