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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260: The Science of Magic with Tony Barnhart, Ph.D.

During the I.B.M. convention in Phoenix in 2013 I came across a flyer from Anthony Barnhart, Ph.D. soliciting subjects for a scientific study about magic. They were looking for magicians to come to the Arizona State University campus to help with a psychological experiment. Well, I was too busy to make it there, but I kept the flyer. Being the "hoarder" that I am (not unlike most magicians, I'm sure), I recently came across that flyer. I decided that it sounded like an interesting subject for the podcast.

Since that time, the Psychologist who was conducting the study has since moved on to another state. I was able to locate him (thank you, Google) and schedule a time for a Skype chat. Tony (as he likes to be called) is now in the Department of Psychological Science at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin and still continuing his study on the Science of Magic.

He references some articles he's published and you can find them here: The special issue of Frontiers in Psychology: http://journal.frontiersin.org/researchtopic/2464/the-psychology-of-magic-and-the-magic-of-psychology Hid blog, where he's written about some of this stuff in a more informal style is at: http://scienceofmagic.org/

You can follow Tony on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/magictony He is on Facebook, too at: http://facebook.com/magictony

His teaching conference (with a magical flare) can be found at: http://skepticalclassroom.com/

For more information, please visit http://www.AnthonyBarnhart.com. The speakers featured in this video include (in no particular order): James Randi (http://www.randi.org) D.J. Grothe (http://www.forgoodreason.org) Dr. Stephen Macknik, Barrow Neurological Institute (http://macknik.neuralcorrelate.com) Dr. Susana Martinez-Conde, Barrow Neurological Institute (http://smc.neuralcorrelate.com) Roland Sarlot & Susan Eyed (http://www.carnivalofillusion.com) Fr.

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The third novel in the Eli Marks, magician, mystery series is now available. John Gaspard has done it again and penned another great book that will appeal to magicians and mystery lovers alike. Order your copy now and help support The Magic Word, too, by clicking and ordering through this link. Just click on the graphic to be taken to Amazon.com to learn more and order your copy.

259: Discovering Ammar

One of magic's greatest teachers, Michael Ammar, is reinventing the way we learn magic. Along with Brian Daniel South (proprietor of the former "Creative Magic" company) and Michael Rosander. Michael is working with a new project, "Discover Magic" which is a program to teach magic to 8-12 year old youngsters More than a "magic camp", the instructors are provided with the necessary tools to find a teaching venue in their home towns, receive instructional manuals, specially packaged tricks/props, and online support plus a "vault" for the students to "unlock" each week to learn even more magic. Each of the eight classes will be 90 minutes and teach the fundamentals of magic aided by learning material provided by Discover Magic.

They currently have 52 instructors across the U.S. and they have room for a couple more. From October 14-28, 2015, they are looking for two more instructors to join their ranks and get trained to teach.

Learn a little more about Discover Magic in this 45 second video.

A new levitation of a borrowed wine glass, full or empty. Originally called (by me) "Crystal-Air" but now offically called "Exquisite"

Click on the image above for information on ordering "The Exquisite" from Michael Ammar's website.

At the beginning of this podcast, Michael speaks in detail about, "Exquisite" his newest trick being developed and sold by Losander. It is a wonderful "levitating wine glass" effect that can be performed close-up. We also talk about when he used to perform on cruise ships and how they have changed over the years. Michael also talks about when he performed close-up magic on television talk shows, and learning magic from "The Professor" Dai Vernon. Plus he talks about how magic lectures have changed and he also gives some great advice for those who want to put together their own lecture and go on tour teaching their magic.

Click on the logo above to be directed to Discover Magic project and learn more.

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