937: Jim Cunningham - The Spirit of Eugene

Jim Cunningham is the voice behind the Eli Marks Mystery Series, penned by John Gaspard. For many seasons, he was affiliated with both the Minneapolis Twins (baseball) and the Minneapolis Wild (hockey) teams. But his real passion is for all things spooky. Many years ago, he called on the Master, Eugene Burger, to help him develop a seance which he still does to this day.

In this episode Jim talks about what it’s like to be a sports announcer personality and how he gets jobs as a book reader for Audible.com books. He shares a very interesting story about how he met and got to work closely with Eugene Burger. Jim also tells about his affinity for all things that go bump in the night. This is a perfect episode for this Month of Boo.

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The winner for Week #2 was Michael Skowronski. Congratulations, Michael. A Houdini Legacy Deck of cards will be awarded to a different winner each week in October. These beautiful cards were designed by the Past National President and artist, John Midgley. If you are interested in learning more about these cards and the cause, then please visit their website at https://houdinicards.com

908: Christian & Katalina - Mind Trippers

Military veterans, Katalina and Christian Painter have made a successful career of entertaining with their two-person mind reading routine coupled with their comedy mentalism act. For many years they traveled across the U.S. together entertaining on college campuses. After a few years, they decided to “settle down” in one location and limit their travel .They found a niche market in their hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana, where today they present a weekly show entitled the “Mind Tripping Show” in the Hilton Indianapolis Hotel & Suites.

This episode is a bit different from most our episodes. Typically we chat about a variety of topics with our guests. But this week we got off on a tangent from the very beginning and stayed focused on that throughout the episode. Specifically, Christian and Katalina talked about how they developed their show, how they found the venue, how they market the show, how it has evolved, and why it is still successful as they are reaching 20 years with this show. There is invaluable information in this episode, particularly if you are considering finding a venue for your show and what you need to do to prepare for it.

For more information on the New York Magic Conference, please visit: https://newyorkmagicconference.com and to learn more about the Salute to Magic and purchase advance tickets, please visit: https://salutetomagic.com

885: Blackpool 2025 - Day Three Report

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:17 – Dom Chambers ran into me in the hallway on his way to rehearsal for his show. But he agreed to chat for a bit and tell us about his experience performing here and a quick recap of what he’s up to lately. Dom was the focus of a chat on The Magic Word Podcast on Episode #664 where you can learn more about him.

00:06:12 : Nigel Quinn just arrived for the final day and gives us his perspective of why he came for the day and what he hopes to see and enjoy.

00:12:02 - Ger Godley, from Ireland, talks about this year’s convention compared with last year. He definitely thinks this year’s event is better organized.

00:21:14 - Jamie Allen, formerly known as the iMagician, has an all new show, one of which was directed by Jonathan Goodwin. Jamie was the focus Episode #584 where you can learn more about him.

00:33:48 - Javid with Pelican Stagewear talks about his efforts to take his wares to the U.S., but time and customs prevents his efforts from being profitable.

00:42:35 - Ron Spangler enjoys coming to Blackpool each year. He was one of the organizers of the Magifest before it was turned over to Vanishing, Inc.

00:48:28 - Eric Leclerq was the emcee (compere) of the Friday night gala. His insult comic type of humor is much like that of Mike Hammer, and that is to say that it wasn’t for everyone. He talks a bit about his choices and how he came about to get this engagement and why he chose to stick with what he does best.

00:57:08 - Ian Kendall is another magician who came in for the day from Scotland and watched a lot of lectures and shows. He was the subject of Episode #796 where you can learn more about him.

01:11:15 - we give a quick wrap-up of the convention as I give a quick review of Rick Thomas’ gala finale show. He was the subject of Episode #632 where you can hear a more personal side of him.