260: The Science of Magic with Tony Barnhart, Ph.D.

During the I.B.M. convention in Phoenix in 2013 I came across a flyer from Anthony Barnhart, Ph.D. soliciting subjects for a scientific study about magic. They were looking for magicians to come to the Arizona State University campus to help with a psychological experiment. Well, I was too busy to make it there, but I kept the flyer. Being the "hoarder" that I am (not unlike most magicians, I'm sure), I recently came across that flyer. I decided that it sounded like an interesting subject for the podcast.

Since that time, the Psychologist who was conducting the study has since moved on to another state. I was able to locate him (thank you, Google) and schedule a time for a Skype chat. Tony (as he likes to be called) is now in the Department of Psychological Science at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin and still continuing his study on the Science of Magic.

He references some articles he's published and you can find them here: The special issue of Frontiers in Psychology: http://journal.frontiersin.org/researchtopic/2464/the-psychology-of-magic-and-the-magic-of-psychology Hid blog, where he's written about some of this stuff in a more informal style is at: http://scienceofmagic.org/

You can follow Tony on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/magictony He is on Facebook, too at: http://facebook.com/magictony

His teaching conference (with a magical flare) can be found at: http://skepticalclassroom.com/

For more information, please visit http://www.AnthonyBarnhart.com. The speakers featured in this video include (in no particular order): James Randi (http://www.randi.org) D.J. Grothe (http://www.forgoodreason.org) Dr. Stephen Macknik, Barrow Neurological Institute (http://macknik.neuralcorrelate.com) Dr. Susana Martinez-Conde, Barrow Neurological Institute (http://smc.neuralcorrelate.com) Roland Sarlot & Susan Eyed (http://www.carnivalofillusion.com) Fr.

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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.

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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.

141: Marc Salem - Piece of Mind

Star of stage and screen (well, small screen...television), Marc Salem stopped by for an extended chat about mentalism, world travel, building a show and the structure of a show, theatre work, celebrities he has worked with and known, and more. In particular, he shares some stories about his appearance on the TV show, 60 Minutes, stories from the stage perspective, stories about Uri Geller and more. This was an interesting conversation in that we seem to be "all over the board". It was difficult to keep a focus and get direct answers despite redirecting. It was kind of like trying to nail Jell-o to to the wall.

One of the interesting analogies he draws are the three types of spacial displacement: human years, dog years and entertainment years. He also talks about the dangers of making predictions, making meaning of our magic and lives, using psychology, how to get publicity, The 13 (secret mentalism New York group), and so much more.

Marc was low-key in promoting his book to the point of not even mentioning its title in this podcast. For the record, his book is "The Six Keys to Unlock and Empower Your Mind: Spot Liars & Cheats, Negotiate Any Deal to Your Advantage, Win at the Office, Influence Friends, & Much More". Whew! With a long title like that, it's no wonder that he didn't mention it in order to keep the podcast short. :) But for those who are interested, you can find it on Amazon. Just Click Here for more information on Amazon and to see an excerpt from the book.

If you are interested in hearing more from Marc or you have any questions about anything he mentioned during our chat, then please drop him a note via email to masalem@aol.com

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 (or is it "Mentalism") & Martinis' Thursday