922: Abbott's Get Together 2025 - Day Four Report

SATURDAY, AUGUST 2ND 2025

9:30AM REGISTRATION OPENS at the Abbott Plant
10:00AM ABBOTT'S DEALERS ROOM OPENS (Requires Registration)
11:00AM LECTURE Marc DeSouza (Requires Registration)
1:00PM LECTURE Artem Shchukin (Requires Registration)
1:00PM MAGIC SHOW at Abbott's Magic Showroom Theatre $5
3:00PM LECTURE Lance Burton & Friends (Requires Registration)
3:30PM MAGIC SHOW at Abbott's Magic Showroom Theatre $5
6:00PM-7:45PM DINNER (on your own)
7:45PM PRESHOW LIVE ORGAN MUSIC - by John Sturk
8:00PM GET-TOGETHER STAGE SHOW - Saturday Night Gala Show
Featuring Greg Frewin & Alexandra, Dan Sperry, John Shyrock
Requires Registration or Tickets
10:00PM ABBOTT'S DEALERS ROOM RE-OPENS (Requires Registration)
10:30PM ABBOTT'S PERFORMER AWARDS (Requires Registration)

Time Stamps: These will be posted after I have gotten some sleep.

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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.

760: Magic Collector Expo - Day 3 Report

Thursday, May 11

9:30am to 11:00am Dealer Room Opens

11:00am to 12:30pm Session #4 with William Winters “Walter Gibson”, John Cox “Houdini in Cleveland”,David Charvet “Conjurors and their Cars”

12:30pm to 2:30pm Dealers Open

2:30pm to 4:00pm Session #5 Jay Hunter “Don’t Throw Away Throw Out Cards”, Gabe Fajuri “A Half Century of Magic on The Block”. Mike Caveney “Otis Lithography Company, Cleveland, Ohio”

6:30pm- 10pm Dinner & Show Cleveland’s Finest Magicians with MC Kerry Pollock, Alan Howard, Tim Hill & Rick Smith Jr

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:18 - Julie Eng from Magicana and editor of Magicoll chats with us about this convention and specifically the Bruce Averbook collection

00:12:00 - Bruce Averbook talks about his collection and how he designed it. The visit to his museum was the highlight of the convention.

00:32:54 - Lance Burton talks about the presentation given by David Charvet about “Conjurors and their Cars” and in particular the vanishing car performed by Lance for his TV special

00:41:15 - Jim Hagy talks about his presentation he gave on the opening night covering the conjurors who lived and worked in Cleveland.

00:47:45 - Ben Winn is only 19 years old and has an avid interest in our history and collecting and will be one of the young magicians who will carry on with our passion

00:52:13 - Dr. Cato Holler and his wife Susan tell us about their collection in western North Carolina and how they house and display his immense book collection.

00:58:19 - Jon Stetson tells us a bit about his mentalism workshops with Bob Koehler as well as a sneak preview of an upcoming convention in Dubai. Jon also helps recap and give us an overview of the speakers in the final session this afternoon.

01:10:43 - Bill Smith, the organizer of this Expo, finally has time to reflect for a couple minutes as we wrap up the convention. Be sure to check the website at https://magiccollectorexpo.com/ for updates and announcements about the next Expo.