314: Day 3 - MAGIC Live! 2016

Schedule for Day Three - August 16, 2016

24 hours - The Back Room
9:00 a.m. - Registration
10:00 a.m. - Tuesday General Session for Maroon lanyards (showroom until 12:15 p.m.
   Real or Camera Tricks - Mat Franco
   Reaching Out, Changing Lives - Julie Eng
   Expectations - Master Payne
   Making Magic - Martin Lewis
   Magic, Special Effects, and the Narrative Thread - Mike Elizalde
   Passing the Light - David Copperfield and Marvyn Roy
   The Gambler's Ballad, or An Incident At Jake's Saloon - Johnny Thompson and Penn Jilette
10:00 a.m. - Tuesday Focus Sessions for black lanyards until 11:00 a.m.
   Practical and Performable - Daryl
   Show Doctor ICU - Jeff McBride
   Innovative Ideas in Family Entertainment - Rafael
11:00 a.m. - The MAGIC Shop until 6:30 p.m.
11:15 - Tuesday Focus Sessions for maroon lanyards until 11:00 a.m.
   Practical and Performable - Daryl
   Show Doctor ICU - Jeff McBride
   Innovative Ideas in Family Entertainment - Rafael
12:15 p.m. - lunch break
2:15 - Tuesday General Session for Black lanyards (showroom until 4:15 p.m.
   Real or Camera Tricks - Mat Franco
   Reaching Out, Changing Lives - Julie Eng
   Expectations - Master Payne
   Making Magic - Martin Lewis
   Magic, Special Effects, and the Narrative Thread - Mike Elizalde
   Passing the Light - David Copperfield and Marvyn Roy
   The Gambler's Ballad, or An Incident At Jake's Saloon - Johnny Thompson and Penn Jilette
2:15 p.m. - Tuesday Focus Sessions for maroon lanyards until 3:15 p.m.
   Practical and Performable - Daryl
   Show Doctor ICU - Jeff McBride
   Innovative Ideas in Family Entertainment - Rafael
3:30 p.m. - Tuesday Focus Sessions for maroon lanyards until 4:30 p.m.
   Practical and Performable - Daryl
   Show Doctor ICU - Jeff McBride
   Innovative Ideas in Family Entertainment - Rafael5:00 p.m. Dinner break
5:00 p.m. Dinner break
5:30 - MAGIC Museum until 11:00 p.m.
7:00 p.m. - The Game until 7:45 p.m.
7:30 p.m. - Close-Up Experience until 8:45 p.m.
7:30 p.m. MAGIC Cabaret: The Secret Class until 8:30 p.m.
8:00 p.m. - The Game uneil 8:45 p.m.
9:00 p.m. - Close-Up Experience until 10:15 p.m.
9:00 p.m. - The Game until 9:45 p.m.
9:15 p.m. MAGIC Cabaret: The Secret Class until 10:45 p.m.
10:00 p.m. - The Game until 10:45 p.m.
10:30 p.m. - Close-Up Experience until 11:45 p.m.

MAGIC Live! Night at the Museum. This was a very special, one night only exhibit of special props, devices, pictures, posters, ephemera, etc. owned and on loan from various private collections including David Copperfield, Gay Blackstone, Norm Neilsen, Penn & Teller, Chip Romero, Mike Caveney and others.

An introduction to the work of Magicians Without Borders, a non-profit group that brings joy and hope to troubled places all around the world. Magicians Without Borders performs magic shows for children in refugee camps, orphanages and hospitals around the world -often in war torn places where love, laughter and magic are desperately needed.

Time stamps for this Podcast:

00:00:12 - Tom Dobrowolski has put on his own magic convention and has nothing but praise for MAGIC Live.

00:06:48 - Dick Olson has attended dozens of magic conventions over the decades and swears that this one is the best.

00:11:34 - Diamond Jim Tyler, author the "Bamboozler" series, chats a bit about this being one of his top conventions and what he enjoyed best.

00:13:59 - Meir Yedid, one of the dealers, talks about being an exhibitor at MAGIC Live!

00:18:40 - Enrico De La Vega has worked with all of the top magicians and chats a bit about some of the stuff he can talk about like the upcoming David Blaine TV special, but not about anything he's doing with Cyril.

