741: Steve Aldrich - A Long Strange Trip

This episode is dedicated to those who remember the past and for those who want to learn more about our rich history. This week we travel back in time in our Grateful Dead VW bus and visit with magician and co-founder of the Foan Family Circus, Steve Aldrich. It was a simpler time when magicians were experimenting with new presentations and popular music of the time. It was at the height of Doug Henning’s popularity who was considered by some as a “Hippie Magician”.

Steve Aldrich also performed magic at the famed Tower Bar in Snowmass at a time when Doc Eason was still a waiter Steve and his band of merry men (and a woman) surprised and entertained magicians with their “tongue in cheek” original presentations of their “Foan Family Circus” at many magic conventions during the late 1970’s to early 1980’s. So what happened to the group? That and more will be the topic of discussion in this week’s episode.

If you are more of a visual person, then you will enjoy this video of our conversation recorded via Zoom.

Steve talks this week about the formation of the Foan Family Circus, their original presentations and music, their performances at magic conventions (one of which won them the Senator Crandall Comedy Award at Abbott’s Get Together), plus the origins of magic at the Tower Bar starting with Bob Sheets then passed down to Steve Aldrich and Steve Spill.

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340: Gold...Bruce Gold

As a follow-up to the recent podcast about the "House of Magic by Franz Harary", this week we chat with Bruce Gold who is the talent booker for the House of Magic. You may have seen Bruce appearing at the Magic Castle or perhaps a number of other venues including the Academy Awards (Oscars). Well, maybe not as he is a "behind the scenes" guy who helps the celebrities off the stage and behind the curtains.

But if you are interested in what it takes to perform in a $50MM magic venue, then listen to what Bruce has to say on what he is looking for in entertainment.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:02:12 - Bruce Gold talks about being the emcee for a group at the 2017 Rose Parade plus working backstage at the Oscars

00:28:34 - The Great American Magic Company talks about their newest product, "All About Eve" by Steve Dela, plus a special offer for listeners of The Magic Wordl

00:32:27 - Bruce continues talking with a discussion about booking acts at the "House of Magic by Franz Harary"

01:15:33 - Yigal Mesika returns (as a follow-up to episode 326) to talk about the results of the mediation with Penguin Magic regarding the litigation on his "Loops" wordmark.

Listeners of The Magic Word Podcast will receive a $15 discount for all purchases over $100 using the product code: MW on checkout.

335: Howard Hamburg - Voices from the Past

Howard Hamburg has been around a long time...a very long time. And he has conferred with and confided in the some of the legends of our magical art. You name them, and Howard has a true, first hand story about them. Howard brings history alive with his marvelous stories of personal relationships with legendary magicians. There are some great stories in here and some performance tips along the way, too. At the beginning of this podcast, Howard talks about his attendance at "Escorial" in El Escorial, Spain which is an invitation-only card magic convention hosted by Juan Tamariz.

A spectator places ANY 2 face-up spot cards on the table the magician removes a joker from his deck and places it face up onto the table as well. The performer mentions that the number 7 is considered a lucky number among Americans, the number 8 is considered a lucky number by the Chinese, but 13 is the performer's lucky number for certain cards in the deck.