438: Andy Dallas - Escaping From The Ordinary

Andy Dallas is an interesting character whom many of you should know as a Past President of the Society of American Magicians (2006-2007) but he is also a world renown hypnotist, lecturer, and escape artist. In his early career, Andy performed the "usual" escapes from chains, handcuffs, locked trunks, upside down straight jackets, manacles and more. But he also escaped from many unique, creative and original escapes including his "Triple Death Trap"

Andy is also known as a collector of carnival con games that you can't win and old, mechanical pinball/pachinko games. But in recent years he is best known as the owner and proprietor of the Dallas & Co. Costumes & Magic in Champaign, Illinois. And for my money, he has the best handling and presentation of the iconic "Zombie" ball of anyone in the world.

Owner of Dallas & Co., Andy Dallas balances magic acts and his Halloween and magic store. He conjures up his colorful past as an escape artist.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:08:31 - Andy Dallas talks about his career as an escape artist, his brick and mortar magic shop and his unique collection of carnival con games..

01:15:49 - Product Review: Box Office by Jeremy Marouani - a prediction effect from 100 movie titles attractively displayed on ten different post card sized cards. Recommended with reservation.

01:21:22 - Product Review: Klik by Agus Tjui - using your phone or a spectator's phone to take a picture of a "wrong" card is shown to be the correctly selected card when viewed on the phone. Recommended.

01:25:45: - Unbound by Darryl Davis = a gimmickless, impromptu version of the Invisible Deck using a shuffled deck in play that can be yours or a borrowed deck. Sleights are required so not a beginner trick, but very effective and clever. Recommended.

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437: CJ Johnson - Game On!

CJ Johnson is a man of many talents. He is not as well known among the magic crowd because he is another one of those who works, creates, and performs rather than attending magic conventions, lecturing for Penguin or Murphy's, or having his ideas published in major magic magazines.

But it's important to know what he does and why he is successful at hypnotism shows, marketing, building, working the college and grade school circuit and producing several game shows that are on the road and on the high seas.

CJ Johnson is one of the leading hypnotists in the college and corporate market today. To find out how to bring Comedy Hypnotist CJ Johnson to your next College, Corporate or High School event, visit http://www.SleepWithCJ.com now.

Survey Says is our most popular college and corporate game show. This video shows just 1 part of one round. It captures the energy and excitement created at each and every show by our amazing group of hosts. If you are looking for the best College or Corporate game show in the business, that won't drain your wallet - look no further.

In this podcast, CJ Johnson talks about taking classes to become a hypnotist after he had already booked some hypnosis shows. Though it may not be the best advice to do that, it worked out well for CJ. He also talks about working the college circuit with his many game shows. CJ also refers to his marketing book, "More Shows More Money". That book is still available and can be purchased as an eBook or a soft cover edition. Just Click Here to visit the website where you can also see his other offerings.

Proven Techniques to Succeed in the Entertainment Business.

436: Current Events

Lots of has been stuff that has been happening over the past few weeks. This week I try to cover a lot of it including my four week road trip (3,200 miles, eight states, 50 driving hours and visiting hundreds of friends) including a visit to a new brick and mortar magic shop. This past week was also the international competitions of FISM in South Korea. So this week we also chat with Stuart MacDonald who competed in General Magic and paced eighth in the world (first among U.S. competitors).

Penn & Teller Fool Us Stuart MacDonald #PennandTellerFoolUs season 4. More videos on his channel : https://www.youtube.com/user/StuMagic/videos

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:16 - I talk a little about his 3,000 mile road trip from Houston, Texas to Illinois to Michigan to Wisconsin to Oklahoma then back again. I call it my REBIRTH TOUR: over 3,200 miles, eight states, 50 hours on the road, and visits with dozens of family and friends, old and new. Each one helped me through the grieving process after my wife's passing. BTW, Kathy Wells joined me on this trip, too. I carried her ashes in the car with me for the trip.

First I drove straight for 14 hours in one day from Houston to Central Illinois to visit my mother-in-law and my wife's family where I mixed some of Kathy's ashes with her father's. I then drove to nearby Champaign, IL to see Andy Dallas and record a podcast from his magic shop.

Then it was on to Chicago to spend time with Don Wiberg and recorded a podcast about the Chicago Magic Round table members. Of course, a trip to Chicago had to include a trip to Magic, Inc. and saw Pedro Nieves Bosque, Ryan Plunkett and Lion Fludd. Don Wiberg and then over to the new Chicago Magic Lounge where I was given a first class tour by John Sturk and saw my friend, Jeff Bibik work behind the bar. Don and I then saw an entertaining one-man show by David London.

From Chicago I set my car towards Grand Rapids, Michigan with a side trip to Albanese Chocolate Factory in Indiana. Lots of great magic and friends at the IBM Convention in Grand Rapids too numerous to mention. But it was great seeing friends who supported me and gave me a hug, which I sorely needed.

After the convention it was back to Chicago and a visit with my fraternity brother and a groomsmen from my wedding 43 years ago, Jack Petersen and his wife, Linda Geeve Petersen. The following day I drove to the Wisconsin Dells to see a fantastic theater and show by my friend, Rick Wilcox and his wife Susan.

After lovely breakfast with the Wilcoxes (and a scone recipe from Susan), I drove to Oklahoma for a great visit with Doug Anderson and his wife Patti Beth. I then took a morning drive to nearby Tulsa to have lunch with Steve Lancaster. Before leaving Oklahoma, Doug took me to the small village of Locust Grove where Clark B. May operates the Rabbit in Hat Magic Shop and Theater.

From Oklahoma, I traveled to Dallas to visit with my son, Nick Wells, Jamie Wells and my grand daughters. Then after a few days, it was time to return to Houston.

I want to sincerely thank all of my friends and family for opening their doors and hearts to welcome me and help me on this "Rebirth Tour". I feel refreshed and ready to take on the world again. Lots of great stuff coming up for which I am truly thankful for and know it will be nothing but good!

00:06:16 - Clark B. May talks about his new brick and mortar magic shop in Locust Grove, Oklahoma and his plans for opening a theater in the back and a restaurant, too.

00:33:22 - Stuart MacDonald just returned from competing in the world championships (FISM) in Busan, South Korea where he ranked eighth in the world. He talks about preparing for the competition and his experience at FISM.

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 or through iHeart Radio by Clicking Here.. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

438: Andy Dallas - Escaping From The Ordinary

437: CJ Johnson - Game On!

436: Current Events

The Magic Word