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.

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.

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

168: Day 3 - IBM/SAM Combined Convention 2014

Lots of stuff again during this full day including the third and final day of the FISM North American Championships competitions. The early lecture was a 3D event featuring children show experts, Davie Kaye, Danny Orleans and Doug Scheer. The afternoon included a lecture by Christian Engblom. After the evening gala featuring the magic of Germany was a lecture by Xavier Mortimer followed by a late night show again by Richard Turner.

Available at http://www.dickbarrymagic.com/

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:02:09 - Danny Archer talks about his recent lecture tour and the upcoming MINDvention on October 12-14.

00:08:46 - Jim Steinmeyer brings us up to date about his new book project about Charles Morritt, plus his consulting on the hit Broadway show, Aladdin.

00:19:56 - Gabe Fajuri, Potter & Potter Auction, tells us about the upcoming auction on August 23rd featuring a lot of Houdini memorabilia.

00:23:21 - Bill Evans, Past International President for the I.B.M., was the emcee for the FISM North American Championships and I came on stage to chat with him in front of the whole audience in between the acts.

00: 45:43- Phillip Pound is the son-in-law of Pat Page and the photographer of the Page by Page book. Also joining us was Pat's daughter, Janette,

00:59:29 - David "Silly Billy" Kaye, was one of the lecturers from this morning. He has a book in the works that is a compendium of the 100 articles that appeared in his column in MAGIC Magazine.

01:12:20 - Rick Heath, poster artist for La Grand David show, tells us what it's like in the post-Caesaro Palez world.

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' Thursday

Joe Curcillo, Debbie Curcillo, Carol Garrett, Jim Cox, John Graybeal, Jarvis, Scott Wells & Kathy Wells

127: MINDvention 2013 - Day Three

The final day continued with exciting activites beginning with one of the best lectures of the convention by Docc Hilford. Lots of great ideas with sound thinking interspersed with humor. After lunch, Cashetta was attired in traditional garb (sans the cocktail dress and make-up) as he talked about development of his character. Nest, Danny and Robert assembled the "Dream Team" of authorities on the the Q&A (Question and Answer) for a panel discussion: Bob Cassidy, Jon Stetson, Michael Weber and Ross Johnson. Of course there was a lively question and answer period.

The afternoon lecture was another treat by a mentalist, (nee Psychic) who rarely attends conventions let alone lectures or performs. John Riggs gave us some real insightful and commercial ideas and material for "readings" and billet work. The evening show, "Masters of Mentalism" was hosted by the hit performer from the previous evening's show, Cashetta. John Riggs opened with some interesting routines using five volunteers. It was interesting that he seated them all on stage but used each for individual effects rather than all in one effect.

Bob Cassidy read the minds of several volunteers from the audience who were unsuspecting "muggles" from the casino who thoroughly enjoyed the show. Docc Hilford closed the show with some very entertaining mentalism using a book test with two volunteers. Danny and Robert closed the convention by presenting Bob Cassidy the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:08 - Paul Vigil talks about magic and mentalism and whether he considers himself as a magician or a mentalist.

00:07:33 - Michael Chaut and Jon Stetson talk about Monday Night Magic (in New York City) and the Mystery Lounge (in Boston, MA), respectively. To see who is on the performance schedule for Monday Night Magic, then visit their website at: http://magicalnights.com/ You can check out the Mystery Lounge (Boston's Original Cabaret) at: http://mysterylounge.com/Home.html

00:19:24 - Jeff McBride talks about his Masterclasses with MINDvention as well as other Masterclasses he hosts. More info at http://www.magicalwisdom.com/

00:29:30 - Andrew Goldenhersh enjoyed this convention and tells us some of what he's been up to in Japan.

00:40:50 - Danny Archer breathes a little easier as he gives us a recap from his perspective as a co-organizer. He also gives us the dates for next year's event: October 11-13, 2014.

00:46:00 - John Riggs talks about being a psychic in the Bible Belt of America plus a glimpse of some unpublished material from "The Messiah Complex Part 2" which may never see print. Listen to find out why. John make fine handcrafted products for serious mentalists. If you are interested, then contact him at JohnRiggs@comcast.net and request a link to his secret website.

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.

Thanks to Christopher Rose @MindControlArt who suggested that I have my own Twitter account. So now you can follow The Magic Word at @MagicWordPod