#200 - How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Last year we brought you "The Night Before Christmas" read by a handful of popular magicians. It was so well received that I asked a few more guys (and gals) to read "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas". See if you can pick out the voices of: Boris Wild, Bob Cassidy, Docc Hilford, Tim Ellis, Tim Trono, George Tait, Rocco Silano, Eric DeCamps, Mandy Farrell, Ice McDonald, Steven Bargatze, Marc Salem, Rick Merrill, Richard Osterlind and, as the Grinch, Eugene Burger.

As I attended several magic conventions over this past year, I took aside a few guys and gals to chat on the podcast. But many of the people graciously agreed to record something special just for this very special podcast. I hope you enjoy hearing their reading of this Doctor Seuss classic. This was one of the most difficult podcasts to edit and took the longest time to gather all the voices to do this one which ended up being one of the shortest ones, too.

This special podcast is my Christmas gift to you for listening for these past few years to the previous 199 podcasts. I wish all the best to you and yours for this holiday season.

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Magic & Martinis Thursday...with the Grinch!

#191 - Buy Magic Online?

With the proliferation of online magic shops, we are seeing the slow demise of the mom and pop, brick and mortar magic shops. I posted a podcast featuring three dealers (which you can hear by Clicking Here) This podcast shows the other side of the two-headed coin by getting a perspective from some people in key positions with two of the largest online dealers: Penguin Magic and

00:02:29 - Tim Trono was with Murphy's Magic for a dozen years but is now working with Penguin Magic. He talks about how they work together to help brick and mortar shops. In particular, Penguin recognizes that they can't be the sole seller of magic to the world, so they He also talks about their business model and how it differs from some others like Ellusionist and Theory 11. In particular, they try to offer unique products and have a singular look and brand. He also discusses the Penguin lecture series and why it has become so successful. He talks about their growth, bumps along the road, and more.

00:27:33 - Jason Brumbalow, Director – New Product Development with Murphy's Magic Supplies talks about Murphy's role as a jobber which wholesales to retail owners, both online as well as brick and mortar shops. He talks about their model for success and how they have moved with the times. He also discusses market trends, online videos, the proliferation of playing cards, and the pros and cons of online shops versus brick and mortar shops and the future of buying magic.

147: Day 1 - East Coast Mind Jam 2014

The East Coast Mind Jam is a one time only event that features some of the top names in the mentalism field today including Docc Hilford, Richard Osterlind, Marc Salem, Ted Karlilovich, Devin Knight, Joe Atmore, Patrick Redford (George Tait) and Jim Sisti. This event is also an opportunity for the convention organizer, Eric Citron, to honor the former owner and president of Tannen's Magic, Tony Spina, with a lifetime achievement award. That award will take place on Sunday afternoon. But first...

Day one featured an extra cost workshop for early arrivals by Patrick Redford and was attended by about 15 people. The evening show opened with a one hour show that was supposed to be filled with attendees who want to perform; however, only one brave soul did: Joshua Lozoff, who put on a great show and was given a great adulation by the audience and by the host, Docc Hilford. Docc filled out the hour, took a break then came back for the first half of a workshop, not a lecture, but a really great instructional workshop. After an hour and a half, he took another break only to return with another two hours of great material and advice. He could have gone on much longer and the audience was right there with him with nary a soul departing, but rather, hanging on his every word.

Here are the time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:00 - Leaving Houston and a recap of what's about to happen over the weekend.

00:04:42 - Convention organizer, Eric Citron, talks about putting together this convention and what we can expect this weekend.

00:12:47 - Richard Osterlind talks about what will be in his eight hour Monday workshop. He is excited about performing his one hour stage show on Saturday night that is rarely if ever performed for his peers. Tim Trono talks about how much fun this convention is because of its small size.

00:16:32 - Attendees, Ed Russe, John Sergott and Andy Hofer talk about why they came to this convention and what they are looking forward to seeing and doing here.

00:24:42 - Patrick Redford (George Tait) talks about what he was teaching in his workshop during the afternoon.