767: Randy Wakeman - I've Been Around for a Long, Long Years

Randy Wakeman has been around for many decades and was often seen lecturing and performing at magic conventions. Nonetheless, I have always seen him as an “underground” magician who appeals to the true sleight-of-hand experts. He is one of those guys who has “been there, done that, has the t-shirt” as he was one of the regular performers about the Chicago Bar Magic Scene before the turn of the last century. He has written several books on magic (card magic mostly) and is still relevant in our community as a performer, teacher and author.

While at the recent Senior Tour close-up convention in St. Louis, The Magic Word spoke with Randy as part of the convention report content. He was preparing for a workshop, so we didn’t get a chance to go in-depth as I had wanted. But we agreed to get together at the 4F convention in Buffalo a couple months later. True to his word, we sat down to complete our chat which results in this episode. The content of our chat in both places was a little disjunctive, so the editing required us to put the second conversation first then plug in the chat in St. Louis and finish with our talk while in Buffalo. This sounds more confusing that it actually is, but I know you will understand and enjoy our chat.

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735: Magifest 2023 - Day Two Report

Friday 27th January 2023

10:00am - 5:30pm

Dealers Open

10:00am - 11:00am

Kyle Purnell Lecture

See one of the most fertile creative minds in magic…doing his very best material. Kyle Purnell has developed highly innovative ideas with cards, bills, coins, and more, and you’ll see it all in this action-packed lecture. 11am - 12pm

Mortenn Christiansen Lecture

Not only did Denmark’s Mortenn Christiansen win the Comedy Prize this year at FISM, but he also brought down the house with an unusual act that is amazing as it is hilarious. You’ll see that act in the gala show, but in this lecture you’ll see an array of fantastic, original close-up and parlor magic. 1pm - 2:30pm

The Magifest Session

Starring Charles Greene performing and explaining a few pet effects, as well as author Margalit Fox, who will present a captivating 45-minute presentation on her best-selling book, The Confidence Men, the true story about two men who used mentalism to escape from a POW camp.

There will also be a presentation from the Gahana High School Magic Program, which features magic from students with disabilities. We at Magifest are proud to have an ongoing partnership with this important and inspiring program. We are excited to see what magic they do for us. 2:30pm - 3:30pm

Youth Event

For young magicians only! 3:30pm - 4:30pm

Mark Calabrese Lecture

Making his Magifest debut, card-cheating expert and magician Mark Calabrese will share the magic he uses to astound guests nightly at New York’s illustrious SpeakEasy Magic. You’ll learn practical, doable card magic. 5:30pm - 6:30pm

The Matt Pritchard Experience

This event is impossible to categorize, and there hasn’t been anything like it at Magifest before. Pritchard brought the house down at our sister-convention, The Session, with this presentation. Matt Pritchard has a background in science, and during the pandemic he put this background to use making online, viral videos of magic illusions. In this talk he’ll show and (sometimes) tell on the most popular of these illusions. And in most cases, the method behind the trick is as interesting as the trick itself. 8pm - 9pm

Lance Burton Interview

The man, the myth, the legend. Lance Burton sits down for a candid, in-depth interview about his illustrious career. We’ll look at performance footage and find out how one of Las Vegas’s greatest entertainers made it to the top. 9:30pm - 10:30pm

David Gerard Show

Experience this high-energy, astounding mentalism show. Straight from his residency in San Francisco to the Magifest stage… 11:30pm - midnight

You Flash, You Lose with Chris Ramsay and friends

Be part of a social media happening as the Big Trick Energy team invite you to play their "You Flash, You Lose" 10:30pm - 12.30am

Bar Magic with Mark Calabrese

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:18 - The new CFO for Vanishing, Inc., Jeff Kowalk, chats with us about Vanishing, Inc. and the Magifest plus other exciting news

00:15:22 - Roger Nicot from Card Shark and Scott talk about crop circles and Stone Henge

00:22:21 - Marv Leventhal, one of the publishers of the Minotaur and shares his observations about some of the shows from the Day One evening shows.

00:36:43 -Owner of the Chicago Magic Lounge, Joey Cranford, chats about this convention and some news about the Chicago Magic Lounge.

00:47:-5 - Tom Craven has been attending the Magifest for about 60 years.

00:52:15 - Shoot Ogawa was a FISM winner who will be performing, lecturing and doing a private workshop here at the Magifest. He is currently performing a magical mystical show in Hawaii.

00:57:57 _ S.A.M. President Elect John Sturk chats about the upcoming national convention in July in New Orleans.

01:02:17 - John Wolfe and Kyle Purnell chat about this convention and why they like to attend.

696: FISM Quebec 2022 - Day One Report

Monday July 25th 2022

19:30 - 20:45: Opening ceremony

21:30 - 22:30: Max Maven presents Dr Will Houstoun “What we learned from Professor Hoffmann”

0:00 - 1:00: Luis De Matos Intimate Conversation with Arturo Brachett

21:00 - 22:00: Yann Frisch

23:00 - 0:00: Lee Asher

21:30 - 22:30: Mario Lopez

23:30 - 0:30: Bernardo Sedlacek

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:16 - Scott Wells is at the airport awaiting his “magic carpet” to wing him to Quebec

00:03:06 - Alexandria Duvivier is one of the performers/lecturers at this event and is the first person we met. Lisa Menna is also there with us and chats a bit about her appearance at FISM Quebec.

00:05:44 - At the S.A.M. black tie banquet, we chat with the incoming President Elect John Sturk

00:14:50 - Gay Blackstone talks about her and Harry Blackstone, Jr. performances at previous FISMs

00:18:30 - Editor of the Magic Circular, Will Houstoun talks about his upcoming talk on Professor Hoffman later tonight.

00:21:10 - Before the evening opening gala, Mike Caveney talks about his recent episode #700 then Ice McDonald talks about attending this convention. From South Africa, Craig Mitchell talks about his job for Genii reporting on all of the competition for the magazine.

00:27:47 - From Scotland, Peter McLanachan talks about the reasons that he attends FISM

00:33:37 - Dal Sanders is a delegate representing the S.A.M. and talks about the opening gala show.

00:39:27 - From Spain, Luis DeMatos will be presenting his “in Conversation With…” during this FISM and talks about how he prepares for the conversations.

00:47:40 - David “Silly Billy” Kaye talks about life after COVID work and how his work has picked up and has returned to pre-COVID level of activity.