Steve Spence of Indianapolis is president of The Society of American Magicians.  He also is a professional mediador, and active member of Kiwanis International.

The craft of magic as well as required skills and business issues are covered in this podcast.

Kit Williams directs preparation and management of the stage.  He is the manager who makes sure that directors of sound and light, and  trucks to carry equipment, are in the right places at the right time.

Here we learn about computer mice (mouses?) that direct robot lights and robot cameras from an invisible trailer behind the action.  The emergence of modern speakers that do not splash sound, but direct it, and the marvelous technology of roll up video screens are described here.

Phillip and his son operate Ramsey Pyrotechics in Frankfort, Indiana.

He started voluntarily shooting shows, but then he learned that The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra wanted safe fireworks displays for The Fourth of July.  From there, word of mouth led the company to produce more than 70 shows a year.

This conversation includes details of firework shell construction and launching.

Diane Richards is an Indianapolis graphic designer whose early work was for Walt Disney.  She and her colleagues designed signs utilized in all the parks, including Tokyo and Paris.  

Diane describes how projects start and how concepts evolve from draft, to model, to final installation.

Diane also has designed signs around Indianapolis

Artistic director, fund raiser and stellar professional pianist Claire Longendyke talks about the Music in Bloom festival, inaugurated this May in Bloomington, In., and in nearby Brown County State Park.

The conversation includes her ideas and impressions of modern music, much including emerging technologies, as well as her love and admiration of living composers.  

Claire will be an important contributor for years to come.  Listen to her work as this podcast concludes.

Bill Clouse has been processing mortgages more than three decades.  He knows how borrowers qualify, how credit scores apply (even The Karma Score), background of The Big Short (a movie about the recession of 2007-2009), as well as how to deal with one of our hosts, Morton Marcus.   

This recording opens with sounds of a haunted house.  Bill knows how to remove the fear.

Angelo Pizzo (Hoosiers, and Rudy), loves sports, films, and creativity.  

He has three projects.  The first is about the Maynard (Iowa) girls championship basketball team of 1957.  Another is a coming of age romance set in The Civil War.  The last is about fire horses in 19th century New York City, all trained to overcome their aversion to fire.  

The conversation includes writing for the stage, for film, and for radio, as well as his service as a board member of The Kinsey Institute.

The enduring topic of vaccinations is covered in this conversation, and a new program is presented.

The new program is an effort by The State of Indiana to provide counseling to pregnant women.  This program is proven to have reduced infant mortality.  

(And Indiana is 7th among the states in infant mortality.)

Scholar, Dean, a founder of The Indiana German Heritage Society, a facilitator of The Indianapolis-Cologne Sister City Committee, and teacher, Giles Hoyt knows the history and culture as well as anyone.

Here we learn about The Athenaeum, fine bakeries in Indianapolis, as well as about the skill of teaching and differences among students at different campuses.

Having served as a judge, mayor, county historian and teacher of government and political science, Joe Castelo has observed directly, personally, painfully, the slow demise of rural, small town Indiana.

Here we learn about departure of young people, the absence of state support for beneficial highway routes, slow internet speeds, the powerful role of "community spirit," and disappearance of locally-owned banks and newspapers.