338: The Presidents' Messages 2017

Jeff Sikora, President of the Society of American Magicians, and Oscar Munoz, President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and Scott Penrose, President of The Magic Circle speak about their vision for their respective organizations during their terms in office plus what more they want to accomplish.

The Magic Circle headquarters hosts a remarkable museum and library dedicated to preserving the craft of magic. The history of magic as an art form has been shrouded in mystery in order to protect secrets, often being handed down verbally and to only a select few, but in The Magic Circle Headquarters this history comes to life with stories and artefacts from some of the most fascinating performers.

http://www.magicsam.com/ The Society of American Magicians is the oldest and most prestigious magic organization in the world. For over a century it has promoted the ideals shared by Kellar, Houdini, Thurston and more than 47,000 others world-wide who have held membership in the society.

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Congratulations to Jeroen Wijs who won "The Human Pin cushion Feat" eBook. And thanks also goes to our sponsor, The Great American Magic Company, for offering this prize

If you plan to purchase anything from Amazon.com, then please click through this link. If you have an Amazon Prime account, you will still be able to use that account after clicking through this link. Each purchase will help support The Magic Word Podcast. Thank you, and Happy Holidays!.

Please patronize our sponsor, The Great American Magic Company

337: Danny Archer - Smoke and Mirrors

Danny Archer is making a big leap in the magic business. He is developing a new theater (called "Smoke and Mirrors") under the auspices of Magical Arts Center with a magic shop component, plus he will be offering magic lessons and eventually host seances. Essentially he has a four "S" strategy: Stage, Shop, School and Seance. In this podcast, Danny talks about the development of this new venue plus his previous work in the Colorado ski resort and his dissolution of his business partnership with Gregory Wilson.

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. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

Magicians' Valhalla

Although the list below is not exhaustive, it does reflect the names of many well-known (and some lesser-known) magicians, spouses and assistants who passed on 2016. Every year is hard when our friends' names appear here, but for some reason, it seems that this year was particularly difficult with many legendary names disappearing into the sands of time and annals of our rich history.

Some of these names may not be as well-known to you, but they were my personal friends (hey, it is my blog!). If you are unfamiliar with any of these names, then it would behoove you to do a little online search of what these people have contributed to our art. If you have someone you think was overlooked, then please post the name in the comments below on this blog.

Those whose names are highlighted were featured or interviewed here on The Magic Word Podcast. You can click on their name to revisit and listen to their voices again.

Robert George Allen

Paul R. Fried

Harry Riser

Earle J. Christenberry, Jr.

Laura J. Eisele

Kenneth (Ken) Edward Fletcher

Paul F. Osborne

Stanley (Stan) B. Adair

Carl Raymond (Ray) Eyler

Robert (Bob) W. Follmer

Abner (Abb) Pope Dickson, Jr.

Majestik Magnificent

James “JC” Doty

Franz “Tihany” Czeisler

Paul Daniels

Irene Larsen

Thomas “Tom” B. Mullica

Abel Pabόn

Barrie Richardson

James (Jim) M. Patton

Jerry Mentzer

Joanie Lehr

Ed Harris

Billy Godfrey

Peter P.T. Marucci

Douglas (Doug) J. Nieland

Muhammad Ali

Richard A. Amon

Robert “Bob” F. Brown (click on his name for a video lecture by Bob from the 1983 I.B.M. convention in Hawaii)

Carl R. Macan

Congratulations to Jon Barr who won the contest from last week's blog (December 22, 2016)

336: Murray Sawchuck - A Very Murray Christmas

In our annual visit holiday with Murray Sawchuck, "Celebrity Magician" from Las Vegas, this year he talks about achieving one of his dreams: appearing in the Hollywood Christmas Parade. It shows how determination and dedication to a goal can be accomplished. Murray also gives us a health update on Michael Giles, another Las Vegas magician who is undergoing treatment for stage four pancreatic cancer. There is a link on the blog below for you to visit the Go Fund Me website where you can get more information and donate to his fund.

Murray also tells us more about branding and marketing yourself, but there is a very interesting story about a failure before a live audience while recording an episode of "The Masters of Illusion" television show. It just goes to show how problems can come to us all.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:17 - Murray talks about visiting the Hollywood Christmas Parade as a child and how he achieved his dream to actually be in the parade. He also talks about living the dream of getting to perform for his childhood heroes.

00:32:29 - Eric Citron, the Great American Magic Company, talks about his new online shop and announces this week's surprise magic contest.

00:36:20 - Murray continues our discussion as he talks about a "disaster" he had during a live taping of "Masters of Illusion" television show

01:02:04 - "Haunted Revolution" by Mariano Goni is reviewed. Recommended with reservations.

01:06:12 - GPS Pack Nav" by Oliver Meech is reviewed. Recommended with reservations

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. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

Our wonderful, beautiful friends Michael and Melanie Giles need our help. Michael has just been diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer, and it has spread to his liver and possibly his spine. You can learn more and assist by going to the Go Fund Me… — Our wonderful, beautiful friends Michael and Melanie Giles need our help. Michael has just been diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer, and it has spread to his liver and possibly his spine. You can learn more and assist by going to the Go Fund Me account by clicking on the graphic above.