634: 2021 Austin T.A.O.M. - Day One Report

Friday September 3, 2021

9.30am-11.30am - Collectors Meeting: Bill Winters presents “Walter Gibson, the Man Who Knew the Titans of Magic” and A virtual presentation of the Houdini collection by the Curator Eric Colleary.
Free for all!

12pm-5pm - Registration Desk Open

12pm-5pm - Dealers Room Open

1pm-2pm - Lecture: JD Stewart

2pm - Dealer Show 1

2.30pm-3.30pm - Lecture: Kent Cummins

3.30pm - Dealer Show 2

4pm-5pm - Lecture: Cody Fisher

4pm-5pm - TAOM Board Meeting

5pm-6pm - Dinner Break

6pm-8pm - Dealers Room Open

6pm-8pm - Cocktail Party

6.30pm - Dealer Show 3

7pm - Dealer Show 4

7.30pm - Dealer Show 5

8pm-9pm - Cocktail Gala Show: Brian Brushwood and Justin Robert Young

9.30pm-11pm - Lecture: Michael Ammar

11.30pm-12.30am - S. Ravencraft’s “TAOM after Dark” – Cabaret: Bizzaro & Carisa Hendrix

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:17 - a chat with the Secretary/Treasurer of the T.A.O.M. Mary Cay Gold. She is also the Guest of Honor at this year’s convention

00:12:28 - T.A.O.M. 2021 President, Bertil Fredstrom, chats with us before the convention begins. A rare moment of early contemplation.

00:23:09 - Kent Cummins talks about his monthly magic column and his lecture he delivered this afternoon

00:29:38 - Saul Ravencraft talks about the Bizzarre Midnight Magic Shows coming up for the next three nights

00:37:24 - Ken Dickensheets talks about why sound and light are all so important at magic conventions

00:41:32 - Justin Robert Young tells us about this evening’s show along with Brian Brushwood that replaced Nick Diffatte in the evening’s gala show

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

621: Chris "Saul Ravencraft" Walden - A Bizzarist Comes Out

Chris Walden, from “Keep Austin Weird” Austin, Texas, is a professional entertainer who has won a comedy award from the Texas Association of Magicians; however, he soon realized that was not who he was. As he continued his journey of introspection, he came to the realization that his path was going to be as a “bizarre” entertainer. For those not familiar with this term, the internet defines a bizzarist as: “One who is a magician but uses storytelling and word play to a much greater degree, and less emphasis is placed on the manual dexterity of the performer or the complexity of his equipment.” As a result of his life’s journey, he is now known as “Saul Ravencraft.”

In this week’s episode, Saul Ravencraft talks about his journey to “find himself” that might prove inspirational to some listeners who are questioning their identity and character. Along the way, Saul talks about his short-lived live, online paranormal radio show, The Shadow Hour, and some of the interesting guests he had on the show. He also discusses the Museum of the Weird in Austin, Texas, plus a little about his mentor and friend, the late Ed Solomon aka “Denomolos”.

617: U.K. Kid Show Magicians

Kids are kids the world over and they all love magic. But there are some subtle differences in how and where magic is presented to children in the U.S. versus how it's done in the U.K. This week we chat with family and children show entertainers from the U.K. about these differences and some of their challenges (i.e. taking the tube and/or train in London between shows) and how they brand themselves by using memorable names for their characters.

Listen this week to our chat with Martin "Mr. Biscuit" Cox, Dave "Magic Dave" Allen and Paul "Colonel Custard" Megram as we hear how it's done "across the pond."

This week’s podcast episode on YouTube.

This week, Paul Megram, Dave Allen and Martin Cox represent a small sample of the complex and multi-levels of children’s show magicians in England. Someone could easily make a podcast devoted to just the kid show industry in the U.K. by featuring a different entertainer each week, but that’s not what The Magic Word Podcast is about. So please enjoy this 35,000 foot (or 10,668 meters) overview of this lucrative industry and accept our apologies if we have left out you as a guest or topics that you think we should have discussed.