434: 2018 I.B.M. Convention - Day Four Update

Saturday July 7, 2018

8 AM Merlin Breakfast (Ticket Required)

9 AM - 1 PM 2019 Pre-Registration Opens

9 AM - 5 PM Dealer's Room Open

9:30 AM - 11 AM Big Three Event - (BLUE LANYARDS)

9:30 AM - 11 AM Big Three Event - (GREEN LANYARDS)

9:30 AM - 11 AM Big Three Event - (RED LANYARDS)

11 AM - 12 NOON Lance Burton Teen Scene # 3

11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Lecture - Larry Wilson

1 PM - 2 PM Lecture - Patrick Martin

3 PM - 4 PM Lecture - Jeff McBride

7 PM - 7:30 PMI.B.M. Contest Awards

8 PM - 9:30 PM Grand Finale Show

10:15 PM Farwell Party

11:45 PMJ eff McBride Special Workshop
Extra Cost Event

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:02:20- Dr. Larry Hass, Dean of the Mystery School, speaks to the members of the Order of Merlin (those with 25 or more years of consecutive membership in the I.B.M.) about lessons learned from Eugene Burger

00:14:42 - International President, Michael Finney, talks about what he plans to do during his presidency in the next year

00:32:48 - Past international President of the I.B.M. and Contest chairman, Oscar Munoz, talks about the importance of entering contests.

00:47:05 - Patrick Martin was one of the lecturers who was featured at this convention and he talks about working the corporate market.

01:03:02 - Robert Purcell talks about what it's like for a "first timer" because this is his first magic convention

01:11:36 - Kayla Drescher was a featured performer as one of the "Big Three" Events

01:16:17 - Larry Wilson (our emcee for the evening show0 returns to talk about one of his early TV specials

01:29:18 - a listing of the contest winners and a wrap of the convention

Contest Winners:

Stage Adult: Gold Medal, First Place and People's Choice - Zhou Zhou and Yuan Yuan; Award of Merit: Sebak

Stage Youth: First Place - Red Star; Award of Merit - Luna; Fantasma Award - Theo Chattra

Close-Up Adult: Erik Tait; Award of Merit - Chong Huang; People's Choice and Obie's Four F Award: Chris Quinero

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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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241: I.B.M. 2015 Convention - Day Four

The 87th annual IBM convention drew to a close after another full day that began with the Order of Merlin breakfast that honored long time members of the organization. The Big Three events wrapped up by noon then the "Six Pack" events began. This is similar to the Big Three except here, registrants pick two from the six events they want to see. The afternoon lecture was by Bill Abbott.

Before the 8:00 public show, the organization presented its awards at a special 7:00 time slot in the Florida Theatre. The judges did not see an act worthy of the Gold Cups or the Gold Medal this year. Here are the winners:

Close-up
McBride Magic & Mystery school faculty award - Jolie Dreiling
IBM endowment and development fund scholarship to Stephanie Trott and Avi Littky
Sorcerers Safari Camp - Jolie Dreiling
Obie Award for People's choice went to Shin Lim
Second place adult - Ed Ripley
First place adult- Shin Lim
Second place junior - William Zaballero
First place junior - Jolie Dreiling
No Gold Cups
Peoples choice award - Shin Lim

Stage
Second place youth - Hannah Kikuchi
First place youth - Daniel Hernandez
Fantasia Magic Package went to Daniel Hernandez
Second place adult - Trent James
First place adult - Chris Randall
No Gold Medal
Peoples choice award - Hannah Kikuchi

The evening show was hosted by Tom Mullica who featured his new pickpocketing act. Also on the bill was Ken Scott, Soma, David Kaplan, and the Outerbridges. Registrants returned to the hotel where they said their goodbyes at the Farewell Party.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:01:04 - Guest of Honor, Fantasio, and maker of appearing/disappearing candles and canes

00:16:26 - David Gabbay, from Los Angeles, California, was a close-up contestant

00:17:03 - Eugene Burger

00:22:16 - Bill Abbott, performer and lecturer

00:33:54 - various magicians in a room comment on what they liked about this convention

00:38:29 - Chad Long, another performer and lecturer at this convention

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. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here.