Dan Rodriquez told a story about how he got mugged in New York. Using a ski mask, he put in his money, wallet, wristwatch and wedding ring. The mugger ran off, looked in the ski mask which turned out to be empty. Since he was a magician, his watch returned to his wrist, wedding ring on finger and money was in the wallet. A jumbo card deck used 5 blue cards and 5 red cards. Two cards from the blue deck were selected and looked at by everyone. A binder clip held both of them. Then the magic happened and the selected blue cards moved to the red cards all while being clipped and held on either side of the room by an audience member.
Matthew Brant had two different audience members mark a 50-cent piece on both sides. The coin is put under a napkin, which is then covered by a wine glass. Another napkin is placed near the wine glass and is covered by another wine glass. Like magic the marked coin transports to the other glass. Next he does a cups and Bells routine with 3 Grande Starbucks cups and three jingle bells. The routine goes as expected but at the end, he reveals 3 ornaments under the cups but then lifts the large cups and there are three smaller Christmas Starbuck’s under them and they each had a jingle bell.
Chad Wonder had two kid assistants. One gets a cored apple that has been wrapped in a paper napkin. The second kid gets a “pop” gun-It is made of 5 pop cans with a handle with a trigger. In a canister, a small tie-dyed silk is placed and loaded in the popgun. Next, a round balloon is blown up and placed in a holder that is held between the gun and the assistant holding the apple on her head- ala William Tell. The guns shoots a POP banner out, the balloon pops and when the apple is examined, the core is filled with the tie dyed silk. He also does the two card monte and each child received that card trick and a wand.
Jeff Jenson performed Best Knots Off leaving three holes in the silk at the end. Then he does a very current and clever version of the bandana trick with the voice over instructions. The instructions come from SIRI complete with smart alec remarks about him! The instructions tell him to borrow someone’s shoe, secretly place a glass inside, which he forgets to do. Then pour a drink in the shoe. He realizes he forgot the glass so he puts it in after the drink is poured in. Then pulls out the glass filled and he gives shoe back and drinks the liquid.
Dave Elston performed Torn and Restored newspaper, linking rings. He ended with a fabulous multiplying bottles with the glass at the end filled with tea that he drinks.
Our March Mile High Flea Market went off without a hitch! We met in person and had half a dozen magicians selling their magic. Magic they no longer used or magic from collections they inherited. There were wallets, flaming wallets, mentalist tricks, DVD’s, lots of books, finger choppers, zombie balls, performers tables and antique magic all for sale. About thirty magicians and friends showed up and we had a door raffle as well. $5 bought one ticket, at the end of the day half of the money was given to the winning ticket and the other half went into the club funds. It was wonderful to meet in person and all who attended had magical time.
Hello to all fellow Magicians,
Our annual Magic Flea Market is next week:
WHEN: March 10, at 7pm. Door open for sellers at 6pm. Please bring your own table or contact Jeff Jenson at 303-378-1112
COST: $10 for your table space to sell your magic.
WHO: You! Bring magic to sell!
WHERE: In the same complex as Signarama, 2200 S. Monaco Pkwy, Denver, CO 80222. 7 units to the right of Dan’s business. Unit I.
OPTIONAL: There will be a raffle….$5 buy in. If we call your number you will get 50% of the total amount of the raffle sales, the other 50% will go back to your club to help pay for magic lectures the rest of this year and future years.
It was a great start of the Chinese New Year and it was wonderful that the local Front Range Magicians came to observe Joshua Jay’s lecture and his book signing session. A special thank you to Shawn Popp who brought Joshua Jay to lecture to the Mile High Magic Club. Shawn will also keep his feelers out for more Magicians that will come to Denver to lecture in the near future. He hopes to bring in Magicians that will peak our interest by providing a variety of magic such as Ropes, Coins, Newspaper, Mentalist, and Children’s entertainer doing sponge magic. Instead of just card magic.
