777: Abbott's 85th Get Together 2023 Convention - Day Three Report

Friday, August 4th

9:30AM REGISTRATION OPENS at the Abbott Plant
9:30AM ABBOTT'S TALENT CONTEST (more info ) at High School (requires registration)
10:00AM ABBOTT'S DEALERS ROOM OPENS (requires registration)
11:00AM - 5:00PM COLON ARTS AND CRAFTS FAIR (Craft Show/Vendor Info)
12:00PM FREE STREET PERFORMANCE (Odd Cory & JuJu Sideshow at Grannys)
1:00PM LECTURE - MAC KING (requires registration)
1:00PM MAGIC SHOW featuring Tim Wright at Abbott's Magic Theatre $5
2:00PM JAY BLACKWELL JUGGLING/FIRE EATING & MORE at Sterlini Magic & Theater $10
2:30PM ABBOTT'S CLOSEUP SHOW (requires registration)
3:00PM FACE PAINTING till 6PM outside 5 Star Pizza by Award Winning Artist Carol Hendrix (Standard Fees)
3:00PM-5PM COLON HISTORICAL MUSEUM is open (Colon Museum Webpage)
4:00PM FREE STREET PERFORMANCE (Gordon Russ at Colon Library)
4:30PM MAGIC SHOW featuring Rocky Clements at Abbott's Magic Theatre $5
5:00PM LIVE AT 5 WITH THE STERLINI'S at Sterlini Magic & Theater $10
5:30PM FREE STREET PERFORMANCE (Trino at Curlys)
6:00PM-7:45PM DINNER (on your own)
7:45PM PRESHOW LIVE ORGAN MUSIC - by John Sturk
8:00PM ABBOTT'S STAGE SHOW - THE FAR EAST MAGIC GALA
Featuring Kento Mukai (Japan), Shimpei Katsuragawa (Japan), Takehito Inoue (Japan), Yukihiro Katayama (Japan), Yu Komohara (Japan), Shouma (Japan)
10:00PM ABBOTT'S DEALERS ROOM OPENS (requires registration)
10:15PM DAVID MCCREARY at Sterlini Magic & Theater $15
10:30PM ABBOTT'S TALENT CONTEST AWARDS (requires registration)

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:18 – Lance Burton helps recap the Wednesday night show plus a little update on what he is doing.

00:07:09 – Meadow Perry visits us and talks about her experience traveling with her children to their first magic convention. She also talks about her recent competition experience with the S.A.M.

00:12:21 – Dave Cressey is the king of mouth coils and chats a bit about Paul Diamond and some other stories about his business

00:22:07 – Chuck Arkin, International President of the I.B.M., tells us about his vision for the coming year of his dreams and vision.

00:33:31 – While at dinner at an Amish farm house, Micheal Trixx tells us about his experience of performing and traveling up from Florida.

00:39:51 – before the evening show begins, we chat with Keith Fields and Randy Wakeman who just arrived and tells us what they are doing.

00:44:56 – Ewe Sperlich and Gundun Frailech traveled from Munich, Germany, for this convention after listening to the Magic Word Podcast. They talk about their experience here in Colon.

00:49:00 – BJ Mallen announces the winners of the stage contest. Third Place was Buddy August; Second Place went to Scott Hannemann, and First Place went to Anthony Stockton.

00:53:00 – Tamara and John Sterlini talk about their contributions to the Capitol of Magic and how they try to keep the magic “alive” by encouraging tourists to travel to Colon to see shows they sponsor in their theater.

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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.

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

767: Randy Wakeman - I've Been Around for a Long, Long Years

Randy Wakeman has been around for many decades and was often seen lecturing and performing at magic conventions. Nonetheless, I have always seen him as an “underground” magician who appeals to the true sleight-of-hand experts. He is one of those guys who has “been there, done that, has the t-shirt” as he was one of the regular performers about the Chicago Bar Magic Scene before the turn of the last century. He has written several books on magic (card magic mostly) and is still relevant in our community as a performer, teacher and author.

While at the recent Senior Tour close-up convention in St. Louis, The Magic Word spoke with Randy as part of the convention report content. He was preparing for a workshop, so we didn’t get a chance to go in-depth as I had wanted. But we agreed to get together at the 4F convention in Buffalo a couple months later. True to his word, we sat down to complete our chat which results in this episode. The content of our chat in both places was a little disjunctive, so the editing required us to put the second conversation first then plug in the chat in St. Louis and finish with our talk while in Buffalo. This sounds more confusing that it actually is, but I know you will understand and enjoy our chat.

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