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.

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744: Winter Carnival of Magic - Day Three

Saturday, March 11th

9:30 AM Lecture: Guy Bavli
10:00 AM Dealers Open (Closing at 3:30 PM)
11:00 AM Lecture: Christopher T. Magician
1:30 PM Lecture: Jonathan Neal
3:00 PM Lecture: Artem Shchukin
7:30 PM Contest Award Winners Announced on Stage
- Close-Up Winners
  - 1st Place - Adi Ramakrishna
  - 2nd Place - Dregon Hibbler
  - People’s Choice - Brandon Herring
- Open Mic Winner of People’s Choice
  - Buddy August
8:00 PM Magic All-Stars Show: Jonathan Neal, Michael Bloemeke, Christopher T. Magician, Jon Armstrong, and Artem Shchukin
10:00 PM Pizza Party for Registrants (at the Park Grove Inn)

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:18 - Don Wiberg talks about some of his magic career including him performing as a Magic Clown.

00:10:25- Alan Fisher talks about some of the lectures we have seen today

00:20:48 - Stephen Bargatze, Past International President of the I.B.M. is from Nashville and always attends this convention.

00:27:12 - Aaron Radatz from Branson, Missouri, was the illusionist who closed last night’s show. He has advice for traveling illusionists.

00:34:11 - Guy Bavli was a Dealer, Lecturer, and a Performer at this year’s Winter Carnival which was is one and only U.S. magic convention where he will be appearing this year.

00:41:39 - Jason Michaels, from Nashville, enjoyed this convention but he has also appeared on Penn & Teller Fool Us.

00:48:08 - Artem Shchukin closed the Winter Carnival and he talks about the many magic conventions around the world where he has performed and competed.

00:56:30 - Tom Vorjohan and Scott give a wrap-up of the convention

262: Just One Thing with Bob Fitch

Bob Fitch is well known among those who know him well. Of course that is meant to be tongue-in-cheek as of course Bob is a man of many hats...and he wears them all extremely well: actor, director, magician, singer and dancer. A show business legend himself, Bob has appeared in theatrical presentations including: "Funny Things Happened On The Way To The Forum", Will Roger's Follies, Annie, Mack & Mabel, Mame, and many more. He has worked or directed many of the famous celebrities including Liza Minnelli, Steve Martin, Carol Channing, Katherine Hepburn, Jerry Lewis, Mickey Rooney, Carol Burnette, Whoopi Goldberg, just to name a very few.

But among magicians, he is known for his series of three Topit videos and his work with the Fitch Kohler Hold-Out. But perhaps he is best known as someone who helps professionals take their game up another notch. As a director and coach in private workshops, Bob finds and focuses on one thing that will help make their performances achieve greatness. It could be something as simple as eliminating the walk between a volunteer and the performer's table by merely carrying the prop on your person, thus avoiding the lapse in time it takes to make the walk. Or it could be the opposite in which the performer adds that time by walking back and forth. Often times, whatever that "one thing" is turns out to be something that leads the performer to think about other aspects of his/her performance that could use the same kind of attention.

Bob Fitch has won many awards over the years including: Best Director - Nominated - New England Theatre Awards; Best Director & Best Actor - Nominated - Carbonelle Awards (Florida); Burns-Mantle Award (Broadway) for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Annie). And the S.A.M. Parent Assembly awarded Bob with the "Magician of the Year", and in 2009, the Academy of Magical Arts presented him with the "Lifetime Achievement Award".

Bob Fitch was one of the featured lecturers and performers at this year's T.A.O.M. convention (let me say here again that I found it to be one of the top ten best conventions I have ever attended). In this podcast, Bob talks about several of the things he taught during his lecture plus some of the same stories that he related there, too. If you saw/heard/experienced that lecture, then you will enjoy hearing it again. It's like reading a book a second time and finding a passage you overlooked the first time. If you missed the lecture, then I know you will enjoy and learn at least "one thing" from our chat.

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

Friday, April 28th

744: Winter Carnival of Magic - Day Three

Saturday, March 11th

262: Just One Thing with Bob Fitch

The Magic Word