771: S.A.M. 2023 Convention in New Orleans - Day One Report

Sunday, July 23rd

8:00 AM REGISTRATION Open Vieux Carre Foyer

9:00 AM SAM National Council Mtg “Thurston Lecture Hall” SYM Youth Academy “William Andrews Classroom”

11:00 AM Exhibitors Grand Opening “Kellar Exhibitor Hall”

1:00 PM SHOW 1: Exhibitors Showcase Show “Thurston Lecture Hall”

2:15 PM Convention Welcome “Thurston Lecture Hall”

2:30 PM Lecture 1: Bruce Kalver – Tech Tips & Tricks “Thurston Lecture Hall”

4:00 PM Lecture 2: Barry Mitchell Focus on Funny for Kids “Thurston Lecture Hall”

4:00 PM REGISTRATION Closed Vieux Carre Foyer

6:00 PM Exhibitors Close “Kellar Exhibitor Hall” 8:00 PM PARTY 1: Mardi Gras Welcome Party. Join the 2nd line Parade – with the Crecent City Conjourers (Warpo, Doug Conn, Devon Faul, Steve Reynolds, Winston Helling Jr, Michael Dardant) and Variety Talent by Frenchman Street Productions Promenade/Courtyard/Martinkas Backroom and balcony

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:18 – Scott and Dick Olson are traveling by car from Houston to New Orleans and talk about their excitement and anticipation for this upcoming convention.

00:05:10 – National President, Rod Chow, arrived yesterday and tells us a bit about some of the pre-convention activities. He also recaps his year as the National President and what he accomplished over the past year.

00:12:19 – President Elect, John Midgley, tells us a bit about some of the magic caricatures that he has been drawing and posting on Facebook, including one of your humble host, Scott Wells.

00:19:05 – Steve Reynolds is a local New Orleans magician who is also part of the talent on the bill at this convention.

00:25:55 – Cody Clark and Sid Hagarty are young magicians who are excited about this convention.

00:34:49 - Incoming National President of the S.A.M., John Sturk, tells us what he hopes to accomplish during his upcoming year as President.

00:48:14 – at the President’s Party, we have a martini as we chat with Past National President, Dal Sanders and his wife Cinde Sanders who tell us what they love magic conventions.

00:53:04 – Past National President of the S.A.M., Bruce Kalver, tells us about the new S.A.M. history book.

01:03:26 – Editor of the M.U.M., Alan Howard, chats about the S.A.M. journal and his path to this job y working with Stan Allen.

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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

757: MAWNY 2023 - One Day Convention Report

Sunday, April 30th

Registration Opens - 9:00 am

Auction (NO BOOKS OR MAGAZINES) - 10:30 am to 12:00 pm
(NOTE: All auction items must be checked-in no later than 10:15 am)
Lunch and Mingle with Your Fellow Magicians - 12:00 pm
Close-Up Performers - 2:00-ish pm hosted by Eric Decamps with Bernardo Sedlacek, Jimmy C., Michael Ammar, Quentin Reynolds, Aaron Isaac, Alexandra Duvivier
Lecture - 3:30-ish pm
Dinner Buffet - 5:00 pm
(Doors open at 6:30 pm) (Time subject to change) for Dealers
International Evening Show - 7:00 pm (Time subject to change) hosted by Christian and Katalina with Martin Braessas, Michael Dardant, Darryl Rose, Sara Crasson, Greg Frewin, Christian Mocia, Meadow Perry, and Juliana Chen.

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:18 - Tony Weiland has been attending MAWNY for many years and gives us a little history of this event which is celebrating their 75th anniversary.

00:12:05 - Juliana Chen will be performing her linking ring routine and she talks a bit about that, FISM, and more. She will be receiving a Fellowship plus has received an nomination for Stage Magician of the Year at the Magic Castle.

00:17:27 - Michael Dardant is another 4F performer who will be staying over for MAWNY and will be performing juggling on the evening show.

00:19:50 - National President of the S.A.M., Rod Chow, is visiting this convention in an official capacity among others around the world.

00:25:33 - William Watt is yet another holdover from the 4F who is attending MAWNY. His name is on the program by mistake.

00:32:27 - Sara Crasson and her bear, Bamburg, join us to chat about her book and her upcoming performance on the evening show.

00:42:43 - Friend of the Magic Word, Bruce Purdy, has been attending MAWNY for many years and talks about some of the convention activities.

00:48:04 - Keith Randolph is at the registration desk who talks about this convention who reports that over 200 people are registered this year. He also explains the errors on the printed schedule for which he takes responsibility. He also tells us a little about the history of MAWNY.

00:52:43 - Meadow Perry will be presenting her bubble act on the evening show. She talks about how she developed her act.

01:01:50 - Eric DeCamps helps recap the convention and a review of the evening show.