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