Tag: Society of American Magicians

Nine magi and one magic apprentice attended our July meeting. Magic was shared and taught and we heard some great stories about performing at different venues.

Our guest for the evening was Dr. Hal Quinn, who ended up being the designated volunteer for all effects. We hope he’ll return to share some magic with us. Our president’s challenge was taken by Mark Paulson, Ben Eskenazi and Reymarx Gereda. Each performance was very entertaining but Rey’s use of balloons, ducks and money won over the gathering.

Jim Earnshaw showed us coins appearing and disappearing in mid air. He even had an invisible air hook where he could store his invisible coins. Dan Kennedy wowed us with a July 4th effect using red, white and blue sticks. He was able to tell the location of each stick no matter where we secretly put them. Michael Jacobs used math, magic and mystery to divine someone’s age. Chuck Kleiner turned a deck of cards into a computer which automatically ejected the selected card.

Ralph Huntzinger shared stories of performing at Renaissance Fairs and the challenges presented by the outdoors and hot weather.

Following our first turn around the table members shared some of their favorite card and coin routines with explanations and instruction. Although our gathering was small our magic was big. A fun way to spend a hot July evening in Seattle.

Our theme for May was “Mad Props.” We also had our first monthly “President’s Challenge,” where three of our members were challenged to perform a selected effect not in their comfort zone.

Hugh Castell began the challenge by performing Scotty York’s version of “Back and Forth.” A freely selected card couldn’t be found in Hugh’s pocket, in his hand, or in the deck. What! It was laying there right in front of us on the table. Ben Eskenazi gave us a wow moment when he removed a full sheet of gum from a clearly divided gum box. Mark Paulson completed the challenge by having a selected card appear reversed in a deck. The performances were outstanding and three more members volunteered for another challenge next month.

For our monthly theme, Ben Eskenazi used flash cards to reveal the magical number 36 which was where the selected card was found in a deck. J.R. Russell showed his skill with three silver dollars by having them appear and vanish through juggling, cheating, misdirection, and finally by pure magic. Mark Paulson had four volunteers each select one of eight envelopes with Mark keeping the remaining four. Each volunteer ended up with a humorous coupon while the four left with Mark all contained cash.

Bruce Meyers had a quarter appear between two business cards and another appear under Mark’s shoe. Jenifer Meyers told us about some great magic on TV. Ron Young displayed his gold coil and then showed us his 15 pocket sport coat.

Hugh Castell demonstrated his Keychain of Life which allowed a key to penetrate a quarter. Tom Payne showed us a collection of shot glasses to use for cups and balls. He then performed Tim Ellis’ Deck-stress. Michael Jacobs drew a closed lock on one side of a blank business card and had a spectator sign the other half. Then, just like Houdini, Michael had the lock unlock with the spectator’s signature intact on the same card. He also had a rope penetrate the plunger from Houdini’s bathroom.

Ralph Huntzinger shared his patter for a Renaissance Fair routine he called Georgio and Henriette where a rose becomes a daisy and then turns into a swarm of butterflies. He also shared his favorite Tenyo prop, Crystal Cleaver. Chuck Kleiner asked the club to help him identify a prop he’d had for many years. The club quickly identified it as a Chinese Flame Clock and even described the effect and the story behind it. John Cameron performed Bert Allerton’s Aspirin Tin where a WWII microscopic camera miraculously took a picture. Jim Earnshaw completed our meeting by fooling us all with a skilled performance of Garrett Thomas’ Stand Up Monte.

The theme for April was “tricks without cards,” But it should have been called “anything but traditional card tricks.” So we got to see some very nice effects that sometimes used cards but also used something else.

Ben Eskenazi started us off with a slick matrix effect using four cards and four dice. The added thickness of the dice required that the cards be perpendicular to the table surface. Ben pulled if off brilliantly. Larry Dimmit brought out some ESP cards and predicted the thought of symbol. Ralph Huntzinger workshopped a new routine for his next family reunion where math, sudoku, cousins, and a little witchcraft led to an amazing sequence of coincidences.

Chuck Kleiner made a ball bearing slowly penetrate a sheet of glass without breaking the glass. John Cameron asked us to be creative and imaginative by having a spectator shuffle and select a card from an invisible deck. He then had a visible version of the “selected” card in his wallet. A new magician to our club, Kenny Wehl, had a spectator set a specific time on a watch. Kenny then predicted the time within a few minutes. But, after his applause he had the spectator look at the watch and the hands were gone. Nice kicker.

Hugh Castell showed us some serious sleight of hand by having a finger ring penetrate each of his fingers. Brian Cook brought three full size dump trucks to the meeting. Two were empty and one was full of top soil. He had the trucks drive around to confuse us and then had us select the one with the soil. We couldn’t get it right. Finally each truck was filled with soil. Hmmm.

Mark Paulson had an ESP card selected and showed that he had one card which matched the selected symbol. Michael Jacobs showed us an effect he had crafted called the Indigo Children, based on Professor Hoffman’s “The Q Trick.” His revelation seemed impossible, but he was correct. Michael’s magic is very creative.

Gary Parish came in full costume and performed a nice rope escape routine based on Grandmother’s Necklace. He then decided to compete with Brian and brought a pony into the meeting which he transformed into a full sized horse.

Some of the most amazing magic occurs at our April meeting.

Chuck Kleiner

Our March meeting was well attended with clever magic and supportive criticism. The theme was magic that plays well for lay audiences. Brian Cook, our IBM territory VP joined us to share his insights and help us improve our performances.

Chuck Kleiner started off with hopping halves and a good discussion about to how to perform this close-up effect for a larger audience. Bill Murray surprised us with a tarot card effect that used numerous false cuts and shuffles. Michael Jacobs allowed a spectator to lie or tell the truth, yet no matter which they chose to do, he still found their selected card.

Gary Parish performed the Styrofoam cup of doom. This led to a lively discussion about tricks that can maim or kill you. Fortunately Gary didn’t require a trip to the hospital. Reymarx Gereda turned his deck into a computer and by pressing the correct pip the chosen card emerged from the deck multiple times.

Otto Miller, our newest and youngest member, jumped right in and showed us a slick card effect using a key card to reveal the aces in a deck. Ben Eskenazi had his card prediction printed on the back of a playing card. When the prediction was incorrect he flicked the card and it magically changed to the chosen card. Hugh Castell told us about a card game he used to play with his sister and demonstrated that he could always predict the outcome.

Mark Paulson shared a comedy mentalism effect followed by the perfect prediction of a thought of card having a red back in a blue backed deck. Jim Earnshaw performed with a 50 cent piece that kept appearing and disappearing. He then broke from his traditional coin work to show us a Star Trek themed card effect where he had us all chanting, “Beam me up Scotty.”

Ralph Huntzinger related the history of his block with ropes effect and how he practices for Renaissance Fair audiences. Roger Sylwester performed his torn and restored newspaper and explained how he learned to do the moves and recite his patter so that the two are timed perfectly. Their performances and attention to detail reminded all of us that in order to have a quality performance you need to think hard, practice often, and learn from every performance so that you can make the next one better.

Great ideas were shared around our ring tonight. Can’t wait to see what we learn next month.

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.

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.