Evening of Odd
Every October we have our Evening of Odd club meeting where members will perform odd magic. We were not disappointed this time either! Karen Wake made ghoulish treats for us to eat and Jeff was our MC, which had a Twilight Zone theme. Bob Brown made his own Jacob’s Ladder and made a pickle glow while Paul Noffsinger had a sealed prediction held by a spectator. A page was selected out of the book Centennial and it was missing. However, the missing page was found in the sealed envelope and fit perfectly in the book! Chris Manos put a stuffed animal inside a doghouse and hit it with electricity and all that was left was a huge dog skeleton. Lew Wymisner had Jeff wear a woman’s skirt and select a card. The card was torn up, most of it vanished in a pan, and by using a political candidate’s magic word the card was found in Jeff’s garter. All howled with laughter! Marty Jewell had and alien machine that lost his head and re-found it. Karen did a fine rendition of 12 days of Halloween with fun props. Chelsea the Clairvoyant predicted who was holding which ball with the help of her voodoo doll. Mark Strivings used the wives of Uncle Harold to predict how he would be buried. Michael Rehdish played a game of Jeopardy, and Rich Nakata had a séance where a pentagram started to burn on a piece of paper!
The David Ginn lecture was filled with a lot of fun and laughter as he shared a lot of great ideas for performing for kids, get them laughing right off the bat is his suggestion. Sponge balls, silk, squeak horns, pennies, the multiplying banana routine, a change bag with a miss-made American flag, a flower eating bunny rabbit puppet are some of his props. His linking ropes and vanishing arm trick using two volunteers was fun. Stretching bananas and a cool science trick using a coffee cup, string, a fender washer and a wooden spoon are things you can also use at a kids show. The way he uses all of his tricks together shows how he scripts everything!
Our summer teach-in had William Rader perform a Tic-Tac-To prediction and a Do as I Do card trick. Next, Matt Brandt taught us the classic gypsy thread routine with helpful hints how to do the setup without getting kinks in your thread. Gene Gordon taught a couple of methods on how to do a fun cards across routine. Steve Aldrich showed us how to make a production/vanishing paper bag utility that could be used with numerous tricks.
Kenrick “Ice” McDonald Lecture
Kenrick “Ice” McDonald words of wisdom were, “Find your swagger, have great showmanship, have fun and bring your audience back to their childhood, this will make for a great show.” His misdirection was fun to watch and he explained why he used this type of misdirection for the magic he does. He performed Mental Picture, Restored, Fortune Cookie, a card ended up inside a sealed Fortune Cookie! Exchange, is where a bill changed into another denomination from a different country! Utterly amazing.
The Rocky Mountain Session
The Rocky Mountain Session took place on September 23 – 25 in Denver. Caleb Wiles, Steve Reynolds, Mark Strivings, and Bill Abbott all gave wonderful lectures. During the attendee show, there were performances from Kainoa Harbottle, Dave Neighbors, Dan Fleshman, Marcus Eddie, and Curtis Kam. Gregg Tobo finished the show with a few routines from his show A Mathematician at Play which he performs at various fringe festivals across the country. The Session was a huge hit and hopefully William Rader will produce it again next year.
Our summer BBQ was a lot of fun and we had a wonderful turnout. Performers included Matt Brandt who performed with coins and a string, Dave Neighbors performed his wonderful coins across routine, Jean-Luc caught snaps in mid air, Steve Davis made blue backed cards change to 4 different colors and then turn back to blue, Gregg Tobo memorized a whole deck of playing cards in 18 seconds, John Leong performed his salt pour, multiplying squirrels, color changing chop sticks, and professors nightmare routine. Next was Glenn Proulx who did a $1-20 bill change, Steve Aldrich floated metal wooden blocks through paper, made colors change places and pass through each other, and performed a crooked dealing routine. Jeff Jensen smashed a beer bottle and placed it in a sack and then used his powers to find the back with the jagged bottle inside. Gene Gordon finished the show with a routine that consisted of a bag, rope, cards, and a lasso. The finale included a signed card that ended up in a sealed envelope.
