829: Obie's 4F 2024 Close-Up Convention - Day Three Report

Friday April 26, 2024

10:30 a.m. Tricks from Books Everyone Has Forgotten (MC: Mike Powers)

1:30 p.m. 4th Show Magical Moments (MC: Meir Yedid)

3:30 p.m. Lecture #5 Jovi Benitez

7:45 p.m. Tribute to GOH Charming Choi (host: Jeki Yoo)

8:00 p.m. Korean Gala (MC: Charming Choi)

Time Stamps:

(00:00) Theyagic Word Podcast welcomes Glenn Brown to talk about the 51st convention

(02:21) About 130 people are from the US; the rest are spread amongst 17 countries

(06:14) Next year's convention is still planned for the same hotel as this year

(06:39) We ask people to provide two sponsors, people who have attended four f

(09:23) Glenn Brown: One of our guests lost his passport on a plane

(12:51) This is the 51st year of the four F convention

(16:19) A magician is a director to the actors, to the spectators

(20:23) The best story wins. Rather than saying, you want to see a trick

(22:25) Darryl: There is no other convention in the world like this one

(26:36) There are perks to giving back to magicians, right? Yeah. Well, there are perks, certainly,

(28:33) The magic circle now streams live on Monday night during COVID

(32:01) Daryl: The beauty of this convention is everyone's limited to five minutes

(34:31) Darryl Rose: This is the best close up convention in the magic world

(36:19) Every convention is worth it if you come away with something that you can use

(40:19) Rick Wilcox will be attending the TRICS convention in Charlotte in November

(44:16) You're receiving the Melbourne Christopher award for illusionist, best

(45:35) Obviously we want to talk about now before our season starts, so. So we had a 25th season

(46:50) You've been coming to 4F since 2002

(50:28) Rick says Bernardo always thinks of four numbers when doing magic

(53:41) Roger Nicot, and Eva Mae got married here nine years ago

(55:47) So have you seen much of the convention from the standpoint, you've been a dealer

(57:58) You're going to be a dealer at MAGIC Live this year, right

(59:17) Scott: They're getting ready for the main show right now

(59:28) Scott: We had a wonderful show by Korean magicians tonight

(01:01:04) Jekiyoo: I'm glad that all of you guys came over

(01:03:48) The Magic Word podcast is over. You scotty out

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767: Randy Wakeman - I've Been Around for a Long, Long Years

Randy Wakeman has been around for many decades and was often seen lecturing and performing at magic conventions. Nonetheless, I have always seen him as an “underground” magician who appeals to the true sleight-of-hand experts. He is one of those guys who has “been there, done that, has the t-shirt” as he was one of the regular performers about the Chicago Bar Magic Scene before the turn of the last century. He has written several books on magic (card magic mostly) and is still relevant in our community as a performer, teacher and author.

While at the recent Senior Tour close-up convention in St. Louis, The Magic Word spoke with Randy as part of the convention report content. He was preparing for a workshop, so we didn’t get a chance to go in-depth as I had wanted. But we agreed to get together at the 4F convention in Buffalo a couple months later. True to his word, we sat down to complete our chat which results in this episode. The content of our chat in both places was a little disjunctive, so the editing required us to put the second conversation first then plug in the chat in St. Louis and finish with our talk while in Buffalo. This sounds more confusing that it actually is, but I know you will understand and enjoy our chat.

735: Magifest 2023 - Day Two Report

Friday 27th January 2023

10:00am - 5:30pm

Dealers Open

10:00am - 11:00am

Kyle Purnell Lecture

See one of the most fertile creative minds in magic…doing his very best material. Kyle Purnell has developed highly innovative ideas with cards, bills, coins, and more, and you’ll see it all in this action-packed lecture. 11am - 12pm

Mortenn Christiansen Lecture

Not only did Denmark’s Mortenn Christiansen win the Comedy Prize this year at FISM, but he also brought down the house with an unusual act that is amazing as it is hilarious. You’ll see that act in the gala show, but in this lecture you’ll see an array of fantastic, original close-up and parlor magic. 1pm - 2:30pm

The Magifest Session

Starring Charles Greene performing and explaining a few pet effects, as well as author Margalit Fox, who will present a captivating 45-minute presentation on her best-selling book, The Confidence Men, the true story about two men who used mentalism to escape from a POW camp.

There will also be a presentation from the Gahana High School Magic Program, which features magic from students with disabilities. We at Magifest are proud to have an ongoing partnership with this important and inspiring program. We are excited to see what magic they do for us. 2:30pm - 3:30pm

Youth Event

For young magicians only! 3:30pm - 4:30pm

Mark Calabrese Lecture

Making his Magifest debut, card-cheating expert and magician Mark Calabrese will share the magic he uses to astound guests nightly at New York’s illustrious SpeakEasy Magic. You’ll learn practical, doable card magic. 5:30pm - 6:30pm

The Matt Pritchard Experience

This event is impossible to categorize, and there hasn’t been anything like it at Magifest before. Pritchard brought the house down at our sister-convention, The Session, with this presentation. Matt Pritchard has a background in science, and during the pandemic he put this background to use making online, viral videos of magic illusions. In this talk he’ll show and (sometimes) tell on the most popular of these illusions. And in most cases, the method behind the trick is as interesting as the trick itself. 8pm - 9pm

Lance Burton Interview

The man, the myth, the legend. Lance Burton sits down for a candid, in-depth interview about his illustrious career. We’ll look at performance footage and find out how one of Las Vegas’s greatest entertainers made it to the top. 9:30pm - 10:30pm

David Gerard Show

Experience this high-energy, astounding mentalism show. Straight from his residency in San Francisco to the Magifest stage… 11:30pm - midnight

You Flash, You Lose with Chris Ramsay and friends

Be part of a social media happening as the Big Trick Energy team invite you to play their "You Flash, You Lose" 10:30pm - 12.30am

Bar Magic with Mark Calabrese

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:18 - The new CFO for Vanishing, Inc., Jeff Kowalk, chats with us about Vanishing, Inc. and the Magifest plus other exciting news

00:15:22 - Roger Nicot from Card Shark and Scott talk about crop circles and Stone Henge

00:22:21 - Marv Leventhal, one of the publishers of the Minotaur and shares his observations about some of the shows from the Day One evening shows.

00:36:43 -Owner of the Chicago Magic Lounge, Joey Cranford, chats about this convention and some news about the Chicago Magic Lounge.

00:47:-5 - Tom Craven has been attending the Magifest for about 60 years.

00:52:15 - Shoot Ogawa was a FISM winner who will be performing, lecturing and doing a private workshop here at the Magifest. He is currently performing a magical mystical show in Hawaii.

00:57:57 _ S.A.M. President Elect John Sturk chats about the upcoming national convention in July in New Orleans.

01:02:17 - John Wolfe and Kyle Purnell chat about this convention and why they like to attend.