067: T.A.O.M. Day 1 in Houston, TX

The 66th edition of the Texas Association of Magicians (TAOM) convention in Houston, Texas is underway at the Hilton Americas Hotel. President Daniel Garcia and his team (led by Chairman, Alex Rangel) have put together a great line-up of talent that most people would never expect outside of Las Vegas or come other mega-convention. Aside from the stellar line-up that the team has put together, many of Daniel's friends are just coming to hang out. I have seen Bill Kalush and Carl Heine and Rico de la Vega, just to name a very few. And I noticed on the schedule that Rudy Coby has been added back in the line-up. He is slated to close the Sunday night stage show. I would not be surprised to see David Blaine show up. I'm not saying he will...I'm just saying that I wouldn't be surprised. It's just that kind of very, very cool convention. It already has a great vibe. I can tell now that this will certainly be one for the record books.

It is not too late to travel to Houston and register for this convention as there is a ton of great magic yet to be seen. All the details, schedule, list of performers and more can be found at http://www.TAOM2012.com/ If you cannot make it for the whole convention, then there are daily tickets available plus there will be public tickets available for the Saturday and Sunday night shows. Tickets can be purchased at http://www.TopTalentProductions.com/

This brief intro to the TAOM includes a chat with Treasurer, Dick Olson, who was helping with the registration. Then we went back stage prior to the stage contest to talk to some of the contestants and Jamie Salinas, Contest Chairman. This is a little different angle than we have taken in the past, but this is the first year the TAOM has ever offered a cash award for the winner. And we're talking $5,000 in cash!

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066: Midwest Magic Jubilee Day 3 Podcast

St. Charles, Missouri (a suburb of St Louis) is the headquarters for the International Brotherhood of Magicians. This final day podcast began with a conversation with the I.B.M. office secretary, Sindie Richison, and Past International President (P.I.P.), Mike Stratman who is also the I.B.M. Convention Co-Chairman. Don Wiberg, another P.I.P. as well as serving as the International Secretary, joined us for a conversation on what's happening at the Headquarters and with the 2013 convention in Phoenix.

Losander closed the Saturday evening gala show then chatted with us at his dealer booth about his show, creating new levitation effects and how to add music to your act. And to conclude the podcast and wrap up the convention, we finished with a chat with Terry Richison.

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Midwest Magic Jubilee Day 3 Photos 2012

The final day of the 56th MMJ brought even more last day registrants to the convention. Perhaps they saw and heard what they were missing by getting these daily updates! The morning opened with an excellent lecture by Chris Capehart. He spoke about working the streets and tips on the linking rings.

Scott Alexander lectured on stand-up magic with several great ideas for openers, plus some excellent close-up tricks, too.

Last but not least of the lecturers was the king of the levitation, Losander. He gave us some ideas for using invisible thread and bubbles and more.

The close-up show featured seven performers with dramatically different styles and all quite excellent.

The evening gala was a packed house with at least two-thirds of the audience being laymen. Michael Finney was the MC and the acts included Ferrell Dillon, Scott Alexander and Losander.