Special guest this month was Past National President, Jann Goodsell from Utah. She is our Regional VP of SAM. Welcome! This month we had Stage Magic night where our members taught us fun things from ropes, rings, silks, TNR paper, and mentalism. Gene taught us a rope through the neck routine, how to make a one handed knot, fake knots, false knots, how to make various vanishing knots and a fun routine with these ropes that are perfect for parlor or stage work. False transfers were taught and where to find it in an Abbotts rope book. “Mysto”, Mitch Harwood, explained his method for counting Linking Rings that looks so much better and believable than we have been doing with most of our routines. He also taught us a nice way to set up the rings in your hand and then a clean way to unlink the rings. Past President Matt taught us his version a TNR napkin and how to set up, load pockets, and perform a fun and useful routine that is guaranteed to fool lay people and magicians alike. Dave Neighbors exposed his silk routine using an 18” silk and explained why he choose this size silk over others. He vanished the silk and then it ended up inside an egg and finally he pulled the silk out of his forehead! His handling was very clean and something we should all strive for. Our Editor William Rader showed us a book routine on how to pick up any book anywhere at anytime and predict a word on a page! It is easy to do and easy for us all to learn.
Ten of our members performed at the Thank You show at our free meeting place. We perform a yearly show to the residents at the Riverpointe Senior Center in Littleton, CO for letting us have our meeting room. Steve Davis did an amazing rope routine to music, then pulled the knots off of the rope and finally pulled the rope through his neck. Matt Brandt, pulled out silks and a wine bottle appeared, then he pushed a coin into the bottle. Finally he changed a centavo, into an English Penny, and a Chinese Coin and ended up performing his Big Nut on rope routine. Gene Gordon pulled a wand out of a card box, lassoed a spectator’s card from a paper bag and had sound effects from a kazoo! David Neighbors pulled cards from his mouth, and coins vanished from his hands and ended up in a glass. He also changed a white silk to red and then blended the silks together as one. Gary Jenkins performed a do as I do card effect with a chicken that was very funny to watch the expression on his helpers face! Our picked man, Bob Brown electrocuted 5 pickles! John Luong did a jumbo multiplying rabbit effect along with his famous SuperSized Lunch routine where everything is BIG. Shane Cohen had names on the back of each card then had his helper pick a card. She was sitting on a celebrity picture and it matched Tom Cruise. Mark Strivings did a rope routine where the knots where blown off of the rope. Lew Wymisner selected four random people to sit in the chairs at the front of the room. Four random envelopes were selected by each of us, and when the envelopes where opened the paper inside correctly said we would select a certain color, we did! When we turned over the envelopes the color on the back of it also matched the paper prediction also!
Teach-In
Our Teach-in night had a wonderful turn out right before summer starts. Coin Conjurer, Dave Neighbors taught us a friction pass from BoBo’s and a nice coins across routine. Gene Gordon taught us the Balducci card force and suggested that we look up how to reverse cards from the Royal Road to Card Magic book. He used key cards and a pencil force for some of his tricks. Bruce Spangler did some fun brainteasers with us and performed some tricks. He had a Red, Green, Blue prediction trick and a Liar, Tell the truth trick, which he could tell if we were Lying or telling the truth. William Rader performed some tricks from Martin Garner’s book Mathematics, Magic and Mystery that were fun to learn also. Five coins were shaken in his hands then placed on the table. Some heads up, some tails up. Then we were asked to turn some over and stop when we were done flipping coins and hide one under our hand. William predicted weather the hidden coin was heads or tails up! He shared an easy Three Card Monte trick with us also. At the end of the meeting we proudly presented long time member and our past Sargent of Arms, Larry Betz with a Lifetime Membership to the Mile High Magicians’ Society.
Also check out our Close-up Contest post.
Our MC was Gene Gordon, who made coins jump across and end up in a glass, and he did a fun cards across where the extra cards ended up on the chair the spectator was sitting on! We had twenty-four members show up for our Annual close-up contest this year with nine of our members entering the contest. George Issa did a fun torn and restored BALLOON! The balloon was picked out of a pack, blown up and then popped. Well, it was restored and blown up again. Cool trick. Next we had Chad Wonder do a kids show performing the Professors Nightmare using a broken wand and then multiplying wands. Member Dennis Michael did a torn and restored napkin, then a card on forehead and finally did a wonderful three-shell routine using huge metal nuts from the end of a bolt. Gregg Tobo had a card selected, torn up, and a banana was plucked from a bowl. Inside the banana was the chosen card with a corner missing. The corner fit! Bob Brown did his famous Pickle Helmet where the pickles glow and match the selected card the spectator selected. Mentalist Mark Strivings had a card selected and four decks of cards were shown. The spectator selected one deck. The other three decks were turned face up and their card was missing from three of the decks. The selected deck was shown and one card had a different color back, their card! Wendy Russell performed a Psychology trick where different color spheres where hidden in a persons hand and she correctly guessed who was holding each color. Chris Manos led us all in a cooking class and made different color drinks. He also had a ring on a stick where the chosen ring changed places by moving up or down on the stick and matched the color of the chosen drink! Jeff and Karen Wake did a fun silk routine where the silks would tie and untie. Another trick they had used bottles inside of a tube. Once shaken the bottles would magically turn upside down or reversed. Results: 1st– Chad Wonder, 2nd– Mark Strivings, 3rd– Chris Manos, Peoples Choice- Gregg Tobo, Best Joke- Bob Brown. The rest received Participant Awards.
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!