September 2015
Greetings All! After a few missed summer meetings due to a number of folks traveling, etc., we have had two great meetings although the August meeting minutes have not been posted quite yet. As for this month, we had a total of 11 if I remember correctly as my two oldest kiddos joined in the fun. After a lovely meal of...wait for it...pizza, drinks, and some very interesting potato chips, it was on to the magic. First it was mentioned that we have a few conventions in the coming months if anyone is interested in traveling to one or more. Also, yours truly will be having a public performance at the North Augusta Library on the evening of October 29th at 7pm if any of our club members would like to come and watch.
After those riveting announcements, it was on to the magic. Ben started things off with a Facebook themed deck of cards which everyone "liked" and "shared" in the amazement as he scrambled the brains of both of his volunteers. He also shared a few of the other routines that were possible with said deck of cards.
Next, yours truly performed a number of book test effects and had a brief discussion on a few methods, combinations, and other info on book test effects. Chris then performed a few card routines and then things broke up into various discussions about all things magical. Oh, and a very strange object was brought out that would only turn counter-clockwise no matter how hard the volunteers tried to make it turn the opposite way.
Altogether, it was a great time of magic, food, and fellowship! Next month it is all about the spooky and bizarre magic routines - hope to see everyone there!
March 13th 2015
Greetings Everyone! Our March meeting saw 9 folks (counting my two kids who thoroughly enjoyed it) brave the chilly wet weather to enjoy some magic. Prior to the official start of the meeting, several early guests watched a few routines by Pop Hayden on Youtube - including his Magnetized Water and Mongolian Pop Knot clips. After pizza, drinks, and a lively discussion, it was time to head upstairs, but not before Ben filled out his form to join our local club - as he has just recently joined the IBM as well!
It was then upstairs for some magic! Yours truly started off the festivities with a brief demonstration of several versions of Cardtoon. Grady assisted in the first version - where Bob pulls the chosen card out of his hat. Olivia then volunteered for the second routine where Bob revealed the chosen card after being shot out of a canon and into a wall. Finally, Reagan assisted Bob as he caused her card to appear out of a cloud of gas after eating a large taco...all three of Bob's routines were a big hit.
Ben then performed a card trick where a selected card appeared sandwiched between three people's hands. Reagan was so impressed she had to write about it in her notebook.
After that Ben did a magician-in-trouble routine involving a clock which eventually disappeared behind a small cover. The kids thought they had it figured out until the surprise ending!
After Ben's routines, it was time for the Great Johndini, who did a lovely Houdini inspired escape using a ball with two ropes threaded thru it and the spectator's hand! It was quite amazing! He then proceeded to have a ring on a coil magically get stuck and then un-stuck while in a volunteer's hand.
After such a huge mental exercise (see pics above), Johndini took a quick break to let Matthew show a few card routines. The first had Sam selecting a card which was then placed back into the middle of the deck and then made to rise out simply by sliding one's fingers up the sides of the deck - a very cool routine! Then Matthew had yours truly count down to a random number of cards, flip over the top two cards and then place a coin with either a circle or square on either of the two cards. Afterwards, Matthew revealed a prediction which showed both the cards chosen as well as which symbol was placed on either card.
Johndini then took the stage once more to show how a dot could somehow travel from one volunteer's card to the other volunteer's card from across the room. Other applications of said trick was then discussed as well - with several variations on the theme given.
After this, yours truly demonstrated the influence of Edgar Allan Poe using the Poe themed cards from the month before. Ben successfully separated ravens and skulls with the help of a 1849 penny and some lines of poetry...or maybe it was just a lucky guess...we may never know for sure. Finally, Matthew demonstrated an interesting card routine which involved turning a card inside out under a handkerchief while the volunteer held the card and never let it go...and it still turned inside out. After this, things turned informal with lots of individual discussions on a variety of magical topics until the close of the meeting.
A great time was had by all - and we look forward to seeing everyone next month!
February 13th 2015
Greetings All! After a few missed summer meetings due to a number of folks traveling, etc., we have had two great meetings although the August meeting minutes have not been posted quite yet. As for this month, we had a total of 11 if I remember correctly as my two oldest kiddos joined in the fun. After a lovely meal of...wait for it...pizza, drinks, and some very interesting potato chips, it was on to the magic. First it was mentioned that we have a few conventions in the coming months if anyone is interested in traveling to one or more. Also, yours truly will be having a public performance at the North Augusta Library on the evening of October 29th at 7pm if any of our club members would like to come and watch.
After those riveting announcements, it was on to the magic. Ben started things off with a Facebook themed deck of cards which everyone "liked" and "shared" in the amazement as he scrambled the brains of both of his volunteers. He also shared a few of the other routines that were possible with said deck of cards.
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| The Facebook Deck! |
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| Notice the look of amazement on Olivia's (I mean, Lauren's) face! |
Next, yours truly performed a number of book test effects and had a brief discussion on a few methods, combinations, and other info on book test effects. Chris then performed a few card routines and then things broke up into various discussions about all things magical. Oh, and a very strange object was brought out that would only turn counter-clockwise no matter how hard the volunteers tried to make it turn the opposite way.
Altogether, it was a great time of magic, food, and fellowship! Next month it is all about the spooky and bizarre magic routines - hope to see everyone there!
