665: Jania Taylor - Magic Lady

Jania Taylor is indeed a “Magic Lady” who performs on stage as well as out in the street for outdoor festivals. She also offers a lecture on some of the Women in Magic from over the years. Around the holidays she is seen as Santa’s Helper in a costumed character. And during her “off time” in the winter, she teaches snow skiing.

This was a video of “Now You See It with Scott Wells” from the MAES Convention in 2011 that featured Jana Taylor as one of my guests (as well as Denny Haney, too).

Bob Brown (of Bob Brown and Brenda fame) delivered a memorable lecture for the registrants at the 1983 International Brotherhood of Magicians convention in Honolulu, Hawaii. With today's marketing methods, much of his tips are outdated, but there is still much to be learned by this super salesman. Bob died on February 7, 2016, but I know he would like to be remembered for what he did best.

In this week’s episode Jania talks about her character in her outdoor festivals, promoting herself, some of the history of women in magic, busking, and more.

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261: Project Alpha with Mike Edwards

After viewing the highly acclaimed documentary, "An Honest Liar" about the career of James "The Amazing" Randi, I wanted to talk with Mike Edwards, the "psychic" who was "tested" along with Steve Shaw (Banachek) over a three year period in the late 70;s to the early 80;s. I have discussed Project Alpha with Banachek many times privately, on the podcast and on an L&L Video (Psi Series Volume 4 - Psychokenisis) but I had never met or spoken with, Mike Edwards, his partner on the project.

The stars aligned with my travel plans to Phoenix, Arizona and Mike's availability so we were able to find a relatively quiet corner in an otherwise busy restaurant and record this chat. It is a completely different perspective from the one I have heard from Banachek and the revelation during the last few minutes of our conversation figuratively "bowled me over". I was not expecting that news. You might be surprised and excited once you hear it, too.

Recorded: 5/27/2010 Original Alpha Kid, Michael Edwards pays a visit to the foundation and recalls some of the behind the scenes tricks that he and Steve Shaw (Banachek) did during the MacLab test. From Wikipedia: Project Alpha was an elaborate hoax orchestrated by the stage magician and skeptic James Randi.

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253: Day Three - T.A.O.M. Convention 2015

Morning until night (well, really...the next morning. It's nearly dawn on Monday morning as I publish this podcast), Sunday was full of activities again including lectures, contests and shows. And the stage contests were the best I've seen in years...here or anywhere at any magic convention (except FISM, of course).

The Order of Willard (for members with 25 years or more of consecutive membership in the TAOM) featured a wonderful presentation by Margaret Steele on an historic figure in magic, Adelaide Herrmann.. The stage contests then began followed by John Carney's wonderful lecture. Next was an afternoon awards presentation (because of the Esther's Follies evening show off site). This was immediately followed by Joe Vitale's inspirational, motivational lecture.

Contest Winners this year were: Junior Stage - Hannah; Senior Stage - Keith West; Senior Comedy - GSparks; Senior Close-Up - Trigg Watson; Best of Convention - Hannah

The evening had the group broken into two groups, one staying in the hotel to see the "Stars of Tomorrow" hosted by Amanda Eve and featuring James Irwin, Ava Byers and Drake Stanton. And closing the bill was Nick Lewin. The other group went to Esther's Follies for a special presentation that featured my favorite magician, Ray Anderson. There were many who had never seen this show which has cutting edge, topical humor that is PG to R rated.

Back at the hotel, the evening concluded with the President's Purple Palooza Party where everyone was encouraged to wear purple. We were treated to snacks, live music and multiple variety acts including singers, tap dancers, pole dancers, plate spinners and more. It was a real hoot, as we say in Texas.

One of the things that was not discussed in these podcasts but was an integral part of the convention was the music. Throughout the event, there were live musicians who played and sand and juggled between events. It made for a festive convention with never a minute without something going on.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:14 - TAOM 2016 President Judy Hollingsworth talks about next year's convention in corpus Christi, Texas.

00:03:02 - Margaret Steele briefly chats about her book, "Adelaide Herrmann - Queen of Magic" before her presentation.

00:07:16 - Margaret Steele gives a presentation from her book to a brunch meeting of "The Order of Willard" members (those with 25 or more years of consecutive membership in the T.A.O.M.)

00:40:03 - Ali Shelley talks about creating her magic act while at 35,000 feet above the earth

00:48:14 - S.A.M. National President David Bowers tells us about how he is enjoying the convention plus his travel plans to other conventions as the President.

00:51:53 While in the bar at Esther's Follies before Ray Anderson's show, we talk with Peter Samelson and Chip Romero who give us their viewpoint and comments on the convention.

00:54:43 Jade tells us about her Chinese act and how she got on "Penn & Teller Fool Us" show.

01:07:10 Jay Scott Berry talks about the difficulty of selling yourself when you have multiple facets to your performing resume.

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