76 (i3wwict«^ w ww. OfvlewuUiofwu uDtouWnoo^ at .JI(-act*cian& in, 1 958 MagiCurrents Recipient of the IBM's Quality Ring Award 2002-2003 Website Honest Sid Gerhart Ring 76 www.ring76.com Volume XVII No 2 February 2003 19 New Members Annual Close-up to be Inducted into Contest Feb 10th Ring 76 The Ring 76, February 10th' meeting is one of the most anticipated evenings of the year: our annual The International Brotherhood of Magicians is close-up contest. This event is open to all members asking all Rings to have an official installation and each contestant is judged by the general ceremony for all new members. In recent years membership. The winner will receive $50; dollars, Ring 76 has been remiss in carrying out these second place, $25; dollars and 3rd place, 15; dollars. important ceremonies. The board of directors has decided to hold official installation ceremonies at The awards will be handed out in July at the Ring our regularly scheduled meetings in February and 76 Installation banquet. This is the first year we August of each year. have offered a cash prize for second and third place winners. Because we are having our first such installation at the February 10th meeting, we are installing all Last year's first place members who joined in the year just past, 2002. award of $25; dollars went We have 19 new members: Gerald S. Jagorda, to Tom McCarthy. This Lane Lee, Kenneth DeWoody, David Gutierrez, year a video camera and big Lance Pollard, Phil King, Marc Halberg, Josh screen television will be set Jones, Paul Killea, Andrew Martinez, Billy Razor, up so that everyone in the Neal Reed, Dina Reed, Kenny Shelton, Charlie room will be afforded a close Gott, Howard Harris, Josh London, Ted Dunning, up view of the action by each and Glenn Pinto. performer. Every member of Ring 76 is invited to take Tom McCarthy receiving part in this contest. 1st Place award from Don All of these new members are asked to be at the Soul, July 2002 February meeting if possible to receive their official Performer sign-up is the Ring 76 certificate and be installed as members of evening of the contest. our Ring. The Ring 76 Board of Directors has put a time limit This ceremony will be brief. It is an opportunity to of 10 minutes on each performer. Each contestant officially say hello and welcome to each new will be timed, and anyone going over the allotted 10 member. Ring 76 President Don Soul and IBM minutes may be penalized. There is no penalty for Territorial Vice President Jeff Marcus will conduct going less than 10 minutes. Ballots will be handed the installation ceremony and hand out out prior to the start of the contest. membership certificates. Everyone is encouraged to take part and be a Immediately following our new member ceremony, contestant. Come early and get a good seat and we will have our annual close-up magic contest. cheer for your friends. Page 2 MagiCurrents January meeting brings variety and EST to our monthly gathering The first meeting of the new year was presided over by bill. David called it President Don Soul and included several important pieces his fastEST trick. of business. Performers are needed for the Ring's public David has made great show in Oceanside, March 8th. If you would like to be strides in his magic part of that show, see Jack White. Rehearsals will be presentation. Next, held in mid-February. Announcements for lectures were cardman Kenny made and guests were introduced. Shelton did his very beautiful version of Entertainment Vice President Bob Ingalls was unable to card to the pocket attend following eye surgery to repair a detached retina. that was climaxed by producing four aces, Taking over for Bob as Master of Ceremonies for the Kenny Shelton evening and doing a very good job was Richard Ustick, and finally, the whole who had several snappy opening lines to get the program deck found its way into the pocket. Kenny is a high off to a good start. energy performer and pushes hard. His trick was the finger-flingingEST trick. The theme for our entertainment was a trick with EST. That means the bestEST, funniEST, fastEST, craziEST, Our close-up wildEST, (you have the idea by now?). Jack White was performer of the past the first performer and told the audience he was going to year, Tom McCarthy, do the "sweetEST" took center stage and trick he knows. J.P. presented a new and Jackson our resident clever version of collector found a very Three Card Monte old version of EZ- with two blank cards, Magic's Candy a face card, and a Factory with the large paperclip. The glass and the big moves the way Tom plastic insert in