The annual Flea Market was another fun night in Denver. We had a wonderful turnout with many friends and members coming to buy, sell and trade from Greeley, Colorado springs, Ft. Collins and Sedgewick to pick up new or gently new magic tricks. There were magic sets, books, lots of books, DVD’s. VCR tapes, silks, cards apparatus’ Passé-Passe bottles, magic tables, floating tables, magic tea kettles, coins you name it and it was probably here waiting to be bought or sold.
Michael Ammar also came to lecture at our club and up north in Ft. Collins. He had some new and different things to lecture and sell. He explained about his favorite utility device attached to his coat, let us look at it and see how it was constructed. He performed card tricks, vanished all sorts of objects, made a wine bottle appear and performed his famous cups and balls routine. Michael taught us a nice mentalist trick with three random numbers and a small sticky note pad. Michael’s signed Albo card trick was amazing. Pocket control and management for sponges and other small objects was taught and a very fun bill to lemon was performed and amazed us.
Plastic Night was at the beginning of the month and we ended with Sal’s lecture. Bruce and Kitty Spangler started us off with Plastic Night. They had a plastic balloon holder and when we concentrated our powers the balloon popped on its own! Matt Brandt performed a spike through a coin and toothpicks through a matchbox and brass. Bob Brown used a plastic bill tube, which changed into pee, pretty funny. Connie Elston cut a cigarette into thirds in ha plastic holder while Brad Montgomery did a trick with ‘plastic cards’. Gregg Tobo had a plastic four sided pyramid trick and Gene Gordon did an Impossible trick where he changed a penny into a dime! Then he performed a polyester trick where the polyester changed colors. Chad Wonder had a plastic box and successfully guessed the color of a cube hidden inside. Glenn Proulx had a plastic trick he got from India and the nut unscrewed all by itself and matched the prediction card. He also had a plastic box and disc with the sun and moon which changed places and ended up in his shirt pocket. Jeff Wake had a plastic finger chopper, a plastic wand that changed into a flower and had a coin vanish inside a box. Member John Walker produced a full glass of water from a plastic glass! Andy George performed a trick where a person googled a famous person on the Internet and he used his powers of a mentalist to tell everyone who the famous person was! Last up was Shane Cohen who used dice to how many he had in his hand. We never could get it right, and then he pulled off the spots!
Sal Piacente, WOW! What a treat. Everyone was awe struck and was amazed at his card prowess. He performed his version of Vernon’s poker deal where five poker hands are dealt and the dealer wins. He demonstrated various peeks, false shuffles, and false cuts to control a card to various parts of a deck. Sal showed us videos of different scams and what to look for when playing with card professionals. He is a professional at estimation of cards, cutting cards and the Three Card Monte. It was a fun month.
Newly elected president Andrew Bates introduced last years President, Matt Brandt. Matt had a few Presidential commendations to award members who attended 10 or more meetings this past year. Recipients were Yuy Gordon, Steve Davis (In coming VP), John Luong, Bruce and Kitty Spangler! Andrew then made a few announcements about the upcoming year and is excited to be president for a second time. On to the show.
Gene Gordon (1992-93) produced cards from a card box and then a full sized magic wand! He produced a rope and had knots appear and disappear. Finally, pulling the knot off and vanishing it. Tegan helped him by selecting a card and signing it, it was lost in the pack. She aimed her finger at the pack and said Bang! The card flew from the pack and had her name and a bullet hole in it.
Steve Spangler (’96) reminisced about his friend and mentor Earl Reum. Then produced a 6′ ladder from a briefcase. He then had some wise words to say about the magic club, he illustrated these points with strips of fabric. He tore these strips into several shapes, one a separate circle, the other two linked circles, the last combined into one giant circle.
Jeff Jensen (’16) came on and did a classic piece of magic with a silk handkerchief. Jeff tied a knot and made it slide off magically. The silk handkerchief had three holes in it for a nice surprise! He then performed some classic card manipulation done to music… Good stuff!
Dan Rodriguez (past national prez) Showed us a “dart board” with many colored squares on the back. He then gave a “invisible” which was tossed at the board, he missed and hit Dan in the knee. Next, Dan was hit in the eye! Finally it hit the board! The color arrived at matched a previously picked color!
