676: Ed Alonzo - In The Library

While I was in Los Angeles to work on “Masters of Illusion” TV series, Ed Alonzo found time to sit in the library of the Magic Castle to chat about his career. As a former member of the Long Beach Mystics and the Magic Castle Junior group, Ed launched successful careers as both a magician and an actor having major roles in many television series including “Saved By The Bell.” He also went on to work with Britney Spears on her worldwide concert tour where he interacted with her on stage in his character as a magician.

In this week’s episode, Ed covers a lot of territory in a short hour podcast. He talks extensively about the Magic Castle and his love and dedication to the clubhouse. He also talks about his time as a youth as he was trying to “find his character” when he was a member of the Long Beach Mystics and the Magic Castle Juniors. He tells how he transitioned into acting but never lost his love for performing magic, which he still does to this day having just completed the taping of Season Nine of “Masters of Illusion.” By the way, he talked about running for office on the Academy of Magical Arts: he won the election and is now on the Board of Directors. Congratulations, Ed.

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Towards the end of the episode, Ed talks about being on “The American Life” podcast with Ira Glass and David Kestenbaum as they talked about “The Lady Vanishes” or, David Copperfield’s vanish of the Statue of Liberty. Ed was part of the team that worked with David on this illusion and this episode goes into detail about the effect. The podcast website for this episode is HERE. “The Lady Vanishes” is the second part of this episode entitled “The Magic Show” and Ed Alonzo’s part comes very near the end at around time stamp 00:53:00.

222: My Week at the Magic Castle 2015 - Part Three

Join Scott and Lisa Land for a stroll down Hollywood Boulevard as we return to the Nirvana Apartment from breakfast at Mel's Diner. Scott Land is a puppeteer who was performing in the Palace theater at the Magic Castle during the same week I was in the Close-Up Gallery. We talk about many things and people including Scott's friend, Carl Ballentine. We stop along the way for Scott to point out some of the tourist landmarks on Hollywood Boulevard such as the El Capitan theater, "Walk of Stars" like Robin Williams, Julie Andrews, John Travolta, Milt and Bill Larsen, and Mann's Chinese Theatre.

After we return to the Nirvana Apartments (which is where many of the Castle performers are lodged during their/our week), I took a walk across the street and up the hill to the Academy of Magical Arts where I spoke with its General Manager, Joe Furlow. I happened to have been in the epicenter of the timeline when an agreement had just been reached between the Milt Larsen, the Magic Castle and the Academy of Magical Arts. Many of the agreed terms were discussed during our conversation.

00:02:52 - Join Lisa and Scott Land as we depart from Mel's Diner and walk along Hollywood Boulevard back to our apartment near the Magic Castle. Enjoy the sights and sounds and stories along the way. As we get back in front of the Nirvana Apartments, Scott talked extensively about Carl Ballentine, the development of his act, an entertaining story about Carl's' belief of Steve Martin "lifting" his act, and the puppet of Carl that Scott created.

00:20:18 - Joe Furlow, General Manager of the Academy of Magical Arts, talks about the resurrection of the Magic Castle and how they are now thriving as a financially successful enterprise.

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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676: Ed Alonzo - In The Library

222: My Week at the Magic Castle 2015 - Part Three

108: MAGIC Live! 2013 - Day 3

The Magic Word