728: Behind the Camera at Masters of Illusion Season 9 - Part Two

It takes a village to produce a successful television series, and the village that produces “Masters of Illusion” has been successful year after year as they go into their ninth season on the CW Network. Last week we released the first of this two part series which gives listeners a peek into the lives of some of those who were involved in the making of this year’s series. We continue this week as we complete the episodic series with more conversations and more insight.

This week we start the episode featuring a chat back stage with Lucy Darling (in full character, of course). Next we catch a few minutes with the “Man of Steel”, the emcee of MOI, none other than television’s Superman, Dean Cain. Then we hear from as well as visiting the dressing room of “the Conjurors” from the U.K., Matthew Pomeroy and Natasha Lamb. We hear from one of the few mentalists on the show, Wayne Hoffman, then we sit down for a bite to eat with Jonathan Levit. One of the unexpected pleasures I experienced was getting to consult with one of the performers, Mai Wynn as I taught her a few close-up and stand-up routines to use on the show. We wrap this two part episode with a visit with the Executive Producer, Gay Blackstone, who finally took a breather after the two week shoot to talk about this year’s experience.

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. 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 or through iHeart Radio by Clicking Here..If you have a Spotify account, then you can also hear us through that app, too. You can also listen through your Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

706: Abbott's Get Together 2022 - Day Four Report

SATURDAY, AUGUST 6TH 2022

9:30AM REGISTRATION OPENS at the Abbott Plant Purchase Registration/Tickets

10:00AM-12:45PM ABBOTT'S DEALERS' ROOM at Colon High School Requires Abbott's Registration

10:00AM LECTURE - Duane Laflin "Magic For The Gospel Magician" at Laflin's Grand Magic Theater Free

11:00AM LECTURE - John Bundy at High School Requires Abbott's Registration

11:00AM - 5:00PM COLON ARTS AND CRAFTS FAIR Craft Show/Vendor Info on Canal street next to the library

12:00PM STREET PERFORMER - John Sturk (Magic Capital Grill, by bridge)

12:00PM GHOST SHOW Q&A/BOOK SIGN - Dr. Morbios, Seebach, & Scream Dealers Room Requires Registration

1:00PM OLD FASHION MAGIC SHOW with Brynn Cummings at Abbott's Magic Theatre $5

2:00 PM JAY BLACKWELL JUGGLING/FIRE EATING & MORE at Sterlini Magic & Theater

2:00PM LECTURE - Lance Burton at High School Requires Abbott's Registration

3:00PM-5PM ABBOTT'S DEALERS' ROOM at Colon High School Requires Abbott's Registration

3:00PM STREET PERFORMER - Thom Bedlam (Colon Twp Library Lawn, by Craft Show)

3:00PM-5PM COLON HISTORICAL MUSEUM is open (Colon Museum Webpage)

3:00PM-6PM FACE PAINTING with Award Winning Artist Carol Hendrix

4:00PM GRAND MAGIC CLASSIC SHOW - 4 PM at the Laflin's Grand Magic Theater - $14.95 adult, $6.95 child

4:30PM OLD FASHION MAGIC SHOW with John Shango at Abbott's Magic Theatre $5

5:00 PM LIVE AT 5 WITH THE STERLINI'S at Sterlini Magic & Theater $10

5:30PM STREET PERFORMER - Thom Bedlam (Colon Twp Library Lawn, by Craft Show)

6:00PM-7:45PM DINNER on your own

7:45PM PRESHOW LIVE ORGAN MUSIC - by John Sturk Requires Abbott's Registration or Ticket ($30/$45)

8:00PM ABBOTT'S STAGE SHOW Requires Abbott's Registration or Ticket ($30/$45)
Featuring Reynold Alexander, Artem Shchukin, Hansel Kreutzberger, Michael Goudeau, David Seebach, Handsome Jack, BJ Mallen MC
NOTE: Tickets for the Abbott evening Stage Show must be purchased in advance at the Abbott Plant or online before 5pm that day.
You will be able to pick up tickets at a will call window at the show, but Abbotts will not be able to sell any at the door.

8:00PM GRAND MAGIC CLASSIC SHOW - 8 PM at the Laflin's Grand Magic Theater - $14.95 adult, $6.95 child

10:00PM ABBOTT'S DEALERS ROOM OPENS at Colon High School Requires Abbott's Registration

10:30PM ABBOTT'S PERFORMER AWARDS at Colon High School Requires Abbott's Registration

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:16 - Brandon Ivy talks about this being his second year attending the Get Together and reviews the morning lecture by John Bundy who talked about customizing tricks for seasonal magic (i.e. Halloween, etc.)

00:06:36 - President Elect of the I.B.M., Chuck Arkin (a Friend of the Magic Word) chats about why he returns to this convention from year to year.

00:12:53 - One of the managing partners of Vanishing, Inc., Andi Gladwin, came to this convention after FISM and filled in because some of the planned talent couldn’t get here.

00:21:37 - 11 year old Brynn Cummings was a previous winner of the Get Together and is an incredible ventriloquist as well as recognized at the National Championship for Juniors at the national vent convention.

