644: Joseph Gabriel - A Bird In Hand

Multi-Award winning Broadway illusionist, Joseph Gabriel, single-handedly changed the face of magic with his iconic sleight-of-hand performance when he appeared on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” for the first time. Joseph is known for his signature style of producing various exotic birds and is equally adept at large-scale illusions, mentalism, and comedy audience participation. Soon after his appearance on “The Tonight Show”, Joseph began headlining in lavish Las Vegas review shows, such as the “Lido de Paris” at the Stardust Hotel and “City Lites” at the Flamingo where he headlined for nine years.

In this week’s episode, Joseph talks about the importance of “being so good, they can’t ignore you,” to quote Steve Martin. He has developed his own style of performing and talks about his journey where good things in his career kept happening, including his two year association with the Peruvian legend, Richiardi. In addition to his work with birds, he is also an accomplished artist and maker/performer of marionettes.

This week in magic, one of the highlights in our community was the “Las Vegas wedding of year” of Murray Sawchuck and Dani Elizabeth.

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223: My Week at the Magic Castle 2015 - Part Four

This week we again enter the Magic Castle and whisper "Open Sesame" into the ear of the owl on the bookcase, the sliding panel opens to where we greet and we talk with friends both old and new.

This week we sit down at the bar with one of the Magic Word listeners (and a "Friend of The Magic Word) and his wife to talk about magic in his life; a quick chat with Chris Philpott (creator of "The 100th Monkey"; a few reminisces with Milt Larsen, widely known as the "builder" of The Magic Castle; a stroll to breakfast with Paul Vigil; then another magician/mentalist named Paul from Salt Lake City, Paul Draper, talks about mentalism and showmanship; and, Christian Cagigal talks about his one man show and a new film project that is getting some traction around the U.S. You can view a "teaser trailer" of the film below.

NOW AND AT THE HOUR (Teaser Trailer) from Ersatz Film on Vimeo.

00:02:28 - Daniel WIll and his wife, Judy, are my first guests as we join them in the main bar, with "Irma the Invisible Piano Player" is playing in the background. He talks about his involvement in magic with the Boy Scouts organization.

00:07:09 - Chris Philpott, creator of the 100th Monkey effect, happened to walk by just as I completed my chat with Daniel and Judy Will. We talked about his product and its popularity. I was able to catch him with Steve Valentine for a quick "elevator conversation" before they had to rush to be seated for the show in the Palace.

00:09:04 - Milt Larsen talks about his radio broadcast on CRN "Hear Them Again" plus the building of the clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts plus the recent changes in the name and usage of "The Magic Castle"

00:30:29 - Paul Vigil, talks about his most recent effect he is working on for his show, the "Q&A Act" and his thoughts on disclaimers.

00:39:38 - Paul Draper, talks about how to practice new routines and break them into your act.

01:04:30 - Christian Cagigal talks about his new documentary entitled "Now And At The Hour" chronicling his one-man magic show and how it was developed based on his life with his father who was a Viet Nam veteran with PTSD.

Click on the picture above to visit the Penguin Magic website for more information on this fantastic trick.

Steve Spill's new book was launched at The Academy of Magical Arts on May 12, 2015. Order your copy from Amazon (and support The Magic Word) by clicking on this graphic.

163: Part 3 - My Week at The Castle 2014

Ah, the old barber shop. Sitting around the cracker barrel, playing dominoes, whittlin', spittin' and tellin' tales. Well, those days are mostly long gone in the real world, but not in the world of magic. Every Wednesday, many local magicians congregate at Dean's Shoppe (haircutting and magic) in Glendale to talk magic and shuffle cards.

In this Part Three of my multi-part podcast from my week at the Magic Castle, I turn on the recorder and let it roll as I had my hair cut and let the conversation and hair fall where it may. Alan Burskey and Pete Biro were the two guys who were in Dean's Shoppe on this particular Wednesday.

Back at the Castle, I chatted with Castle Librarian, Bill Goodwin then finished off the evening at the bar with the Builder of the Magic Castle, Milt Larsen.

00:01:50 - Alan Bursky talks about his involvement with the Magic Island in Newport Beach and Houston. To confirm one of our points, Alan even called Michael Caliie on his cell phone during our conversation. Pete Biro and Dean Dill add a few comments from time to time while Dean was cutting Scott's hair. Pete Biro talks about his latest project with a documentary on Spook Shows. We briefly talked about Triple Espresso, the "highly caffeinated comedy" but forgot the name of the magician who originally worked at Houston's Magic Island. It was Bill Arnold.

00:25:18 - Bill Goodwin, Close-Up Magician of the Year and The Magic Castle's librarian. Bill was performing with me in the Close-Up Gallery as the late show performer. Bill talks about the Castle's library and how to care for your own.

00:37:37- Milt Larsen, Creator of the Magic Castle, talks at length about his various business ventures including an exciting new movie project that will be based around and filmed in The Magic Castle.

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Magic and Martinis' Thursday

There can't be good living where there's not good drinking.