Our May meeting was “Bookworm Night.” Our wizards shared books they were reading and performed magical effects from those books. We also learned some false shuffles.
Michael Jacobs kicked off the meeting with an Acrobatic Jacks routine from a pamphlet he shared. The jacks were quite athletic even performing a quadruple summersault. Hugh Castell performed a nice wild card routine from John Bannon’s High Caliber. Jim Earnshaw not only shared the book Secrets by John Carney, he also performed a cool one coin routine and then gave away a close up pad. Wow!
Ralph Huntzinger shared a whole suitcase of books focusing on how to be a better magical performer. He talked about Fitzkee and Nelms and how character development and persona are critical to creating a memorable performance. Ben Eskenazi shared the book Laughter Legacy by David Ginn, and then amazed us by moving a hole in a card in the flash of an eye.
Ric Ruidl shared Burling Hull’s 101 Things You Can Do with a Svengali Deck. He then fooled us by using a bridge deck, a poker deck and a jumbo deck. Roger Sylwester brought his comedy encore routine where he recited Little Red Riding Hood in a humorous ancient dialect.
Mike Battistoni, one of our newer members, showed us a well handled card routine from Earl Nelson’s Variations called Sweet Aces. His performance showed us what real magic looks like. Larry Dimmit performed a Mystery Novels book test that had us all scratching our heads wondering how he could possibly have known the thought of word.
Chuck Kleiner shared Juan Tamariz’s Verbal Magic and performed a routine from the book. It was fun having everyone experience the magic in their own hands.
Finally our more experienced members graciously shared their favorite false shuffles so I’m sure we’ll see some cool effects requiring a stacked deck in future meetings.