923: MAGIC Live! 2025 - Days One & Two Report

Time Stamps for this episode:

00:00:19 – Join Scott as he patiently waits in the Chicago airport to depart for Las Vegas and MAGIC Live!

00:06:06 - at the Orleans Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas for the opening night party, we first chat with my friend, Ian Rowland from England, as we share our excitement about being in Las Vegas and preparing for this convention. We chat also a bit about Carrot Top.

00:12:36 – James Dimmare is dressed as a pirate from Treasure Island at the dress up party. He will be hosting some of the Focus Sessions.

00:15:53 – MP Fisher and Robb Fisher (a Friend of the Magic Word) are dressed for evening as Rocky Balboa and Indiana Jones. They often attend MAGIC Live! and listen to the podcast during their commutes.

00:21:08 – Rob Tarry and Josh G. from Austin talk about the overwhelming experience of attending their first MAGIC Live!

00:26:01 – Comedy magician, John Archer, from England, is a frequent attendee at this event and is always a delightful guest.

00:30:36 – Julie Eng is the Executive Director of Genii and tells us what new looks the magazine has and how Jim Steinmeyer has brought his vision to the editorial staff, too.

00:36:16 – From the Magic Land of Allakazam, Greg Wilson, brings us up to date on the video digitization and some stories from the historical archives.

00:40:21 – from the stage of the first day in the first session, Stan Allen welcomes the registrants to this year’s MAGIC Live!

00:42:22 – Scott DeYoung and Alex Rogers met at this convention many years ago and became friends. They reunite each year at this event.

00:53:00 – Mark Mason, magician extraordinaire, lost a roller case of props and hopes that someone who is attending this convention and possibly saw something that will help him recover the contents.

00:55:48 – Michael Chaut, co-producer of Monday Night Magic, talks about the first day of activities here.

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767: Randy Wakeman - I've Been Around for a Long, Long Years

Randy Wakeman has been around for many decades and was often seen lecturing and performing at magic conventions. Nonetheless, I have always seen him as an “underground” magician who appeals to the true sleight-of-hand experts. He is one of those guys who has “been there, done that, has the t-shirt” as he was one of the regular performers about the Chicago Bar Magic Scene before the turn of the last century. He has written several books on magic (card magic mostly) and is still relevant in our community as a performer, teacher and author.

While at the recent Senior Tour close-up convention in St. Louis, The Magic Word spoke with Randy as part of the convention report content. He was preparing for a workshop, so we didn’t get a chance to go in-depth as I had wanted. But we agreed to get together at the 4F convention in Buffalo a couple months later. True to his word, we sat down to complete our chat which results in this episode. The content of our chat in both places was a little disjunctive, so the editing required us to put the second conversation first then plug in the chat in St. Louis and finish with our talk while in Buffalo. This sounds more confusing that it actually is, but I know you will understand and enjoy our chat.

746: Mark James - Pro Tips

Mark James visits with The Magic Word Podcast from England where he is a very busy professional magician. He constantly works “holiday camps”, restaurants (three different restaurants a week), cruise ships, weddings and more. His stage show consists of magic, comedy, juggling and vaudeville-style performances. Mark follows a specific formula in developing his shows which is discussed in some detail in this week’s podcast.

This episode was recorded in Columbus, Ohio, where Mark James was a featured performer/lecturer. Here Mark talks about his tattoos, performing magic and pantomime at “holiday camps” in the U.K. as well as working in restaurants. He also talks about how to build an act and how to make each effect “strong.” While everything was fresh on his mind, Mark shared an in-depth analysis of some major points in his lecture. In particular, the elements of building his professional show include (in order):

Attention Getter
Legitimacy Prover
Teach the Audience How a Thing Works
Get Everybody in the Audience Involved
Palette Cleanser
Pathos
Best Trick in the Show
Pitch your Social Media
Closer