2009-12 Famulus Newsletter - Ring 170

Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring

Next general meeting Wednesday, 12/16/2009 at 7:30 PM SHARP

Meeting theme: Gift Exchange

I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819

Please join us for dinner beforehand

Lunch meetings in the McDonald’s at 7344 Sand Lake Road, Orlando. It’s two blocks WEST of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Sand Lake Road. We meet every Tuesday at noon upstairs.

Website: http://www.ring170.com/

F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
*************************************************************
Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Art Thomas – Treasurer – srjart@earthlink.net
Sheldon Brook- Acting Secretary – mrbrook33@yahoo.com
James Songster- Director at Large, - JjTjMagic@aol.com
Joe Vecciarelli- Sgt at Arms - talkingmute@tampabay.rr.com
Stefan Bartelski – Editor of “Famulus”- Famulus@illusioneer.com
*************************************************************
GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it to Famulus@illusioneer.com, and we will get you in print.
Please, please, please, use the above e-mail address, your messages are in danger of getting lost if you do not do so.

2009-01 from the Editor

Seasons greetings to all my friends at Ring 170. This month the club will enjoy the Annual Gift Exchange, I hope that all of you find a great gift.

After many months working from home I am back on the road again, enjoying the snowy weather in the Windy City until just before Christmas. This means I will be missing the Ring meetings and lunch meetings again. I am just glad that I can contribute to the group by helping publish this newsletter. Of course, I do need your help in doing so, please remeber to send me you articles and suggestions.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah and a Happy New Year

Your Editor

Stefan

2009-12 Ring Report

President Craig Fennessy called the meeting to order on November 18th , 2009 and introduced the Ring officers to the 29 members and guests in attendance. He mentioned that the Magic World lost two luminaries with the passing of Carl Balantine and John Booth, both men nonagenarians. Next month the Ring has scheduled both a Christmas Party/Gift exchange and a lecture by Michael Weber. Craig also opened the floor for officer nominations and reminded the membership that elections will also be held next month.

James Songster reported that the Winter Garden Theater Halloween production of “Dr Zombie's Theater of the Unexplained” was well received and a rewarding professional experience. Dan Stapleton also reported that his show “Abracadabra It's Magic” did very well at the same venue. Both James and Dan praised the work of Art Thomas and his technical crew for their input and dedication to the productions. Fred Moore, on hiatus from his tour with Mickey's Magic Show, spoke briefly on his experience with that group.

Bev Bergeron enlightened those attending with another of his teach-ins by demonstrating various techniques in spoon bending and a coffee spoon illusion effect. He concluded by showing his method of performing a Torn and Restored Playing Card.

Master Sebastian Midtvaage volunteered to emcee the membership performances and started off with Chuck Smith doing an amusing variation of the Invisible Deck He was followed by Will Wortman performing A Magic Square Demonstration. Ravelli showed us his table hopping technique by mixing up a sample of his Rope Magic, a Coin Sleight and a fork illusion. Charlie Progner entertained us with a story of how alchemists could change lead to gold with Buddha Paper Magic. Dan Stapleton demonstrated an interesting card effect using his Half an' Half Cards. Sebastian ended the performances by showing his skills at coin and card handling.

Phil Schwartz presented Magic History Moment #18 by describing his experiences at the 11th Conference on Magic History which took place in the Los Angeles area on November 5,6,7. This is a biannual event attended by invitation only. Phil has been an avid collector for years and was very happy to be in attendance. He explained that although he is not a fan of the restoration of many antique pieces in his collection; there are instances where he feels its necessary to have it done and illustrated his point by showing a billiard ball display that he had restored. The meeting closed shortly thereafter.

A fine time was had by all!

Sheldon Brook, Acting Recording Secretary, E-mail: mrbrook33@yahoo.com



Sheldon Brook

2009-12 Dennis' Deliberations

"mandatum erat hominem punire: non eum castigare usque ad mortuum"
(Your orders were to punish this man, not to scourge him to death.)

Did you ever get so angry at someone or some group that you want to beat the tar out of them?
Try booking agents. The vast majority of them are lower than whale feces. There are a few that are humans-a very few.
There are many jokes about booking “agents” such as: Did you hear about the booking agent that had a heart transplant? He died. The heart rejected him!

It did not take me long as a young man to learn the difference between a “booking agent” and a “personal agent”. The booking agent works for his own benefit. In other words they may very well be a blood-sucking leech trying to hire you for as cheap as they can get you and charging the client many times what you are actually being paid.

The personal agent is more of a partner. He (or she) makes money by taking a percentage of your show fees. It is in the best interest of the personal agent to keep you working. The booking agent just wants someone who will work cheap. They work for themselves and not for the talent.

I would hate to tell you how many “agents” years ago agreed to handle me if:
1) I bought a $250 photo package to meet their specifications
2) Paid for a set-up charge for printing brochures. Out of the goodness of their hearts they would pay for all the printing. I think the set-up fee was $600. Business cards were mandatory and extra!
3) Paid for a month “phone number fee” This was so that you had your own telephone number. Mind you, it was not a separate line but an “extension” (a secretary with a list). I think that was $50 a month.
4) Paid for the “records and booking journal”. You had to buy their calendar and their loose-leaf notebook with special NCR forms so your agent-fee forms matched their records.
5) You also needed a name tag with their logo so you could attend the “mixers” and “showcases” for the talent buyers. Yes, and pay for the drinks, the hotel room for the booking agent, a girl-escort to keep him company, etc. They had these “showcases” every 90 days and they were $200 each not counting travel and the hotel room.

There were other assorted fees.

The killer was that they would list your name for FREE on their talent list but “you need the back-up materials” to really get the most bookings.

The sole benefit of the FREE listing meant was that I got a few dozen phone calls and letters from the agency saying that people had requested me but they legally could not book me without paying the other fees!

I even got a call from a “Magician” who said he was taking my gigs because I would not register. He said that he wanted to throw gigs my way. It was obvious from 60 seconds of talk that the guy on the phone was not a magician but a salesman and knew NOTHING about magic. I found it out by using some absurd phrases that he never reacted to, such as, “I really need to do that. My “thumb tip illusion” is taking up half of my garage and I need to get it out on the road.” The guy answered, “Yes! You can’t let it sit; you have to get it on the road!”

The easiest scam in the world is to play on someone’s ego coupled with their dreams and fears to manipulate them and rip them off. Talent and modeling agencies have been doing it for years. Often some ballroom dance studios and acting schools do the same thing. In a grander way, politicians use the trick: “You should be making big money and living the jet-set life! The problem is those people from the other political party are stealing your money and destroying the country. “There will be no country left for you to get rich in if the other political party wins!” (Substitute Democrat or Republican, Conservative or Liberal. They all lie and manipulate you)

Harry Wise passed on. I was sorry to hear that. I knew Harry for almost 40 years. I met him originally through Phil Morris in Charlotte who hired him to do several Ghost Show tours in Canada. Phil later told me that it takes a special talent to be scary and whip up the crowd into a frenzy. He said that Harry was a bit too funny to really freak out a crowd. Since most of the shows in Canada played a Friday and a Saturday, the second nights were a disaster. Nobody was afraid of Harry. The trouble makers brought their friends back to heckle.
.
Harry concluded a tour and ended up in Charlotte with about as much money as he started with. I think he was looking for local TV work and Phil Morris called my house and my wife Cindy told Phil that I was working that evening directing a live show. The show was a classic movie with a host doing live cut-ins. My job as the director was to time everything and run the control room and crew. Phil sent Harry over to the station about 7:30 in the evening and the receptionist buzzed me in the control room and when I heard “Phil Morris” I approved him being brought up to the control room.

Harry may have had a lot of experience in front of the camera but he had no idea what went on in a control room. I had on my headset and was barking orders to the video-tape room, the telecine projection room, the floor crew, the audio man, the technical director-switcher, the camera guys, the video operator…while Harry was depressingly telling me his life story in one long monologue. I was trying to listen to him and run the show.

This never came out in the newspaper obituary but he told me then that his wife had divorced him and he had a daughter and his ex-wife got custody. Harry’s name was etched in my mind when I moved to Orlando and it was Clarence Godwin of the old Fun Way/Paramount magic shop that again put me in contact with Harry.
Harry was living in his mother’s house in Sanford. He had grown his hair long and had a former Club Juana stripper as his assistant/girl friend.

He did show up at the Sanford Civic Center when I played my illusion show there in July of 1985. A year or so later he was selling off some of his props and I think he gave me as much as I bought. My Abbott’s Frame of Life and Death was Harry. He had been storing it in the shed in back of his house and it was covered with dirt-daubers. I had to rebuild the roller shades and do some repainting but it has served me well and I still use it. I think somewhere in the 90s Harry wisely decided to build his legacy and he got his story and heroics in print. I am not exactly sure how much was legend, myth or actual fact. It really doesn’t matter. Harry was a survivor and a journeyman entertainer for a great many years and a unique character and he deserves every bit of eternal fame that he gets. Thomas Aquinas, the great Scholastic theologian from the 1200s is remembered for the extensive and brilliant theology books that he left but he died an empty man saying, “Everything that I have written is straw”. I think that is sad. Somewhere there has to be a balance between a Burling Hull and an Aquinas. Maybe Harry found it.

I had a few thoughts about growing old as a magician:

Ten Thoughts on the Way to the Stage...

The great thing about an aging magician is that he doesn't lose all the other ages he's been. The saddest thing about being an aging magician is believing that he can re-create those ages.

The time to begin most magic acts is ten years ago.

The older a magician gets, the more he tells it like it used to be.

The greatest magic lesson we should learn: "Time wounds all heels." - Dorothy Parker

You don't stop being amazed by magic because you grew old. You grow old because you stop being amazed by magic.

You know you're getting old when you stoop to pick up spilled cards and wonder what else you could do while you're down there.

At twenty we worry about getting repeat bookings; at forty we worry about our reputations; at sixty we discover people haven't worried about us in years.

There are magicians who intend to go on forever; or die trying.

Inside every old magician is a young whippersnapper who wonders what the hell happened.

When a magician is young and accomplished, everyone asks "How does he do it?" When he is old they ask “Why does he do it?”

From chilly Harrisonburg, VA in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley the very best and joyous Holiday season to you and yours.

Dennis Phillips

2009-11 Famulus newsletter

Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring

Next general meeting Wednesday, 11/18/2009 at 7:30 PM SHARP

Meeting theme: Christmas Magic

I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819

Please join us for dinner beforehand

Lunch meetings in the McDonald’s at 7344 Sand Lake Road, Orlando. It’s two blocks WEST of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Sand Lake Road. We meet every Tuesday at noon upstairs.

Website: http://www.ring170.com/

F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
*************************************************************
Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Art Thomas – Treasurer – srjart@earthlink.net
Sheldon Brook- Acting Secretary – mrbrook33@yahoo.com
James Songster- Director at Large, - JjTjMagic@aol.com
Joe Vecciarelli- Sgt at Arms - talkingmute@tampabay.rr.com
Stefan Bartelski – Editor of “Famulus”- Famulus@illusioneer.com
*************************************************************
GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it to Famulus@illusioneer.com, and we will get you in print.
Please, please, please, use the above e-mail address, your messages are in danger of getting lost if you do not do so.

2009-11 From the Editor

Happy belated Halloween to everyone. This was for many of us indeed a magical night, as a number of our members performed in Winter Garden. Pictures of the evening are shown below. One more meeting and then, I expect, we are into the annual Christmas Gift exchange. How time flies, it seems as if the last one just took place yesterday.

We continue to be blessed with excellent performers at the Monday night Wizardz, keep on coming and bring your friends, especially your non-magician freinds. They will have a splendid time. (N.B. No show this coming Monday 11/9)

Thanks to Craig for the photographs and our dear friend Dennis for his continuing Deliberations.

2009-11 Ring Report Ring #170 The Bev Bergeron Ring

President Craig Fennessy called the Ring to order on October 21, 2009 and introduced the Ring Officers to the 23 members and guests in attendance. He announced that at the November meeting nominations for Officers will be accepted for the election which will take place at the December meeting. Dedicated members of the Ring were encouraged to indicate their interest. On December 8^th there will be a lecture by Michael Weber also to take place at the IHOP.

The members in attendance announced that the Daytona Magic Convention was coming up November 6^th thru 8^th but prior to that Dan Stapleton will perform 4 performances at the Winter Garden Theater on Halloween Eve and Halloween. Following Dan's show on Halloween, James Songster, Joe Vecciarelli, and Dave Koenig will do a Halloween Zombie Spectacular to round out the Day's festivies.

Kerry Pierce promoted the Annual Leesburg Magic Ring celebration. Our Ring is always invited to participate.

Other members performing this month were Dave Koenig as Professor Slim King in Daytona Beach.

Wallace Murphy will be at the Hard Rock Cafe and Jackie Manna will be busy at numerous venues throughout the area.

Phil Schwartz presented Magic Moment #17 featuring magic illusions that would be very popular during any Halloween Season. He lectured and showed apparatus examples including the Thayer wrist chopper which was introduced in 1941. He mentioned Kar-Mi-Magicians Sword Penetrations of the 1950's, Bill and Jerry Larson's-Wheel of Torture introduced in 1947. There were other examples of illusions designed as guillotines ( Lester Lake), Abbott finger choppers and the very impressive Candle Through the Arm available through Tannen.. He closed his Lecture by performing from 1928 the Demon of Doom Illusion by Thayer. A reluctant volunteer, Jackie Manna, was placed in stocks and to those of the audience who could watch metal spikes were hammered through her wrists and through her neck. What a finale!

After the break, Mark Fitzgerald emceed the members performances. Dan Stapleton started off performing Bob Hummer's Flatware Foolery effect. Will Wortman did a ”Not So Impromptu Hitman” (Merrill and Klan) followed by Kerry Pierce with 'the locked up deck'. Mike Martin and Mark Fitzgerald did a humorous card routine. The evenings entertainment ended with guest Rick Neiswonger performing a very entertaining variation of the “Professor's Nightmare”.

A fine time was had by all.

Sheldon Brook

2009-11 Pictures From Halloween Night

On Halloween, our members, Dan Stapleton, Dave Koenig, James Songster and Joe Vecciarelli performed in the Winter Garden Theatre. Dan with a magic show, James, Dave and Joe in a horror show. The pictures were taken by Craig during the evening.

2009-11 Dennis' Deliberations

am no longer a Ring orphan! I made the short 25 minute drive from Harrisonburg down I-81 to the Fishersville, a small town just east of Staunton, Virginia to the monthly meeting of Ring #320. The ring meets the last Monday of the month in the Switzer building at the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center. I average attendance is about 15 people so the ring is about half the size of the Orlando group. I lucked out. This month was “Flea Market” night so most everyone brought stuff they wanted to sell or trade. A dealer from Roanoke also was there. It was a solid two and a half hours of getting to meet people and trading magic stories. Every ring has its characters! It is amazing how similar the personalities of magicians are. Most of the regularly working magicians were from the Charlottesville area which has a bigger population. I saw a cute novelty item that I had never seen before and I believe that it is being made by the Roanoke dealer. It is a magic wand that works like a wilting flower! He held the wand up next to his shoulder and while he was talking the wand “tapped” him on the shoulder. He said, “Who tapped me on the shoulder?” He did it again. I am sure you can see what a screamer this one would be for kids!

I have been digging out my illusions from their crates so I could work on the Christmas shows. I made a Thin-Type Sawing-a-woman-in-half illusion to fit my dear wife Cindy 35 years ago She can still fit in it ! The problem is that getting in and out of the box now takes her about 10 minutes!

Last week, I was trying to put her inside the box to test out the repaired foot gimmick and she was moaning and wincing in pain every time she moved her neck or leg or knee or twisted her body in the box. Suddenly she looked up at me and said, “I wish I could go back to the days when life was only JUST a pain-in-the-ass!”

What a great line! I have to work it into the adult act!

I also dug out my Abbott’s “Ghost Walks” Illusion for my Halloween show in Court Square here in town. I get a lot out of the stunt. I do not know many performers that do!

Basically, you are chained to a large upright board with holes in it by a long continuous chain. The board has a skeleton painted on it. You visibly are able to escape the chains. http://www.abbottmagic.com/Abbotts-Ghost-Walks-ABBcmdyzprchgbg.htm

I hesitate to call it a trick. Like the Strait Jacket, it is more of a stunt. It really does not play well if you do it completely behind a curtain. You really have to do it somewhat like you do a strait jacket with appropriate music, in full view and with a faux struggle.

I have had mine for years. I bought it about 25 years ago when Recil Bordner had a special going on. It uses #2 machine chains. The challenge is to make it interesting when you perform it. One tip is to paint or affix numbers and arrows by the holes in the back so your assistant easily knows the path of the chain.

I have a big “turntable” The board is mounted on the top. It has a motor in it that turns about 1 RPM. (W W Granger) You see me struggle and then I go out of sight as it does its 4 turns around to the back and then rotates back around and I emerge with part of the chains free. Each time it turns I am a little freer of the chains. It tends to add a little more mystery to the action. I will be doing it this Halloween for mostly college students.

Cindy selected this song as the new background track http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgZkm1xWPE (Coldplay) The song is perfect for the mood and the action of the effect! The actual moves I am doing are a bit slower but the same as I used to do for years when I used Sam Cooke’s “Chain gang”, another good song.

At the points of excitement in the song I am making the major releases from the chains.

It tends to match the action very well and the soft ending is where I stumble away and slip exhausted on one knee.

I always ended the bit with the old James Brown shtick of falling on one knee and having an assistant throw a robe/cape over my back.

Lord, what a classic bit from him!

Then you catch your breath bolt up, throw out your chest and throw off the robe! You are really playing with the audience’s emotions.

The track starts again with the instrumental portion of the Coldplay song which makes a great applause cue.

I hope you can use this idea.

Marco Tempest was at “Magic Live!” Stan Allen’s get together in Las Vegas and presented his latest techno-magic marvel, “The Augmented Reality Magic Trick”.

It is enchanting. Grab a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk1xjbA-ISE

It is sort of a “Sam the Bellhop meets Star Trek”…

Is it really coming to the day when we will all have to have a top-of-the-line Mac, a video-cam and $10,000 worth of software to do walk-around card tricks in a restaurant?

Perhaps through volume the prices will fall and you will be able to get all the gear as a package from Hank Lee for $79.95. I can see a 12 year old kid wanting it for Christmas. Jeez! I was happy with Stratospheres. The Augmented Reality version will have those plastic balls changing colors, shapes and blasting off into orbit!

There will be no more scream and yelling, “Turn it around”! All birthday shows will be a 3 camera shoot from all sides? I guess I must just be getting too old.

