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157: Jim Sisti - On The Menu

Magic Menu Banner.jpg

What was he thinking? Why would someone start a bi-monthly magic publication in the early 1990’s? Desktop publishing was in its infancy in 1990, and I mean dot matrix printing and tractor-fed printers. And when I say low resolution graphics, I really mean pixilated clip art. Wow! And then to make it even more arcane, focus on a small segment of the magic society: restaurant magic. Even at its peak, they only had 500 subscribers. What was he thinking?

But Jim Sisti had a passion and created something that will live as essential reading for the restaurant magician as the Bible of Restaurant Magic. The Magic Menu started with the September/October 1990 issue that carried on for 11 years and eventually bound into two hardback volumes. I believe Jim has a plan for the last couple year’s worth of issues to be bound sometime.

The Magic Menu led the field in educating magicians in how to be a restaurant magician. It remains the longest running and only regularly published newsletter exclusively for the performing restaurant magician. The Magic Menu included advice, tips, tricks, brilliant articles and more for the restaurant magician. Contributors included all the top workers of the day including Al the Only, Michael Ammar, Michael Close, Jay Sankey, Simon Lovell, Paul Green, Doc Eason, Eugene Burger, just to drop a few. I was pleased and honored to have been one of the regular columnists for The Magic Menu for a number of years. I was also the one who designed the artwork for the masthead for the later years of the publication.

Jim was recently an adviser for Criss Angel’s “MindFreak” TV show and now works with Richard Osterlind and seen on many of Richard’s instructional videos. Jim is not only a close-up magician but also a skilled stage performer as well.

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In this podcast, Jim talks a little about The Magic Menu, but more extensively about restaurant magic and some of the ideas gleaned from this publication.  Jim talks about the real secrets and talks about facts, figures and money.. In addition to talking about the genesis of The Magic Menu, we discussed Bulletin Board Services (BBS) and other early iterations of how magicians congregated online in the days of "dial-up", which was long before the internet.

If you are interested in performing in a restaurant or in a corporate strolling environment, then this is a "must hear" podcast.

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.

Magic & Martinis Thursday

Martinis on the Menu

Martinis on the Menu

Click the Lybrary log to visit the page for ordering digital  editions of The Magic Menu

Click the Lybrary log to visit the page for ordering digital  editions of The Magic Menu

Tagged with Jim Sisti, The Magic Menu, restaurant magic.

May 8, 2014 by Scott Wells.
  • May 8, 2014
  • Scott Wells
  • Jim Sisti
  • The Magic Menu
  • restaurant magic
  • 1 Comment
1 Comment

150: Epilogue - East Coast Mind Jam 2014

Except for the inadequate hotel facilities, the East Coast Mind Jam was a real success. Patrick Redford recaps the weekend from his perspective as talent, a performer, lecturer, dealer and a registrant. Eric Citron, event organizer, has some advice for those who are thinking of organizing their own convention. Plus he reveals a surprise announcement in this podcast.

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.

Posted in Convention Report and tagged with Eric Citron, George Tait, Patrick Redford.

March 31, 2014 by Scott Wells.
  • March 31, 2014
  • Scott Wells
  • Eric Citron
  • George Tait
  • Patrick Redford
  • Convention Report
  • 2 Comments
2 Comments

149: Day 3 - East Coast Mind Jam 2014

Day Three of the East Coast Mind Jam was a little off schedule due to a travel problem for Marc Salem from England. But the day began with an interesting lecture by Joe Atmore on The Amazing Dunninger. that included some fun, old videos from Dunninger's television show  It didn't hurt that Joe bought a few dozen doughnuts from Dunkin' Donuts to entice better attendance at this early hour. After lunch we were visited by Tony Spina. Eric Citron, organizer of the Mind Jam, presented a "Lifetime Achievement in Magic Award" to Tony followed by several people who gave testimonials and recollections of their time with Tony.

This flowed directly into a special edition of "Now You See It with Scott Wells", a talk show that featured magicians from the weekend: George Tait (Patrick Redford), Joe Atmore, Ted Karmilovich, Bill Gladwell and Richard Osterlind. This took us right up to the time when Marc Salem arrived. The stage was struck and Marc began his one man show. That followed with his lecture that included some explanations of tricks from his working repertoire.

View fullsize Joe Atmore
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View fullsize Tony Spina
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View fullsize Richard Osterlind
View fullsize Marc Salem.JPG

I apologize for the buzzing sound in this podcast but the microphone was near speaker which had an annoying buzz that I could not take out. Time stamps for this podcast:

00:01:24 - Tony Spina, former owner of Tannen's Magic, accepts an award plus several people tell stories of their influence by Tony.

00:17:57 - "Now You See It With Scott Wells" with George Tait up first.

00:30:50 - Joe Atmore tells some great stories about working with Uri Geller

00:4:41 - Ted Karmilovich talks about performing at a casino

00:53:30 - Bill Gladwell chats about how he got his one man show in Gatlinburg, Tennessee

00:58:30 - Richard Osterlind recounts a story about David Copperfield

01:06:03 - everyone on the couch tells their story of a highlight performance from their careers.

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.

Posted in Convention Report and tagged with Mar, Marc Salem, Patrick Redford, Joe Atmore, Ted Karmilovich, Richard Osterlind, Eric Citron, East Coast Mind Jam, Tony Spina, George Tait.

March 31, 2014 by Scott Wells.
  • March 31, 2014
  • Scott Wells
  • Mar
  • Marc Salem
  • Patrick Redford
  • Joe Atmore
  • Ted Karmilovich
  • Richard Osterlind
  • Eric Citron
  • East Coast Mind Jam
  • Tony Spina
  • George Tait
  • Convention Report
  • Post a comment
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The Magic Word The Magic Word

A Podcast for Magicians, About Magicians, Hosted by a Full Time Professional Magician, Scott Wells

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FISM 2025 Daily Reports from Turin, Italy We are in the middle of the World Championship of Magic in Turin, Italy. Join us and/or catch up on the daily podcast updates on FISM 2025.
#fism2025
#fismturin
#turinitaly
#italy
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#worldchampionshipofm
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