a box presented them look Candy Factory ad from 1948 of junk magic. The perfectly fair and the Douglas Magicland catalog two of them polished spectator could never up the props and worked out a routine that allowed Jack to find the face card. ditch the plastic fake with the sugar in the well of a table. This we can safely At the end of the routine when Jack showed the metal call the MontEST of Tom McCarthy tube empty, a thunderous round of applause rose up from all three card monies. the surprised audience. Jack announced he began doing the trick when he was 13 years old. For the old-times in Next came another the audience, it brought back a lot of memories; for the smooth and I youngsters, they had experienced never seen the trick performer, David before and it was Eldridge, who had something new to Sherry Luft select a them. playing card. Then using unusual Following Jack's psychic powers, presentation was David influenced skilled member David audience members to Guiterrez, who with remove cards from the aid of Diane Lane, the deck until only switched a five dollar one remained — it of bill for a one dollar course was the card ft _^^H David Eldridge David Guiterrez & Diane Lane MagiCurrents Page 3 Sherry had earlier selected. It is a knockout effect that of the calendar was the day's date, time ,and temperature. can only be called the bestEST. A card was then very fairly selected from the deck by a spectator. The card was replaced into the deck and, after Veteran performer some thought control, the name of the selected card Don Holcomb appeared on the side of the calendar where the greeting to brought out a box full Ring 76 members had appeared earlier. This was the of props and first show stoppenEST trick of the evening. showed us a fancy looking -but empty- Jim Thayer, who silver cask. He then recently returned from) filled it with cotton a sea cruise, related a balls; then, he took a true story. It seems paper cone and filled that Jim was doing it with milk. When some close-up magic he opened the cask, it for his dining room was filled with milk companions when the and the cotton balls cruise direcrtor were now found in spotted him Don Holcomb the paper cone. It performing and urged was some nice old Jim to become part of Jim Thayer magic with colorful props that Don their Cabaret Night tells us are 50-plus years old. Show. Not having any apparatus didn't stop Jim, he Making it the oldEST of magic found a hank of rope and a pair of scissors and delighted presented. his seagoing audience with a wonderful cut and restored rope routine. He called this his impromptuEST rope Next up was the comedy magic of routine. ••^ another veteran performer, Phil King. Phil had a card selected Territorial Vice President, Jeff Marcus then stepped from a jumbo deck and then forward to show us his mathematical prowess. He asked replaced anywhere in the deck. a member of the audience to think of a number between After some clever patter and funny 50 and 100. The number 83 was selected, and Jeff drew a material, the oversized card could large magic square of 16 cells. Having random spectators not be found in the deck, in fact it point to a cell, Jeff quickly wrote a number in that spot. had disappeared completely. But When all the cells were filled, the total of the number in when Phil resorted to a regular each direction or any adjacent four cells totaled the sized deck, the card magically selected 83. This was the difficuItEST trick of the Phil King appeared. It was the biggEST card evening. trick of the evening. Our Ring's The ever original Howard senior member Harris exhibited an Jim Swoger, electronic desk calendar who will be 86 which displayed the in February, had greeting, "Hello Ring 76." Diane Lane On a screen on the other select a card. side Diane then cut and shuffled the cards. After several near Jim Swoger & misses, the Bob Pozner selected card was found, of all places, under Diane's firmly placed foot. Working from his wheelchair showed that he can still Howard Harris entertain when called upon. The seniorEST performance and his sensational of the evening. clock trick Continued on next page Page 4 MagiCurrents January meeting continued from page 3 retail store; today he sells via the Internet \vww.houseofenc;-,a:ttrne"i.cr.:r: and manufactures a large number of effects and produces his own video tapes. His The final performer of the evening was cartooning wizard lecture included a series of ball minuplulations, followed Jim Whiting, who opened a plain white paper napkin and by his Ultimate Ring displayed the front and back to the audience.