Canada’s Larry Thornton helped me clarify some of the ideas that follow.

Is this what we face for the future of magic?

The year is 2525:

Two guys (1 and 2) questioning the "magic" on the stage

1) Why is he manipulating all of those decorated pieces of cardboard?

2) They're called playing cards.

1) Playing... what?

2) Playing cards. People played games with them. They gambled with them, and that, more often than not, destroyed lives. But you're watching 'fantasy magic' from a bygone era. We haven't had factory-made, three-ply, air-cushion-finish Bicycles, Aviators, or Bee decks since 2040....

1) What? Played games and gambled with Bicycles, Aviators and Bees? -- What the HECK are you talking about...?

2) *Sigh* You just don't know your magic history, do you?

*****************************************************************

1) That's a fun act, but where did he get all those shiny disks of metal? And that odd-looking bucket?

2) Ah, you're beyond hope. That dude's doing The Miser's Dream, a classic of ancient magic where you pluck money out of the air and toss it into champagne --

1) What? There hasn't been physical "money" since the first Mars colony was established. I read in a history book when they used to use that stuff.

2) Have it your way. The guy is presenting a classic illusion of desire: The ability of a magician to pluck large sums of physical cash out of thin air...

1) Yeah, right. When I want large sums of 'cash' as you call it, all I have to do is plug into the Cloud and Google it. It's only digitized information, after all--

3) Hey buddy, shut up! I'm trying to watch the show!

*****************************************************************

1) Now there's an act you don't see very often. Talk about doing things the hard way!

2) He's called an illusionist. The Zig Zag and the Substitution Trunk haven't been seen for a very long time. Ten thousand hack magicians overworked them and killed those effects for at least a hundred and fifty years --

1) And now they're a novelty again, right? But the "novelty" is not what he's doing, but how he's doing it!

2) It's a mechanical kind of magic. Not seen since the Alien Invasion of 2180. The unique thing about it, is that there are no electronics, no photonics, no time warps or three-dimensional holograms --

1) Hah! And as the dealers used to say in ancient history, “no threads, no magnets, no trap doors, no mirrors, and your fingers don't leave your hands at any time during the performance!” (laughs).

2) Yeah, we all know the illusions of the past were made obsolete by holography, teleportation, quantum invisibility, and I.M.J. [Internet Mind Jack) so this guy is just giving us a magic tour down memory lane. Just play along with it and pretend you don't know what the heck is going on!

1) Okay. But right about now, I'd rather be out camping on the moons of Saturn with my kids.

2) What? You had kids!? Do the P.C.P. know this? [Population Control Police]

3) That does it!! In about two nanoseconds I'm going to Telethink the theater's Android ushers and have you thrown out of here!

*******************************************************************

I remember the time when it took hours of physical practice to do magic instead of the latest download of prepackaged software.

Learning to play an instrument, faro a deck, juggle balls, dance -- you name it -- involves an initial resistance of a very stubborn brain (what is it - some kind of evolutionary defense mechanism NOT to master new skills??), but then persistent repetition coupled with dogged determination, and the brain eventually "breaks down" and readily absorbs the new skill, which can then be a relatively easy task -- for a lifetime.

I read this once: Some famous classical pianist (forget who) had just done a long and complex recital. A voice in the audience was heard: "Man I'd spend my entire life just to be able to play like piano like that!" To which the pianist responded, "I already have."

One more: A pianist was heard to say, "If I don't practice for a day, I know it! If I don't practice for two days, my agent knows it. And if I don't practice for three days, my audience knows it."

Two magicians are watching a fantastic sleight of hand artist. The magician is effortless ripping through the most complex pieces of Vernon, Marlo, Elmsley and so on. ... After about forty minutes of this, one magician leans over to the other and whispers, "Man, it's hot in here. That guy is great! I'm sweating like a pig. Can't you feel the heat?"

"No," says the second magician calmly, "I just do birthday parties."

Most of you know that I am a professional educator and I spent 22 years as a college professor. The education business has expended an enormous amount of effort in trying to determine how people learn. Much of the progress was made in understanding the process of learning during World War Two when we had to take untrained farm boys and quickly teach them war technology. Out of that effort Benjamin Bloom developed a taxonomy to understand the education process.

If you look at the Psychomotor Domain, I hope it will give you encouragement if you ever try to learn a physical skill such as sleight of hand! It will show that it takes times and goes in stages. http://www.businessballs.com/bloomstaxonomyoflearningdomains.htm

Much of this seems like “Common Sense”. Seventy years ago the humorist Will Rogers said the problem with common sense is that "it ain't so common." Well, it is much less common today than it was then.

I will keep you posted from here in the Shenandoah Valley.

Dennis Phillips

2009-10 Famulus newsletter

Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring

Next general meeting Wednesday, 10/21/2009 at 7:30 PM SHARP

Meeting theme: Halloween Magic

I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819

Please join us for dinner beforehand

Lunch meetings in the McDonald’s at 7344 Sand Lake Road, Orlando. It’s two blocks WEST of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Sand Lake Road. We meet every Tuesday at noon upstairs.

Website: http://www.ring170.com/

F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
*************************************************************
Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Art Thomas – Treasurer – srjart@earthlink.net
Sheldon Brook- Acting Secretary – mrbrook33@yahoo.com
James Songster- Director at Large, - JjTjMagic@aol.com
Joe Vecciarelli- Sgt at Arms - talkingmute@tampabay.rr.com
Stefan Bartelski – Editor of “Famulus”- Famulus@illusioneer.com
*************************************************************
GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it to Famulus@illusioneer.com, and we will get you in print.
Please, please, please, use the above e-mail address, your messages are in danger of getting lost if you do not do so.

2009-10 From the Editor

Halloween is almost upon us, so hopefully our professional and semi-pro members are finding their calendars filling up with gigs. As I write this posting, the weather has turned a little cooler, although it still seems pretty warm for the time of year.

Doc Eason in town, with a show/lecture last week at the Mgaical Arts & Design studio. Wizardz has been going well with varied shows every week, of course Doc this week, but well worth driving to Kissimmee for any of their performers. Congratulations to Eric and Kim for putting this on every Monday.

Your editor

Stefan

2009-10 Ring Report Ring #170 The Bev Bergeron Ring

President Craig Fennessey called the meeting to order on September 16^th , 2009, and introduced the Ring officers to the 29 members in attendance. He went on to inform the Ring that our past Ring President MJ Emigh recently undergone a surgical procedure but after a brief recovery period he was back on the performing stage. Some Ring members have been attending the noon get-together on Tuesdays at the McDonalds' Bistro on Sand Lake Road. The general membership is invited if they are available during that time.

Dan Stapleton,, James Songster and Joe Vecciarelli will be performing at the Winter Garden Theater over the Halloween weekend – tickets are available now for purchase. Bev Bergeron returned from an appearance in Houston and now is looking forward to lecturing at the Daytona Beach Magic Convection in November. In addition, Bev will also be busy promoting his recently published novel, “The Magic Connection”. Jacki Manna has a performance coming up at the Interlaken Country Club in the area and Dave Koenig also has a mentalism gig scheduled in the near future.

Phil Schwartz was up next with Magic History Chapter #16 and his subject was 'The Card Picker' and he started out demonstrating his 19^th Century Card Star and continuing with varying examples of devices utilized to present selected card choices. The group was shown probably the most popular example of playing card pickers, “Joanne Duck manufactured by Warren Hamilton in Tampa , Florida. He went on to show us Gwendolyn by Chicago's Ireland Company. He also had a 1942 version of Abbott's “Hand of Caliph”. Also from Abbott (1948) was Percy Penguin and Red Man ata Boy by Jack Hughes. From the 1970's he shared other card pickers from his collection, Fifi, Yogi Bear, and Bob Klein's Grave Yard Ghost Picker. He closed his presentation with several other pickers including Oscar Rabbit and Homer Hudson's Golden Magic Wand.

Bev Bergeron continued his impromptu magic teach-in with every day items and routines that he has performed throughout his many years as a performer.

After the break, Chris Dunn emceed the performances of seven of our members. Mark Fitzgerald started out with Tom Craven's “Inside, Outside”. Bev Bergeron performed his “3 Frog Monte” with a volunteer from his audience. Dan Stapleton followed with his rendition of Ron Frost's “Book Test”. James Songster demonstrated an entertaining “Stocastisity” for the membership's pleasure. Marty Bristow entertained with “Cards of Nineteen”. J. C. Hiatt and Tim (Lyndell) Scarborough closed out the evening with two comedy routines: J. C. by means of a Cup and Ball and Lyndell with an unforgettable monologue.

A fine time was had by all.

2009-10 Magician rides his bike around the world

If you think riding the stationary bike at the gym is exhausting, imagine riding your bike 28,000 miles through 37 countries in eight years. Tired yet?

Keiichi "Kei" Iwasaki , 36, of Japan began such an adventure when he grew tired of working at his father's air-conditioning company. ''I thought to myself that 'My life will soon be over before I do what I want to do!' so I decided to start this trip," Iwasaki told the London Telegraph.

Iwasaki left his home in Maebashi, Japan in April 2001 with just 160 yen, around $2, in his pocket with the intention of biking through Japan. He enjoyed the trip so much that he caught a ferry to South Korea. He has since been robbed by pirates and arrested in India, nearly died after being attacked by a rabid dog in Tibet, and narrowly escaped marriage in Nepal.

Iwasaki's bikes (he's on his fifth now; two were stolen and two were broken) have been his main form of transportation throughout the journey. He says he does not want to fly because "I wanted to see and feel everything with my own skin. With bicycle, I can always feel the air and atmosphere of the place.''

According to his blog, other than the occasional ferry, the only time he did not ride his bike or walk was when he used a hand rowboat. He first used a rowboat to travel from the source of the Ganges River in India to the sea, a distance of over 800 miles that took him 35 days. Iwasaki decided to also row the Caspian Sea when he was passing by and "I just wondered 'how big Caspian sea is?' so I tried to [cross] using hand rowing boat again, it takes 25 days," he wrote.

He counts his biggest achievement as climbing Mount Everest from sea level without using any transportation, the first Japanese man to do so. Iwasaki is currently in Switzerland waiting to climb Europe's highest peak, Mont Blanc.

Iwasaki funds his travels by performing magic tricks on the street. He plans to travel to Africa, through the Americas and finally, back to Japan. He believes the rest of the trip will take him five years, after which he wants to write a book about his adventures.

Photo: Above, via SMNS, Map, via The London Telegraph

2009-10 Winter Garden Theatre spectacular

Don't forget to get your tickets for Dan Stapleton's shows at the Winter Garden theatre. The highlight with be on All Hallows Eve (Halloween) when Dan drives down the street in Winter Garden blindfolded. This will take place at 7 p.m., followed by one of his shows at 8 p.m. There is then a mystery show at 10 p.m. - separate tickets required - which should make a fun evening.

2009-10 Dennis' Deliberations

Here is a fall update from Harrisonburg, Virginia, where I am getting settled into the grove. Wow! The leaves here are turning colors and the hills are ablaze with hues of red, orange and gold. We had to turn on the heat. My house has hydronic heat which is an oil fired boiler and room radiators. I have had an education figuring out how all that works. The heating system is very efficient and low cost compared to forced air heat as you have in Florida.

I spent a couple of warm weekends visiting Civil War Battlefields. The Shenandoah Valley was the breadbasket of the Confederacy and fiercely protected by Stonewall Jackson and his Cavalry commander Turner Ashby. Ashby was shot through the heart in 1862 in battle at Harrisonburg and the historic marker is less than one hundred yards from my house. They have a high school named for him close by. The 1862 campaign was a success for the rebels but Union General Phil Sheridan finally captured the Valley in 1864 and burned much of the infrastructure. The result is that many people here still have their old Gray Uniforms in the closet ready to come out again. There are no Left turns allowed in the county and it is against the law to sell anything but Right Wings at local chicken joints. The other day I casually mentioned to one of the locals about Stonewall Jackson being shot at Chancellorsville. They responded with, “Oh my God! He’s dead???”

So, speaking of history and legacy lets move to magic!

How does ANY lifetime list of effects and routines in magic compare to what I found in the new book about Doug Henning?

From the website about the new book on Doug Henning (http://www.doughenningbook.com) I haven’t done anything in comparison to Henning.

I remember Doug well! I remember hanging out with Doug, Dick Oslund and Dennis Loomis at the 1969 Abbott’s Get Together.

The big act on the Saturday Night Show was Ralph Adams. Doug was preppy looking with short hair, buck teeth and always a turtleneck sweater. His was enamored by the work of Guy Jarrett and Andre Kole. He talked about his friend in Chicago, “Jim” who was a genius. (Jim Steinmeyer)

Doug died believing that he could actually levitate telling close friends that he could float. I think his belief had much to do with his religion of Transcendental Meditation.

Larry Thornton and I agree that the one (and only!) thing that bugged us about Doug Henning was his tendency to overstate the importance of a child-like sense of wonder; how the unbounded imagination's ability to enhance and preserve our sense of the magical was somehow superior, even to science. "Never fully grow up! "Henning seemed to be saying, "Keep and nourish that wonderful child within you at all costs!"

In Unweaving the Rainbow, Richard Dawkins addresses the perception that science and art are often taken to be at odds. He wrote this book in response to critics who felt that his two previous books, The Selfish Gene and the Blind Watchmaker, relied far too much on a naturalistic world view. Dawkins felt the need to explain that, as a scientist, he too saw the world as full of wonders and a source of great pleasure; and that his own sense of wonder and enjoyment sprang not from any inexplicable actions of a deity (or any other kind of magic), but rather, the understandable laws of nature. In standard Christian theology, at least since St. Thomas Aquinas, there is an understanding that God is behind the laws of nature.

Perhaps it might have been beneficial to Henning to have met Dawkins or maybe Christian theologian and former scientist, John Pokingham and sat down with him for a conversation on the differences between the wonders of magical deception, and the magic inherent in the true wonders of scientific discovery. The poet John Keat's well-known accusation that Isaac Newton destroyed the beauty of the rainbow by explaining it (a starting point for Unweaving the Rainbow) may have pleased Henning immensely.

Far from being a magician of the skeptical school, Doug's apparent love for fantasy (over reality) may have been the principal driving force that sent him spinning slack-jawed and air-headed down the seductive 'rabbit-hole' of transcendental meditation, with its associated gurus of Eastern mysticism and bliss and finally into the end of his career.

Larry Thornton and I got an idea: Someone should create a (convention) stage act called "The Recession Magic Act" -- and then do about ten minutes of stuff (music only) dressed in obviously tattered tails, while putting on the attitude of a magician of great dignity. You know, a Thomsoni-like persona. Effects could include the Recession Duck Bucket made from a trash pail; an immaculately over acted high-brow Zombie routine with a toilet tank float; card productions with filthy rumpled cards that look as though they'd been through a war; and ... well, it's limited only by a twisted imagination. There must be dozens of gag possibilities. You could have The Miser’s Dream done with pennies. Finally, The Great Government Bailout Bubble where the grand finale is an explosion of phony money. As the act progresses (regresses) the guy's tattered tailcoat begins to slowly disintegrate as he desperately tries to hold it together. The soles on his shoes fall off.

At the end the whole act is held together with duck tape.

Okay, it needs work. But you get the idea. If you got a few of your magician pals together to brainstorm this, I think they could come up with a COMEDY WINNER.

Now you know why I'm not a comedy magician...Those of you that have been in the ring for at least 10 years remember “The Amazing Prozac and Bubbles”, my assistant was –Carl Fowler, former Ring President -dressed in drag. I was a bearded, old, over-the-hill magician who seemed oblivious to the audience and to anything that was happening on stage. Everything went wrong but I held out my arms for applause. Think Carl Ballantine stoned. I retired “The Amazing Prozac” after that one show and the quality of all comedy magic went up a level. Maybe I am a better writer-creator than performer? Bev said it all stunk. I think that was the idea, Bev! The problem is that when you do comedy, if it stinks, it has to stink funny. I will leave that to Kohl and Company.

I will keep you posted from here in the Shenandoah Valley. Halloween is around the corner. You should be booking shows.

Dennis

I keep forgetting that this is the Bible Belt.

Some guy up here saw this photo

and thought that I was a Pentecostal Faith Healer!

You will not believe your eyes!

One of America’s foremost Magical Entertainers will delight

and amaze you with dazzling skill and delightful comedy.

Come prepared to have fun!

2009-09 Famulus newsletter

Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring

Next general meeting Wednesday, 9/16/2009 at 7:30 PM SHARP

Meeting theme: Fall Magic

I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819

Please join us for dinner beforehand

Lunch meetings in the McDonald’s at 7344 Sand Lake Road, Orlando. It’s two blocks WEST of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Sand Lake Road. We meet every Tuesday at noon upstairs.

Website: http://www.ring170.com/

F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
*************************************************************
Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Art Thomas – Treasurer – srjart@earthlink.net
Sheldon Brook- Acting Secretary – mrbrook33@yahoo.com
James Songster- Director at Large, - JjTjMagic@aol.com
Joe Vecciarelli- Sgt at Arms - talkingmute@tampabay.rr.com
Stefan Bartelski – Editor of “Famulus”- Famulus@illusioneer.com
*************************************************************
GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it to Famulus@illusioneer.com, and we will get you in print.
Please, please, please, use the above e-mail address, your messages are in danger of getting lost if you do not do so.

2009-09 From the Editor

How time flies, the holiday season is almost upon us again. Hopefully the calendars are filling up for our working members.

Don't forget the Jim Pace lecture, on Tuesday the day before our Ring meeting. And of course Aldo's appearance and lecture at Wizardz.

Did anyone from the Ring attend the Shoot Ogawa lecture? If so, care to share your thoughts with our readers? As ever, please direct your submission to famulus@illusioneer.com.

Thanks To Dennis and his able replacement, Sheldon, for their respective articles. It is nice to hear that our friend seem to be doing well in West Virginia.

I hope to see you all at the lectures and the next meeting

Your editor

Stefan

2009-09 Ring Report Ring #170 The Bev Bergeron Ring

President Craig Fennessy called the meeting to order on August 19^th, 2009, and introduced the Ring officers to the 24 members and guests in attendance. Craig related his recent experience of visiting the Los Angeles area as well as Las Vegas. He was particularly impressed by the entertainment at the Magic Castle in Hollywood and Magic Live in Las Vegas. He informed the members present that Dean Dill was seriously ill with Cancer and that donations were being solicited in his behalf by HOCUS POCUS.

