625: 2021 Abbott's Get Together - Day One

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4TH 2021
9:30AM REGISTRATION OPENS at the Abbott Plant
10:00AM - 12:45PM ABBOTT'S DEALERS' ROOM at Colon High School
10:30AM SUPER SHOWROOM SPECIALS in Dealers Room
12PM STREET PERFORMER (Gordon Russ) at M&M Grill (sponsored by IBM Ring 386-Percy Abbott / Monk Watson Magic Club)
1:00PM LECTURE at Colon High School (Eric Decamps)
1:00PM MAGIC SHOW at Abbott's Magic (with BJ Mallen; $5 cash at the door)
2:30PM STREET PERFORMER (Nick Eaton) Colon Historical Museum (sponsored by IBM Ring 386-Percy Abbott / Monk Watson Magic Club)
3:00PM LECTURE at Colon High School (Nick Diffatte)
3:00PM-5PM COLON HISTORICAL MUSEUM is open
4:30PM MAGIC SHOW at Abbott's Magic (with Joe Bennett; $5 cash at the door)
4:30PM-6PM ABBOTT'S DEALERS' ROOM at Colon High School
5:30PM STREET PERFORMER (Jania Taylor) at Village Market (sponsored by IBM Ring 386-Percy Abbott / Monk Watson Magic Club)
6:00PM-7:45PM DINNER on your own
7:45PM PRE-SHOW LIVE ORGAN MUSIC - by John Sturk
8:00PM ABBOTT'S STAGE SHOW - (view seating chart)
Featuring Jeff Hobson, Kevin James, John Jansky, Stuart MacDonald, BJ Mallen
10:00PM ABBOTT'S DEALERS ROOM OPENS at Colon High School

Time Stamps for This Episode:

00:00:18 - Greg Bordner, owner of Abbott’s Magic Company, is our first stop as we pick up our registration for the Get Together

00:18:03 - Mark Holstein updates us on the Thursday night surprise guest, Michael Carbonaro, had to cancel and will be replaced by David Charvet

00:20:28 - Walter “Zaney” Blaney’s celebration of life graveside service with his daughter, Shannon Blaney, and hosted by Daniel Summers who introduced Past International President of the I.B.M., David Sandy, who did the “Broken Wand” ceremony followed by Lance Burton who performed Walter’s Vanishing Bird Cage.

00:45:24 - Chad Long was one of the attendees at the service

00:46:14 - Gay Blackstone talks about this convention that honors the Blackstone family

00:49:42 - Daniel Summers talked about the Blaney service, his headstone, and more

00:52:58 - John Jansky was one of the Wednesday night show who is a “speed painter” and created a portrait of Johnny Thompson

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482: Les Arnold - More Inspired

Les Arnold has one of the funniest magic parody acts on the scene today. He works with his daughter (known as “Dazzle”) and has appeared four times on “Masters of Illusion” TV show (to date). Les was one of the early members of the legendary “Long Beach Mystics” in Long Beach, California and was a shop teacher until retirement when he converted his part time job as a performer to full time. During his formative years, Les built many illusions and developed his stage act today known as Les Arnold and Dazzle.

You can catch Les Arnold appearing at the Magic Collectors Expo in Minneapolis, Minnesota on June 20-22, 2019 and also at the I.B.M. Convention in Scottsdale, Arizona on July 10-13, 2019.

Les Arnold and Dazzle Full Act on Masters of Illusion

Time Stamps for this podcast:

00:02:50 - Les Arnold talks about his early beginnings with the Long Beach Mystics, how he developed his act “Les Arnold and Dazzle” act with his daughter, and how he keeps focused on what material works best for his character/act.

01:05:23 - Product Review: “Mint-O” from Vanishing, Inc. - a mint (Lifesaver or Polo circular mint) magically penetrates onto the cord of a set of headphone. Very visual with three different methods. Recommended.

01:08:00 - Product Review: “Snapped” from the Other Brothers - wrapped candy (i.e. Airheads, Hershey bar, etc. - some flat, wrapped candy) automatically, quickly and visually vanishes behind your wallet, deck of cards or other similarly sized item. Recommended.

01:10:40 - Product Review: “Fully Automatic Card Trick (FACT)” by Caleb Wiles - A seriously, fully automatic card trick that the volunteer does in his hands. There are instruction cards in the deck that the volunteer will follow to make this a “hands off” trick for the magician. It will take time to remember the set-up, but highly recommended.

Visit our store and consider purchasing your online magic from The Magic Word and help support the 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. 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

355: Bill Smith - The Man Behind the Illusions

Former Long Beach Mystic, Bill Smith, has been a long time resident on Las Vegas and doesn't consider himself as a creator so much as he is a builder. He has seen a lot of magicians come and go. For ten years, he was a stage hand for Harry Blackstone, Jr. and traveled across the U.S. including his Broadway show. He also has some strong beliefs on building from original plans rather than building rip-offs.

As part of the Las Vegas Chronicles, one of the visits was to the illusion fabrication warehouse of Bill Smith's Magic Ventures where his crew was busy building props for upcoming shows. For more info on Magic Ventures, visit his website at: http://www.magicventures.com/

To hear our chat with Bill Smith, visit: https://www.themagicwordpodcast.com/scottwellsmagic/bill-smith

Bill Smith talks about his migration to "Sin City" as magic began to flourish. He talks about magic he has been involved with from Caesar's Magic Kingdom to the current big shows on the Strip. He also talks about working with Stan Allen in the magic shop in Los Angeles and his early attempts at building. Bill started out as a performer and gradually moved into building. He also chats about how he met Harry Blackstone, Jr. and how he starting working for him including a lot of behind-the-scene stories with Harry. Some of Bill's best memories are from his attendance at Abbott's Get Together.

We then have a good discussion about rip-offs of illusions, ethics, rights, YouTube, China, lack of creativity, and more. He now laments the lack of new, original illusions coming on the market today.

625: 2021 Abbott's Get Together - Day One

482: Les Arnold - More Inspired

355: Bill Smith - The Man Behind the Illusions

The Magic Word