354: Robin Leach - Lifestyles of Magicians

Robin Leach has long been associated with his catch phrase "Champagne Dreams and Caviar Wishes" as he hosted the long running television show, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" which focused on profiling well-known celebrities and their lavish homes, cars and other materialistic details. But Robin is also a "magic fan" who clearly loves and has a deep respect for magic and he is friends with many of the local magicians. Believe it or not, he is an honorary member of The Magic Circle. He also has a rather impressive collection of magic books in his library.

I saw Robin Leach at last year's MAGIC Live! who was trying to be inconspicuous as he chatted with Stan Allen. I later asked Stan about Robin's association with magic which led to this podcast. As a long time resident of Las Vegas and immersed in the lifestyles of local celebrities, Robin has a unique perspective on the history and evolution of the magic scene. I felt that he would make a perfect guest for the podcast to hear an "outsiders" perspective of magic, magicians, and the role they have played in making Las Vegas what it is today. I was not disappointed.

Today at age 75 his life hasn't slowed down. I was lucky to get an hour and a half of his time during the week I was in Las Vegas because of his tremendously busy schedule including his weekly vlog (video log) on You Tube, LuxeVegas.

Our discussion opens with Robin talking about making and enjoying a "proper" cup of tea. He then talks about his passion for magic and how he believes it needs to have a much higher ranking among the performing arts. He then chats about having been a guest of Bob Harbin and becoming an honorary member of The Magic Circle. He then goes on to talk about his favorite magician, Bill Malone. He also enjoyed watching Ricky Jay live in his Broadway performance, "Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants".

He then talks about the evolution of magic on the Las Vegas "Strip" including from Norm Neilsen, Channing Pollock, Siegfried and Roy, Lance Burton, David Copperfield to Penn & Teller, Criss Angel and Amazing Jonathan to the newest show on the Strip, Jarrett & Raja. Although he sings the praises of many magicians, he is not a fan of hypnotists, and he also has advice for Mac King and Xavier Mortimer. Ultimately, he believes there are too many magicians in Las Vegas today though the art of magic still survives. He then shifts to talking about how hard it is to work in New York City but Monday Night Magic has proved to be the exception.

He concludes by giving us his three "D's" of show business: Dedication, Discipline and Diligence.

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For more information on this and the other Nick Trost books in this series, please visit Steve Bryant's Little Egypt Magic, March 2017 edition.

341: Houdini-Opoly with Dick Brookz and Dorothy Dietrich

Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz own and operate the Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. They have both led extraordinary lives and worthy of talking more about their Houdini museum, the Houdini seance, and the former Magic Townhouse in New York City. They talk about all these things but the purpose of this particular podcast is to help the magic world learn more about their newest project, "Houdini-Opoly"

They have been working on this board game for over two years and with the Kickstarter campaign now being fully funded just before this podcast was released. So not it's on to meet their "stretch" goals to pay for the "enhancements". Thanks to your support, it appears that it will be in production soon this year. The Magic Word Podcast is selective in providing a platform for promoting individuals or pet projects. But this is one I support and think is of particular interest to our community. But even if you choose not to support the cause and buy a game, the rest of our chat is interesting as we talk about the old Magic Townhouse in New York City and why it closed and the museum moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania. We also discuss the Houdini seance and the museum.

Help the Kickstarter Campaign and get your "one of a kind" collectible Houdini board game. You can't escape the fun!

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The contest is over and we congratulate Pat Darienzo who won a copy of Danny Archer's eBook. — The contest is over and we congratulate **Pat Darienzo** who won a copy of Danny Archer's eBook.

246: Day Two - MAGIC Live! 2015

Stan Allen opened the conference with the keynote speech that set the tone for the convention. His one word this year: curiosity. The morning session was a variety of outstanding presentations but the highlight everyone was waiting for was David Copperfield "In His Own Words". He was genuine, humble and charismatic and enjoyed by all. He admitted some of his failures and talked about continuing to work on projects and being forever committed to excellence and tweaking effects to make them perfect. He also discussed his disgust for those who steal from creators.

The afternoon sessions (for my colored badge) included Ian Rowland on mentalism (his third appearance at MAGIC Live!), Joel Bauer talking about trade shows, and Steve Valentine talking about variations of Cards to Pocket.

The evening show was outstanding hosted by Jorge Bass and opened with one of my favorite acts, Charlie Frye & Company. It concluded with not one or two, but three illusionists: Nathan Burton, Mike Michaels and Greg Gleason.

My evening rounded out with the 11:00 close-up show. Not your typical professional close-up show. In fact, this was perhaps for me, one of what will remain asa highlight of this MAGIC Live! Michael Weber hosted an evening of top professionals presenting one trick from the original "Stars of Magic" series. This featured Johnny Thomson, R. Paul Wilson, Paul Vigil, Julie Eng, Eric Mead and David Ben with a special guest appearance by the Professor himself, Dai Venon, perfectly portrayed by Jared Kppf.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:26 - Host Stan Allen explains the theme of this year's convention.

00:07:26 - Jamie D. Grant talks a bit about the show he just finished presenting on the memorized deck

00:08:50 - Michael Chaut, producer of Monday Night Magic talks a bit about his 18 year run at producing the show. We are intermittently joined by several people who are passing through the casino near the entrance of the theater.

00:22:00 - Simon Coronel was the master of ceremonies for the morning session and he talks a bit about not scripting his show.

00:28:55 - Shep Hyken and Seth Kramer talk about MAGIC Live!

00:41:16 - Bill Cook talks about performing on "Penn & Teller Fool Us" and "Wizard Wars".

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