Pow! Bang! Wham! - Poof!Whoosh! Flash! - Hocus Pocus! Abracadabra. Presto Change-o

Jon Armstrong is not only a pretty face in the magic community (among other things like being the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Academy of Magical Arts, Close-up Magician of the Year, Consultant to theme parks, film and television, headliner at Caesar's Magical Empire, and appeared on many TV shows including "Penn & Teller Fool Us" and other talk shows), but Jon is also a self professed "comic book nerd".

Jon visits ComiCons each year and is a sought after as a panelist discussing the confluence of "magic" with "comic books" or "graphic novels",

Magician Jon Armstrong (www.cardjon.com) performs his signature effect "Tiny Plunger" which Penn calls the most original card trick he's seen.

In this podcast Jon Armstrong talks about how art influences life and vice versa, how magic and comics intertwine and how and why we should wisely choose our selection of tricks. Basically, we should select those things that reflect our unique personalities rather than just buying the "trick of the hour" that just came out.

He also refers to a book entitled "Understanding Comics - The Invisible Art" and why it should be required reading for magicians. You can read the free PDF version by Clicking Here. Jon discusses how he approaches groups to perform close-up during cocktail parties. And he talks also about "branding" yourself and how he does it.

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. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

Click on the image above for more information and to order your Tiny Plunger direct from Jon Armstrong.

And in this corner, weighing in with his side of the story...Handsome Jack!!

Toward the end of podcast #268 with Gregory Wilson, he levied rather serious allegations against John Lovick (a.k.a. Handsome Jack) as being "another piece of work". John posted a product review of Gregory's DVD set and pointed out several omissions of proper crediting to the creators of tricks taught on the DVD's. Since then, Gregory has (according to John) called him a "liar" and that his review was full of lies. John has made repeated requests for Gregory to submit the list of "lies" that were in the review. And, according to John, Gregory has promised on numerous occasions, both in person and in writing, that he would soon submit the list. Years have passed and the "list of lies" has never been submitted to John.

To this day, John stands by his review but has stopped "holding his breath" awaiting any such list from Gregory.

John Lovick talks about his product review and submitted it here for all to read. The edited was 1,000 words to fit in the magazine, but the original 3,000 word review is also attached in this link. In this podcast, John goes into minute detail listing the tricks in the DVD that should have been credited.

He goes on to point out some rather obvious problems with statements made by Gregory in the podcast that seem to contradict themselves. Moreover, relevant to the discussion of "thievery in magic", a few "character flaws" are pointed out so people can watch for these traits in others before they choose to share ideas with people who might "steal your ideas" or not credit you for your work/creation.

He also expands on the confrontation among Gregory Wilson, Rob Zabrecky and John Lovick regarding the providence of the A-B-C Lecture. Rob's testimony is read into the transcript as well, basically confirming the story as stated by Apollo Robbins in his podcast episode #270.

Following John in a much shorter recording is Seth Kramer who gives us the chronology of when and where his card moves have been printed which predates the un-credited version that were published by Gregory Wilson. Although Seth sent me the documents published in the magazines mentioned in the podcast ("Apocalypse" and "Ruminations"), I chose not to link those articles as they contained explanations of secret methods.

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. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

2016 well underway but it's not too late to get your new year magic wall calendar. Mine is hanging next to my computer and I love it. You can support The Magic Word with your purchase and if you have Amazon Prime, then shipping is free!

There are always more than two sides to any story. This one is multifaceted. So let's take a look at another spin on the story from a couple other perspectives.

This week, Alex Rangel responds to Gregory Wilson's allegations made during his 816 podcast that Alex could not name any of his accusers. Although the 816 podcast in question was broadcast years ago, this was the impetus that started this whole series on "magic thievery". Gregory was tired of unfounded and unsupported accusations against him being a thief or intellectual property in the magic community.

Brent Geris, owner and proprietor of The Magic Apple in Studio City, California, marketed his own trick "Spinout" using a specially printed card. During Gregory's chat on the recent podcast, (at 00:54:00) he called out Brent on this effect and how Brent apparently put out an effect a year after Gregory had released his effect.

