060: Abbott's Get Together Day 2 - 2012

Although the schedule stated that Tom Mullica would be lecturing, he made it clear the night before while he was emceeing that he would not give a lecture. Now that Tom is regularly performing the Red Skelton Tribute in Branson, MO, he said he does not keep up with his magic skills so he felt that he could not give the type of lecture the registrants deserved. So his place was more than ably filled with Tina Lenert who talked about her character development. Mac King later that afternoon before the dealer's show and the cemetery tour.

But later that evening, I chatted with Steve Bryant, author of "Little Egypt Book of Ghosts" and the Little Egypt Gazette (http://www.littleegyptmagic.com/magicsplash.html), and The Rhythm of Magic, Michael and Jessica Blanco (http://www.therhythmofmagicproductions.com/The_Rhythm_of_Magic_Official_Websi..., who will close the Saturday night show. At the Legion Hall after the show, I spoke with Tom Dobrowolski about the Chicago Magic Bash which he will host next year (November 2013); Gabe Fajuri, owner of Squash Publications (http://www.squashpublications.com/) and co-owner of Potter & Potter Auctions (http://www.potterauctions.com/), about his lecture on the history of Abbott's Magic Company, and finally with David Merry (http://davidmerry.com/), whom you may have read about in the April issue of MAGIC Magazine.

Download a MP3 file of this podcast by Clicking Here then right click to save the file. You can also download the MP3 media file directly from the RSS feed by Clicking Here.

Photos from Abbott's Days 0 & 1

It is time for the 75th annual Get Together and the weather is expected to be a beautiful, sunny week. That's great news since many of the convention activities happen outdoors like some of the dealers who display their wares under tents and there are street buskers and people walk all around the little village from bar to restaurant to shop.

I think I have heard most of the jokes about Colon, Michigan ("Is it between 'semi' and 'oscopy'? and "What do you call speed bumps in Colon? Polyps." and "The sports teams say that Colon is number two," and others I can't share here). But durinhg this year's Get Together, a friend gave me this refrigerator magnet.

Before the 75th Get Together began, David Seebach (http://www.davidseebach.com/) hosted a "night before" party on Blackstone Island. Here he stands before the Okito Checker Cabinet built by Norm Neilsen. This is on sale for $2,500 and the nightclub table it sits on is going for $500, or the pair for $2,800.

At the party, I had a chance to chat with Adele Friel Rhindress, one of Blackstone's assistants in the late 1940's. She is a wonderful, charismatic lady who is very fascinating and has the most wonderful stories. More on The Elusive Moth at: http://www.elusivemoth.com/Elusive_Moth_Reviews.html

Al the Only aka Al Oha (http://www.tricky1.com/), and I chatted about the annual Open Colon golf tournament plus the tours of the cemetery he conducts.

The 23rd Annual Open Colon golf tournament had a record number of over 30 golfers including Mac King, Michael Finney, Bill Smith, Obie O'Brien and many others notable magicians. David Merry took top honors this year for his second time. Other two time winners include Brad Jacobs and Al the Only.
See who you can name in the photo above.