676: Ed Alonzo - In The Library

While I was in Los Angeles to work on “Masters of Illusion” TV series, Ed Alonzo found time to sit in the library of the Magic Castle to chat about his career. As a former member of the Long Beach Mystics and the Magic Castle Junior group, Ed launched successful careers as both a magician and an actor having major roles in many television series including “Saved By The Bell.” He also went on to work with Britney Spears on her worldwide concert tour where he interacted with her on stage in his character as a magician.

In this week’s episode, Ed covers a lot of territory in a short hour podcast. He talks extensively about the Magic Castle and his love and dedication to the clubhouse. He also talks about his time as a youth as he was trying to “find his character” when he was a member of the Long Beach Mystics and the Magic Castle Juniors. He tells how he transitioned into acting but never lost his love for performing magic, which he still does to this day having just completed the taping of Season Nine of “Masters of Illusion.” By the way, he talked about running for office on the Academy of Magical Arts: he won the election and is now on the Board of Directors. Congratulations, Ed.

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Towards the end of the episode, Ed talks about being on “The American Life” podcast with Ira Glass and David Kestenbaum as they talked about “The Lady Vanishes” or, David Copperfield’s vanish of the Statue of Liberty. Ed was part of the team that worked with David on this illusion and this episode goes into detail about the effect. The podcast website for this episode is HERE. “The Lady Vanishes” is the second part of this episode entitled “The Magic Show” and Ed Alonzo’s part comes very near the end at around time stamp 00:53:00.

360: A Magician Prepares

Joshua Stenkamp and Jason Wethington recently authored an unusual and interesting book, "A Magician Prepares - Act One: Interview" that puts a lot of advice from some top professionals in one place. If you enjoy this magic podcast, then you should also enjoy this book because it is like reading a podcast. Even getting into the interview and after the chat is concluded, the authors talk about what they are doing to get to the interview and where they were going afterwards. As an overview of the book, it might best be described by Amazon:

"A Magician Prepares Act One- Interviews" explores the relationship between magic, art, and theatre through intimate conversations with 19 top professionals from the secretive world of magic. Each interview is an unscripted journey of personal stories, unique insights, and valuable advice in creating magical experiences for your audiences.

Magical Entertainer Jason Wethington has fun with the crowd on the Walt Disney World boardwalk. If you want to get more information about booking Jason, you can visit his website at www.jasonwethington.com

In the first part of this podcast, Jason brings us up to date on whatever happened to Kostya Kimlat's "Restaurant Magic Business", what is happening on the Portland, Oregon magic scene, then we get into the importance of working with consultants who bring you and your act to another level. After a while, Joshua jumps in as we talk about the book and their character development that is discussed in the book. The story of collecting the stories behind the book is almost as fascinating as the stories themselves.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of "A Magician Prepares", then please order through Amazon.com and access it through this link below to help support The Magic Word. If you already have an Amazon Prime account or you have a regular account, you will be still be able to use your account AND support The Magic Word by clicking on this link below and using this portal. Thank you for your support.

354: Robin Leach - Lifestyles of Magicians

Robin Leach has long been associated with his catch phrase "Champagne Dreams and Caviar Wishes" as he hosted the long running television show, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" which focused on profiling well-known celebrities and their lavish homes, cars and other materialistic details. But Robin is also a "magic fan" who clearly loves and has a deep respect for magic and he is friends with many of the local magicians. Believe it or not, he is an honorary member of The Magic Circle. He also has a rather impressive collection of magic books in his library.

I saw Robin Leach at last year's MAGIC Live! who was trying to be inconspicuous as he chatted with Stan Allen. I later asked Stan about Robin's association with magic which led to this podcast. As a long time resident of Las Vegas and immersed in the lifestyles of local celebrities, Robin has a unique perspective on the history and evolution of the magic scene. I felt that he would make a perfect guest for the podcast to hear an "outsiders" perspective of magic, magicians, and the role they have played in making Las Vegas what it is today. I was not disappointed.

Today at age 75 his life hasn't slowed down. I was lucky to get an hour and a half of his time during the week I was in Las Vegas because of his tremendously busy schedule including his weekly vlog (video log) on You Tube, LuxeVegas.

Our discussion opens with Robin talking about making and enjoying a "proper" cup of tea. He then talks about his passion for magic and how he believes it needs to have a much higher ranking among the performing arts. He then chats about having been a guest of Bob Harbin and becoming an honorary member of The Magic Circle. He then goes on to talk about his favorite magician, Bill Malone. He also enjoyed watching Ricky Jay live in his Broadway performance, "Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants".

He then talks about the evolution of magic on the Las Vegas "Strip" including from Norm Neilsen, Channing Pollock, Siegfried and Roy, Lance Burton, David Copperfield to Penn & Teller, Criss Angel and Amazing Jonathan to the newest show on the Strip, Jarrett & Raja. Although he sings the praises of many magicians, he is not a fan of hypnotists, and he also has advice for Mac King and Xavier Mortimer. Ultimately, he believes there are too many magicians in Las Vegas today though the art of magic still survives. He then shifts to talking about how hard it is to work in New York City but Monday Night Magic has proved to be the exception.

He concludes by giving us his three "D's" of show business: Dedication, Discipline and Diligence.

For more information on this and the other Nick Trost books in this series, please visit Steve Bryant's Little Egypt Magic, March 2017 edition.