350: Hammer Time with Mike Hammer

For the past five years, Mike Hammer has been packing them in while headlining in his own theater in the Four Queens Casino and Hotel on Fremont Street, downtown Las Vegas. Mike has his own style, and it works for him. He is the "Don Rickles" of magic with a rather abrasive approach where he actually insults his audience...and they love him! The night I visited his show, the room was packed and afterwards I overheard some saying this was a repeat visit to enjoy his show. Two people had paid for return visits to watch his show over 30 times!

Some of you might remember seeing Mike on "Penn and Teller Fool Us" with his outrageously memorable performance using a blow up doll. If not, then you can view the video here on this blog.

In this podcast, we cover a lot of territory from how he developed his act, working in Las Vegas, routining, trick selection, getting out of bad situations when things go wrong, and keeping his performances fresh. This was a fun and funny podcast that includes a lot of sound advice with some great behind-the-scenes stories.

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

341: Houdini-Opoly with Dick Brookz and Dorothy Dietrich

Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz own and operate the Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. They have both led extraordinary lives and worthy of talking more about their Houdini museum, the Houdini seance, and the former Magic Townhouse in New York City. They talk about all these things but the purpose of this particular podcast is to help the magic world learn more about their newest project, "Houdini-Opoly"

They have been working on this board game for over two years and with the Kickstarter campaign now being fully funded just before this podcast was released. So not it's on to meet their "stretch" goals to pay for the "enhancements". Thanks to your support, it appears that it will be in production soon this year. The Magic Word Podcast is selective in providing a platform for promoting individuals or pet projects. But this is one I support and think is of particular interest to our community. But even if you choose not to support the cause and buy a game, the rest of our chat is interesting as we talk about the old Magic Townhouse in New York City and why it closed and the museum moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania. We also discuss the Houdini seance and the museum.

Help the Kickstarter Campaign and get your "one of a kind" collectible Houdini board game. You can't escape the fun!

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

Click on the graphic above to visit the site for more information on Houdini-Opoly

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The contest is over and we congratulate Pat Darienzo who won a copy of Danny Archer's eBook. — The contest is over and we congratulate **Pat Darienzo** who won a copy of Danny Archer's eBook.

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299: Day One - 2016 I.B.M. Convention

San Antonio, the Alamo City, is the host for this year's 88th annual I.B.M. convention. The weather is perfect, the talent is outstanding, the fellowship is fun, the magic is awesome, and the dealers have all the latest, greatest stuff. If you cannot be here in person, then these daily podcasts will be the next best thing.

And thanks to a new feature on Facebook, we can enlarge the experience by going "Live" with our chats where you can ask questions in "real time" via Facebook as I am chatting/recording my conversation. Be sure to "Like" our page at http://facebook.com/themagicwordpodcast to participate in these impromptu, off-the-cuff chats that will happen. They can happen at any time so be vigilant if you want to participate.

First day activities.kicked off with the stage contest. This year there will be two scheduled days to hold all of the contestants, and it looks like there may be a Gold Medal or perhaps a Gold Cup awarded this year. Stiff competition.

The afternoon featured our first lecture with a full house for Joshua Jay. The evening started with an autograph session and each registrant received a free commemorative poster to have signed by the performers. The evening featured the Guests of Honor, The Great Tomsoni & Co. in a one-on-one chat with Paul Vigil as host. Afterwards followed the "Penn & Teller Fool Us" panel discussion featuring some of those who have been on the TV show and this was hosted by Shawn Farquhar that concluded the day's activities.

On July 2, 2016, while attending the 88th I.B.M. conveintion in San Antonio, Texas, Joe M. Turner, the current and outgoing International President of the I.B.M., joined Scott Wells on the microphone to record a podcast for The Magic Word. This was the first time we used Facebook's Live Streaming function.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:14 - Scott gets ready to depart for San Antonio

00:02:28 - Incoming International President, Oscar Munoz, talks about his goals and direction for the coming year as the new head of the organization,

00:11:35 - Joe Tuner talks LIVE on Facebook with Scott about his travels and work this past year as the International President.

00:22:44 - Andi Gladwin talks LIVE on Facebook with Scott about the Session convention in England, his partnership with Joshua Jay, and the MagiFest that he and Josh put together each year.

00:37:34 - Paul Vigil hosts a chat on stage with Johnny Thompson and Pam. This was recorded in the banquet room but pretty good acoustics.

Today begins the first of our daily reports from San Antonio. If you plan to attend (or even if you would like to keep up with what's happening each day), then download this FREE Guidebook app now to keep everything in the palm of your hand: schedule, maps, performers, dealers and more. Plus you can create your own personalized schedule so you never miss anything you want to be sure to see!