169: Day 4 - IBM/SAM Combined Convention 2014

On this Independence Day in the U.S., we saw plenty of fireworks in the close-up and stage contests today. The finals were held in the evening with some solid competitors that made it difficult for the judges to decide upon a clear winner.

Also this day was the annual banquet which included the awarding of the Milbourne Christopher trophies. This year the recipients were:

Illusionist Award - Alex Ramon

Mentalist Award - Joseph Curcillo

Close-Up Award - Dani DaOrtiz

Visual Magic Art Award - Rick Heath

Masters Award - Dale Salwak

Literary Award - Jim Steinmeyer

Lifetime Achievement Award - Stan Kramien

Some of the past winners of the Milbourne Christopher Award.

Time stamps for this podcast:

00:01:48 - Eric Jones will be traveling to China and Australia to perform, plus he has a new effect that will soon be on the market.

00:10:56 - Christian Painter (one half of the Christian and Katalina mind reading duo), was one of the contestants in the FISM North American Championships. He talks about entering contests plus some of his advice and tips.

00:27:41 - Past National Presidents of the S.A.M, Mark Weidhaas and Vinny Grosso talk about this convention as it relates to registration and the contests as each chaired those respective positions for this event.

00:36:33 - Chris Hannibal, another of the contestants (close-up, in this case), tell us about his road to prepare for this competition and his creative process in developing this routine.

00:40:40 - Joe Curcillo talks about his excitement of being a recipient of the Milbourne Christopher award.

00:44:17 - Inside the banquet, I set my recorder to capture the auction for a prized photo of Joanie Spina and David Copperfield, the proceeds of which went directly to help with Joanie's medical expenses. We also hear the announcements of the recipients for the Milbourne Christopher awards.

01:18:43 - Bill Gleason tells about the history of the "Patriot and Patriotism Award" and how deserving members can apply or suggest a recipient for this prestigious award.

Download this podcast in an MP3 file by Clicking Here and then right click to save the file. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed by Clicking Here. (please note: this RSS Feed subscription system may not work with Android systems). Remember, you can download it through iTunes. See the preview page by Clicking Here.

featuring Christian and Katalina in Indianapolis, Indiana

085: MagiFest 2013 - Day Two

Day Two of the 2013 MagiFest included an afternoon session featuring short 15-20 minute T.E.D. (Technology, Entertainment, Design) like talks from five speakers. First up was Mahdi Gilbert showed us some mad skills that would be difficult for anyone but he doesn't have any hands; Eric Jones talked about Angle of Visibility; John Archer discussed overlapping comedy and magic in your act and finding the perfect blend; Tony Chang continued a talk on the importance of the angle of visibility, but from a "different angle"; and Justin Flom talked about the importance of generating video content on the internet.

Lecturers included Troy Hooser and Justin Flom. The evening shows were again split between two rooms with Simon and Ginny Arronson presenting their two person mind reading routine, "It's the Thought That Counts" with the other room hosting a one hour show by the incredible card genius, Dani DaOrtiz. The late night lecture was Simon Lovell.

I started off the the day by catching Doug Conn and Scott Robinson in the hallway for a short chat about the convention and what they've been up to recently. Then I sat down with Jep Hostetler, who was the Director of the MagiFest for 29 years, and with his successor, Ron Spangler. They talked a bit about the history of the MagiFest and how good they feel that it is now in good hands and going in a new direction after all these years.

I received good feedback from Facebook saying that you wanted to hear and interview with Eric Jones. Well, you asked and you got it. Eric and I found a quiet nook to chat for a while. He gave me a recap of the T.E.D. talk he gave earlier in the day plus he told me what he's up to now and what his long term plans for his career. You might be surprised to hear his ten year plan.

Download this podcast as an MP3 file 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.

T.A.O.M. Photos from Day 3

Day two was pretty much a lot of lectures so I didn't get many photos, but Day three provided some great shots. I caught Dani DaOrtiz and Christian Engbloom holding court at their booth with a horde of magicians packed around just to watch Dani work.

The professsional close-up show was a real treat and as good or better of a line-up of performers that I have ever seen at a convention: Eric Jones, Chad Long, Mark Mason, Christian Engbloom, Paul Wilson and Chris Korn.

Mark Mason and Chad Long received standing ovations. This picutre below was Chad's.

The T.A.O.M. convention was not the only convention going on in the Hilton Americas Hotel over the Labor Day weekend. The Miss Texas pageant was also happening on one of the other floors. PJ Campagna hosted one of the rooms for the Professional Close-Up Shows. She and Joy Miller gave us a funny moment during a break in the close-up action.

The late night lectures after the evening stage show started off with Michael Weber who gave us several clever ideas for both close-up and stage plus some cool mentalism tricks, too.