254: Tales from Old Las Vegas

During a party in the Team Land Studios in Las Vegas, I enjoyed a great conversation with some notable figures in the clowning world who shared some great stories about the old days of Las Vegas. The party was hosted by Scott and Lisa Land and turned out to be a little of a surprise birthday party for Scott. Despite the inclement weather, they had a decent turnout of guests on the day after the MAGIC Live! convention ended.

Team Land Studios is located in a warehouse adjacent to McCarran Airport. The doors to the warehouse were open so you can hear the occasional airline traffic in the background of this podcast. There was also a terrible storm going on with flash floods and lightning. You can hear the occasional thunder on the podcast, too.

Many of Scott and Lisa's friends are from the variety arts world rather than just magicians. During one conversation I was having with Scott and a group of his friends, things got real interesting real fast. I asked them to hold for a moment while I pulled out the microphone to see if I could capture some of this "lightning in a bottle" (no pun intended, despite the weather).

Most of these guys have lived and worked in Las Vegas for decades and rubbed shoulders with the greats and legends of the past. They lived during the time when the city wasn't run by politicians...if you know what I mean, and I think you do (thanks, Bill Malone). After some delightful discussions with Scott Land, Charlie Strachan, and Don Hendrix, it was Earl Chaney who soon took over as the central story teller with some fantastic stories about anyone and everyone who was someone in Las Vegas from Sammy Davis, Jr. to Elvis Presley.

Earl Chaney performs at the Red Skelton Clown Follies

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. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here.

Enjoy a delightful breakfast outdoors on the riverfront property of Trixie Bond with Jay Scott Berry and Suzanne the Magician.

The best deal in magic. Supplement your audio enjoyment of The Magic Word Podcast with visual magic.from Reel Magic Magazine

Enjoy exclusive videos every Tuesday night with On Demand Plus with your membership to Reel Magic Magazine.

#200 - How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Last year we brought you "The Night Before Christmas" read by a handful of popular magicians. It was so well received that I asked a few more guys (and gals) to read "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas". See if you can pick out the voices of: Boris Wild, Bob Cassidy, Docc Hilford, Tim Ellis, Tim Trono, George Tait, Rocco Silano, Eric DeCamps, Mandy Farrell, Ice McDonald, Steven Bargatze, Marc Salem, Rick Merrill, Richard Osterlind and, as the Grinch, Eugene Burger.

As I attended several magic conventions over this past year, I took aside a few guys and gals to chat on the podcast. But many of the people graciously agreed to record something special just for this very special podcast. I hope you enjoy hearing their reading of this Doctor Seuss classic. This was one of the most difficult podcasts to edit and took the longest time to gather all the voices to do this one which ended up being one of the shortest ones, too.

This special podcast is my Christmas gift to you for listening for these past few years to the previous 199 podcasts. I wish all the best to you and yours for this holiday season.

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. (please note: this RSS Feed subscription system may not work with Android systems). Remember, you can download it through iTunes. See the preview page by Clicking Here.

Click on the banner above to buy Lotto Fever 2.0 through my PayPal Shop for $29.95 plus shipping ($5.00 below current price and before the retail price goes to $39.95) Be sure to click on the correct shipping (Domestic or Foreign). Also available th… — Click on the banner above to buy Lotto Fever 2.0 through my PayPal Shop for $29.95 plus shipping ($5.00 below current price and before the retail price goes to $39.95) Be sure to click on the correct shipping (Domestic or Foreign). Also available through the "Shop By Credit Card" storefront, too, if you prefer not to use PayPal. Offer ends on October 18, 2014.

Fill your Christmas Stockings with all things Banachek! Click on the banner above to visit the website and start your year off bright!

Magic & Martinis Thursday...with the Grinch!

149: Day 3 - East Coast Mind Jam 2014

Day Three of the East Coast Mind Jam was a little off schedule due to a travel problem for Marc Salem from England. But the day began with an interesting lecture by Joe Atmore on The Amazing Dunninger. that included some fun, old videos from Dunninger's television show It didn't hurt that Joe bought a few dozen doughnuts from Dunkin' Donuts to entice better attendance at this early hour. After lunch we were visited by Tony Spina. Eric Citron, organizer of the Mind Jam, presented a "Lifetime Achievement in Magic Award" to Tony followed by several people who gave testimonials and recollections of their time with Tony.

This flowed directly into a special edition of "Now You See It with Scott Wells", a talk show that featured magicians from the weekend: George Tait (Patrick Redford), Joe Atmore, Ted Karmilovich, Bill Gladwell and Richard Osterlind. This took us right up to the time when Marc Salem arrived. The stage was struck and Marc began his one man show. That followed with his lecture that included some explanations of tricks from his working repertoire.

I apologize for the buzzing sound in this podcast but the microphone was near speaker which had an annoying buzz that I could not take out. Time stamps for this podcast:

00:01:24 - Tony Spina, former owner of Tannen's Magic, accepts an award plus several people tell stories of their influence by Tony.

00:17:57 - "Now You See It With Scott Wells" with George Tait up first.

00:30:50 - Joe Atmore tells some great stories about working with Uri Geller

00:4:41 - Ted Karmilovich talks about performing at a casino

00:53:30 - Bill Gladwell chats about how he got his one man show in Gatlinburg, Tennessee

00:58:30 - Richard Osterlind recounts a story about David Copperfield

01:06:03 - everyone on the couch tells their story of a highlight performance from their careers.