213: Chicago Magic Bars & Lounges

Chicago has a rich history of magic bars within the city limits as well as in the outlying areas. The "hay day" of magic bars in Chicago ended around 1998 with the closing of the last magic bar. But Joey Cranford and John Sturk are pumping new life into an old concept with the new nightclub/theater called "Chicago Magic Lounge". This will be a recreation of the early 20th century, prohibition era lounge one night each week on the upper part of Chicago.

Bill Weimer is a local magician who was an integral part of the Chicago magic bar scene from the 1970's through the 1990's. He worked seven of the nine or so Chicago-land magic bars. He has a lot of stories about these clubs in their glory days and in fact, wrote a book about his experiences called "Now You See Them, Now You Don't".

00:03:18 - Joey Cranford and John Sturk talk about the newest venture that will open on March 5, 2015, The Chicago Magic Lounge. They talk about their vision of the Lounge and what they hope will happen. They will also encourage local magicians to come and hang our and create a "magic lab" where performers can try out new stuff.

00:40:56 - Bill Weimer talks about the history of Chicago-land bars from his perspective of one who has been there and done that having worked at seven of the nine or so magic bars within the city's boundaries over a 20 year period. Bill wrote the book on bar magic entitled "Now You See Them, Now You Don't". In this podcast, Bill shares some of the stories from his book and his perspective as a working performer.

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Order your copy of Bill's book at his website http://www.magicbarbook.com/

212: Talking Trash with Steve Trash

MAGIC Magazine cover boy, Steve Trash, has been my guest in a previous podcast here on The Magic Word. In this podcast, Steve is recorded as he pontificates and waxes eloquent about street magic, character development, and more. He has a lot to say and he says a lot during our chat. This is not "trash talking" in the sports analogy vernacular, but this is Steve Trash doing all the talking and I did most of the listening. Hence, Talking (Steve) Trash..

He was performing in Houston along with Robert Livingston and he stopped by my home to chat and have a martini or two. After asking a couple of questions, I just sat back and listened and learned. It was like a magic mini-lecture...well, maybe not so "mini" as he talked for nearly an hour and a half. Or at least that's all I recorded. There was more before I turned on the recording device. I think this may become one of my more favorite podcasts. Let me know what you think.

Please take a seat, relax, and feel as if you are with us, enjoying a martini and the smooth jazz in the background as we talk about the early history of street magic in New York City (well, in the 1970's), the importance of pauses, performing "jazz" magic, reading the crowd, dealing with hecklers, knowing who you are on stage (your performing persona), and much 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. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here.

Steve Trash, Robert Livingston and Scott Wells enjoying martinis and magic conversation.

211: Nick Lewin - A Brit Under the Brim

British born Nick Lewin has been in America for over 40 years but only recently found his way to the great state of Texas where he and his wife, Susan, reside in the state's capital city of Austin. Most of you know Nick as a regular contributor to Alan Watson's "New Zealand eZine" and as the co-editor for the fantastic, FREE digital magazine for magicians, "Vanish". But you may not know that he was the first afternoon show in Las Vegas performing two shows for six days a week for five years at the Maxxim Hotel & Casino. When he left, Mac King took his spot as Nick moved on. Nick has been, and remains. a popular cruise ship entertainer. He even wrote a book on the subject entitled, "Cruise Magic 101".

Nick's mentor and friend was Billy McComb from whom he learned a lot. He was also influenced by Maurice Fogel and Ken Brooke. After moving to Los Angeles in the 1970's and settling near the Magic Castle, he continued to learn from and befriend many of the magical "luminati".

Nick recently traveled a short four hour drive to Houston where he lectured to our local magic group and spent some time behind the microphone to chat about his life. Nick shares tons of interesting stories right from the start of our conversation including funny memories with Maurice Fogel, Billy McComb and more. He also talks about his early years in Las Vegas, working cruise ships, hanging out at the Magic Castle with Dai Vernon, Charlie Miller, and more. If you enjoy stories about the "old guys" and the "old days", then you will enjoy this look back at some of our magic history. Plus he gives us some performing tips along the way that are well worth the price of this podcast.

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). You can download or listen to the podcast through FeedPress by Clicking Here. Remember, you can download it through iTunes. See the preview page by Clicking Here.

Join us for another episode as a few magicians dine and chat. There is a little magic talked about in this episode, a little...okay, very little. Just another boring dinner with David Stone and Martin Cox and a few local Houston magicians.