317: Day 1 - TAOM 2016

Friday, September 2

10:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. Registration - Ballroom Foyer
10:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. - Dealers Room Open - Beachcomber
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. - Harry Allen Lecture - Kokomos
2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - David Hira Lecture - Kokomos
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. - Board Meeting - Kokomos
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. - Stage Contest and Show with Trigg Watcon and Stuart McDonald hosted by David Hira - Ballroom
9:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. - Fantastic Fun Game Show - Ballroom
10:30 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. - Stuart McDonald Lecture/Workshop

Time Stamps for this podcast

00:00:13 - Marshall Peterson, owner of H&R Magic Books, talks about the many conventions he has attended as a magic dealer plus what it's like to pack and travel with all the books across the country. He brings us up to date with some of the newest book titles out this year. Marshall also offers a special deal for The Magic Word Podcast listeners: Use the code word "The Magic Word Podcast" and receive a 15% discount on any H&R Magic Books titles (search the website for all of these titles) now through Sunday September 11, 2016.

00:08:01 - 2016 T.A.O.M. President, Judy Donaldson, tells us what is in store for registrants at this year's convention. It is not too late to hurry down to Corpus Christi and register for the rest of this convention.

00:14:20 - John Dahlinger will compete in the senior division of close-up this year. He talks about his road to the competition with advice for others to learn who want to compete in magic convention contests.

00:19:27 - David Hira lectured for us this afternoon and will be a featured lecturer in November for Penguin Magic. He talks about the new Penguin Lecture format. David was listed as one of the top magic lecturers as voted by readers of MAGIC Magazine.

00:31:00 - Jamie Salinas recaps the evening stage contest show "bookended" by Trigg Watson and Stuart McDonald plus the game show. And as we were ending the chat, C.J. Johnson walked by who produced "Survey Says" game show.

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Come to Corpus Christi, Texas TODAY and register at the convention to enjoy all the rest of the activities.

211: Nick Lewin - A Brit Under the Brim

British born Nick Lewin has been in America for over 40 years but only recently found his way to the great state of Texas where he and his wife, Susan, reside in the state's capital city of Austin. Most of you know Nick as a regular contributor to Alan Watson's "New Zealand eZine" and as the co-editor for the fantastic, FREE digital magazine for magicians, "Vanish". But you may not know that he was the first afternoon show in Las Vegas performing two shows for six days a week for five years at the Maxxim Hotel & Casino. When he left, Mac King took his spot as Nick moved on. Nick has been, and remains. a popular cruise ship entertainer. He even wrote a book on the subject entitled, "Cruise Magic 101".

Nick's mentor and friend was Billy McComb from whom he learned a lot. He was also influenced by Maurice Fogel and Ken Brooke. After moving to Los Angeles in the 1970's and settling near the Magic Castle, he continued to learn from and befriend many of the magical "luminati".

Nick recently traveled a short four hour drive to Houston where he lectured to our local magic group and spent some time behind the microphone to chat about his life. Nick shares tons of interesting stories right from the start of our conversation including funny memories with Maurice Fogel, Billy McComb and more. He also talks about his early years in Las Vegas, working cruise ships, hanging out at the Magic Castle with Dai Vernon, Charlie Miller, and more. If you enjoy stories about the "old guys" and the "old days", then you will enjoy this look back at some of our magic history. Plus he gives us some performing tips along the way that are well worth the price of this podcast.

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). You can download or listen to the podcast through FeedPress by Clicking Here. Remember, you can download it through iTunes. See the preview page by Clicking Here.

Join us for another episode as a few magicians dine and chat. There is a little magic talked about in this episode, a little...okay, very little. Just another boring dinner with David Stone and Martin Cox and a few local Houston magicians.

#188 - Charlie Randall, the "R" Behind H&R Magic Books

While traveling to Ft. Worth for the 2014 Texas Association of Magicians annual convention, my wife drove the car while Charlie Randall and I sat in the back seat and chatted about the creation of H&R Magic Books which grew into one of the world's leading magic book sellers. Please forgive some of the ambient road noise you hear in the background during this interview. But you should get the feeling as if you were riding along with us as you sat in the front seat and listened to our chat.

H&R Magic Books

Richard Hatch & Charlie Randall - 2006

Charlie talks about the beginnings of H&R Magic Books, its evolution, and how you might consider starting your own business. Today, Richard and Charlie have sold the business to Marshall Peterson and they have taken a back seat as Marshall moves the business forward. Charlie now occasionally helps out behind the booth at magic conventions but he mainly focuses on publishing new books.

In this interview, he also talks about publishing books and what he looks for when people submit material for his consideration for publishing. Charlie also talks about brick and mortar magic shops, the evolution of videos to DVD's, and more.

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.

Second installment of "Meals with Magicians" featuring a dining experience with Banachek...well, not so much of "dining" as it was an "eating" experience at one of Houston's premiere burger chains, Southwells.