311: 2016 PCAM Convention Report

Running concurrently with Abbott's Get Together, the PCAM convention was happening in Simi Valley, California. Although we do tricky things, being in two places at the same time is not one of our skills.

But thanks to Fred King, a Friend of The Magic Word, and attendee at this year's PCAM convention, he was able to cover part of it with a delightful interview with Shawn Farquhar and Michael Dardant plus a recording of a panel discussion Regrettably, due to personal reasons Fred was unable to record more than these two reports. Thank you, Fred, for taking the time to record this special edition of The Magic Word Podcast that gives us a little insight to the magic family that is the P.C.A.M.

Shawn Farquhar returns to "Penn & Teller Fool Us" television show where he fools P&T for the second time.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:03:20 - Fred King talks with Shawn Farquhar about some of the history of the P.C.A.M. Then after just a few minutes into the conversation, Michael Dardant joins them to enliven the conversation. They both share several fun and entertaining stories. Shawn also talks about his experience of fooling Penn & Teller a second time on "Penn & Teller Fool Us" which he could not talk about at the I.B.M. convention in San Antonio, TX.

00:42:18- Shawn Farquhar hosts a panel discussion with S.A.M. President Jeff Sikora and International I.B.M. President, Oscar Munoz as they talk about their respective organizations and goals for this year.

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290: F.F.F.F. 2016 Day Four

The final day (and night) of the "Original Close-Up Convention"

Saturday April 30:
11:00am: Luis Otera Lecture
12:30pm: Lunch Buffet
1:30pm: 7th Close-Up Show "Asian Gala"
3:30pm: 8th Close-Up Show Fechter's Fabulous Frolics (Steve Beam emcee)
5:30pm: Dinner Buffet
7:30pm: Fat Brothers Tribute
8:00pm: 9th Close-Up Show Grand Finale Show (Obie O'Brien emcee)
11:30pm: Hospitality Suite

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:00 - Geoff Williams gives us some of his best "Puns of the the Day"

00:04:25 - We follow-up with Lion Fludd after his first appearance and performance at the 4F.

00:10:54 - Scott Robinson, organizer of TRICS magic convention in North Carolina, talks about his upcoming event plus highlights from this convention.

00:14:49 - Matt Episcipo loves this convention because of the camaraderie, a term we frequently hear.

00:19:13 - Steve Bargatze and Rick Merrill have closed the Saturday night show for many years, but this year they are taking a break but talk about what they could have "riffed" on from this year's convention.

00:25:25 - Gary Morton, emcee of the Friday afternoon show, talks about some of the seminal moments from this and past 4F conventions.

00:30:58 - Paul Gertner tells us a little about his planning for his portion of the final night show.

00:36:28 - Michael Dardant and Boris Wils talk about some of the outstanding acts at this year's 4F.

00:47:55 - Mike Maione and Darryl Rose talk about doughnuts and give their impressions on some of the outstanding acts.

01:00:23 - Obie O'Brien sits back and relaxes now that the convention is officially over. He looks back on the successful convention as the 46th annual 4F convention goes into the history books.

245: Day One - MAGIC LIve! 2015

For the first day of a four day event that had no scheduled activity until 7:30 p.m., there sure was a lot of meeting and greeting of old friends.

In this first day update, we have some time to chat with many of the friends we ran into. With nearly 1,800 registrants, it's hard to get around to have quality conversations with everyone. But it was great that some people gave me some great quality time albeit short due to the veritable whirlwind of magical luminaries swirling around the casino. Monday will bring us the first full day of activities so I probably should get a little rest. I;m still on Central Time so it is nearly dawn in Texas according to my body clock.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:25 - Charlie Randall of H&R Magic Books joins me at the airport for our flight from Houston to Las Vegas

00:07:17 - Chris Philppott and Steve Valentine, mates of mine from the Magic Castle are the first ones that I got to chat with after I checked into the hotel. Steve talks a bit about his presentation that he will give on Monday and Chris talks about his marketed effect, "French Postcards".

00:11:46 - R. Paul Wilson talks a bit about his movie, "Our Magic"

00:13:25 - "The Evil Twins", Dave Cox and Bruce Gold

00:15:20 - Steve Bryan talks about the Little Egypt Gazette and Randy Wakeman joins us to give us a health report on SIMON Lovell

00:22:44 - Kyle Knight and Mistie talks about their current and future schedule also about their performance on "Wizard Wars" and "Penn & Teller Fool Us".

00:31:35- Jeff and Tessa Evason are joined briefly by Gil Eagles and Ken Weber

00:39:26 - Justin Willman is getting married soon and he talks about that. He is also joined by Sean Popp and Shep Hyken.

00:44:38 - Dustin Stinett talks about the upcoming Genii convention

00:52:26 - Ray Anderson, star of Esther's Follies in Austin, Texas talks about the upcoming Texas Association of Magicians convention and his appearance there.

01:01:47 - Dennis Watkins talks about the return of the Houdini play in Chicago next summer for a 15 week run starting in June 2016.

01:06:52 - Steve Chezaday and Carol talk about Abbott's Get Together that just ended and he flew straight to Las Vegas

01:20:11 - Tom Mullica talks about his late night tales he told by his headstone in the graveyard at Colon, Michigan at Abbott's Get Together last week.