274: To His Credit with John Lovick & Seth Kramer

And in this corner, weighing in with his side of the story...Handsome Jack!!

Toward the end of podcast #268 with Gregory Wilson, he levied rather serious allegations against John Lovick (a.k.a. Handsome Jack) as being "another piece of work". John posted a product review of Gregory's DVD set and pointed out several omissions of proper crediting to the creators of tricks taught on the DVD's. Since then, Gregory has (according to John) called him a "liar" and that his review was full of lies. John has made repeated requests for Gregory to submit the list of "lies" that were in the review. And, according to John, Gregory has promised on numerous occasions, both in person and in writing, that he would soon submit the list. Years have passed and the "list of lies" has never been submitted to John.

To this day, John stands by his review but has stopped "holding his breath" awaiting any such list from Gregory.

John Lovick talks about his product review and submitted it here for all to read. The edited was 1,000 words to fit in the magazine, but the original 3,000 word review is also attached in this link. In this podcast, John goes into minute detail listing the tricks in the DVD that should have been credited.

He goes on to point out some rather obvious problems with statements made by Gregory in the podcast that seem to contradict themselves. Moreover, relevant to the discussion of "thievery in magic", a few "character flaws" are pointed out so people can watch for these traits in others before they choose to share ideas with people who might "steal your ideas" or not credit you for your work/creation.

He also expands on the confrontation among Gregory Wilson, Rob Zabrecky and John Lovick regarding the providence of the A-B-C Lecture. Rob's testimony is read into the transcript as well, basically confirming the story as stated by Apollo Robbins in his podcast episode #270.

Following John in a much shorter recording is Seth Kramer who gives us the chronology of when and where his card moves have been printed which predates the un-credited version that were published by Gregory Wilson. Although Seth sent me the documents published in the magazines mentioned in the podcast ("Apocalypse" and "Ruminations"), I chose not to link those articles as they contained explanations of secret methods.

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2016 well underway but it's not too late to get your new year magic wall calendar. Mine is hanging next to my computer and I love it. You can support The Magic Word with your purchase and if you have Amazon Prime, then shipping is free!

246: Day Two - MAGIC Live! 2015

Stan Allen opened the conference with the keynote speech that set the tone for the convention. His one word this year: curiosity. The morning session was a variety of outstanding presentations but the highlight everyone was waiting for was David Copperfield "In His Own Words". He was genuine, humble and charismatic and enjoyed by all. He admitted some of his failures and talked about continuing to work on projects and being forever committed to excellence and tweaking effects to make them perfect. He also discussed his disgust for those who steal from creators.

The afternoon sessions (for my colored badge) included Ian Rowland on mentalism (his third appearance at MAGIC Live!), Joel Bauer talking about trade shows, and Steve Valentine talking about variations of Cards to Pocket.

The evening show was outstanding hosted by Jorge Bass and opened with one of my favorite acts, Charlie Frye & Company. It concluded with not one or two, but three illusionists: Nathan Burton, Mike Michaels and Greg Gleason.

My evening rounded out with the 11:00 close-up show. Not your typical professional close-up show. In fact, this was perhaps for me, one of what will remain asa highlight of this MAGIC Live! Michael Weber hosted an evening of top professionals presenting one trick from the original "Stars of Magic" series. This featured Johnny Thomson, R. Paul Wilson, Paul Vigil, Julie Eng, Eric Mead and David Ben with a special guest appearance by the Professor himself, Dai Venon, perfectly portrayed by Jared Kppf.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:26 - Host Stan Allen explains the theme of this year's convention.

00:07:26 - Jamie D. Grant talks a bit about the show he just finished presenting on the memorized deck

00:08:50 - Michael Chaut, producer of Monday Night Magic talks a bit about his 18 year run at producing the show. We are intermittently joined by several people who are passing through the casino near the entrance of the theater.

00:22:00 - Simon Coronel was the master of ceremonies for the morning session and he talks a bit about not scripting his show.

00:28:55 - Shep Hyken and Seth Kramer talk about MAGIC Live!

00:41:16 - Bill Cook talks about performing on "Penn & Teller Fool Us" and "Wizard Wars".

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.

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