807: Kerry Pollock - Wireless Wizard

Kerry Pollock came into magic and comedy in a very interesting way. With a background in engineering, he developed a professional act as he created so many products that are now used by top professionals. He is the “go to guy” when magicians need something different and all original. He is also the creator of the game show “Bonk.” Kerry now owns and manages his own comedy club called “Comedy Magic Cabaret” in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Wow, is this week’s episode full! Kerry tells stories from his years of working at Houston’s Magic Island in the 1980’s when he created “Kate & Edith” to creating magical effects for Warren & Annabelle’s in Lahaina, Hawaii, to other electronic creations made for private homes (like Giovanni Livera and Bruce Averbook as well as magic celebrities like Mac King) to what he’s doing in his comedy club in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

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759: Magic Collector Expo - Days 1 & 2 Report

Tuesday, May 9

10:00am Registration Opens

1:00pm to 4:00pm Dealers Open

4:00pm to 5:00pm Session #1 “Welcome To Cleveland” with Lance Rich, Dr. Bruce Averbook & Tim LaGanke

5:00pm to 7:00pm Dinner

7:00pm to 8:30pm Session #2 with Jim Hagy “The Instant Illusionist and The Cleveland Bunch: Dreams of a Vaudeville Life”, Sandy Daily “The Adventures & Challenges of a Magic Collectors Wife, Gene Anderson “Not Just a One Trick Pony” with Stan Allen

8:30pm to 11:30pm Dealer Room Open

Wednesday, May 10

10:00am First Buses Load for Tours of Dr. Bruce Averbook & Tim LaGangke Collections

2:00pm to 5:00pm Dealer Room Open

7:00pm to 8:30pm Session #3 with Richard Cohn “Roltaire”, Phil Schwartz “Steals, Lifts & Body Loads-The Funny Business of Magic Collecting, Al Belmont “Memories of the Blackstone Sr. Show”

8:30pm to 11:30pm Dealer Room Open

Time stamps for this episode will be provided after I’ve had some sleep

00:00:18 - Scott Wells prepares to take off to Cleveland, Ohio, along with Charlie Randall and Dick Olson for the Magic Collectors Expo

00:03:13 - Larry Dunbar is behind the registration desk. He is traveling with Lance Burton and Friends and he tells us a little about their upcoming tour and places they will be going.

00:05:35 - Lupe Nielsen is one of the attendees but not a presenter or dealer. She tells us what she’s working on for the magic community including Dean’s Box.

00:09:53 - Charles Greene, III talks about his book, “Ionia” and what he’s been doing and where he’s been traveling to talk about this book.

00:14:52 - Arthur Moses is a dealer who is selling some Houdini memorabilia. He talks about his recent appearance on Collector’s Call on ME-TV as he showed some of his collection on TV and how that all came about.

00:19:07 - Houdini expert, John Cox, is the blogger on WildAboutHoudini.com John will be a presenter at this convention as he talks about Houdini’s appearances in Cleveland. He also talks about some recent projects that are very exciting.

00:22:07 - Adele Friel Rhindress was one of the assistants for Harry Blackstone, Sr. and she talks about what she’s been doing recently

00:28:07 - Bill Kallush is the curator of the Conjurer’s Arts Research Center who also talks about Ask Alexander which is a repository of about 3MM pages of books in the museum.

00:33:36 - we begin day two, the first full day as we chat with Joe Hanosek. We talk about some of the activities from the previous evening’s talks.

00:36:24 - Lance Rich talks a bit about helping to put together this convention. He also explains the logistics of getting around to see two magnificent collections, Bruce Averbook and Tim LaGanke. On the bus, we just finished seeing Bruce’s collection which we discuss.

00:47:16 - Neil Rozum tells us a “twilight zone” type story related to his personal experience while working in a local theme park

00:49:24 - Les Arnold is the grand-son of The Great Leon and he chats a bit about that connection

00:55:12 - we finished the events for the day and now we chat with Richard Cohn who gave a presentation about a relatively unknown magician, Roltaire as well as some magicians who appeared at Coney Island in New York

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248: Day Four - MAGIC Live! 2015

The General Session for the final day was hosted by Mark Kornhauser who talked about lessons to learn from his monthly column "For What It's Worth:. Charlie Frye talked about the subject of Character and the importance of building one. Axel Hecklau talked about how to produce your own show in your own area. And the feature was the panel discussion hosted by Bill Malone with Ron Conley and Steve Forte as they talked about the differnce between gambling moves and magician moves.

In the Focus (breakout) sessions, Tony Clark discussed Slydini;s "Paper Balls Over the Head:; Mike Bent and Buster Balloon talked about "Monster Kids" and Joseph Barry blew us away with his card handling in "There's Always a Beginning".

The evening show was hosted by Justin Willman who was a standout highlight with an affable character that easily broke the fourth wall. Mark and Jinger Kalin premiered a new illusion and closed with a double "thin model sawing" with a twist. Xavier Mortimer put in not one, but two outstanding, original performances including a self levitation while "jumping rope". Den Den and Hun Lee both did very nice manipulation acts. The Evasons were stellar with their two person mind reading act. Dan Sperry reprised his fantastic, creative and bizarre bird act from the Illusionists tour. But the real highlight that got everyone talking was the 17 year old juggler, Ty Tojo who eaily juggled seven balls with alarming aplomb.

The Farewell Party featured an opportunity for some lucky registrant to win either $500, $1,000, $5,000 or $100,000. The lucky winner played a gamer wherein he selected certain tiles (similar to large Scrabble tiles) that had the value of one of the denominations inside the envelope. Whatever five numbers the person drew would be the amount he/she would win. The winner drew five $1,000 envelopes so he won $1,000.

My signature Coin in Bottle routine being performed at the 2014 TAOM Magic Convention in Fort Worth Texas

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:26 - Sean Popp talks about the Rubic Cube and Show Cues updates that are coming.

00:05:55 - David Deeble talks about being the MC for the morning session and a synopsis of his presentation.

00:13:26 - Master Payne talks about working Renaissance Festivals and Kozmo talks about working on the street.

00:28:35 - Axel Hecklau talks a bit about the presentation he gave on puting together a venue in your own community.

00:37:28 - Kayla Drescher talks about working behind the scenes at MAGIC Live!

00:39:43 - Richard Myer and Steve Bedwell give their comments on highlights from the convention.

00:47:02 - Tony Clark talks about his presentation on Slydini's "Paper Balls Over The Head"

00:53:21 - Giovanni Livera and Ian Pigeon are joined by Rafael Benatar as they talk about some of their highlights from the convention. Ian is the creator of "My Pet Boris" spider app and he talks about the creation of this variation of Jim Pace's "The Web".

01:19:15 - Dan Sperry says hello and goodby then we chat with Rory Johnston about his participation in the production of MAGIC Live!