Shoot Ogawa Lecture
Shoot Ogawa performed routines with cards, and coins, and performed a fun 3 card Monte effect. His effects and handling of coins, cards, and linking rings shows his expertise in everything he touches. His four of hearts strolling effect was wonderful along with his business card that had a moveable hole. Shoot also explained his color changing thimble magic routine. He showed us an eight-card trick using a Brain Wave deck. He suggested taking a classic trick and by changing the presentation you will come up with a brand new ending. He said that is what he tries to do with all of his magic. I was most impressed with how he could flawlessly melt one linking ring through another from any point on that solid ring!
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July is the month that we have a show for residents at RiverPointe for letting us use their community room for our meetings. We had a standing room only turnout, what fun! Rodney Wayne Housley performed a wonderful cups and balls routine. Our next performer was Joe O’Brien who did a color changing silk routine, torn and restored newspaper, cut and restored rope, and Professor’s Nightmare. Marty Jewel did a comedy routine using dry and liquid ingredients to make a cake. All were mixed up in a pan and then the finished cake appeared! Gene Gordon did a torn and restored paper napkin routine, a tossed out paper card trick, and a torn up card ended up in a sealed Oreo cookie package. Steve Aldrich cleaned silks with stains on them using magic soap, then performed his Japanese Silk Box where silks appear and vanish at will! His Wu Chang trick had us mesmerized. Show organizer, John Luong, finished the show with props he made himself. He started with a salt pour, then performed his Super Size Lunch routine, and ended with his color changing chopsticks and appearing rabbit.
Martin Cox Lecture
Martin Cox was in town for a friends wedding and was able to perform for our club. He is a good friend of Gene Gordon and a FFFF member. His new lecture, title “FOUR” was very good! He opened with a card trick then followed with a book test in which Aaron Johnson was asked to take a peek of a word in Martin’s book. He asked AJ to say the word that he was thinking of out loud and it matched Martin’s prediction. Martin also demonstrated different ways of controlling a card to the top of the deck.
Martin gave a great example of a way to produce shows. If you are producing a charity show ask the organizer to get sponsors which can pay for the magic and the rest can go to the charity. This is a win win situation for all.
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June was our parlor, comedy magic contest. The following performers made it a fun night. Gregg Tobo performed a wonderful trick using a raffle ball cage. The ball number was multiplied in his head. He can square, cube or multiply any number to the 4th or 5th power in his head! He spoke on the subject of how the Egyptians were able to do this and show us he is a human calculator.
Glenn Proulx had a magic Teakettle where water poured from it would change colors. Water vanished and inside the kettle was colored scarfs. Next, a yellow scarf turned into a lemon, a white scarf turned into an egg and everything vanished and ended up inside a helium balloon. When the lemon came out of the balloon the egg was inside it.
Max Davidson had a prediction held in an envelope then page randomly picked from a book, then a card was chosen. Using mentalism he guessed the page and the card! When we looked in the book the page was missing but the missing page number was in the envelope and marked with the chosen card, the page fit back in the book!
Bob Brown mesmerized us with his Miser’s Dream and Rat Trap Roulette. One trap was real and the others were not but they could smash a Frito and not crush his hand and fingers.
William Rader had us think of a category and his predictions matched perfectly for all choices the spectator made. Next he did a card trick and then a small object was mixed in their hand. His final prediction matched NYC, pizza, and the Statue of Liberty.
Steve Aldrich provided his own intro music by singing as he hung money on hooks in mid air, made them disappear and reappear. He then took some scarfs and made them appear and change colors. Sword swallowing gag, juggling and card magic had us in stitches.
Shawn Popp produced a tall glass of lemonade then borrows and vanishes a ring from a goblet. Inside a red bag is a quarter, which buys a prize from a gumball machine the bag and machine have been on stage the whole time. The quarter buys the prize, which ends up being her missing ring!
