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December 2014 Meeting Minutes

Larry Dimmit showed the power of suggestion, along with a little hypnotism, to show that a spectator’s previously seen card was nowhere to be found among a small packet of cards. Ralph Huntzinger performed a nice piece of magic where a spot was removed from a three of hearts, changing it into a two. However … Continue reading “December 2014 Meeting Minutes”

Larry Dimmit showed the power of suggestion, along with a little hypnotism, to show that a spectator’s previously seen card was nowhere to be found among a small packet of cards.

Ralph Huntzinger performed a nice piece of magic where a spot was removed from a three of hearts, changing it into a two. However the “spot” turned out to be the only card remaining in an otherwise blank deck of cards.

Mark Paulson used the power of a pendulum to accurately determine who was the deceased person written down among a group of names.

J.R. Russell performed some great card magic where each phase built on the previous, the routine had a bit of color separation, a bit of mentalism, some mathematics, and just all around fun magic.

Hugh Castell presented the “trick that probably can’t be explained” where he punched a hole and placed a tag on an indifferent card, however with a bit of magic the tag was connected to the spectator’s chosen card.

Ben Eskenazi performed some very nice card magic that was a clever combination of a sandwich type of effect combined with an ambitious card routine. Ben’s magic is getting stronger with each meeting.

Enzo Lombardi amazed the group with an any card at any number routine that involved some very cool technology that Enzo personally devised. The group was really wowed when they learned the secret behind the trick.

Bill Murray presented a nice card routine involving the queens as his helper cards. He was able to locate the chosen cards of two spectators by spelling out the names of the queens.

Jim Earnshaw performed a matrix type coin routine with a surprising copper / silver ending.

The group was also treated to some funny, but informative instructions by Tom Payne on how to make a realistic looking edible candle and Roger Sylwester showed us his very nice travel / performance case he has been using for fifty years.

November 2014 Minutes – Pretty Close

Our club culture offers a safe, supportive environment where members can try out new presentations and get positive feedback on how to make them better. Our November meeting found many members trying out new effects which revealed our unplanned theme of the month, “Pretty Close.” Bill Murray started the evening with a new psychic effect … Continue reading “November 2014 Minutes – Pretty Close”

Our club culture offers a safe, supportive environment where members can try out new presentations and get positive feedback on how to make them better. Our November meeting found many members trying out new effects which revealed our unplanned theme of the month, “Pretty Close.”

Bill Murray started the evening with a new psychic effect where he had three spectators randomly choose cards and he divined what each card was. Well, he got two out of three. Pretty close. John Cameron unveiled a new effect he created using geometry and playing cards along with a Goldilocks theme. It was a fun effect but John only got two out of three cards correct. Pretty close.

Michael Jacobs wrote randomly selected numbers on a balloon that were calculated to arrive at the number nine which matched the prediction he had placed in the balloon. Fortunately Michael put a line under the nine in the prediction otherwise it could have been seen as a six which would have been pretty close. But in this case it was right on. Larry Dimmit hypnotized a half dollar that stood up and spun around on its own. This one was also right on.

Ralph Huntzinger shared some books by Tobias Beckworth and Max Howard to keep us thinking creatively. Roger Sylwester offered some magic VHS tapes that were grabbed up by the group. He also showed us some beautiful wooden wands.

Hugh Castell shared a story about his grandfather’s ring which visually changed into a quarter and then back into a ring. Ben Eskenazi showed us some mentalism by divining a word freely selected from a book. Chuck Kleiner showed a genie bottle and flying carpet where the genie left the bottle and magically returned when the bottle was place on the flying carpet.

Reymarx Gereda divided a deck in half keeping one and giving the other to a spectator. After numerous shuffles and cuts each half was dealt into four piles. All of the cards on top of Reymarx’s piles were kings. All of the cards on the spectators piles were supposed to be aces but only two were. Pretty close. Mark Paulson had three spectators each choose a page from a book. He divined two and missed the third one by five pages. However, he had a prediction that said he would miss one by five so it turned out he was both pretty close and right on.

It’s great being able to try out new magic and get positive feedback from peers. If you’re ever in Seattle come with your magic and play with us.

October 2014 Minutes – Hatoween

What a great week of magic in the Pacific Northwest! The week started on Sunday with the Emerald City Wizards’ Dinner Show where we got to showcase our skills to friends and family members. We were joined by young magicians from the Ring of Smoke who also amazed our audience. Special thanks to Brian Cook … Continue reading “October 2014 Minutes – Hatoween”

What a great week of magic in the Pacific Northwest! The week started on Sunday with the Emerald City Wizards’ Dinner Show where we got to showcase our skills to friends and family members. We were joined by young magicians from the Ring of Smoke who also amazed our audience. Special thanks to Brian Cook for setting up our stage and managing the production.

