On the second episode of "This Week in Magic" Scott Wells, Cameron Ramsay and I are joined by special guest, Brian Brushwood. During last weeks show with guest Jim Callahan, one of the topics discussed was exposure and Jim expressed the opinion that Brian was essentially exposing the secrets of magic and mentalist on his Revision 3 podcast "Scam School." This week, Brian joins us to offer his thoughts on this topic and to explore the many ways that a magician can market their act in the college market.

One of the most controversial figures in mentalism joins me on this episode of the Magic Newswire "Spirit of Magic" podcast. Why is Jim such a debated personality? Does he actually claim to possess supernatural powers that allow him to speak with the dead or is he simply misunderstood as a performer? Has he actually applied to participate in the James Randi Educational Foundation Million Dollar Challenge or is it all just a scam? We talk about all of these topics and much more in this episode and look forward to your questions and comments to be discussed in a future conversation with Jim.

Among the top stories of 2015 in the world of magic was Mat Franco's winning the ninth season of "America's Got Talent."  

Keep on mind that 73 magicians or magic acts have appeared on the whow over the years including the Pendragons, Kevin James, Murray Sawchuck, Michael Grasso, Nathan Burton, Brett Daniels, Rudy Coby, Bizarro and many more.  

Mat became interested in magic after seeing a special featuring several magicians when he was only a few years old and immediately began performing for his class at show and tell.  The rest as they say is history.

In this episode of the MagicNewswire's "Spirit of Magic" podcast, we take a look back at 2014 and a peek ahead at 2015.  Genii Magazine Associate Editor Dustin Stinnett leads the way with his always amazing recaps of the yprevious year of magic news in review, but we are also joined by many special guests along the way. My cohosts are Chase Goforth, Cameron Ramsay, and David Kaye. Special Guests inculde Dan Sperry, Jonathan Pendragon, Mike Caveney, Tina Lennart and more.  Happy new year eyeryone!

On this episode of the Magic Newswire Spirit of Magic podcast I am thrilled to be joined by the ultimate "Underground Magician." For more than 50 years, Sol Stone has been referred to as "the magician's magician." In May of this year, Sol was named "Magician of the Year" by the Parent Assembly of the Society of American Magicians, Assembly #1 in NYC. Sol is best known as a coin magician, teacher and mentor to generatons of performers. Join David Roth, Jeff McBride, myself and other guests for this fascinating conversation. You will hear tales of Howard Thurston, Dai Vernon, Flosso, Paul le Paul, Jerry Openheimer, Ed Balducci, Tarbell, Gene Huggard, Slydini and many more!

On this episode of the Magic Newswire Spirit of Magic podcast I am thrilled to be joined by the ultimate "Underground Magician." For more than 50 years, Sol Stone has been referred to as "the magician's magician." In May of this year, Sol was named "Magician of the Year" by the Parent Assembly of the Society of American Magicians, Assembly #1 in NYC. Sol is best known as a coin magician, teacher and mentor to generatons of performers. Join David Roth, Jeff McBride, myself and other guests for this fascinating conversation. You will hear tales of Howard Thurston, Dai Vernon, Flosso, Paul le Paul, Jerry Openheimer, Ed Balducci, Tarbell, Gene Huggard, Slydini and many more!

John Carney is no ordinary magician. John is a performer, creator, writer and philosopher when it comes to the art of magic and has received more awards from the Magic Castle than anyone else in their long history. Carney talks with us about his evolution as a performer and what it takes to be a truly good student of magic. His mentors included "The Professor" (Dai Vernon), Faucett Ross and many more legendary figures from the history of our craft. Carney's "Book of Secrets" is being re-released as well as a new DVD series that he developed with Jim Steinmeyer. 

My guest on this episode is an entertainer considered by many to be the foremost Mentalist performing in the English language, Richard Osterlind. In addition to his many and varied performing credits, Richard is also the creator of several landmark effects of mentalism and has just released the much anticipated six DVD set on Corinda's Thirteen Steps to Mentalism in which Richard performs dynamic effects from each step of Corinda's seminal work in front of a live audience.

Previous Magic Newswire podcast guest Max Maven returns to discuss his decision to resign as the Entertainment Director of the Magic Castle. As this information began to circulate on the Interwebs, I thought it best to call  Max in order to allow him to tell out listeners what the real story was before too many rumors began to circulate. In addition, he talks about this expereince booking acts for one of the most unusual clubs in the world.

Max Maven makes a return appearance as my guest on this episode of the Spirit of Magic Podcast. Why has the first place prize for mentalism not been awarded at FISM since 1985 and then, not for eighteen years before that? Can mentalism even be successfully performed within the framework of a FISM competition? These are just a few of the topics that we touch on in this interview with one of our favorite mystery performers.