Results were–1st place Shawn Popp, 2nd place William Rader, 3rd place to Steve Aldrich. What a great night in Denver!
Diamond Jim Tyler came through town and made a flaming introduction at the beginning of his lecture with a TNR tissue. He had escape tricks, found your ACAAN using a magic square, had an X on appear on your hand, and had LOTS of jokes, gags and one liners from his Bamboozled books. His handling of Ring on String is smooth. DJT floated a pencil on his palm and could magnetize coins and credit cards. He showed us how to use a $20 bill at a store and still have $10 left.
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William Rader suggested that you have 8-10 tricks that pack small and play big, resets quickly for your walk around magic and he talked how he approaches a table and suggests having a sign in the lobby so patrons will know there is a magician in house. He also suggests not to be timid, show confidence, and be friendly! Try to get a dialog going with the table to establish raport. When the food comes, try to finish quickly and move on. If time allows you can go back to that table for more effects.
Gregg Tobo’s thoughts are that close-up magic is all about group interaction. Gregg suggests that you have magic that will work for small tables and also an effect or two for a large table so people at the other end can see as well. Gregg uses a small set of Linking Rings for large groups.
Gene Gordon says “Always be prepared” have your magic and perform it well. Magic should be fun and have a WOW factor. He suggested a few of his opening lines to approach a table as well.
Shawn Popp likes walk around magic because you always have a fresh audience and you can try out new material on the regular customers. Change up your act every now and then. Magic keeps kids happy, the manager and other patrons. Shawn suggests quick powerful magic tricks.
They all talked about their philosophy of accepting tips and suggested that they tip their server even better.
We were also lucky to have Adam Wilber swing through Denver and lecture at the last minute. He explained how to deal with a heckler, the evolution of Pyro Mini, and how it was developed along with how fun and exciting the trick is. He showed us how he solves a Rubik’s Cube the fast way, coin bending, how his splits a card and drinks out of a battery!
Whit ‘Pop’ Haydn showed us his routines and explained why he does what he does in each effect. He performed his 3 shell con game, his Chicago Opener where the backs of cards change colors. He taught us a peak/double peak for card control. He suggested that you only do the ambitious card no more than three times so you do not make your spectator angry. His coins across was extremely fast! Next he performed his Linking Ring and Color Changing Knives routines. Lastly, his bill Transporter had a wonderful Flash to it!
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Duane Laflin and Mary came to the Mile High City this month and did a lecture for our club. It was a fun and extremely educational as he had a bunch of fun, entertaining, and great magic effects that would work for all magicians and performers. Duane did his growing sponge ball magic and explained his do’s and don’ts when it comes to this type of magic. His three-color rope effect can be performed for children as young as two years old and up, easy to do and his was a good effect. He also performed a rope that would link and unlink at his command. His multiple cut rope was restored with the ease of magic.
Next, he showed us a paper tube, added a few silks and with the help of a magic wand, the silks blended into one! The paper tube was unrolled and was empty! His card effects were a freely selected card matched his prediction, a 3 card Monty fooled many of us and the gimmick is ingenious. Duane also showed us his handling of a thumb tip silk routine and how to show both hands and thumbs so you are clean. Then. he took 3 silks, which vanished and ended up producing a silk fountain.
Lastly, he let us look at his magic table, explained how it was organized with the many holders so he can find his props without looking. Thank you Duane for an outstanding lecture for The Mile Magicians Society!
Our Mentalist night was well attended. Performers where Matt Brandt had a prediction, which was correct of where someone would say stop with scissors. Anthem and Aria correctly identified a necklace, pen, dime, candy and the serial number on a bill while Aria was blindfolded! Bob Brown, wow, random people named and he drew their picture! Gregg Tobo correctly figured out 3 cards with and insurance policy and taught us black magic. The Great Loudini, predicted recipe cards and the ‘end’ was a ‘gas’. Kier Mather performed his version of a gumball machine prediction. Gene Gordon did card to wallet, and a dime vanished from a spectators hand and ended up 10’ away on their chair. Mark Strivings made us all promise not to cross the line with his paper sack and balls routine. What a fun evening!!!