Keith Locke is presenting on the 23^rd of this month(August) a lecture by Shoot Ogawa at Keith's Pine Street facility in Orlando. On September 15^th, Jim Pace will be lecturing our Ring here at the IHOP and there will be no charge for current Ring members. Dan Stapleton announced that he will be doing his show, Abracadabra, It's Magic at the renovated theater in Winter Garden . He assured us there would be “a lot of magic” and everyone was invited to attend. The show will run from October 30^th thru November 1^stand there will be both evening and matinee performances. Dan will also be busy hosting a Circus World Reunion in the Orlando area on February 19^th, 2010. If any readers had any association with the attraction and would like to participate, please get in touch with Dan.

Mark Fitzgerald brought to the membership's attention that the next Phism event will be held in Blackpool, UK, during the Summer of 2012.

Phil Schwartz was up next with Magical History Moment #15. He proudly showed us the silks in his collection that he had acquired in 1984 from the Silk King Studios. The mail order business operated by Harold and Thelma Rice announced in 1979 that they were going out of business and had their inventory up for sale. Phil made his purchase 5 years after the Company stopped the importing of merchandise. Mr Rice passed away in 1989. The next objects of discussion were numerous examples of Tom Seller's Color Changing Handkerchief Box which came on the scene in 1932. The following year, 1933, the Thayer Silk Cabby was brought out and in 1935 the Flipover Box developed by Jack Gwynne enabled the practioner to vanish other objects in addition to silks. Phil was particularly impressed by the workmanship of a similar device which was produced in Tampa by Warren Hamilton in 1960. The audience was appreciative and impressed by the display. Thank you , Phil.

Bev Bergeron announced that he was publishing, a novel titled “The Magic Connection” It's based on a true adventure caper that Bev has been thinking about for many years.

Joe Vecciarelli shared his paper- modeling hobby, collection, with examples of his handiwork that ranged from ducks and rabbits to a detailed grandfather clock. Martin Bristow and Joey Nieves performed card tricks after the intermission and Ravelli contributed to the entertainment with a Silverware Transposition performed to a musical accompaniment. KP Pierce demonstrated his Big Spender Counterfeit Bill Detector, with spectator bills of various denominations that were visibly shredded ( indicating they were bogus) when placed into the device much to the chagrin of the audience.

Will Wortman skillfully changed a ball point pen to a large steel washer in a brief display of manual dexterity leaving his audience clamoring for more..

Tim(Lyndell)Scarborough did a comedy routine that included an electronic dust bunny ionizer, and miser's dream routine all accompanied by a musical narrative performed by Lyndell through his Bubba teeth. The membership was thoroughly entertained.

Mark Fitzgerald performed the 3-card dialogue trick,”Stan, Kate, and Edith” by Kerry Pollack and Charlie Pfrogner finished off the evening with his “Treasure Box” of Tricks producing a rabbit of little dimension.

A fine time was had by all.

2009-09 Magic Jam Session

For those of you who can’t get enough magic each month…. one of our members has a solution.

He has put together “Close Up Magic Mondays” Meeting every 3rd Monday of the month at a private residence. Starting September 21 after 6:30pm. Break up your week with a healthy dose of MAGIC!

Grab your cards and coins and join us for a personal discussion of all the facets of close up magic.

Contact Ryan Schlutz – 407-716-6754 (Call if you plan on attending)

Karolyn Parinella – 407-432-5641

Please note that this is not a sponsored IBM Ring 170 event…but it’s magic and I thought you all would like to know.

2009-09 [OT] Do Not Call List for Cellphones

REMEMBER: Cell Phone Numbers Go Public this month.

REMINDER..... all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sales calls.

.... YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS

To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222.
It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time.. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.

HELP OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON .. It takes about 20 seconds.

2009-09 Another request from Joe

I am looking for a copy of Magic Magazine - V05 N5 January 1996
This is a link to the cover...
http://www.magicmagazine.com/catalog/images/jan96.jpg

Thanks.

Joe Vecciarelli
Coach Coordinator
Cirque du Monde - Orlando
Walt Disney World Boys & Girls Club

2009-09 Dennis' Deliberations

Dennis Deliberations……



My kids in Orlando, my accountant, who lives in College Park, some business friends I left, all tell me things seem to not be getting better in Orlando.

“Destination Tourism” seems to be a fading dream for the middle and upper-middle classes. Here is the Shenandoah Valley, we draw a lot of day-trippers or one-night tourists from the Washington, Baltimore and even Philly and NYC area. People are more ready to drive than fly. Flying is just too much of a hassle unless you have to.

You can leave the NYC area at 6AM and be having lunch here on the mountain top in Massanutten 4-Season Resort at Noon. It is 12 miles from my house

As long as gas prices stay about where they are, this area’s tourism should remain about where it is.

We also have the 2 Universities and 1 college in town. Moreover, agriculture is huge in this area and people always need to eat. As a result our unemployment in town is about 6% whereas Florida is 10.7%. Virginia seems to have it a little more together in terms of taxation. There is a small state income tax but here in Harrisonburg, property taxes are low, car insurance and health insurance are very inexpensive.

In the meantime, I am resurrecting my version of the Vince Carmen school-show-booking-method and that is a lot more promising here in the tall grass than in highly populated Central Florida.

One of my pet peeves is that the media keeps handwringing on and on about the state of the economy: Daily statistics on unemployment, Minute by minute reports on why the stimulus package isn‘t working, Weekly griping about how things are getting worse. Well ENOUGH! 85 to 90% of Americans still have a job and money to spend and the streets are not deserted. People forget that even during the Great Depression fortunes were made and the entertainment business prospered. The key is “Work” and “Creativity”. You need to find a niche market.

Well, with the help of John Abrams who is always thinking of every possible way to keep ahead of this “new economy”, I thought we would give you license to wring your hands. You read that right. I am officially giving you license to wring your hands about the economy. For more ideas see www.rebelentertainers.com.

BUT... you have to meet some qualifications. Here they are:

You wring your hands about the economy if....

You’ve created and implemented a 5 - 10 step email campaign for anybody who visits your website or requests info about your services.

You wring your hands about the economy if....

You’ve contacted all CURRENT customers at least 3 times in the last three months by email, mail or phone.

You wring your hands about the economy if....

You’ve contacted all PAST and DEAD customers to find out why they left and see if they are in need of your services now.

You wring your hands about the economy if....

You’ve created a new show or brand new services that you can present to your current and new customers.

You wring your hands about the economy if....

You’ve started an entire new campaign either through direct mail or website or magazine ads or Facebook or Twitter and every other media you can think of to get NEW customers.

You wring your hands about the economy if....

You’ve contacted all agents and party-event planners around your area.

You wring your hands about the economy if....

You’ve attended every convention and expo within your target market.

You wring your hands about the economy if....

You’ve become a member of your local Chamber of Commerce and contacted every business in the Chamber about your services

You wring your hands about the economy if....

You’re blogging regularly to your target market.

OK. If you’ve taken every single one of these actions and you’re still struggling with making money with magic in this economy, then you are officially licensed to wring your hands about the economy.

Dennis

2009-08 Famulus newsletter

Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring

Next general meeting Wednesday, 8/19/2009 at 7:30 PM SHARP

Meeting theme: Modern Magic

I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819

Please join us for dinner beforehand

Lunch meetings in the McDonald’s at 7344 Sand Lake Road, Orlando. It’s two blocks WEST of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Sand Lake Road. We meet every Tuesday at noon upstairs.

Website: http://www.ring170.com/

F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
*************************************************************
Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Art Thomas – Treasurer – srjart@earthlink.net
Sheldon Brook- Acting Secretary – mrbrook33@yahoo.com
James Songster- Director at Large, - JjTjMagic@aol.com
Joe Vecciarelli- Sgt at Arms - talkingmute@tampabay.rr.com
Stefan Bartelski – Editor of “Famulus”- Famulus@illusioneer.com
*************************************************************
GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it to Famulus@illusioneer.com, and we will get you in print.
Please, please, please, use the above e-mail address, your messages are in danger of getting lost if you do not do so.

2009-08 From the Editor

I was very pleased to be able to join many of you again at a Ring meeting, it has been quite a while. As I am still between projects, I have also been able to attend a lecture as well as Tuesday lunches.

We now have a weekly magic show on Orlando (again?), hopefully you will support the venture by attending now and again. I was hoping that someone might send me a description of their opening evening, as they were sold out by the time that I tried to make a reservation.

Also, do not forget to watch America's Got Talent, as our own Drew Thomas has made it through to the semifinals round. As soon as I hear the date of the semifinal broadcast, I will send a message to the members via the mailing list AND our new Facebook group.

As ever special thanks to our , it seems like long-lost, friend in Harrisonburg, Dennis Phillips, who continues to regale us with his trails and tribulations of moving, as well as other magic related stories. And thanks to Sheldon, who has taken over Dennis' role in recording our monthly meetings.

2009-08 Ring Report Ring #170 The Bev Bergeron Ring

President Craig Fennessy called the Ring to order on July 15th, 2009, and introduced the Ring Officers to the 23 members and guests in attendance. Craig mentioned that Aldo Columbini was doing well at home recovering from knee surgery and that Rachel Wild (Columbini) was looking to assemble a history of Aldo's magic career and requested that if any members had photos or memorabilia that pertained to his years in magic, she would appreciate copies. Over the years and numerous relocations he has lost most of what he had accumulated. The members would oblige if they had anything to contribute to the compilation.

Two members of the Ring, Joe Constantine and Drew Thomas have been doing well on TV's America's Got Talent and had been asked to return for a future performance.

Stefan Bartelski will look into getting either a Twitter or Facebook [Editor's note: it is a Facebook group, see elsewhere in this newsletter for details] account for the Ring.

James Songster and Joe Vecciarelli participated at Disney World in June in a successful effort to get into the Guinness Book of Records for “most people on stilts at any one time (1109) at multiple locations “.

Dan Stapleton recommended that our Ring sponsor a member to enter the close-upand/or stage magic competition at the Florida Magicians Association Conference in Daytona Beach this coming November.

Phil Schwartz presented his Magical History Moment No. 14 when he enlightened the membership with seven (7) examples of Thayer tables that he has in his collection. The Thayer Company had a record of producing 23 different types and included both portable side and center tables. He concluded by showing an example of a Barbinger motion machine that was utilized in jewelry shops as an advertising attention getter.

Phil's presentation was followed by Bev Bergeron doing an impromptu magic teach-in which included Bev demonstrating several entertaining effects with everyday objects such as napkins, crayons, soda straws and pencils.

Mark Fitzgerald emceed the members' performances after the intermission break. Charlie Pfrogner entertained with his Joanne Duck performance. Kerry Pierce performed the Gang of Four card effect and Will Wortman entertained with his 'rubber card'. Dan Knapp read the mind of a member with ESP cards. Phil Schwartz tried his hand at predicting the roll of the dice in a hand-turned dice box and Dan Stapleton closed the meeting and impressed the membership with a Tom Craven effect called Name & Card.

Sheldon Brook, Acting Recording Secretary, E-mail: mrbrook33@ yahoo.com

2009-08 Ring 170 Facebook group

For Ring members with a Facebook account, please join our Ring 170 group. This will allow the board members to post messages that are distributed even more quickly than our mailing list. To join the group, search for Ring 170, the group will show up. Click join and that is all there is to it.

If you do not have a Facebook account, do take a look at www.Facebook.com. This is one of the most popular 'social networks' and you will find more and more people using it to communicate. It can be used to let your friends know what you are doing, share photographs and other messages. In many cases your phone can be connected to your account, so that you receive text messages when something is posted to your account ('Wall' in Facebook-speak).

2009-08 FISM Updates

Information from Maria Ibâñez

FISM UPDATES

GENI FORUM

Here's a link to the reports at Genii Forum

http://www.geniimagazine.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=199632#Post199632

ANDREW WEBB

Great reports and coverage also available from Andrew Webb at the following:

http://www.magicconventionguide.com/category/fism-2009-beijing/

http://www.magicconventionguide.com/2009/fism-2009-photos/

http://www.magicconventionguide.com

STREET OF CARDS

Here's the link to that site: http://streetofcards.tv/channel/27/jeff-mcbride/

2009-08 Shoot Ogawa lecture at MAD Studios

MAD Magic has good news, when we return from Magic Live! in Las Vegas on August the 25^th, we will have SHOOT OGAWA with us. That’s right, direct from FISM and a Japanese tour SHOOT will be performing and lecturing at MAD STUDIOS ORLANDO. And when we asked if he would stay an extra day and conduct a private workshop he said YES!

SHOOT OGAWA, LIVE AND IN ACTION

SHOW AND LECTURE

TUESDAY, AUGUST 25^TH AT 7:30PM

MAD STUDIOS, 1039 PINE ST. ORLANDO, FL 32824

$25.00 ADVANCE, $30.00 AT THE DOOR

LIMITED SEATING, RESERVE NOW!

PLUS, BY SPECIAL ARANGEMENT

SHOOT OGAWA’S PRIVATE WORKSHOP

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26^TH AT 7:30PM

MAD STUDIOS

$60.00 PER PERSON, (no at door sales, must reserve and pay by August 21^st. This is an MODERATE TO ADVANCED LEVEL workshop) VERY LIMITED SPACE, BOOK NOW…

call 407-858-9858

Below I am including information sent to me by Shoot’s management. If you are not aware of Shoot’s fame and talents just ask a magician friend to fill you in. I was speaking with Craig Fennessey about Shoot recently. Craig told me Shoot last visited the Orlando area about three years ago and packed the place. “It was huge,” Craig said. As with McBride, David Williamson, and of course Michael Finney who kicked of our visiting Icon program, I am honored to be able to host Mr. Ogawa. Particularly being able to host the private workshop. It will be an entire night with hands on, one on one, intense discussion and development of close up and parlor style magic. You are encouraged to bring effects and routines you wish you review and develop. Hopefully everyone understands the incredible value this opportunity presents us magicians here in Central Florida.

The show and lecture on Tuesday evening will feature his award winning favorites and new magic fresh out of the brain of this young man. As with all of the magical icons we have had the pleasure to present at MAD, Shoot will be available to answer questions from the attendees. He will openly answer questions about his around the world travels, his experiences in magic from an early age to becoming one of the most recognized performers active today.

2009-08 Charlotte Pendragon Coming to Daytona

This internationally known illusionist is one of the most groundbreaking female magician’s in the world. She has been performing for about 30 years, stunning audiences that have included the President of the United States, the Queen of England, the Prince of Wales and the Royal Family of Monaco, with incredible illusions.

She was included in the 2005, 50th Anniversary edition of the Guinness Book of World Records for a split-second illusion, Metamorphosis. Look her up in the “Magic” category, where her time doing the grand illusion is 2.5 seconds flat. She’s tied in a bag in a box, her partner stands on the box, drops a curtain and voila! They have switched places. It is a wonder to behold, one of the great illusions of stage magic. “They do it so fast, they would have fooled Houdini,” states The Times, London.

Charlotte Pendragon is the most honored woman in the history of the art form. She was voted into England’s famed Inner Magic Circle; amazing because she is an American and no woman had ever received this honor in the 100 plus years of the organization. Charlotte was the first woman to receive “The Magician of the Year Award” from the famed Magic Castle.

Charlotte has entertained audiences in theaters and on television in over 50 countries. She has starred in 14 prime time magic specials on NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, PBS, Disney, Showtime, The Family Channel, VH1, E Entertainment and on CNN’s Showbiz Today. She was part of an act that made more international television appearances than any magicial act in history. On an edition of NBC’s World’s Greatest Magic, this act closed the show by making 25 showgirls vanish on stage at Caesars Palace. She has made several appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Charlotte has performed with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, presenting illusions to classical music. For Universal Studios she was a star in a special nighttime magical illusion spectacular, Illusions of the Night, which played to more than one million people. The special gained the reputation as Universal’s most successful live show ever.

Charlotte will be making her solo debut at the Daytona Festival of Magic. Let’s all show our support for her!

2009-08 FREE Magic Trick

With full permission of Bryan Dean from http://www.LearnEasyMagic.com ...

here is a sample magic trick!

Just click here to get it:

http://www.learneasymagic.com/Amazing_Card_Magic_Sample_Trick.pdf

If you have trouble reading the eBook, you may need the
free Adobe Reader from Acrobat: http://get.adobe.com/reader

2009-08 Dennis' Deliberations

Greetings from the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. This is a magical place. The evenings are cool and the days are mild. This is not the steam bath climate of Central Florida in the summer. My new E-Mail is dphillips2009@comcast.net . Please change your address book.

Congratulations on Phil Schwartz’s excellent article in Magic Magazine on Thayer. I enjoyed reading it. It was good to see that Jon Armstrong is back in town for a lecture. Sheldon is doing a fine job of documenting the ring meetings. I wish I could be there to experience all the details. I miss you folks!

I did meet a local magician here in Harrisonburg that is teaching a magic course for children for the recreation department. He has all the David Ginn material down pat. Another local is doing one night a week restaurant magic on “kid’s night” at a local casual dining place. I am still going through the moving chores of: driver’s license, car tags, telephone set-up, internet set-up, bank account change over, health insurance COBRA- can I spare you all the agony of the problems in moving? In a week or so, I will get into the job search and magic bookings phase.

In the meantime, I did set up my TV and DVD player, even though, as I am writing, Comcast is hooking me up to the Internet. My E-Mail will be at the top means that I am again on Al Gore’s Super-Highway of information driving a “clunker” of a computer. Maybe Obama will let me fill this PC with metal shavings and epoxy and fill the hard drive with viruses and trade it in on a brand new computer. There is something bizarre about trading in your old American car in the “Cash for Clunkers” program and then buying a new foreign made car. I have an idea; can I trade in my old “Super X” levitation for a brand new Vegas Levitation? Let’s have a magic version of the automobile “Cash for Clunkers”.

On a serious note: A magic friend in Florida sent me an instructional DVD by Bob Kohler featuring Steven Spill’s “Needle Trick”. Spill, who toured comedy clubs for years, uses this as his closing act. Let me tell you that there has rarely been an instructional DVD on magic that has impressed me so much! I really think that Dave Williamson (who was at our last banquet) was influenced by this DVD. We all think of the “Swallowing the Needles” trick as a geek trick and old style magic. It is not! Dai Vernon was around when Houdini did his grand illusion show at the New York Hippodrome. Dai was not a big fan of Houdini but he did say that Houdini’s needle trick was the strongest part of his show and he raved about it.

