070: Dan Garrett - A Look Forward Into The Past

Welcome to the 70th podcast on The Magic Word. Dan Garrett was passing through Houston during his recent lecture tour entitled, "Forward Into The Past" that was dedicated to Duke Stern and Tim Conover. Dan is a Past President of the Society of American Magicians as well as a full time professional magician, dealer, lecturer, author and generall all-around good guy.

In this podcast Dan talks about his friendship with the late Martin Gardener and the Gathering for Gardner (http://www.g4g-com.org/) and those who attend (i.e. Percy Diaconis, Mark Seddeducati, and others). Dan has a passion for science fiction and online gaming, too, which we discuss. Dan talked about mentoring new magicians and how young people might find a mentor. His interests in magic go beyond the traditional but also include the allied art of juggling. With this broad background, Dan seems perfectly suited for discussing the future of magic including digital magazines (i.e. Kozmo's "Reel Magic" and other paper magazines that have gone digital), conventions, and more.

This was one of the more interesting discussions I have posted but it was also the single most difficult. Easy from the standpoint that Dan and I have been good friends for over 25 years so the discussion (as well as the Coca Cola for Dan and the scotch for me) ran freely. But the audio crashed as it was being saved. We knew that the magic of the moment that we captured on the podcast could not be duplicated. So I spent six hours meticulously finding, saving, pasting and editing this podcast. Despite all my efforts, there are still about ten minutes out of our hour and ten minute chat that were lost. But I tried to make the edits as seemless as possible. I hope you will enjoy this talk with one of the world's leaders in magic. I hope you will also enjoy a couple of sound clips from Firesign Theater to get us into and out of this podcast.

Download a MP3 file of this podcast by Clicking Here then right click to save the file. You can also download the MP3 media file directly from the RSS feed by Clicking Here.

Photos from Abbott's 2012 Day 3

Day Three of Abbott's Get-Together was another beautiful, sunny day in southern Michigan. People were still coming in to Abbott's Magic Factory to pick up their registration packets. The bulk of their magic inventory, however, was relocated from the Factory to the dealers' room that was set up in the elementary school.

You never know who is going to show up at a Get-Together. Perhaps if I would have waited for the owner of this car to return, I could have solved an age old question.

Buskers fanned throughout the village to entertain the guests. One was appointed to the downtown area where the annual arts and crafts fair was taking place.

Jania Taylor (http://www.magicbyjania.com/) was assigned to the grocery store that had a throng of people who were there during the lunch hour for the Kiwani's Club benefit. They were offering lunch for $1.00 that included a hot dog, chips, soft drink and an ice cream sandwiich. You could order an extra hot dog for just 50 cents.

Michael Mode (http://www.magicmode.com/) was one of those who helped Jerry Costello with the "Happy Hour" party at Jerry's lake house that took place after Adele Friel's lecture and before the evening show. (Jerry is on the left and Michael is on the right).

You never know how people will be dressed for the Friday night show. Have you ever seen a dress made entirely from balloons? Never mind WHERE did she sit in the show last night. The question is HOW did she sit?

Following the evening stage show, the city presented an enjoyable fireworks show just outside the high school.