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!

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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.

322: Kirby VanBurch - From Vegas to Branson

Kirby VanBurch is returning to his roots...Houston, Texas. He was born there when he fell in love with magic at age seven. His interest grew so he moved to Las Vegas where, according to Wikipedia, he was the youngest illusionist to have his own show. From there he moved to Reno then back to Las Vegas where he ran for the U.S. Senate. Then he moved to Branson, Missouri where he stayed for the next 20 years performing in nine separate theaters.

2010 Promo video for show in Branson, Missouri.

Time Stamps for the podcast:

00:04:07 - In this podcast, Kirby talks about his early roots in magic starting in Houston then moving to Las Vegas while in his late teens. It is interesting to hear about his failed attempt to run for political office (U.S. Senate) in Nevada. But perhaps most interestingly, he speaks candidly about an argument with Siegfried and other "behind the scenes" stories with his show in Branson including many "differences of opinion" and lawsuits that swirled around him.

0055:02: - PRODUCT REVIEW: this week we had a little time left to offer a Murphy's Magic Supplies product review. We take a look at the recent At The Table lecture by Kyle Littleton who has a host of commercial ideas for the worker that he has never shared anywhere else.

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 banner above to visit The Magic Word's "Virtual Magic Store" for more information on this week's video offering and to download your copy.

215: Brad Henderson, the Esoteric Escamoteur - Part One, Magic As Art

Brad Henderson spends a lot of time thinking about the "art" of magic and how to present it as such. He is well-known in our community as a trick reviewer, magic historian, professional mentalist, author of "The Dance", Mystery School staff member, and curator of the Richard Garriott magic collection.

I have known Brad for many years and although we only live about 259 miles apart (he in Austin and I in Houston...Texas is a big State) we rarely have time to sit down and talk...I mean really talk. So this time when I recently visited Austin (where I was the auctioneer for the annual Austin Magic Auction and Brad was a guest auctioneer), I made time to sit down with him and chat. I'm glad we did because I was able to capture "lightning in a bottle" with this podcast. There was so much covered in our chat that I decided to divide it into two parts so you, the listener (and I), can more easily digest the incredible volume and depth of the material, and perhaps come back for a second listen.

In this first of this two part podcast, our discussion focuses on magic as an art and how we should aspire to make every performance an art and not be a "hack" performing tricks for the sake of the trick. He is an advocate and believer that our performances should be about emotion and creating memorable experiences. This is a rather deep and theoretical discussion that may not be for everyone in that it contains neither trick explanations or stories. But the content is gold. I will suggest you listen for a great performing tip on Kerry Pollock's "Kate and Edith" that is worth the price of admission.

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.

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