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.

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756: F.F.F.F. 2023 - Day Four Report

Saturday, April 29th

10:00 Dealers’ Room opens (closed during lectures, shows, and dinner)

10:00-10:45 2024 Registration & 4F Shop open

1:30 6th Show: Eric DeCamps: One Man Show

3:30 ED Talks #2 (MCs: Christian/Katalina with Rick Wilcox (The Challenge of Stage Illusions), Keith Fields (Audience Management), and Christian & Katalina (Creating a Seance Show)

5:30 Banquet (ticket required)

7:00 Dealers’ Room & 4F Shop open

7:45 Tribute to our Guest of Honor: Mark Mason

8:00 7th Show: 4F Closing Gala (MC: Steve Beam) featuring: Montreal Trio (Micheal Huot, Yannick Lacroix, and Marc Trudel), Alexandria Duvivier, Shoot Ogawa, Mike Robinson, Horret Wu, Carisa Hendrix, Juliana Chen, and Stephen Bargatze and Rick Merrill

10:00 Hospitality Suite opens

12:00 Dealers’ Room closes

Keith Fields playing “Bohemian Rhapsody” on the ukulele at Abbott’s Get Together in August 2021.

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:18 - Marc DeSouza gives us a colorful recap of the Friday night show

00:24:14 - Michael Ammar talks about Eric Decamps’ one-man show we just saw. This was Michael’s first time returning after 42 years of absence, plus he talks about some new projects.

00:32:02 - Keith Fields was one of the presenters who talked about audience management and he recaps his talk here.

00:43:37 - Rick Wilcox was another presenter who talked about doing an illusion show and he recaps some highlights from his talk here.

00:50:53 - Darryl Rose and Boris Wild stop for a quick chat about this convention and Boris’ choice of an emotional performance for Obie O’Brien

00:57:51- Carisa Hendrix performed at this convention as her “real” self and, of course, as Lucy Darling. She also chats about Michael Dardant impersonating her as “Juicy Starling”

01:00:23 - Joe Monti has had some health issues but is glad to be back with the 4F family that has made him feel good

01:05:26 - Marc DeSouza returns to wrap up the evening show and the entire 50th anniversary celebration of the 4F.

755: F.F.F.F. 2023 - Day Three Report

Friday, April 28th

8:00 Bob Little Open Golf Tournament (see Bruce Trigg to register)

10:00 Dealers’ Room opens (closed during lectures, shows, and dinner)

10:30 Pat Page Memorial Workshop: Who was Eddie Fechter? (MC: Mike Powers) featuring performers Paul Gertner and Vic Trabucco with Panel Members: Harrison Carroll, Tom Craven, Dick Cook, and Paul Gertner

1:30 4th Show: Magical Moments (MC: Andost) featuring: Rubi Ferez, Satoru Furukawa, Kevin Bethea, Jafo, Daniel Mormina, Matthew Le Mottee, Darong Huang, Martin Braessas, and Francesco Fontanelli

3:30 Lecture #4: Paul Gertner

8:00 5th Show: Friday’s Frolics (MC: Shawn Farquhar) featuriing Marc DeSouza, Michael Ammar, Boris Wild, Andi Gladwin, Rick Wilcox, Will Monroe, Bernardo Sedlacek, and Chris Capehart

10:00 Hospitality Suite opens

12:00 Dealers’ Room closes

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:18 - Marc DeSouza gives “color” as he recaps the Thursday night show with lots of details on who did what.

00:25:53 - Alexandra Duvivier is here as her second 4F convention and tells us why she loves this convention and how it is different from other events.

00:31:58 - Stephen Bargatze will be part of the closing night’s show who, along with Rick Merrill, will wrap up the convention with their topical comedy spoofing events of the weekend.

00:37:10 - Paul Gertner gives a brief recap of his lecture he presented today.

00:44:07 - Howard Hamburg talks about this convention and why he loves it although he attends conventions all over the world.

00:48:14 - This is David Parr’s first 4F convention and fooled Penn & Teller on “Fool Us” and he tells us how he is enjoying this event as a “first timer” plus his experience of being on P&T Fool Us.