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238: I.B.M. 2015 Convention - Day One

The I.B.M. convention opened the first day with a bang. The first of two days of stage contests began plus an opening night party that featured Fantasio and Storm Troopers from Star Wars. How often can you see those two things in the same sentence? I.B.M. International Presiden, Shawn Farquhar, was introduced with fanfare and with a local group of Storm Troopers for his processional. I remember in New Orleans, Louisiana when then International President Earl Christenberry had a  Creole Jazz Band parade in his processional throwing bead to the registrants as if we were in a Mardi Gras parade. Shawn's parade was quite different.

Fantasio was honored at the evening show as we enjoyed a performance by a troupe of performers from Argentina who delighted the audience with their magic, mind-reading, manipulation and comedy ending with a hand shadow act. Another nice feature at I.B.M. conventions is the "Autograph Party" where the performers are all lined up sitting at a table and signing free posters that feature their photos. Lectures of the day included Boris Wild and Soma.

In the "Night Before" party, those who arrived early enjoyed a double feature of magic films: one by Kevin Spencer on his "Healing of Magic" program and the second with Christian Cagigal called, "Now And At The Hour" which was a documentary about his one man show. The well-attended ate night lecture was with Kozmo.

Christian Cagigal brings an illusion from his show "Now and at the Hour" to the Ferry Building in San Francisco, CA. The show played in San Francisco June 5th to August 15, 2009 as well in in New York in February 2009.

View fullsize Obie O'Brien
View fullsize Ken Scott
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View fullsize Ryan Grant & Steven Kline
View fullsize Garrett Thomas
View fullsize Autograph party with free posters
View fullsize IBM International President Shawn Farquhar and Storm Troopers
View fullsize International President Shawn Farquhar and his security guard

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:03:05 - Obie O'Brien talks FISM 2015 and IBM conventions he's attended.

00:21:34 - Ken Scott, Talent Chairman, talks about booking the acts for this convention and how he selected the performers.

00:33:09 - Steven Kline talks about how important good sound is for your show.

00:46:39 - Garrett Thomas talks about creativity.

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Posted in Convention Report and tagged with IBM Convention, Jacksonville, Christian Cagigal, Garrett Thomas, Obie O'Brien, Steven Kline, Ryan Grant, Ken Stott, Now And At The Hour.

July 15, 2015 by Scott Wells.
  • July 15, 2015
  • Scott Wells
  • IBM Convention
  • Jacksonville
  • Christian Cagigal
  • Garrett Thomas
  • Obie O'Brien
  • Steven Kline
  • Ryan Grant
  • Ken Stott
  • Now And At The Hour
  • Convention Report
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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".

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View fullsize Bill Weimer
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View fullsize Heba Haba Al
View fullsize Al James
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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.

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 or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here.

Open Thursday Nights at 8:00

Open Thursday Nights at 8:00

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

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

Tagged with Bill Weimer, John Sturk, Joey Cranford, Now You See Them Now You Don't, Chicago, Chicago magic bar, Chicago Magic Lounge.

March 5, 2015 by Scott Wells.
  • March 5, 2015
  • Scott Wells
  • Bill Weimer
  • John Sturk
  • Joey Cranford
  • Now You See Them Now You Don't
  • Chicago
  • Chicago magic bar
  • Chicago Magic Lounge
  • Post a comment
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170: Day 5 - IBM/SAM Combined Convention 2014

It's here...the final day of the Combined Convention. This brought us the long awaited results of the days of competitions. But first, the I.B.M. hosted its annual Order of Merlin breakfast which honors those who have 25 or more consecutive years of membership in the organization. Lupe Nielsen was the guest speaker who showed us slides from Norm's and her massive collection.

The afternoon included a lecture by Dani DaOrtiz before the buses loaded for the evening gala show, "The Magic of Korea". Afterwards was the awards presentation back in the hotel. First of all, The FISM Close-Up champion was Shin Lim and the Stage champions were Trevor and Lorena Waters. The representatives who will go forward as the representatives from North America for stage will be: Trevor & Lorena Waters, The Reed Sisters, Tim Wright, Trent James, Trigg Watson, and Christian & Katalina. The Close-up representatives will be: Shin Lim, Alberto Lorenzo, Reuben Mooreland, Chris Hannibal and Michael Dardant.

