Category: Meeting Minutes

Ralph Huntzinger brought quite a few magic devices to show the club. He had items ranging from a small finger chopper to a neck size guillotine. The club had a lot of fun checking out the workings of the devices. Special thanks to Ralph for bringing out the toys.

Mike Jacobs presented an upside-down lantern he created based on designs from Jim Steinmeyer. Mike did some wonderful work and added some extra touches not found in Jim’s initial design. The club was very impressed with Mike’s work.

The club provides feedback to members who are currently working on routines in progress and we had two members present items they were working on.

Bill Murray presented a very nice multiple mind reading act revolving around a story of voices in his head. Bill has spent quite a bit of time working through the technique involved and really presented a much improved routine from his previous presentation. Bill is really turning the routine into a worker.

John Cameron presented a comedy routine he was working for a family reunion. There were quite a few very funny moments, and the club was sure his family would love the magic by John.

Roger Sylwester presented a small hand size card duck as well as a very funny routine involving multiple cards the duck selected. Roger always brings not only entertaining, but very interesting items to the club.

 

Mike Jacobs presented a very nice version of color changing deck that started with a spectator choosing a card that was the same as a prediction card of a different color. The ending was very clean and there were quite a few magic moments in the routine.

It was member John Cameron’s birthday this evening and Mark Paulson presented a cute quick trick where John picked his “favorite card”. Mark knew it was his favorite one because it had “Happy Birthday John” written on the face.

Ralph Huntzinger could not tell a lie when he presented his card trick that revolved around a more specific revelation each time he got closer and closer to a chosen card. The chosen card turned out to have “your card” written on it. The routine got a lot of good laughs.

George Zuk presented a quick matrix effect with three coins and two cards by Mark Mason. The method was very interesting and the effect magical.

John Cameron presented a very nice location and mind reading effect where he placed a spectator’s dollar in a box and then placed the box inside a bag. The bag was mixed and with the help of a spectator the boxes were eliminated with the dollar inside the final box. John finished the routine with the revelation of the serial number on the dollar.

J.R. Russell brought the birthday boy up for a special royalty test based on the story of the princess and the pea that involved numerous sight gags as well as a particularly good card revelation as the ending.

Chuck Kleiner presented a trick for John as one of his kids show characters Clem. It was a very funny character and the entire club got a good taste of Chuck’s acting ability.

Larry Dimmitt continued to prove his psychic ability when he was able to reveal not only a lottery number but a chosen number by a spectator. The hit of the trick though may have been the talking calculator Larry used.

Reymarx Gereda presented another great card at a number effect where one spectator’s card was found at the location of the other spectator’s chosen number.

Jim Earnshaw presented Troy Hooser’s “Charming Chinese Challenge” as well as a Jay Sankey coin effect called Mass Consumption.

 

Bill Murray started off the evening of magic with a great psychic detective story that revolved around a card selection being the crime scene. Not only was the story terrific and went very well with the routine Bill had a great ending where the selection had already been known.

Ralph Huntzinger was routining a new magic effect involving a torn and restored card. As always Ralph had put a lot of thought in the story and the club thought the whole thing was going to be a good addition to his show.

Chuck Kleiner gave a quick demo of magical business card printing as well as a review of a recent non-magic book he was reading that had some great thinking that magicians could use.

Dan Kennedy performed a coin prediction effect where he asked the spectator to choose a coin among a selection of coins and the prediction matched the date of the coin.

John Cameron had a great magic test to see if two members were on the same wavelength. After a random mixing of two decks of cards the spectator was able to select a card from one and pick a number, once that number was counted on the other deck the cards the two cards matched.

Roger Sylwester showed off some great card skills with a gambling routine and demonstrated a tabled Faro shuffle that looked very much like a riffle shuffle.

Larry Dimmitt once again demonstrated his psychic abilities with a piece that demonstrated his ability to influence a person’s choice. He had a spectator hold a box with an item in it and select an envelope from a group filled with different ESP cards. The card selected turned out to be the circle and when the box was opened up there was a ring inside.

Mark Paulson performed a nice President’s day effect where a spectator selected a card with a picture of a president on it. Mark then took some paper and scissors and cut out a picture of the selected President.

J.R. Russell performed a very funny five card routine where he was planning his trip to Las Vegas and needed to know what five cards to take. Cards seemingly multiplied over and over as various types of cards were produced.

Jim Earnshaw performed a quick coins across routine for new member Michael Jacobs.

 

Roger Sylwester started out the evening with a dice stacking routine that was very entertaining as well as surprising when the final dice stack was revealed to be a single large die.

Dan Kennedy presented a quick numerical trick where a series of cards with various numbers were presented and after the spectator revealed which cards the chosen number was located on Dan was able to tell quickly what number was selected.

Hugh “Danny Dragon” Castell presented a well thought out routine involving the mixing of a martini. The jigger was used to vanish and make reappear the olive and the final shot was vanished completely. Hugh was then able to produce a shot from seemingly nowhere.