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Our Annual Flea Market was another night of fun for the Mile High Magicians. Crowds showed up to sell or buy magic and we had two new members signed up that night! We had 12 sellers and lots of magicians came together to buy used, dusty, no longer magic treasures, VCR tapes, DVD’S, new decks of cards, old antique cards, silks, dove productions, dancing hankie props, mirror tricks, tip over boxes, die tubes, palmos, mentalist tricks, books, lots of books, gags, jokes, magician tables and electronic magic looking for a new magical home. After the market, many went out to have a cold one and reminisce on their newly found treasures and how they will incorporate or modify them into their magic routines.
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This February we had our annual Past Presidents Night. It was fun and seven of our Past Presidents performed some amazing magic for us. Dan Rodriguez, Andrew Bates, Chris Manos, Gene Gordon, Sharon Nuanes, Matt Brandt, and Brad Montgomery!
Also, in February David Gabbey was our guest lecturer. He performed his version of Anniversary Waltz, a small purse was shown and a full size sharpie came out of it. Four invisible coins were taken out of the small purse, and then appeared on the table! David did an amazing three fly coin routine too.
His next trick was having a signed quarter vanish and appear INSIDE a sealed pack of sugar. His method was brilliant! Next, he showed us a box and placed it on the table. Inside that box was an empty metal tea brewer. He has a card signed the card flew through the air, and ended up under the card box top. It was lost in the deck and ended up inside the card box. For the third vanish, it ended up inside the metal tea brewer! David is so good at mis-direction. Even after the explanation, and he performed it again some of us where still fooled.
His Jiggernaut routine produced a large olive and he made a real Martini which fascinated us. Along with his cylinder, coins, cork and wand routine. A stack of coins are placed on the table and a small cork placed on top of them then covered with a cylinder. With a wave of the wand, the coins are now on top of the cork. They traded places numerous times too.
David’s signed coin which vanished and ended up in numerous nested card boxes was really fun to watch. Each of the card boxes diminished in size which was fun to watch. His last trick was the Coins through chiffon scarf.
It was a fun night for all and thank you to A.J. for providing the venue!
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Denver is off to an amazing start for the magical year of 2016! We started off by bringing in an outstanding lecture with Martin Lewis! There were over 40 enthusiastic magicians in attendance that night.
The first trick that he performed was his Instant Coffee trick where two empty cups were inspected and one chosen by a spectator. A bag of coffee beans was shown and one bean was dropped into an empty cup and it turned into a steaming hot, fragrant cup of coffee! His two-color tissue TNR paper trick had a fun ending where it was completely restored. Bank Job was a mentalist trick where prewritten magicians names were on a pad and we were asked to stole stuff from the bank and had a funny story to go along with it. His Pocket Technicolor predictions were inside of different colored envelopes freely selected by different spectators. Once again, Martin correctly predicted who would be holding each envelope and he was left with the other.
Vanity was a car license plate trick where a personalized plate, changed into two different personalized plates for his car. His What-SAT trick is great for schools. Using a random flash card, he can accurately predict what word on the card they choose.
Martin’s Rose Pad was a classic and huge hit! His blank sketch-pad was shown, and after he drew a rose with a black sharpie, it magically turned, right before our eyes, into a beautiful RED rose. Die-Namic was another great trick that uses a die and it magically penetrates a glass container. This is great for walk around. The kids magic trick that he did was his Jumping Jelly Beans, where the different colored beans jumped from three different bags that the kids hold in their hands.
Another fun trick that he did was and egg bag where a borrowed watch vanished, golf balls vanished and in the end a full size golf club appeared from the bag! His Side Walk Shuffle was a con game where we were asked to find the money card, the Ace of Clubs. Well, we all lost! It was a fun night and he earned the standing ovation. Thank you Martin for coming to Denver and performing for us!
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