I am sure that all of you enjoyed Dave Williamson’s needle trick even if it was in his typical over-the top comedy style. I am convinced that most magicians do not think about performing the trick because they really do not know how it really works, how to set it up, how to load the needles and how to play it. Steven Spill shows you every detail on making the load, all of the mouth work and stealing and hiding the load. His method of set-up is the most practical that I have seen. He loads the threaded needles while you are looking! The packet from which he pulls the needles has within it a soft magnetic sheet, actually a flexible refrigerator magnet to hold the needles and the load. After “swallowing” two needles he pulls out another 18 but by holding them by the lower-half of the bundle (to conceal the threading) they look loose. This is the load! He has clever lines to excuse this action.

We live in the age of “pack small, play big” and the needle trick fills the bill. Richardi did the “Razor Blades” but who uses those anymore? I am definitely thinking about what I saw. This is not a trick for kid’s shows unless you use the old disclaimer, “Now, don’t try this at home kids unless your Mommy and Daddy are away. If they are, then go for it! Really, do not do this at your home; go to someone else’s home where they have liability insurance”. If you are playing for an adult audience, have the audience assistant look into your mouth and you say, “They all went down my fallopian tube- pause for audience laughter- no, it is really my esophagus. I only said fallopian tube because it sounds sexier!”

On the job front, here in Harrisonburg, I still have applications in at the local colleges as well as Rosetta Stone. Rosetta has a large local operation here and needs a content writer. One afternoon I wanted to take a break from unpacking so I went on a trip around town to find the old TV station that I used to watch in high school in the early 60s when my family lived a few miles north of here. I found it! The actual TV and radio stations moved to new buildings and the old building is a warehouse now.

I went into the new radio station and introduced myself and explained to the receptionist what I was doing and we got into a chat about broadcasting. All of this was overheard by the general manager in an adjacent office. I left the building and as soon as I got into my car, the receptionist came running after me. I rolled down my window and she said, “The manager wanted to know if you had a resume?” In almost forty years of broadcasting work I have never had such a thing happen! Maybe it was a good sign.

Keep me posted on what I happening.

Dennis Phillips

2009-07 Famulus newsletter

Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring

Next general meeting Wednesday, 7/15/2009 at 7:30 PM SHARP

Meeting theme: Pot Luck

I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819

Please join us for dinner beforehand

Lunch meetings in the McDonald’s at 7344 Sand Lake Road, Orlando. It’s two blocks WEST of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Sand Lake Road. We meet every Tuesday at noon upstairs.

Website: http://www.ring170.com/

F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
*************************************************************
Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Art Thomas – Treasurer – srjart@earthlink.net
Sheldon Brook- Acting Secretary – mrbrook33@yahoo.com
James Songster- Director at Large, - JjTjMagic@aol.com
Joe Vecciarelli- Sgt at Arms - talkingmute@tampabay.rr.com
Stefan Bartelski – Editor of “Famulus”- Famulus@illusioneer.com
*************************************************************
GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it to Famulus@illusioneer.com, and we will get you in print.
Please, please, please, use the above e-mail address, your messages are in danger of getting lost if you do not do so.

2009-07 From the editor

A rather short newsletter this month, I expect that everyone is off enjoying vacations or such. However, I am very thankful to Dennis who, while in the throes of moving, has managed to put together another illuminating "Dennis' Deliberations". Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Magic continues to stay alive on TV, with Masters of Illusion, lance Burton and, unfortunately, the Masked magician appearing regularly. And some magicians have made it through to Las Vegas on America's Got Talent. So our art stays in the minds of the general public, especially with tonights release of the next episode of the Harry Potter saga.

Looking forward to seeing some of you at this month's meeting

Your editor

Stefan

2009-07 Ring Report Ring #170 The Bev Bergeron Ring

President Craig Fennessy called the June meeting to order and introduced the Ring officers to the forty-two members and guests in attendance. Craig mentioned that a Broken Wand Ceremony was performed for the late Carol Bristol, a past member of our Ring who passed away in June after a lengthy illness. Bev Bergeron reported that John Calvert was convalescing at his home in Bowling Green, Ky. John was taken ill in New England while on tour.

The Ring has planned several future lectures that will include a former member, Jon Armstrong, who will return home to Orlando and conduct his lecture for the Ring on August 4^th. Jon now makes his home in Los Angeles and is a frequent performer on TV’s ‘Masters Of Illusion”.

Ring volunteers have been performing for the children and their families at the “ Give Kids The World Village” in Kissimmee, Fl. Joe Vecciarelli reported that their efforts have been well received.

Phil Schwartz, our Ring’s historian, presented Magic History Moment #13 - a treatise of Floyd Thayer’s skill as a wood-turner and provided the membership with numerous examples of Ball Vases and Clingo Balls that Mr. Thayer produced in his time.

James Songster emceed an unprecedented number of entertaining presentations by members and guests. Keith Locke (Elliot Hitchcock) presented his “First Kiss” effect developed from “Room for Doubt”. A volunteer selected a vehicle and one of nine locations where he received his first kiss. A miniature Juke box was started and instructions as to moves around the nine cards on the table were followed and the location of the “First Kiss” was ‘divined’.

Guest John Donahue, who attended with his wife, Rhonda, displayed a scale model of his dream “Magic Shop” which he built and was enjoyed and admired by the membership.

Kerry Pierce won the door prize which was a DVD for the performing cabaret magician .

Following an intermission Patrick Oliver, John Donahue, Mike Martin, Mark Fitzgerald, James Songster, JC Hiatt and Bill Wortman performed entertaining and comedic card routines for the membership’s pleasure.

Charlie Pfrogner chipped in with a routine utilizing a large die card that couldn’t quite make up its mind as to how many pips were on either side of the card.

Leo Michaels demonstrated his skill in card handling, which in part won him a junior award at a 2006 IBM competition.

Josh Stenkamp performed a cup and ball effect with a double jigger and olive to the audiences’ delight.

Dan Stapleton closed the entertainment with a Max Maven “Kurotsuke” trick, predicting which one of six participant volunteers had selected the odd “stone”.

The membership was reminded that the Florida State Magic Convention would be held in Daytona Beach, November 6-8, 2009.

2009-07 Dennis' Deliberations

Greetings while in transition from Orlando to Virginia!

Moving a household and large magic show 850 miles is no small task! I am 60 years old and wish I was 30 years younger.

So…What is up with the magic scene in the Shenandoah Valley? There are ski-resorts and summer resorts all over that area. They have a one-night-a-week stage show at the local ski-and 4 Season resort. Jason Bishop’s Illusion show is currently playing there for the summer. There is a downtown theater in Harrisonburg They seem fairly open to co-producing seasonal events. Maybe I can produce a show for Halloween or Christmas? There is one young magician doing table hopping at family restaurants in town and Harrisonburg has a novelty-costume store with a magic counter in the downtown area. Actually two years ago, I stopped by the store during the Christmas Holidays and they were thrilled to have me go behind the magic counter. While my wife and sister-in-law were strolling the downtown shopping area, I sold a couple of hundred dollars of their magic! There are magic hobbyists in town. The owner’s wife wanted Cindy to promise to help them out at Halloween time.

There is an IBM Ring in Stanton, Virginia about 25 miles away. I will check that out in September. I know of no professional magicians in that area of the states of Virginia or West Virginia.

Cindy and I just flew back here to Sanford on Allegiant Airlines on June 22nd after driving a 16 foot Budget Rent-a-Truck with my utility trailer on the back of it to Harrisonburg, Virginia. It was a 15 hour driving marathon. The 16 foot Budget cost $771 to rent one-way and $200 for gas. Harrisonburg is so small that when I turned in the truck at the local rental office, there was a sign in the window that said, “Make sure the truck is full of gas and leave the key in the mailbox at Jay’s Transmissions next door.” The mailbox was not a key drop but a box on the door! Anyone could have gotten the key out of the box and driven away. I called up the next morning and got the Budget Manager’s cell phone and he said he had gone to the location the previous evening and everything was fine. He also ran “Continental Car Rental” and other operations out of that one room. It felt like I was talking to a guy out of Mayberry, the fictional town on the old Andy Griffith Show.

We closed on our new house up there on Friday June 19th and immediately unloaded the truck. It was totally full of magic props. Sadly, that was only half of my magic. Why didn’t I sell my “Backstage with the Magician” while I was here in Florida? Those two crates alone weighed 450 pounds. Of course, I had crammed wardrobe and other smaller props in the empty spaces in the crates. I learned my lesson after Hurricane Charlie and everything loose I now keep in plastic bins. I have at least 25 of those!

My sister-in-law arranged for 3 guys to help us unload. Her neighbor works for an agency that helps refugees. I believe it is through the Mennonite Church (There are lots of Mennonites in Harrisonburg). All 3 guys were refugees from Iraq! They had been in this country less than 3 months and spoke almost no English. I can muddle my way through a limited vocabulary of the Hebrew and Aramaic languages, due to my seminary studies. Arabic is similar. All are Semitic languages. “Mik-ta-ba” –desk, “Kot-ba”- book, “Bet(h)”- House . My verb conjugations created a lot of laughs as did my mangling of masculine and feminine forms. Anyway, “Yannie” saw my Peavey sound amp and speaker system and said that he had sung for Saddam Hussein. I coaxed him to sing a bit and a fine baritone voice emerged with an Iraqi folk melody!

I did have to rent a storage unit in Harrisonburg- 10 X 20 for only $125 a month with every 3rd month free. Such a deal! It will hold the 10 largest crates.

Cindy and I almost fell out of our chairs at the Insurance agent’s office. We went there as recommended by our Florida State Farm agent to insure that house and change our cars to a Virginia address. Can you believe that we are insuring both cars for LESS that HALF what we are paying here? The homeowner’s insurance is ONE-THIRD what it costs here! AND our umbrella liability policy is ONE FOURTH! The dirty secret is that we pay out the kazoo for insurance here in Florida!

We are back in Orlando until July 14th and then we move for good. The major moving load is being handled by ABF freight lines. They will park a 28 foot tractor trailer in front of our house here in Orlando and give us 3 days to load it and then deliver it in front of our house up there for the unloading. The cost will be $2,382. This final time I am letting someone else do the driving! The trailer will be at least one-third full of magic.

We will be back about 4 times a year (by airliner) because our 2 girls are staying in our house here. Consider Allegiant Airlines for your next flight. They serve a number of cities two or three times a week out of Sanford and flights can be less than 30 dollars one way! Cindy and I flew back from Hagerstown, Maryland for less than $100 for both of us.

My gut feeling from talking to people and friends of my relatives is that the area is more open to shows than here in over-crowded Central Florida.

The issue for me will be making a living up there for the next few years. I am sure I will find something in either education (James Madison University- Eastern Mennonite University) or media or show-business. Rosetta Stone Language Learning software has a large operation in Harrisonburg!

My relatives are teasing me about the jobs that are available. That area of the Shenandoah Valley has many chicken and turkey farms owned by big employers such as Perdue Chicken, Tyson Chicken, Cargill and Pilgrim’s Pride. A relative found a job for a “chicken inseminator”. Apparently, that is a real job! My relative advised me that the job was “dirty” and you had to “sweet talk the hens” and tolerate them smoking a cigarette when you are done. My family has a sense of humor!

Right now I am packing the final pieces and preparing for the final load. I will keep let you know how the move progresses with an update the end of July.

Dennis Phillips

2009-06 Famulus Newsletter

Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring

Next general meeting Wednesday, 6/17/2009 at 7:30 PM SHARP

Meeting theme: Old Magic

I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819

Please join us for dinner beforehand

Lunch meetings in the McDonalds on the north side of SandLake Rd between I-4 and International Drive near the rest rooms
Website: http://www.ring170.com/

F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
*************************************************************
Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Art Thomas – Treasurer – srjart@earthlink.net
Dennis Philips- Secretary – Dennis@alliedcostumes.com
James Songster- Director at Large, - JjTjMagic@aol.com
Joe Vecciarelli- Sgt at Arms - talkingmute@tampabay.rr.com
Stefan Bartelski – Editor of “Famulus”- Famulus@illusioneer.com
*************************************************************
GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it to Famulus@illusioneer.com, and we will get you in print.
Please, please, please, use the above e-mail address, your messages are in danger of getting lost if you do not do so.

2009-06 From the Editor

Many of you know that my job takes all over this great country, so you might suspect that when I vacation I do not stray too far from home. You would be wrong! This newsletter comes to you from Salisbury, MA, a small town just below the New Hampshire border. Why are we here, you might ask. Halfway between here and Boston is a slightly larger town called Beverly, a name a few of you will recognize. In that town, in the Cabot Street Theatre, the world's longest running magic show takes place on most Sundays. We were privileged to attend show # 2915 of Le Grand David. For those who do not know, this is a show run by mainly volunteers, in the grand old tradition of stage magic. The founder, Cesareo Pelaez, no longer performs, but made an appearance at the end in a wheelchair. David Bull, "Le Grand David" is now the main performer, doing a great job throughout the show, supported by a very talented cast.

This family show, while not using cutting edge magic, is a riot of color, with lavish backdrops, props and costumes. My wife, who is quite critical about magic shows, was enthralled for the over two hours of the performance. If you ever make it up to this area, or better still, try to make it up to this area and be sure to attend a performance.

This issue sees a milestone for the Ring as Dennis passes the torch to Sheldon Brook. Once again, Dennis' contribution has been immeasurable and Sheldon has very large shoes to fill.

Thanks again to all contributors, especially Dennis,

Your editor
Stefan

2009-06 Ring Report

Summer will soon be upon us and the May meeting was a preview of good things to come. President Craig Fennessy gaveled the meeting to order. We had 28 people in attendance and 3 guests: George Anomoganis, his father and Wayne Wortman. Craig reminded us of the Gator’s Sunday afternoon get-together and the Tuesday luncheon in I-Drive. Art Thomas made the announcement from Marty Bristow that his wife Carolyn, our secretary during the 1990s, needs our moral and financial support due to her final illness. Contact this ring for details. The Recession seems to have stimulated many house parties and they are keeping our magicians busy with work. Many of our ring members have been working.

Phil Schwartz, our resident and renowned magic historian, presented his Magic Moment #13. This month it was “Thayer at War”. The wars were World War One and Two. Thayer continued making magic props during the war and many were themed. Phil showed the classic Mummy Crypt trick where a mummy refuses to stay in the crypt. Thayer had themed it with the dictators of the war. He then showed an old Thayer catalog and a collection of “Bonus Genius” doll vanishes. A six inch tall wooden cut out doll vanished under a cone of cloth. Thayer had themed these many ways. During the war, the doll was themed as a doughboy and the cloth a pup tent. Other themes in the Schwartz collection included a clown, a sailor, a Scotsman, an Indian, and an Easter Bunny! Finally, Phil filled us in on the Jay Marshall auction and a rare Houdini Poster and showed us a scrap book from Marshall’s estate that contained addressed-letter envelopes from almost every well know magician on the early to mid 20th century.

Dan Stapleton was up next with a final word in his Grandma’s Necklace lecture that he began last month. He demonstrated a “Rope through the Body” effect using the principle but with an un-gimmicked set of ropes.

This is my final Ring Report for Ring 170. In June my wife and I are moving to Harrisonburg, VA and I will become a part of Ring 320. At the meeting break, the ring presented a good-bye cake for all of us to share and a going away card for me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for many years of friendship and you will be in good hands with Sheldon Brook taking over as recording secretary.

Kerry Pierce volunteered to be our emcee for the monthly ring show that followed the business meeting. Charlie Pfrogner led off the line up with a Ball and Vase routine unlike any I have seen before. The ball vanished and appeared and changed into a human eye and then changed into a silk handkerchief, that when opened was an eye-chart! The wand was Abbott’s “Confusing wand” where the tip keeps falling off and changing ends and finally the whole wand is crazy. Dan Knapp came up and a spectator helper managed to select a blue backed joker in a deck that had been shown to be all red. Bev Bergeron presented a unique Die Box that he had themed to look like an ABC block. Bev said that it had been made by Del O’Dell’s husband many years ago and Bev had painted it. It opened with doors on the front and the back.

Mark Fitzgerald did his Flexagon. It is a flat paper octagon with 6 sides of each solid color. Not only is it a puzzling effect for the layman, it will fascinate any mathematician who specializes in topology. Mark then took two small dice and made the dots change. He ended with an unusual Triumph card routine. Dan Stapleton has produced several excellent DVDs on card magic and he demonstrated one. He made a written prediction about a spectator’s personality. The spectator flipped 8 playing cards randomly under the table with either backs or faces showing. When brought to the table the number of upside down and right side up cards matched the numbers on Dan’s personality prediction! Wallace Murphy had a spectator choose a card. He then wrapped the whole deck with a rubber band. A flick of the band and only the spectator’s card had the rubber band around it. Kerry then concluded the show with a hilarious version of “Who is smarter than a 5th Grade Magician?” Bev Bergeron could not answer a single question while a young spectator got them all correct.

With an enjoyable meeting concluded we left to meet again next month. From my new home in Virginia, I can always say “Good things are always happening in Ring 170”.

Goodbye and good luck.

Dennis Phillips

2009-06 Carol Bristow passes

A sad day for the F.A.M.E.group.

One of our original Ring 170 members has passed, Carol Bristow. Carol was a very active member of the group for many years along with her husband Marty. Our sincere condolences go out to the family from us all. She will be deeply missed.

Craig

2009-06 F.A.M.E. Visits Give Kids The World - Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Thanks to everyone for coming out to the village this evening.
The staff and volunteers enjoyed the show and many of the village guests commented about how much they enjoyed the show.It was a bit of a hectic evening with all the issues with the weather and flooding in the theater that, in the end, didn't really matter. We had great show and made a lot of people happy. The folks that walked around in the Gingerbread House performing close-up and making balloon figures were very well received as well. It is because of you that many of the seats in the theater were filled. I can only imagine what we will do next month now that you have seen and worked in the theater.
The list of performers...in no particular order.

• Dan Knapp
• Craig Fennessy
• Dan Stapleton
• Mark Fitzgerald
• Chris Dunn
• Mike Martin
• Ravelli
• Joe Vecciarelli

Thanks again.

Joe Vecciarelli

2009-06 Wallace Murphy lecture

Just wanted to let you know that Wallace Murphy is going to be doing a lecture at my house June 30th, 2009 from 7 pm to 10 pm. The cost will be $10 per person and an RSVP will be required. 20 people max so please RSVP as soon as possible, whoops 2 gone already 18 more open....

The lecture will cover mostly walk around (pocket) magic. Cards, coins, sponge balls and the like. As soon as I get a flyer I will send it out.


There is also a possibility of Magic Ian doing a teach in on rope magic in another month so if you are interested please let me know.

Thanks
Chris Dunn

2009-06 Request for dove apparatus

Anyone have a newspaper dove harness or Tear-apart dove vanish?
Thanks,
Dan Stapleton

2009-06 PICTURES ARE WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

Magic around Florida.

