February Meeting

Thank you to those who braved the snow for our February meeting.

Before the magic there was business. In June we will have our election of new officers. The secretary made note that the President and VP are finishing their 2nd consecutive terms. Per our bylaws, new blood must be feed into the machinery. If no one is offered on the new slate their terms can run for a third year, but only if no one steps up to the plate to take a swing. Any players in the batters box?

We will also need a new Treasurer. Who is willing and able to take over those responsibilities? The clock is ticking. The club has run since 1945. Surely we can fill the needed positions!

And then there is the Auction on April 28. WE NEED VOLUNTEERS. Please contact the secretary if you're willing to help behind the scenes.'

Let the magic begin. Mike Miller used a deck of cards, a sci-fi ray gun, and small wooden box to perform his magic. After burning a hole in the chosen card the ray gun sent the card back to its individual molecules (vanished)...

Andy Pugens had David put a pack of cards behind his back. He did likewise. They each removed a card and swapped them with each other. Putting them back into their packs upside down. When revealed, Both David and Andy's face up cards matched. Thanks Andy.

Bill Crowley performed a "mini matrix" type effect with three cards and three coins. Very nice work Bill. The trick is for sale over at Big Guy's Magic shop.

Jon Hughett showed a box tied with a Ribbon. In it was gift for Angie Pugens. But she was going to have to earn her reward. Jon showed a deck of cards with romantic themed gifts. They were all different. Angie called out a number from 1-52. She took the deck and counted down to her number. She passed up a lot of very nice gifts. Her card said "Hershey chocolate". The box was filled with Hershey Kisses. Nice work Jon.

Paul Beilke asked David to sign a card, which he did. Paul then tore off the corner of the card. Then, he chewed up and swallowed the corner of the card. Yes, I said, ate. Taking the torn card in his mouth, Paul slowly removed the card and the corner slowly restored as it was removed. Very nice. And next meeting I'll bring the soda so you can wash it down easier :)

Bob Salzer grabbed a deck of cards and did a totally hands off routine for Jon Hughett. Bob never touched the cards and he still found Jon's selected card from several piles on the table. Thanks Bob.

David Swoboda performed a few feats of mental madness and then gave an impromptu teach-in for two of the effects he performed.

Enjoying the evening were: Gerald Michels, Mike Miller, Bill Crowley, Jon Hughett, Bob Salzer, Andy & Angie Pugens, Paul Beilke, and David Swoboda. Photos from the evening, taken by Gerald Michels, are now on our Facebook photo page. Many new photos from other meetings were also recently posted there.

January Lecture with Marc Salem

A nice group gathered at the Carte Blanche Studios for a very special lecture by mentalist Marc Salem.

Mentalist Marc Salem was in town performing his successful show, "Mind Over Milwaukee." at the Milwaukee Rep. Lucky for the us, we were offered the opportunity to have Marc give a very special lecture to our membership and invited guests.

Meeting late in the evening after Marc's nightly show we gathered for an intimate talk with a working professional mentalist. Speaking freely, Marc described his work as being character driven. This point is very appearent if you have seen Marc's show.

Marc uses the staple effects to great result. I really felt like I was watching an "old school" show of classic mentalism. Would this have been what I might have seen Annemann or Dunninger perform in their days? I think so. But with Marc's wonderful routining and constant injection of humor and controlled pacing.

During the entire show Marc looks like he's having fun, and as a result, so does the audience.

Some points that I took note from Marc. Must have fun. Start slow and build. And learn a mnemonics system. Any system. Just learn one that works for you as you will need it.

Before the evening was over, Marc taught us a handful of effects that used classic principals and will fool your audience.

It was an exciting evening for the members of Ring 41 and we wish to thank Marc for his lecture and we wish him well on the rest of his tour.

Don't miss Marc if he's playing in your town. Four Stars.

Enjoying the evening were: Gerald Michels, Mike & Heather Miller, Jon Hughett, Andy & Angie Pugens, Rex Sikes, Chad Orr, Dan Pollack, Jon Spansail, Lochlan Masters (Ring 31), Robinn Lange (visiting from Las Vegas), David Seebach, Julie Sobanski, Mike Glowaki (Ring 31), Matthew Teague (Ring 31), Jimmy Prince and David Swoboda. Photos from the evening, taken by Gerald Michels, are now on our Facebook photo page. Many new photos from other meetings were also recently posted there.