Later in the same week we had our October meeting. The theme was Hatoween. JR Russel started the fun by having five different colored poker chips placed in his hat. After shaking them up and holding the hat above his head he retrieved the colored chip that was selected. Dan Kennedy revealed his Dracula cards and performed Victim of the Vampire by Peter Marucci.

John Cameron performed David Harkey’s “Faces in the Crowd” while wearing a wizard’s hat almost as tall as him. Michael Jacobs performed a two card monte with the help of his hat. Ben Eskenazi showed us five cards that magically turned blank and then ended up in his hat.

Larry Dimmitt kept it spooky by showing us how the shadow can alter reality by keeping the same cards in four volunteers’ hands even though the deck kept being mixed. Who knows? Gilbreath knows. Tom Payne shared his gaffed top hat and told us the thinking behind it and how it works.

Chuck Kleiner, in a hat, had good wishes written on a piece of paper and placed in an ashtray. There was a burst of flame and when the paper was opened the good wishes had vanished and emanated out into the universe. Roger Sylwester performed a feat from Barrie Richardson’s ‘Theater of the Mind’ by remembering where every card in the deck was located. Reymarx Gereda showed us an Aldo Colombini card effect where the selected card is found in a waterfall shuffle.

Jim Earnshaw performed a smooth three coin routine set to music where he kept placing coins in a hat only to have them reappear in his hands. Mark Paulson predicted the selection of a small skull by revealing a large skull under his hat. He also performed “Being There,” by Christopher Taylor, where he predicted what a spectator simply imagined.

Happy Hatoween from the Wizards in the Emerald City!

September 2014 Minutes – Seahawks cause members to disappear

The Seattle Seahawks prevented most of our members from appearing at our September meeting since it was the opening game of the 2014 season and they chose football over magic. They should have come to the meeting as most of the cars had disappeared from the roads and there was no traffic. Four of our … Continue reading “September 2014 Minutes – Seahawks cause members to disappear”

The Seattle Seahawks prevented most of our members from appearing at our September meeting since it was the opening game of the 2014 season and they chose football over magic. They should have come to the meeting as most of the cars had disappeared from the roads and there was no traffic. Four of our wizards resisted the Seahawks allure and gathered for an intense review of some excellent new and old magic.

JR Russell started us off by cutting the top off of a Ziploc bag and making it move magically. No strings attached! He then shared the “how” with the group and gave us some baggies to practice with. The trick is called Baggie Puppet by Julian Mather. It not only looks cool, it’s fun to do. JR then put a ribbon visually through a ring showing us what real magic looks like. This was Ring & Ribbon by Shigeru Sugawara. Finally he blew our already blown minds with Unleashed Dog Tag by Gregory Wilson.

Jim Earnshaw is focused on perfecting his routines and he showed us a coins across effect and some additional coin moves that were perfect for our small audience. We also discussed a very cool effect he is working on with Mark Paulson for our upcoming club dinner.

Larry Dimmitt presented a creative routine using cards and characters from the board game Clue. We randomly chose a room, character and weapon only to discover that Larry had already solved the crime showing us that his prediction matched our choices. He also showed us a slick book test and even let us inspect the book. It’s fun to be fooled but it’s also fun to find the secret.

Chuck Kleiner showed his ability to scale an entire deck of cards with only one hand. He also predicted the exact card that was chosen. He is working on combining this skill demonstration and magic into a new routine.

Throughout the meeting JR kept following the score of the game on his phone but Chuck insisted that he not tell the group since he was recording the game to watch after the meeting. Everyone predicted that the Seahawks would be victorious but what would you expect from the Seattle magicians’ club? We were all correct.

August 2014 Minutes

Our August meeting had members sharing new effects, books and even giving away magic. Mark Paulson kicked off the meeting by sharing all of the upcoming magic events in the area. Roger Sylwester shared some stories from “The Magician and the Cardsharp.” He also showed us some beautifully engineered billiard balls. Tom Payne shared ideas … Continue reading “August 2014 Minutes”

Our August meeting had members sharing new effects, books and even giving away magic. Mark Paulson kicked off the meeting by sharing all of the upcoming magic events in the area. Roger Sylwester shared some stories from “The Magician and the Cardsharp.” He also showed us some beautifully engineered billiard balls. Tom Payne shared ideas for practice that included a surrounding of mirrors and how to simulate two spectators.

Reymarx Gereda shared a Mike Close effect called Way of the Duck where he claimed that luck was involved, but this amazing routine was clearly based on skill. Jim Earnshaw first gave away a set of rings and then gave us some amazing moments with his Okito Box routine. Chuck Kleiner magically sent a selected card from the past into the future.

