Hello Everyone!
What a fun meeting tonight! This meeting counts as our official July meeting - with the next meeting on First Friday on August 1st! We had a few brand new visitors as well as several of our regulars and some lovely children to round out the audience. Overall I do believe there were around 10 folks or so counting everyone. We did have lots of folks who couldn't make it due to being out of town, working, or not feeling well - we hope to see everyone who couldn't make it this time out for the next meeting in August.
The meeting started off with pizza and drinks for everyone. Once that was done, everyone headed upstairs for the magic part of the evening to begin. The updated schedule was discussed, which can be viewed on this site - most of our upcoming days are scheduled for Fridays due to the majority of members saying that is a better day to meet than Mondays. Also, there are conventions in Atlanta (Atlanta Harvest of Magic) and Tennessee (Kidabra) over the next few months and you can let us know if you want some more information about those. After discussing some future busking themed meetings at First Friday, it was on to the performing section of the show.
Yours truly began with some water/science themed magic, including having Lauren demonstrate what happens when a coke bottle is turned upside down. We then compared that to the magic version of the same thing - and used toothpicks to further add to the demonstration. After that Olivia showed everyone how brave she was a she allowed a glass of water to be placed over her head and turned upside down to see what would happen. Raven then performed a number of card tricks all routined around a signed card to several impossible locations - ending with a nice twist and surprise for everyone watching! John then entertained everyone with the help of several younger volunteers as he made feathered rings turn different colors and back again and then magically made one large colored ring. The kids were absolutely amazed - as well as several adults! Finally, our guest, Christopher entertained everyone with several card routines, which left several of us with our mouths hanging open due to some very unexpected endings. He also turned a dollar bill into a credit card - and it was absolutely amazing to see up close! I then closed out the main performing time by using a color changing hexagon to demonstrate primary and secondary colors.
Before leaving we discussed several options of "easy/quick" magic for our second guest, Rusty, including the Invisible Deck and Svengali Deck - along with a demonstration of each. After several more minutes...or hour...of discussing magic the last of us went our separate ways. Once again, it was a great meeting, and it was great to have some new faces who are interested in the art of magic! Hope to see everyone in about a month for some more busking downtown!
Enjoy the pictures below (with more to be added as I get them):
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| A great audience of young folks - and great volunteers! |
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| Raven with his one of a kind sense of humor having Christopher pick a card. |
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| The great Johndini with our feline magical assistant for the evening, Poe the Hairless Cat. |
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| Christopher teaching Olivia how to cheat at cards. |
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| Our two guests, Rusty and Christopher, during a card routine that was about to have everyone in shock at the ending! |
June Meeting
Hello Again!
Our June meeting was a little different. We met at The Book Tavern for First Friday in Downtown Augusta for some busking (street performing). Instead of a "meeting" we got started immediately out front as there were already crowds of people going by as we met up. Yours truly started the evening off with a cups and ball routine to stop a crowd, and then I handed over the reigns to several of our younger magicians who proceeded to perform on the street - several for the very first time! Lots of learning took place as everyone experimented with adapting routines to a busking environment.
As far as performances went - Raven performed a great egg bag routine, along with an original Houdini Dinosaur Escape and a neat topsy turvy bottles routine. Drew performed with the Svengali deck as well as thumbcuffs. Ben performed a wide variety of tricks - from cards, to silks, to necklace predictions - which got great reactions from the audience! Matthew then amazed the crowd with his card skills. John B stopped a crowd with a cube on a string and then floored them with his awesome needle thru balloon routine. Steve also came over and did some balloon sculpting for passerby's.
Overall, everyone had a GREAT time and it was mentioned by several that we should do this again very, very soon. Oh, and I think everyone made at least a dollar or two in tips - not bad for several first time street performances! Below are several pictures, which were taken by John B (thanks John!). Enjoy!
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April Meeting
Greetings Everyone!
