377: Day Four - 2017 MAGIC Live!

Final day of MAGIC Live! filled with more sessions and conversations with friends. One of the best things about this convention is the opportunities to visit with old friends and make new ones. Certainly that can be said about all magic conventions, but because this one is during the weekdays, more professionals can attend because they are usually working on weekends.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:16- Jon Stetson shares his favorite moments from the convention

00:04:04 - Lance Rich talks about this convention plus David Sandy's "Workshop" coming soon to St. Joseph, Missouri

00:09:01 - Kerry Pollock tells us what he has been p to recently and at 00:18:33 Brad Henderson tells us about puzzles.

00:26:57 - Brian Gillis was here for just one day so his experience was limited but he talks about the recent movie he was in.

00:25:34 - Joe Turner tells what he has enjoyed most from this convention

00:39:25 - John Shryock and I have not seen each other until this last day so he gives us a recap of his highlights from the convention plus what he has been up to recently.

00:44:40- David Hira gives us some of his highlights from the convention

00:54:25 - Marvyn "Mr. Electric" Roy tells us why it's important to celebrate our history

01:00:58 - Keith Fields and John Archer talks a bit about comedy

00:10:12 - Ray Anderson was one of the presenters during the General Session and here he talks a bit about one of his alter egos in "Esther's Follies"

01:14:44 - Stan Allen wraps up his perspective of the convention as we give him thanks for all he and his team have done.

01:21:48 - Scott Wells gives his personal wrap of the convention.

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216: Brad Henderson, the Esoteric Escamoteur - Part Two, Tales from the Mansion

We continue our conversation with Brad Henderson telling stories about his good friend Richard Garriott, aka Lord British in Ultima and General British in Tabula Rasa, but perhaps more well known to the general public as a game developer magnate and civilian astronaut. As mentioned in the blog last week, Brad was the curator of Richard Garriott's magic collection though now Richards primary residence is in New York City following his nuptials in 2011.

We begin this second part of our chat discussing more of the practical than the theoretical side of magic. But since we are talking with Brad, it does eventually slide into a little more theory towards the end.

Brad planned elaborate parties for Richard Garriott, one of which nearly cost Brad his life due to the stress and physicality of the planning. These parties were not your typical birthday parties but elaborate, extravagant events that that attracted the glitterati and Illuminati and literally cost a small fortune. The details and behind the scenes stories are incredible and almost "fairy tale" like.

Many of you are aware of the embezzlement proceedings that involved Hank Lee and Richard Garriott. Well, Brad tells a little more about that affair now that some time has been served, literally.

215: Brad Henderson, the Esoteric Escamoteur - Part One, Magic As Art

Brad Henderson spends a lot of time thinking about the "art" of magic and how to present it as such. He is well-known in our community as a trick reviewer, magic historian, professional mentalist, author of "The Dance", Mystery School staff member, and curator of the Richard Garriott magic collection.

I have known Brad for many years and although we only live about 259 miles apart (he in Austin and I in Houston...Texas is a big State) we rarely have time to sit down and talk...I mean really talk. So this time when I recently visited Austin (where I was the auctioneer for the annual Austin Magic Auction and Brad was a guest auctioneer), I made time to sit down with him and chat. I'm glad we did because I was able to capture "lightning in a bottle" with this podcast. There was so much covered in our chat that I decided to divide it into two parts so you, the listener (and I), can more easily digest the incredible volume and depth of the material, and perhaps come back for a second listen.

In this first of this two part podcast, our discussion focuses on magic as an art and how we should aspire to make every performance an art and not be a "hack" performing tricks for the sake of the trick. He is an advocate and believer that our performances should be about emotion and creating memorable experiences. This is a rather deep and theoretical discussion that may not be for everyone in that it contains neither trick explanations or stories. But the content is gold. I will suggest you listen for a great performing tip on Kerry Pollock's "Kate and Edith" that is worth the price of admission.