Author: jim

Our January meeting commenced with the election of new officers.  Congratulations to J.R. Russel, President; Mark Paulson, Vice-President; and Chuck Kleiner, Secretary.

Our magic began with Ralph Huntzinger showing us an ABC block prop that was immediately purchased by Michael Jacobs at a bargain price which included change of a $1,000 bill.  Tom Payne followed with an innovative creation that involved string theory and demonstrated how ten dimensions could change into the four dimensions that we can perceive.

Chuck Kleiner had everyone take nine cards and after numerous individual selections every member found the card they had selected at the same position as everyone else.  Bill Murray, Ralph Huntzinger, Ric Ruidl and Roger Sylwester all shared interesting magic books and magazine articles from collectors’ items to new releases.

Jim Earnshaw wowed us with his amazing sleight of hand set to music.  He performed a routine with silver dollars, a salt shaker and a dinner knife where the silver dollars magically vanished from his hands and appeared either under or on top of the salt shaker.  Michael Jacobs taught us the word “Houdinize” and then performed a very creative version of grandmother’s necklace using props he developed.  John Cameron made us laugh with his kid show cut and restored rope routine which he gave us permission to use in our shows.  Ben Eskenazi fooled us with two card routines.  Danny Dragon shared a story about his PTSD ( post traffic stress disorder) where an arrow showing traffic direction first changed direction and then changed color and position.

Chris Carlisle performed a Joshua Jay routine where he not only found the selected card but also dealt a winning blackjack hand, straight flush and perfect bridge hand from a mixed deck.  Larry Dimmit talked about robots and showed us a control panel with three different colored lights and three matching switches.  Even when the switches were moved or the bulbs were changed the switches always lit their matching color bulbs.  Finally a thought of color lit just with the power of the spectator’s mind.  George Zuk showed us a cool effect with hair tie bands named Mister Muscles and Little Pinkie.  Mark Paulson wrapped up our meeting with a cool mentalism effect where he predicted the color of a ball selected by one of four volunteers.

Our December meeting had a light turnout but the small group shared a lot of ideas from good local performing venues to stories about dealing with pre-performance jitters.  Our theme was “liar, liar, pants on fire,” and we saw magic with false counts, multiple outs, and just plain lying.

Tom Payne shared card preparation secrets on how to split, powder and scrape cards.  Danny Dragon amazed us with his version of a John Bannon effect called Royal Scam where cards magically flipped over and changed their back designs.   Michael Jacobs wowed us with a deck of jumbo cards where every card had been cut in half.  Two spectators each chose a half of a card from the deck and they ended up being a perfect match.

Mark Paulson gave us a brief history of the evolution of Tarot cards into modern day playing cards.  He then proceeded to have a spectator think of any favorite date in the calendar.  The date was looked up in a calendar that had a different card marked on each date.  Mark not only had a sole matching card in an envelope, but he had the spectator count the cards in a deck that had been on the table the entire time and there were only 51 cards and the prediction was the only one missing.  Mark’s routine was based on Chronologue by Bob Cassidy. Keeping with the theme of the night, Chuck Kleiner performed a variation of Banachek’s Ring of Truth where he identified who was telling the truth and who was lying.  Ric Ruidl gave us some deep thoughts on the number four and then wrapped up the meeting with a nice presentation of Nick Trost’s Four Flush where seven four of spades turned blank and then reprinted magically.

We all learned something new which made for an excellent meeting.  And that’s no lie.

Ben Eskenazi started off the evening of magic with a great card prediction effect. He was not only able to show that the card dealt to by the spectator was the same as he predicted, but that in fact the rest of the deck was blank.  Ben is really coming along with his magic.

Chuck Kleiner continued the magical evening with a funny routine involving holding a carton of broken eggs over the spectator’s head, that magically turned into Hershey’s Kisses.  This group thought this was a great trick, especially since we all got to eat the chocolate!

Jeff Dial presented a very nice ring on rope routine using a normal rope with many magical links and unlinks.  He continued the ring / rope theme by vanishing a spectator’s ring and have it appear on the chain around his neck.

Mark Paulson performed his baffling mind reading magic under test conditions, where he was able to divine a card that was simply thought of.  This is a strong effect that Mark has perfected.

J.R. Russell performed Joshua Jay’s Inferno which got a very good reaction from the club.  It is certainly good magic packed into a small space.

Michael Jacobs presented the world’s fairest card trick! He had the spectator cut a deck into three piles and he was able to match all three cards using a different deck he cut and dealt.

Roger Sylwester performed a nice card through handkerchief / card transformation using a lovely new Burberry handkerchief that he had just received as a gift.   Roger has such a great gift for story telling the magic is always an “extra” gift!

Danny Dragon told the story of Bruno, his scam artists of a cousin.  Lucky for Danny he knows a bit of magic and was able to not only get back his money from his cousin, but to outwit him in a game of chance that couldn’t be won.

Larry Dimmitt continues to amaze with his mental ability.  He was able to divine who would get the most correct guesses of heads or tails in a group of three spectators, with each one spinning a coin on the table.

