174: Michael Dardant - Bitten By A Wizard

Multiple award winner, Michael Dardant, wrapped up his "Bitten By A Wizard" lecture tour in Houston where he stopped by to chat about a lot of stuff he's involved in now and in the future. Since this podcast was recorded, Michael continued to win even more magic contests. In particular, he took first place with the I.B.M. close-up category which included a $2,000 cash prize! He also secured a spot to compete in the close-up category next year in Italy at F.I.S.M.

In this podcast, Michael talks about entering magic contests (how and why he did); working the streets; performing as a emcee; mentoring others; burlesque shows; customizing your act; comedy and improv; working in movies; advice, tips and more. He has a funny story with Sylvester Stallone, too. Wow, Michael can also do great accents and impressions, too!

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.

Magic & Martinis...uh, I mean Scotch this week

Wish him luck in next year's competition at F.I.S.M. in Italy!

Nest week will begin the daily updates from Colon, Michigan - The Magic Capitol of the World

156: Day Four - F.F.F.F. 2014

The last day and night meant more magic being crammed into the final few hours. Plus more doughnuts, coffee, soda, beer and scotch, too. Everything has been coming down to this last day. The last chance for everyone to savor the last moments. The internet in the hotel seemed slower than usual, plus the scotch poured a bit more freely, and I chatted with lots of people well into the morning hours and the break of dawn. All those reasons are why this podcast didn't come out earlier in the day.

Henry Evans was the sole lecturer of the day with two stellar afternoon shows and and outstanding evening show. Lots of stuff going on, lots of interviews, and tons of magic.

If you would like to view the excellent program designed by Glenn Brown, please Click Here. This lists all the shows, all the performers, all the attendees, pictures and more. It is everything you need to know about what went on during the weekend.

Joe Monti shows a little trick he came up with for Guest of Honor, Shawn Farquhar, using the bookmark made by David Prouty.

FISM winner Soma doing a great performance with looping sounds of magic props live at this year's FFFF. This is the song you hear on the podcast for Day Four.

Australians are on a different "body clock" than us Americans. Nothing will deter them a full night's sleep. Tim Ellis has seen enough card tricks and needs his beauty rest despite the cacophony of card magician in the room.

Time codes for this podcast:

00:01:11 - Jean-Luc Dupont, Bill Bishop, Don Wiberg, and Jim Klayder talk about the status of trade shows, brick and mortar magic shops, and more as we chat over coffee at Starbucks. For those interested in club meeting ideas that we discussed, Don Wiberg's PDF can be found by Clicking Here.

00:20:00 - During dinner, Mike Hrab and Rick Hebert give their perspectives of what they have enjoyed the most during this convention...so far.

00:30:32 - Elevator chat #1 - Stephen Bargatze, Bruce Kalver, Shawn Farquhar talk about what might happen on the evening show.

00:32:04 - Shank Kotharei, first time attendee talks about his experience at this convention from his "fresh eyes".

00:38:57 - Richard Bangs, Ed Ripley and Jason Juliano talk about their highlights of this year's convention and reminisce about previous 4F conventions.

00:47:55 - Soma's "Four F" Song that he composed and recorded in front of s using an app on his iPhone. Music was made with shuffling cards, jangling coins,

00:49:20 - Elevator Chat #2 - Oscar Munoz talks about being the Guest of Honor next year.

00: 52:02 - National President Elect of the S.A.M. , Kenrick "Ice" McDonald, talks about his platform of what he hopes to accomplish during his year as President.

01:03:03 - Joe Monti talks about working at the Magic Island in Newport Beach and Houston

01:09:12 - Elevator Chat #3 - John Bannon talks about his new book on totally self-working card tricks.

01:10:53 - Will Fern, Stephen Bargatze, Rick Merrill, Tim Ellis, Michael Dardant and more are caught in the hallway outside the Precursor Suite as we talked about the evening show.

01:36:20 - Obie O'Brien talks about the convention and recaps the event.

This was the second act that Ouka performed at the F.F.F.F. 2014 (this YouTube video was not shot at the 4F convention)

103: 2013 I.B.M. Convention - Day 2

Today began the first day of the Big Three events. This breaks up the registrants into three groups divided by colors. For the next three days, each color group will attend one of the following events: a One Man Show by Fielding West; Kid Show Workshop featuring Mike Bent, or; the Close-up show featuring Eugene Burger, Tony Chris, Mike Dardant, Curtis Kam, Peter Samelson and Diamond Jim Tyler. The afternoon continued with Day Two of the stage contest (which as a judge I must say this is one of the strongest competitions I have ever seen with contestants from all over the world: China, Japan, Russia and more).

The evening stage show was quite unique in that all the performers were named Mike. Michael Finney was the emcee who introduced Michael Douglas, Mike Bent, Mike Chao (standing ovation), Mikael Szanyiel (standing ovation), Michael Giles, and (what could be more perfect) Mike Michaels. After the evening show we retreated to the banquet hall for the third and final night of the movie showings complete with popcorn. Tonight it was "Play Dead" with Todd Robbins. Todd opened the floor to a Q&A after the movie.

Time stamps for this Podcast:

00:00:10 - Joe Gold and Tammy Caplan, Co-Directors of the feature film, "Desperate Acts of Magic", join me to talk about making the film and some of the trials and tribulations behind the camera. They also suggest ways for local magic clubs to host a "movie night" to view the film by going through http://tugg.com

00:19:20 - Multiple winner of close-up contest awards, Michael Dardant, talks about working the streets of New Orleans and how he worked towards and achieving his goals.

00:36:24 - Mike Bent talks about comedy, creativity and kid show magic.

00:49:08 - For nearly 35 years, Nicholas Saint-Erne was involved with the Magic Seminar that later became the World Magic Summit. Here he talks a bit about those years of experience and working with Joe Stevens. But as a full time veterinarian and with the recent double lung transplant of David Oliver, Nick gives us some sound advice on care, feeding and handling of your animals and particularly your doves and rabbits.

Download this podcast in an MP3 file through FeedBurner or directly by Clicking Here then right click to save the file. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed by Clicking Here.

174: Michael Dardant - Bitten By A Wizard

Magic & Martinis...uh, I mean Scotch this week

156: Day Four - F.F.F.F. 2014

103: 2013 I.B.M. Convention - Day 2

The Magic Word