962: Paul Richards - Magic Trends

Magic dealer, creator, consultant, lecturer, and performer, Paul Richards joins us this week as we talk about a treasure chest full of topics. Paul has been at the epicenter of innovation first as a brick and mortar magic shop owner, then online dealer, coordinator of one day magic events, as well as a well-known and highly respected magic dealer. He is often seen at all of the large magic conventions like Blackpool, MAGIC Live!, Magifest, and others.

As a result of being in the forefront of magic innovation, keep that in perspective as you listen to this week’s episode. You will see some trends that have started and perhaps get some idea of where we’re going…at least from Paul’s perspective. But you can use your own precognitive powers to prognosticate what the future of magic will bring us. This is just your “leaping off” place.

Paul has recently returned from the Blackpool magic convention in England and has a lot to say about that event But he also attends many other conventions throughout the year as a dealer and he gives us his perspective on their differences. He was the creator of the “Real Magic Roadshow” that featured a handful of magic creators in a sort of one day mini-convention. He also talks this week about his Elmwood Magic Shop which was a brick and mortar shop in Buffalo, New York, and the future of these storefront shops versus online sellers.

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961: Michael Breggar - Everything Matters

Michael Breggar is a columnist for The Linking Ring journal (the house organ for the I.B.M.) and has written dozens of articles about putting new scripting ideas to old close-up tricks. He has also authored several books that fit his style and are quite cleverly written. For example, “The Expert at the Cod Table” by S.W. Ordfish and “Raiders of the Lost Card” by “Jerseyana” Michael Breggar. These tongue-in-cheek titles give a glimpse into his comical and satirical thinking and writing.

Michael has also invented and marketed several magic tricks (mostly with a comedic mental twist) that are part of some professional magician’s repertoires.

The reason I wanted to talk with my friend on the podcast this week was to let the rest of the magic community into his creative mind with the hopes that listeners will be inspired to think of some of the old tricks that they (we) have been performing for years and consider updating them with clever new scripting. But our conversation quickly becomes quite deep as we talk about the importance of building a strong routine and act using the three legs of building a show. In a world of short attention span, we should consider the importance of how every little thing matters that influences our audience's perception of our magic.

960: John Guastaferro - Leading With His Heart

John Guastaferro has his priorities straight. He thinks of others before himself. From his magic career to his professional life as a director on the board of Hundai’s “Hope on Wheels” philanthropic organization. John has just released the third book in his close-up card magic trilogy “The Final Degree.” In these books, John emphasizes how small degrees of change can make a big difference in the effect on your audience. You can see how he puts his work into action when he performs in the Close-Up Gallery of the Magic Castle.

As to his philanthropic activities, John works with this group several months out of the year in helping raise money for cancer research in children. And as if that doesn’t keep him busy enough, he is also an accomplished flamenco-style guitar player.

John Guastaferro as the executive director for Hyundai Hope On Wheels and Genesis Inspiration Foundation, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. Guastaferro is responsible for advancing the missions of both foundations while maintaining current successes, driving program growth, developing diversified revenue streams, and building greater community awareness. As you can imagine, that takes a lot of his time throughout the year and we discuss all that in this week’s episode.

John is a regular performer at the Magic Castle and we chat during the first few minutes about what it was like for his first time at working there and how others may overcome their hesitancy of auditioning to perform there. When we recorded this episode, his new book “The Final Degree” was about to be released. It is now available through the publisher, Vanishing, Inc. and other fine magic shops. We also talk a little bit about his passion with the guitar. This flamenco-styiings feature original compositions that can be heard on iTunes and Spotify, among other platforms and I highly recommend listening to it. It is very soothing and relaxing music.

962: Paul Richards - Magic Trends

961: Michael Breggar - Everything Matters

960: John Guastaferro - Leading With His Heart

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