719: Kenton Knepper - Word Wizard

While attending the recent Poe’s Magic Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, one of the presenters was Kenton Knepper. We sat down in a quiet room for a very intense conversation that included his roots and moving to Phoenix, Arizona, and his friendship with noted mentalist, Larry Becker, plus his influences that led him to writing “Wonder Words” for which he is best known for as its author. Kenton has written about 20 different publications over the decades. We discussed NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) and hypnosis and much more in this week’s episode. Kenton doesn’t often attend major magic conventions so it was a rare privilege to sit down with him for this episode this week.

John was a friend and inspiration to Kenton

In this week’s episode, Kenton talks about the development of his Wonder Words, what it is and how it works, his relationship and inspiration by Larry Becker. He also encourages us to go out and just do it, whatever “it” is and try it. Our conversation went quite deep and I was truly engaged in our conversation so much so that something happened at the end of this episode that has never happened in all my years. Be sure to stay tuned to end of our chat to hear what happened.

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Kenton himself says: "KENTON PRINCIPLES is my legacy book. It compiles and expands on my most important principles in magic and mentalism. It will be the go-to book for the application of my ideas to anything you perform, magic or mentalism. Once you know these principles, anything is truly possible."

390: Larry Becker - A Piece Of My Mind

Larry Becker is a legend in his own time. He is a master mentalist who blazed the trail for many who followed. As mentioned in the podcast, Larry was cool long before mentalism was cool. He and his business partner, Lee Earle, created one of the most successful partnerships in mentalism with their company "Mentalism Unlimited". Between them they created some of the most original material that is still used by top mentalists today.

Larry would like to be remembered for his "Russian Roulette: routine which had a real element of danger. This "possibility of death" at every show kept Larry on his toes and his audience on the edge of their seats.

Larry Becker's Mental Masterpieces DVD trailer performing his "Casino Royale".

In this podcast, Larry talks about his partnership at an advertising agency in New Jersey, meeting people like Cardini and Milbourne Christopher, his performance in the military, his move to Arizona, and the rise and fall of his partnership with Lee Earle.

219: Lee Earle - Clear Vision

Lee Earle has been a leader and pioneer in the field of mentalism for decades. He recently came through Houston on his "Farewell" Lecture Tour where he imparted some of his years of experience in a concise two and a half hour lecture filled with advice and solid, commercial mentalism effects. Unfortunately, Lee has not created nor marketed many new effects over the past several years. Moreover, he has not been seen on the convention or lecture scene either. As a result, he is best known, remembered and respected by those "long of tooth". If fact, he said that perhaps 80% of those attending his 20+ lectures across the U.S. had gray heir. Too bad for this generation who missed out.

Lee has had a remarkable career having started out as a magician then transforming into a mentalist, which is the typical way people get into mentalism. He laments that actors and drama majors don't go immediately into mentalism and skip magic altogether thus not "tainting" them with "bad habits" that are hard to break in the performance of mentalism.

For those who are unfamiliar with Lee Earle's background, he was the secretary and membership chairman of the Psychic Entertainers' Association (P.E.A.) for a number of years. He authored the newsletter "Syzygy", produced and marketed several mentalism tricks along with Larry Becker under their company, "Mentalism Unlimited". He was the medium who developed and produced "Manifestations" in Phoenix, Arizona. And early in his magic career, he started the circuit for performing in large, upscale RV Parks across the southern part of the U.S.

The podcast begins with opening a can of Diet RC Cola then we get down to business. Lee talks about his experience of performing magic at Recreational Vehicle (RV) Parks across the south in the 1970's. He then talks about his transition from magic to mentalism and the stumbles along the way that made him more determined. Lee then tells us about "Manifestations", the seance he conducted from 1986 through 1989, some stories from the performances and its demise.

Lee concludes this podcast talking about his friend and business partner, Larry Becker, and their business "Mentalism Unlimited" which is no longer in business. The items remaining are being sold by Lee during his "Farewell" Lecture Tour which is helping him clean out his inventory following his move from Phoenix, Arizona to Atlanta, Georgia.

Enjoy supplemental material from Lee Earle as he talks about the basic premises upon which mentalism is based. Plus he gives some great advice on use of sound (i.e. microphones, speakers, etc.)

719: Kenton Knepper - Word Wizard

390: Larry Becker - A Piece Of My Mind

219: Lee Earle - Clear Vision

The Magic Word