Andrew Bates (’15 and ’18)) asked two people to name cards 9H, 3S. Then name two people’s names. He showed the cards which all had peoples names on the backs and he took out the two cards. and these cards were the 9H and 3S! Taking a jumbo pack of cards, Andrew found the names… these cards impossibly matched the 9H and 3S already named!
Chad did a mentalism trick with cards and then with ESP cards where his helper picked a card that matched his prediction.
Dave and Connie pulled a solid milk chocolate rabbit out of a hat then a real rabbit appeared!
Matt Brandt plucked three coins from mid air then they vanished. We are off to a great year.
Our end of the year Banquet had over 70 friends and family of our Mile High Magicians’ Society in attendance. It was fun evening with a nice buffet dinner and eight performers providing the entertainment. Past National President Dan Rodriguez was our MC for the evening and kept the show rolling right along. He did a rope routine and a card prediction trick in between performers. As he introduced each performer he told us an important fact that maybe others didn’t know about us. It was interesting to hear these fun facts about out compeers’.
William Rader our Editor performed a ball across routine, made them vanish by hanging them up invisibly in mid air and reappear. His ring on rope and his amazing cups and balls routine had both spectators mesmerized even sitting that close to the trick.
The clubs secretary, Glenn Proulx gave us a history lesson about Coca-Cola and popcorn. Using his magical powers he made a glass float in mid air as he poured his drink into it. Next, he had a box of popcorn and a derby hat, paper napkin and tinfoil examined by a spectator for trapdoors and secret compartments. Finding none, the spectator added kernels of un-popped popcorn on top of the napkin, which lined the inside of the derby. Covering it with foil and adding heat under the derby it magically filled up with popped popcorn!
Member Gary Jenkins had a prediction on stage and passed out one-dollar bills to be examined. The three spectators job was to look at the bills serial number and created a new serial number, which Gary wrote down on a white board. Gary had one person make up the new number by looking at several of the bills held in their hand. The next person did the same as well as the last helper. The white boards newly created serial number matched Gary’s folded up prediction.
Next year’s new vice-president, Steve Davis tried to teach us how to force and invisible card, which was signed by an invisible marker. After the invisible deck appeared in a card box, there was one card in the entire deck with Steve’s signature on the spectators selected card.
Coin Conjurer Dave Neighbors performed a rope trick where a silk appeared tied to the center of the rope! Silks vanished and a red and white silk blended together. After Dave vanished coins he hung them up on invisible hooks in front of his face and they reappeared in a glass after going across his massive chest.
Past Vice-President, John Loung performed his super sized sack lunch routine with oversized takeout Asian food boxed, three foot long chop sticks, large straw and for his ending he made a live rabbit appear.
Sargent at Arms, Gene Gordon did a signed card routine where at the end the entire deck had vanished and the signed card was found in an impossible place inside his wallet which as inside his jacket the entire time! He had silks examined and tied together by a helper and the silks were placed inside a clear glass held in plane site. By vanishing a third silk and using a wand and magical words the third silk was found tied in-between the two which had been in plane site the entire time!
President Matt Brandt’s spectator selected a card, which was placed back into his coat pocket. Three different card where then found reversed in the deck which gave Matt clues to the color, suit, and card value so he could mentally tell her originally selected card. When she looked into his pocket her card was gone and four kings were in its’ place and he was holding her card in his other hand! For his final routine Matt did a rope and three inch metal zinc nut routine. The nut was tied onto the center of the rope with four knots and the metal zinc nut melted through the cotton rope fibers to everyone’s surprise. What a fun night we had in Denver!
