116: John Star's Birthday - Magic & Martinis Thursday - Sep. 12, 2013

This week has been about helping others and spreading some joy into the lives of some who may never get to see live magic. I was the Master of Ceremonies for the annual Grandparents' Day at Bayou Manor here in Houston. This is how we pay back the people who allow our local I.B.M. Ring #39 to meet in their facility each month.  The retired people from the Manor invite their children, grand children and some great grand children to come and enjoy them for an afternoon of fun.

On Thursday, our Chairman of the Charity Shows, Stephen Shain, had arranged for some of us to do our regular visits to the hospital. Today it was at the Texas Children's Hospital. 

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After we finished the morning at the hospital, Steve Shain, Gene Protas and I went to a local Chinese restaurant where we met up with John Star for his birthday. Before the others arrived, John and I had a brief chat about his early years in the U.K. working with those like Terry Seabrooke, Tommy Cooper and so many others of the great U.K. magicians of yesteryear (i.e. David Nixon, Ali Bongo, Wayne Dobson, Billy McComb and others). 

Happy birthday, John Star. 

John Star talks about his U.K. Magic Mates

Scott Wells

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After the day was over, it was time to set down the cut-and-restored magic stethoscope and have a martini. Cheers!  

After performing magic at the hospital, it's time for a little R&R...well, actually, M&M (Magic and Martinis).

107: MAGIC Live! 2013 - Day 2

This was the first full day of the conference and it was full of exciting shows and sessions. This podcast is not as long as yesterday's because I had more time to sit with friends to chat whereas today was more of attending events. This shorter podcast contains more comments and "registrant reactions" to the sessions. 

The Opening Session was phenomenal and the sessions were good too but the international close-up show was outstanding featuring: Johan Stahl from Sweden, Simon Coronel from Australia, Denis Behr from Germany, Steve Valentine from the U.K , and Yann Frisch (FISM Winner) from France. 

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:08 - Rory Johnson, co-producer with Stan Allen, introduced the opening session and laid the theme of this year's event...Friends. 

00:03:15 - Cameron Ramsay, one of my fellow podcasters with Dodd Vickers' Magic Newswire, and I talk about our thoughts on the opening session. 

00:14:17 - As we await entrance into the session on creativity with Mark Settaducati and Lubor Fieldler, I chatted with Dick Olson and Raj Madhok about their assessment of the opening session. 

00:17:48 - Jeff and Laurie Pearson talk about their opinion of the Mike Bent ("Bent on Deception") session that he attended and I gave him my review of the Creative Session that I attended. Due to there being three sessions, we could only select two. We both talked about the Writing & Magic session by Larry Wilmore & David Regal. 

00:24:32 - Trixie Bond and Dick Olson give a wrap of the evening's international close-up show. I then followed with a quick wrap of the earlier evening show by the Long Beach Mystics.

MAGIC Live! Day 2

Scott Wells

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067: T.A.O.M. Day 1 in Houston, TX

The 66th edition of the Texas Association of Magicians (TAOM) convention in Houston, Texas is underway at the Hilton Americas Hotel. President Daniel Garcia and his team (led by Chairman, Alex Rangel) have put together a great line-up of talent that most people would never expect outside of Las Vegas or come other mega-convention. Aside from the stellar line-up that the team has put together, many of Daniel's friends are just coming to hang out. I have seen Bill Kalush and Carl Heine and Rico de la Vega, just to name a very few. And I noticed on the schedule that Rudy Coby has been added back in the line-up. He is slated to close the Sunday night stage show. I would not be surprised to see David Blaine show up. I'm not saying he will...I'm just saying that I wouldn't be surprised. It's just that kind of very, very cool convention. It already has a great vibe. I can tell now that this will certainly be one for the record books.

It is not too late to travel to Houston and register for this convention as there is a ton of great magic yet to be seen. All the details, schedule, list of performers and more can be found at http://www.TAOM2012.com/ If you cannot make it for the whole convention, then there are daily tickets available plus there will be public tickets available for the Saturday and Sunday night shows. Tickets can be purchased at http://www.TopTalentProductions.com/

This brief intro to the TAOM includes a chat with Treasurer, Dick Olson, who was helping with the registration. Then we went back stage prior to the stage contest to talk to some of the contestants and Jamie Salinas, Contest Chairman. This is a little different angle than we have taken in the past, but this is the first year the TAOM has ever offered a cash award for the winner. And we're talking $5,000 in cash!

Day 1 - 2012 T.A.O.M. in Houston, TX

Scott Wells

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