December Christmas Meeting

Thank you to everyone who came out on the day after Christmas. We had a sparse turnout, but we had a really nice time. The success of the meeting was due to our wonderful performers, our caterer (thank you Maria) and a stocking full of presents from our "resident Santa," Big Guy.

At the end of the evening, everyone attending, both members and non-members, received a gift from "Big Guy's Magic Shop!" Thank you Big Guy. If you have not been out to Big's shop in Pewaukee, you are missing out on a very good time. I don't think I have to remind our members that "brick 'N mortar" magic shops are going the way of the dinosaur. Big Guy is trying to keep the tradition alive and well in our area, so stop out and say "hi" and buy yourself a few new tricks for the New Year.

In fact, we have two members who runs shops. New member Scott Lane runs the "Magic Gambling Rabbit" in Cedarburg. Visit Scott's shop and spend a few of those holiday dollars.

I did not take very good notes on the evening's magic, so If I miss someone in this report, please let me know so I can correct the record.

What's a magic meeting without magic? And we had some excellent magic on a chilly night.

One of the highlights of the evening was a performance by Raime's son, Quintin. A wonderful version of a shadow coin matrix showed everyone attending that there is "magic" in the world. Thank you Quintin, you're welcome back anytime! I should add that no one had a close-up mat with them, so he performed on top of my leather briefcase! (Photo on Facebook)

Also performing was our newest member, Sky Busk. A card was selected and returned to the pack. A card was then revealed to be the selected card, but no, it was the wrong card! Using the wrong card as an indicator (a five), the spectator counted down five cards to find his chosen card. As a surprise, the card was surrounded by the four aces! At the end of his performance Sky was officially voted into the membership of Ring 41. Thank you Sky, welcome to the club. We hope to see  more magic from you in the coming years. I'll make a note here that Sky lives "closer to Madison than to Milwaukee," and commutes to our meetings with great enthusiasm!

Raime Townsend joined the group a few months back, and at this meeting, he also officially performed his way into Ring 41. Recently, Raime took lessons from the veteran Chicago wizard, Eugene Burger. For his initiation he performed a very beautiful version of the classic "Gypsy Thread." Then Raime asked several people to feel a flat envelope and guess what was inside. There were mnay ideas, all were wrong, as Raime reached in the bag and removed a filled shot glass! When you see Raime at an upcoming meeting ask him to show you the Gypsy Thread if you missed the show. You'll love it. Raime is a Police Officer with the Elm Grove Dept, and I'd like to thank him for his service to the community and welcome him into Ring 41.

Mike Miller performed a Christmas themed triple prediction effect with presents under a small Christmas tree. All three of the selections by the spectators were successfully revealed by Mike. Good work.

Bill Crowley performed a packet card routine by Daryl. Four aces are shown. One is chosen and it is shown to be the odd card, it has a red back. A different ace is then chosen and it is shown as the odd card. It is the blue card in a red packet. For the big finale, all the cards are shown to be odd, red, blue, yellow and green backs! Thanks Bill.

David Swoboda showed the group a yellow tool chest secured with a combo Masterlock. Santa left it under the tree, with a card saying "Enjoy the gifts, good luck with the lock!" Apparently Santa knows we are magicians and has a bit of a mischievous side. The group failed at an attempt to open the lock, so David put it aside and did some magic.

Quintin helped with a "Max Maven" routine and successfully found the envelope that had the matching picture held by his sister, Kylie.

We tried the padlock again, but still no luck.

Kylie then secretly wrote down a present she wanted for Christmas 2013 and sealed it in a envelope which was mixed up with four other envelopes. She placed them on the table, and then choose one envelope at random. The envelopes she did not choose contained presents that David had received over the years! She found her's among the others. David then divined that she would definitely find a new pair of "Moccasins" under the tree in 2013. It's on the record, Raime. . .

Returning to the locked tool chest, Dr. Mossey, Raime and Sky were given notebooks filled with lots of random numbers and asked to tear out any page from their books. Jon Hughett was given a book to record the numbers. David never touched the books. The papers were handed to Jon where he added them up to the grand total of 1947. The number was tried and the lock snapped open to reveal the chest was full of wrapped Christmas gifts, bringing the magical evening to close.