Ken Marsh did a quick linking cards bit where two cards with holes in the middle were linked and then unlinked and immediately handed out.

Reymarx Gereda presented a quick card trick that was very magical where a spectator chose a card, replaced the card in the deck, and then two cards were selected and added to find the location of the chosen card in a mixed packet.

Evan Reynolds presented a lovely piece of magic where a small “fairy” door was presented and after the door was magically “cleaned” a number the spectator chose was revealed inside the door.

Bill Murray did a nice card matching routine that was very magical. The spectator chose two cards from a deck and replaced them then the deck that Bill brought out had the matching cards in the same location of the deck.

Mark Paulson presented a great mentalism / magic trick where he had a spectator find his “lucky card” by looking up his birthday in a calendar book to reveal the card. When the spectator went to find his card in the deck it was the only card not there. The card was revealed in Mark’s pocket.

Larry Dimmitt presented a hypnosis effect where the spectator remembered a card from a deck and once Larry relaxed him he was then unable to see the card in the deck.

Jim Earnshaw presented a cup and ball routine using marshmallows and cocoa cups based on David Regal’s Cocoa.

 

J.R. Russell started the evening off with a presentation of Joshua Jay’s prism deck. He performed a very nice four ace production and a complete deck color change including the original four aces. The deck was a hit among the group.

Mark Paulson performed a second sight routine from a recent Genii magazine where three predictions are initially incorrect yet his second predictions were right on the money.

Jim Earnshaw presented a handling of twisting the aces as well as “Coins in the Mist” by John Carney.

Enzo Lombardi performed a nice four ace production card routine where he presented the card deck as a computer. Each time he “programmed” the deck he would push out some cards and then by pushing in the cards back in an ace would be produced. The final ace production was a very clever shocker.

Evan, a new visitor to our club performed a quick coin trick where a penny grew in size. Although the trick was quick Evan’s execution was perfect.

Hugh Castel presented a nice haunted key routine with a great back story involving a local state mental hospital. Hugh’s story was very compelling and he really transported the group with the story.

Sam Shaefer presented David Stone’s Invisible Aces routine. Sam did a great job with the routine making each king vanish and appear on the table very smoothly. Sam even added a bit of smoke from his hands to the last vanishes!

Chuck Kleiner performed Frank Garcia’s “New York Opener” involving not only a great color change deck, but a beautiful visual card change that got a great reaction.

Larry Dimmit broke out the ESP cards and had a spectator choose three and place them in different pockets with his back to the spectator. Once Larry turned around he was able to tell the spectator what card was in the chosen pocket.

 

Our November meeting started off with elections of new officers for 2012. Then president Mark Paulson recapped the events for Magic Week, which included a charity show for a local nursing home with members Jim Earnshaw, Fredrick Turner, and Mark Paulson performing.

The evening’s magic began with Dan Kennedy performing Houdini’s Bell. A small green plug representing Houdini is locked into a red wooden barrel with a metal dowel, and Houdini inexplicably escapes.

Next up, Ed Loveland performed an eerie Living and Dead test with photographs of ladies from Jack the Ripper’s era. Two club members were able to pick out which ladies were victims, and which ladies survived.

Larry Dimmitt demonstrated what hypnotism looks like by having Roger Sylwester choose a card in a deck, and then Roger was unable to see the card in the deck.

Roger Sylwester performed an entertaining version of O. Henry’s card trick, in which a black card was chosen. Then we saw that it was the only black card in a packet of red cards. Next, Roger showed us his Diminishing Cards, which utilized some moves by Bro John Hamman. His effect entertained us all.

New assembly member Ron Wells performed some close-up effects that he likes to do around town. He showed us a few tricks with dollar bills, and he also demonstrated his fire wallet.

Mark Paulson performed Banachek’s book test, Word of the Ring, and he followed up with a close-up effect using some toy people from Pete McCabe’s Scripting Magic called “Pete and Re-Pete.

JR Russell performed a Halloween themed card trick based on an idea from Caleb Wiles. A freely chosen card was found to have the words, “Happy Halloween” written on the back. He then showed us ways we could adapt the trick to various holidays and special occasions. JR closed the meeting with a very well-received routine he’s working on which involves a chain escape. His routine involves time travel to the 1904 World’s Fair, and it has plenty of comedy which had us rolling with laughter. His routine is a keeper.

 

Jim Earnshaw started the evening off with performing Thread by Wayne Houchin followed by an exploding eye trick where an ice pick was inserted into his eye causing it to explode in a mess of white goo only to be magically mended.

Matthew VanZee performed a very nice effect where three crystals suspended by chains from a rod would move by command in different directions at the same time. It was a very good visual effect, that seemed impossible.

Dan Kennedy performed a nice piece by Peter Marucci involving cards with two young women and Dracula. The spectator was able to choose which young woman would be saved, however it was revealed that the other young lady had been bitten.

