240: I.B.M. 2015 Convention - Day Three

Day three of the 87th annual convention continued with the second day of the "Big Three" events (see yesterday's blog). The afternoon event was four hours of close-up contests with 14 or so contestants. After the contest, David Kaplan lectured before the evening banquet. The diners were entertained by Bill Abbott and Soma before they let out and everyone hustled over to the theater for the evening show, hosted by Dave Cox. The show was the top six finalists (listed in yesterday's blog) who were competing for the Gold Cups. The winners of all the contests will be announced on the Saturday night show. The late night lecture was by Chad Long.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:02:29 - Multiple award winning magician, Michael Dardant, talks about entering contests and his FISM experience of being entered and competing in both stage and close-up in Italy.

00:16:47 - I.B.M. President Elect and Contest Committee Chairman, Oscar Munoz

00:28:57 - Academy of Magical Arts (The Magic Castle) Close-Up Magician of the Year, Suzanne, talks about restaurant magic. She is joined late in the discussion my Oscar Munoz who also talks about school shows.

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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".

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/

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.