“One is fooling the mind. The other is fooling the eyes.”

—Thomas Baker on the difference between a magician and an illusionist

Season 9 is out! With Cidiot®, I’ve been trying for more than 125 episodes to open your eyes to new things. This season will be all about wonder. We need to look into the wonder to see what’s possible. So this season starts with magic.

Thomas Baker is an illusionist based in Saugerties, New York, known for creating moments that defy explanation. He has sold out the Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill and performed for major brands including L’Oréal Paris, as well as audiences throughout the Hudson Valley. His work spans weddings, festivals, and live events, where reality bends, and expectations vanish. With a style rooted in suspense and surprise, Baker leaves his audiences in stunned silence long after the illusion ends.

You know I love accolades. Thomas has been called “Houdini of the Hudson Valley.”

Thomas and I talk about becoming a magician, what works, how to identify the cidiot in the audience, and we even do an audio magic trick! You’ll love him, and you should book him for your next dinner party, Bar Mitzvah, or event.

Where to find Thomas Baker:

• Instagram: @tbakermagic
• Facebook
• GigSalad
• Email: tbaker@exit20.com

Much thanks to guest editor Brett Barry of Silver Hollow Audio and host of the other most awarded podcast in the region, Kaatcast: The Catskills Podcast.

©2025 Mat Zucker Communications. Cidiot® is a Registered Trademark.

Winter in the Hudson Valley is not a metaphor. It’s a physical, emotional, and occasionally muddy reality—one that arrives early, lingers late, and demands respect (and better boots).

In the Season 8 finale of Cidiot, Mat wraps up a year-long exploration of the “Creative Human” with a practical—and lightly self-deprecating—survival guide for making it through a Hudson Valley winter with your sanity intact.

From generators and wood-burning stoves to libraries as lifelines and the quiet heroics of simply showing up, this episode distills what we’ve learned this season into three essential rules for wintering well: physical readiness, creative resilience, and social warmth.

This is not about mastering winter. It’s about practicing life here—embracing the hearth, the community, and the small rituals that make the cold months not just survivable, but meaningful.

You’re a cidiot. You’re doing it. And you’re home. Come visit.

Places Mentioned

• Neverstill Wines — Hudson, NY
• The Maker Hotel — Hudson, NY
• Mid-Hudson Library System
• Starr Library — Rhinebeck, NY
• Rough Draft Bar & Books — Kingston, NY
• Books & Cake — Hillsdale, NY
• The Spotty Dog Books & Ale — Hudson, NY
• The Yoga House — Kingston, Highland, Poughkeepsie, NY

Excerpts from “Hudson Valley Reveries” by Will Forge and “Hudson Valley Winter” by Jennifer Rodriques.

Thanks for listening to Cidiot®, the award-winning podcast about moving to the Hudson Valley. Sign up for the newsletter at Cidiot.com , and please rate and review the show here or in the Apple Podcasts store.

This episode’s guest editor is Drew English of Upstate Podcast Studio

©2025 Mat Zucker Communications. Cidiot® is a Registered Trademark.

What does it look like to build a creative life without a ladder, a map, or a five-year plan? In this crossover episode, I sit down with Kingston-based cinematographer, podcaster, and all-around creative human Drew English, host of the podcast No Set Path.

We interviewed each other for our respective shows, and this is the Cidiot cut—rooted in the Hudson Valley, flavored with dirt, neighbors, and the reality of figuring it out as you go.

Drew shares his journey from years in the NYC film world to building a life (and a studio) in Uptown Kingston—one that balances creativity, parenthood, community, and work that doesn’t always follow a straight line.

We talk about why Kingston has become such a magnet for creative people, the myth of the “COVID panic buyer,” how podcasting grew out of basement space and curiosity, and why no set path is actually the point—whether you’re navigating a career, a town, or a brand-new way of living.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you can leave the city without leaving yourself behind, this one’s for you.

Podcasts, radio stations, and other good things mentioned:

• Upstate Podcast Studio (Kingston, NY)
• No Set Path podcast
• The Valley Girls Podcast
• Kaatscast podcast
• Hudson Valley Unleashed podcast
• Rhinebeck Scoop podcast
• Radio Free Rhinecliff
• Cinema Kingston
• ⁠WKZE⁠ radio station, Red Hook, NY
• Arrowood Farms, Accord, NY

Special: There's a video version of the episode available on Cidiot’s YouTube channel. Thanks, Drew!

Thanks for listening to Cidiot®, the award-winning podcast about moving to the Hudson Valley. Sign up for the newsletter at Cidiot.com and please rate and review the show here or in the Apple Podcasts store. Come visit.

This episode’s guest editor is Drew English of Upstate Podcast Studio

©2025 Mat Zucker Communications. Cidiot® is a Registered Trademark.