2008-01 Ring Report Ring #170 The Bev Bergeron Ring

President Craig Fennessey opened up the December meeting with the annual election of the new board of officers. The floor was opened up for nominations and nothing was heard. Bev Bergeron made the motion to close the nominations and Roger Reid seconded the motion. It passed by voice vote. The nominated slate of current officers was re-elected for 2008 by voice vote. They are:Craig J. Fennessy-President, Chris Dunn- Vice President ,Art Thomas – Treasurer, Dennis Phillips- Secretary, James Songster- Director at Large, Joe Vecciarelli- Sgt at Arms and serving as Editor of FAMULUS -Stefan Bartelski. Jacki Manna continues as our Hospitality chairperson.

We had 43 persons in the seats and several guests. Brad and Jessica and former president M.J. Emigh's children were present and at the right age for magic and Bob Swadling and his wife were visiting from England. Bob is known in magic history as the inventor of the "Flipper Coin".

Following this very brief business meeting we began our Christmas and Holiday Tradition, our wacky, white elephant gift exchange. Jacki Manna was the MC and kept the exchange rolling along. The rules are that a person can either pick a new unopened gift or 'steal' someone else's gift. Each gift can be stolen only 3 times. This chaos does make for a lot of fun. Finally all the gifts were taken and the challenge every year is to learn your trick and present it in the show that follows!

Kerry Pierce, known as "KP" was the show MC. First up was James Songster doing a three color Card Monte. The patter was about betting and losing money in a side street game of chance. He ended up with a card appearing that said he lost $14. Bob Swadling took the stage and filled it with his English charm. The British have an elegant way of making small props look wonderful and grand. He began with some miraculous changes of cards in midair. He would toss a card into the air and it would change! He then did the classic sympathetic match boxes with drawers that open in any position. He ended with aces disappearing from a deck and appearing in various pants and coat pockets. His killer finale was a previously signed card appeared inside a brand new sealed deck. It was great magic from across the pond.

Kevin Butler, presented a silent version of his newly acquired Egg Bag and a Haunted Key using an audience assistant. Charlie Pfrogner had a Christmas card effect and concluded with a small set of Tambo Rings that produced silks and ended with a Christmas silk. Mystana (Rebecca Dillon) had a cute bunny and carrot card trick she got in the exchange. JC Hiatt was next and wearing a T-shirt he got that said, "Trust me, I am a magician!". JC's deck of cards had four aces turning face down one at a time. For a great finish he explained that he was using mirrors and when the cards were turned over they had mirror foil on the backs.

Mark Fitzgerald once again added some new bits to his ever popular rubber band routine. Mark, along with Dan Harlan were the first the popularize rubber band magic.
Mark did the penetrations and releases along with many figures and ending up with a star shape that transformed the band into a permanent star shape. Last up was Sid McWethy who did a delightful billiard ball routine with Christmas ornaments ending with the production of a mirror ball!

The evening ended on a high note with refreshments and more fellowship. Join us whenever you are visiting Orlando. Good things are always happening in Ring 170.

Dennis Phillips