769: Andi Gladwin - It's a Business

Andi Gladwin is well-known throughout the magic community as the co-partner with Joshua Jay in Vanishing, Inc. But he is so much more than just a pretty businessman. He and Josh coordinate both the Session convention in England and the MagiFest in Columbus, Ohio, each year. Moreover, he is a force to be reckoned with as an awesome creator and performer having fooled Penn & Teller on their TV show, plus a best selling author.

Podcasts and video interviews with Andi Gladwin can be found around the internet, but the conversation we have is completely unique from all the others. Andi opened up and shared a few tidbits that are “scoops” and have not been heard nor seen anywhere else. All the more reason to Subscribe and Like the Magic Word Podcast and listen each week.

This week Andi talks about the history of the MagiFest and how he and Josh came to take it over, overhaul the structure and host one of the two largest annual magic conventions in the U.S. He also tells us about the formation of Vanishing, Inc. plus he answers a listeners question on why they are located in the same industrial park in California as Murphy’s Magic and Penguin. Andi goes on to share a fascinating story about his experience on “Penn & Teller Fool Us” and about their deliberation that took THREE HOURS!

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767: Randy Wakeman - I've Been Around for a Long, Long Years

Randy Wakeman has been around for many decades and was often seen lecturing and performing at magic conventions. Nonetheless, I have always seen him as an “underground” magician who appeals to the true sleight-of-hand experts. He is one of those guys who has “been there, done that, has the t-shirt” as he was one of the regular performers about the Chicago Bar Magic Scene before the turn of the last century. He has written several books on magic (card magic mostly) and is still relevant in our community as a performer, teacher and author.

While at the recent Senior Tour close-up convention in St. Louis, The Magic Word spoke with Randy as part of the convention report content. He was preparing for a workshop, so we didn’t get a chance to go in-depth as I had wanted. But we agreed to get together at the 4F convention in Buffalo a couple months later. True to his word, we sat down to complete our chat which results in this episode. The content of our chat in both places was a little disjunctive, so the editing required us to put the second conversation first then plug in the chat in St. Louis and finish with our talk while in Buffalo. This sounds more confusing that it actually is, but I know you will understand and enjoy our chat.

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.