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
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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
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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