**** 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.
Marcus Eddie, Impromptu Magic night and Chris Randall
Marcus Eddie came to Denver and performed for us a lot of the effects he has created using found objects from around the home or restaurant. On the way in to perform he got a huge splinter in his finger and he pulled it out with his teeth, it was two inches in length! What an effect. He also gave out his last breath mint only to have the container fill back up again before our eyes. Marcus floated a bottle of water, changed pennies into dimes and showed us his progression of how he has improved an empty card box to produce not one but TWO decks of cards from the same box!
Impromptu Night was a lot of fun too. Magicians brought in various tricks and let the members pick a trick off of the table and they had 15 minutes to come up with a routine to perform. It was nice to see some of the members perform for the first time. We also had a guest from the San Francisco Bay area visiting and he even jumped in and performed. Thank you Suyash for sharing your talents! We had card tricks, silk magic, change bags that made a light bulb appear, cups and balls, street cons, quarters ending up inside a shoe and inside a sock! Burnt matches vanished out of the book then reappeared, a zipper transformed from one, to two linked, then un-linked, then became big enough to fix a pillow. Dissolving knots ended the night and at one point broccoli appeared!
Chris Randall borrowed a $100, which was signed, and then he vanished it then went on to perform his version of the Professors Nightmare. Eventually he pulled out a lemon, cut it open and the signed bill was found inside! He also performed the Hover Card and explained how easy it really is to perform and showed the members some small nuances to make it look and feel better when performing his great effect. He recommended making a bunch of cards ahead of time and Chris has them all ready to go when he needs them.
April was a busy month in Denver, we had three events so we definitely got our fill of magic this month. First, we had Bronson Chadwick perform his original chopstick and Chinese coin production from mid air. He also suggested to keep you patter short to help keep peoples interest and attention when doing any trick. Bronson did a 6-card repeat and made silks escape from a corked bottle.
Next we had our Plastic Magic night. That is always a fun night and this time it was extra special because some of our members did a father and son and father son and daughter magic trick performing together for the first time! Plastic cups and balls, ball in vase, plastic cut and restored rope, sward and ring penetration box, hot rods, a plastic compass that always points to the spectator and the Spangler’s brought in some antique Anverdi plastic wine bottles. Those were so cool to see the construction and method.
Finally, we had long time member Steve Aldrich perform his last show/lecture in Denver before moving to Montana. Steve showed us some of his favorite tricks. His Miser’s Dream load system, different gimmicks he has created, a two ring separation, six card repeat, card at any number and he did three deck switches that none of us caught! He also had a couple magical apparatuses for sale and did a couple versions of a trick called Cosmic Blue Ray along with a Chink a Chink performance. We also honored Steve with a Life Time Membership to the Mile High Magicians’ Society for all he has done for Denver and Colorado.
Club members look forward to the Teach-in. Everyone learned four new tricks that night and we had a lot of members show up. Tommy Walker taught us about Rubber Band magic and gave us rubber bands to practice with and take home. Matt Brandt taught us an impromptu torn and restored bill routine that can be used anywhere and how to make writing appear and disappear on a Sharpie. Dave Neighbors explained and demonstrated his Coins in the Corner routine. What a master coin manipulator! He gave us suggestions of books to read to get more information on coin handling, switches and palming. Gene Gordon taught us a couple of amazing card tricks using a normal deck of cards. One in which the spectators card was found between two Joker’s at each end of the deck. When the deck is closed up and re-spread open the Joker’s are closer together with less and less card in between. The next time the deck is closed and re-opened the Joker’s are eventually right next to each other with the spectators card sandwiched in between. The other card trick taught was having any random card chosen, replaced in the deck and thoroughly slop shuffled. Next, the magician was in trouble and couldn’t find the card, but being a magician the card was successfully found in a different part of the deck. With a little practice this will be a killer routine. The great thing about this teach-in is, everyone goes home that night with new tricks they could practice and perform within a week, many times with supplies they already have at home.
Forty plus members and family showed up to the first meeting of the year our Past Presidents Night for a magical evening. Past National President, Dan Rodriguez swore in the new board members Matt Brandt President, Jeff Jenson Vice-President, Glenn Proulx Secretary, Chad Darnell Treasurer, and Gene Gordon Sargent-at-Arms, along with Dick Bowman’s help. Matt Brandt performed a card trick where the Nine of Diamonds vanished out of one deck and it ended face up in another deck. Jeff Jenson did a torn and restored paper trick with the help of two kids. Andrew Bates taught us a lesson that his dad taught him “Don’t let your sister get your goat” where five people picked different colored envelopes and inside were different animal names, the goat was chosen last. Gene Gordon and Matt Brandt did a comedy Professor’s Nightmare routine and then Connie Elston used a duck bucket where a chocolate candy rabbit appeared then a real one appeared. Chris Manos did a $6 repeat where at the end the money changed into Chinese money. Up again was Gene who had silks change colors in his hand and then he did a card trick where the chosen card melted through a large silk. Another chosen card was then torn up and the pieces vanished. One card piece ended up inside a Linking Ring magazine and matched the other restored pieces! Dave Elston had ten random cards chosen and placed into a sealed envelope. Four more cards were shot from across the room and ended up inside the sealed envelope. Dan Rodriquez told us a story about three bears using ropes of different lengths and also made a table float around the room. Last up was Steve Aldrich who had a length of chain where the links would unlink and visibly slink down the outside of the chain and reconnect to the bottom link. It was a sight to be seen!