We have skipped the minutes of a couple meetings, but the last one I can still remember enough to record was around April I do believe. We had 7 in attendance and started off with a mini-lecture by yours truly on animal production boxes. Several animal productions were shown and described along with a few pros and cons of each. Doves and rabbits were also discussed, while I myself, described animals of the cold-blooded persuasion. After the lecture, several tricks were performed by Ben and Matthew as well as myself. Overall, it was a great time of magic and discussion!
December Meeting
Greetings Everyone!
After a few months of cancellations and trying to reschedule due to schedules and other craziness, we put together a quick meeting date for December and invited anyone who could come. While it was a very small group, we had a great time. We missed all of our "regulars" - Ben and family, Raven and Kitty, the Hartsocks, Magic Mike, and anyone else whom I may be forgetting unintentionally.
After pizza and drinks, it was time for some magic in the magic room! In attendance for the evenings activities were Mr. John Browning, the Magnificent Mike Kimble (Retired), Drew (for the food at least), and Dashingly Devious Dakota - with a cameo by Grady and Reagan before and after bath-time and bedtime. Mike started us off by showing us a mysterious cube that made objects disappear and reappear - specifically a tennis ball. It was quite magical looking. He then took out several things, which were not Dirt-E, except for the Pink-I - you just had to be there to "get it." Lots of chuckles from his many gags and fun-E bits.
Then yours truly began the evening of Poe related tricks and routines. First the classic Chinese Linking Rings were done to a poem very similar to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." This was fun - and from the pictures taken, the secret is obvious, I do the moves to fast for the human eye to see - everything is actually just a blur...or maybe it was Mr. Browning's camera in "twilight" mode. Either way - it was well received by all.
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| The Mystery of the Chinese Linking Rings - Poe Style. |
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| Reading about the death of Poe. |
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| A most strange experiment... |
Afterwards, a little more pizza was eaten and the discussion turned to the restoration of Mike's extra bathroom at his home, but that, my friends, is a story for another day.
Hope to see everyone again real soon and hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
August Meeting
Greetings Everyone!
Our August meeting started off the same way as all of our other meetings - with pizza and drinks and lots of laughter.
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| Raven rocking the magical shades of epicness. |
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| Some of our attendees stylin' and profilin'. |
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| Raven preparing to perform his casino routine. |
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| Couldn't resist another pic of the magical glasses of awesomeness. |
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| Matt was actually wearing 3D glasses at this point to see a secret way of marking playing cards...and he is wearing a swim trunks also...although I do not believe they were actually part of the routine. |
It was then Ben's turn to show an most awesome card trick where the chosen cards end up on the card box itself along with several routines involving doves - with actual live doves! And thankfully no doves were eaten by the two cats who hang out during part of the meeting.
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| Both Poe and Annabel behaved and did not eat any doves...at least not that we observed anyways... |
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| Nothing beats a little bottle top magic! |
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| Somehow I accidentally put Raven in the escape instead of myself...not sure how that happened. |
Overall, it was a great meeting and hope to see everyone again in September - first Monday of the month (9/2/13), same time, same place.
Also, a special shout out and thank you to my beautiful and wonderful wife Lindsay for putting up with a bunch of magic geeks, including her husband, and holding down the fort...and kids...while we show each other tricks. She is the best wife ever...EVER!!!
June/July Combo Meeting
Greetings Fellow Magi,
Our rescheduled meeting which is taking the place of our June and July meeting times was a great success with around 12 or so in attendance. We started off the meeting with pizza, drinks, and lots and lots of Linking Ring and MUM magazines that were being offered free to a good home. It is with great pleasure that I report that all of the magazines found homes where they will be loved by their new owners. A special thanks to Bob Cothran and Mike Gilliland for providing said magazines.