Mark Eskenazi shared his experiences from the recent PCAM in Vancouver and Ben Eskenazi performed a routine where five spectators mixed up a deck and then ended up dealing a straight flush. Bill Murray predicted the identity of two selected tarot cards and then described the cards in detail.

Hugh Castell shared a book that was entirely about the bill switch. This led to a lively discussion on whether or not to use a thumb tip for this effect. John Cameron gave us a nice routine based on the McCombical Prediction. Larry Dimmit closed our meeting by bringing a huge box of old magic and letting all of the members select any tricks they wanted. This had younger members excited about tricks they’d never seen before and older members reminiscing about tricks they hadn’t seen in a long time. In magic, everything old can be new again.

July 2014 Minutes

Our July meeting was “Mental Magic or Magic That Makes You Crazy.” Michael Jacobs started off the magic with an effect he’s been improving each month. It’s his own creation where a bust inhabited by the spirit of Houdini visibly escapes from ropes, handcuffs and other shackles. Crazy. Roger Sylwester blew our minds with a … Continue reading “July 2014 Minutes”

Our July meeting was “Mental Magic or Magic That Makes You Crazy.” Michael Jacobs started off the magic with an effect he’s been improving each month. It’s his own creation where a bust inhabited by the spirit of Houdini visibly escapes from ropes, handcuffs and other shackles. Crazy. Roger Sylwester blew our minds with a pack of cards he bought at a magic convention that said the thought of card would be forty down from the top. A spectator thought of any card and when he counted down forty it was there. Jim Earnshaw, our resident coin expert, showed us a very magical wooden Okito Box and wand routine with coins appearing and disappearing in mid air. Jim is crazy good. More mentalism was shared by Larry Dimmit as he showed how two minds could have one thought, He showed a picture with multiple celebrities and both the spectator and Larry’s selections were the same. Mark Paulson made us laugh with a little mentalism humor where he and the spectator thought of the very same thing. He also shocked us by selecting three random books from the library where we meet and predicted a randomly selected word on a freely selected page of one of the books. Mark’s mentalism could make you crazy if you try to figure it out. John Cameron dug around in his magic drawer to find a long lost packet trick where some cards had purple circles and some had purple backs. When a card was chosen it was the only one with a red circle and when a number was chosen it was the only one with a red back. I’m sure it motivated some of us to search through our old magic to find a long lost treasure. Since we met on Mercer Island this month, Chuck Kleiner shared a mentalism effect he created for the local Mercer Island Farmers Market. Chuck predicted which letter in the Market’s name would be freely selected by a spectator. Moving from mentalism back to crazy, Tom Payne inhaled a rubber band. He then showed us a card effect with rubber bands where the chosen card escaped from the bonds of two rubber bands.

June 2014 Minutes

Our June meeting was “Packet Trick Night.” Some of the wizards showed us interesting packet tricks and some wowed us with other magical effects. Magic that happens in the hands of everyone in the audience was performed by two of our members. John Cameron had us all select random times on a clock and after … Continue reading “June 2014 Minutes”

Our June meeting was “Packet Trick Night.” Some of the wizards showed us interesting packet tricks and some wowed us with other magical effects.

Magic that happens in the hands of everyone in the audience was performed by two of our members. John Cameron had us all select random times on a clock and after following his instructions we all ended up on one o’clock. He then taught us Jim Steinmeyer’s One O’clock Mystery. J.R. Russell performed Robert Giobbi’s Einstein trick where we all magically discovered the exact card we had been thinking of.

Michael Jacobs shared Aldo Columbini‘s Jumbo Coincidence with a jumbo deck that had been sliced in half. Miraculously he not only had the selected card matched in both halves but then had all of the cards match after numerous shuffles. Ben Eskenazi demonstrated a Michael Ammar effect where the selected card had a different colored back than the rest of the packet. Roger Sylwester showed us some serious sleight of hand with a slick three card monte routine.

Hugh Castell had a prediction sealed in an envelope in a wallet that matched a card that a spectator had him stop on.  Mark Paulson continued to amaze us with his evolving mentalism repertoire by performing Richard Osterland’s Hands Off.  We welcomed a new magus, Gary Parrish, who shared some of his background and his desire to find effects that could be performed without the use of the magician’s hands. We’ll all be thinking about that challenge.

Bill Murray amazed and amused us with a Juan Tamariz effect where we used negative vibrations to find a card leading to a positive conclusion. Chuck Kleiner shared his version of an old Emerson & West packet routine called Color Monte.

We closed out the meeting with a matrix routine from Mike Battistoni using only two cards and four silver dollars. We felt that if he could do it with two cards what about just one card. Instead, he performed the routine with no cards blowing our minds. The cries of “Do it again, do it again,” made our club sound like a bunch of kids at a magic show. Mike shared that he had help from Dean Dill in developing the effect.