This is the ORIGINAL SpinOut magic trick that was released in 2009. Great and easy to do! The "spun" card artwork idea was recently stolen Do Not Buy this, PLUS our product is Only $20! http://www.themagicapple.com/new-products/7-dvd-s/14344/P74-spinout-dvd-and-gimmicks

Will this Revolution start a revolution in magic? This is a pretty long review, but it has a fair amount to cover and I wanted to be thorough. Link to purchase magic: http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/5902 Description: Spinning a small item on the tip of your finger is a visceral display of skill, control and years of masterful discipline.

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. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

2016 has begun but it's not too late to get your new year magic wall calendar. Mine is hanging next to my computer and I love it. You can support The Magic Word with your purchase and if you have Amazon Prime, then shipping is free!

Follow the money.

Cosmo Solano is a magic creator. His first creation that caught the attention of most magicians was his Quantum Connection (a.k.a. "Q") and later his International Pocket Change. Both took years of Research and Development before he was ready to take anything to market. Certainly there are those occasions in the world of "simultaneous inspiration" in which the same idea is thought of and worked on by someone else somewhere in the world. But our measure of who created it first is largely dependent upon who actually got it to market first.

In this podcast, Cosmo Solano talks about his creation of "International Pocket Change" and his conversations with Gregory Wilson.who marketed"Exact Change". He talks about the chronology of the creation and how the two differ. This is a rather sensitive subject for Cosmo and he was reluctant to publicly discuss the matter. But I believe he thought it was important enough to contribute to the conversation and perhaps encourage others to speak "on the record" about their experiences of dealing with Gregory Wilson.

This chat moves along our conversation of "magic thievery" in our community and will hopefully encourage others to share their stories here, on forums, and/or in the social media. #MagicCereal

From the creator of SHOPAHOLIC!, "Q" and NEWSWORTHY!comes an organic, all natural magic effect with everyday objects! International Pocket Change (a.k.a. IPC) is an easy to do, entertaining and MIND BLOWING effectwhere your AUDIENCE predicts the amount of pocket change you have in your pocket!

Available at www.hocus-pocus.com. Your 1-100 prediction is right on the money! *Easy to do *Start clean and end clean *36 remarkable routines

Cosmo tells us his side of the story in conversations with Gregory, much of which he was not just recalling from memory, but from notes he made at the time during their conversation.

He also talks about his cynicism of sharing his creative ideas with other magicians and how he no longer has an interest in marketing anything to the magic community in the foreseeable future. He also talks about his Quantum Connection trick that launched his name as a magic creator. He concludes with saying that some magic being released today is not particularly "quality magic" but feeds the appetite of voracious magicians. He is optimistic about the future of magic as long as we recognize those who are the creators and do not feel we are "entitled" to everything. He suggests that people new to magic give back to the community rather than just taking from it.

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. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here.

2016 has begun but it's not too late to get your new year magic wall calendar. Mine is hanging next to my computer and I love it. You can support The Magic Word with your purchase and if you have Amazon Prime, then shipping is free!

Shawn McMaster wanted to fail...and he did. Soooo, I guess he...succeeded???

Shawn was a reluctant guest performer on "America's Got Talent". He wanted to present his unique act once and not move forward to the next phase in Las Vegas. How it all began and what happened is the subject of part of this podcast.

I had hoped to chat with Shawn at the 2015 MAGIC Live! convention but our schedules conflicted and we never made that happen. Shawn was an associate editor of MAGIC Magazine and now serves as one of the contributing writers. Like many professional magicians, he is a corporate entertainer having worked aboard cruise ships, and in theaters in Las Vegas and off-Broadway, and a frequent performer at Hollywood's Magic Castle. He is an interesting person with a creative on-stage character/routine.

Shawn McMaster's hilarious appearance on FoxMyNetworkTV's "Masters of Illusion". Shawn McMaster - magician, writer, corporate entertainer & editor / publisher of the online magic magazine 'The Mandala'.

In the first half of this podcast, Shawn relates the story of his experience of performing on America's Got Talent. During the second part of our chat, he talks about acting in a couple of movies, the creation of his signature effect (as Superman on stage), the ethics of stealing someone's creative idea.

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. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

2016 has begun but it's not too late to get your new year magic wall calendar. Mine is hanging next to my computer and I love it. You can support The Magic Word with your purchase and if you have Amazon Prime, then shipping is free!

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