I would encourage our club members to volunteer preforming magic in front of our club at the next meeting. April’s theme is: Tarbell night. Learn and perform a trick from the book. You must give the page number you learned the trick from to share with others. I personally will reach out to you through email or telephone inviting you to perform. It would be a great opportunity for you to practice and we will help you to improve your act. We are a magic club that loves preforming magic and we help each other to strive to have a better act. In our Denver Magic Club we have a lot of people who are very talented and have performed magic for many years. They can help you with the history of the trick. Every one of our Magicians will help each other, as we are a Brotherhood of Magicians. Please feel free to contact me if you need help with your current project or if you are stuck on something that you are working on. We could help you. If we can’t, then we will refer you to another magician that specializes or has been working on that project before. We know a lot of people and have contacts to help you purchase the supplies that you are trying to buy to make your prop or magic trick.
That is why we took our pledge to help each other to achieve your goal in Magic that we love.We are specially honored to have our club member Past National President, Dan Rodriguez provide us a safe place to meet and perform magic at his sign shop at no charge. Please make a point to tell Dan how much you appreciate his generosity.
One last note, please take care of your health and be careful not to hurt your self. We need our hands to preform magic! Joshua Jay told us about his accident with his hands but he overcame that ordeal. We must learn to be careful and not damage our hands. They are the tools that we use. Please make sure to read and follow the safety instructions prior to starting on a project.
One last saying hire a professional for that job that is too high to reach, hire a machinist to do your metal lathe work, or hire a wood worker for your magic cabinet that you are trying to build. They do profession work, and you will be happier at the end result because you will still have all your fingers!
April’s theme is: Tarbell night. Learn and perform a trick from the book. You must give the page number. If you don’t have Tarbell please contact Glenn, he found an online version he will share with you. glennproulx@gmail.com
Here are the monthly themes for the rest of the year:
May: Magical and Musical May. Using and adding music to your show.
June: STEM night.
July: Pic-Nic in the park. Street magic, magic with animals.
August: Triple threat magic night – Variety performances. We will bring the Magic Castle to you. 6 magicians, close-up, living room, and stage.
September: The very first magic trick you bought or learned!
October: Evening of Odd
November: Show and Tell night. Bring your favorite trick – wood, metal, plastic, antique.
December: Stage and Parlor – End of the Year Banquet.
Happy Magic, John Luong, your President.
Ring Report – Installation of new Officers, February 2022
A special thanks to Dan Rodriguez for letting us meet at his office for the first in person meeting since our friend Covid came to town. Dan also lead us in the installation of our new officers, President – John Luong, Vice-President – Jeff Jenson, Sargent of Arms – Jeff and Karen Wake, Treasurers – Jason and Heather Toepfer, Secretary – Glenn Proulx.
John Luong produced a live rabbit from a top hat to our amazement. Jeff Jensen did a torn and restored toilet paper routine with the help of Kitty Spangler, and then wowed us with his rose to silk and multiplying roses routine. Next, Collin Toepfer told us about his new magic business. He produced flowers from an empty bag, had a stiff rope, and sponge balls overflowed from a dove pan. Keir Royal performed his Steam Punk act with a unique and specially built trunk that turned into a performing table. He had an empty bottle and a silk with a ship on it. The silk ended up inside the bottle!
Glenn Proulx performed Kuma Tubes and had Beanie Babies, a whole bunch of American Flags appear from the empty tubes. Next a chrome vessel appeared full of water, it vanished and the tubes were empty again! Jeff and Karen Wake performed a western duel to the “Good the Bad and the Ugly” using a square circle trick. Swards appeared, trumpets, fake weapons, magic wands and streamers. New member Blake Dvorak showed us his card skills with a 4 Aces Multiplying trick.
Finally, Gene Gordon pulled out 20 feet of rope from a deck of cards! He did a nice Six Card Repeat, Misers Dream, and Eggbag. Gene also performed a lot of magic… 3 card repeat, it vanished, a silk and ball trick, a multiplying balls and silk which ended with sponge balls multiplying. Lastly, a Dove Pan burst into flames and the missing card had reappeared. It sure was great seeing all our friends and meeting some new members like Blake and Evan Driggs.
Well, we finally met in person! Yippee! We had our Holliday Banquet the end of December and had about forty people show up for food and magic. Gene Gordon was our Emcee and plucked coins out of the air, vanished them, then pulled a saucer out of his knee. Bubbles appeared and then turned into a glass sphere. Gene performed a Cut and Restored Rope, Egg Bag routine and a very nice Linking Ring routine using three rings. Lastly, he had a paper bag that when inverted had a paper ribbon flow out of it.
