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.

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

143: Bye Buy Brick and Mortar - The Vanishing Magic Shops

Over the past several years, physical magic stores (or as they are called "Brick and Mortar" shops) have been slowly and quietly closing their doors as they make way for the online stores. Many of these Brick and Mortar shops have an online presence, but the closing of these stores has left a hole in the fabric of magic by eliminating the fellowship and physical presence of a dealer/demonstrator behind the counter who gives personal instructions and personalized customer service and who responds to what customers need and not necessarily what they want.

With the disappearance of the magic shops, no longer can we see what's new at the magic shop in our local community and see a live demonstration of that trick. We can no longer ask questions of a live person, one on one and get immediate answers or alternate handlings and/or presentations. Purchasing magic online has become easy and accessible to anyone and everyone with a credit card account. No one has to expend any effort to buy or learn magic. With magic shops there was an investment of your time not only to learn the trick but to physically drive, walk or bike to the magic shop during their hours of operation. One had to make a commitment whereas now most everything can be viewed, learned purchased and/or downloaded from the privacy of your home with a click of the mouse.

Not that this is a bad thing. i totally embrace online magic stores. There are a lot of proprietary magic items that one can only find online from around the world that aren't or can't be carried by your local magic store. A magic shop cannot stock everything in its inventory. But part of the beauty of a Brick and Mortar shop is the browsing...physically picking up the book, looking through its pages, seeing the props on the shelves, and holding the prop or gimmick in your hand before making the purchase. And of course there is the immediacy of owning the item right now. No waiting for your item to be shipped and you anxiously awaiting its arrival.

Robert Johnson sent an email suggestion to TheMagicWord@ScottWells.com requesting that I consider talking with Emory Williams about his traveling magic shop and the plight of the "Brick and Mortars". I thought to expand it to include a couple more perspectives: Top Hat Magic in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Denny & Lee Magic Stdio in Baltimore (and Las Vegas). Each has their own unique story and set of circumstances that reflect different, umm, shall we say "challenges" to their longevity.

I encourage you to visit and patronize real brick and mortar magic shops. When you travel, see if there is a shop nearby. You can check get the names and addresses at this website: http://www.backroommagic.com/apps/forums/show/4381872-brick-and-mortar-magic-store-locations I do not know how current or valid this list is, so I suggest you contact them by phone before you try to visit...and perhaps before they are gone!

And let me say that none of these select magic dealers (or any others) have paid for their ads herein or are otherwise sponsoring The Magic Word in any way other than offering their time and voices to this podcast. And for that, I thank them.

Click on the picture above to see more photos of the inside of this Mobile Magic Shop and to read the full story of how and why it was built.

Please Note: This video was uploaded to YouTube in 2011. Their large, physical, brick and mortar shop of Williams Magic closed in March 2013. They still operate this van and a small kiosk near Tucson, Arizona plus their online store

Click on the photo above to visit my video interview with Denny Haney on "Now Y

The time stamps for this podcast are as follows:

00:01:44 - Steve Lancaster, Top Hat Magic (Tulsa, OK), talks about the evolution of his magic shop from his humble beginnings in 1977 to his rise (and fall) as the largest costume retailer in Oklahoma to where he is today. The temporary Halloween stores that are only open for a month or so around October have wreaked havoc on his business and others across the country.

00:20:53 - Denny Haney, Denny & Lee's Magic Studio, started with a shop in Baltimore, MD then opened another shop in Las Vegas, Nevada with the intent and hope of ultimately moving out there. And now that his 18 year old pet pig, Baby, died in late February, he has less reason to stay in Maryland. Denny also has a lot of good advice on how magicians can learn magic and what's important to be a professional.

00:56:03 - Emory Williams, Williams Magic (Tucson, AZ), closed his Brick and Mortar shop in 2013 after 24 years in business. But he tried an innovative idea by taking magic "on the road" and direct to the customers with his 47 foot trailer full of 4,000 magic items. He talks about the challenges that Brick and Mortar shops face in their struggle for survival and longevity.

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

Add a brick, take a drink. Practice a trick, take a drink. Take a drink, take a drink.

"Now You See It with Scott Wells" from MAES 2011

"Now You See It with Scott Wells" is a TV Talk Show format for magicians. It is something different that Scott has been doing at magic conventions. Imagine something like "Late Night with David Letterman" or "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" or Johnny Carson but the guests are magicians. The guests are pulled from the talent featured at the convention who are often good friends of Scott's and whom he has known some time. It allows for the opportunity to chat openly about personal matters rather than being the standard interview-type chat like you would expect on "Actor's Studio".

Each show is dynamic and different as it is completely unscripted and is dependent upon the personalities, the direction of the conversation, and the interactions among the guests. It is not a panel discussion or a Q&A from the audience. It gives the convention registrants an opportunity to "eavesdrop" on what might seem like conversations at a bar. It also "humanizes" the talent so the registrants feel comfortable approaching them throughout the rest of the convention by giving them "talking points" so they can perhaps follow up on one of the topics discussed.

Between the introductions of each guest Scott shows "magic-themed" commercials. These are professionally produced spots made by ad agencies from around the world that often feature many well-known magicians such as Penn & Teller, Harry Blackstone, Jr., Lance Burton, David Copperfield, Paul Daniels, Melinda and more.

This episode was filmed by Marc DeSouza (who also provided the voice-over introduction) at the Magicians' Alliance of Eastern States (M.A.E.S.) on September 30, 2011 in Cherry Hills, NJ. Scott's guests in this episode include: Denny Haney, Eric DeCamps, Jania Taylor and David Corsaro. It is a one hour video episode in a QuickTime (MP4) format so the file was compressed to be just under 100MB making the quality a bit low.

Scott Wells presents a fun, lively talk show at magic conventions featuring other magicians who are on the bill at that event. Imagine a late night television talk show except with all magicians, hosted by a magician, and you have an idea of what this is all about.

If you would like to have your own free Dropbox storage account and receive an additional 250MB of storage, then follow this link: http://db.tt/B3mzVMT I love it and I know you will, too.