Jared Kopf was our guest lecturer and he wowed and amazed us with his linking rings, card handling and mentalism techniques using a deck of cards and even business cards. A person would swear that you inspected and handled all six steel rings and yet, they melted together and apart! His false shuffles were spectacular. What a great start to the New Year, and next time you are in the Denver area please join us for this years magical meetings and lectures.
Our end of the year Banquet was well attended by sixty members, family and friends. Our Past Board Members and the New Board Members provided our entertainment. Matt Brandt performed his version of cups and balls with a new, never before seen twist on the ending. He even has some memorabilia signed by Dai Vernon and Goshman in his collection. John Luong had a clear water bottle lid and stuff appeared out of it from thin air. He did his salt pour into a mini wok, color changing knives and a signed dollar bill ended up in a bill tube. Dan McMillan made metal rings link and un-link within within 6” of two spectators eyes…It was amazing. Glenn Proulx had a corner torn off of a bill and left in plane sight while a lemon was selected and held by a spectator. The remainder of the bill vanished and the bill was found inside the lemon with a corner missing. The torn corner was a perfect match and so was the serial number. Andrew Bates had a mixed up bag of white and black balls. If you selected a white ball you tell a white lie. If you got a black ball, tell the truth. He correctly predicted who was telling the truth or not then he gave out gifts to each participant and one got a pair of handcuffs! Mysto the Magi did Professor’s nightmare that hypnotized us and poured water from a pitcher which would start and stop under his commands. Chad Wonder has cards with famous names on the back of every card. Leonardo DiCaprio was selected and matched his prediction, his baby picture and when it was turned over it was his real picture. Gene Gordon took a napkin and tore it into a snow flake which turned into an egg. He made bubbles turned into a crystal ball, his helper kept picked a card which ended up on his Gene’s forehead. Finally, the torn up a card which vanished out of a hanky and ended up in a box of Fruit Loops. What a surprise when a card found inside with its corner missing matched the torn off corner Sean was holding. Jeff Jenson performed a card’s across from one spectators pile to another with ten feet of space in between. He then performed his card manipulation routine which was amazing and skillful. What a Night!!!
Magic Beyond Belief was our 11th year of providing a family friendly public show this month. Dan Rodriguez performed in his golf attire and produced many golf balls and clubs! Poor Dan’s shoes would fill up with sand and he would empty them just to have them fill up again. Rod Wayne produced a gorilla from a doll house with a banana wand. With his two helpers he lost a helium balloon, found it, and did a nice job with a gypsy balloon. He even perform the Kate and Edith card trick. Gregg Tobo multiplied numbers in his head out to the 5th power using random numbers from a Bingo Ball mixer, he is a human calculator. Steve Aldrich hypnotized silks that would untie themselves and fall to the floor as picked by a spectator. Next was his egg and silk routine. Finally his empty box kept producing silks and they would vanish and appear elsewhere. Gene Gordon did the Miser’s Dream and twisted balloons with kids. Jeff Jenson produced colorful umbrellas umbrellas and finish of with his wonderful card manipulation with a snowstorm ending. Our MC, Matt Brandt amazed us in between set-ups with Bounce, Visine and a fantastic rope routine. William Rader a mentalist played the which hand game and ended up finding the objects hidden in their hand every time. He also had a helper pick a random city, food, and attraction they would travel too. His final written prediction matched perfectly! Mysto the Magi produced numerous silks, doves appearing and disappearing followed by a nice Egg Bag routine. The floating table he purchased from and estate sale got a thunderous applause. Tommy Walker did magic in the lobby with Gene before the show and at the intermission. Special thank you, Director, Andrew Bates.
Table Shenanigans and Bet-ches Night. Gene Gordon had a bouncy ball but the wand took out the bounce! Glenn Proulx moved a beer bottle with a $20 bill. Jean-Luc Romano did the squirting mustard gag. Gregg Tobo’s bar bet was can you turn 3 cups mouth up in 3 moves? Larry Betz showed a lot of funny dinner gags. Dan MacMillan vanished a saltshaker! John Luong made an American flag appear from half a clear water bottle! Will Rader found a person’s card from their thumb print and Jeff Jenson poured a sugar substitute in his fist and turned it into a Hershey kiss plus he performed his adorable sponge bunnies!