279: The Cardini Connection with Randy Pitchford

Randy Pitchford is the nephew of Richard Valentine Pitchford, who was better known as Cardini. More than just a familial connection, Randy is also a performer, entrepreneur and successful businessman. Randy is the CEO and President of Gearbox Software located in Frisco, Texas (a northern suburb of Dallas).

Randy purchased much of the Cardini collection from the 2013 Potter & Potter auction and put the bulk of the exhibit in a museum at the Magic Castle. His most recent purchase may have the furthest reaching impact in our community: he is the new owner of Genii Magazine.

Randy is building a home designed to be like Brookledge, the home of Bill and Irene Larsen in Los Angeles. He even plans to present regular shows for the public in his home not unlike the Bookledge Follies.

Magician Cardini performing in 1957

Cardini (Richard Pitchford) performing coins and cards for some lucky people on a cruise. This rare footage was shot by Dr. Morris Young, and hasn't been seen for 50 years. Edited and restored by Magicbymax Steven Max Droge Productions.

Borderlands 2 creator Randy Pitchford (President and Co-founder, Gearbox Studios) gives his keynote speech at the 2013 D.I.C.E. SUMMIT. Titled "Video Games Are Magic". Brought to you by Variety and Machinima. The D.I.C.E.

Randy Pitchford was born in 1971 and Richard "Cardini" Pitchford died in 1973 so Randy has no recollection of his uncle. In this podcast, Randy talks about the acquisition of his Cardini artifacts plus some stories that were passed down to Randy from the family and friends. He also talks about his experience in his early years of performing at the Magic Castle and his personal relationship with the late Irene Larsen.

Also, he briefly talks about his recent acquisition of Genii magazine from Richard Kaufman; however, since the details have not been fleshed out, there are not many details to share. At this point, I understand that no change of any kind is envisioned for the immediate future of the magazine. Randy just wants to preserve this part of magic history and make sure of the longevity, viability and vitality of Genii far into the future so it can "live on forever."

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Here is the photo taken by Michael Wilcoxen, the winner of the contest, with the framed Peau -Doux card he received as he has it displayed in his home.

This is the framed fan of Peau Doux manipulations cards (used by Cardini) that was presented by Randy Pitchford to David Copperfield. This is NOT the number of cards nor type of frame that will be sent to the winner of the contest (which is now ende… — This is the framed fan of Peau Doux manipulations cards (used by Cardini) that was presented by Randy Pitchford to David Copperfield. This is NOT the number of cards nor type of frame that will be sent to the winner of the contest (which is now ended). The contest here was for one framed card (probably without the brass plaque) and I'm uncertain of the type of framing that Randy will prepare.

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.

156: Day Four - F.F.F.F. 2014

The last day and night meant more magic being crammed into the final few hours. Plus more doughnuts, coffee, soda, beer and scotch, too. Everything has been coming down to this last day. The last chance for everyone to savor the last moments. The internet in the hotel seemed slower than usual, plus the scotch poured a bit more freely, and I chatted with lots of people well into the morning hours and the break of dawn. All those reasons are why this podcast didn't come out earlier in the day.

Henry Evans was the sole lecturer of the day with two stellar afternoon shows and and outstanding evening show. Lots of stuff going on, lots of interviews, and tons of magic.

If you would like to view the excellent program designed by Glenn Brown, please Click Here. This lists all the shows, all the performers, all the attendees, pictures and more. It is everything you need to know about what went on during the weekend.

Joe Monti shows a little trick he came up with for Guest of Honor, Shawn Farquhar, using the bookmark made by David Prouty.

FISM winner Soma doing a great performance with looping sounds of magic props live at this year's FFFF. This is the song you hear on the podcast for Day Four.

Australians are on a different "body clock" than us Americans. Nothing will deter them a full night's sleep. Tim Ellis has seen enough card tricks and needs his beauty rest despite the cacophony of card magician in the room.

Time codes for this podcast:

00:01:11 - Jean-Luc Dupont, Bill Bishop, Don Wiberg, and Jim Klayder talk about the status of trade shows, brick and mortar magic shops, and more as we chat over coffee at Starbucks. For those interested in club meeting ideas that we discussed, Don Wiberg's PDF can be found by Clicking Here.

00:20:00 - During dinner, Mike Hrab and Rick Hebert give their perspectives of what they have enjoyed the most during this convention...so far.

00:30:32 - Elevator chat #1 - Stephen Bargatze, Bruce Kalver, Shawn Farquhar talk about what might happen on the evening show.

00:32:04 - Shank Kotharei, first time attendee talks about his experience at this convention from his "fresh eyes".

00:38:57 - Richard Bangs, Ed Ripley and Jason Juliano talk about their highlights of this year's convention and reminisce about previous 4F conventions.

00:47:55 - Soma's "Four F" Song that he composed and recorded in front of s using an app on his iPhone. Music was made with shuffling cards, jangling coins,

00:49:20 - Elevator Chat #2 - Oscar Munoz talks about being the Guest of Honor next year.

00: 52:02 - National President Elect of the S.A.M. , Kenrick "Ice" McDonald, talks about his platform of what he hopes to accomplish during his year as President.

01:03:03 - Joe Monti talks about working at the Magic Island in Newport Beach and Houston

01:09:12 - Elevator Chat #3 - John Bannon talks about his new book on totally self-working card tricks.

01:10:53 - Will Fern, Stephen Bargatze, Rick Merrill, Tim Ellis, Michael Dardant and more are caught in the hallway outside the Precursor Suite as we talked about the evening show.

01:36:20 - Obie O'Brien talks about the convention and recaps the event.

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.

This was the second act that Ouka performed at the F.F.F.F. 2014 (this YouTube video was not shot at the 4F convention)