Midwest Magic Jubilee Day 2 Photos 2012

Registrants and hotel guests were all greeted with the cheerful Midwest Magic Jubilee sign in the lobby near the elevators.

Michael Finney's lecture was a "no holds barred" bare look at his life and how he became a comedy magician. He laid his soul bare and left no secrets in his closet as he opened his soul to the captive audience who literally sat at his feet.

Michael had brisk lecture sales with proceeds going towards his charities.

The registrants enjoyed the afternoon close-up contest. Some of them shared their opinion of the convention in the podcast posted elsewhere on this site.

Dan Garrett presented the premiere of his new lecture "Forward Into the Past" with a nice twist to the usual lecture formula. It was quite enjoyable with lots of close-up and stand-up treats.

064: Midwest Magic Jubilee Day 1 - Now You See It with Scott Wells

On the opening night of this year's Midwest Magic Jubilee (MMJ), I audio  recorded "Now You See It with Scott Wells", a late night talk show that  features some of the talent from the magic conventions. This was my  fourth year with this talk show at the MMJ, always with a completely  different line-up. This year it featured Shep Hyken, Dan Garrett, Chris  Capehart and Michael Finney.

Download a MP3 file of this podcast by Clicking Here then right click to save the file. You can also download the MP3 media file directly from the RSS feed by Clicking Here.

Photos from Abbott's Days 0 & 1

It is time for the 75th annual Get Together and the weather is expected to be a beautiful, sunny week. That's great news since many of the convention activities happen outdoors like some of the dealers who display their wares under tents and there are street buskers and people walk all around the little village from bar to restaurant to shop.

I think I have heard most of the jokes about Colon, Michigan ("Is it between 'semi' and 'oscopy'? and "What do you call speed bumps in Colon? Polyps." and "The sports teams say that Colon is number two," and others I can't share here). But durinhg this year's Get Together, a friend gave me this refrigerator magnet.

Before the 75th Get Together began, David Seebach (http://www.davidseebach.com/) hosted a "night before" party on Blackstone Island. Here he stands before the Okito Checker Cabinet built by Norm Neilsen. This is on sale for $2,500 and the nightclub table it sits on is going for $500, or the pair for $2,800.

At the party, I had a chance to chat with Adele Friel Rhindress, one of Blackstone's assistants in the late 1940's. She is a wonderful, charismatic lady who is very fascinating and has the most wonderful stories. More on The Elusive Moth at: http://www.elusivemoth.com/Elusive_Moth_Reviews.html

Al the Only aka Al Oha (http://www.tricky1.com/), and I chatted about the annual Open Colon golf tournament plus the tours of the cemetery he conducts.

The 23rd Annual Open Colon golf tournament had a record number of over 30 golfers including Mac King, Michael Finney, Bill Smith, Obie O'Brien and many others notable magicians. David Merry took top honors this year for his second time. Other two time winners include Brad Jacobs and Al the Only.

See who you can name in the photo above.