Gifts were opened, cookies were eaten, drinks were drunk and magic talk continued until just before 10pm when we all left for home.

Enjoying the evening were: Big Guy, Gerald Michels, Mike Miller, Bill Crowley, Jon Hughett, John & Maria Kurtz, Richard & Pat Mossey, Bob Salzer, Raime & Sarah Townsend, Quintin Townsend, Kylie Townsend, David Swoboda and our newest member, Sky Busk. Photos from the evening, taken by Gerald Michels, are now on our Facebook photo page. Many new photos from other meetings were also recently posted there.

Sal "the Hitman" Piacente Lecture

Coming soon...

Thank you to everyone who came out to see Sal's lecture. Enjoying the evening were: Bill Crowley, Jon Hughett, John & Maria Kurtz, John Lewitske, Mark Martinez, Richard Mehring, Gerald Michels, Mike Miller, Lynn Miner, Richard Mossey, Andy & Angie Pugens, Bob Rath, Bob Salzer, Paul Beilke, Scott Obermann, Raime Townsend, Scott Lane, Brian Weidner, Keven Kadow and David Swoboda.

Magic in May...

Important Note: The Board missed an important bit of club business at the last meeting. We were supposed to have nominations for the new officers of the board. June is our month to vote in the new board. If you are interested in being a board member, please attend the June meeting.

It was a themeless magic night at the Ring meeting in May. After the reports for the Auction and the Daryl lecture (both very successful), we go down to magic.

First up at the perfromance table was Lynn Miner. Lynn started off with a mysterious Ring & Chain. It's a great looking bit of magic as the ring melts onto the chain. Lynn then schooled us on the age-old Endless Chain Swindle. Lynn has been perfroming this bit for many years, and recently he added some ideas from the Endless Chain DVD. Lynn framed the routine around the idea of a bet and added a some very good bits to the perfromance. He very cleanly worked in a Himber Wallet to the routine. Thank you Lynn.

Gerald Michels went into his workshop and showed us his multi-purpose Magicians Top Hat. Made of fiberglass it is a very practical load hat (easy to clean). Combined with a puppet rabbit and you have the start of a routine. Gerald also showed us his very clever multipling clock props. Clearly, Gerald has read Dunningers Encyclopedia of Magic! Thanks Jerry.

La Verne used John Lewit as his helper for his Dream Cards routine. This was a routine from the April issue of the Linking Ring magazine. This was followed by a Puzzle Prediction using a dictionary and a puzzle book. It was a nice mix of ideas that played very well. The number force that La Verne used was from Werner Miller and Aldo Columbini. Excellent stuff La Verne.

David Swoboda performed an age-old bit; the Ball and Tube effect, with a bit of a twist. If you were present at the meeting you learned a very interesting bit of business with this timeless effect. A happy accident over 30 years ago made a GIANT improvement to David's working of the Ball and Tube. This was a favorite of Tony's at Teddy's in the 80's. Next up was a Phil Goldstein and Stephen Minch reworking of Tony Corinda's The Third Eye. It's a solid bit of mental magic. Five envelopes, one prediction, and a totally free choice, yet the magician is always 100 percent correct in his prediction. It's a favorite of David's.

Mike Miller showed us a new bit for his Farmer routine. Two lengths of brightly colored chain are securely entangled and linked. But with a bit of farmer magic, the chains seperate like cream from milk... Good work Mike!

A big thank you to everyone who came out to the May gathering. Enjoying the evening were: Bill Crowley, John & Maria Kurtz, Gerald Michels, Mike Miller, Andy & Angie Pugens, LaVern Bakkom, John Lewitzke, Lynn Miner and David Swoboda.

Magic Auction, April 29th, 2012...

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, Ring 41 of the International Brotherhood of Magicians presented it's annual magic auction. This longtime tradition of our Ring drew over 40 magicians and friends of magic to the Fire Ridge Golf Course.

As the golfers on the course chipped and putted small white balls into the cup, we had brightly colored sponges, polished brass cups and knit balls for sale to any magician willing to bid on our magical treasures.