William Rader had a spectator hold an envelope with a pre written script inside. After the objects were selected, they script correctly stated what object would be in which place. William also performed a nice cards across.
Colin Toeper performed a nice Hot Rod routines explaining how Santa knows if you are on the Naughty or Nice Christmas list.
Stuart Hayner pulled out four Aces from a shuffled deck of cards all from a different part of the deck. During a drum roll, the second trick had a selected card pulled from the deck only using only one of Stuart’s hands! Unfortunately it was the wrong card but using an Insurance policy the correct card was found.
Glenn Proulx performed Steve Fearson’s Anti-Gravity box and levitated in front of all. Using an umbrella and fan, along with the help of the audience’s waving their napkins he successfully levitated.
Incoming new President John Luong did a salt pour and vanished a signed $100 bill, which ended up inside a bill tube. John also had two die on a pedestal change places.
Table Magic, Betchas, and Flim Flam
Gene Gordon started us off with matches that traveled from had to hand and only one match was unburned in the book after it was lit on fire. He also did a nice cocktail napkin trick where the paper balls went across, vanished and restored the napkin into one piece.
Next he had Colin pick his poker hand sight unseen and Gene won. Finally he had a t-cup routine where olives and grapes changed places and the final loads were a large sponge ball and a potato. Steve Davis had a pile of cards on the table and since it was virtual he had a 6thfinger lying on top of the pile. The chosen card transferred from one pile to the other. Drew Cardella performed a card trick with 8 cards and used his powers to make Steve discard all of the cards but his chosen card. Glenn Proulx had a flower bloom while he passed a ring around it to show there were no wires helping it open. He also performed a marked coin vanish that ended up inside a ball of yarn, pulled money out of the newspaper stock quote section and a scarf from the weather section as well since it was going to be a warm week in Denver.
Teach A Trick 9/9/21 MHMS
Gene Gordon opened with a die trick with a paddle move. Drew Cardella did Rick Lax’s “Reverse Psychology”, a fun version of 8 Card Brainwave and predicted Mike Anger’s card choice as the only one without an X on the back. Bruce Spangler explained Thayer’s Dove Bottle (sometimes called Rat Bottle) where a ring is borrowed, ground up and lost. Drinks are then poured from a bottle for six people-each different and it becomes an “any drink called for” trick. The bottle is then broken and the dove (or rat or guinea pig) comes out with the intact ring tied around its neck. Glenn Proulx was the highlight trick of the evening where Glenn performed the most amazing vanishing act (as the power in his house went out and he missed the entire meeting)! Gene Gordon did “Numbers” a trick published in Card Corner in The Linking Ring several years ago. There is a prediction card shown, the spectator picks a number of cards between 10 and 20, subtracts the number of cards his two-digit number adds up to and the prediction matched! Don Zellner had to deal with babysitting his kids, but taught us how to escape from handcuffs. Gene Gordon taught a Benson Bowl routine by Patrick Snowden in the Paul Harris books. Collin Toepfer showed 3 colored balls in a tube and after being covered by a cylinder, the order of the balls changed. He then showed a “magic drawer” that produced objects when opened. This was part of a “magic” postage stamp set. Lewis Peacock showed a disappearing flower eaten by his rabbit puppet. He uses this in his kids shows to get all the kids to come back to the show and settle down. Gene closed with a 4 Ace production.
Magic You Learned From a Book
Glenn Proulx started off the evening performing a card trick from Jim Steinmeyer’s Conjuring Anthology; he had a Evidence bag with the cards bolted to preserve the order. He still bound their card at the number specified by the spectator. Gary Jenkins performed a Larry Becker baseball card tyrick from the book Stunners. The prediction was hanging in an envelope behind Gary and was in full view the entire time. Jean-Luc Romano did a card trick with a business card that was sandwiched in between the found chosen card. He learned this trick from Magic and Conjuring. His prediction said, “You will place this card in between the QD and the 2H”. That is where we found the card! Gene Gordon did his version of Currency Money found in Tarbell #3. He performed a John Scarney bill change trick, Copy Cat cards from the book TKO’s and did an amazing Okito Coin Box where 4 coins leave the box one at a time then ends up with a large coin coming out of the box. Steve Davis did Daryl’s “Whole Hole Card” trick. It was a splendid night.
