312: Day 1 - MAGIC Live! 2016

Day One - Sunday, August 14th

24 hours - The Back Room (hang out cdenter)

10:00 a.m. - Registration and Name Badge photos

7:30 p.m. - Anniversary Party

7:30 - 11:30 - The MAGIC Shop (dealer faire)

7:45 p.m. - Grand Prize Giveaway

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:13 - we depart Houston Hobby airport via Southwest Airlines and start off the journey with a couple Dunkin' Donuts and get excited about the upcoming adventure.

00:03:44 - we finally arrived at the Orleans Hotel & Casino and get in line to pick up our registration packet and chat with a variety of people in line: Michael Perovich, Michael Trixx, Kirk DeWeese, Steve Trout, Bob Festa, R. Paul Wilson, Billy Hsueh

00:11:24 - Rory Johnston, one of Stan Allen's "right-hand-men" and co-organizer, chats about some of the organizational challenges, attendance, and the "back room" where registrants are expected to hang out. He talks about the "Art Deco" theme of this year's convention.

00:18:48 - MAGIC Live "custodian", Stan Allen, talks a little about what things he can talk about now without giving away too many "secrets".

00:24:05 - Rick Merrill and Steve Bargatze tell us about their experiences with attending past MAGIC Live! conventions,, plus Rick talks about the first MAGIC Live! inspiring his award winning magic act.

00:32:08 - Ian Rowland presented on the Focus sessions for the past three conventions and this year he will be on the general sessions on stage. He also talks a bit about his "origami cards". He also "confesses" to being the inventor of all of the effects that were in question during the recent Gregory Wilson controversy. LOL

00:42:34 - Chip Romero and Mark Jensen talk about their respective magic collections plus some tips on planning on the disposition of property after one's demise.

00:48:26 - Mark Jensen tells a story of the origination of the Marshall Brodein TV Magic Cards and how Johnny Thompson wrote the instructions.

0051:13 - Nathan Burton talks about his 4:00 p.m. daily show at Planet Hollywood.

00:53:16 - Vinny Grosso is finally able to talk about his recent win on Penn & Teller Fool Us, how he developed the act, all about his experience, when he will appear in the Penn & Teller show at the Rio. He also chats about an update to his book "Exposed and Fearless" which you can hear about in much more detail in our podcast HERE which is also available on Amazon.

00:59:18 - Shawn McMaster celebrates his birthday at MAGIC Live! and talks about his experience of working at some of the past conventions plus working on the magazine.

01:02:48 - Paul Draper has been stage manager of all of the past MAGIC Live! events, but this year he is experiencing this year just as a registrant. During our conversation, we are joined by Chad Long who talks about some of the conventions he has been working.

01:05:40 - Terry Ward talks about the many MAGIC Live! conventions he has attended and some of the memories he enjoyed from previous years.

01:09:14 - Steve Sabo (a Friend of The Magic Word) and his father, Dick Sabo, talks about getting interested in magic thanks to this convention.

01:12:05 - Erik Dobell and Chris Collins talk about how their show "Impossibilites" has been going since we did a podcast with them. HERE. This is Erik's first magic convention ever of any kind and finding it overwhelming.

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Click on the image above to learn more about Mark's fabulous magic collection.

235: FISM Italy - Day Four

It may have been a little overcast outside, but the weather and the magic was perfect in the convention center. After viewing the stage competition from 8:30 to 12:30, I got to walk around the dealers a bit more, chat with friends, and attend a couple lectures. And of course, it was Thursday which meant magic and Martinis in the evening with friends at the bar.

After watching Luke Jermay's one man show, was the evening gala featuring: Cyril Takayama and Eun Gyeol Lee as co-MC's with Mike Chao, Topas, David Kaplan, Tony Frebourg, Alberto Giorgi, Rob Zabrecky, Sos & Victoria and Samuel.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:01:10 - Reuben Moreland

00:06:39 - Michael Perovich

00:11:23 - Rainer Pfeiffer and Martin Eisele

00:18:18 - David Kaplan

00:34:34 - Will Houstoun

00:42:43 - Bill Herz

00:57:14 - Phil Cass and Philippa

136: Alex Ramon - Man in Motion Part One

Even though he is only in his twenties, Alex Ramon has accomplished much more than many magicians who are three times his age. How does he do it? He is true to himself, honest, hard working and original. He lives by the Steve Martin quote, "Be so good they can't ignore you."

Alex Ramon continues to find new opportunities, or is it that opportunities continue to find him? Whatever it is, he can't seem to stay in one place for too long before he moves on to something even more amazing in his magical career. For the past two years he has held forth at the Horizon Casino in South Lake Tahoe. But the road to success didn't happen overnight, nor is the journey over.

At age 18 Alex Ramon received the coveted Lance Burton Award and was named "National Stage Magic Champion" by the World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas. In 2005, he auditioned for Disney LIVE!® presents “Mickey’s Magic Show”, and won a spot as a professional illusionist alongside Master Magician Mickey Mouse. Alex traveled the globe with the world’s most famous mouse for two and a half years, seeing 14 countries, four continents, 658 shows and entertained more than a million people.

Alex’s talent and dedication put him top of mind when producers Kenneth Feld and Nicole Feld imagined a magical circus.With over a decade of magic experience, Alex brought an unexpected twist to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® presents Zing Zang Zoom. At age 23 Alex became the first magician and the second youngest Ringmaster in the 139-year history of The Greatest Show on Earth®. Starring as the Magical “Zingmaster” (Ringmaster), During his two-yea with the circus tour Alex Ramon crisscrossed America performing in the largest arenas in the world, such as Madison Square Garden and The Staples Center, and brought smiles and wonder to people 10,000 at a time.

He’s been seen on national and international television, has made elephants disappear, magically transformed men into tigers, as well as made Whoopi Goldberg levitate.

In this podcast, Alex talks about his life and how he came to where he is today. He has a rather amazing story that should serve as an inspiration to many of us. He relates a story from the road (well...literally, the circus train) that he has never shared before now. He also has some rather unorthodox viewpoints towards magic and magicians. He uses the social media to promote himself and doesn't use paid advertising but basically uses word-of-mouth to get the word out about his shows. He has always stayed true to himself which has paid off.

This is one of the most amazing podcasts I have produced. It is fun, full of interesting stories and chock full of great advice. I was torn whether or not to break up this two hour chat and finally decided that there is too much information to digest in one sitting. So this is Part One of a two part interview. This first part tells you about the man and his early life and how he found success or rather, it found him. The next podcast will include his philosophy on magic, some advice and more great 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. (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.

Magic & Martini's Thursday