00:32:44 - From Las Vegas, Bizzaro, chats about the Escape Rooms that he works with now across the country.

00:43:25 - at the awards ceremony, we chat with Bill Smith who talk about his first time at this convention in 1977 with the Long Beach Mystics that inspired Kevin James to move to California and join their group. Bill also attended because he wanted to work with Harry Blackstone, Jr. as a prop man.. And he was hired then and there.

00:50:44 - Board of Directors of the American Magic Museum, Jeffrey Alan, and his assistant, Angel, talk about doing walk-around using an assistant.

00:54:06 - BJ Mallen presents the names of award winners.

00:59:46 - Jack Gwyn award winner, Carissa “Lucy Darling” Hendrix, talks about filling in as an alternate performer to this convention.

702: FISM Quebec 2022 - Day Six Report

Saturday July 30th 2022

8:15-11:00 - Stage Contest

8:00 - 9:00: Ekaterina Dobrokhotov

9:00 - 10:00: Michael Ammar

10:00 - 11:00: Eric Jones

11:30 - 12:30: Max Maven presents Erika Larsen: The Story of the Magic Castle

12:00 - 13:00: Miguel Munoz

13:00 - 15:00: Raphaël Navarro and Valentine Losseau

14:00 - 15:00: Julie Eng

16:00 - 18:00: The Winners Gala

18:30 - 19:30: Alexandra Duvivier

19:30 - 20:30: Special Lecture - Luis Piedrahita

21:00 - 23:00: Awards Gala

Winners

Stage Illusion

1. Yunke - Spain -
2. Doble Mandoble - Belgium

Card magic

1. Markobi - France -

2. Pere Rafart - Spain

3. Erik Tait - U.S.

Micro magic

1 Luis Olmedo- Spain - tie with Simon Coronel- U.A. Micro magic

2 Jacob Schenstrom - Sweden

3. Mr. Triton - France

Parlour magic

1. Shoot Ogawa - U.S. -

2.Javi Rufo - Spain and Vincent - Australia

3. Jonio - Japan

Mental magic

1. Anca & Lucca - Austria -

2. Rob & Emiel - Netherlands

3. Magic Larry - Argentina and Andrea Rizzolini - Italy

Manipulation

1. Junwoo Park - Japan - tie with And Artem Shchukin - Russia

2. Eden - Korea

3. Francesco Della Bona- Italy

Comedy magic

1. Mortenn Christiansen - Denmark -

2. Ramo & Alegria - Spain

3. Marie Helene - France

General magic

1. Laurent Piron - Belgium

2. Ding Yang - China

3. Zhu MingHu - China

Close up most original act-

Gleb - Lithuania -

Close up Invention award -

Martin Eisele - Germany and Daniel Mormona - Argentina -

Stage magic - most original act -

Ding Yang - China

Stage magic - invention -

Ramo & Alegria - Spain and HJ - Taiwan and Zhu Mingzhu - China -

Special Awards Presented by Max Maven

Creativity & artistic vision - Special Awards - Topas -

History, Research & Scholarship Richard Kaufman -

Theory & Philosophy Dani DaOrtiz -

Close-up Grand Prix - Simon Coronel - U.S.

Stage magic Grand Prix - Laurent Piron - Belgium

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:16 - In the Grand Hall, Scott Wells thanks everyone for listening to the daily reports.

00:03:30 - Lady Sarah and Keith Fields are on the final day of the six days of non-stop magic and little sleep. They chat about some of the highlights of acts they love.

00:16:01 - Eric Dittelman, runner-up on America’s Got Talent, talks about his first FISM and how blown away he has been. He talks about the mentalism acts from his perspective as a mentalist. He also talks about his podcast with Mat Franco called “Mind Over Magic” which they started during the pandemic lock down.

00:19:09 - Past winner at FISM, Topas talks about competing and his thoughts about some behind-the-scenes that goes into making this event a success. He talks about the evolution of manipulation from Cardini to Fred Kaps to Peter Marvey to Mako Tendo.

00:29:16 - Past International President of the I.B.M. Joe Turner talks about some of the FISM activities, this being his first time attending a FISM.

00:32:50 - The stage contests are completely over as Marc DeSouze and Scott talk about the last set of contestants.

00:50:30 - As we walk back from dinner, Dick Olson talks about what he learned from the Chip Romero lecture on Doug Henning. Then Chip “chips in” with his comments on how he felt about his presentation plus some additional comments about Doug that he didn’t have time to share during his lecture.

00:59:35 - Another past winner of FISM, Danny Kole (and a Friend of the Magic Word), tells why he attends every FISM he can make time for in his schedule and how they inspire him. He also talks about some of his highlights from this year’s FISM.

01:05:19 - Marc DeSouza and Scott announce the names of the winners of this year’s FISM along with those who received some special awards.

01:17:50 - As an epilogue, we take a breather with Jonathan Levit who talks about this being his first FISM and how he tries to name just a few of the highlights of the event.