813: Magifest 2024 - Day Three Report

Saturday 27th January 2024

10:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Dealer’s Room Open

10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

John Guastaferro's One Degree: An Afternoon of Music, Magic, and Motivation

John G combines his love for music (classical guitar), motivational speaking (he runs a non-profit for a major corporation) and magic (he has developed some truly world-class card magic) in this one-of-a-kind event. You will leave feeling inspired and with an array of new card moves and tricks.

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Youth Event

Final call for young magicians. Surprises await, just for our young attendees.

2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Asi Wind and John Graham: Magic Between Friends

Two fan favorites join forces to present a lecture and talk on how collaboration will improve our magic.

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Jay Sankey Lecture

Join Jay Sankey to celebrate the relaunch of his Definitive Sankey books and learn his latest magic!

8:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Gala Show

Featuring Juliana Chen, Trigg Watson, Alexander Koblikov, Montreal Trio, Art Benjamin. Hosted by Andi Gladwin.

10:30 p.m. - 11:30 p.m.

Bar Magic (Blaise Serra)

Time stamps for this episode: (to be filled in after I’ve had some sleep)

00:00:18 -

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759: Magic Collector Expo - Days 1 & 2 Report

Tuesday, May 9

10:00am Registration Opens

1:00pm to 4:00pm Dealers Open

4:00pm to 5:00pm Session #1 “Welcome To Cleveland” with Lance Rich, Dr. Bruce Averbook & Tim LaGanke

5:00pm to 7:00pm Dinner

7:00pm to 8:30pm Session #2 with Jim Hagy “The Instant Illusionist and The Cleveland Bunch: Dreams of a Vaudeville Life”, Sandy Daily “The Adventures & Challenges of a Magic Collectors Wife, Gene Anderson “Not Just a One Trick Pony” with Stan Allen

8:30pm to 11:30pm Dealer Room Open

Wednesday, May 10

10:00am First Buses Load for Tours of Dr. Bruce Averbook & Tim LaGangke Collections

2:00pm to 5:00pm Dealer Room Open

7:00pm to 8:30pm Session #3 with Richard Cohn “Roltaire”, Phil Schwartz “Steals, Lifts & Body Loads-The Funny Business of Magic Collecting, Al Belmont “Memories of the Blackstone Sr. Show”

8:30pm to 11:30pm Dealer Room Open

Time stamps for this episode will be provided after I’ve had some sleep

00:00:18 - Scott Wells prepares to take off to Cleveland, Ohio, along with Charlie Randall and Dick Olson for the Magic Collectors Expo

00:03:13 - Larry Dunbar is behind the registration desk. He is traveling with Lance Burton and Friends and he tells us a little about their upcoming tour and places they will be going.

00:05:35 - Lupe Nielsen is one of the attendees but not a presenter or dealer. She tells us what she’s working on for the magic community including Dean’s Box.

00:09:53 - Charles Greene, III talks about his book, “Ionia” and what he’s been doing and where he’s been traveling to talk about this book.

00:14:52 - Arthur Moses is a dealer who is selling some Houdini memorabilia. He talks about his recent appearance on Collector’s Call on ME-TV as he showed some of his collection on TV and how that all came about.

00:19:07 - Houdini expert, John Cox, is the blogger on WildAboutHoudini.com John will be a presenter at this convention as he talks about Houdini’s appearances in Cleveland. He also talks about some recent projects that are very exciting.

00:22:07 - Adele Friel Rhindress was one of the assistants for Harry Blackstone, Sr. and she talks about what she’s been doing recently

00:28:07 - Bill Kallush is the curator of the Conjurer’s Arts Research Center who also talks about Ask Alexander which is a repository of about 3MM pages of books in the museum.

00:33:36 - we begin day two, the first full day as we chat with Joe Hanosek. We talk about some of the activities from the previous evening’s talks.

00:36:24 - Lance Rich talks a bit about helping to put together this convention. He also explains the logistics of getting around to see two magnificent collections, Bruce Averbook and Tim LaGanke. On the bus, we just finished seeing Bruce’s collection which we discuss.

