900: Dan Sperry - The Anti-Conjuror

With this episode we celebrate the 900th episode of The Magic Word Podcast. Every 50 episodes we like to present a special guest who is well known throughout our worldwide magic community. And who better for this episode than Dan Sperry. He was a regular member of The Illusionists who toured the major stages of the world from Sydney, Australia, to Broadway in New York City. He has headlined in nightclubs, Las Vegas casinos, and performing arts theaters. For many years he has appeared on Masters of Illusion television show as well as many other TV shows. Now residing in Florida, he continues to travel the globe, but when at home, he enjoys (believe it or not) performing for children’s birthday parties.

In this week’s episode, Dan shares his story of how he developed his act and his character. He tells us about his early journey as he worked with doves and learned from some of the true masters like Joseph Gabriel that developed into a residency at a casino in Las Vegas. He toured Canada with Murray Hatfield as he honed his dove act and began to settle into his Shock Illusionist persona. He also talks about developing his talking act that led to work with the Illusionists and television appearances.

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 Pandora and SiriusXM (formerly 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.

368: Day Four IBM/SAM Combined Convention 2017

FRIDAY JULY 14 SCHEDULE
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM - Registration Opens - Registration Area
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM - Order of Merlin Breakfast- Cochran
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM - Dealers Open - Exhibit Hall
9:30 AM - NOON - Close-Up Contest - Grand Ballroom
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM - Max Maven Lecture - Grand Ballroom
3:00 PM - 4:45 PM - Juliana Chen Lecture - Grand Ballroom
5:00 PM - 7:30 PM - Grand Banquet - Archibald-Cochran, Rivue Tower
8:00 PM - 9:30 PM - Internat’l Magic Competition - Whitney Hall (Ticketed Event)
10:00 PM - 10:45 PM - Murray Hatfield Lecture - Grand Ballroom
11:00 PM - 11:45 PM - Luis Carreon Lecture - Grand Ballroom
11:00 PM - Midnight - Invisible Lodge - Collins

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:18 - Steven Bargatze and Lance Burton talk about going to high school together in Louisville, Tennessee

00:08:56 - Mac King, co-honoree at this convention, chats about his record breaking run at Harrah's Casino in Las Vegas plus what might be coming up next for him.

00:15:01 - George Schindler, Dean of the S.A.M. Parent Assembly #1 talks about his predecessors whom he knew.

00:21:30 - Eliot Cohen represents the "Every Man" who is the typical convention registrant. We get a perspective from his point of view on the convention and why he attends magic conventions. Also included with this chat with Eliot is his friend, John McLaughlin, former Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

00:35:13 - Murray Hatfield will close the Saturday night show with his illusion show he brought down from Canada. He will also be a lecturer after the Friday night show.

00:47:41 - Ted and Marion Outerbridge, Canadian Illusionists, closed last night's show (Thursday night) after having rebuilt some of their illusions which were left in China awaiting their return in August.

357: Timo Marc - An Unexpected Visitor

Timo Marc is an award winning magician from a small town near Stuttgart, Germany. He happened to be in Las Vegas overlapping my visit there. We tried all week to get together and due to conflicting schedules and his short bout with the flu, we nearly missed each other. But on the last night of my stay, we met up at the Orleans hotel and recorded this delightful chat.

Timo is a winner of the Monte Carlo Grand Prix plus recipient of the Siegfried and Roy "SARMOTI" Award, too. He travels the world with his "shadow act" but often stays in Germany where he is a frequent performer in a the local city theatre.

In this podcast, Timo Marc talks about the German equivalent of "America's Got Talent [sic]" TV show and why it isn't good for professional nor amateur in Germany. He also talks about developing his stage act, performing in FISM contests, working in Macau with Franz Harary, meeting his "heroes" like Rudy Coby, and his long-standing friendship with Christian and Katalina Painter.