725: David Ginn - King of the Kid Shows

With over 100 books on kid show magic, David Ginn stands as the King of the Kid Shows, in my opinion. He has single-handedly influenced more magicians over the decades by providing commercial, scripted routines for the children’s show entertainer than anyone can count. And when you add his DVD’s, lectures, and magazine columns, he is a rock star in our community. His routines and tricks were instrumental in the core of many of my children’s shows from birthday parties, to family shows, Scout banquets, libraries and schools and many of his routines and ideas applied to and influenced some routines in my adult shows. I would go further to say that any magician with a magic library and who has ever performed for kids probably has one or more of David’s books in their libraries.

This week David Ginn talks about some of his experiences over the years plus his relationships with J.B. Bobo and with Doug Henning. He also encourages everyone who is interested in learning free magic routines and watching him in action on video, to surf over to his website at https://ginnmagicshop.com where you can view and learn and get lots of tips for FREE.

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 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

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.

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.

620: Katrina Kroetch - A New Force Awakens

“Magical Katrina” aka Katrina Kroetch, is one of the new breed of young (under 30) magicians who is making a name for herself in our business. Katrina has competed not only in magic conventions, but also on the “big stage” in Las Vegas on “Penn & Teller Fool Us.” She is adept at close-up. stand-up comedy magic and birthday parties. She also knows how to use her social media to her advantage and how to find the right people to save her hours of time. One such suggestion is to get a “personal virtual assistant” as suggested by Tim Ferriss in “The 4 Hour Work Week” (link to the book below) and by listening to his podcast.

This week, Magical Katrina talks about how and why she goes by a stage name and how she brands her identity in social media. She also talks about how she got on “Penn & Teller Fool Us” and how she got to know Penn Jillette. Katrina is not a name that is universally known, but I believe that if she keeps doing what she is doing, she will be a force to be reckoned with soon.

725: David Ginn - King of the Kid Shows

676: Ed Alonzo - In The Library

620: Katrina Kroetch - A New Force Awakens

The Magic Word