What Happened at the Meeting on Friday, 18th March

The theme of the meeting was “Coins, Shells and Things”, and our Host Steve Irwin led off with a production of a coin from thin air, which was quite startling.  He then demonstrated a coin matrix very smoothly.

Joel Howlett vanished a coin by folding it in a piece of paper – a straightforward vanish, which he had recommended at the last meeting that we should learn.  The folded paper is cut up with scissors, and no trace of the coin is found.  He next laid out several coins, all numbered with texta, and asked a spectator to drop them on the table, and the face ups were eliminated – and this very fair elimination was repeated until only one coin was left – and it matched Joel's prediction.

Andrew Pickard is hugely enthusiastic about magic, and his 50 cents to $50 transformation gave good reason for this !  Many comments were made about solving our personal finances this way !

An antique Japanese coin slide was David Whitson’s choice (at least he said it was antique Japanese..) to make a coin vanish and reappear.   He placed lumps of coal in a beaker and transformed them into a diamond necklace (at least he said it was diamond…..)    He showed us a work in progress and reminded us that a magicians’ meeting is a good place to practise a work in progress!  This was a turtle puppet that was able to eat plastic – to its own destruction – an upcoming item from David’s environmental show.

Steve Howlett was welcomed to the performing table.  It is great to see Steve performing!  He did the Atomic Coin trick.

Noel Clair showed us a coin appearing and disappearing,  turned a small coin into a huge coin 5cm across, used platypus 20cent coins and kangaroo pennies in a coin matrix,  sent coins from a coin box through the table, and did another coin matrix with six coins.  What an amount of coin magic he has at his fingertips !

What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 19th February

The theme of the evening was “Dinner Magic”, suggested by Noel Clair.  He knew we would all be sitting at a table, and thought it was an excellent opportunity for Dinner Magic.

Noel started with a coin matrix, then a coin transposition.  He did the difficult triple coin roll, and then coin through bottom of glass.   He did another matrix with bottle tops, but this time he added a clever story in which the disappearing bottle tops were prisoners escaping from Alcatraz, despite the careful attention of prison guards.  To finish off, he did a rope trick with cut / no-cut scissors and vanishing knots.  

The first item done by John Ferguson failed – involving supporting straws.  More success was achieved with a credit card balanced on the rim of a glass – how to support it when a coin was placed on the outer side of the card? Answer (by Neil Lynch) – fill the glass with water until the surface tension supports the card !  Other “Bar Betchas”, so beloved by our past member Gary Neville, were done with varying success. One easy item was how to support a sheet of paper vertically on your fingertip? – Answer, flute the paper from its corner.

Carrying on from John’s item with the folding paper, Al Hirschel showed us the difference in strength when paper is corrugated.  Placing the sheet between two cups, it became easy to support another cup when it was folded longitudinally in 1 cm folds.

Joel Howlett very  boldly did a disappearing silk – an item that is usually done at a distance, but which he did now in a close-up situation – and, no, we didn’t see anything !  Again, he performed ring on rope and ring off rope, but this happened while the rope was held in the hand of a spectator !  Joel then had 5 cards selected by spectators and torn up into pieces.  The pieces were cast on the table by a spectator and the face up pieces eliminated, until only one piece was left.  A card in a prediction envelope was opened and it matched the piece in suit and number.  Pulled out of the envelope, it was missing a piece – and the piece on the table fitted.  Incredible!

Dennis Norman started with a card and coin matrix, very smoothly done !  He showed us a diamante paddle and proceeded  with a paddle routine where diamonds appeared and disappeared so fast that it had us completely confused – and amazed - by the time it was finished.  

The Genies and IBM had enjoyed a lecture by Chris Capehart, a magician from USA.  Dennis gave a review of this excellent lecture, and what he said was seconded by Joel Howlett, who also was present.

Our President, David Whitson, showed us the impact of story telling in magic.  He did the Chinese sticks, quite nicely.  Someone reminded him of the story that he had told before with this item, and he launched into this story of a Chinese Emperor and the suitor for the Emperor’s daughter.  With the story, the whole item was really enjoyable and entertaining.  May we remember this lesson!   David then did the union of the multicoloured ropes to encourage our own like-mindedness in our Club.

 

What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 15th January 2016

Al Hirschel opened the time of Magic, with the theme “Free Choice”, and demonstrated a favourite close-up item of his.  A match is pushed through the centre of a matchbox.  Not surprising, you say, until you realize that there is a block of brass in the tray of the matchbox !  

Al had been fascinated by the television show “Fool Us !”, with Penn and Teller, and gave a review of this, which led to general discussion by club members.  We were all intrigued by the way in which Penn and Teller, critiquing the trick just performed for them by the magician on stage, were able to talk in magicians’ code to the magician (and maintain the secret of the trick) without the audience being aware of how the trick was done. For instance, they used “tortoise” to speak about a coin trick.

The classic fooler item of a card with black spots was presented by David Whitson.  The spots change and change again at David’s command.   Then he presented the first phase of a Jumbo 3-card monte item “Chase the Ace” which he is developing.    (Members should note that the magic session at the club is a good time to try out items you are developing in a non-threatening atmosphere !)   He showed us the “Silver Shackles” in a different presentation to one he had done before.

John Ferguson performed the classic Jumbo “Split Deck” trick, with President David and Treasurer Al, in order to show how much in tune with each other are our office-bearers. 

