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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569: Joe Stevens - Magic Dealer Trailblazer

Joe Stevens opened Stevens Magic Emporium in 1973 and over the decades has been a trailblazer introducing new ideas and concepts now ingrained into our magic landscape. His Greater Magic Video Library set the standard for professionally presenting magic instruction on video. He also created the GeMiNi Network in the 1990’s which was the forerunner of every magic forum we see and use today. He also instituted the Wichita Conclave that moved to Las Vegas where it became the Desert Magic Seminar with big dollar prizes and trophies from Siegfried & Roy. These are but a few of the innovations developed by Stevens Magic Emporium and they still thrive as a brick-and-mortar magic shop plus a successful online presence guided by the next generation of the Stevens family, Mark Stevens.

There was so much to talk about this week but Joe only had a limited amount of time to chat. So unfortunately we never got around to talking about the GeMiNi online magic forum that used to be a “dial-up” service in the early days of the internet. Some of that content is still available on their website, including some of my offerings. We also talked briefly about Nick Ruggerio, former co-owner of Collectors’ Workshop. Since we recorded this episode, unfortunately Nick has passed so I never got a chance to have him on the podcast.

568: Chris Cox - It's Mind Reading, Baby!

If David Tennant (the tenth Dr. Who), The Amazing Kreskin and Austin Powers somehow shared their DNA to create a character, then I think the result would be Chris Cox. Hands down, Chris Cox is one of the most animated, talented, creative and exciting young mentalists I have ever seen perform. He immediately breaks the “fourth wall” as he engages with his audience and his character is loved, understood and accepted. Touring with “The Illusionists” Chris is “The Mentalist” of the group though for my money he rivaled the hilarity and warmth of “The Trickster” host of the show, David Williamson. Chris is just that dynamic and good.

The award winning mind-reader who can't read minds, Chris Cox performs an incredible, amazing and mind-blowing trick on BBC Three's Killer Magic. Featuring a...

A holiday-themed edition of "The Illusionists," a cavalcade of magic and stunts, is running on Broadway for a limited time. Chris Cox, who calls himself a mindreader who doesn’t read minds.

On this episode, Chris talks about his association with “The Illusionists”, his creative “muse”, working on television, his inspirations from theatrical musicals, working at the Edinburgh “Fringe Festival”, and more.

570: Dan Witkowski - Cereal Genius

569: Joe Stevens - Magic Dealer Trailblazer

568: Chris Cox - It's Mind Reading, Baby!

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