Bill Murray presented a very nice color changing deck routine that looked quite magical.  Bill is always working on presenting unique stories to go with his magic.

 

 

The October meeting was full of magic with a lot of members present and performing.

Michael Jacobs presented some nice card magic where a spectator’s card as well as one he chose were the only two cards shown to be reversed in the deck after a spread.

Ben Eskenazi continued the card magic with a great performance of Search and Destroy by Aaron Fisher. Ben is the youngest member of the group, and continues to get better each meeting and it is always fun to see him perform.

Roger Sylwester tried to show us a trick involving certain cards, but his deck kept changing to blank cards, or cards with all backs.  It was a very funny routine where cards just kept turning blank and he had the whole club laughing.

Danny Dragon presented a couple of spooky tricks for the October meeting including a haunted key and haunted deck routine set to a nice story.

Roger Needham continued the haunted deck theme with a very funny Wizard of Oz story that ended with the witch’s hand cutting the deck.  It was a great visual to add to this routine.

Dan Kennedy continued the Halloween theme with a very cool trick from Peter Marucci called Victim of the Vampire, where a spectator chooses a victim which is then revealed to have been bitten.  It is a quick trick, but very powerful.

Mark Paulson performed a scary knife stab routine where he had a spectator pick what cup he crushed under his hand.  Lucky for Mark the spectator picked the right empty cup, because all the other ones had cupcakes under them.

Chuck Kleiner showed the group a bit of magic he did for a sales presentation that involved a quite clever visual illusion.  Chuck always comes up with great presentations for his magic.

John Cameron performed a unique card to impossible location involving a bagel and some very interestingly shaped cards.  Even adding the “lox” (locks) to the bagel couldn’t keep the card out.

Larry Dimmitt continued to show his mind reading abilities when he was able to divine the words that two spectators had picked randomly from a book.

Reymarx Gereda showed a very cool iPhone application that made it possible to use the phone as a X-Ray machine to look down through the deck to reveal a selected card.  The app lovers in the room were immediately downloading it.

Ken Marsh entertained the group with a nice shrinking cards routine.  Jim Earnshaw performed a quick in the hands coin matrix and there were talks given by Ralph Huntzinger and Tom Payne.

The theme for the month was magic using the “one ahead principle”.

Bill Murray presented a nice prediction effect with cards where the spectator choose three cards from a deck and Bill was able to select the matching pair from the deck for each card selected.

Chuck Kleiner presented a similar version of the effect except the spectator was able to pick from the deck the three cards that Chuck was thinking of.  Chuck had a very nice presentation to go with the effect as well.

Hugh (Danny Dragon) Castle told his theory on how early man was able to survive with the help of extra sensory perception.  Danny had a spectator write the numbers one through nine on business cards and the spectator was able to correctly choose which card had which number on it.

Roger Sylwester had a wonderful prediction effect where he correctly predicted in envelopes a spectator’s choice of where they would shop, what they would buy and how much it would cost based on the a random selection of sale tags.  The effect was enhanced as each envelope was clearly labeled with the prediction number on it.  Roger tipped the method which was quite clever.

Evan Reynolds presented Dan Harlan’s “The Awakening” with a very nice story line he had been working on.  Evan told the group about the psychic little person who was on the run from the law as he presented the effect.

Ben Eskenazi presented a very nice effect where he had a spectator choose a favorite card while he chose a least favorite from a different deck.  The decks were switched and cut revealing that both cards where the same.

Mark Paulson gave a great demonstration of his memorization skills where he asked people to name ten random items from the group and Mark was able to recall all the items that were simply thought of.

J.R. Russell showed he would never be without grapes as he had a spectator take a small bunch of three from a larger bunch and continued to produce more grapes while eating them or putting them in his pocket.  J.R.’s magic was very entertaining per usual.

John Cameron was working on a very funny routine called “In the Bag” where he used a helper doll inside a paper bag to help him retrieve cards chosen by the spectators.  John had some nice jokes to go with the magic which really pulled the piece together.

Michael Jacobs presented more of his great homemade props.  This routine featured a very nice clock face stand that held cards around the various numbers.  Mike was able to divine a spectator’s favorite hour as well as predict what card would be located at the selected hour.

Roger Sylwester performed a wonderful egg bag routine.  Roger had a lot of originality in the routine and it was quite funny and enjoyed by the entire club.

Chris Carlisle presented a very nice card color changing effect.  Chris showed the chosen card to be red while all the other cards were blue, however once a different card was chosen it turned out to be the only blue one.   It was a great visual effect.

Ben Eskinasi performed a very nice prediction effect with an oversized remote control device and a deck of cards.  The selected card was signed and turned out to be the only non-blank card in the deck. Ben used the device to “rewind” to show how the trick was done, however there were no batteries, only a prediction showing the chosen card.

Danny Dragon gave a great demonstration of his amazing sleight of hand.  He presented an effect showing how he develops his hand speed in which he was able to flip over multiple aces in the deck as well as half the cards in one quick motion.  Danny combined a twisting aces with a triumph type routine into a very nice combination.