00:47:16 - Neil Rozum tells us a “twilight zone” type story related to his personal experience while working in a local theme park

00:49:24 - Les Arnold is the grand-son of The Great Leon and he chats a bit about that connection

00:55:12 - we finished the events for the day and now we chat with Richard Cohn who gave a presentation about a relatively unknown magician, Roltaire as well as some magicians who appeared at Coney Island in New York

735: Magifest 2023 - Day Two Report

Friday 27th January 2023

10:00am - 5:30pm

Dealers Open

10:00am - 11:00am

Kyle Purnell Lecture

See one of the most fertile creative minds in magic…doing his very best material. Kyle Purnell has developed highly innovative ideas with cards, bills, coins, and more, and you’ll see it all in this action-packed lecture. 11am - 12pm

Mortenn Christiansen Lecture

Not only did Denmark’s Mortenn Christiansen win the Comedy Prize this year at FISM, but he also brought down the house with an unusual act that is amazing as it is hilarious. You’ll see that act in the gala show, but in this lecture you’ll see an array of fantastic, original close-up and parlor magic. 1pm - 2:30pm

The Magifest Session

Starring Charles Greene performing and explaining a few pet effects, as well as author Margalit Fox, who will present a captivating 45-minute presentation on her best-selling book, The Confidence Men, the true story about two men who used mentalism to escape from a POW camp.

There will also be a presentation from the Gahana High School Magic Program, which features magic from students with disabilities. We at Magifest are proud to have an ongoing partnership with this important and inspiring program. We are excited to see what magic they do for us. 2:30pm - 3:30pm

Youth Event

For young magicians only! 3:30pm - 4:30pm

Mark Calabrese Lecture

Making his Magifest debut, card-cheating expert and magician Mark Calabrese will share the magic he uses to astound guests nightly at New York’s illustrious SpeakEasy Magic. You’ll learn practical, doable card magic. 5:30pm - 6:30pm

The Matt Pritchard Experience

This event is impossible to categorize, and there hasn’t been anything like it at Magifest before. Pritchard brought the house down at our sister-convention, The Session, with this presentation. Matt Pritchard has a background in science, and during the pandemic he put this background to use making online, viral videos of magic illusions. In this talk he’ll show and (sometimes) tell on the most popular of these illusions. And in most cases, the method behind the trick is as interesting as the trick itself. 8pm - 9pm

Lance Burton Interview

The man, the myth, the legend. Lance Burton sits down for a candid, in-depth interview about his illustrious career. We’ll look at performance footage and find out how one of Las Vegas’s greatest entertainers made it to the top. 9:30pm - 10:30pm

David Gerard Show

Experience this high-energy, astounding mentalism show. Straight from his residency in San Francisco to the Magifest stage… 11:30pm - midnight

You Flash, You Lose with Chris Ramsay and friends

Be part of a social media happening as the Big Trick Energy team invite you to play their "You Flash, You Lose" 10:30pm - 12.30am

Bar Magic with Mark Calabrese

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:18 - The new CFO for Vanishing, Inc., Jeff Kowalk, chats with us about Vanishing, Inc. and the Magifest plus other exciting news

00:15:22 - Roger Nicot from Card Shark and Scott talk about crop circles and Stone Henge

00:22:21 - Marv Leventhal, one of the publishers of the Minotaur and shares his observations about some of the shows from the Day One evening shows.

00:36:43 -Owner of the Chicago Magic Lounge, Joey Cranford, chats about this convention and some news about the Chicago Magic Lounge.

00:47:-5 - Tom Craven has been attending the Magifest for about 60 years.

00:52:15 - Shoot Ogawa was a FISM winner who will be performing, lecturing and doing a private workshop here at the Magifest. He is currently performing a magical mystical show in Hawaii.

00:57:57 _ S.A.M. President Elect John Sturk chats about the upcoming national convention in July in New Orleans.

01:02:17 - John Wolfe and Kyle Purnell chat about this convention and why they like to attend.

813: Magifest 2024 - Day Three Report

Saturday 27th January 2024

Dealer’s Room Open

John Guastaferro's One Degree: An Afternoon of Music, Magic, and Motivation

Youth Event

Asi Wind and John Graham: Magic Between Friends

Jay Sankey Lecture

Gala Show

Bar Magic (Blaise Serra)

759: Magic Collector Expo - Days 1 & 2 Report

Tuesday, May 9

Wednesday, May 10

735: Magifest 2023 - Day Two Report

Friday 27th January 2023

Dealers Open

Kyle Purnell Lecture

Mortenn Christiansen Lecture

The Magifest Session

Youth Event

Mark Calabrese Lecture

The Matt Pritchard Experience

Lance Burton Interview

David Gerard Show

You Flash, You Lose with Chris Ramsay and friends

Bar Magic with Mark Calabrese

The Magic Word