773: S.A.M. 2023 Convention in New Orleans - Day Three Report

Tuesday, July 25th

9:00 AM SAM EVENT 2: S.A.M. Life Members Reception: The Magic Castle 60 Years “Matinkas Back Room”

10:00 AM EXHIBITORS Open “Kellar Exhibitor Hall”

10:00 AM Registration Open Vieux Carre Foyer

10:30 AM SHOW 4: International Pro Close-Up Show: R. Paul Wilson and Friends. Featuring Jason England (USA), Paul Nardini (Scotland), Giancarlo Scalia (Spain/Italy), R. Paul Wilson (Scotland), and more - “Thurston Lecture Hall”

1:30 PM SAM EVENT 3: Convention Honoree: Tina and Friends – panel discussion “Matinkas Back Room”

2:00 PM Registration Close Vieux Carre Foyer

3:30 PM SAM EVENT 4: Magic in America: The Story of the Society of American Magicians by David Goodsell – discussion by Editor David Charvet “Matinkas Back Room”

5:00 PM Dealers Close “Kellar Exhibitor Hall” 6:00 PM PARTY 3: Cocktail Hour & Magic in the USA Book Release - Vieux Carre Foyer

7:30 PM SAM EVENT 5: SAM Banquet and Comedy Magic Show 5 “Thurston Lecture Hall”

10:30 PM SHOW 6: SAM LATE NITE: Masquerade Magic: magic by Michael Dardant and Dante; Minx Burlesque with Trixie Minx, Madame Mystere, and Mamie Dame; guest starring : Meadow Perry

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:18 – Past International President, Shawn Farquhar, tells us a bit about the I.B.M. convention last week and a preview of where it will be next year. But he talks extensively about his theater in Vancouver, Hidden Wonders.

00:11:09 – Past National President of the S.A.M., Vinnie Grosso, is the Contest Chairman for the convention and talks a bit about how that all came together.

00:25:52 – Harry Allen tells us what’s new and what’s hot in magic as we visit with him in the Dealer’s Room.

00:36:03 - Owner of the TrickSupply.com, Wolfgang Wollet, tells us what conventions he attended this year. He also shares with us what is new and hot in his shop.

00:38:53 - David Charvet is the author of the S.A.M. history book and tells us about completing the book after being handed down to him by David Goodsell.

00:43:53 – Arden James checks in with us and we also chats with the convention’s Guest of Honor, Tina Lennert.

00:47:00 – Christopher Hart and Mike Caveney talk a bit about their upcoming performances

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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.

608- Jeff Bibik - Bar Magician Extraordinaire

Jeff Bibik is a Chicago comedian and a magician. Originally from the Detroit, Michigan, area, he regularly performed magic in local restaurants and comedy clubs until 1985 when he moved to Chicago where he continued as a comedy magician in close-up and stage for the public and corporate audiences and he also performs a hypnosis act. Over the years he developed a large repertoire of jokes and gags that serves him well today as the house magician at the Chicago Magic Lounge.

Jeff Bibik pulls no punches this week in sharing the secrets behind getting work in restaurants performing magic, plus he tells lots of stories about working in bars and restaurants with a liberal sprinkling of funny gags, jokes and puns. This was recorded using StreamYard with Jeff joining us from the bar in his basement in his Chicago home. A video of our chat was also recorded and posted to YouTube. To view that video, please click on the video link below in this blog.