308: 2016 Abbott's Get Together - Day Two

DAY TWO - THURSDAY, AUGUST 4th 2016
9:00AM REGISTRATION OPENS at the Abbott Plant
9:30AM LECTURE - Scott Alexander & Puck at the High School
10:00AM ABBOTT'S DEALERS ROOM OPENS (more info) at Grade School
11:00AM VENT-O-RAMA (more info) at the Abbott Plant
1:00PM LECTURE - Ice McDonald at the High School
1:00PM COLON HISTORICAL MUSEUM OPEN TILL 4PM (more info)
1:30PM DEALERS ON PARADE (more info) at the Elementary School
1:30PM MAGIC SHOW at Abbott Plant with BJ Mallen or Gordon Miller
2:00PM COLON STREET PERFORMERS - outside Curly's featuring Joe Bennett
3:00PM MAGIC SHOW at Abbott Plant with BJ Mallen or Gordon Miller
3:00PM - 6:00PM FACE PAINTING outside 5 Star Pizza by Carol Hendrix
3:45PM FAMOUS MAGICIANS GRAVEYARD TOUR ushered by Al the Only
5:30PM RIVER LAKE INN’S MAGIC SHOW & DINNER with Ron Carnell
7:40PM ASTOUNDING TENT ILLUSION (more info) outside the High School (more info here)
8:00PM ABBOTT'S STAGE SHOW at the High School (Preshow Live Organ Music)
Featuring Vinny Grosso MC, Lynetta Welch, Banachek, Bizzaro
(view seating chart)
10:00PM ABBOTT'S DEALERS ROOM OPENS at Grade School after show
10:15PM CURLYS CLOSEUP CONTEST (more info) after show

00:00:13 - Rick Fisher, Proprietor of FAB Magic Studio, talks about the brick and mortar magic shops and the possible future of magic in Colon.

00:11:23 - Greg Bordner, Abbott's Magic Company proprietor, talks about organizing this and other Get Togethers.

00:18:49 - the "bally" for getting the "tip" for the Girl to Gorilla sideshow attraction

00:20:17 - Keith Stickley talks about bringing in the Girl to Gorilla as a special, one-night only feature to the Get Together.

00:25:42 - John Sturk and Martin Cox talk about the previous night's show plus some tips featured in Martin's lecture..

00:42:28 - Denny Haney, owner of Denny and Lee's Magic Studio, talks about the importance of books and reading.

00:48:43 - We caught Banachek after the evening show before he had to break away to fly back to Las Vegas.

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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/

179: Day 4 - Abbott's Get Together 2014

Day Four...this is the day everyone has been looking forward to but no one wanted to see come because we knew it would be the last day. And what a day it was. Shoot Ogawa kicked off the day with his lecture. The afternoon matinee was spectacular with lots of fun moments, especially by illusionist, John Hudy, who had a crying child as a volunteer during his "Wiz Kote" routine. But he handled it professionally and all ended well. The evening's show was with a cruise ship theme (the S.S. Abbott) featuring Fred & Bobbi Becker, John Shyrock, Chris Blakemore, Chris Mitchell and Howard Mincone. It concluded with a hilarious "fountain" routine that had everyone in stitches and many comparing to the old "Foxy's Foollies" of yesteryear with Karrell Fox and Duke Stern, Dorny and others. What a show!

John Shryock won the Bill Baird/Neil Foster manipulation trophy. And the entire crew from this evening's show was presented with the Senator Clark Crandall Comedy award. And the Jack Gwynn award for presentation went to Losander.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:02:43 John Sturk arranges the schedules for the "spontaneous" street performances. He tells us a little history about busking in Colon.

00:13:04 - The Outerbridges, (illusionists) Marion and Ted, are fairly new to the magic convention scene but not to magic. They have been touring professionals in Canada for a number of years and have a unique perspective of magic and dance. with a "time lord" theme.

00:22:25 - Triple threat, Shoot Ogawa, performed in close-up, stage and as a lecturer this year. He tells what he has been up to and what his future plans are. It must be fun living just a few blocks from the Magic Castle.

00:32:33 - Patrick Thernes won the stage magic awards and at last year's MAGIC Live! convention, he won our hearts with the passionate story told by Joanie Spina. Here "Sir Patrick" tells us a little about himself and how that event changed his magic life.

00:46:06 - Randy Wakeman gives us the 411 health update on Simon Lovell's current condition in England and his prognosis.

00:57:01 - Gay Blackstone rounds out the day with a few stories from her perspective "inside the box".

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.

308: 2016 Abbott's Get Together - Day Two

213: Chicago Magic Bars & Lounges

179: Day 4 - Abbott's Get Together 2014

The Magic Word