537: Late Bloomers - Finding Magic Later in Life

A listener who became interested in magic later in life suggested that I consider chatting with others who may have a similar story. I thought that would be an interesting topic and perhaps even inspirational to others who might feel that it's too late to "teach an old dog new tricks." Well, this week we feature chats with a dozen listeners who responded and have interesting stories to tell.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:01:43 - Nick Creature

00:12:20 - Angelo Fiorentino

00:17:40 - Bill Wisch

00:28:00 - Charles Cisneros

00:33:26 - Clint Smith

00:37:55 - Daniel Will

00:43:28 - Ian Scheller

00:49:25 - Ridgely Hunt

00:57:07 - Ryan Johnson

01:05:05 - Sean Doolan

01:09:42 - Shawn Mulliins

01:13:02 - Tom Yates

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Magicians' Valhalla

Although the list below is not exhaustive, it does reflect the names of many well-known (and some lesser known) magicians, spouses and assistants who passed on in 2019. Some may not be as well-known to you, but they were my personal friends (hey, it is my blog!). If you are unfamiliar with any of these names, then it would behoove you to do a little online search of what these people have contributed to our craft. If you have someone you think was overlooked, then please post the name in the comments below on this blog.

Those whose names are highlighted were featured or interviewed here on The Magic Word Podcast. You can click on their name to revisit and listen to their voices again.

Denny Haney

Gary Darwin

Sonny Fontana

Don Billings

Marshall Brodien

Steve Dusheck

Anthony Brahams

Johnny “The Great Tomsoni” Thompson

Anthony Owen

John Cornelius

Tom Blacke

Piet Forton

Tony Spina

Chen-Kai

Don Wayne

Gen Grant

Eddy Taytelbaum

Bob Schulien

Dick Oslund

Simon Aronson

Mike Maxwell

Aloha, my friends.

334: A Magical Christmas Carol

Over the past year, I have attended a LOT of magic conventions. During those events, i have tried to update you with what was going on each day with daily updates from the organizers, talent, registrants, and dealers plus sometimes a little "color" background outside of the hotel.

But while I had some of my guests "cornered" for a few minutes, I asked them to do a reading of the classic story, "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. As many of you don't know, Dickens was a bit of a conjurer himself having performed during the summer of 1949 in a coastal resort off of the Isle of Wight purveying prestidigitation to those on holiday in the area. He was known as the “Rhia Rhama Rhoos - the Unparalleled Necromancer" and reportedly performed many unusual tricks including making playing cards magically burst into flames, transporting a woman’s watch from inside a wooden box and into the middle of a loaf of bread, and even cooking a steaming hot plum pudding in a gentleman’s top hat.

But prior to his venturing onto the stage to prestidigitate, he had already written many of his well-known novels including one published in 1843 which would become the iconic classic and perennial treatise on the holiday, "A Christmas Carol".

So here I present you this year's audio greeting card with great gratitude to all of my guests who participated in this project and also to all of you who regularly listen to The Magic Word Podcast. Happy Holidays!

As a little added treat for you this holiday season, here is a video I filmed and edited in 1985. Magician Scott Wells is visited by "three foreign" visitors who want to learn magic. In this video, Scott performs close-up, stand-up and stage magic for his guests. He also gives magic lessons to his guests; however, these instructions have been edited out of this public video.

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319: Day 3 - TAOM 2016

Schedule for Sunday, September 4

7:00 a.m. - ? - Grab ‘n’ Go Breakfast Bar – Ballroom Foyer
8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. - Church Service - Ballroom
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. - Dealers Room Open - Beachcomber
9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. - General Meeting – Ballroom
9:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. - 2017 Registration – Ballroom Foyer
9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. - Lecture – David Stone – Ballroom
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - Lecture – Cody Fisher – Ballroom
12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. - Magic Luncheon – Kokomos
2:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. - Professional Close-up Show – Catamaran, Longboat, Outrigger & Kokomos featuring: David Stone, Danny Orleans, David Rangel, Stuart McDonald, Ben Jackson, and Doug Gorman
7:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. - Stars from Around the World – Ballroom Featuring Dal Sanders as MC with Danny Orleans and Jan Rose, Dal Sanders, David Stone and David Thomas
10:30 pm. - 12:00 a.m. - President’s Party – Kokomos
10:30 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. - Dealers Open - Last Chance

Trigg presents his unique blend of tech-magic for Masters of Illusion TV show and the legendary magicians Penn & Teller "Fool Us"

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:14 - Banachek talks about some of his latest adventures plus reminisces about working in the Corpus Christi comedy club and other T.A.O.M. conventions.

00:16:28 - David Thomas was the director of Six Flags theme park productions for many years and he tells us how he selected magicians for working the parks.

00:22:27 - We continue our chat with David Thomas following David Stone's lecture.

00:32:36 - Trigg Watson talks about performing for Pann & Teller Fool Us television show plus preparing for contests and other TV shows.

00:38:37 - Close-up competitor, John Dahlinger (with whom we chatted on the first day) won the close-up competition and we do a follow-up chat.

00:42:46 - David Stone was busy today with an early morning lecture followed by his "professional close-up show" then the evening's finial stage gala. He unwinds a little with us at the President's Party.