Maybe it’s me, but the magic at the Emerald City Wizards’ meeting seems to be getting better and better every month. Can’t wait for next month’s meeting.

May 2014 Minutes

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 … Continue reading “May 2014 Minutes”

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.

April 2014 Minutes

You get it all when you attend a monthly meeting of the Emerald City Wizards! Toward the end of the evening of April 3rd, Ben Eskenazi and his dad, Marty, told the Wizards about a plan they had to offer magic to nursing and retirement homes in the near future. They were seeking input about … Continue reading “April 2014 Minutes”

You get it all when you attend a monthly meeting of the Emerald City Wizards! Toward the end of the evening of April 3rd, Ben Eskenazi and his dad, Marty, told the Wizards about a plan they had to offer magic to nursing and retirement homes in the near future. They were seeking input about the experiences of others; of which there was plenty. Rule number one: keep it simple! The Wizard Leader, JR Russell recounted one performance when, after he had performed his best stuff, someone in the audience approached him and said: “JR, could you play some Country Western?” Despite the bittersweet humor in this, Rule number two comes into play: retired and nursing home audiences are very appreciative of our magic.

The meeting began with a brief overview of business and then we got straight to the raison d’être of the Wizards: the MAGIC. On a “special” deck of cards carried 90 miles from Whidbey Island expressly for the evening, Ben Eskenazi had Roger Sylwester select any card—and I mean ANY card without a force—and to everyone’s surprise, Ben predicted that very card! JR Russell took pride in seeing Ben perform the magic because he was the one who brought the deck so far.

Ralph Hunzinger had a potpourri of magical works in progress which he wanted to share. First up was “Newton’s Miracle”; an anti-gravity tube device that, with the right incantations can speed or retard the speed of objects that pass within it. Then we saw his “Numerology” blocks that shows, no matter how things are manipulated, that they always add up to the same result: 15. Last Ralph showed his “Vanishing Box” prototype where a rose is not a rose but it becomes a daisy. It’s flower power!

Michael Jacobs performed a short, but intriguing card trick where a Queen appeared where we least expected it. Roger Sylwester then did a twist on Michael Close’s “Erma la Fource.” Completely by random did a card get selected by the entire gathering. There’s absolutely no way that Roger could have predicted what the Wizards proposed. But, in the end, strong magic had its way: the prediction he made was identical to ours. Roger said he tested this trick many times with student audiences in California during a recent visit there.

Dan Kennedy then brought out some “royals” who, through their card avatars, performed a little soap opera of the tantalizing type. The red hair women and the black hair women had little trysts with others besides their husbands and yet, at the end of the night, all was how it was supposed to be although there was a lot of hanky panky going on. Bro. John Hamman’s Gemini Twins is used and there are only four cards even though it seemed many more.

Larry Dimmit performed a prediction card miracle: the “Teacher Knows.” It was baffling. Following this was Jay Boiselle who was a newcomer to the Wizards. He operates the Seattle Juggling and Magic Shop. When asked what magi were buying, he recounted a tale about a man really interested in a thumb tip although he had no apparent interest in magic. It turned out that he had sliced a portion of his thumb off and needed a handy prosthetic. Little did he know that the heat and relatively inflexibility of the plastic version he purchased would eventually do him no good. The vanity of it all.

Chris Carlyle had five Wizards select cards. And by five different means, including reading the lumps on the cards behind his back and by dropping a card, he was able to divine all five cards. Mike Battistoni, another newcomer to the club but not to magic introduced himself. He developed his chops, now a little rusty because life got in the way, at the Magic Castle. But he’s raring to get back into the swing of things.

Bill Murray asked Chris Carlyle to help him in a little prediction exercise by selecting a number of cards. Using the Tamariz Stacked Deck (Mnemonica) technique, Bill was able to predict not only the number of cards Chris selected but all of the exact cards within the packet. Mark Paulson then told about Ricky Jay appearing on the “Tonight Show” recently and performing a trick that he had no clue as to how it was done; and then Mark did the same thing: a royal flush. It’s always interesting when things can change so quickly from humble origins.

Terry Burlison performed a clever Ninja card trick using the Elmsley Count. There was always a problem with too much ink on the Ace of Spades. Following this, we had a discussion about the Elmsley Count from JR Russell and Reymarx Gereda. Each showed different techniques; the most useful being that simply putting the last card on the bottom rather than on the top resets you back to the same Elmsley Count. Rounding out the evening of outstanding fooling, Reymarx Gereda baffled with a repeating, computer-like knowledge of how many cards were cut by a helper. How does he do it?