Snap shots help save the moment to share.
How many magicians got their picture with Houdini, Blackstone, Penn&Teller, Siegfried & Roy or Bev Bergeron.
I once was lucky enough to visit Colon, Michigan with my father-in-law and Jerry Darkey. What a small little place with so many important people on the walls. Now if those walls could have talked- wow. I snapped shots of the photos , the place, and my family. What fond memories to look back on. And when someone else looks at the picture they have a story to tell. I grew up looking at Mark Wilson and Rebo the Clown any chance it came on. I count myself lucky to have met them both in real life and had my picture with them. Just think how lucky we all are that Houdini did the silent movies so we now can watch him and be fascinated as those watching him long ago. I watched Don Arthur and Jerry Darkey do the magic and had the opportunity to see how the illusions worked and drew illustrations for "Magic In The Round" by Don. Now another generation will be able to gain from their knowledge. I had a chance to go to Marshall, MI and see the magic museum. How sad at the time the lady who owned all that knowledge, pictures, props etc. was being bothered by the city. She was close to her time to pass on and all that collection go to waste or into a private collection. I do not know how that turned out so if anyone knows please write about it. Thanks. That is why I share these photos with you.
Paula Large'
http://www.magicofart.com/

2009-06 Dennis' Final Deliberations

Guys and gals, Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the going away cake, the card and all the good words. It has been a long time since I got a standing ovation.
I am going to miss all of you!

This is my final regular column for FAMULUS. It has been my pleasure and honor to have been your magic ring secretary for more than a decade. I do intend to periodically submit my thoughts to you by way of this forum. The best part is that you can always E-Mail me also.

As I said last month, my wife and I are moving to Harrisonburg, Virginia. She has bought a house with a large basement and attic for my magic props. It also has a big backyard for parking a trailer and a truck. It is close to Interstate 81. Harrisonburg is a quiet University town in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. There is a greater sense of history there than here in the New Florida. The arm of Stonewall Jackson is buried nearby (the rest of his body is in Lexington, VA). Perhaps a part of my psyche is also dismembered: My body will be in Virginia, my heart in Florida? There are still examples of Union General Philip Sheridan’s scorched-earth devastation of the valley during the Civil War.

In spite of such symbols of the continuity of life, I am moving there with a great deal of uncertainty. You will be happy to know that I will be transferring my regular IBM affiliation to Ring #320 in Stanton, Virginia but of course a part of my heart will always be here with Ring 170. I have yet to be absolutely certain of a permanent job. Things look pretty good for working as a professor at James Madison University. I may supplement my income by teaching ballroom dance or staging magic dinner shows or occasionally taking a family illusion show back out on the road. I will be within 9 hours driving distance of 50% of the population of the United States.

The world is certainly different than it was 34 years ago when I moved, without any certainty, to Orlando. Is it more uncertain today? I do not know. I do know that 34 years ago we were also in a Recession and the situation was equally as grim economically. Since that time we magicians witnessed the rise of Doug Henning and David Copperfield and a so-called “Second Golden Age of Magic”. We also saw the decline of that Latest Golden Age in the form of the masked magic exposer, cheap packaged network specials, the tragic injury and end to the leading Las Vegas magic act and the plunge into Street Grunge by Blaine and Angel.

There have been good sides and bad sides: The good side has been in the rise of designers such as, Jim Steinmeyer and the free availability of magic knowledge through DVDs and books and the great and the prolific ideas and plans of Paul Osborne. The bad side is…all of the above! Any untalented idiot with a buck and a jig saw can build or, if he is lazy, buy himself props and still not be able to entertain. It seems that life always has its good sides and bad sides.

In 1909 German chemist Fritz Haber invented a complicated system to synthesize ammonia. Carl Bosch of BASF took the idea and made it workable. By 1913 Germany was creating all the fertilizer they needed. That was the good side. They could then expand their food supply and in contrast to Malthus’ prediction not face starvation. Previously they were forced to use Chilean Saltpeter and were at the mercy of British control of the sea transportation.

Ah, but the bad side! With the cheap ammonia nitrate they could make all the gunpowder and explosives they needed to fight a war. It has been suggested that without the Haber-Bosch process Germany could not have fought World War One. The irony of history is that now the world could feed a much larger population but they would also have all the cheap gunpowder they needed to kill them!

Maybe moving to Virginia will be only a good side. I am more of a realist.

For some of you dreaming to become a magical superstar with all its power and money, let me remind you that there are also good sides and bad sides. This reminds me of a passage in the ancient book, The Consolation of Philosophy. “Power,” wrote Boethius, “does not make a man master of himself if he is imprisoned by the indissoluble chains of wicked lusts; and when power is bestowed on unworthy men, so far from making them worthy, it only betrays them and reveals their unworthiness.”
You can say that about politicians and also about show business personalities.
Today’s individual magician enjoys wealth and power unknown to previous magic generations. We have the power to travel great distances in a short time to see conventions. We have instantaneous communications, the accumulated learning of the centuries at our fingertips, but the scope of most of our thinking is narrow and our minds more ignorant than ever. Magicians still actually need lectures on hank pulls and thumb tips. The power of modern civilization has not made us a better magician. Instead of bestowing worthiness on us, our wealth and technology merely reveal our unworthiness. Check out You Tube and lose your lunch over what is pawned off as “magic”.
We think that we are more sophisticated than our magic grandfathers. But we are less sophisticated, by far. Our descent into darkness is best demonstrated by listing old magical artists beside new artists; by listing old illusionists beside new illusionists; by comparing the lives of our magical mentors to our own. What conclusion do I draw? The powers and advantages of modern life haven’t made us worthy. They merely serve to amplify and accelerate our unworthiness. It is not hopeless. Just work as hard as you can to be worthy.
Perhaps we are too impatient. The magic cycle moves too fast. We want to buy the secret now and put it in an act this evening with no practice, no fine tuning. In the late 1950s I visited Earl Edward’s Magic Shop in Norfolk, Virginia for 6 months before Bob McAllister would see me and show me how to do the “silk to real egg trick”. Today you can click it off the Internet and have it FedEx by Noon tomorrow. Why do we do this to an audience and then get angry because they recognize our ineptness? So, my parting advice is practice, practice and practice and use a mentor and advisor. Become a worthy person by honesty and education and self-discipline.
I now leave my Last Will and Testament to my friends in Ring 170:
My love of photography and technology goes to Craig Fennessy, who is sure to add it to his enormous talents and move to greater things. My love of making stuff and tinkering with props goes to Chris Dunn, the ring’s handy man. Charlie Pfrogner gets the bizarre and creative side of me, as if he needs any more, but he can have fun with it. Wallace Murphy gets my ability to wake up early and work hard as well as whatever dexterity I have left. JC Hyatt gets my love for walk-around magic. My old set of “Kate and Edith” and bag of rubber bands goes to Mark Fitzgerald. He is better at both than I am or ever will be. Sheldon Brook gets whatever dance steps I still can do. He also gets my legal pad as the new secretary. Kerry Pierce is given my love for kid’s show magic and Halloween.
Art Thomas can have whatever mascot costumes are left in my warehouse as well as all my extra magic tables and blank ledger sheets. James and Joe can have the manufacturing rights to whatever ideas that they would like that they have seen at my warehouse. Our new Winter Park Chief of police, Brett Railey gets my handcuff act and blank pistol. Dan Stapleton gets my love of illusions and family shows and my spare tux shirt from 30 years ago, and the first crack at my entire video tape collection with every magic show on TV since 1984. He is then to pass them on to Craig Fennessy for the ring’s archive. Chuck Smith gets my old video camera. It is so old that there is a mouse inside drawing pictures of what it sees through the lens. Jacki Manna gets my ventriloquism dummy and all my old routines. Mike Biondi gets my newspaper clippings to dollar bills trick. I always lost money with it.
Kevin Butler gets my love of Children’s TV shows in the 50s and 60s. Dan Knapp gets my love of math tricks and mentalism. Chuck Micelli gets my Ink Blot tests and Meyers-Briggs tests. If he can’t figure out their brains with them, he can fool them. Richard Hewitt can have a couple of doves and my thanks for all the conventions he drove me to and the many nights I stayed at his house. Joe Zimmer can have my old pirate costume and sea captain costume and the blade box illusion, I outbid him for at the auction 8 or 9 years ago. Stefan gets the tougher task of editing FAMULUS without my monthly contribution and thanks for his job well done and comments [Note from the editor: And hopefully I will continue to receiver your musings, from time to time]. Ben Mason gets my business ability and Luciano get whatever motivation I have to try new things. Jim McNiff gets my appreciation for sophisticated intimate esoteric card magic. Note to Jim: I had an old girlfriend in college. Her last name really was “Stebbins” and she was the last stacked thing that I made good use of. Her head was empty but her blouse was full. I dumped her when I realized that she enjoyed putting the handcuffs on me for the Sub Trunk way too much.
Phil Schwartz gets whatever writing ability that I have to add to his already extraordinary talents in writing and history. If I come across any Thayer stuff while I am moving, it is his also. I am also leaving Phil my latest stock tip: “Buy Low, Sell High”. I know that is simplistic but it still works-I think.
Bev Bergeron, gets whatever else I have left, which is mainly a desire to see the old Willard the Wizard style shows come back. If push comes to shove and all else seems to be at a dead end in rural Virginia, I may get a canvas top and play little West Virginia towns! I hope Bev can troop with me. I am not another Wyman Baker, I promise. Wanna drink to that thought, Bev?
Finally to everyone in Ring 170 my love and best wishes and I am sure we will stay in touch and… Thank you all for many years of friendship and… who knows, in a few years my wife and I may be back!
Good-bye and may the Almighty Bless and keep you!
Dennis Phillips

Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring

Next general meeting Wednesday, 5/20/2009 at 7:30 PM SHARP

Meeting theme: Borrowed magic

I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819

Please join us for dinner beforehand

Lunch meetings in the McDonalds on the north side of SandLake Rd between I-4 and International Drive near the rest rooms
Website: http://www.ring170.com/

F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
*************************************************************
Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Art Thomas – Treasurer – Art.Thomas@Disney.com
Dennis Philips- Secretary – Dennis@alliedcostumes.com
James Songster- Director at Large, - JjTjMagic@aol.com
Joe Vecciarelli- Sgt at Arms - talkingmute@tampabay.rr.com
Stefan Bartelski – Editor of “Famulus”- Famulus@illusioneer.com
*************************************************************
GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it to Famulus@illusioneer.com, and we will get you in print.
Please, please, please, use the above e-mail address, your messages are in danger of getting lost if you do not do so.

2009-05 From the Editor

Time flies when you are having fun, and look, it is already May.

Thanks to all contributors this month, all you budding authors, please do follow their example.

I am very sorry to hear that Dennis is leaving us, not just for his excellent articles and ring report every month, but he has always been a great friend when I am able to attend ring functions. Dennis, you will be missed.

Your editor

Stefan

2009-05 Ring Report

We have grown accustomed to meeting in the back room of the IHOP on Kirkman Road.
I even remembered the old pun: “Where is the favorite place for a magician’s rabbit to eat?” The answer is the “IHOP”.
President Craig Fennessy opened up the meeting with 28 people in the chairs. We had one guest, Ken Hicks from Norfolk, Virginia. The business meeting was short with thanks to all who helped with the recent flea-market and auction. Art Thomas says it was a success and the biggest attendance we have had in a long time. James Songster announced that the ring will be doing shows at “Give Kids the World” on the 3rd Tuesday of each month. He invites all members to come and perform for the families with terminally ill children that are visiting Disney. Bringing a little joy to them is the best magic in the world.
Ring member Captain Brett Railey of the Winter Park Police Department has been promoted to the new police chief. We are happy for him. No more handcuff escapes at club meetings?

Phil Schwartz took the stage for part 2 of his Magic Moment #11. This was a continuation of his lecture and demonstration of Thayer box magic. Phil is an expert and author on the subject and treated us to rare Thayer pieces such as a die box made to use a black cube with a dog bone painted on it. It was called “Dog Gone”. He explained that the one he was showing us was a Thayer copy and not an original. He also had more die boxes as well as a die box that vanished a billiard ball. Phil also has his CD for sale with thousands of one liners and emcee jokes called Chic Canery’s. He treated us to a couple of dozen or so and they are top-notch comedy material. He has the CD for sale.

Phil introduced Dan Stapleton who did a mini-lecture on “The Grandma’s Necklace” principle and many of its applications. He began with the Shanghai Shackle and moved through various classic versions, such as Dante’s “Lazy Magician”. Dan showed magic kits that used the principle with beads and string. He explained that the basic principle is explained in book one of Tarbell. Dan concluded with an effect that he sold by the hundreds at the Disney World Magic shop in the 70s, “Odd-ball” which uses the principle. He ended with a handcuff and coat escape using ropes.

Phil Schwartz emceed the evening’s ring show and first up was Jacki Manna who transformed the old Genie Bottle trick into a wonderful routine using her excellent “distant voice” ventriloquism. We all could imagine the genie in the bottle pulling on the rope. Charlie Pfrogner followed with the red and white boomerangs. They changed sizes and then he had a delightful finale with the wand he was using getting twice as long. Mike Martin did a great “Cards Across” routine with a male and female helper from the audience and a lot of funny lines. He also enlisted Bev Bergeron to hold up an egg-beater as a magic machine to make the magic happen. Kerry Pierce, KP the Great, laid out 16 cards on the table and had a spectator merely think of one and he found it. Guest Ken Hicks, from Norfolk, gave away a dollar bill to an audience member, but the humorous premise was hilarious. He then performed a theatrical piece of poetry with all the audience chiming in on the chorus. It was about “Fast food ain’t good enough to be slow”. Ken could easily play the part of Professor Harold Hill in “The Music Man”. Chris Dunn made an elephant disappear. Well, it was a small elephant plush toy, but it was still a big effect. Wrapping up the show was James Songster with the classic Block off the Cord. After the meeting President Fennessy mentioned that this was an action packed and full evening of solid magic. We all agreed!

Good things are always happening in Ring 170.

Dennis Phillips

2009-05 Musings on John Calvert

ADVENTURES
IN MAGIC LAND

THE MAKING
OF ENIGMA THE DVD

John Calvert,
98 years young on August 5^th.....AND STILL GOING STRONG.

WOW!

When I heard John was going to give a lecture for the Leesburg club and then the next night he was going to perform as their head-liner at a show in the Villages I was elated.

Growing up in suburban Philadelphia where the magic bug bit me in the early 40's I had read about John Calvert and the exciting world traveling life he lead, entertaining the stars in Hollywood, becoming a film star in his own right... as The Falcon and a lot of evil doer parts in many westerns... visiting in many countries around the world and entertaining royalty and the public alike...hunting in Africa and on and on and on...as reported by Bill Rauscher in his bio-book of John's life written in 1987. Calvert was right up there with Dante and Blackstone in my estimation. I had seen Dante and Blackstone in the 40's but not the illusive world traveling Calvert.

FLIP WIPE to the by pass around Jacksonville.

I was driving on my way from New York to Florida when I looked up and saw a giant billboard advertising the Calvert Show at the Morocco Shrine Auditorium. My mouth went dry and my brain went numb. I was going to finally see John Calvert in person. I was wrong. The final shows were the past week. The billboard had not been changed. Thwarted!

FLIP WIPE to the Florida Keys in the early 90's

Chris and I were vacationing in a little out of the way campground when I picked up the local newspaper and was knocked on my ....uh!...lower anatomy. There I saw a full page ad for the John Calvert Show appearing ..NOW.. in the next Key north of us! Needless to say we jumped in the car and attended the show.

I was selected with a few other men to join John on stage where he did a ping-pong ball routine directing us in stage whispers unknown to the audience. I felt awed to be a participant.

Chris was selected to come on-stage. On the way up he somehow lost his wrist watch to the nimble-fingered Calvert and when they got to the stage John presented it to him. Unbeknownst to Chris he had volunteered as the person whose head was severed from his body via THE BUZZ SAW ILLUSION. (A bit of byplay was Calvert playing football with Chris' severed head. Putting Chris back together John helped him from the stage and then held up Chris' watch for all to see. Calvert had filched it again!

After the show I introduced myself and John graciously invited us back to his boat, The Magic Castle, in which he had traveled to the Keys. That evening we spent three or four hours of reminiscing with John and Tammy and being entertained with John's close-up tricks. He could nap a coin up his sleeve with the flick of his fingers. One time he had me hold the sleeve and the coin still disappeared. (He had placed it on his pant leg and it slid down into the pants cuff)....simple stuff but in John's hands...... UNBELIEVABLE

FLIP WIPE to Melbourne, Florida 2007

We had contacted John & Tammy to videotape an interview. We met him at the Masonic Lodge in Melbourne where we would tape it. He had two huge trailers of equipment parked in their compound ready to start a tour. John challenged me to race from the trailers to the lodge location. I declined telling him that I had just recuperated from a hip replacement. I am twenty years younger than John but I'm sure he still would have won the race. (That night in the Villages lecture he challenged two burlys to a test of strength where they each tried simultaneously to unbalance him before he could unbalance them. OF COURSE, HE WON.)

The interview went well and was in ENIGMA the dvd # 4. We had fun and this is how we ended the tape...the old Shirt-Pull Gag! I still have that shirt and any of you who attended the lecture saw me wearing it.

I can’t wait to see his performance at the London Palladium on his 100^th birthday.

I’ll be there!!!!!!!!!!

Chuck STYLESMITH Smith

2009-05 Magic in Wired Magzine

Great issue of Wired Magazine this month.

Magazine Cover
http://tinyurl.com/cmxpbt

Contents
http://tinyurl.com/s26o

Interview with J.J. Abrams
Article about Teller
A lot other magic and puzzle articles

Teller Article
http://tinyurl.com/dk524h


Joe Vecciarelli

2009-05 Dennis' Penultimate Deliberations

Allied Costumes 1975-2009

This will be my next to the last regular column. I will have more on me leaving Orlando below but first some original magic! I carry on extended E-Mail conversations with many magic friends. One consistent friend and active professional magician is Larry Thornton in Calgary, Canada. Recently we were conversing about some killer card effects.