March 13th 2015
Greetings Everyone! Our March meeting saw 9 folks (counting my two kids who thoroughly enjoyed it) brave the chilly wet weather to enjoy some magic. Prior to the official start of the meeting, several early guests watched a few routines by Pop Hayden on Youtube - including his Magnetized Water and Mongolian Pop Knot clips. After pizza, drinks, and a lively discussion, it was time to head upstairs, but not before Ben filled out his form to join our local club - as he has just recently joined the IBM as well!
It was then upstairs for some magic! Yours truly started off the festivities with a brief demonstration of several versions of Cardtoon. Grady assisted in the first version - where Bob pulls the chosen card out of his hat. Olivia then volunteered for the second routine where Bob revealed the chosen card after being shot out of a canon and into a wall. Finally, Reagan assisted Bob as he caused her card to appear out of a cloud of gas after eating a large taco...all three of Bob's routines were a big hit.
Ben then performed a card trick where a selected card appeared sandwiched between three people's hands. Reagan was so impressed she had to write about it in her notebook.
After that Ben did a magician-in-trouble routine involving a clock which eventually disappeared behind a small cover. The kids thought they had it figured out until the surprise ending!
After Ben's routines, it was time for the Great Johndini, who did a lovely Houdini inspired escape using a ball with two ropes threaded thru it and the spectator's hand! It was quite amazing! He then proceeded to have a ring on a coil magically get stuck and then un-stuck while in a volunteer's hand.
After such a huge mental exercise (see pics above), Johndini took a quick break to let Matthew show a few card routines. The first had Sam selecting a card which was then placed back into the middle of the deck and then made to rise out simply by sliding one's fingers up the sides of the deck - a very cool routine! Then Matthew had yours truly count down to a random number of cards, flip over the top two cards and then place a coin with either a circle or square on either of the two cards. Afterwards, Matthew revealed a prediction which showed both the cards chosen as well as which symbol was placed on either card.
Johndini then took the stage once more to show how a dot could somehow travel from one volunteer's card to the other volunteer's card from across the room. Other applications of said trick was then discussed as well - with several variations on the theme given.
After this, yours truly demonstrated the influence of Edgar Allan Poe using the Poe themed cards from the month before. Ben successfully separated ravens and skulls with the help of a 1849 penny and some lines of poetry...or maybe it was just a lucky guess...we may never know for sure. Finally, Matthew demonstrated an interesting card routine which involved turning a card inside out under a handkerchief while the volunteer held the card and never let it go...and it still turned inside out. After this, things turned informal with lots of individual discussions on a variety of magical topics until the close of the meeting.
A great time was had by all - and we look forward to seeing everyone next month!
February 13th 2015
Greetings Everyone! We had a most excellent Friday the 13th meeting. A total of 13 people I do believe - with a few members and several guests - many of whom shall hopefully be members soon enough! The meeting started off with the usual socializing over pizza and drinks, followed by some lovely homemade chocolate chip cookies. Afterwards we headed upstairs and discussed some membership information (dues, new members, national and local clubs, etc) as well as several conferences within driving distance, including WOW coming up in May, the Atlanta magic conference in September and Trics in November. We will keep everyone informed as dates approach to see if there is interest in folks going.
As the business portion ended and the magic section begin - yours truly started off the evening with some ES"Poe" effects. Rusty and his son Grant started things off with a double prediction using the Poe cards. Each shuffled the cards and remembered one and their cards were chosen behind my back without looking at said cards.
After this, Ms. Olivia assisted me with a second experiment using the Poe cards. She used a penny to try and form a connection with the mind of Poe as she made several decisions on eliminating cards using Poe's name along with the penny. Afterwards, it was found she had formed several matching pairs - a connection was made indeed!
After we finished the Poe themed part of the meeting, it was on to Ben as well as his brother Matthew and their combination of tricks. Matthew started off with a card trick or two, using signed cards, followed by a lovely routine where a signed card ended up inside of a ring box folded up neatly! This was great - especially when it appeared that he was going to propose to Raven's wife Kitty prior to pulling out the card from the box - awesome stuff!
After this, Christopher amazed us with a lovely torn and restored signed card effect - and afterwards he gave the restored card back to Chuck! He also used Ben as a volunteer for another effect - although I was too busy holding a baby to be able to follow the entire effect - although Ben's card did end up between 2 face up cards in the deck! Amazing card routines as always from Christopher!
Finally, Raven performed one of the funniest routines I have ever seen involving the one and only Cthulhu! The Old One demonstrated his awesome powers of darkness by performing several mentalism effects on yours truly. He predicted a card I had chosen, a line from a newspaper article, several items from the audience, the time on a watch, as well as several other miraculous demonstrations - even while blindfolded. A final prediction was revealed that showed yet another selection I had made at the beginning of the show along with a contract for my soul, which now belong to Cthulhu, whom said he will collect at some point in the future.
This was a full 20+ minute routine with LOTS of jokes, laughter, and audience participation. A highlight of the night for everyone! Below are several pictures of the Old One doing his thing!
Overall, it was a great night of magic, laughter, fun, and fellowship! Everyone is already looking forward to next Friday the 13th -which is only a month away!
I have already been asked to do an encore performance with Cthulhu for everyone that missed the last meeting. And Cthulhu agreed to show up again, if I let him have some pizza this time.
ReplyDeleteSounds great! I, for one, would love to see the routine a second time! I wonder what kind of pizza he likes...
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