#206: Paul Daniels, Part 1 - "Live and Life on the Telly"

There is no denying that Paul Daniels is one of the true luminaries in our magic community. But not just a celebrity among magicians, according to one local English newspaper, Paul was once the most recognizable person in the U.K. second only to Prince Charles.

I caught up with Paul on the "Twelfth Night" while he was taking down his Christmas decorations for the season. He had contacted me shortly after I published the 200th podcast, "How The Grinch Stole Christmas". He wrote to say how much he and Debbie enjoyed the telling of that story and particularly that I had used our mutual friend, Eugene Burger, as the voice of the Grinch. That started a correspondence that led to this Skype chat. The time differential between Houston and England is six hours so we had to coordinate our schedules in order to have plenty of time to chat without having to hurry. Paul was most gracious and open to working with me to record this podcast.

Paul will be one of the featured Guests of Honor at this year's Magi-Fest in Columbus, Ohio. Be sure to click on the banner link at the bottom of this blog for more information. If you have not viewed one of Paul's TV shows, then you can enjoy this full length video below of one of his shows, originally broadcast in 1990.

Featuring Jackie Stewart, Arthur Benjamin, Mike Smith and The Two Lerys. This is the classic episode with the big stunt on the racing track where Paul visibly shocked Mike Smith when the tricks appears to go horribly wrong!

In this first of a two part podcast, International Magic Star, Paul Daniels, shares some stories about his long career in television, those who consulted for him in his "think tank", his Christmas Specials, and more.

Download this podcast in an MP3 file by Clicking Here and then right click to save the file. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed by Clicking Here. (please note: this RSS Feed subscription system may not work with Android systems). Remember, you can download it through iTunes. See the preview page by Clicking Here.

Paul Daniels will be a featured Guest of Honor at the 2015 Magi-Fest in Columbus, Ohio. Click on the banner for more information.

#205: Mile High City to the Big Apple - Tickets and Shows

I recorded a podcast with several owners/operators/performers of small theaters from California to Florida. In this podcast we go into this area a bit deeper to not only talk about other shows and how to find a theater, but also how to sell tickets online. This is an interesting podcast that features two separate chats: one with William Rader, who moved from Oklahoma to Colorado to follow his dream, and the second is with an alliterative duo, Max Mayhem and Logan Lethal who had a dream and made it a reality by finding a venue in downtown Manhattan.

William Rader is up first talking about his mentalism show and why he moved from Oklahoma to Denver to develop his show. He discusses how he markets his "Mind Reading and Mystery Show" called "An Enchanted Evening", how he finds performing space, talking with the theater managers, networking, and how he puts people in the seats. He also goes into detail about how he has developed his new ticketing platform, "Well Attended dot com". This is an exciting opportunity for all of us to sell tickets online for our audiences.

00:32:52 - Max Mayhem and Logan Lethal are the two known as "Nightmare Brothers Circus" that host a cabaret show in "Times Scare" in New York City that's filled with sideshow activity and comedy. They have been influenced by Michael Finney and Dan Sperry, kind of an unlikely duo. They talk about their vision and how they found the venue where they perform and what's in their show. They have a very unique way of accepting tips after their show, too!

Click the banner above to go to a ticketing website to buy your ticket to the Circus.

Click on the banner above to get more information on how you can sell tickets to your next show.

Time is running out to save $100 on registration. Do it now before January 15th. Click on the banner above for more info.

#204: 2014 Year of Magic in Review

It's that time of the year when we try to "put the band back together" and chat with members of the hosts from the MagicNewswire.com podcast, "This Week in Magic". Trying to get a time to arrange everyone's schedule is like "herding cats". So, due to work and health conflicts, this year we have David "Silly Billy" Kaye and Cameron Ramsay join Scott Wells to discuss what went on in the magic world this past year.

To supplement our chat about Magic on TV, here is a little up-to-the-minute information that I read on IndieWire.com after our chat:

"Magic is in the air, or at least on the airwaves. "Masters of Illusion" did well enough for CW last year to make an order for 13 more episodes materialize – and that's after being canceled by MyNetworkTV in 2009. It joins the network's other magic show, the British ITV production "Penn & Teller: Fool Us," as well as magic programs gaining traction on basic cable. TruTV's "The Carbonaro Effect" will be back for a second season, while "Wizard Wars" returns to Syfy in January for six additional episodes. Even shows that don't have magic as a focus are shuffling it into the deck: "American Masters" is kicking off a new season January 23 with an episode about master magician Ricky Jay, and Nat Geo's "Brain Games," regularly tosses a sleight-of-hand artist into the mix."

Of course this is from a personal perspective of the guest on this podcast and does not include a lot of things you perhaps found to be more relevant. But we hope you enjoy our chat.

Instead of bouncing all over the globe, we try to stay on topic with an agenda that includes: magic on television; live touring magic shows; magic conventions; notable passings, and; predictions for 2015.

Magicians' Valhalla

Although the list below is not exhaustive, it does reflect the names of many well-known (and some lesser known) magicians, spouses and assistants who passed on in 2014. If you are unfamiliar with any of these names, then it would behoove you to do a little online search of what these people have contributed to our craft. If you have someone you think was overlooked, then please post the name in the comments below on this blog.

Aldo Colombini

Scott Lewis

Dave Madden

Montecore (S&R’s tiger)

Jeff Busby

Judge Arnold Drennen

Robert “Bob” Knigge

Robert L. “Bob” Bluemle

Stella P. Coward (wife of Noel Coward)

John T. Fedko

Robert “Bob” W. Klamm

Alan Alan