J.R. Russell performed John Bannon’s Origami Prediction with a twist where cards are presented on the table and then “folded” in the direction the spectator wishes to reveal a previous prediction.  Bill Murray presented a very smooth rendition of Richard Sander’s supercards where four cards very visually turn from two pairs to a different four of a kind.

Larry Dimmitt presented a wonderful effect where he had a spectator riffle down a deck of cards and peek at a card. Larry then asked the person to find the card in the deck which the spectator was unable to do. Larry then was able to produce the card from his pocket.

John Cameron performed a nice piece where metal stakes were driven through felt hearts by a spectator while he was not looking. John was able to determine, with a little help from vampire teeth, who was the only vampire to remain alive.

Returning club member Enzo Lombardi demonstrated a very nice magic square effect that I’m sure the members will be able to use.

Mark Paulson performed Dan Sperry’s “lifesaver”, and while Mark may not have the creepy vibe that Dan does, the illusion was still very stunning and well done by Mark who put his own presentational spin on it.

 

J.R. Russell started the evening off with a nice dollar bill production from a blank piece of paper. J.R. also provided each member with a photocopy to perform the effect.

George Zuk performed a very nice coin paradox where he kept adding a coin to a set of coins, after which the number of coins remained the same.

John Cameron presented a routine that can only be described as “further”. A simple pick a card trick turned into one magical effect after another, after another, after another. . .

Roger Sylwester performed a nice version of Michael Close’s “Erma” card trick built around a story about Martin Luther and the Lutheran church.

Hugh Castell performed “the trick that is pretty darn hard to explain” in which a selected card is lost in the deck, a hole in punched in an indifferent card and a tag is placed through the hole and the card is inserted back in the deck. When the person pulls back out the tag the chosen card is connected to it instead of the indifferent card.

Dan Kennedy presented a nice oil and water card routine where cards were mixed and when dealt out on the table they were back in original order.

Chuck Kleiner performed a very clean matrix effect and taught the group the workings behind the effect.

Bruce Meyers performed a great multiple silver dollar production from a folded bill, ending with a giant coin production.

Jim Earnshaw presented a quick coin through hand trick using a spectator’s hand.

Reymarx Gerda finished the evening with a multi-card revelation where he was able to divine the color of a dozen cards from a shuffled deck.

 

The July meeting had quite a few new people and there were a number of good performances from the visitors.

J.R. Russell started out the magic with an interesting take on the magician’s insurance policy. He had John Cameron choose a card, and when the card found turned out to be the wrong one J.R. invoked the policy that has a large printed picture of John’s face on the King of Hearts. It was a very funny moment that the club really got a kick out of.

Bruce Meyers performed great multiphase routine involving some yarn and a ring. Bruce was able to make the yarn stretch and shrink, ends disappear, restoration of cut yarn, etc. He had a wonderful mix of very powerful close up magic with just a few simple props.

Ken Marsh was doing some prep work for a magic camping trip he was going to and performed some nice little teaser tricks he was going to use.

Samuel Shaefer performed a wonderful three card revelation trick with three spectators. Each card appeared in a very mysterious way including rising from a box of cards in the spectator’s hands, invisibly “hooked” and pulled from a deck and finally revealed on the marker used to mark the cards. The rising card and fish hooked card were particularly well done.

Fred Turner performed a very smooth Brother John Hamman ace assembly routine. Fred’s handling was very smooth and it was a real magical routine.

Roger Sylwester showed a couple of his special linking ring sets and performed a nice routine with one of the sets.

Mark Paulson performed a David Regal effect called “Will the Socks Match”. Mark had a lot of very funny patter in the trick and it certainly is a great routine for a parlor setting.

Jim Earnshaw performed a 3 coin production, vanish and production by Eric Mead that was well received by the club.

June was rubber band magic, however there were quite a few great tricks performed as well that didn’t involve rubber bands.

J.R. Russell started out the evening performing a recently published trick where you use tin foil to create an impression of a coin and then after removing the coin, another coin appears inside. J.R. used gold foil of gum and presented it as a nice impromptu piece.

Jim Earnshaw performed a three coin production / vanish / production by Eric Mead.

Roger Sylwester performed a great vanishing bird cage bit that was very smooth. Roger also showed the group a beautiful troublewit he had made and a very funny routine using it.

Bill Murray preformed a nice cut to aces routine that got the group discussing various ace productions and false shuffles.

Hugh Castell performed a very funny set of rubber band magic that included a signed sticker stuck to the band that jumps from band to band.

Larry Dimmitt continued his great mentalism and borrowed a dollar from an audience member and had him fold it and place it into an envelope. Larry was able to divine the serial number of the dollar.

Mark Paulson preformed a nice card revelation where two rubber bands knew the card chosen was going to be the two of hearts and the bands ended up linking as hearts at the end of the routine. Mark also performed a nice silent / music routine where cards were eliminated by spectators only to have the last card left match the predicted card.

Ralph Huntzinger performed a nice four silver dollars through the hand routine framed around a teaching lecture on how to routine tricks. Ralph presented some good information for everyone.