570: Dan Witkowski - Cereal Genius

This week’s guest is another of those who is long overdue to tell his 40+ years of experience. Dan Witkowski and his company, MagicCom, has created unique magical experiences for the NFL, Coca-Cola, General Mills, the medical field and even the Whitehouse. Dan tells a lot of interesting stories from his experience of creating and producing not just one, but two halftime shows for the Super Bowl in consecutive years.

Dan has been an infrequent guest in the past having been on at least two convention report podcasts where he was attending and giving his assessment of the daily activities. So it was a delight to have a much more in-depth conversation with him here.

The quality of this recording is not up to the standard because it was recorded in the car using WiFi from a grocery store where I was parked. The power had gone out in my usual studio which meant that I needed to quickly find an alternative location. So the parking lot was the best I could do as we spoke to each other over a Skype connection.

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315: Day 4 - MAGIC Live! 2016

Day Four Schedule - August 17, 2016

24 hours - The Back Room
9:00 a.m. Registration
10:00 a.m. - Wednesday General Session for Maroon lanyards
   The Drink That Schooled Einstein - Michael Weber
   Raise Your Level - Ken Weber
   The Magic Shop - Bizzaro
   Teach-in the F.B.I. to Read Minds - Ian Rowland
   ON AIR: How to Get Yourself Booked on Television - Steve Spangler
   The Illusion of Reality - Curtis Hickman
10:00 a.m. - Wednesday Focus Group for Black lanyards
   Close-Up Clinic - Nine Master Teachers, hands-On
   Improv for Magicians - Navaris Darson of The Groundlings
   20/20 Hindsight - 20 slides, 20 seconds each, 5 subjects
11:00 a.m. The MAGIC Shop open until 6:30 p.m.
11:15 a.m. - Wednesday Focus Group for Black lanyards
   Close-Up Clinic - Nine Master Teachers, hands-On
   Improv for Magicians - Navaris Darson of The Groundlings
   20/20 Hindsight - 20 slides, 20 seconds each, 5 subjects
12:15 p.m. lunch break
2:15 p.m. - Wednesday General Session for Black lanyards
   The Drink That Schooled Einstein - Michael Weber
   Raise Your Level - Ken Weber
   The Magic Shop - Bizzaro
   Teach in the F.B.I. to Read Minds - Ian Rowland
   ON AIR: How to Get Yourself Booked on Television - Steve Spangler
   The Illusion of Reality - Curtis Hickman
2:15 p.m. - Wednesday Focus Group for Maroon lanyards
   Close-Up Clinic - Nine Master Teachers, hands-On
   Improv for Magicians - Navaris Darson of The Groundlings
   20/20 Hindsight - 20 slides, 20 seconds each, 5 subjects
3:30 p.m. - Wednesday Focus Group for Maroon lanyards
   Close-Up Clinic - Nine Master Teachers, hands-On
   Improv for Magicians - Navaris Darson of The Groundlings
   20/20 Hindsight - 20 slides, 20 seconds each, 5 subjects
5:00 p.m. - Dinner break
6:30 p.m. - Live on stage II
9:00 p.m. Live On Stage II
10:00 p.m. Farewell party until 1:00 a.m.
11:00 p.m. Special Presentation

This is just a small piece of all the magic tricks Luis Piedrahita can perform, I wanted to translate it so that more people can enjoy his beautiful performances

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:13: - Mel Kientz, distributor of the free daily news brief - "Magician's Life", gives his perspective on this year's MAGIC Live!

00:06:24 - Mark Ginther gives us a couple suggestions for shows to see while visiting Las Vegas (HIT: Xavier Mortimer).

00:09:05 - Simon and Ginny Aronson chats about their intimate close-up magic group in Chicago that was featured in a recent news article.

00:18:11 - Bizzaro talks about his participation in the General Session plus some of his roots in Texas.

00:26:23 - Mark Mason is wrapping up his dealer's booth and his association with Penguin Magic and the one-day events (Magic Expo) where he deals. Plus he gives some advice on a throat losenger.

00:30:47 - Busy trade show magician, Scott Tokar, talks about this convention and his views of MAGIC Live plus some trade show worker tips.

00:41:09 - FISM 2015 winner and July 2016 MAGIC Magazine cover boy, Pierric, chats about his experience of attending MAGIC Live for the first time and for that matter, his first time in Las Vegas. He chats about his FISM competition experience.

00:47:01 - Richard Hatch, of H&R Magic Books, tells us what he has seen or heard that has been some of the top tricks at this convention. Dan Witkowski joins us to give us his perspetive of MAGIC Live, too.

00:58:36 - Peter Samelson gives a quick review of the final night show plus what made this convention memorable for him.

01:02:07 - Fielding West, one of the 'cover boys" from MAGIC Magazine, talks about the importance of using a metronome when practicing.

01:13:14 - Luis Piedrahita, star of Spain's TV show, "The Anthill" tells us how to pronounce his last name, plus an overview of his presentation from his General Session.

01:23:51 - Stan Allen is listing the names of people who are in attendance who have appeared on the cover of MAGIC Magazine over the past 25 years. There were over 70 celebrated magicians here tonight.

01:28:47 - Stan Allen talks about this all being over and his plans for the future. Thanks, Stan!

108: MAGIC Live! 2013 - Day 3

Day three was another fun and exciting day that began with the Opening Session hosted by Justin Flom A highlight of the show was Xavier Mortimer's incredibly innovative routines. He is currently featured in the Cirque du Soliel show here in Vegas, "Michael Jackson One".. But it was Wayne Dobson being interviewed by Jeff McBride which received a standing ovation.

00:00:07 – Tom Vorjahan, Daniel Herron and Eddie Wade give a recap of the Documentary Live 1 show from last night that featured the Long Beach Mystics hosted by Stan Allen and Mike Caveney. It featured David Deeble, Victor and Diamond, Michael Weber, Dana Daniels, Mark Kalin and Jinger, Armando Lucera, Kevin James, and James Hamilton (as Alexander Hamilton).

00:08:33 – I give a short review of the General Session that was hosted by Justin Flom and featured Master Payne, Bill Abbott, Xavier Mortimer, and Wayne Dobson being interviewed by Jeff McBride.

00:13:00 – I chatted with random people dining at the In ‘N Out and how much they enjoy this place. It is one of my regular, mandatory places to dine while in Las Vegas.

00:15:02 – Simon Coronel talks about creativity and how he developed his routine.

00:26:00 – Photo time with Criss Angel

00:26:50 – David Hira talks about this convention and conventions in general and their appeal to different age groups.

00:34:45 – Scott Hunstler was one of the winners on the Sunday night Welcome Party. He talks about what he won. Mark Weidhaas, S.A.M. Past President, and Errol Lipschitz, from Vancouver, talks about their experience of this convention.

00:39:56 – We viewed the documentary about Ricky Jay’s life, Deceptive Practices. Here I get to talk with a few people who know Ricky and have a perspective and opinion on the movie. It isn’t anything like Siskell & Ebert, but I think you will enjoy this discussion by Peter Samelson, Tim Felix and Jon Stetson.

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570: Dan Witkowski - Cereal Genius

315: Day 4 - MAGIC Live! 2016

108: MAGIC Live! 2013 - Day 3

The Magic Word