Table Magic Night was filled with many members volunteering to perform magic tricks or gags that could be performed after dinner with friends and family. Glenn Proulx did the linking paper clips with a bill or piece of paper, how to lift an empty beer bottle with a straw, ACAAN card trick, a TNR signed newspaper and he re-sealed and refilled an empty pop can, then he opened it and drank more pop. We got to see jumping toothpicks from Bob Schlageter. Thimble and scarf magic along with Bounce No Bounce balls, and how to pull out fibers from a bill from Gene Gordon. President Matt Brandt had a floating wine glass and a coin in a wine bottle routine. Prankster Larry Betz taught us how to make cranberry sauce with Gelatin, nuts and red food coloring. It will have no taste but fun to watch reactions when you tell your family that it is a recipe handed down for years! Take a pudding snack and replace the yummy pudding with Mayo and mustard then glue the top back on. Next, he thought it would be fun to stuff a Cornish Hen inside the turkey and say, “This one must have been pregnant!” Finally, empty out a vanilla ice cream container and fill it with mashed potatoes, nuts and cherries and serve it! William Rader performed tricks with dice, ring on rope, and an amazing cups and balls routine. Dave Neighbors did a Chinese coin and coin through table routine. Rodney Housley did an amazing job of Coins Across in mid air. After vanishing the coins from hand to hand and from pocket to pocket.
For starters, Keith Fields performed a wonderful signed bill in an examined lemon that had us all totally baffled! Next, he explained how a thumb tip and a simple streamer can be used for any audience and that some times it is forgotten about. It always packs small and plays big for any and all audience. He also pulled a balloon out of his mouth and did his famous Human Xylophone trick which had us all laughing. He finished up using a blank deck to mesmerize us all with finding a blank card that the spectator chose, which was another fun routine.
Our annual Evening of Odd had once again, fun food from Karen Wake and help from Sharon Nuanes. Gregg Tobo performed the Mystery of the Kings Horses. Gene Gordon had a mysterious Ghost House where silks would appear and vanish. Member Marty Jewel had five objects from her mom’s collection that would vanish. When the trick was over, a ghost was all dressed up with the missing objects. Karen and Jeff Wake did a King Arthur trick where the helper was dressed up and helped with Camelot and Merlin slay the dragon which would hide and appear behind a couple of doors in the castle. Bob Brown did some cold readings from members in the audience. Bob was spot on when giving out the answers. Gregg Tobo took a sheet of paper and by carefully tearing it, he had a hole large enough for seven spectators to walk through. Rich Nakata, had three cards selected, and returned to the deck and then next to everyone’s chagrin he dropped the full deck o cards into a bucket o dirty water! Card lovers from all over the room were ready to dive in to rescue them. Putting his hand into the water, he pulled out all of the selected cards and then a six foot rubber snake almost making his young helper pass out!
**** Important: October 9th Keith Fields Lecture at RiverPointe
Our September Close-up Competition was a lot of fun, and had a couple of new members perform. Steve Davis performed a trick using large index cards where some cards were blank, some had holes, and some had spots on them. Magically the holes and spots moved around on the cards into different places.
Our next performer was Bart Landry who brought along two large Siamese Cylinders. They were both completely empty and shown freely on all sides and angles; silks would appear from the empty cylinders. Then, a red ball appeared and vanished for the last time. All of a sudden, in the balls place was a beautifully ornate HUGE metal Urn.
Up next was Shane Cohen who had a five-dollar bill signed then he vanished it to the spectator’s surprise. Shane tossed out some trash paper balls and if you caught one you where the helper. Each helper named a suit and value of an imaginary card from the imaginary deck. After the card was chosen, the trash paper was opened by each spectator who stood in front of the audience and written on each trash paper piece spelled out the name of the imaginary card! The $5 bill was eventually found inside a solid Kiwi!
Max Davis was our last performer and Max did a mentalist trick using a small cube with multiple colors on each side of it. The cube was held in a spectator’s hand and a different color chosen each time. Each and every time he predicted the color she held face up in her hand. It was amazing! He had two spectators each take a deck of cards and randomly deal down on the table a random amount of cards, stopping when they wanted to. Much to our surprise, when both tabled cards where turned face up, they both randomly stopped at the same card!
The results of the competition were Max, first place, Shane won the People’s Choice award, and Steve and Bart tied for third place. Congratulations to all performers!
Please make a note: Keith Fields lecture Monday Oct, 9th at Riverpointe 7pm.