After the meal, everyone headed upstairs to start the magical part of the meeting. Mike G. started off the meeting by mentioning that dues and officer selections would be forthcoming soon - dues for club members is $20 a year and IBM membership is offered at several different price levels. Hope to see all of our guest joining over the next few months! It was then on to the tricks. Mike G. began by using large cards that offered a chance to win cake or a present - with the cake always being won instead of the present - which had a great kicker ending. He then used his phone to show a spider crawling across a volunteer's hand - only to materialize on the back of their hand! Finally, he showed everyone a great routine that involved stacking cups using Wolf's Magics "Blow Yer Stack!"
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| Grady was so excited to get to help Mike with a trick! |
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| Spider about to appear! |
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| Raven about to get started - we were laughing so hard we cried during most of his routines! |
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| Selecting a victim...I mean volunteer! |
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| A true classic - coin thru hankerchief. |
Hope to see everyone again next month! Oh, and a special thank you to Mike G. for allowing Grady (my 3 year old) to hug all over him during the majority of the meeting - Grady had a GREAT time getting to stay up late with all the grown ups!
May Meeting
Hello Everyone!
Our May meeting had several folks in attendance, including Chad, Drew, Dakota, Mike K., John, Sam, and our two guests Raven and his wife Kitty. After pizza and drinks, it was upstairs to start the meeting. After giving some information about the new blog page and our next meeting in June, it was time to see some magic! Yours truly started things off with a few brand new tricks which would be debuting in my new show the following morning. First, a series of separate red and white squares magically came together to form a picnic sheet. This was followed by a routine where a shovel was produced from an empty bag.
Raven then went on to perform a wide variety of tricks - many of which were his original creations. The tricks included, but are not limited to, a ghostly image written on a blank piece of paper by...well...a ghost, producing a bra from Dakota's shirt (who knew?!?), a cartoon magician who did his own tricks with doves, and several others. We were all very impressed with Mr. Raven's assortment of tricks and routines!
Mike Kimble showed us some great card routines, including finding a card by smell alone for several volunteers. Yours truly then had Mike and John share a memory where each saw the same story in their minds! Drew also showed us a trick with a certain deck of cards and then the rest of us showed a few additional routines/moves with said deck.
It was a great time of fun and magic! Hope to see everyone back next month - Monday, June 17th!
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| We are about to find out that Dakota was wearing a bra! |
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| Some of the magic crew! |
April Meeting
Our April meeting was a small but lively bunch! In attendance were Chad, Sam, Drew and Dakota, along with our repeat guests Matt and Ashley. Add to that Reagan, Grady, Toby, and Lindsay and we had quite the crowd while everyone enjoyed pizza and drinks to kick off the meeting. After eating, to start off the actual meeting, everyone headed upstairs where they were entertained...or grossed out...by Chad's "Critter Closet" which houses his assortment of snakes, spiders, scorpions, and other strange creatures who make an appearance in his shows.
After everyone had their fill of the animals, it was on to the magic room. Yours truly opened up with some info on the new website as well as an update on some of our members who could not be there for various reasons. Once the magic started, Dakota and Ashley took several minutes to tie Chad up in 100 feet of rope for the...well, "100 Foot Rope Escape" attempt - all the while Matt was giving advice and tips on the best ways to tie someone up with rope. After escaping in record time it was on to the second trick of the night - an "Imp Bottle" themed trick that tied into the Robert Louis Stevenson short story of the same name. Matt was the guinea pig...I mean volunteer for that. Later on Drew and Dakota were able to make a few wishes on the bottle as well...with some strange results.
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| This was the end result of Dakota and Ashley's work... |
Finally, to close the magic section - Ashley and Matt assisted Chad in one of his new routines involving the stories of H.P. Lovecraft. While the ending did not go quite as planned - it was a learning experience for all involved and it shall be performed again for a second attempt at the next meeting. This concluded the official meeting, but many stayed afterwards to cuddle with the two hairless sphynx cats in attendance - Poe and Annabel.
Overall, it was a great time of magic, food, and laughter!
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