513: John Bannon - Scholar, Solicitor, Sorcerer

There are a fairly large number of great card magicians creating original magic. But the man whose card magic has resonated most with magicians in the last 30 years is John Bannon. Why? We think it's because John has just the right cocktail of ingredients: his magic is DIFFERENT than what others are doing. John has shared his magic through a series of books and DVD’s that have revolutionized card tricks. John is a low key, self-effacing, intellectual who is an attorney by day and a card trick innovator on weekends. For the last few decades, John has been part of the Saturday Session with Simon Aronson, David Solomon and David Finkelstein who work on and develop innovative card tricks.

For more about the Saturday Session crew of magicians, Click Here for the online article referred to in this podcast.

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376: Day Three - 2017 MAGIC Live!

Day Three was the second full day of activities, and depending upon the color of your lanyard holding your badge, determined whether one attended the morning General Session or two of the three Focus Sessions. I had the red lanyard which meant that I attended the General Session in the morning which was again capably hosted by Jonathan Levitt and Julie Eng. Their guest were interesting and entertaining and included Jonathan Goodwin, Levent, David Williamson and Richard Turner.

The Focus Sessions were okay, too, but the evening show was first "In Concert with John Archer" who gave a one hour comedy performance then I finally got to see the Thayer 49 Puzzle Boxes. This is the hardest thing to describe in writing but was for me one of the highlights of the convention. And for those reading this blog who may still be at the convention, I don't want to spoil it for you but will tell more in tomorrow's report.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:17 - Mark Mason just arrived from holiday in Germany in order to be a dealer here at MAGIC Live!

00:03:31 - Everybody's funnyman, Bill Malone, is not part of the convention this year but just hanging out and he tells a funny story.

00:09:20 - John Bannon has a new fourth DVD coming out to complete his "Move Zero" series.

00:14:09 - We go into the dealer's room and chat with Erin Wimmer with Bicycle Cards and she tells us about some new cards coming out soon plus some decks that were made just for this convention.

00:19:46 - Gabe Fajuri has another auction this coming Saturday at Potter and Potter Auctions

00:23:11 - Master Payne is not performing this year so he is enjoying being a general registrant this week. He also talks about Mystery School and Eugene Burger.

00:28:26 - Brent Braun from Penquin tells us about the newest tricks available from Penguin plus talks about the Magic Expo.

00:32:09 - Levent talks about photography

00:35:15 - Richard Hatch tells us about the newest publication about "Expert at the Card Table"

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!

Click on the graphic above to visit the site for more information on Houdini-Opoly

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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.