00:23:28 - Marvyn Roy "Mr. Electric" talks a bit about his life, his legacy, and the used equipment that he "gave" to David Copperfield for his museum.

00:32:25 - Rudy Coby talks about his recent work in Macau, China, and how exhausting of a show it was. This is Rudy's first MAGIC Live!

00:40:38 - In the MAGIC Live museum, Chip Romero shows us his Doug Henning pieces from his collection that are displayed in his exhibit.

00:44:42 - Michael "Six" Muldoon was one of the presenters in the General Session this today and talked about "Magicians Without Borders". This is an important, philanthropic organization that could use your help.

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253: Day Three - T.A.O.M. Convention 2015

Morning until night (well, really...the next morning. It's nearly dawn on Monday morning as I publish this podcast), Sunday was full of activities again including lectures, contests and shows. And the stage contests were the best I've seen in years...here or anywhere at any magic convention (except FISM, of course).

The Order of Willard (for members with 25 years or more of consecutive membership in the TAOM) featured a wonderful presentation by Margaret Steele on an historic figure in magic, Adelaide Herrmann.. The stage contests then began followed by John Carney's wonderful lecture. Next was an afternoon awards presentation (because of the Esther's Follies evening show off site). This was immediately followed by Joe Vitale's inspirational, motivational lecture.

Contest Winners this year were: Junior Stage - Hannah; Senior Stage - Keith West; Senior Comedy - GSparks; Senior Close-Up - Trigg Watson; Best of Convention - Hannah

The evening had the group broken into two groups, one staying in the hotel to see the "Stars of Tomorrow" hosted by Amanda Eve and featuring James Irwin, Ava Byers and Drake Stanton. And closing the bill was Nick Lewin. The other group went to Esther's Follies for a special presentation that featured my favorite magician, Ray Anderson. There were many who had never seen this show which has cutting edge, topical humor that is PG to R rated.

Back at the hotel, the evening concluded with the President's Purple Palooza Party where everyone was encouraged to wear purple. We were treated to snacks, live music and multiple variety acts including singers, tap dancers, pole dancers, plate spinners and more. It was a real hoot, as we say in Texas.

One of the things that was not discussed in these podcasts but was an integral part of the convention was the music. Throughout the event, there were live musicians who played and sand and juggled between events. It made for a festive convention with never a minute without something going on.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:00:14 - TAOM 2016 President Judy Hollingsworth talks about next year's convention in corpus Christi, Texas.

00:03:02 - Margaret Steele briefly chats about her book, "Adelaide Herrmann - Queen of Magic" before her presentation.

00:07:16 - Margaret Steele gives a presentation from her book to a brunch meeting of "The Order of Willard" members (those with 25 or more years of consecutive membership in the T.A.O.M.)

00:40:03 - Ali Shelley talks about creating her magic act while at 35,000 feet above the earth

00:48:14 - S.A.M. National President David Bowers tells us about how he is enjoying the convention plus his travel plans to other conventions as the President.

00:51:53 While in the bar at Esther's Follies before Ray Anderson's show, we talk with Peter Samelson and Chip Romero who give us their viewpoint and comments on the convention.

00:54:43 Jade tells us about her Chinese act and how she got on "Penn & Teller Fool Us" show.

01:07:10 Jay Scott Berry talks about the difficulty of selling yourself when you have multiple facets to your performing resume.

Order your copy of Adelaide Herrmann, Queen of Magic, (published by Margaret Steele) from Amazon and support The Magic Word throuigh the affiliate program.

TAOM 2013 Epilogue - Awards

Of course nearly every convention has contests. I encourage magicians, young and old alike to enter and compete in contests. It strengthens you as a performer, introduces you to other competitors who will become lifelong friends (just ask Lance Burton and Jeff McBride), and winning gives you credibility in your promotional material. So, here are the winners from the 2013 T.A.O.M. Convention in Dallas, Texas

Junior Close - Up - Steffen Banta

Senior Close -Up - Kayla Drescher

Senior Stage - no winner

Junior Stage - tie resulted in two winners: Chase Hasty and James Irwin

Senior Comedy - no winner