I offered him (and now you) this: Here is how I do a bit in my mentalism act (thanks a bit to Max Maven and Kenton Knipper): First, buy 4 decks and select from each 13 cards of the same cards. In these 13 you have 6 black cards and 7 red cards. Make one deck with 52 cards that are 13 identical cards repeated 4 times. As you take out the special deck (“13-4 times”) begin with the free and open choice to the spectator of a color with these words,“Sir, do you want me to remove the blacks or the reds from the deck. This is your free choice! You can change your mind. Think about it. Black or red?” You have the six black cards hidden on your body. One in each sock. One in each shoe. One in each shirt sleeve. If they say, “Black” says, “Is that your final choice?” “Then we will take out and use the Black ones. I am going to hand you this deck and look at any Black card and close the deck.” If they say “Red” say, “Is that your final choice?” “Then, by your choice, lets take out and throw away the red ones and when I hand you the deck look at any Black one.” “Now, tell the audience so they can share in what is your free choice”. After by play, show them that you had previously knew what they predicted by revealing the card you had hidden on your body. Buy 5 cheap decks at the dollar store (Charlie Pfrogner’s favorite magic shop!) and you have a miracle they will talk about. Print out this routine and sell the extra 3 sets at the next magic flea-market for 5 bucks a piece and the trick will cost you nothing!

Larry followed up with his version: I have on my desk, as I speak, a 3-way force deck that I made myself. Whether it's a commercial trick or not I don't know, but it's the nerviest card effect I own -- so much so, that I have lost my nerve to do it! The effect: I take a deck out of its case and casually fan through them faces out to show them all mixed, without verbally drawing attention to that fact, as I say, "I would like to have the assistance of three people." I close the deck and say to a gentleman, "We'll try a little mental experiment. I am about to hand you this deck of cards. Now it is very important that you follow my instructions EXACTLY. Please hold the deck tightly in your hand with the faces towards you, and carefully PEEK at just ONE card in the FIRST THIRD of the deck. You do this by pulling forward some of the cards in the bottom third of the deck, like this." (I open the deck at the top with the index finger of my free hand, forming a break.) "REMEMBER the card you peeked at." I emphasize, "It is IMPORTANT that you peek at only ONE card. Do not let more than one card slip by, as that might lead to confusion as which card you are to remember." I then quickly repeat the process with each of two more people, peeking at a MIDDLE card for the second person and a TOP THIRD card for the last volunteer, and then let all three people repeat the process. After some by-play (taking back the cards, showing them still mixed and pointing out the fairness of each selection, etc.) -- I THEN DRAMATICALLY NAME EACH CARD (or they could have been "divined" each time and written out on a chalk board or large pad). All the cards, of course, are different, and each person verifies it is indeed their selection. Unlike the "standard version" of this effect, there is no need to name three cards and have the spectators sit down when they hear their selection, simply because they all picked the same card from a one-way deck. THE DECK CONSTRUCTION: Top Third: 8 pairs of cards, with each pair consisting of an Eight of Clubs (shorted a la Svengali), in front of which is an indifferent unshorted card. They are 'glued' together at the bottoms only, with double-stick Scotch tape, available at any office supplies store. In other words, if the deck is face down, the top card would be the force (8C) and its pair an indifferent card. Middle Third: 8 pairs constructed the same, force card Queen of Diamonds. Bottom Third: Force card Nine of Hearts. So there are 48 cards in all (3 X 16 cards). Funny, but I just checked and found a 9-9-8 arrangement in my own deck, making 52 cards. No matter. We should reasonably assume all that double-stick Scotch tape would add to the thickness of the deck making it hard to remove from its case, but that doesn't seem to be so. Why the taped pairs? Simply so I can ribbon-spread the deck on the table, or hand to hand (platform version) to show the deck mixed. So..... Have I ever performed this little mental miracle under paid conditions? NO! I haven't the nerve to trust the average butter-fingered spectator. But believe.... if I pulled off the trick ... it would be killer effect. So it lies there on my desk ... unused ... and haunting me until the end of time........ thank you Larry!

*******************************************
I think that most of you know that my wife and I are moving to Harrisonburg, Virginia in June. Yes, after 34 years here in Orlando, we are making the big move. We moved to Orlando from Charlotte, NC in 1975 to open our costume business and we have just recently sold the business and the building. Much of the reason for the move to the Shenandoah Valley is that my wife wants to be close to her family and especially her sister. My brother-in-law is a science teacher in High School. Also, almost all the rest of her family is in the Washington, D.C. area which is a little less than 2 hours away. My wife originally was from Virginia and she has reminded me almost every day since we moved her in 1975 that she never wanted to move to Florida. Much of it was the climate and the separation from her family. In spite of her dislike for the climate, mold and pollen, sand and sun, she did manage to have a good time here the first few years. Orlando was a small town then. That was way back when Disney was just a single theme park down the road towards Tampa. There was no Post-Modern Orlando City skyline and you could still find orange trees in the city limits. But something happened in the mid 80s. Orlando shifted from a small town to a city with clogged traffic arteries and social and ethnic issues.

We tried to escape that by moving from Audubon Park (next to Baldwin Park) to Oviedo. In 1985 Oviedo was a small country town. Within 5 years it was an edge city with all the problems of the city of Orlando. We then decided to just move back downtown and not fight the suburban sprawl. From 1975 to 1990 I made much of my living doing magic shows. The shows were family oriented illusion shows for fund-raising. Most were not in Orlando but in distant small towns. The shows were promoted with telephone boiler rooms. Occasionally, I did convention shows and walk around magic at events. I did more convention shows in Jacksonville and Tampa than Orlando.

I did play the Bob Carr 3 times before 1979 and the Sanford Civic Center in 1985. From 1976 to 1978 I regularly performed in many local schools with my show as an evening fund-raiser. Dan Stapleton had his shirt ripped by students in a show at Robinswood Middle School about 1976. It was during a scene where a gorilla ran out into the audience. Halloween of 1976, Dan got me and my cast to help him with the Lake Eola Halloween Band-shell show. Along the way, I did shows for Ray Ramsey, a few with Bev and Dan. I played Disney Conventions a few times. Shows within the Orlando area were always “catch what I can”. 1990 was the year of the first Gulf War and a Recession followed. Usually an economic downturn did not affect small-town fund-raising shows. But 1990 was different. Small town merchants were hit hard by the expanding Wal*Mart and began closing. The backbone of my marketing crumbled as the old tap lists of local sponsors dried up. It was sad to go through the little Florida towns and see the downtowns dead. Moreover, cable and satellite TV and VCRs started to keep people home. Live entertainment suffered. My magic show business mostly dried up. Plus, every little town now had a local illusionist who, armed with a jig saw and Paul Osborne plans, made boxes and grabbed the dates.

My wife and I transitioned into a smaller act for ballroom dancing showcases and I played a yearly route of church programs with Dr. Steve Brown. I plowed my efforts into my costume shop and was surviving from it. Then came 911 and an economic Recession followed by Hurricane Charley. My partly insured warehouse was destroyed by the hurricane. Combine all these downturns with the rise of “Spirit Costumes” (and all of the temporary stores at Halloween) and the plethora of cheap Red Chinese Halloween stuff that is imported and sold on the internet and every avenue of the costume and magic business collapsed for me here in Central Florida. Last year, after plowing over $50,000 in five years into the costume business, my wife (the manager and loyal partner through all of this) said that we had to close. My accountant had even harsher words for me and questioned my sanity for hoping things would get better. My financial planner even threatened to take back the calendar he had given me!

We decided after last Halloween to list my business building for sale and liquidate the business. We sold many of the costumes to Orlando Vintage and Costumes and they will carry on with our place in the market. The owner, Lisa Smith also handles vintage clothing and has an internet presence. She is active in doing wardrobe for films. So, I am concluding a 22 year long stretch teaching as an adjunct (part timer) at Valencia Community College in the Theater department and the last 5 years in public high school. I also have 12 years teaching as an adjunct at The Institute for Christian Studies (Medieval to Reformation Theology and Philosophy). We leave many friendships, our grown children and a lifetime of memories behind.

One of the joys of living here has been having an active Magic Ring, which I believe is the best in the country, along with many professional and long time personal friends in magic. Being a lifetime member, I will always keep you in my heart.

I am not sure yet what I will be doing for a living in Harrisonburg. There are 2 universities and a college near by and I have applications in at all of them. The TV station in town has also expressed and interest to me in either engineering (I am a broadcast engineer) or in news or sales. I am transporting all my magic and supporting equipment and wardrobe so it will be close to me and available for shows. There is a 4 season ski resort nearby. I will keep you posted. My final details and good-byes to all will be in next month’s article!

Dennis Phillips

2009-04 Famulus Newsletter - Ring 170

Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring

Next general meeting Wednesday, 4/15/2009 at 7:30 PM SHARP

Meeting theme: Antique tricks

I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819

Please join us for dinner beforehand

Lunch meetings in the McDonalds on the north side of SandLake Rd between I-4 and International Drive near the rest rooms
Website: http://www.ring170.com/

F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
*************************************************************
Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Art Thomas – Treasurer – Art.Thomas@Disney.com
Dennis Philips- Secretary – Dennis@alliedcostumes.com
James Songster- Director at Large, - JjTjMagic@aol.com
Joe Vecciarelli- Sgt at Arms - talkingmute@tampabay.rr.com
Stefan Bartelski – Editor of “Famulus”- Famulus@illusioneer.com
*************************************************************
GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it to Famulus@illusioneer.com, and we will get you in print.
Please, please, please, use the above e-mail address, your messages are in danger of getting lost if you do not do so.

2009-04 From the Editor

Congratulations to the board for another excellent Flea Market. For myself it was an opportunity to meet some of you readers, something I always relish. In addition we were treated to some interesting lectures and a workshop, as well as being able to buy some useful, as well as some less useful, pieces of magic.

In another part of the newsletter you can see some of the pictures taken by Craig and a short video that I compiled.

Your editor
Stefan

2009-04 Ring Report

President Craig Fennessey gaveled us to order. Twenty eight were in attendance with two guests, Ray and Steve Scratsky. Craig gave thanks to the members who helped with table magic at the recent Orlando Marriott benefit Luncheon for Ovarian Cancer: Mark Fitzgerald, J.C.Hiatt, Wallace Murphy, Doug Otto, Jacki Manna and Craig. James Songster offered the ring members another charity opportunity at “Give Kids the World”. It is a special lodge that hosts terminally ill children and their families while they visit Walt Disney World. It is a wonderful way, through magic, to bring joy to children and their families.

Phil Schwartz presented “Magic Moment # 10”. Phil takes a few minutes at selected ring meetings to give us access to his wealth of knowledge about magic history and to see parts of his extensive historic collection. This lecture was about Floyd Thayer’s box tricks. Thayer made 1,500 effects with boxes. Phil showed us a number of rare die boxes, card boxes, watch boxes and drawer boxes. Be watching the magic publications for Phil’s new book on The Ultimate Thayer. At the end of his lecture he gave every person in the meeting a piece of printed ephemera from his collection.

With the business meeting concluded, Vice President Chris Dunn emceed the evening show. First up was Jacki Manna doing a cute “Two Ropes to One” effect and then a Card Monte using printed cards with a Bunny cartoon. The bunny was never where we thought. Steve Hart then demonstrated his latest creation. You may recall that Hart is the creator of Wiz Cote, the popular shoe burning box. This time Steve had a clever way to pop popcorn in a top hat. The hat was empty and Steve had a popcorn box with a few kernels of un-popped corn. Before long the hat was brimming with popcorn. Dennis Phillips followed with the seldom seen but always baffling “Bill Neff Rope Trick”. A rope is cut in the middle by a spectator and in plain view instantly melds back together and is immediately handed out for examination.

James Songster followed up with his rope routine and some clever knots that tied and untied .He also did a skillful Rope and Ring routine. Mark Fitzgerald was next on with a few more knot flourishes and a routine with a spectator who selected a card that was later found reversed in the deck. Charlie Pfrogner concluded the show with a cute routine that is sure to get the kids yelling. A red and yellow scarf and magic wands had their colors mysteriously changed in a little red velvet bag.

Good things are always happening in Ring 170

Dennis Phillips

2009-04 Ring Banquet report

March 1st was a special night for two Ring members. Phil Schwartz was awarded a Presidential citation by the board and ring president Craig Fennessey for his scholarly work and excellent monthly presentations on magic history. Phil has consistently presented his “Magic Moments” in which he does a 15 minute lecture and demonstration on magic history. Our ring is honored to have Phil as a member and thankful for his sharing. Wallace Murphy was awarded the “Magician of the Year” by the board and President Fennessey. Murphy has just been honored by being on the cover of “The Linking Ring” magazine. He is a long time member of the ring and has lectured with his astonishing sleight of hand at ring meetings and performed at almost all ring events.

These awards and much more fun was a part of a fun-filled night for the ring and their families and friends in the fellowship hall of the Lutheran Church location. Before the dinner and show, Mike Bondi, Mark Fitzgerald, J.C. Hiatt, Wallace Murphy and Doug Otto circulated through the crowd with close-up magic. Chris and Judy Dunn assisted caterer Shelly Garza in the buffet line as a chicken and vegetable dinner was served.

Treasurer, Art Thomas opened up the events with the table calls to dinner and introduced President and event chairman, Craig Fennessey who introduced the evening’s master of ceremonies, magic super star Dave Williamson.

Dave is known as one of magic’s funniest guys and he proved it to us. He almost single handedly developed the classic Rocky the Racoon routine that most magicians use today. He opened with a few comic lines using fake teeth and went into his classic “Needles from Mouth” trick, seen recently on the TV show, “Master’s of Illusion”. Dave introduced magic legend, Michael Ammar. Mike demonstrated why he is so respected in magic circles. He did card changes and began a running gag with a borrowed one hundred dollar bill. It was to have appeared in a cluster of balloons but the best part was to come. Ammar did a unique version of Carver’s “Professor’s Nightmare” and his fabulous cups and balls routine. The climax was the appearance of the hundred dollar bill in a lemon followed by its reappearance in the same restored lemon. Michael said, “I just wanted you to have something to tell your friends about!”

Todd Charles, a magic funny man took the stage. His act was field with sight gags and references to native Brooklyn. Charles, an excellent banjo player, uses the banjo
in the same way that Jack Benny and Henny Youngman used their violins. In addition to banjo humor he also did a unique and quite funny shadowgraph routine. His closing routine was a helmet with rotating arms (like a helicopter). Stuffed animals were attached to the end and Charles played his heart out with the banjo theme from the movie “Deliverance”.

Kostya Kimlat presented a different side of his magic. Kimlat is known for his excellent and inventive card work but this night he delved into mentalism. A card selection was revealed by an inevitable and unexplained choice of a spectator. He did a clever book test where a page is selected from a book that never left the spectator’s hands and when the spectator again tried to again find the page, it was torn out of the book and in Kimlat’s procession. Kostya ended with a newspaper test where a predicted word is revealed by a spectator from a freely chosen newspaper scrap.

Dave Williams concluded the show with a two person routine that involved bringing up a noisy waiter, who just happened to be his “old friend”. Naturally this was a set up but the routine was priceless. They presented a game show called “The Food Game” and a female and male were brought up to answer questions. The female spectator was given easy questions and the male spectator was given questions that were impossible to answer. The loser had to knock 4 eggs off into 4 glasses by quickly knocking out a tray. Williams and his partner ended the show on a comedy high note.

Quick thanks to all the people who made the banquet a success: Sue Jacoberger for stage managing. Amanda Vecciarelli ran the spotlight. Art Thomas for Registration. Joe Vecciarelli and Craig Fennessey for sound. Craig also did photography along with Gary Adams. The lovely table decorations were by Lynn Fitzgerald.

Dennis Phillips
Secretary

2009-04 Flea market video

Click on the YouTube viewer to watch a short summary of the Flea Market/Lectures/Auction



Mark Mason kindly allowed me to make this sample of his superb comedic magic.




Both videos are available in high definition, view them in full screen and click on the HD icon if you have a high speed Internet connection. You can also view the videos at www.YouTube.com (keywords: ring170 auction).

2009-04 Flea Market, lectures, auction photos

2009-04 Dennis' Deliberations

Siegfried and Roy appeared on TV for their “finale” On March 6th.

I have had a thin but long connection with S and R through Reid Carlson. Reid left Disney in the mid 70s and went to work with the Feld (Ringling) organization and helped with the Circus and when Feld produced S and R, he was a part of that as their scenic designer.

He gave my wife Cindy and I special tickets to the Siegfried and Roy Show at the Mirage in 1999 and we sat front row. We sat 24 inches from the shoes of the performers and could see the mechanisms on everything! I recall the dirty mirrors on the mirror tunnel when the cat comes out through Roy in the Interlude/ Spider bit! We actually got tiger slobber slung on us. I got the feeling they put “show friendly” people in the very front rows. They had us put red heart stickers on our forehead and another sticker because our area was guarded and access restricted. It was a great spectacular.

Needless to say, Siegfried and Roy are as much a product of luck as talent. If there hadn't been a Las Vegas, and if these guys hadn't been a cleverly promoted and freaky novelty act that people going to Las Vegas just HAD to see -- they would certainly have remained in the back waters of entertainment mediocrity over their entire lives.

Early film clips of these guys tell the tale: Their first "cat act" was little more than a variation of the Sub Trunk. And before meeting Roy, Fischbacher was just another cloned Dove Act, no different than hundreds that came before him. When they got to Vegas, the need to expand the act to garish Vegas proportions was virtually mandatory. They clicked with the Vegas approach.

Naturally I watched the 20/20 ABC TV special this last Friday. It was interesting but sad. I recorded it because maybe at a later date I will feel better about it.

In an odd opening to their short performance, it was Siegfried, instead of Roy, that rose from the ashes out of a pan on top of a thin see-through box. Why not Roy? The 20/20 interview implied that Siegfried had crashed and burned psychologically after Roy’s accident. Maybe he needed more healing than Roy.

The “out of a fire pan” effect (borrowed?) has been in Europe in Peter Marvey’s illusion show for some time and can be seen in its original form about 25 seconds into Marvey’s promo reel (YouTube) . In my opinion, Peter Marvey is one of the most original modern stage illusionists. He has very clever never-before-seen illusion concepts! Check out all his demo reels on You Tube. He has very clever never-before-seen illusion concepts! (YouTube)
The illusion of “seeing through” is accomplished by a “bottom of the body moving fake” that is reflected from the base with the 45 degree mirror. I was told that a rod projects from the back of the stand and when the magician moves behind the stand, the fake slides into view on the bottom. The rod and fake are spring loaded so that when the magician then moves off from the back, the fake is brought back to the side and out of the reflection view. It is very deceptive but requires a constant black background and on the S and R bit it was not constant and thus exposed. I have the entire 20/20 special on DVD, if you want a copy.