Our bags were devoid of woods and irons. But when we left they were filled with cards, coins, rings, guillotines, silks and even a head-twister illusion.

From the sounds of bidding, the smiling faces, the demonstrations of new magic, the meeting of old and new friends, once again, the event was a huge success for the Ring.

Thousands of dollars worth of magic was put on the block and successfully sold by our volunteer auctioneers. Special thanks to Glen Gerard, Bob Rath and all the other volunteer helpers during the day.

At the end of the day it looked like just about everyone found at least one great deal to take home.

The Ring wishes to thank the Fire Ridge Golf Course, the bartenders, the waitresses, and the fantastic food service staff for their continued support of the Annual Magic Auction.

We look forward to seeing you all again at next years auction!

Photos by Gerald Michels (Posted on our Facebook page)

A Magical Dinner and Lecture...

Ring 41 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, hosted a very special dinner and lecture with "Daryl" on May 5th., 2012. We had never presented a lecture on a Saturday night. We had never joined a lecture with a dinner. We were just little bit nervous about filling the room.

We reached out to the local magic community and they delivered. Forty-four magicians joined us to welcome Daryl to Milwaukee, and he delivered in spades! Our first dinner lecture was a fantastic success!

Even before the lecture started, magicians were cueing up at Daryl's table to see what he had for sale. The atmosphere was very excited as the dinner drew to a close, and the lecture began. Before the night was over, everyone in attendance was treated to a wonderful lecture by one of the true giants of the magical community.

Daryl presented a lot of magic in his lecture. But he also presented a lot of the Philosophy of magic as well. He is a polished performer with a shelf full of well deserved accolades.

Starting with a simple to perform, but powerful in performance idea, Daryl presented the "Magic Cup and Paper Tear." Daryl set the stage for the rest of the lecture. Uncomplicated, clean, and with no tricky looking moves. It's almost a mantra for his work.

"Odd Quad" was next. A four ace swindle with a strong rainbow cards kicker finish. Daryl is well known for his strong card work, but those in attendance who were not card workers, rested easy as Daryl is much more than just cards.

Daryl loves ropes! There were improved versions of Tenki's and Scarne's versions of the "Rope Through the Neck." He presented "Three Ropes to One" and "Rainbow Ropes" with some good notes about the pop-off knots.

Later there was more rope magic. The "Acrobatic Knot," a super clean version of "The Professors Nightmare," and the "Stretchy Ropes of India."

Daryl did an "Impromptu Cup and Ball" routine that was a lesson in false transfers and final load mechanics, as well as being very entertaining and practical.

A routine called "Audio Transposition" is a real gem. The theory and practice of this effect is a mini lecture in itself. And the story of its creation is a good lesson to any magician on how to observe the world around us.

Back to cards, Daryl showed his presentation of the old classic, "Princess Card Trick" from Dai Vernon and Nate Leipzig. Done well this is still a very strong trick.  Expanding on that routine, Daryl created "Crossed Thought," which is a very practical cards across effect that doesn't require the skill of a card mechanic to perform.

In a short talk about Magic Theory, Daryl had some very good ideas with the "Bounce, No Bounce Balls." Including a great idea for dealing with a persistent heckler. Any local bar magicians should take note of those ideas.

The membership of Ring 41 wishes to thank Daryl for a wonderful night of magic and learning!

Enjoying the evening were: Paul Fogec, Mrs. Fogec, Bill Crowley, Jon Hughett, Big Guy & Mary, John & Maria Kurtz, Gerald Michels, Mike & Heather Miller, Andy & Angie Pugens, Bob Salzer, LaVern Bakkom, Raime Townsend, Dwight Ferguson, John Lewitzke, Mark Martinez, Bob Rath, Robert Guillaume, Lynn Miner Kirk Patrick and David Swoboda.

Guests of the Ring included: Thomas Williams, Tim Glander, Anthony Baca, Paul Sanchez, Tim Beaudoin, Brian and Laurie Le Boeuf, Tom Burgermeister, Andy Luka, Jason and Ethan Michels, Cliff Wollin, Andre Hagen, Nicholas Vollmann, Paul & Nate Ksicinski, Max Krause and Jon Spansail.

Photos by Gerald Michels (posted on our Facebook page)