During a party in the Team Land Studios in Las Vegas, I enjoyed a great conversation with some notable figures in the clowning world who shared some great stories about the old days of Las Vegas. The party was hosted by Scott and Lisa Land and turned out to be a little of a surprise birthday party for Scott. Despite the inclement weather, they had a decent turnout of guests on the day after the MAGIC Live! convention ended.

Team Land Studios is located in a warehouse adjacent to McCarran Airport. The doors to the warehouse were open so you can hear the occasional airline traffic in the background of this podcast. There was also a terrible storm going on with flash floods and lightning. You can hear the occasional thunder on the podcast, too.

Many of Scott and Lisa's friends are from the variety arts world rather than just magicians. During one conversation I was having with Scott and a group of his friends, things got real interesting real fast. I asked them to hold for a moment while I pulled out the microphone to see if I could capture some of this "lightning in a bottle" (no pun intended, despite the weather).

Most of these guys have lived and worked in Las Vegas for decades and rubbed shoulders with the greats and legends of the past. They lived during the time when the city wasn't run by politicians...if you know what I mean, and I think you do (thanks, Bill Malone). After some delightful discussions with Scott Land, Charlie Strachan, and Don Hendrix, it was Earl Chaney who soon took over as the central story teller with some fantastic stories about anyone and everyone who was someone in Las Vegas from Sammy Davis, Jr. to Elvis Presley.

Earl Chaney performs at the Red Skelton Clown Follies

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Enjoy a delightful breakfast outdoors on the riverfront property of Trixie Bond with Jay Scott Berry and Suzanne the Magician.

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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/

The Magic Word

A Podcast for Magicians, About Magicians, Hosted by a Full Time Professional Magician, Scott Wells

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254: Tales from Old Las Vegas

213: Chicago Magic Bars & Lounges

The Magic Word