There is only ONE mirror and it reflects down. But in the bottom is a thin fake body part! (such as the way “Steinmeyer’s Windshear” works with the fake blades). The purpose of the bars (which are actually in the bottom but look like they are on the back) is to block a view of the bottom of the box if anyone is above stage level. So, on Marvey’s tape there is a fake of him from the waist to his ankles that moves in sync with his body giving the illusion that you are seeing through the table.

Americans are obsessed with the Rehab/ Resurrection myth. The devotion is definitely religious in emotional need and impact. In our perverse modern distortion of the Calvinistic-Protestant-Puritan work-ethic we love to see “nobodies” become famous, rich and acclaimed and then fall like rocks and crash and burn and then be reborn and restored to even greater glory! (Oh, no! I hear Michael Jackson is coming back)

We love it… it is the Grand Drama of Western civilization and may come from our individualistic American perversion of The Book of Job in the Bible and our likewise individualistic understanding of the Christian faith. (Born poor in a manger -matures and becomes the Messiah-only to fall in the Crucifixion as a rejected criminal and then rise in the Resurrection as The King of kings). American Christianity seems unique in not seeing the corporate identity of the individual with Jesus but rather as a plot to be duplicated in each individual. Gnosticism is always just below the surface in American religion.

Print out this edition of DD…. Tape it to your mirror! If you want show business success, literary success or creative success in the performing arts, use this formula! It is a part of the firmware of thought and psychology in Western Civilization.

Every magic illusion, every performance MUST have a version of this formula. If you carefully look at Freytag’s Dramatic Structure, you can see that it is built into every dramatic plot line.
Bernie Yuman is the manager of S and R and has always carefully used this formula when he portrays them. “Poor Germans born in a war torn country, alcoholic father- beat all the odds after rejection to become superstars” and now… They return in glory to be Resurrected and forever glorified. There is nothing wrong with this Grand Drama…This is the way we want to think as self-aware thinking humans.

Without “conflict and plot” life would be very boring.

Do I think it was really them under those masks...until the end? Whoever it was moved very slowly throughout the performance. I don’t know. I guess it doesn’t matter, does it? Isn’t life all an illusion anyway? They did make a comeback and raise millions for the charity. Is not THAT what matters and is the “real”? It is only in our minds that we bring “meaning” to all these electrons spinning in their shells in the middle of thermo-dynamic chaos.

None of this is permanent (or as Plato would say, “real”) anyway except the “meaning”. Returning again to the similarity of, drama and religion, 1 Corinthians 13:12-13 says that ONLY “faith, hope and love” are “permanent”. Everything else passes away. Aside from any religious dogmatic association, I believe that it is good advice.

The “love” is “agape” which in Koine Greek means (for the most part) “self-giving charity”. The Greeks had 3 words for love: Agape, Eros and Phileo. English is lacking with only one word and we often transpose the meanings. Again, “charity” may be the foremost way that Siegfried and Roy are remembered. The formula certainly worked for Jerry Lewis.

Dennis Phillips

2009-03 Famulus newsletter

Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring

Next general meeting Wednesday, 3/18/2009 at 7:30 PM SHARP


I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819

Please join us for dinner beforehand

Lunch meetings in the McDonalds on the north side of SandLake Rd between I-4 and International Drive near the rest rooms
Website: http://www.ring170.com/

F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
*************************************************************
Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Art Thomas – Treasurer – Art.Thomas@Disney.com
Dennis Philips- Secretary – Dennis@alliedcostumes.com
James Songster- Director at Large, - JjTjMagic@aol.com
Joe Vecciarelli- Sgt at Arms - talkingmute@tampabay.rr.com
Stefan Bartelski – Editor of “Famulus”- Famulus@illusioneer.com
*************************************************************
GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it to Famulus@illusioneer.com, and we will get you in print.
Please, please, please, use the above e-mail address, your messages are in danger of getting lost if you do not do so.

2009-03 From the editor

I am sorry that I had to miss this year's Banquet, it has always been one of the highpoints of the year for me. I am back on a project, so traveling on Sunday nights, at least that was the intention last week. Due to the snow storm which affected the East coast last weekend, many flights were canceled, including mine. So I ended up leaving very early Monday morning. Unfortunately Craig had already circulated that the show was sold out, so I could not uncancel my cancellation.

It sounds like a great time was had by all, thanks to Art for some back stage insight (below). Thanks also to Dan and Charles for their contributions as well as the regular deliberations and ring meeting notes from Dennis.

Do not forget that Auction is coming up soon, I hope to see every one there

Your editor
Stefan

2009-03 Ring Report Ring #170 The Bev Bergeron Ring

We are still homeless! It looks like the Ring will be loitering in the back from of IHOP on Kirkman Road for a while. We had planned to have a permanent meeting place by the spring but so far all the prospects for any of the new locations have fallen through. The current economic downturn has cut funding on city and country recreation buildings. The board continues to work on a new location.

February’s meeting was opened by President Craig Fennessy and a quick mention was made of all the upcoming magic events in the Orlando area. You should frequently check our Ring 170 website for continuous updates. We were thrilled that our own Wallace Murphy was on the cover of The Linking Ring. Wallace is one of our most talented members and is also one of our longest ring members.

After the short business meeting we turned to our guest lecturer for the evening, John Luka from Michigan. John has been an avid magic enthusiast for most of his life. Included among his mentors were Milt Kort and Harry Riser. John is the founder of The Motor City Close-Up Convention, held in Taylor, Michigan, now in its eleventh year. This convention brings top line performers into Detroit to perform and lecture.

John’s “Thoughts On…” column appeared in The New Tops magazine published by the Abbott Magic Company. The lecture contained material from John’s new book, Uncovered. Some of the magic included a no palm card to wallet and a three-ball routine, called Chroma Balls, which we scratched our heads over.

Featured is Licked At Last, which the experts are calling the best yet In The Hands Triumph. Another stand out item was Back to the 19th Century, an incredible assembly that will make you a believer.

There was even more great stuff that works well in the real world. Each and every effect has been audience tested over the years. Every item that John performed at the lecture was fully explained. He also provided his sources of inspiration.

John’s lecture contained do-able, practical magic. Be sure to catch his lecture when he is in your area and find out for yourself. You’ll be glad you did.

Good things are always happening in Ring 170

Dennis Phillips

2009-03 Adventures in Magicland

THE MAKING OF ENIGMA THE DVD
Part One
by
Chuck STYLESMITH Smith

When my son Chris and I came up with the idea for a video series for magicians we had great hopes for its acceptance. In a way it was successful but the best thing to come from it was the opportunity to meet some of the greatest magicians of today and yesterday, John Calvert, Mart Wilson, Jeff McBride, Terry Seabrook, Jack Kodell, Celeste Evans, I could go on and on.
(I am not neglecting to mention our own Bev Bergeron and Dan Stapleton.)

We traveled the country for two years and produced seven - two and a half hour dvd disks of magic that included interviews, visits to some of the remaining brick and mortar magic shops, hints from the professionals and tricks demonstrated and explained by the presenters.

From Monday Night Magic, Fantasma Magic Shop and the New York City Roundtable, to Denny Haney’s in both Baltimore and in Vegas, visits to Norm Nielsen’s home to see his poster collection and spending time among the unbelievable collection in Gary Darwin’s abode and on to Texas, Phoenix and California for visits to The Castle, Lee Grable, Jay Leslie and on and on.

One of the first places we visited was Las Vegas, referred as the magic capital of the world. I’ll have to admit there were a lot of magic shows in Vegas when we visited...and there still are. With limited time we saw Mac King, Nathan Burton, several magicians on a show that included Kevin James and a midnight show about vampire ladies scantily clad...but of course, we went to see the magic theme of the show. (Sure!) We missed the top draw, Lance Burton but we did get to visit and interview Gary Darwin and Norm Nielsen at their homes.

We knew that Denny & Lee had a brick and mortar shop in Vegas and trouped out to videotape it for the series. We had a great interview with Tom, who runs the shop and were invited back to an evening of magic in the “backroom.” It’s secret entrance was behind a bookcase which opened into a small theatre with stage and chairs. It was “open mike night” and several of the “locals” did a turn. I guess the ambiance of Vegas makes every magician look good. I especially liked a guy who did sightless vision and up until that time I was not a big fan of that venue of our craft.

Wonder of wonders, Denny, himself appeared, in his trademarked checkered sneakers. He said he had stopped in from the home shop in Baltimore on his way to play The Castle next week. We, too, were going to be in Los Angeles the next week. AND Wonder of wonders #2, Denny invited us to be his guests at The Castle.


Flash forward a few days and a lot of miles and we were in The Castle. Denny did an egg bag routine with two ladies from the audience and it drove home the fact that it is not the TRICK but the performance that is the entertainment. The magic is only the vehicle for the amusement. That thought reminded me of another egg bag worker Jeff Hobson...the same trick but a completely different approach.

That night we met Mark and Nani Wilson, who we later visited, and renewed our acquaintance with Ballentine whom we had spent a few hours chatting during a convention in Daytona.

All for now. Next month we travel up the California coast near San Francisco and visit Lee Grabel and wife, Helene.

2009-03 Annual Banquet

The annual banquet seems to have been a great success, here are some notes from Art Thomas.

In my opinion, the show was excellent, and the entire event was about as good as it can get for a club banquet show.

I thought that I would offer a "behind the scenes" insight that might not otherwise be known...

Now, we have all heard the show business stories about "stars" who are difficult to work with. Some of us have actually experienced these situations. Well, for this banquet show, we worked with four true stars - Dave Williamson, Michael Ammar, Kostya Kimlat, and Todd Charles. Each one of these gentlemen was a delight to work with. They are all total professionals. I realize that it may be disappointing that there isn't any "dirt" to share, or any intrigue. But, honestly, I can't imagine how any of these true professional entertainers could have been any more delightful to work with. They were all just great, both on stage, and off stage.

If anyone is ever in a position to recommend or hire any of these performers, I encourage you to do so. I certainly give them my highest recommendation, and will gladly work with any of them again.

During Dave Williamson's act he did a bit where he pulled up a woman from the audience to participate in a skit. What he didn't know was that the woman that he selected was Sheila Ward (Terry Ward's wife)who is a top-notch comedic improv performer and actress. Now, trust me, Sheila is so quick and funny that she could have easily upstaged the entire skit. But she didn't. She just played along exactly as anyone would want their audience participants to do. The skit was very funny, and Sheila was a great sport. Equally important, Sheila demonstrated what true professionalism is all about. She showed restraint by not taking advantage of the situation to steal the show.

There are many people in magic who could learn from this. Too often, when magicians volunteer to help others, they try to make themselves the center of attention. This seldom makes an act or a show any better. We should all learn from Sheila to know when it is our turn, and when it isn't. She set an excellent example for all of us to follow.

2009-03 David Copperfield at Bob Carr

Anybody want to buy an unused ticket to see last months show?

My seat was actually 8th row center...not bad. But when I arrived at the Bob Carr, Jack Kodell was already there and offered me a ticket that he had as extra, one that was given to him by his friend David Copperfield. To make sure I sat in, at least a seat as good as mine, I asked the usher which seat was better. She said, "Mister, the only way you can get a better seat than this (Kodell's) is if you are ON STAGE with Copperfield!" That's right...front row-center!
Jack didn't like the seats that close so we moved back a row. I still find it amazing that "DC" can do the huge illusions CLOSE-UP...and you still cannot see how they are done (unless, of course you already know).
Sitting that close you can nearly read what he is thinking...see every eye movement...see his eyes scanning the front looking for either his stooges, friends, or babes (yes, they were sitting behind me and next to me).
DC performed only two shows this year (at least four shows in years past) and the 2500 seats were filled at 80% for my 8:30pm show. That show actually started at 8:50pm, typical for a DC show (I've been to six or seven shows and they NEVER start on time although mine rarely do either). A very clever 10 minute promotional video was first and at 9:00pm David made his appearance on a motorcycle from a giant Shadow Box illusion. He next performed Ringflight with a borrowed ring appearing on his "baby shoe" lace. He next performed his very cool Passing Thru a Steel Plate illusion. This actually looks better from a distance as I watched three and four years ago.
Next was Kevin James' Floating Rose followed by a self-Shrinking illusion in box.
He then had two female assistants (from audience) on stage assist him with a Pick-A-Card-Live Scorpion-Find card trick. He then did his very dangerous (the recent news getter...assistant very badly injured) Walking Thru Giant Industrial Fan illusion.

New this year was his fun Dancing Neck Tie routine.
Next was his (slow motion) Duck Bucket routine with Webster the Duck, then my favorite of the show, his ESP routine involving a license plate, concluding with an Appearing Car that sits on top of pillars AT THE FOOT OF THE STAGE!
Next was a 10 minute video of one of his old television specials of his straight jacket routines. This set up his finale of vanishing 13 people from the audience.
Show concluded at 10:15 so with the two video's he actually had approx. 65 minutes of on stage time but really packed alot into his show.
Great show as it usually is, but he looked tired and seemed to just "walk" through the routines, especially the ones that require patter. I suppose I would too with the schedule that he has. After the show he stated that it has been a tough year for him, with the death of his mother, the injury of his assistant and the highly publicized accusation of some sort of altercation between him and a female.
A young man, who won one of the Daytona Beach magic convention contests saw me and asked if he could meet DC as he had a few old books that were given to him by his father, who also recently passed away. I asked DC and he obliged. The young man handed DC the books and DC looked genuinely touched. I told the young man (I think his name is Jeff) that he will remember that moment for the rest of his life...and he will. The look on Jeff’s face will probably be the thing that I will always remember about this particular performance. That and the ticket I never used but received a front row seat in exchange...it must have been karma that night.
Dan Stapleton

2009-03 Dennis' Deliberations

We all face the occasional rare storms in our lives. Hurricane Charley in 2004 upset my career and life. The roof on my warehouse was blown off and all my costume manufacturing tools, patterns and molds received severe damage which was only partially covered by insurance. All of my magic and illusions were mostly saved but a number of smaller things were water damaged. I found out that anyone with a lick of brains in Florida should have their magic in water tight plastic storage boxes. The few props I had that were not in plastic boxes got soaked. Most of the plywood dried out with minimum damage but the MAK Magic props made with Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) swelled up to 3 times its size. I have recently remade the last of those props.

One was called The Bunny Box for making a rabbit appear. A black metal sheet is used to sketch a rabbit and it is placed in a box and the sketch comes alive and a real rabbit appears. I had one that was made by MAK Magic. It was made out of pressboard with a tacky high glass paint job with meaningless graphics. The load chamber was only big enough for the smallest of bunnies. It was soaked by Charley and turned to a heap of powder.

I stripped off all the hinges and flap gimmick and rebuilt it out of some cabinet grade plywood I got for free from a cabinet shop. I made the load chamber bigger by extending the box another one and a half inches. I added double doors on the front instead of the one door. I believe that when you open up the double doors that are hinged at the sides it increases the illusion of depth in the box. With a new and more traditional paint job it is now functional.

I have probably used it a half dozen or so times. It seems to be deceptive. I first saw this trick on the old Magic Land of Allakazam about 1962 when Mark Wilson did it in the audience of kids.

Almost a year ago Siegfried and Roy promised to return to the stage in February 2009 as part of the annual fundraiser for the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute. Recall that Roy received brain damage when attacked by a tiger during their stage act on October 3^rd 2003.

The promise to return to stage will be fulfilled on February 28 at the Keep Memory Alive: Power of Love gala at the Bellagio hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. The performance will be filmed by ABC television and broadcast as "The Return of Siegfried & Roy," a special edition of the network's hour-long 20/20 news magazine show. Airing on March 6 [10 p.m. ET], the show will feature the magic duo's performance, as well as a segment on the Ruvo Institute in Nevada, a center dedicated to the study of debilitating neurological diseases. Siegfried and Roy say their participation in the fundraiser will be both a return to the stage and their farewell performance, the final time they will present their signature illusions. "We never got to say a proper goodbye," Roy said. "This will be our final bow and it will never be repeated."

In the meantime Franz Harary wrecked his convertible on the way back to Vegas in a freak accident and survived the ordeal with a few stitches. I am wondering if he turns the whole experience into a televised mega-stunt? Maybe the crumpled up car can be restored in front of your eyes like “Healed and Sealed” the refilling and uncrumpling soda can.

There is a popular myth floating around (at least since the last Great Depression) that when times are bad, people flock to entertainment, and so magicians do well. The myth explains that people need escape and something to get their mind off their troubles.

Baloney. Look at the super-sensitive nature of Las Vegas right now, where hotels are hurting badly and the staff is being laid off. House prices have utterly collapses in Las Vegas. Recall that the 1930s Depression was the final nail in the coffin of the big illusions shows.

When President Obama said recently, "It's time companies getting bailouts stopped sending their executives on company-paid perks to Las Vegas and Super Bowls and --" , the mayor of Las Vegas went berserk and demanded an apology from Obama for singling out Las Vegas like that. Then the mayor ranted about how very necessary and useful corporate (business) junkets to Las Vegas really are and how this stimulates the economy...Well, in fact it actually only "stimulates" Las Vegas.

The bottom line is that America (and peripherally the world) is in the deep financial sewer right now, and every politician that suggests anything is coming up smelling like sewage. If they vote for bailout money then they get labeled as a Socialist. If they reject bailout money then they are called a heartless cruel Fascist who enjoys seeing babies and old people starve to death. Enough already!

Entertainment (magic is at the very bottom of that food chain) is one of the first "perks of discretionary income" to suffer. It figures. CNN featured a Vegas magician, David Shimshi, who has fallen on hard times. “Shimshi used to work as a house magician at the famous Mirage hotel and performed with the World's Greatest Magicians show at the Greek Isles Casino. Now Shimshi, as he's known to everyone, including his wife Janelle, has seen his gigs disappear, a victim of the struggling economy.”

Finally, I watched Bubblevision (CNBC) on my day off. They had a series of programs about the meltdown and, honestly, they must be written for someone with the academic level of a 12 year old.

Allen “Bubbles” Greenspan was on explaining that he simply could not figure out the math behind CDOs. He said, “I have several hundred PhDs that I can call on and none of them could explain it either”.

What kind of math idiots, both in and out of government, are running things?

Please, I don’t want YOU to ever tell anyone that you don’t understand any of the derivative financial math models. Warren Buffet avoided them and called them “weapons of mass financial destruction”

Quants (financial mathematicians) began applying statistical models that are topographic based to make optimum predictions under unchanging ideal conditions.

It is not that complicated. In another few paragraphs, I can make you smarter than Allen Greenspan and his hundreds of PhDs.!