Our August Teach-In by members had a good turn out. Greg Tobbo did a spectacular job teaching us his linking ring routine. He took parts from Dai Vernon and from watching others in person an on line to blend the parts he liked into his own routine. In Greg’s routine he has built in parts where he will get maximum laughter and automatic audience applause. He did part of his routine on stage and he had spectator help. Later in the performance he stood behind the spectator so every move was up close and at eye level to the spectator.
Matt Brandt had holes punched into each corner of a dollar bill and using his magical powers, all of the holes migrated all up into one corner. Matt explained how to use a dinner receipt from a local eatery or by using colored pieces of paper to create this magic. Another thing Matt suggested was to draw a stick figure of a woman on one piece of paper and then make that switch into another stick figure of a woman cut in half. It was pretty ingenious.
Glenn Proulx showed how he adapted and made a trick he read about in Linking Ring, Shawn Farquhar’s egg inside a lemon and the lemon inside a balloon trick. He used small switches he scavenged from an old computer. Glenn showed us how he took an Arduino and made a deck of cards move and then move a small bucket, which was perched on top of a shoebox. He showed how easy it is to make lights blink on and off if you want them added into your shows.
Gene Gordon did some card magic where signed cards ended up in a couple different places, under a bag and in Gene’s wallet. In another trick a card, which was torn into four pieces, vanished except for one piece, but the cool part was the rest of the card pieces vanished except one. The rest of the card was restored and found inside a sealed box of frosted flakes with a corner missing. The missing corner was being held in the spectator’s hand and fit the card perfectly. What a trick!
The Trevor Duffy lecture was a lot of fun. Trevor taught us how to double our money at any given moment and how to change paper into money. A spectators signed card ended up in Trevor’s pocket then disappeared and ended up in his other pocket which had been clipped shut the entire time with a binder clip! It was a true miracle that had us all wondering how he did it. His hand NEVER went into or near his pocket until he showed us his empty hand, removed the clip and proceeded to pull out the signed card. WOW! Smoke came out of his hand, and he made blood appear on a person’s arm. He also explained his design of the Phil deck and how it has evolved into a wonderful trick. All had a great time.
Next, we had Electronic Master and professional, Mario Marchese and his family from New York. Everyone’s mouth was hitting the floor with his masterful routine. His suitcase was alive, it would open, close, flowers appeared, fell to the floor and sponge balls along with soup cans appeared as well. In one of his effects his shoelace was untied, and removed, then it changed colors, and if that wasn’t enough, they RE-LACED onto his shoe. Mario’s top hat had just as many electronic features as well. We were awestruck with the amount of time, effort and PRECISION of his magical apparatuses. He had a cool cups and balls routine with a surprise final load too. Both Trevor and Mario explained how they stay so positive while performing and practicing magic. Surround your self with fun, loyal, and energetic people and you should experience success. Mario also explained how you can make magic out of anything. If either of these two magicians are in your area be sure to invite them to your meeting, you won’t be disappointed!
Mentalism night, who would have thought that eleven members would perform and 23 would show up? Only the mentalist! Elliott Baskin had his helper say stop and then he cut a paper in half. On the other side it was cut on the prediction ‘cut here’. Glenn Proulx did a tossed out magazine where a random page was chosen and he read the persons mind and knew one random word on that page. Gene Gordon one card was chosen from a jumbo deck and it matched the card in a box! Also, the numbers where added up on a dice and matched a prediction made by Gene. Anthem and Aria had a prediction hidden inside one of four balloons and a pendulum was used to find the hidden prediction, Wow! William Rader had a spectator pick a random card and it was the only card with a different color back. Dave Neighbors used his powers to bend keys and Steve Davis had someone pick one random queen, then when the other queens were turned over they were really blank cards! Bob Brown had his spectator think of a person. Bob drew a picture of the thought of person and it was a stick figure! The likeness was amazing he nailed it! Rodney Housley asked members to give him a 4 digit number which after using a calculator the grand total was his cell phone number. Matt Brandt has a bunch of socks, which he randomly put in boxes and spelled, out “which box of sox”. Through elimination two boxes remained and when the boxes where opened both sox matched! Gregg Tobo did a fine billet trick where he successfully read three spectators minds and told them who wrote what on each billet. Gregg also had someone pick a random number and while reciting a poem filled in the magic square paper where all numbers equaled 84.