562: Marc DeSouza - A Winning Combination

Multi-award winning magician, Marc DeSouza, joins us this week to talk about some of the competitions he has entered. But he also talks about Star Trek conventions, graphic artist, Steranko, F.I.S.M. as well as some of his favorite magic conventions he has attended, plus he talks about the legendary Fred Kaps, and more. Marc also offers a couple prizes to listeners this week. You can see the details below in this week’s blog.

He is also offering the following: "DeSouza's DeCeptions" is almost out of print with less than 40 copies remaining. The retail on the book is $60.00 from Vanishing Inc. If they buy it from Marc, then the price is $40.00 and it includes the companion DVD, which Vanishing Inc. no longer offers. The four DVD set from L&L is available from Marc for $50.00. These prices are only for Magic Word Podcast listeners. To get them, you need to e-mail Marc at fkaps@aol.com and mention The Magic Word. This offer is good only until his stocks run out.

Marc Desouza is a renown award winning magician among the magic industry. A group of magicians and I were nicely granted a visit to Marc Desouza's collection...

Episode #3 Marc DeSouza (National IBM/SAM award winner) Speaks about the most potent tactic for making your magic feel real. Michael performs "Invisible Coin...

Marc DeSouza talks about the new book, Rubinstein Coin Magic, available for shipping during the first week of June 2020.

Compliments of the Society of American Magicians, Marc DeSouza Lectures for All Magicians beginning at the 00:30:00 timestamp.

While limited supplies last, Marc is offering deals on his book and DVD set. Only $40.00 for DeSouza’s DeCeptions (less than 40 copies remain that include the DVD) and $50 for the four DVD set of Masterworks of Conjuring. You can write him at fkaps@aol.com But you must mention that you are a listener of The Magic Word Podcast to receive the discounted prices.

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Thank you to all of those who entered the contest. And please read the pod-letter on how you can significantly save on purchasing Marc’s products just by being a listener of The Magic Word Podcast.

275: Where Comics and Magic Collide with Jon Armstrong

Pow! Bang! Wham! - Poof!Whoosh! Flash! - Hocus Pocus! Abracadabra. Presto Change-o

Jon Armstrong is not only a pretty face in the magic community (among other things like being the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Academy of Magical Arts, Close-up Magician of the Year, Consultant to theme parks, film and television, headliner at Caesar's Magical Empire, and appeared on many TV shows including "Penn & Teller Fool Us" and other talk shows), but Jon is also a self professed "comic book nerd".

Jon visits ComiCons each year and is a sought after as a panelist discussing the confluence of "magic" with "comic books" or "graphic novels",

Magician Jon Armstrong (www.cardjon.com) performs his signature effect "Tiny Plunger" which Penn calls the most original card trick he's seen.

In this podcast Jon Armstrong talks about how art influences life and vice versa, how magic and comics intertwine and how and why we should wisely choose our selection of tricks. Basically, we should select those things that reflect our unique personalities rather than just buying the "trick of the hour" that just came out.

He also refers to a book entitled "Understanding Comics - The Invisible Art" and why it should be required reading for magicians. You can read the free PDF excerpt by Clicking Here or download the entire PDF by Clicking Here or just read online all 223 pages of it by Clicking Here. Jon discusses how he approaches groups to perform close-up during cocktail parties. And he talks also about "branding" yourself and how he does it.

Click on the image above for more information and to order your Tiny Plunger direct from Jon Armstrong.

#204: 2014 Year of Magic in Review

It's that time of the year when we try to "put the band back together" and chat with members of the hosts from the MagicNewswire.com podcast, "This Week in Magic". Trying to get a time to arrange everyone's schedule is like "herding cats". So, due to work and health conflicts, this year we have David "Silly Billy" Kaye and Cameron Ramsay join Scott Wells to discuss what went on in the magic world this past year.

To supplement our chat about Magic on TV, here is a little up-to-the-minute information that I read on IndieWire.com after our chat:

"Magic is in the air, or at least on the airwaves. "Masters of Illusion" did well enough for CW last year to make an order for 13 more episodes materialize – and that's after being canceled by MyNetworkTV in 2009. It joins the network's other magic show, the British ITV production "Penn & Teller: Fool Us," as well as magic programs gaining traction on basic cable. TruTV's "The Carbonaro Effect" will be back for a second season, while "Wizard Wars" returns to Syfy in January for six additional episodes. Even shows that don't have magic as a focus are shuffling it into the deck: "American Masters" is kicking off a new season January 23 with an episode about master magician Ricky Jay, and Nat Geo's "Brain Games," regularly tosses a sleight-of-hand artist into the mix."

Of course this is from a personal perspective of the guest on this podcast and does not include a lot of things you perhaps found to be more relevant. But we hope you enjoy our chat.

Instead of bouncing all over the globe, we try to stay on topic with an agenda that includes: magic on television; live touring magic shows; magic conventions; notable passings, and; predictions for 2015.

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. (please note: this RSS Feed subscription system may not work with Android systems). Remember, you can download it through iTunes. See the preview page by Clicking Here.

Magicians' Valhalla

Although the list below is not exhaustive, it does reflect the names of many well-known (and some lesser known) magicians, spouses and assistants who passed on in 2014. If you are unfamiliar with any of these names, then it would behoove you to do a little online search of what these people have contributed to our craft. If you have someone you think was overlooked, then please post the name in the comments below on this blog.

Aldo Colombini

Scott Lewis

Dave Madden

Montecore (S&R’s tiger)

Jeff Busby

Judge Arnold Drennen

Robert “Bob” Knigge

Robert L. “Bob” Bluemle

Stella P. Coward (wife of Noel Coward)

John T. Fedko

Robert “Bob” W. Klamm

Alan Alan