Think about hiking in the mountains and figuring out a path through the mountains with the least altitude and shortest distance. Then add to the complexity the stochastic process of rockslides or high water than may block your path forcing an alternative. Crunch the numbers and you get a predictionof the best path. Since there are a number of variables, call the path multivariable. Consider the timeline of a collection of mortgages to be a multivariable in risk and return just like figuring out the best path through the mountains. It is possible to model this best path with statistical math.

These “copulas” were the basis of the models.

www.pstat.ucsb.edu/faculty/fouque/PubliFM/fzCopula.pdf This is very

informative regarding “tail dependence” neglected by Gaussian copulas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copula_(statistics)

http://ideas.repec.org/p/wpa/wuwpfi/0111003.html

This will give you the basics of derivative structure:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Scholes

As Alfred Korzypski was famous for saying, “The roadmap is not the territory”

and that holds true for any Markov Chain Monte Carlo statistical model.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markov_chain because in economics there is never

a state of automatic return of general equilibrium. (I know. This goes against the “religion” of

the Free Market people.)

To some this up: Bad things happen. You can not make a math model to predict when bad things will happen.(“tail dependence”) Math is a tool, it is not a true copy of reality. Only when you know enough about the math tool, can you understand how is can be (and was!) misused.

PS: Forward this to Bubbles Greenspan and any PhDs you know. Explain it to them.

Dennis Phillips

2009-02 Famulus newsletter

Newsletter of IBM Ring #170
The Bev Bergeron Ring

Next general meeting Wednesday, 2/18/2009 at 7:30 PM SHARP

Meeting theme: Lecture by John Luka (see below)

I-HOP Kirkman Road
5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819

Please join us for dinner beforehand

Lunch meetings in the McDonalds on the north side of SandLake Rd between I-4 and International Drive near the rest rooms
Website: http://www.ring170.com/

F. A. M. E. is the Florida Association of Magical Entertainers
*************************************************************
Directory
Craig J. Fennessy – President – CraigFennessy@gmail.com
Chris Dunn- Vice President – Youngdunns@yahoo.com
Art Thomas – Treasurer – Art.Thomas@Disney.com
Dennis Philips- Secretary – Dennis@alliedcostumes.com
James Songster- Director at Large, - JjTjMagic@aol.com
Joe Vecciarelli- Sgt at Arms - talkingmute@tampabay.rr.com
Stefan Bartelski – Editor of “Famulus”- Famulus@illusioneer.com
*************************************************************
GET PUBLISHED!
Got an idea for an article to add to the next FAMULUS? Put it in the body of an email or in a Word document attached to an email. Send it to Famulus@illusioneer.com, and we will get you in print.
Please, please, please, use the above e-mail address, your messages are in danger of getting lost if you do not do so.

2009-02 From the Editor

Another month has passed and spring is coming. Thanks to the hard work by Craig and the board we have a spring full of magic. In fact so many good lectures and events are coming up that, as Hitch of Magical Arts and Design aptly put it, "If we keep this up, I wouldn’t be surprised if Harry Houdini comes back from the dead just to do a lecture in Orlando!!!"
We also had a visit from David Copperfield, I was not able to visit the show and no-one sent me a review (yet?).
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Banquet or any other of the planned events.

Your Editor

2009-02 Ring Report Ring #170 The Bev Bergeron Ring

Our January ring meeting was at the International House Of Pancakes on Kirkman Road. The weather outside was unusually cold for an Orlando January but the crowd of 28 magicians were warm inside the meeting room. We will be at the IHOP again in February but we expect to again have a permanent place to meet in March.

President Craig Fennessy gaveled the meeting to order. He and Treasurer, Art Thomas, remind everyone to pay their yearly dues since our future meeting location will be requiring rental fees. We had one guest, Michael Eaton. President Fennessy announced many upcoming lectures and magic events. The up to date information is available at our Ring 170 website.

Elliott Hitchcock announced his “Magical Arts and Design Studio” will host a Michael Finney lecture and he intends to have Jeff McBride, Gay Blackstone and many other guest lectures in the coming year. “Hitch” is trying to promote Orlando as another magic hot spot. We can hope he succeeds. He also sadly announced that Lyle Balcom had died. Lyle was a rotund clown and magician. He appeared on stage with his act at the Florida State Magicians Convention a few years back when we hosted it here in Central Florida. Lyle was professionally known as “Blumbo” and was noted for his children’s shows and balloons.

The business meeting was adjourned so we could give the balance of the meeting time to the guest lecturer of the evening: Chastain Criswell the inventor of Tag and Deface. Chastain has been performing these effects and others for laymen all over the south. He has appeared at private parties, public events, to corporate engagements with all of the items in the lecture. They are real crowd pleasers and foolers for magicians. His wacky style and charming personality, with a touch of a southern drawl, added to his delightful presentation and explanations. His featured effects included a unique use of the Scotch and Soda gimmick with a coin purse. He did some incredible moves with an Okito Coin Box and his Enigma Triumph card routine was baffling. Criswell has an amazing way to take a classic routine and develop it into a unique and baffling new presentation.

With the meeting concluded we look forward to the New Year and hopefully an economic renewal. Good things are always happening in Ring 170

Dennis Phillips

2009-02 Ring 170 Events List

The following is also available in the Yahoo Groups Ring Calendar, from which reminders will be sent to all who receive the newsletter

RING 170 MAGIC HAPPENINGS

IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA 2009

(February, March, April )

The first quarter of the 2009 year is packed with great magic events…be sure to join in on the fun.

1. John Luka Lecture

FEBRUARY 18, 2009, Wednesday 7:30 regular meeting night

Held at I-HOP

5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819, 407-370-0597

Come early and have dinner with us.

Paid Members: $10.00

Non Members: $15.00

Go to www.Ring170.com and download a flyer with all the details.

2. Banquet & Magic Show, 2009, IBM RING 170

MARCH 1, 2009, Sunday 6pm -10pm

Featured MC & entertainer: DAVID WILLIAMSON!

Close-up magic before dinner

Buffett dinner

TICKETS: $25.00 per ticket, includes dinner

LIMITED SEATING!!….Don’t wait to reserve your seat. Payment at the door.

E-mail reservations to art.thomas@disney.com

Go to www.Ring170.com and download a flyer with all the details.

3. Legends of Magic Tribute

MARCH 16, 2009, Monday evening 7:30pm.

Held at the beautiful Garden Theater,

160 W. Plant St., Winter Garden Fl 34787

Featuring Jack Kodell and Celeste Evans…

Hosted by Dan Stapleton.

TICKETS: $10.00 at the door

Important Call (407)-491-3287 for reservations!

4. IBM RING 170 MONTHLY MEETING at the I-HOP location!

MARCH 18, 2009, Wednesday evening, 7:30pm

Held at I-HOP

5203 Kirkman Road

Orlando, Florida 32819 407-370-0597

Come early and have dinner with us.

5. IBM Ring 170 - MAGIC FLEA MARKET, AUCTION AND LECTURES

MARCH 28, 2009, Saturday 9am-5pm

Magic Flea Market and Auction Come sell your used magic!!!

Free Lecture and Workshop by Mark Mason, Lecture by Steve Hart

LOCATION: Christ the King Lutheran Church – Barnabas Hall

4962 Apopka-Vineland Rd., Orlando, Fl 32819

ADMISSION: $10.00 per person, Includes free lectures,

$25.00 Mark Mason workshop optional…Limited seating

TABLES: $15.00

E-mail selling table reservations to art.thomas@disney.com

E-mail Mark Mason workshop reservations to craigfennessy@gmail.com

Go to www.Ring170.com and download a flyer with all the details.

6. Paul Gertner Lecture

APRIL 14, 2009, Tuesday, 7:30pm

Held at I-HOP

5203 Kirkman Road, Orlando, Florida 32819, 407-370-0597

Come early and have dinner with us.

ADMISSION: $25.00 all lecture tickets

Go to www.Ring170.com and download a flyer with all the details.

2009-02 Joanie Spina to visit Orlando?

I received a very nice email from Joanie Spina today, she is ready, willing and able to come south and share her expertise in act direction, video production, and so forth. For those of you who think Ms. Spina is Tony’s daughter from Tannen’s Magic Shop in New York, you have another thing coming… Joanie Spina is one of the top magic directors and act consultants of our day. Not only beautiful, she is sooooo incredably talented I can’t wait for her arrival later this year. Joanie served as lead dancer and choreographer to David Coppefield for most of Dave’s legendary years. Imagine the stories of on the road with DC. Speaking of which, here is a picture taken after Dave’s recent visit to Orlando, Thanks Dave!

Keith Lock

Senior Producer/Director

Magical Arts & Design, LLC.

1039 Pine Street

Orlando, Florida 32824

1-866-905-9858 Office

1-407-760-1426 Direct

Please Visit:

www.MagicalArtsandDesign.com

2009-02 David Williamson - Extra Lecture

David Williamson is playing the Orlando IBM Banquet Sunday, March 1^st. Craig Fennessey and his magical muscle men have put together a GREAT Evening and I for one can’t wait! Speaking of David Williamson, Dave has decided to stay in the sunny warmth of Florida for a few days after the Banquet. And even better, he has decided to perform a very special lecture on Wednesday, March 4^th at MAD Studios as part of our Super Star Series of Magic Legends. You got it, David Williamson, behind the scenes…

As if that is not enough, we are going to do something ultra cool regarding David’s appearance. Normally this special lecture series would cost over $50.00 to attend. We are lowering the admission for the evening to $30.00 per person! And as if that wasn’t enough as well, David just informed me that he will be giving out FREE to everyone that has PRE-REGISTERED for the event AUNT MARY’S TERRIBLE SECRET. Yep, a professional gambling routine that COSTS $25.00 to buy. So, do the math. Pre-register for $30.00 bucks, get a $25.00 routine for FREE. It’s really like getting David Williamson for $5.00. Plus David will be teaching the routine!!! Try to beat that! Please call TODAY to get your seats for his lecture… Seats may not be available day of show???????

2009-02 McBride in Orlando

Hello one and all,

Here is the OFFICIAL RELEASE of JEFF MCBRIDE’S appearance in ORLANDO!

WHAT: One of the most sought after magical genius’ of our time coming to Orlando!

WHEN: March 18^th, 90 minute stage show followed by an exclusive 2 hour lecture for magicians ONLY! The show is open to the PUBLIC. Be sure to bring friends, co-workers, neighbors, girlfriends, wives, etc.

WHERE: Both the show and lecture will be held at Sleuth's Mystery Show Theatre located on International Drive just off Sandlake Road, we will provide exact directions to those that register.

WHY: The LOVE of MAGIC, The LOVE of LIFE, The LOVE of JEFF McBRIDE!

HOW: The cost of the show to $25.00 advance/$30 at door. The Lecture is $25.00 Advance/$30.00 at door. Call Magical

Arts and Design NOW to get your seats at 407-858-9858.

SPECIAL ADDED FEATURE:

Magical Arts and Design will be hosting Mr. McBride in a VERY, VERY exclusive private workshop the following evening at the MAD Studios. Those attending will be spending four hours of intense McBride Magic as only Jeff can share. This is the same information source that Jeff teaches at his famous Vegas based Mystery School. Anybody that knows the value of this program knows this is not to be missed. We have already had more response to this special event than anything thing else we’ve shared. The total cost for this one of a kind night is only $125.00. That is a fraction of what Jeff gets in Vegas for the same info, training, and expertise. This event must be pre-registered. Only a handful of seats remain, please book your’s NOW!

Other Info:

Many have asked about the VIP season discount deal. Unfortunately, that was only available prior to the Mike Finney event. Sorry guys, please jump on the offers when they are made available, thanks…

2009-02 Copperfield Comments from Dan

While DC was in Orlando recently, Orlando Weekly had a short interview with him via email.

1. DC insisted that he once, while performing in Orlando, "placed Shaq in his Shrinker illusion". If you know how the trick works, and have seen Shaq up close...it MUST have been some trick to get him in the thing.
2. When asked about the Masked Magician and the magic tricks on You Tube , DC states: "...the shows are quite inaccurate." Whew....that's a relief.
3. DC states that he "discovered the Fountain of Youth on his island in the Bahamas." I thought that the gal who accused him of attacking her actually "aged" him.

Dan

2009-02 SCAM 2009 (Not what you think)

Some thoughts on SCAM

In January for the past thirteen years the South Carolina Association of Magicians holds a convention in Columbia SC. It is a day and a half convention packed with lectures, contests, and shows, both close up and stage. SCAM has had a habit of showcasing magicians before they are “found” by other conventions or magic magazines. Last year SCAM featured Chris Capehart for their Gala Show and a lecture. Eleven months later in December he was featured in Genii magazine. It has always been a fun convention and the people in South Carolina are warm and friendly. The convention this year was held January 16 and 17.

The Recession has come to magic

Last year SCAM had 170 people attend the convention. This year they had 66 people preregister and less than 80 people attend. The dealers’ room was EMPTY! Since they had so few register they had three dealers give lectures, Harry Allen, Mark Mason and Barry Mitchell. The stage show that was normally held in a large theater was replaced by a cabaret show in the hotel ball room.

Mentalism has invaded magic

Mentalism is much more a part of magic than ever before. This year’s stage and close up competition included Mentalism acts. One of the magicians, David London that performed and lectured did a Mentalism effect for his cabaret show. The trend in magic seems to be moving to more Mentalism effects.

Young magicians are thinking more

David London is a highly creative, very theatrical young magician. At age 15 he could not find much written on the theory of magic so he started his own magazine, Behind the Smoke and Mirrors. This morphed into a new volume of magazines called Beyond the Smoke and Mirrors and a web site www.Magicalthinking.net. David studied film in college and there found art and Surrealism, which greatly influences his magic. David is a bit out there and anything but traditional but he is fun to watch and has an interesting thought process that I found new and refreshing.

Francis Menotti is a young magician from Philadelphia that is well educated, a graduate of Penn State, and very well spoken. He claims that both his parents are physicists. He is very creative and takes traditional effects and puts a new, sometimes strange or weird twist on them. He did an egg bag routine with a spectator where his cell phone kept ringing with his mother on the line telling him how to do the routine. At the end of the effect the spectator pulled the cell phone from the bag and Francis was holding the egg up to his ear.

These young magicians are thinking more about the theatrics and the entertainment value of the effect than the moves. Everything that they did was scripted and thought out in advance. They presented pieces of theater not just tricks.

Card magic is alive and well

The other lecturers and performers were all card guys, Allan Ackerman, Boris Wild, and Ed Ellis. Ed is from Canton Ohio and has recently moved back there after living in Arizona and performing at the Castle and other places out west. Ed is also a drummer and did a solo with the Buddy Rich band some time in his past. Ed will be featured at the national IBM convention this year in Nashville. Ed has some very pretty moves to display four aces and “dissolve” one card into another. He also has a few twists on rubber band magic. Mark Fitzgerald told me that Ed gets all of his yellow rubber bands from him, which Ed passed out in his lecture.

Boris Wild pushed his marked deck and the effects that it can do. He said that he tried for years to get the US Playing Card Co. to print the marked deck for him. A couple of years ago the company got a new president who agreed to print the decks. They printed 25,000 and sold them in one year. When they went back for a reprint the company resisted. They finally agreed, but Boris thinks that it may be the last time. Is it a marketing ploy on Boris’ part to get you to buy now? Maybe. He did his Kiss act, which is still pretty with an emotional hook but not as magical as it once seemed since it uses his same Kiss move (a variation of the flustration count) over and over.

Allan Ackerman is a phenomenal card worker. He will blow your mind. Today Allan runs the computer network for a college in Las Vegas, but he is still one of the best card guys around. He recently put together a series of DVD’s on Erdnase and gave a midnight lecture on Ednase. When I asked him what one thing you should learn from Erdnase, he said the bottom deal as it can do so many things for you. He demonstrated several of the card tricks from Ednase’s book using the bottom deal.

SCAM is a fun day and a half. I hope that the poor turnout this year does not kill the convention in future years.

Gary Adams

2009-02 Ring 45 Event

Ring 45/SAM 280 and the Elks Lodge 1676 in Miami

Invites you to a Flea Market/Mini Convention

When: Sunday, March 1^st, 2009 from 9am-10pm

Where: Elks Lodge 1676 6304 SW 78^th street, Miami, FloRIda 33143

What: Mini Convention, see tentative schedule below;

7:30am-9:00pm Flea Marketers setup (Ballroom)

9:00am-1:00pm Flea Market Opens (4 FULL hours of shopping
NEW and USED magic)

11:45am-1:00pm Lunch (Includes hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and choice of
soft drink or draft beer)

1:00pm-6:00pm Lectures by Aldo Colombini, Levent & John Calvert. (Lecture Hall)

6:00pm-7:00pm FREE TIME relax, hang out and mingle. (Bar and Lobby)

7:00pm-8:00pm Cocktails & Close-up Enjoy Close-up magic, hors d’ oeuvres,
cash bar. (Bar & Lobby)

8:00p- 10:00pm Dinner/Show: Dinner includes salad, roast beef,
special rice, vegetables, complimentary wine or soft drinks with
dinner, desert and coffee.

The Show Features: *** Aldo Colombini
*** Alexander Blade
*** Levent
*** John Calvert

The Close-up show is under the direction of Mr. Ron Olmsted.

Registration: FULL DAY: $50.00 in Advance (if received by February 25^th) $60.00 After

Flea market table: one six foot table: $10.00 plus Full Day registration
(no table sharing)

Dinner/Show Only: $30.00 in Advance $40.00 at door

Reservations/Information: Contact Maria Ibanez at 305.258.3414 or
Merlina17@aol.com.

Make all checks/money orders to: Magic City Conjurers.

2009-02 Thanks from Magical Arts & Design

Hi everyone!

Just a quick note to tell you that the Mike Finney event will be posted on YouTube, February 2nd.

We had a great time meeting some old and new friends Thursday night, and look forward to seeing you all at the Jeff McBride event in March.

Also, on Thursday, we misplaced one of our digital camera chargers, if anyone grabbed it by mistake, please give us a call. Pictures of it can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/dnl7bp and http://tinyurl.com/b3ebja.

Thanks!

Bill "V." VonTobel

2009-02 Another Ring 258 event

Tom Craven lecture is on Feb 15th. Sunday at 1 pm.

at The NY cafe restaurant in leesburg

1690 Citrus Blvd.

hwy 441 North

Leesburg

352-365-8800

Non members and guests $15, Orlando ring 170 members $10

2009-02 Ring 258 Events

IBM Ring 258 Leesburg, Florida Presents Magic shows on April 14th, 2009, plus John Calvert lecture on April 15th To be held at the Villages in Lady Lake Florida. Time and location of the lecture to be determined.

AN EVENING OF MAGIC LIVE!!

Featuring