900: Dan Sperry - The Anti-Conjuror

With this episode we celebrate the 900th episode of The Magic Word Podcast. Every 50 episodes we like to present a special guest who is well known throughout our worldwide magic community. And who better for this episode than Dan Sperry. He was a regular member of The Illusionists who toured the major stages of the world from Sydney, Australia, to Broadway in New York City. He has headlined in nightclubs, Las Vegas casinos, and performing arts theaters. For many years he has appeared on Masters of Illusion television show as well as many other TV shows. Now residing in Florida, he continues to travel the globe, but when at home, he enjoys (believe it or not) performing for children’s birthday parties.

In this week’s episode, Dan shares his story of how he developed his act and his character. He tells us about his early journey as he worked with doves and learned from some of the true masters like Joseph Gabriel that developed into a residency at a casino in Las Vegas. He toured Canada with Murray Hatfield as he honed his dove act and began to settle into his Shock Illusionist persona. He also talks about developing his talking act that led to work with the Illusionists and television appearances.

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879: Mark Pocan - "Pocan" the Political Bear

Mark Pocan represents the second congressional district in Wisconsin, near Madison. He is also a long-time magician, but had a passion since his youth for both magic and politics. He is now serving his seventh term in office and for a few years was offering a YouTube channel filled with explanations of how politics works using magic in what he called “Magic Mondays.” Although he ceased production of those videos a few years ago, he plans to get them up and running again in 2025.

Mark came from a family of politicians and, as he says, began door-to-door campaigning for his father at the tender age of six. He pursued politics through college while using magic to defray some of his costs of schooling. He still performs magic at fund raising functions and other charitable events. He is often seen attending magic conventions and has twice attended Vanishing Inc.’s magic retreats including one in Washington, D.C. where he was able to use his influence to allow attendees access to some backstage places in Congress.

869: TRICS 2024 - Day Three

Saturday November 9, 2024

Event Time

John Graham 11:00 – 12: 00

Rocco 12:30 – 1:30

Lunch 1:30 – 3:00
Rubi 3:00 – 4:00
Shoot 5:00 – 6:00
Dinner 6:00 – 8:15
Saturday Show 8:15 – 10:15

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:17 – Day Three kicks off with Mark Pocan who talks about this being his first TRICS convention and was inspired to come when he learned the Bernardo Sedlacek and Rubi were going to be here.

00:09:36 – Rhett Bryson, theater teacher for Farnum University, talks about his collection of automata and he also hosts the Whispering Imps website.

00:14:52 – Jeff Lefton is at this convention after being inspired by last year’s TRICS convention report and came to see John Graham after having read his book, “Stage by Stage.” But he arrived early to see Kerry Pollock at his club in Hilton Head. He also talked about setting up an activity venue for children to come and have their birthday parties.

00:21:02 – Terry Ward, from Orlando, was one of the lectures/performers from a previous year.and tells us which acts he has enjoyed at this convention.

00:26:57 = Bernardo Sedlacek is one of this year’s lecturers/performers who also offered a workshop to registrants. He talks about working shows in Spain, even though he is from Brazil.

00:32:45 – Boris Wild is another registrant who was also a lecturer/performer but is now just enjoying this event as a registrant and not having todo anything.

00:43:00 – David Parr and Tery Tyson were presenters at the “Insights” session yesterday. In this quick chat, they provide a summary of their talks. Bernardo Sedlack chimes in towards the end, too.

00:51:28 – Tiffany Allen is married to Boris Wild and now travels back and forth between the U.S. and France. She is the only female member of the Sleight Club, which is the group who is sponsoring this event.

01:03:57 – Organizer Scott Robinson provides a little “post mortem” on the convention as we talk about all the things that went on in this convention.