#187 - Kevin James, The Inventor

Kevin James has been called many things, performer, creator, manufacturer, world traveler, author, lecturer, producer and all around great guy. But what he's perhaps best known for is his moniker he has been tagged with for The Illusionists world tour: Inventor.

Certainly Kevin has had his share of inventing original, commercial tricks he has released like "Living Hand", "Floating Rose", "Snow" and "Bowl-A-Rama", among many others. He has won the "Parlour Magician of the Year" from the Academy of Magical Arts and competed in the second season of "America's Got Talent" (sic) where he advanced to the semi-finals. Kevin was also on CBS TV on "World's Greatest Magicians at the Magic Castle". He had a three year run in Paris' Crazy Horse, a multi-year contracts in Las Vegas with the Riviera in "Splash" and at the Greek Isles Casino "The World's Greatest Magic Show".

In this podcast, I caught up with Kevin before his tech rehearsal for his performance at the 2014 Texas Association of Magicians convention in Ft. Worth, Texas. We sat in the quiet theatre before the construction and hub-bub started and talked about The Illusionists world tour, his creations and his process for creating and his association with Gaeton Bloom, his experience on "America's Got Talent" (sic) and advice for others considering an audition. He also talked about some of his performances around the world and his early upbringing and association with the Long Beach Mystics.

This is a very insightful and thorough look at Kevin's magical world and career. Join us as we look through the eyeglasses of Kevin James.

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Can't get enough magic podcasts? Why eat alone? Enjoy these irregular podcasts as I take my microphone along and record conversations over lunch, dinner or drinks. It's raw, unedited, something different and fun! Enjoy "Meals with Magicians".

134: Getting Your Magic Ideas to Market

I recently received an unsolicited private message on Facebook from Mark Presley who wanted to talk about creativity in magic. I called to talk with him for a while and the more we talked, the more I thought that his experience might be of interest to our listeners. Many magicians regularly come up with ideas for new tricks but have no idea of how or where to get them to market.

This podcast features Mark Presley talking about the work it took him and the importance of research and development on the front end to make sure that your "new" idea hasn't already been invented. And beyond that, how to take it to market, how to design the packaging, and more.

If you are interested in hearing someone else's creative process and get a perspective on how he took his products from "the drawing board" to consumer, then you will enjoy this podcast. To learn more about the products that Mark sells, you can visit his website at http://imaginatormagic.com/ He would also like to hear from you and be glad to give you personal advice with your ideas. You can contact Mark at MarksMagic@comcast.net

Mark Presley Hawkins is "The Imaginator"

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). The built-in player above may not work on Apple Operating Systems due to their recent IOS update. Remember, you can download it through iTunes. See the preview page by Clicking Here.

Magic & Martinis' Thursday

Simon Lovell in "Strange and Unusual Hobbies"

131: Simon Lovell - A Ferret's Broken Femur

In early November, Simon Lovell took a fall that landed him in the hospital with a severely broken leg (femur broken in three places). Many have wondered about his status, how it happened and how he is doing. Here you can hear it from the ferret's mouth himself. And beyond just a health update, Simon talks about creativity in magic, the importance of hard cover books versus e-books, his latest book projects, his work on the USA Network's popular TV show, "White Collar" plus other projects where he will have acting roles, his work with Kozmo and "Reel Magic", and so, so much more.

You can hear more of Simon on Reel Magic by subscribing to Kozmo's bi-monthly video magazine. Visit the website at http://www.reelmagicmagazine.com/

There are so many topics and side trips we take on this podcast that it's difficult to give you time stamps for all the fascinating areas we covered; however, if you are most interested in hearing about Simon's recent injury, then you can skip to 00:37:47.

Simon would appreciate hearing from you with your good wishes for his speedy recovery. He has returned home from the hospital but your email will help bring him some cheer during his long rehabilitation period. You can drop him an email at Simon@SimonLovell.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.