The I.B.M. winners for Close-up was Alberto Lorenzo in second place and Michael Dardant in first place. The stage winners were: Den Den (from Japan) in second place, and Hun Lee (Japan) in first place. There were no Gold Medal or Gold Cup winners announced for the I.B.M. this year. First place in both categories included a cash award of $2,000 and second place received $500.

The S.A.M. close-up winners were: Reuben Mooreland in second place and Seoul Park (S. Korea) in first place. Winning the Silver Medal Award of Merit for close-up was Seoul Park. In the Stage competition, Hun Lee (S. Korea) took second place and Den Den (Japan) took first place. The Silver Award of Merit for Stage went to Hun Lee. I believe that the S.A.M. cash awards were the same as for the I.B.M.

The highest award from the S.A.M. for stage is the Gold Medal Award of Honor which has only once before been awarded. It went to George Saterial. It was awarded for the second time this evening to Den Den (Japan)

And the People's Choice Award, along with a $3,000 prize for each went to Shin Lim for Close-up and to Hun Lee for Stage. Congratulations, one and all.

And speaking of money, there was both a silent and live auction for select memorabilia from Joanie Spina, They raised $5,500 which all will go to help offset some of the astronomical medical expenses for Joanie.

View fullsize Laugh Cue
View fullsize Lupe Nielsen
View fullsize Lupe's Audience at Merlin Breakfast
View fullsize Scott & Ice McDonald
View fullsize Eugene Burger &  Dr. Larry Hass
View fullsize Stan Allen

Here are some photos of a small part of the Nielsen poster collection that I took in 2007 while Dick Olson and I were visiting with Norm and Lupe Nielsen in their home.

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Time stamps for this podcast:

00:01:58 - At the Order of Merlin (25+ years of consecutive membership in the I.B.M.) breakfast, Lupe Nielsen was the guest speaker. She allowed me to record and broadcast her speech on the Neilen poster collection.

00:35:19 - The new National President for the S.A.M., Kenrick "Ice" McDonald, tells us his vision for magic and what he hopes to achieve during his one year tenure as President.

00:39:28- Eugene Burger and Larry Hass chat after lunch about fine tuning your act, the importance of scripting, and more.

01:04:32 - Stan Allen, editor and chief of MAGIC Magazine, tells us about M360 and how it has evolved as well as a little about next year's MAGIC Live! convention plus the Magic Summit planned for this coming Fall.

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.

Posted in Convention Report and tagged with Lupe Nielsen, Norm Neilsen, Ice McDonald, Eugene Burger, Larry Hass, Stan Allen, St. Louis, IBM Convention, SAM convention, I..B.M./S.A.M. Combined Convention, award winners.

July 6, 2014 by Scott Wells.
  • July 6, 2014
  • Scott Wells
  • Lupe Nielsen
  • Norm Neilsen
  • Ice McDonald
  • Eugene Burger
  • Larry Hass
  • Stan Allen
  • St. Louis
  • IBM Convention
  • SAM convention
  • I..B.M./S.A.M. Combined Convention
  • award winners
  • Convention Report
  • Post a comment
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FISM 2025 Daily Reports from Turin, Italy We are in the middle of the World Championship of Magic in Turin, Italy. Join us and/or catch up on the daily podcast updates on FISM 2025.
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From Turin to Parma where we tried the music,  cheese, prosciutto,  wine, and Gelato. #parma
Under the Tuscan sun with truffle hunting, a cooking class, and wine. #tuscany
FISM 2025 Daily Reports from Turin, Italy We are in the middle of the World Championship of Magic in Turin, Italy. Join us and/or catch up on the daily podcast updates on FISM 2025.
#fism2025
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We departed for Turin and arrived in time for FISM registration, street magic, and dinner. #turino #FISM2025
Our most amazing day yet! So full of surprises, good food, great wine, and amazing magic artifacts. #cherascoitaly #museodellamagia #cherasco
A most delightful tour of the most amazing magic museum in the world. #MagicMuseum #DonSilvio #cherasco
From Milan to a hazelnut farm then to the Piedmont region for drinks and BBQ as the sun set. Beautiful! #hazelnut #italy

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