421: 2018 Obie's F.F.F.F. Day Four

Saturday, April 28
10:00 Dealers’ Room opens (closed during lectures, shows, and dinner)
10:00-10:45 2018 Registration & 4F Shop open
11:00 Keith Fields Lecture
12:15 Lunch break (ticket required)
1:30 6th Show: Mini World Show (MC: Dan Garrett)
3:30 7th Show: Fechter’s Fabulous Frolics (MC: Michael Dardant)
5:30 Smorgasbord (ticket required)
6:45 Dealers’ Room & 4F Shop open
7:45 Tribute to our Guest of Honor: Pit Hartling
8:00 8th Show: 4F Closing Gala (MCs: Obie O’Brien & Joan Caesar)
11:30 Hospitality Suite (Crystal Room) opens
12:00 Dealers’ Room closes

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:17 - Marc DeSouza and Scott review yesterday's shows.

00:20:57 - Steve Bargatze talks about his son, comedian Nate Bargatze and what Steve is doing now in his son's show.

00:30:42 - Howard Hamburg just returned from lecturing in China, Austria, Norway, Mexico and lots of other international locations.

00:35:54 - Eric DeCamps was one of the presenters in yesterday's "TED Type Talks" where he talked about "Achieving Clarity in Conjuring"

00:45:36 - Paul Gertner chats about his FFFF memories plus tells us about his new one-man show in Boston, MA

00:52:36 - Boris Wild was a former Guest of Honor and tells us why this convention is so special

00:56:24 - Mark Leveridge is the editor of Magic Seen magazine in the U.K. and he talks about that plus his podcast and his online magic shop that has undergone changes to eBooks now.

01:09:11 - Marc DeSouza and Scott give a final analysis and wrap up of this year's 48th convention

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334: A Magical Christmas Carol

Over the past year, I have attended a LOT of magic conventions. During those events, i have tried to update you with what was going on each day with daily updates from the organizers, talent, registrants, and dealers plus sometimes a little "color" background outside of the hotel.

But while I had some of my guests "cornered" for a few minutes, I asked them to do a reading of the classic story, "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. As many of you don't know, Dickens was a bit of a conjurer himself having performed during the summer of 1949 in a coastal resort off of the Isle of Wight purveying prestidigitation to those on holiday in the area. He was known as the “Rhia Rhama Rhoos - the Unparalleled Necromancer" and reportedly performed many unusual tricks including making playing cards magically burst into flames, transporting a woman’s watch from inside a wooden box and into the middle of a loaf of bread, and even cooking a steaming hot plum pudding in a gentleman’s top hat.

But prior to his venturing onto the stage to prestidigitate, he had already written many of his well-known novels including one published in 1843 which would become the iconic classic and perennial treatise on the holiday, "A Christmas Carol".

So here I present you this year's audio greeting card with great gratitude to all of my guests who participated in this project and also to all of you who regularly listen to The Magic Word Podcast. Happy Holidays!

As a little added treat for you this holiday season, here is a video I filmed and edited in 1985. Magician Scott Wells is visited by "three foreign" visitors who want to learn magic. In this video, Scott performs close-up, stand-up and stage magic for his guests. He also gives magic lessons to his guests; however, these instructions have been edited out of this public video.

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290: F.F.F.F. 2016 Day Four

The final day (and night) of the "Original Close-Up Convention"

Saturday April 30:
11:00am: Luis Otera Lecture
12:30pm: Lunch Buffet
1:30pm: 7th Close-Up Show "Asian Gala"
3:30pm: 8th Close-Up Show Fechter's Fabulous Frolics (Steve Beam emcee)
5:30pm: Dinner Buffet
7:30pm: Fat Brothers Tribute
8:00pm: 9th Close-Up Show Grand Finale Show (Obie O'Brien emcee)
11:30pm: Hospitality Suite

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:00 - Geoff Williams gives us some of his best "Puns of the the Day"

00:04:25 - We follow-up with Lion Fludd after his first appearance and performance at the 4F.

00:10:54 - Scott Robinson, organizer of TRICS magic convention in North Carolina, talks about his upcoming event plus highlights from this convention.

00:14:49 - Matt Episcipo loves this convention because of the camaraderie, a term we frequently hear.

00:19:13 - Steve Bargatze and Rick Merrill have closed the Saturday night show for many years, but this year they are taking a break but talk about what they could have "riffed" on from this year's convention.

00:25:25 - Gary Morton, emcee of the Friday afternoon show, talks about some of the seminal moments from this and past 4F conventions.

00:30:58 - Paul Gertner tells us a little about his planning for his portion of the final night show.

00:36:28 - Michael Dardant and Boris Wils talk about some of the outstanding acts at this year's 4F.

00:47:55 - Mike Maione and Darryl Rose talk about doughnuts and give their impressions on some of the outstanding acts.

01:00:23 - Obie O'Brien sits back and relaxes now that the convention is officially over. He looks back on the successful convention as the 46th annual 4F convention goes into the history books.