904: AbraCORNdabra 2025 - Day Two Report

Saturday May 17, 2025

9:00 AM magiK-MART Opens with FREE DONUTS with the dealers! (Bring your own drink) magiK-MART Dealers Room

9:30 AM – 10:30 AM Lecture #5 - ALLAN ACKERMAN

10:30 AM – 11:00 AM Break

10:30 AM – 3:30 PM The WORLD FAMOUS F.O.V. SILENT MAGIC AUCTION – raising funds for the Young Magician’s Fund. SIDE LOBBY

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM The Kernels Showcase Show BALLROOM WEST

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM FREE PIZZA & POP LUNCH ON ABRACORNDABRA! (Kernels & Parents Pizza & Pop Lunch critique in private dining room) Enjoy an AbraCORNdabra FREE PIZZA & POP LUNCH!

1:30 PM – 3:00 PM Show & Lecture #6 - JEKI YOO

3:00 PM – 3:15 PM Break LAST CHANCE TO BID ON SILENT AUCTION ITEMS! (Silent auction closes at 3:15 PM) HEARTS, DIAMONDS, CLUBS, SPADES, JOKERS, GAFFS

3:30 PM – 5:00 PM THE MIDWEST CHAMPIONSHIP OF CLOSE-UP MAGIC Downstairs

TWELVE Performers
SIX rooms
TWO Awards
ONE CHAMPION!

“Who will it be?
Will it be YOU?”

5:00 PM – 5:30 PM Pay & Pick up Auction Winnings

6:00 PM magiK-MART Closes (dealers)

5:00 PM – 7:30 PM Dinner on your own

7:30 PM – 8:30 PM OscEARs Awards Party

Doors open – mingle with magical friends – cash bar

Come dressed in your best Gangster’s outfit or Flapper attire! You may take your own photos in front of the “Police Line-up Wall”, find the Maitra D’ who will show you the “back alley entrance.” Figure out the password to gain entrance into the SPEAKEASY where surprises await you! - Hotel Lobby

8:30 PM – 9:00 PM Old Maid’s Staff Show

9:00 PM -9:30 PM Awards Presentations with surprise guest

9:30 PM – 10:00 PM The OscEARs Wrap Party MYSTERY MAGICIAN & GUESTS SHOW!
THIS WILL BE THE MOST OUTRAGEOUS OSCEARS PARTY EVER!
(What happens at THIS YEAR’S OsEAR’s Awards Party will be talked about for years to come!)

10:00 PM – 11:00 PM Meet & Great with the Magical Stars – Souvenir Poster Signing

Time Stamps: These will be posted after I have gotten some sleep.

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512: Greg Koren and John Gaspard - New Books for Young and Old

This week we chat with a couple fiction authors who have magicians as the central character in their stories. Greg Koren is up first who talks about his newest book, “The Memory Trap”. The book is directed towards young readers and also for parents to read to their children. The premise of the book is that the central character, Henry Dunne, is about to be suspended from his new middle school for something he didn't do, and the principal's old but beloved car is about to disappear for the last time. Henry and the principal agree to help each other, but these unlikely friends don't realize the deck has been stacked against them, and time is running out. Henry must confront his fears and figure out whom to trust before the sinister force making their lives miserable steps from the shadows to deal the final, crushing blow. In helping to solve this mystery, Henry uses his knowledge of Tamariz’s “Mnemonica” card stack for his “memory palace”.

Greg is a recipient of the Maryland State Teachers Association’s School Bell Award for excellence in education writing, the Associated Press’s Mark Twain award for his feature writing, and six awards from the MDDC Press Association. He is the author of the critically acclaimed one-act play An Arrangement of Convenience, a winner of the Maryland Playwrights Festival, which was produced by the Vagabond Theater in Baltimore in 1989.

Koren fell in love with the imaginative world of middle-grade fiction after becoming a homeschooler and stay-at-home dad for his two children. Currently, he lives with his wife in Baltimore and works as a professional magician and mentalist.

