361: Terry Herbert - A Right Jolly Old Elf

Terry Herbert is most noted as a children's entertainer based in the U.K. but he is so much more than that. In this podcast, Terry talks about working with children and how close-up magic developed into what it is today in England. Pour yourself a cup of tea as you sit back and enjoy this podcast. It is full of great stories about some of the English magic legends and a "trip down memory lane".

Terry Herbert - Live on stage at the "Meet The Magic Circle 2007". www.jacksharpe.co.uk

Selected originals (offcuts, selected scenes, out-takes, rushes) for story 'The Piddingtons Keep Millions Guessing' - 50/10 Material for newsreel story - extra shots. A radio thought transference act. Various shots of the this act. Mainly shots from the BBC Radio studio in Piccadilly in London.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:06:15 - Terry talks about working with children and the how he came to star in one of the earliest "hit magic videos" on teaching how to entertain children. He also talks about the state of performing close-up in England today and what is in his current stand-up routine for adults. We chat about mentalism in the U.K. and it was interesting to find that Terry has done quite a bit of study on the history of "The Piddingtons" which he discusses here on the podcast. Terry talks about his friends Ken Brooke and tells stories about Tommy Cooper and other U.K. legends.

01:14:17 - Product review of "Horoscope" by Chris Congreave and Magic Tao - a volunteer reads their horoscope from a magazine page in your wallet that also has a playing card printed on the page which matches the card and astrological sign on the card also in your wallet.

01:22:16 - "Sparks" by JC James. Thirteen effects, routines and moves (mostly card sleights) that are mostly ideas that can be incorporated in your routines.

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266: Wizard Wars Woman - Billy Kidd

Billy Kidd is a force to be reckoned with. She is a street magician (with a straight jacket escape as her signature trick), but she is best known to the general magic community as one of the Wizards on the SyFy television series "Wizard Wars" (produced by Rick Lax) in the second season. Born in Canada, she now resides in Bath Spa, England with Gazzo. So now you see her connection with street magic.

She actually came into magic later in life than most male magicians who generally get interested in their adolescent years. Billy was 21 when she first saw and was influenced by a stage magician. As a drama major in college, she was already involved with and had a passion for theatre. But she saw the potential of being her own person as a street performer and creating her own stage wherever she was. She met Gazzo who took her under his wing and mentored her in the ways of the street and, well...the dominoes fell.

Street Magician, NIck Nickolas, was the inspiration for Billy Kidd. You can get a sense of his style in this video. You can learn more about Nick at www.nicknickolas.com

Billy traveled with Gazzo on his recent lecture tour of the U.S. and stopped by as my house guest. I talked with Gazzo on a podcast with the intent of bringing over Billy to chat, too; however, Gazzo had so much to talk about that it filled the hour. I felt that Billy would have enough to fill another hour talking about her experiences as a female magician in our male dominated art and the challenges for a woman magician on the street.

I was not wrong.

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Mail out magic holiday cards this year from the beautiful Taschen MAGIC Book. 100 postcards for less than $20.00. Order through the link below and help support The Magic Word through the Amazon affiliate program.

Not just a good read for the holidays, but a great read anytime with wonderful stories about magicians and Steve Spill's magical life.

264: Street Talk from Gazzo

With literally tens of thousands of performances over his lifetime, Gazzo is one of the world's best street performers. Don't just take my word for it. On multiple occasions he has taken top honors at street festivals as the "best" street performer. Gazzo resides in Bath Spa, England, but as a globe-trotter, he is really a citizen of the world.

During a recent nationwide lecture tour across the U.S., Gazzo stopped by Houston and visited my home to record a chat. Gazzo talked about his philosophy of life, working the streets around the world, differences (or lack of differences) in appreciating verbal humor among other cultures and non-English speaking audiences, and much more.

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.

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