Neil Lynch workshopped a card trick, in which he threw away cards (of the spectator’s choice) until the only card left in his hand was the spectator’s chosen card. 

Ambitious Card is a fine card effect, and it was beautifully presented for us by Joel Howlett.   The signed card kept appearing at the top of the deck regardless of how obviously Joel placed it in the centre of the deck.   Joel added to the “Ambitious Card” plot by combining it with “Signed Card to Wallet”, so that the signed card this time disappeared from the deck, and appearing in his wallet.

Noel Clair has become known in our club for his routine of “Time Travel”, and by popular request, he presented it again for us.  Having marked the time on a clock, he carried out several actions – burning matches, breaking matches in a handkerchief etc.  Then he returned us to the current time and showed us that the previously burnt matches could burn again, and the previously broken matches were now whole again.

Appearing and vanishing thimble was the contribution of Steve Irwin.  Steve loves tricks in which things appear and vanish in your hands, and this was a dazzling vanish and re-appearance of a metal thimble on his finger.

What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 20th November

The theme was “Packet Tricks’ (and card tricks in general), hosted by John Ferguson.

David Whitson, our President, did a story-telling trick in which each card in the pack was an item in the story.  This “Sam-the Bellhop” type of effect was, David said, derived from a routine devised by Eugene Berger.  A very amusing story.

Denis Norman from Sydney, joined the club at this meeting, and we congratulated him.  He did a nice little packet trick with pictures of apples that turned into top hats, and a rabbit came out of one, and so on, ending up with a picture of an apple core.  Funny, and challenging  card work, too.   He followed that with the classical Wild Card plot, done very neatly and persuasively. 

Steve Irwin apparently has been teaching the colour changing silk to Noel Clair, and Noel did this for us.  It is a very visual effect, with the silk colour changing to a brilliant scarlet.  Following this with the Cut- No-Cut Scissors, Noel did a nice rope trick to finish.

Colour changing and flipping cards was the first item from Joel Howlett.  Next, he did a packet trick along the lines of the Three Card Monte.   Next, he had a spectator choose a card, and then showed it matched an embroidered blank.    Things became even more incredible with his final item – the Poker Deal.   With $50 at risk on the table, he dealt poker cards for himself and a volunteer in the fairest fashion  - and Joel won.

But then, he dealt again, and this time he gave the cards to the volunteer, asking him to choose which cards he, Joel, would have.  Joel still won.  Joel repeated this “give the cards to the spectator” twice, and he won both times.  Amazing !

John Ferguson did a packet trick (“Entourage”) in which the spectator named one of the queens, and that queen was the only one in his hand, the other three becoming jokers.  He did the classic “Card Silks” trick, in which a blank silk is shown and vanished, then the chosen card appears on the silk at the end. 

Then, having had a card chosen, John showed a watch.  As the spectators looked at it, the chosen card faded in to the background of the watch.  A chosen card was not the same as a Jumbo card held in a card frame, but when this card was taken out of the frame (the frame shown empty), the card was the same as the chosen card.

A very nice evening of entertaining magic.

What Happened at the Meeting on Friday 17th July

The theme was "Rings, Ropes and Things".   Al Hirschel workshopped an excellent card trick for us, which had an important code to remember, which starts with the number 309.  What this means, we can't say on a public forum like this - you need to come along and find out !

David Whitson presented a chain of coloured ropes knotted together which, with a magic pass, became one continuous rope with several coloured sections.  He then performed Pavel's Rope Trick again for us, in which knots appear on a rope, then they vanish, then they reappear  - and they are genuine knots, for they have to be untied to get them off.  David has done this item for us before,  and I am just as bewildered as to how it can be possible.

Last performer was John Ferguson, who workshopped a card trick, "Wanna Bet" for us.  The spectator is so sure the magician has failed that they want to bet against him.  The kind magician won't take their money, of course, because the magician always wins !

We had lots of fun and laughter during the meeting.  We proceeded to plan for the Carrington Bowling Club show, coming up next month (Saturday August 22nd).

Stockton Bowling Club Show

On Saturday 27th June, we held a Magic show at Stockton Bowling Club.  There were eight performers - President David Whitson, Al Hirschel, Steve Irwin, Andrew Pickard, John Ferguson, David Blunden, Grahame Holstein and Noel Clair.

The show was well received by the audience, and the Stockton Club has asked us back again next year.

We try to be an Active Club

We have held public magic shows for the last thirteen years.   This means that those members that wish to be involved (there is no pressure to do so) can present a short act (of say five to fifteen minutes) as part of a club presentation of as many as ten performers on stage to a paying public.

In 2008, and again in 2010, we presented a "MegaMagic Show" at Lake Macquarie Performing Arts Centre. The show lasted about two hours plus interval, and was well received, generating much needed funds for our club, and encouraging those that were involved to improve their performance.   Several members chose not to perform - but often were involved in the vital back stage tasks, including curtain closing, moving stage props chairs and other stage work, as well as selling magic kits in the lobby, not to mention the cleaning up of the hall afterwards. Again in 2011 and 2013 we performed at Wesley Church Hall, Beaumont St Hamilton and were well received.

Many of our meetings include times when any of our members are invited to perform for the other members. This is a good opportunity to try out a new routine in a non-threatening atmosphere.   We try to support and encourage our members.