570: Dan Witkowski - Cereal Genius

This week’s guest is another of those who is long overdue to tell his 40+ years of experience. Dan Witkowski and his company, MagicCom, has created unique magical experiences for the NFL, Coca-Cola, General Mills, the medical field and even the Whitehouse. Dan tells a lot of interesting stories from his experience of creating and producing not just one, but two halftime shows for the Super Bowl in consecutive years.

Dan has been an infrequent guest in the past having been on at least two convention report podcasts where he was attending and giving his assessment of the daily activities. So it was a delight to have a much more in-depth conversation with him here.

The quality of this recording is not up to the standard because it was recorded in the car using WiFi from a grocery store where I was parked. The power had gone out in my usual studio which meant that I needed to quickly find an alternative location. So the parking lot was the best I could do as we spoke to each other over a Skype connection.

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315: Day 4 - MAGIC Live! 2016

Day Four Schedule - August 17, 2016

24 hours - The Back Room
9:00 a.m. Registration
10:00 a.m. - Wednesday General Session for Maroon lanyards
   The Drink That Schooled Einstein - Michael Weber
   Raise Your Level - Ken Weber
   The Magic Shop - Bizzaro
   Teach-in the F.B.I. to Read Minds - Ian Rowland
   ON AIR: How to Get Yourself Booked on Television - Steve Spangler
   The Illusion of Reality - Curtis Hickman
10:00 a.m. - Wednesday Focus Group for Black lanyards
   Close-Up Clinic - Nine Master Teachers, hands-On
   Improv for Magicians - Navaris Darson of The Groundlings
   20/20 Hindsight - 20 slides, 20 seconds each, 5 subjects
11:00 a.m. The MAGIC Shop open until 6:30 p.m.
11:15 a.m. - Wednesday Focus Group for Black lanyards
   Close-Up Clinic - Nine Master Teachers, hands-On
   Improv for Magicians - Navaris Darson of The Groundlings
   20/20 Hindsight - 20 slides, 20 seconds each, 5 subjects
12:15 p.m. lunch break
2:15 p.m. - Wednesday General Session for Black lanyards
   The Drink That Schooled Einstein - Michael Weber
   Raise Your Level - Ken Weber
   The Magic Shop - Bizzaro
   Teach in the F.B.I. to Read Minds - Ian Rowland
   ON AIR: How to Get Yourself Booked on Television - Steve Spangler
   The Illusion of Reality - Curtis Hickman
2:15 p.m. - Wednesday Focus Group for Maroon lanyards
   Close-Up Clinic - Nine Master Teachers, hands-On
   Improv for Magicians - Navaris Darson of The Groundlings
   20/20 Hindsight - 20 slides, 20 seconds each, 5 subjects
3:30 p.m. - Wednesday Focus Group for Maroon lanyards
   Close-Up Clinic - Nine Master Teachers, hands-On
   Improv for Magicians - Navaris Darson of The Groundlings
   20/20 Hindsight - 20 slides, 20 seconds each, 5 subjects
5:00 p.m. - Dinner break
6:30 p.m. - Live on stage II
9:00 p.m. Live On Stage II
10:00 p.m. Farewell party until 1:00 a.m.
11:00 p.m. Special Presentation

This is just a small piece of all the magic tricks Luis Piedrahita can perform, I wanted to translate it so that more people can enjoy his beautiful performances

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:13: - Mel Kientz, distributor of the free daily news brief - "Magician's Life", gives his perspective on this year's MAGIC Live!

00:06:24 - Mark Ginther gives us a couple suggestions for shows to see while visiting Las Vegas (HIT: Xavier Mortimer).

00:09:05 - Simon and Ginny Aronson chats about their intimate close-up magic group in Chicago that was featured in a recent news article.

00:18:11 - Bizzaro talks about his participation in the General Session plus some of his roots in Texas.

00:26:23 - Mark Mason is wrapping up his dealer's booth and his association with Penguin Magic and the one-day events (Magic Expo) where he deals. Plus he gives some advice on a throat losenger.

