335: Howard Hamburg - Voices from the Past

Howard Hamburg has been around a long time...a very long time. And he has conferred with and confided in the some of the legends of our magical art. You name them, and Howard has a true, first hand story about them. Howard brings history alive with his marvelous stories of personal relationships with legendary magicians. There are some great stories in here and some performance tips along the way, too. At the beginning of this podcast, Howard talks about his attendance at "Escorial" in El Escorial, Spain which is an invitation-only card magic convention hosted by Juan Tamariz.

A spectator places ANY 2 face-up spot cards on the table the magician removes a joker from his deck and places it face up onto the table as well. The performer mentions that the number 7 is considered a lucky number among Americans, the number 8 is considered a lucky number by the Chinese, but 13 is the performer's lucky number for certain cards in the deck.

Time Stamps for this podcast:

00:04:35 - Howard talks about the "Escorial Convention"

00:17:15 - Howard begins his stories about magician friends beginning with Michael Skinner

00:43:16 - Eric Citron, owner of The Great American Magic Company is introduced as our new sponsor

00:48:11 - Howard resumes our conversation talking about how different his generation was from others.

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303: What's App with Carl Andrews

Carl Andrews hails from Indianapolis, IN but lived and performed in Hawaii for eight years and now resides in North Carolina.

Carl talks about the old "Illusions" restaurant in Carmel, IN that was a magic themed restaurant that featured now well-known magic "names" like Michael Close, Homer Luwag, Chris Kenner, plus guests like Eugene Burger, Charles Greene III and others. We also talk about magic-themed restaurants.

Video clip from Carl Andrews Mental Comedy Show carlrandrews.com

A brief message about Audio Ape, the best audio companion for Show Cues.

During our discussion, Carl and I talked about an app by Max Krause but could not remember it's name. The app Carl was talking about during the podcast was Mental Killer and it's only available on the iPhone. To see some of the products offered by Carl Andrews, please visit his website at: http://www.carlandrews.com/products.html You can help both Carl and The Magic Word by purchasing his book through Amazon by clicking on the link below in this blog. And if you want to learn more about ShowCues, then visit the Conjuring Cabinet website then order it through the iTunes App store for $89.99.

BTW, during this podcast, I was trying to remember the name of a spy-themed bar in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After this podcast was posted, John Graybeal, a Friend of The Magic Word, reminded me that the name of the place is the Safe House. Thanks, John. It is unquestionably one of the coolest places I've ever visited!

Order Carl's book, "Magic From Maui" that includes all of the effects on his DVD of the same name, and more! Lots of great ideas and tricks for performing Restaurant Magic. It is just as fresh and relevant aas the day it was published in 2003.

Thank you to the Friends of The Magic Word whose financial support helps pay for the shipping of these prizes.

Click the banner to visit The Magic Word online magic store. Help support us with your purchases.

218: Steve Spill - I Lie For Money

I'm reluctant to produce a podcast solely for the intent purposes of promoting something that someone wants to pitch; however, there are exceptions. And this is one of them.

Steve Spill has had a magical life...and it's not over yet! One could say that Steve "grew up" in the Magic Castle because his father, Sandy Spillman, was a long-time host and also conducted the seances there for many years. Through his early teenage years he had unprecedented access to hang out with many of the greats such as Dai Vernon, Charlie Miller, Francis Carlyle, Kuda Bux and many, many others. Steve also worked at the Jolly Jester with Bob Sheets in the early days of "bar magic" in Aspen, Colorado. Later, the two of them opened the "Brook Farm Inn of Magic" in Delaware. And for about the past 20 years, he has owned and operated "Magicopolis" in Santa Monica, California.

You can follow Magicopolis on Twitter @Magicopolis and find them on Facebook at http://facebook.com/MAGICOPOLIS (note the all caps for their name plus be sure to look for the "monkey" profile picture so you know you have the correct "Magicopolis")

Steve and I first met over 30 years ago when he came through to perform at Houston's Magic Island and I was one of the House Magicians. Although it was not quite like "two ships passing in the night", we had fallen out of touch with one another since then as we both followed our separate paths. When Steve contacted me with the idea of pitching his new book, I knew that we needed to catch up to talk about all the "water that has run under our bridges."

Steve begins at the end by talking about Magicopolis which he built and owns and where he and his wife, Bozene, appear weekly. He then talks about his many experiences at the Magic Castle and relates stories about the eight mentors at the Castle who shaped his future. He also talks about Bob Sheets and the Jolly Jester in Aspen as well as the Brook Farm Inn of Magic. There a lot of stories from his new book plus some that are not there bu only appear here in this podcast.

You can read many of these stories plus dozens more in Steve's new book, "I Lie for Money" coming out soon and only available through Amazon. You can Click Here for more details and to order your copy.

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. Remember, you can download it through iTunes. See the preview page 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.

Exclusive Interview with Professional Magician & Magic Theater Owner Steve Spill

Order your copy of Steve's book (and support The Magic Word) by clicking on the link below to Amazon.

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