John Gaspard is the author of the Eli Marks mystery series as well as two other stand-alone novels, "The Greyhound of the Baskervilles" and "The Ripperologists." He just completed “The Zombie Ball” as the sixth in the Eli Marks mystery series, which he discusses in this week’s podcast. “The Zombie Ball” opens with Eli being asked to perform his magic act at a swanky charity gala, The Zombie Ball– a former zombie pub crawl which has grown into an annual high-class social event. What begins as a typical stage show for Eli turns deadly when two of the evening’s sponsors are found murdered under truly unusual circumstances. Compounding this drama is the presence of Eli’s ex-wife and her new husband, Homicide Detective Fred Hutton. Under pressure to solve the crime before the 800 guests depart, Eli and his detective nemesis go head-to-head to uncover the bizarre clues that will unravel this macabre mystery.

In real life, John Gaspard is not a magician, but he has directed six low-budget features that cost very little and made even less – that’s no small trick. He’s also written multiple books on the subject of low-budget film making. Ironically, they’ve made more than the films. John lives in Minnesota and shares his home with his lovely wife, several dogs, a few cats and a handful of pet allergies.

Time Stamps for this podcast:

00:03:35 - Greg Koren talks about his newest book, “The Memory Trap” about a young man who solves a mystery in his school by using his knowledge of “Mnemonica”, a stacked deck.

00:26:43 - John Gaspard tells us about “Sunday Night Magic”, a live, monthly magic show in Minneapolis. He also talks about his newest, sixth book in the Eli Marks magic detective novel series, “The Zombie Ball”.

00:49:05 - an audio book that is an exclusive available here only for listeners of The Magic Word Podcast. You will only hear it here and it’s absolutely free! Enjoy “The Last Customer” in this 20 minute audio book you will not get anywhere else.

Order your copy through this link to help both the author and The Magic Word Podcast.

Order your Kindle copy by using this link and help the author anThe Magic Word Podcast at the same time!

400: David Berglas - International Man of Mystery, Part One

David Berglas has an affect on me.

Okay, that is corny. But it is true that he has influenced and inspired more magicians and mentalists in the world than can be counted. Not only has he changed how we look at magic, David Berglas has significantly changed magic on television.

The BBC called him the “Godfather of TV Magic”. Born in 1926, Berglas escaped to Britain from Nazi Germany at age 11. He first became interested in Magic in his 20’s and studied psychotherapy at university before becoming a professional magician in 1952. His groundbreaking TV show in 1986, “The Mind of David Berglas” paved the way for all others to follow up to this very day. He is the author of several books including, "The Berglas Effects" and "The Mind & Magic of David Berglas", among others. And he is an multiple award winner of several prestigious organizations and is the Past President of The Magic Circle.

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I was part of a momentous meeting organized by Spyros Melaris in 2002 when he arranged a dinner meeting with David Berglas and his wife, Ruth, with Banachek and his wife, Heidi, and me and my wife, Kathy. It was a wonderful, memorable dinner with Banachek sharing his spoon bending to David and magic talk late into the evening. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, no photos of that evening exist except those in our minds.

It was at that first meeting that we all became good friends and I am glad that we could get together again for this podcast where David talks about his beginnings in magic, work both in front of and behind the cameras on television and film, plus lots of stories about celebrated names of magicians, most of whom are long since passed.

Magicians' Valhalla

Although the list below is not exhaustive nor in any particular order, it does reflect the names of many well-known (and some lesser known) magicians, spouses and assistants who passed on in 2017. Some may not be as well-known to you, but they were my personal friends (hey, it is my blog!). If you are unfamiliar with any of these names, then it would behoove you to do a little online search of what these people have contributed to our craft. If you have someone you think was overlooked, then please post the name in the comments below on this blog.

Those whose names are highlighted were featured or interviewed here on The Magic Word Podcast. You can click on their name to revisit and listen to their voices again. David Oliver put together a video of some names and dates of passing of these (and others) in a YouTube video. Click Here to see that video.

Phil Messina

Daryl Easton (Martinez)

Bob Cassidy

Jim Zachary

Ed Thomas

Jessica “Shedini” Moore

George Kovari, Jr.

"Chuck" Kirchner

John Moehring

Eugene Burger

Tom Jones

Eddie Gibson