00:30:47 - Busy trade show magician, Scott Tokar, talks about this convention and his views of MAGIC Live plus some trade show worker tips.

00:41:09 - FISM 2015 winner and July 2016 MAGIC Magazine cover boy, Pierric, chats about his experience of attending MAGIC Live for the first time and for that matter, his first time in Las Vegas. He chats about his FISM competition experience.

00:47:01 - Richard Hatch, of H&R Magic Books, tells us what he has seen or heard that has been some of the top tricks at this convention. Dan Witkowski joins us to give us his perspetive of MAGIC Live, too.

00:58:36 - Peter Samelson gives a quick review of the final night show plus what made this convention memorable for him.

01:02:07 - Fielding West, one of the 'cover boys" from MAGIC Magazine, talks about the importance of using a metronome when practicing.

01:13:14 - Luis Piedrahita, star of Spain's TV show, "The Anthill" tells us how to pronounce his last name, plus an overview of his presentation from his General Session.

01:23:51 - Stan Allen is listing the names of people who are in attendance who have appeared on the cover of MAGIC Magazine over the past 25 years. There were over 70 celebrated magicians here tonight.

01:28:47 - Stan Allen talks about this all being over and his plans for the future. Thanks, Stan!

279: The Cardini Connection with Randy Pitchford

Randy Pitchford is the nephew of Richard Valentine Pitchford, who was better known as Cardini. More than just a familial connection, Randy is also a performer, entrepreneur and successful businessman. Randy is the CEO and President of Gearbox Software located in Frisco, Texas (a northern suburb of Dallas).

Randy purchased much of the Cardini collection from the 2013 Potter & Potter auction and put the bulk of the exhibit in a museum at the Magic Castle. His most recent purchase may have the furthest reaching impact in our community: he is the new owner of Genii Magazine.

Randy is building a home designed to be like Brookledge, the home of Bill and Irene Larsen in Los Angeles. He even plans to present regular shows for the public in his home not unlike the Bookledge Follies.

Magician Cardini performing in 1957

Cardini (Richard Pitchford) performing coins and cards for some lucky people on a cruise. This rare footage was shot by Dr. Morris Young, and hasn't been seen for 50 years. Edited and restored by Magicbymax Steven Max Droge Productions.

Borderlands 2 creator Randy Pitchford (President and Co-founder, Gearbox Studios) gives his keynote speech at the 2013 D.I.C.E. SUMMIT. Titled "Video Games Are Magic". Brought to you by Variety and Machinima. The D.I.C.E.

Randy Pitchford was born in 1971 and Richard "Cardini" Pitchford died in 1973 so Randy has no recollection of his uncle. In this podcast, Randy talks about the acquisition of his Cardini artifacts plus some stories that were passed down to Randy from the family and friends. He also talks about his experience in his early years of performing at the Magic Castle and his personal relationship with the late Irene Larsen.

Also, he briefly talks about his recent acquisition of Genii magazine from Richard Kaufman; however, since the details have not been fleshed out, there are not many details to share. At this point, I understand that no change of any kind is envisioned for the immediate future of the magazine. Randy just wants to preserve this part of magic history and make sure of the longevity, viability and vitality of Genii far into the future so it can "live on forever."

Here is the photo taken by Michael Wilcoxen, the winner of the contest, with the framed Peau -Doux card he received as he has it displayed in his home.

This is the framed fan of Peau Doux manipulations cards (used by Cardini) that was presented by Randy Pitchford to David Copperfield. This is NOT the number of cards nor type of frame that will be sent to the winner of the contest (which is now ende… — This is the framed fan of Peau Doux manipulations cards (used by Cardini) that was presented by Randy Pitchford to David Copperfield. This is NOT the number of cards nor type of frame that will be sent to the winner of the contest (which is now ended). The contest here was for one framed card (probably without the brass plaque) and I'm uncertain of the type of framing that Randy will prepare.

570: Dan Witkowski - Cereal Genius

315: Day 4 - MAGIC Live! 2016

279: The Cardini Connection with Randy Pitchford

The Magic Word