Eric Jones passed through town and stopped in Denver, Estes Park and Castle Rock. While in Denver he did an amazing three flight routine without a gimmick. He performed his Fool Us routine of coins across and also a card trick where a couple of cards changed places. He demonstrated how with card control you can secretly place three cards onto the bottom of the deck. Eric stated it is very important to practice your routines while seated and standing because you always need to be prepared. Just by moving your hands or standing or being seated it will or could change how your audience views the magic. Basically, make sure you don’t flash.
Mile High Flea Market
We had a great turn out for our Flea Market, which was postponed from last year’s COVID-19 restrictions. It was nice to be all together in person. Fifteen magicians sold their tricks that were collecting dust or just not needed anymore. The Ft. Collins and Colorado Springs magicians showed up as well as a lot of the Denver group. There were floating tables. Multiplying bottles, sword through head and vanishing head apparatus for sale. Rare decks of cards. Books, DVD’s and yes some VCR’s were for sale! Stage illusions, silks, large 3 shells, normal 3 shells, hand choppers, magician’s tables that had Bluetooth speakers built in, straight jackets, rabbit production boxes, and of course, every magician’s favorite, thumb tips were also available. Everyone enjoyed seeing everyone in person, the camaraderie, and hearing about what new tricks they learned and looking forward to meeting more in person and having live shows were part of the topics. Light refreshments were also part of the evening.
Hello Compeers..Member Stewart Hayner is having surgery and if you would like to contribute to his medical expense please contact him at 303-917-5241
Old Timey Magic Night was a lot of fun! Glenn Proulx brought out some old magic a teacher colleague gave him a cigarette catcher, gag kaleidoscope where you look into it and get black rings around your eye, mini magic wands, and the group helped him figure out the names of the some tricks he had no clue what they were, a Kennard Mystery Box, Shur-Shot Dice Box, and a Candle Lite. He also performed an old timey cups and balls routine.
Chad Darnell performed a Thayer Checker Cabinet and he has Thayer’s hand written instruction on how the cabinet works! Chad showed us his Mr. Skunk, a Razor Blade Trick EZ version, and a third hand made out of wax! Steve Davis showed us a card trick about the Dead Man’s poker hand using A’s and 8’s which then changed into J’s! He also explained a little about Wild Bill Hickok and his poker games. Lew Wymisner showed us his jumbo card plastic houlette which made a selected card rise out of the deck. It was a Joe Fenichel trick. He also poured milk into a paper cone and showed us a cat that drank all of the milk.
Steve Spangler showed us his Presto Clock Vanish “How Time Flys” trick where he made a clock vanish along with Multmum in Parvo (much into little) trick where liquid from a large glass could fit into consecutively smaller glasses. Last he had a die on a pedestal and the die and the silk changed places. Gene Gordon pulled out his Orville Meyer Book and performed the “Restless Colors” card trick. He had a different version of a Silk Cabbie that was cool along with a magician’s table that had a secret compartment. Didn’t know they made those! Bart Landry performed his Kuma Tubes. Lastly, Steve Aldrich showed us his 1851 Saturday Evening Post cover page of McAlester Wizard and Magician. Steve also showed us his September 25, 1850 Professor Anderson, “Wizard of the North” pen and ink drawing! He also had a 1900-1901 paper from “Richies Unique Entertainers.” It was fun to help the members with magic that they had and didn’t know how some of the tricks worked.
We had a wonderful lineup for our April meeting here in Denver. We have an average of 22 Zoom members each month! Dave Neighbors wowed us with the Open Travelers Card Trick and Matt Brandt performed a very nice Ace Assembly trick as well. Gregg Tobo showed us a Math Trick with numbers using a score card and correctly had the exact same number of 5 spectators! Cosmo Solana showed us his original cups and balls routine that went on for 13 min. Everyone was mesmerized the entire time and he had multiplying balls at the end! James Lopez did a Coins Under Glass where the coins visibly vanished from under the glass to inside an Okito Box. Gene Gordon performed a time machine trick with a Sci-fi paperback book, a wind-up toy robot and a deck of cards. The robot selected the card, the card vanished, a page of the Sci-fi book ended up inside a box and finally that torn out page pointed us back to the book and the missing card was found at the missing page numbers spot!!! Incredible is all any of us could say.