February 2010 Meeting Minutes

[pat lavigne]

RING 341, FAYETTEVILLE, NC
All-American Magicians
Meets 3rd Monday of the month, 7:00 pm, Carolina Inn at Village Green, 405 Forsthye Street, Fayetteville, NC
Dave Brumble, Secretary. Slyman@nc.rr.com
Feb. 15, 2010 MEETING MINUTES
Business Meeting
Ring President John McCauley opened the meeting by reminding everyone that yearly dues are to be paid at our March 15, monthly meeting. We will also need your IBM card number.
John also requested that all those who are going to perform for our March 13, St. Patrick’s show at the Carolina Inn get in touch with him by the first of the month to make sure that he knows what effects they will be performing and how long their respective segments will last. John’s phone number is 865-2651 or you may e-mail him at: jhn_McCauley@yahoo.com
Treasurer Sharon Brumble was asked to give a financial accounting of the club’s funds. After her presentation we were all pleased and talked excitedly about the prospects for this year’s lecture series. President McCauley stated that he believed that the Honeycutt Recreation Center would prove to be our best venue for any future lecture that we may sponsor.
Vice President Marie Blackman passed out a list of themes for our meetings for the rest of this year. Our themes will be as follows:
March-
Mentalism
April-
Silk Magic
May
-Flower Magic (or Feather or Fluffy Paper Magic)
June
-Sponge Balls
July
-Christmas in July Magic
August-
Card Magic
September-
Impromptu Magic ...Bring the names of your effects and how much time you'll need to perform for our Fall show at The Carolina Inn.
October-
Magic from the Linking Ring
November
-Rope Magic
December-
Christmas Party
January 2011
- Newspaper Magic
　
Ring members welcomed home Daniel Rathaus who has spent the last year in the war zone. We also welcomed potential new member Ergun Bicer who was attending his first meeting with us.
Proving that his generosity gene is still going strong, Dr. Manny Rothstein provided the refreshments for the evening.
President McCauley called the meeting to a close and the evening’s entertainment, which was based upon the theme of “Valentines Day Magic,” began.
　
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leading off the evenings entertainment was Christina Brown, who after introducing us to four lovely ladies (the four queens), secluded them into different parts of the Castle (the deck). Christina proceeded to shuffle the deck and when a handsome prince arrived at the Castle gate the ladies magically reappeared! Way to go Christina!
Next came our old friend, just back from the war zone, Daniel Rathaus who proceeded to have two cards selected by two different spectators. One spectator signed her name across the face of her selection. The other spectator, without looking at the face of his card signed it across it’s back After some fancy razzel dazzel hanky panky, Dan caused the card that had been signed across it’s face to become the very card that the other spectator had signed across it’s back and had laid sight unseen face down upon the table.
Great job Daniel! It was also fun to hear Daniel tell stories about performing for the Afghanistan people as well for some of America’s top brass. On his Rest and Relaxation time Daniel visited The Magic Castle in Hollywood and had a fantastic time.
Our next performer, Dr. Gerry Hayes, took us back to the early 1800’s for a tale of murder and mayhem. With the help of a spectator Gerry showed four photographs of lovely ladies from that period. He asked the spectator to hold a locket that had belonged to one of the four ladies. A letter was read from an unknown suitor who stated that if the locket were placed around the neck of any of the women then a curse that had been placed upon the locket would cause the wearer to immediately die. The spectator was asked to use her intuition, and any vibrations the she might receive from holding the locket, to determine which of the four ladies had succumbed to the lure of the trinket and had died from it’s curse. The spectator made her selection of the unfortunate damsel. Gerry slowly, and openly removed the locket from the spectator’s hand and there engraved upon it’s back was the the name of the very lady the spectator had predicted would meet her demise. Great job Gerry! There is nothing like good magic combined with an infatuating tale to garner mystery and applause.
Long time member Dr. Manny Rothstein has a passion for how things work, and this passion carries over to the field of mathematics. Manny asked a spectator to choose one of a series of “oodles” of numbers drawn across a Valentine’s Day card and to mark her choice with a long toothpick if she wished him to mentally determine the next series of numbers in a long sequence. Alternatively, she was to place a “short” toothpick upon the card if she preferred a short sequence answer. No matter which number, or which length of toothpick the spectator chose, Manny would turn his back, do a series of mental calculations and reveal the sequence of numbers selected by the spectator. Manny explained how this works and the mathematical process necessary to accomplish the effect. Most of those present were just as baffled by the method as we were by Manny’s magical calculations. Way to go Manny, good stuff!
Ergun Bicer is a new prospect for membership in our Ring, and for his début performance he flung his fingers like an old pro. Even though he is only fourteen years old he has mastered some very difficult sleights. Cards jumped from here to there and back again. They were ambitious, rolled over on command and traveled to remote and mysterious places. Ergun is not just another “I learned it off of a video”
youngster. He actually reads magic books and is quite knowledgeable about the origins and history of both “moves”
and routines. Welcome Ergun!
Marie Blackman is a performer that we can always count on to come up with a trick that is on topic! First Marie passed out six Valentine heart shaped cut outs to six different spectators. One spectator was chosen to “fall in love” with one of the many different numbers drawn all over the red paper hearts. After this was done the “hearts” were collected and Marie proceeded to reveal which number the spectator had chosen. Marie had taken an old principle and applied it to our Valentine Day theme. She has a real knack for doing this and we always look forward to seeing how her creativity
meets our monthly thematic challenge. Good show Marie!
Next came our Ring’s working pro, Dale Kalinowski, who had a spectator shuffle a deck of cards. Dale then had two other spectators, who were dubbed “love birds,” each hold a beautiful glittering, but empty, gift bag. These two spectators
both agreed on a card that they freely selected from the well shuffled deck. Dale then began to deal cards randomly into the bags asking the “love birds” which bag each card should be placed in. When the dealing was completed the couple mutually agreed on which bag that they would like to use. They then each placed one hand into the bag and both came up having selected one card from among the large number that had been dealt into the paper containers. When they turned the card over that they had selected from the bag they found it to be the same card that they had previously agreed upon. Thus proving that love birds do think alike! Dale has come up with a very clever trick that fits right in with any patter that stresses that two minds can think as one. Another clean hit out of the ball park for Dale!
If you are in our area and would like to attend one of our meetings you can e-mail me for driving directions at the following address: Dave Brumble, Secretary Ring 341: slyman@nc.rr.com