983: MAGIC Live! 2026 - Days One and Two

Schedule

Sunday, August 2nd

24 hours Bicycle Lounge, St. Charles

10:00 a.m. Registration, Bienville G (10:00p)

10:00 a.m. Photo Badges, Dauphine F (10:00p)

Live Tonight!

7:30 – 11:00 p.m. - The Zombie Ball, Esplanade

7:30 – 11:00 p.m. - The MAGIC Shop, Mardi Gras

11:00 – 11:30 p.m. - Grand Prize Giveaway & Costume Awards, Esplanade

Monday, August 3rd

24 hours Bicycle Lounge, St. Charles

9:00 a.m. Information Booth, Kiosk (9:00p)

10:00 a.m. General Sessions, Showroom, (Noon)

10:00 a.m. Focus Sessions (11:00a)

11:00 a.m. The MAGIC Shop, Mardi Gras, (6:00p)

11:15 a.m. Focus Sessions (12:15p)

11:30 a.m. Cafe Live!, Esplanade K/L (2:00p)

12:15 p.m. Lunch Break (2:15p)

2:15 p.m. General Session, Showroom (4:15p)

2:15 p.m. Focus Sessions (3:15p)

3:30 p.m. Focus Sessions (4:30p)

Live Tonight!

6:00, 8:00, 10:15 p.m. - Comedy Live!, Showroom

12:30, 5:45, 7:10, 9:00, 10:20 p.m. - The Close-up Experience, Bienville G

6:15, 8:00, 10:00 p.m. - In Concert: Dani Daortiz, French Quarter

7:00 p.m. – Midnight Bicycle Lounge Cash Bar, St. Charles

Time stamps and guest names for this episode:

00:00:26 – At the Austin airport and preparing to depart on the red-eye for Las Vegas. Join us as we have a cup of coffee and get excited about the upcoming convention.

00:05:12 – The first registrants I ran into were Nick and Jason Altieri, brothers from Boston. This was Jason’s first MAGIC Live! convention.

00:09:26 – the opening night party had a zombie theme. Everyone was encouraged to dress as a zombie. To Stan Allen’s surprise, many more dressed appropriately than he expected. The first couple we chatted with was Meadow Perry who was dressed as Glenda the Good Witch from “The Wizard of Oz” and Michael Dardant, who was the Wicked Witch. Okay…maybe not everyone kept the “zombie” theme.

00:15:53 – Harrison Greenbaum has a whole separate agenda when he visits Las Vegas. Many come and see shows. He comes and performs in the shows as a “one off.” Harrison will also be the host of the Tuesday night comedy show for MAGIC Live!

00:21:02 – we get some different convention perspectives over breakfast with Charlie Randall, Bill Flanagan, John McLaughlin, and Bruce Averbook.

00:31:50 – one of the dealers, Jeff Scanlan (Impossible Bottle) tells us how the convention is going from the perspective of a dealer. Spoiler alert: it’s going very well.

00:35:54 – one of the organizers, Rory Johnson, opens the first morning General Session with an overview of what this year’s convention theme. (BTW, this was an authorized recording even though we were not allowed any video nor audio recording of the convention.)

00:40:01 – Jeff Sobell is a regular attendee and tells us why he returns year after year.

00:46:29 – Co-producer of Monday Night Magic in New York City, Michael Chaut is always on the prowl looking for talent to book for his show. We chat about the Focus Session we just attended.

00:54:42 – My friend from St. Louis, Missouri, Karl Grice, has attended every one of the MAGIC Live! conventions and here he shares why he returns year after year plus some of his favorite highlights from previous years.

01:00:28 – From China, Bruce Liu, traveled all the way to the U.S. just to attend this convention then return home immediately afterwards. He tells us what kind of magic he does and what inspires him.

01:05:26 – Paul Gertner was one of the people who appeared on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show and was on the panel in the General Session. Paul has some great personal stories about his time on the Tonight Show plus visiting Johnny in his home and teaching him some coin tricks.

01:09:31 – We caught up with Chris Kenner late at night as he and David Copperfield were leaving the building. Chis tells us a bit about what he’s working on with Theory 11.

MAGIC Live Days 1 and 2 Report

Scott Wells with Altieri, Perry, Dardant, Greenbaum, McLaughlin, Averbook, Randall, Flanagan, Scanlan, Johnson, Sobell, Chaut, Grice, Liu, Gertner, and Kenner

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926: Mark Phillips - "Duel" Reality

Mark Phillips has transitioned quite nicely from active trade show worker to full time parlor show performer. Mark has long been an “in demand” trade show worker entertaining at corporate functions and attracting large crowds for his trade show clients. But over the past few years, Mark has stayed closer to his Washington, D.C. home where he regularly performs “The Magic Duel” featuring him with another magician. Currently he is working with Meadow Perry.

In the first part of this week’s episode, Mark tells us about the evolution of developing “The Magic Duel” and the people who have worked with him over the past few years. He explains the premise and perhaps inspires you, the listener, to consider having your own theater show with another magician. The second part of our conversation holds some really good advice and tips on booking trade shows today. The way companies book trade show magicians has radically changed with the evolution of cell phones and the internet. Sometimes it’s difficult to get through all the noise to reach the right client who books trade shows. But there are pluses and minuses on how to use social media to get booked.

797: Meadow Perry - Bubblicious

When magicians think of variety acts, usually jugglers and ventriloquists come to mind. But there are a few out there who do a very unique thing: bubble magic. Meadow Perry has been professionally performing a bubble act for at least couple years appearing at magic conventions, Renaissance festivals, corporate meetings and even on television’s “Masters of Illusion.” We all stand on the shoulders of giants as we move our art forward and Meadow tells us how she took various ideas from other bubble artists to create her own niche.

In this week’s episode, Meadow tells us about the problem of working a bubble act both indoors and outdoors. She also talks about sharing her skill along with Carisa Hendrix online at “Bubble U” (University). We talk about the science and history of bubble acts and who the few are who still perform bubble acts in the world today.

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

983: MAGIC Live! 2026 - Days One and Two

Schedule

926: Mark Phillips - "Duel" Reality

797: Meadow Perry - Bubblicious

The Magic Word