Bill Murray continued to work on a routine involving his ability to detect if people are telling the truth or a lie about a selected card.  Bill has developed some great dialog to go along with his presentation.

Larry Dimmitt presented a great story line involving an old police case.  Larry had numerous props to go with the prediction effect and he was able to immerse the club with his story telling.

Mark Paulson continued with the theme of the evening (packet tricks) and presented a quick B’wave effect that was new to a few of the members.

Jim Earnshaw presented an Out of This World effect that was well received by the club.

The theme of the evening was magical effects using the Gilbreath principle. The club likes to allow people to present “workshop items” that are longer works in progress that the
club can then offers suggestions to improve a performance.

Hugh “Danny Dragon” Castell presented a workshop item that involved a card magically disappearing from a deck and reappearing inside a bottle. Hugh had a solid performance of the routine and the club members were able to offer some great suggestions.

Roger Sylwester presented a nice poker hand challenge that has a spectator deal out hands of poker and reassembles them at random to then deal out a winning hand.

Reymarx Gereda had two spectators each take five random cards. They mixed their cards and traded one with each other. Reymarx was able to divine what cards had been traded by both spectators just by looking at one of the hands.

Chris Carlisle introduced the club to the “Carlisle Riffle Cut” which was very well received. Chris also performed a great chaos to order routine where the sequence of cards returned to order after numerous shuffles. Chris had a very nice presentation to go with the magic based on his personal job experience.

Ben Eskenazi presented a very nice “do as I do” effect in which two piles of random cards were shown to be of directly opposite colors of each other, matching perfectly through the entire sequence.

J.R. Russell finally showed off some of his super powers that he had been keeping a secret all this time by correctly divining a sequence of cards that a spectator had hidden
under the table.

Bill Murray presented a very cute routine around Jamie Grant’s Industrial Revelation, involving a “Swiss Army Knife” and the reason Switzerland was never invaded.

Larry Dimmitt presented a funny card revelation in which the spectator selected a card from a deck and Larry placed a camera lens on the card box turning the box into a “camera,” which provided a very funny visual. Larry then took a picture of the card with it held against the spectator’s head revealing an x-ray photo of the spectator as well as
the card.

Mark Paulson presented a very nice hands-off card revelation in which a spectator freely selects a card and the cards are then placed back into the card box. Mark was able to divine the card that was chosen.

Michael Jacobs performed a very nicestraw penetration, a great impromptu effect. Michael also presented a great prediction effect in which a random dice role turned out to be an indicator of where a predicted card was located.

Fred Turner presented a very visual card transformation in which fire was held over an indifferent card and it visually melted into the spectator’s selected card.

Bill Murray did a multiple card revelation effect revolving around a very detailed story line he has been working up for a while. Bill incorporated some ideas the group talked about from a previous meeting.

Chuck Kleiner did a very nice “zombie spoon” routine for the dinner magic theme. The effect was very visual and would be a great impromptu effect for around the table.

Larry Dimmit performed another great mentalist routine involving remote viewing in which he was able to tell what type of scene a spectator was visualizing.

John Cameron performed a very nice prediction routine involving a very special deck of cards with various wines printed on them. After a mixing up the deck the spectator selected card was found to match the actual bottle of wine that John had with him.

George Zuk did a nice quick effect using three packets of sugar with different food items written on them. George was able to divine which packet had been selected after a spectator had mixed them up.

Mark Paulson performed a very nice mind reading effect in which he had a person choose a card and turn it face down in the deck and place the deck back in the box. Without pening the box, Mark was able to tell what card had been selected.

J.R. Russell led the group in a mind mapping exercise; everyone brainstormed various magical ideas for “dinner magic.” The group came up with various types of dinner magic as well as specific effects for each grouping. The club plans to continue to expand on the
ideas presented.

The club had a light turnout at January’s meeting, however there was ample opportunity for everyone to present some great magic.

Bill Murray presented a work in progress for the club to offer comments and reviews.  Bill told the club about his attempt at becoming an FBI forensic psychologist and the three things you could look for to tell if people were lying.  Bill had nice funny presentation as he attempted to discover if his spectator Mark was telling the truth about the cards in his hands.  The routine was well thought out and the club offered some valuable insight.

Mark Paulson performed a comical version of the bowling ball from pad of paper where he made a bunch of sponge balls appear instead.  Mark has since refined this trick to make it quite funny.  Mark also let the group in on how he practices mentalism by correctly remembering a large sequence of numbers the group called out.

Larry Dimmitt presented a very nice routine where a dice was placed under a shot glass as well as a glass top and a number was thought of by a spectator.  When the group counted to three and called out the number, the dice flipped directly to the number called.

J.R. Russell presented some of his great card work with the “Shanghai Shuffle” showing that no matter how many times he shuffled the cards the spectator’s card would be the 7^th.  J.R. could also guarantee what pile your card would be in by using the guarantee card from a deck of cards.  J.R.’s magic is always fun to watch.

Jim Earnshaw presented a couple of coin pieces.  A version of winged silver as well as a hanging coins routine.