#200 - How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Last year we brought you "The Night Before Christmas" read by a handful of popular magicians. It was so well received that I asked a few more guys (and gals) to read "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas". See if you can pick out the voices of: Boris Wild, Bob Cassidy, Docc Hilford, Tim Ellis, Tim Trono, George Tait, Rocco Silano, Eric DeCamps, Mandy Farrell, Ice McDonald, Steven Bargatze, Marc Salem, Rick Merrill, Richard Osterlind and, as the Grinch, Eugene Burger.

As I attended several magic conventions over this past year, I took aside a few guys and gals to chat on the podcast. But many of the people graciously agreed to record something special just for this very special podcast. I hope you enjoy hearing their reading of this Doctor Seuss classic. This was one of the most difficult podcasts to edit and took the longest time to gather all the voices to do this one which ended up being one of the shortest ones, too.

This special podcast is my Christmas gift to you for listening for these past few years to the previous 199 podcasts. I wish all the best to you and yours for this holiday season.

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Magic & Martinis Thursday...with the Grinch!

164: Part 4 - My Week at The Castle 2014

Ready to eat? Enjoy your lunch break with Bob Cassidy and me as we have a little take-out from In 'N Out and talk extensively about mentalism and performing. Back at the Magic Castle later that night, I caught up with John Carney outside the Parlour of Prestidigitation before he was seated for Rafael Benatar's show. Much later that night, I sat down with one of the members of the old "Long Beach Mystics", David Deeble. He was one of my favorite performers from the 2013 MAGIC Live!

00:01:26 - Master Mentalist, Bob Cassidy, chats candidly during a take-out lunch from In 'N Out that we took back to the apartment at the Nirvana in his room, The Charlie Miller Suite. We talked about his experience at the "Beyond Brookledge: event that included many other performers like Michael Weber and other eclectic entertainers. He talks about his early experience at The Magic Castle, the importance of scripting mentalism, Derren Brown, Keith Barry, knowing your powers, predictions, consistency in your performance, pre-show work, dual reality, working with drunks, selection of volunteers, Q&A, David Hoy, and more.

00:32:17 - John Carney, chats about his recent video projects, past and present, including Carney 2013 that was a monthly video lesson throughout last year. He also talks about Revizzit, the password protected way of safely downloading magic content. Rafael Benatar also drops in for a moment to say "hi" before he starts the show. John talks about working theatre shows and his learning experience.

00:40:12 - David Deeble, one of the Long Beach Mystics, tells us what he's been up to living abroad in Germany or a few years, what he's been doing recently and where he's going. Among other topics he talked about the hard times on the road at comedy clubs, his serious accident on a unicycle and how it affected his life, grabbing the wrong bag from the airport, and of course he talks about being a part of the legendary Long Beach Mystics..

Magic & Martinis Thursday

Scott Wells with Vigo the Carpathian, I mean, Bob Cassidy. Cheers!

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