623: James Holmes - The Cane and Silk Road

During a recent trip to Branson, Missouri, to see a couple of the magic shows in town, I was pleasantly reunited with an old friend, James Holmes. The name is probably not familiar to, well…nearly 95% of listeners here on the podcast. But for a variety of reasons, you should know who this person is and what he has contributed and continues to contribute to our magic community. James has been around for a long time and I probably made his acquaintance in the 1980’s. He is the creator of the “One Handed Cane to Silk” among other things.

This week, James talks about how he came up with the “One Handed Cane to Silk” effect and how he developed and marketed it. He talks about his close association with the late Fantasio as well as the late team of “Tom and Sherrie”. Unfortunately, piracy is a common thing in our community where unscrupulous “manufacturers” and dealers make and sell ripoffs of others’ creations. James talks a little about this and how it affected both him and Fantasio.

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388: David Garrard - The Ace of All Trades

During his travels across the country on a lecture tour, David Garrard stopped by the microphone of The Magic Word to talk about his life in magic and his diverse background that has kept his life fulfilled. Moving to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1975, David became fast friends with local magicians including Lance Burton and Mac King. During his 50+ years of magic, David has found success in performing in churches, trade shows, children's parties, stage shows, television, close-up and more. His book, "Out Of My Hat" contains material from his lecture which is one of the best set of "lecture notes" I have seen lots of great material that I guarantee will play well for youth and/or adults.

Time Stamps for the podcast:

00:06:07 - In this podcast, David talks about marketing, handing out his business cards, booking trade shows, working in state/county fairs, the importance of hiring others to help make you successful, performing for children, his experience of performing on "Penn & Teller Fool Us", his relationship with Mac King and Lance Burton, the relationship between David Ginn and Doug Henning, views on keeping your act "clean", and his view on embedding messages in gospel magic.

01:05:37 - Product Review: "Bare" by the Other Brothers - allows you to stamp a spectator for the "Ashes on Hand" effect. Clean, easy, non-sticky nor toxic. Highly recommended.

01:11:27 - Product Review: "Telekinetic" by Diamond Jim Tyler - Diamond Jim teaches you how to animate a card box, matchbox, matchbook, business cards, and cigarette case. Comes complete with DVD and gimmick. Recommended.

01:15:00 - Product Review: "Double Take" by Jason Knowles is a selected card instantly changes to a bank note or bill. Recommended.

The contest has ended. Stay tuned to see who won! Congratulations

365: Day One - IBM/SAM Combined Convention 2017

This is the first of a five day series of podcasts from Louisville featuring conversations with convention talent, organizers, dealers and registrants. The intent is to bring you the sounds (and sights through the embedded videos and attached photos) of what's happening almost in "real time" so you have the next best experience of actually being there. .

This is not the "official" first day of the convention, but nonetheless, there were several "pre-convention" activities that happened and are worth recording for this episode which I will call "Day One".

IBM-SAM 2017 COMBINED CONVENTION SCHEDULE

TUESDAY, JULY 11
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Lance Burton Teen Magic Seminar - Jones
Ed Thomas Memorial Jr Magic Workshop - Beckham
2:00 PM - S.A.M. Endowment Fund Meeting - Willis
3:00 PM - S.A.M. Magic Center Meeting - Willis
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM - Registration Opens - Registration Area
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM - S.A.M. Caucus Meeting - Willis
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM - Registration Opens - Registration Area
6:00 PM - Red Carpet Event - Whitney Hall, Kentucky Center
7:00 PM - Louisville Premere: Billy Topit - Whitney Hall, Kentucky Center
9:30 PM - Midnight - Dealers Grand Opening / Autograph Session - Exhibit Hall

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:04:20 - David Salwak and Fielding West talk about the talent at this convention, both on the shows and the competition.

00:12:09 - Michael Perovich, from Los Angeles and a member of the Magic Castle, tells why he comes to the combined convention which allows him to see acts that aren't seen at the Magic Castle.

00:25:46 - Oscar Munoz, International President of the I.B.M. tells us about what he has accomplished over the past year as President and some of his highlights of what he has seen and done.

00:28:19 - Dal Sanders, past National President of the S.A.M., tells us what's going on with the S.A.M. Council.

00:33:08 - Richard Turner calls in to remind us of his debut on Penn & Teller Fool Us on July 13, 2017

00:34:57 - Q&A Panel discussion following the debut showing of "Billy Topit"

00:52:03 - Jeff Sikola, National President of the S.A.M., talks about what he feels were the highlights of the past year.

00:57:55 - Jason Andrews talks about the competitions that brought him to where he is today as well as his cruise ship work.

00:02:31 - Tommy Ellison (a Friend of The Magic Word) shares a story as an update from the podcast posted Feb. 27, 2014 and available by Clicking Here.